Easton Ellsworth over at Business Blogwire have a great post up for beginner bloggers wanting to make some cash: his personal cheatsheet.
1. AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YOU REAP.
2. HAVE A BACKUP PLAN BEFORE YOU BEGIN.
3. TIME IS MONEY.
4. DEVELOP AN UNQUENCHABLE THIRST FOR IMPROVEMENT.
5. CONNECT YOURSELF TO OTHERS IN MEANINGFUL WAYS.
6. START WITH PROVEN REVENUE-GENERATING SOURCES.
7. ATTENTION AND TRAFFIC CORRESPOND TO HIGHER REVENUE.
8. BE DIFFERENT.
9. FOCUS.
10. DO AS PROFITABLE BLOGGERS DO.
11. MAINTAIN AS MANY GOOD BLOGS AS YOU CAN.
12. THERE IS NO EXHAUSTIVE GUIDE TO BLOGGING FOR PROFIT.
Don’t you just hate it when people do lists in all capitals? Anyway, in-depth on each of these twelve points in the post.
I find his bonus challenge more interesting though, since I’m past that starting out phase:
Here’s $1,000 – you must spend it all toward your objective. The question is, what do you do with the $1,000 and the 30 days?
I’m not sure which way I would go, but I’m looking forward to some brilliant thoughts and ideas in the comments.
Originally posted on February 14, 2007 @ 2:28 am
What if you really don’t have profits in mind at the beginning and are just really in it to develop a great site that is a benefit to the community.
I mean naturally the money flows if you create this kind of resource.
But I think the better sites start out with a moneyless focus.
Just my opinion.
Dave,
I think that, for the most part, the overwhelming number of blogs started just to make a buck are pretty horrible compared to the blogs, as you put it, “in it to develop a great site that is a benefit to the community.†This, in my opinion, is because the bar to entry into blogging is so low, that anyone with internet connectivity and 15 minutes can start a blog, through some ads up, and call themselves a pro blogger right after they get one of their buddies with a different IP address to click on one of their ads.
I do believe, however, that some bloggers (entrepreneurs) truly looking to monetize a blog, have to think about how and when they turn a profit as well as how they will get their traffic, how they will advertise, how much competition they will have, and a bunch of other factors that should be part of their business plan.
I cannot imagine someone getting funding for an idea, blog or otherwise, that has not even a long term goal for turning some type of profit. Even though a blog can be very inexpensive to start and not need more then a few dollars get going generally will require an investment in time.
I have a fundamental issue with this statement. There is nothing natural about the flow of money. People who try will probably get some buyers, but there is a fundamental art to raising revenue that most bloggers, including myself, don’t “get”.
Where’d my comment go?
Easton,
It would appear that we’ve lost it. There have been some server work today, so I’m guessing something happened there. I’ve pinged David about it so that he can look into it at least.
Sorry about that.