Tag Archives: income

Why Your Blog Doesn’t Make Money

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Darren Rowse doesn’t make his money from Problogger . Brian Clark doesn’t make his money from Copyblogger . Chris Brogan doesn’t make his money from his blog, either. Neither does Sonia Simone . Not a single founding member of Third Tribe earns the bulk of their income from the blogs that are practically (or in Chris’ case, literally) synonymous with their names. Yes, they make some money directly from those blogs. But revenue directly from the blog doesn’t represent the bulk of their income. Not by a long shot. So why do so many bloggers equate blog success with financial success? Many, if not most, of the bloggers I see are hoping that their blogs will make them popular. They are also hoping their blogs will make them money. This isn’t exactly surprising. Fame and riches are supposed to go hand in hand, after all. But when you need a new stream of income tomorrow, you don’t write ten more blog posts. You create a new product. You launch an email campaign . You make a special offer. You network. You find a great new JV partner. You ask for referrals and check in with your current clients. Similarly, when you want to get more subscribers for your blog tomorrow, you don’t launch a product. You write better content. You get more active on social media. You guest post on other people’s blogs. You link to other good articles. You improve your SEO . Building a profitable business and creating a popular blog are two different things Related, yes. But different. The most popular blogs you know do not make most of their money simply by racking up the subscriber numbers. They make their money with products, consulting, services, and advertising. They make their money by running a successful business. The fact that they run a popular blog facilitates that business. If Brian wants to launch a product tomorrow, he has a big, engaged audience to whom he can launch it. Having a huge audience who will listen when you launch a product isn’t the profitable part, though. The profitable part is that Brian will create a product that his audience wants and needs. He’ll run an informative and compelling launch. He’ll have an affiliate program that works and a sales sequence that converts prospects into buyers . Does the large subscriber base help with that product launch? Absolutely. But the blog itself is not the thing that’s making money. If Copyblogger, with its magnificently large platform, were to launch a terrible product with a really weak campaign and only promoted it with a few blog posts to this vast audience of readers, they wouldn’t make enough money to pay my grocery bill. Having a popular blog is not enough. You still have to build the business. No, of course you shouldn’t neglect your blog There are many, many virtues to a popular blog: social proof, credibility, enhanced visibility. They’re good for forging new business contacts and partnerships. They’re good for attracting potential customers for the products you’ll make or services you’ll provide. They’re brilliant for creating relationships. I don’t know my dentist as well as I know some bloggers. And I trust my dentist with my teeth even though he comes at them with a variety of pointy things with hooks on their ends. Blogs help us make those trusting, potentially valuable connections, and for that reason alone, they’re worth pouring time and energy into. But no matter how hard you try, your subscriber numbers are never going to magically transform themselves into your bank balance. When it comes to making money, simply having a blog isn’t enough. Now you have to take all the things the blog has given you — visibility, authority , a reputation for knowing your industry, social proof — and put them to work building you a profitable business. Because it won’t happen on its own. If you want to use your blog as a jumping-off place for that business, though, Third Tribe has got you covered. The seminar you’ll want to listen to is the 4-part series on Building a Business Around a Blog, which features interviews with Sonia Simone, Darren Rowse, Chris Brogan, Brian Clark, and Leo Babauta of Zen Habits. They cover a lot of ground, including: The three factors your blog must have if you want to make serious money with advertising Brogan’s two favorite ways to start bringing in revenue by using a blog The specifics about where the bulk of their income really comes from (you may be surprised) Why “blogging about blogging” isn’t the way to go How Darren uses surveys to build his business (and why Brian doesn’t) A quick creativity technique to develop the next killer idea for your business How to handle pushback if your customers respond negatively to your products I listened to all four of these interviews. And not once, in hours of discussing techniques, business-building ideas, and marketing strategy, did any of these bloggers say that the best way to make money was to get more subscribers. They’ve got a few ideas for how to do that too, though. Because blogs are valuable — just not in the way you think. You can get instant access to all four seminars (and a dozen more), as well as Q&A sessions and the web’s best networking forum for internet businesspeople, by joining the Third Tribe today . About the Author: Taylor Lindstrom is a freelance copywriter and Assistant Editor of Copyblogger . She’s taking lots of notes about how to turn sharp copywriting into a profitable business.

