Why it's so difficult to make money from blogging
For many webmasters the dream is to turn their hobby of blogging into a full time living. However even if you do manage to build up a successful readership it's not always possible to turn those readers into a real income. Here are a few of the main reasons many bloggers can't make money from their hobby.
General blogs are all the rage these days because people like talking about whatever they feel like that day. The problem these bloggers face though is finding advertisers because it's a well known fact that general un-targeted traffic doesn't convert into sales.
Even when you do have visitors who are looking for a specific subject that doesn't mean you've hit the jackpot. In order for visitors to be valuable there has to be a purchase associated in some way with your content, e.g. a site on site on funny pictures may be specific but no-one visiting is going to have a buying mentality.
It's important to create content that sells, and this goes for blogs as well as ecommerce sites. E.g. if your promoting an affiliate product in a post you really have to drive home why it's so good and why you endorse it in order for people to "believe". You can't just drop a link at the end and hope people click it out of curiosity.
I like flashy designs as much as the next person but your design should never get in the way of your sites usability. If people can't find the content they want fast then they'll be hitting the back button very soon. Use colors in the navigation that are easy to read and make sure you have a search that's easy to use. You have to push people to the pages that make you money and site design is a big part of this.
Implementing the wrong type of advertising is another common mistake. I can't remember the last time I bought something from a pop-up window so why do webmasters insist on using this type of intrusive advertising? Any ads need to complement and match your content in order to be effective.
So as you can probably tell earning a living blogging isn't the easiest thing to do. But there is a big market out there for webmasters who can deliver both great content and advertising in professional way. I hope these tips help.
General blogs are all the rage these days because people like talking about whatever they feel like that day. The problem these bloggers face though is finding advertisers because it's a well known fact that general un-targeted traffic doesn't convert into sales.
Even when you do have visitors who are looking for a specific subject that doesn't mean you've hit the jackpot. In order for visitors to be valuable there has to be a purchase associated in some way with your content, e.g. a site on site on funny pictures may be specific but no-one visiting is going to have a buying mentality.
It's important to create content that sells, and this goes for blogs as well as ecommerce sites. E.g. if your promoting an affiliate product in a post you really have to drive home why it's so good and why you endorse it in order for people to "believe". You can't just drop a link at the end and hope people click it out of curiosity.
I like flashy designs as much as the next person but your design should never get in the way of your sites usability. If people can't find the content they want fast then they'll be hitting the back button very soon. Use colors in the navigation that are easy to read and make sure you have a search that's easy to use. You have to push people to the pages that make you money and site design is a big part of this.
Implementing the wrong type of advertising is another common mistake. I can't remember the last time I bought something from a pop-up window so why do webmasters insist on using this type of intrusive advertising? Any ads need to complement and match your content in order to be effective.
So as you can probably tell earning a living blogging isn't the easiest thing to do. But there is a big market out there for webmasters who can deliver both great content and advertising in professional way. I hope these tips help.