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Over One-Third of Americans Will Not Purchase a Brand Because of a Distasteful Advertisement

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Adweek and Harris Interactive conducted a poll to find out whether advertising can kill sales vs. help make them. Not surprisingly, the poll found over one-third of Americans will not purchase a brand because of a distasteful advertisement. From Harris: There are many different reasons someone may or may not purchase something. One reason may be the advertisements for a certain brand. Over one-third of Americans (35%) say that they have chosen not to purchase a certain brand because they find the ads distasteful and an additional 22% say they not done this, but have thought of doing so. More than two in five Americans (43%) say they have never done this. These are some of the findings of a new Adweek Media/ Harris Poll®,survey of 2,194 U.S. adults surveyed online between February 2 and 4, 2010 by Harris Interactive®. Over one quarter of Americans (28%) say they have chosen to not purchase a brand because they did not like the spokesperson it used, while 22% say they have not done so, but thought of doing it and half (50%) they have never done so. While over half (52%) say they have not done so, 27% of Americans say they did not purchase a certain brand because they did not like a program or event sponsored by the brand and 20% have thought of doing so. Education and Income differences When it comes to who is more likely to not purchase a certain brand because of these three reasons, education and income show some differences. The more education one had, the more likely they are to say they have not purchased something. Over two in five college graduates (43%) have not purchased a brand because they found the advertisements distasteful compared to 29% of those with a high school education or less. One-third of college grads (33%) say they have not purchased a brand because they didn’t like the spokesperson compared to 23% of those with a high school education or less. The spokesperson makes a difference for those at different income levels. One-quarter of those with a household income of under $50,000 a year (25%) say they did not purchase a certain brand because they did not like the spokesperson used compared to 28% of those with a household income of between $50,000 and $74,999 a year and one-third (33%) of those with a household income of $75,000 a year or more. So what? Certain things, whether it is the voiceover in an ad, the concert or sporting event the brand sponsors or even the general tone of the advertisement, consumers can be turned off to a brand. These reasons have nothing to do with the actual brand, product or service, but are things that advertisers and marketers must consider each and every time they are pulling together storyboards for their next campaign. What is also difficult is when a long-time spokesperson becomes involved in something scandalous. Each brand they endorse must make the difficult decision of whether to “break-up” with the spokesperson over that scandal or attempt to ride it out and not have consumers flee the brand. Read the full Harris report here .

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The Bobby McFerrin Plan for Creating A Remarkable Business

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I just returned from a Bobby McFerrin concert, and now I know how to run my new business. No, this post isn’t about “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” Bobby McFerrin is much more than that. You see, I’m a little nervous. For 23 years, I’ve made my income the same way — in a service business, as a graphic designer. A client comes to me for design work. I create something for them, and bill for my time. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat for 23 years, and you have a career as a successful designer. But that’s all about to change. I’m venturing into new territory. I’ve started a blog, I’m putting together a course, I’m interacting with my readers. I’m supposed to let them guide me, respond to their needs, offer what they’re looking for , and everything is going to work out fine. Except I’m just a little terrified. How exactly is this supposed to work? Who are these people I am serving , and how do I know it’s all going to come together? And that’s where Bobby comes in The first thing you notice when you file into the theater at a Bobby McFerrin concert is that the stage is almost bare. It’s dark, and a spotlight shines on a single chair in the middle of the stage with a microphone sitting on it. A water bottle is on the floor beside the chair. Nothing more. You wonder if he’s going to sing by himself, or if he’ll have back up singers. You wonder if he’ll play an instrument. The answer is yes: he does all of these things, but not in the traditional way at all. He steps into the spotlight Bobby comes out, sits down, takes a sip of water, and brings the microphone to his mouth. He starts to sing, softly at first, then louder. He begins to hit his chest with his right hand, creating a percussive effect that beats in time to the music. He’s a full-bodied instrument, who makes music with his mouth, hands and feet. He has a four-octave range, and incredible vocal mastery. He’s an American treasure. Then he turns that spotlight around The first inkling that this isn’t your everyday concert comes when he asks the audience to participate in a call and response song. He assigns half the room a few notes, and the other half different notes. He does this mid-song, without stopping. We all willingly sing along. Then he asks if we know “Ave Maria.” We all laugh, and I think this request is going to fall flat. He says “if you know it, sing it out. The people who know it can be the section leaders.” He begins to sing an accompanying melody, and guess what? The hall fills with the sound of the audience singing “Ave Maria.” It’s beautiful. How did he do that? The audience volunteers Bobby pulls his chair over to the edge of the spotlight. He says, “the last time I was in your city was 22 years ago. I want to ask if there are any dancers in the audience. If you’d like to come up and share the stage with me, we’ll improvise together. It might be another 22 years before you get this chance again, so come on up.” Four people make their way to the stage. Each one takes a turn dancing in the middle of the spotlight, while Bobby, off to one side, improvises music that they respond to with their bodies. It is amazing to watch: each dancer responds in a unique way, but they are all good . Then he asks if anyone wants to sing with him. No hesitation this time: people are up out of their seats, hustling to the stage. Every singer asks to sing a different song. Bobby’s accompaniment honors their song selection and makes it a work of art. You watch as each singer experiences a moment they’ll always remember. Give, honor, create together Tonight was like no other concert I’ve attended. It wasn’t really a concert: it was an experience. McFerrin wasn’t up on stage to receive our accolades. He was up there to entertain us, but he wanted our voices, our bodies and our talents to shine, too. He wanted us to feel like we had created tonight’s concert together . That’s when I knew that I needed to follow the Bobby McFerrin business model. His concerts are all improvisation. He doesn’t plan his songs, or even his key changes. He just lets them come to him, based on the audience, his voice, and our response. What he does plan, I believe, is interaction He wants to create something with us, not just for us. He listens, responds, adjusts and creates. That’s what I want to do. It’s my ticket to stop worrying, and my technique for being happy on the vague, uncertain road ahead. Give to my audience, honor their contributions, create something much greater than the sum of all parts. Like Bobby. How do you involve your audience in your business? Any advice for people who are making the transition from a different business model? Tell us in the comments. About the author: Pamela Wilson is a music lover who runs Big Brand System , a site devoted to helping small businesses grow with great design and marketing. Photo ©Stewart Cohen

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Blogging Lessons from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

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A 40 year-old unsolved murder mystery. Strange cryptic codes in a bible. Sweden, sandwiches, and many, many cigarettes. The badass-est female protagonist since . . . forever. And an author who has, posthumously, caused quite a ruckus in the book world and in the minds of conspiracy theorists everywhere. Yes, I’m talking about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo . If you haven’t heard of it, the rest of us are inviting you to come out from under your rock. Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy ( The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest) is topping bestseller lists as we speak and the theatrical release of Dragon Tattoo hits the U.S. next week. I had the good fortune of screening an advanced copy and, of course, my mind went blog, blog, blog . Because that’s what blog obsessed people like us do. So here are the blogging lessons I learned from this tattooed ‘girl’ . . . Gasoline feeds a fire, but first there has to be a spark At one point in the movie, a man lies under a car. Having just flown off the side of the road, both he and the car are demolished, gasoline is spilling out everywhere . . . and he waits, watching, trapped. Finally there’s a spark . . . and then fire, total combustion. So often we have all of the ingredients, right? The design is just right, the writing is perfection, the research says that there’s a need for the content . . . but then, nothing. No traffic, no comments, no buzz. No combustion. What’s missing? There has to be a spark. Maybe it comes in the form of a new partnership, a referral, or an outside event (like a shortage of light bulbs) that makes your product (candles) suddenly burst into high demand. Maybe you have a life-changing event that triggers your passion. Maybe you read a book that causes something to click in your brain or your heart. And then, there’s no stopping the heat. Nothing more, nothing less Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo, is a woman of few words, but they’re always the right ones. She communicates through her gestures, carefully chosen words and even her silences. To some people around her, this is maddening. But others totally get it and they pay incredibly close attention to her. They listen closely . . . and they also watch. As a blogger, what you don’t say can be as important as what you do say. Do you find the positive in challenging situations, gleaning lessons and inspiring others? Or do you bitch and moan, spreading negativity? Do you stick to your topic? Or is your blog scattered, full of everything under the sun? Do you promote everything that could be remotely related to your blog? Or do you bow out of a big launch that, for one reason or another, isn’t quite right for your readers? What is the significance of what you leave on the blogging room floor? Document everything In the movie, as Blomkvist and Salander try to solve the mystery, they are aided again and again by the record-keeping of other characters, the police, the newspapers, and themselves. It’s the last, ‘themselves,’ that holds the lesson. Working to uncover this decades-old secret, the investigators look for the needle in the proverbial haystack. With so much unknown, their path to discovery lies in documenting every thought they have, literally pinning them to the wall for examination — and never, ever brushing aside even one moment of insight or possibility. Ideas for blog content, joint venture partnerships, promotions, ebooks — and even tweets and Facebook updates — often shoot through our brains at a fast and furious pace. Blogging fodder is everywhere. It’s in the conversation you have with the souvlaki guy outside your building every day at lunch, it’s in the color of the car that just drove by, it’s in the ad that you saw for hairplugs. If you don’t grab these ideas as they fly by, they will keep flying. Trust me. Write it all down. Nail it to the wall. Even the thoughts that seem impossible, unreachable, or just plain ridiculous. The clue to your own success will lie in your own observations and insights. Don’t lose them. It’s hard to be brilliant all by yourself The story’s protagonists bounce their ideas off one another — and often hear brilliance in their partner’s ramblings. Blogging is about community. Who can you bounce ideas off? Who might hear your mumblings and, in turn, grab you by the shoulders and tell you that you’re actually onto something? Who can you help by being a sounding board? You might have someone’s missing piece in your back pocket. Like a tattoo, things are permanent on the internet Lisbeth has many tattoos, including a dragon covering her entire back. Getting ink like that is a serious commitment. Yes, you can have laser surgery to get a tattoo removed, but from what I can tell, it never completely disappears. A scar is left behind. And I’m told the process is neither pleasant nor easy. If we really want to get deep here, we can go so far as to say that your memory of the tattoo can never be removed. Blogging is also a commitment. We commit our time, we commit our creativity, we commit our resources. And every time we hit ‘publish’ we commit to our ideas. The internet is a pretty permanent place and it’s hard to ‘take it back’ once the words are out there. Yes, you can go to the trouble of having something uncached — but again, it isn’t pleasant or easy. People will remember your post, they may have even printed your words on paper. We’re time-stamped and cached, linked to and quoted, and even scraped. Be as sure as you can be each and every time you share. Don’t underestimate anyone Played perfectly by Noomi Rapace, Lisbeth is mysterious, tattooed, and pierced. She’s also tiny, often mistaken for a skinny, 14 year-old boy and underestimated because of her small size. But she’s able to fight off grown men — both physically and mentally — time and again. I believe the appropriate term here would be scrappy ass-kicker. And it works to her advantage. She has surprise on her side and she’s impressive, even to those who don’t particularly like her. With a blogosphere more crowded than a Twilight premier (and some days with just as much screaming), it’s a phenomenal idea to stand out. It’s the old case of man bites dog. What can you do, how can you say it, where can you share it so that it lands like a snowman in a cranberry bog? (That is: with a splash, much coolness, and bright by contrast.) Lisbeth is also the underdog. To be honest, she’s the runt. But a few people look beyond that (or don’t even see it at all) and take a chance on her. It helps her, of course, but it also helps them. They don’t see her size, her income, her appearance, her odd personality, her history. They see her skill, her brilliance, her dedication, her inherent goodness. How many Top 10, 25, 50, 100 lists have you seen that tout the best bloggers, the best writers, the twitterati? Sadly, many people get caught up in these lists and think that these people are the only ones to do business with or read, because they look good on paper. But we all start somewhere. Chris Brogan just wrote that it took him 8 years to get 100 subscribers on his blog — and look at him now. As bloggers we can only help each other and the quality of the blogosphere by discovering new talent, sharing what we know and giving people a chance. No matter how small and skinny . . . no matter how many tattoos. About the Author : Julie Roads invites you to join the Dragon Tattoo Blog HUNT — an internet wide scavenger hunt tied to the feature film launch of bestselling book The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. You can win great prizes — free movie tickets, books, movie soundtrack, posters and more. To join the contest, start at the beginning of the HUNT by visiting www.dragontattoofilm.com/contest for full details and the first clue. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is in theaters near you starting March 19th. THE NEXT CLUE: Rachel Bilson & Christina Ricci are celebrity supporters of this national network that fights violence against women. Their strong volunteer program just goes to show that when kindness RAINNS , it pours.

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Blogging Lessons from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo