A Guest Post by Johnny B Truant
I saw Gary Coleman on TV last night and thought, “That guy has to be rich. Everyone knows who he is.” But then I realized that Gary’s true paid celebrity ended over 20 years ago, and whether he’s rich or not today is really a matter of luck and investment.
But that’s not how most people are wired to think. We figure that if someone is or ever was in the public eye, they probably have a big fortune. But who knows how well Gary invests? It’s distinctly possible that most of us here have more money then he does.
This whole thing occurred to me after a few people asked me if I was loaded yet, since I made Problogger’s list of 30 bloggers to watch in 2010. They were asking tongue-in-cheek, but there was a grain of truth behind it. The simple fact is that people equate popularity with riches, and that’s not accurate at all.
I’ve gotten a fair number of new readers and Twitter followers since that list came out… but I had a couple of five-figure months under my belt already. And I did that with subscriber and reader numbers which were hardly stellar.
Do you want fame? Or do you want fortune?
If you say “neither,” then scale it back. A more moderate stopping point on the “fame” spectrum would be getting more readers and more followers. That’s probably the #1 stated goal among bloggers, in my experience. But a close second is along the “fortune” spectrum, and it’s simply to make some money from what you do.
I’m going to make a guess here. It isn’t backed by any scientific research, but I’ll just bet that it’s right.
I think that of the two, people actually want “fortune” goals more. But I think I hear “How do I get more readers/traffic/subscribers?” more often because people think that increased popularity will lead to increased income.
But… nope, sorry. Not always. If you want a “fame” goal, great. But if you want “fortune,” shoot directly for fortune instead of trying to make it happen via fame.
I know several people who are very, very popular online but who don’t really make much at all from their blogging. Large numbers of readers do not equal large amounts of income.
If you’d like to shift your goal to making a living online instead of just entertaining as many people as possible, I have tips. (Or rather, because what follows came out of a discussion I had with fellow Problogger list-mates Naomi Dunford and Charlie Gilkey, it’s more accurate to say that WE have tips.)
1. Your audience has to be willing to buy
I’m not saying they have to be willing to buy from you. I’m saying that they have to be willing to buy period.
I used to write a pure humor blog, and tried to make money via AdSense and selling a hard-copy book. What I discovered is that the humor audience is largely unwilling to buy. They want to read funny stuff and then move along. I made virtually nothing while doing pure humor, despite decent popularity.
Along the same lines, blogs centering on a small-budget hobby are going to have more trouble selling at high prices than those about a more expensive hobby. Charlie G, who I mentioned above, gives the example of a blog about crafting vs. a blog about photography. If both promote a $39 e-book, the photographers are less likely to hesitate at the price because they’re used to paying higher costs for products and services in their niche.
2. You have to be willing to sell
I’m always shocked by how many people seem to think selling is dirty. If you handle selling correctly, all you’re doing is referring something that you think is fantastic. It could be your own product or an affiliate product, but what you’re doing is seeing a need and saying, “I have a fantastic product or service that would really help you out.” It’s not about getting people to spend money on something they don’t want, or out of pity. It’s not like when the local grade school kids come to your door selling fruitcakes, and you buy one just to support them.
Establish early and gradually that when a cool product comes around that your people could honestly benefit from, you’ll let them know about it… with an affiliate link if it’s not your product. Your “true people” will understand such offers in the way they are intended, which is in the spirit of mutual benefit.
3. You have to build a reputation for being trustworthy
I’m able to generate good business off of a relatively small list because those people have grown to trust me. They know I won’t promote something I don’t believe in, and they know that I won’t put out a junky, half-effort product. They also know that I’ll tell them the shortcomings of a product or service before praising it (I think I should trademark my concept of the “anti-guarantee,” discussed a bit more in this Problogger post I wrote about building trust (https://problogger.com/how-to-boost-your-business-by-developing-bulletproof-trust/)… what do you think?) and that when I don’t know how to do something, I won’t pretend that I do.
When you’re operating online, you’re asking people to give you money in advance for something, usually without talking to you, seeing you in person, hearing your voice, or really knowing anything about you. If they don’t trust you impeccably, they’ll never pay you.
4. You have to generate goodwill
The best way to get great mileage out of even a small list is to have that list work for you. I swear, sometimes I think my readers and past clients are out there beating through the brush to find new people to send my way. And the reason this happens is that I try to provide great service to all of them. I’ve done small add-on jobs for free, answered questions and investigated issues for non-clients, and helped people out of tough jams. This creates happy folks.
At the end of last year, I did a free blog setup promotion. If a customer would simply purchase their hosting (which they’d need no matter who set up their blog) through my affiliate link, I’d set them up gratis. I did this largely because it’s a great win-win — a way for me to profit without the money coming directly from my clients. But what I didn’t see right away was that all of those people who were so grateful that I didn’t charge them anything would start sending their friends to me.
5. You have to have faith in yourself, as a real person
I’m a huge evangelist for what I think of as “personality marketing” over the more common ways to do business online. Personality marketing means using your own voice and own self and own talents to generate value rather than embarking on an anonymous system like niche websites or AdSense.
Now, I don’t want the niche sites or AdSense people getting all up in arms here. I’m not saying those things can’t work, but I am saying that they didn’t work for me and probably won’t work for anyone who’s at all like me. Or at least, they may not be your best use of time if you’re like me. I’ve been using AdSense for over a year now, and just recently got my first check. It was for $111, which I can now make in around a half hour by just “being Johnny.”
(Now, if you can’t make $111 in a half hour or an hour or a day or even a week by employing some personality marketing, could you make it in a month after a bit of practice? If you can, you’re still beating my AdSense earnings by a factor of twelve.)
Remember, it’s not always about numbers. If you want a huge list just so that you can have a huge list, great. If you want a hundred thousand RSS subscribers, great. If you want to be an internet celebrity, great.
But those things don’t automatically translate to income. If you want to pursue the cliche of “becoming rich and famous online,” you’ll need to pay attention to both sides of the equation.
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Johnny B. Truant is your source for business and technology coaching, building blogs and websites, and eating nachos. You can find him at his website, and you can find the full discussion between Johnny, Naomi Dunford, and Charlie Gilkey at The Charlie and Johnny Jam Sessions.
I agree that the word sales has such a bad stigma attached to it. I like to look at sales as having a conversation and determining what the best course of action is.
You made me feel a lot better by saying that you’ve only made $111 from adsense in a year :)
First and foremost, I want my work to be appreciated. Some fortune would be nice, but if it doesn’t happen, that’s OK – my day job provides a good income. Outright fame – I’m not sure if that’s necessary,
I think I’m well on my way to the goal of being appreciated. Although my reader base is small, they are very supportive.
Hello Johnny, Think this is the first post I have read written buy you and I really like it, it makes alot of sense. At the moment I am not really focusing on either as I am extremely new to blogging! But I think I would be more encouraged to make a good income from blogging rather than being a celebrity through it.
http://www.studentspayless.com
Sales has gotten a bad rap because we associate it with used car salesmen, telemarketers, and MLM. If we truly think about being in business for the long term, it is about providing value for our customers.
Building a business is built on creating value in people’s lives. As long as you are doing this you will build the trust as well.
Great article.
Scott
This is a wonderful post, I think fortune is something that brings fame. But in the internet world you’ll have to be popular to make people come and visit you and vise versa.
http://www.dumblittleblogger.com/
I really enjoyed this post. I liked the fact that a blog should be consistent with the person behind it. Otherwise it will likely be doomed to failure.
I personally don’t understand the pursuit of fame. Fortune I can understand, so that’s what I’m striving for.
As the Causal Observer commented that first and foremost ,I would also like to be appreciated by my readers and then would go forward for fame or fortune.
I blog to help them and it is always nice that they do appreciate me for it some times. That’s all some times matters at the end of the day .Let fortune and fame come at its own time .
A post that confirms my decision to not recreate a personal blog with delusions of monetization. I decided that the second time around, that choosing niches is the way to go. It’s fine to have a personal blog, but that won’t get the targeted traffic you need for internet marketing. I like the personality marketing concept, but the personality needs to be related in some way to a niche that can be monetized…in my humble opinion.
Ray
Great post… Fame with no money sucks.
Fame or money with a horrible reputation is just as bad.
You have to have a balance of it all. A Lil Fame a lil wealth and a great reputation
This is true. I made this mistake during my first year blogging. Being new at the time, I simply assume that fame equate fortune. Now I know better.
Fame… or Fortune?
What you talkin’ ’bout Willis?
Gimme Fortune.
Thing is the fortune part is harder. You must focus on a process that will monetize your blogging efforts rather than simply writing.
The quicker you focus and build a process, the faster you make money. And, as a personality/authority blogger, you are the process. Process means having a system of content creation that builds buyers rather than readers.
Johnny, you did a superb job here of pointing out the difference.
Gots ta go sell something…
Yeah, a lot of people think that once you get popular as a blogger, you will get paid nicely. Although often true, it is not guaranteed to be the case (as you say), and it depends largely on your niche and what you do to promote. One thing that I do is review books and put ads for them from Amazon. The commissions are low, but there’s also Adsense, paid ads etc. Many people are unwilling to do these things, and I’ve noticed that Adsense by itself doesn’t make you much money in the beginning, especially with Google always advertising their Nexus One when it doesn’t even have anything to do with the site.
One example of this used to be football players. Although they were famous, in the 70’s and early 80’s, they made practically nothing. Most even had to get other jobs to survive.
Thanks, great post!
Interesting post! This is all truth!
I think that building relationship means that people have trust in you. The turning point is when they realize that information you gave him is worth for them.
Great article…just what I needed this Saturday morning along with a good kick in the butt(going to the gym now). Got my hours cut in 1/2 this week. Still have a job with insurance- TG.
Will follow my passion today… being good to mother earth and helping others do the same.
Yes – guts & personality is the key – Purple Cow!
That’s a really well thought out post Johnny, and so true. I was on the list of bloggers to watch out for in 2010 as well, which resulted in an influx of email, and momentary delusions of grandeur on my part.
But being on that list or any other won’t pay my mortgages, or put food on my table.
Continuing to give the best value to my readers, and occasionally asking them to buy my book will.
Great advice. I’ve always told people if they want to make money or be an entrepreneur, the very first thing they have to do is examine themselves.
Who are they? Why do they believe what they believe? Who taught them to believe that?
In other words, build your foundation on you and your belief system. Discover who the real you is and then from there you can build your future.
Great post, Johnny. It’s very sincere and to the point, definitely realistic and true.
Interesting way of looking at it, I’m guilty of forgetting that one doesn’t necessarily equal the other (until I catch myself and remember lol).
For me, I’d just like to get to know the people in my industry a bit better – sure eventually I’d like to make money, and I’ve some things already starting to be put in place for that, but it’s far more about the community for me at the moment. Hope it stays that way :)
Many people feel honestly feel that bloggers have no right to make money…as if it weren’t a respectable job. But to that I say ignore the naysayers and live your passion.
Then sell it.
@Ray – All true. I try to be sure people know that I realize that my approach isn’t for everyone, and that more mechanized methods do work for some folks.
But as to personality being matched to the niche, I don’t think that’s as critical as you think. I wrote a post for IttyBiz (I think it’ll run soon) about my revelation that what I write about has virtually NOTHING to do with what I earn my money doing. Seriously… go check out my site and you’ll see. It’s weird.
A concept that I give total credit to Naomi Dunford for is, “Sometimes, it’s just about showing up and being cool.” When you operate a “Third Tribe” kind of business, you’re connecting first and selling when those people you’ve connected with have a need. It’s like how if you fix cars, your friends are more likely to come to YOU than to go to the Yellow Pages when their car breaks down…. even if they know you because you’re both in a comic book club, and not an auto club.
Like someone previously said, it’s kind of comforting to hear how long it took you to break $100 with adsense.
I’ve only been blogging for a month, but I’ve already stopped looking at adsense as a real money maker, it might earn me a bit, but I don’t expect it to be what takes me from average blogger to pro.
I’ve also been working on putting my personality into my posts, I hate to sound bland, I know I don’t read those kinds of blogs.
I’ve actually just started my first ebook (literally less than 2 hours ago). I’m lucky enough to love photography, so my niche of readers will probably be open to spending.
Thanks for the post!
I think everyone who reads Problogger wants to earn money. This is your guide to earn, right?
Hi Johnny… I like your post… It was very well thought out and it’s obvious you put some time and consideration into it.
I completely agree with points 2-5, I think those should be stapled to every blogger’s forehead… But I am going to have to respectfully disagree with your 1st point.
I used to be a date coach… I would teach guys everything from how to pick up women, go through the dating process to getting a girlfriend (if that’s what they wanted) and everything in between.
One thing I believe is (and yes, this will offend some of the woman audience, but it’s my belief and I’m not debating it)… If a woman will kiss you, she will go all of the way with you… The only thing stopping her is you.
I feel the same way about blogs… and any business for that matter… If someone is willing to follow you, they are willing to buy from you… the only thing stopping them from buying is you…
People are people… You just have to find the right way to monetize their actions…
Great post! How about you Johnny, are you rich?
If you have a big enough following you can easily make money from just CPM advertisements. Sure affiliate marketing is very lucrative but if you have 100,000 unique visitors per day and use adbrite full page ads you can get a CPM of over $2. That’s $200 per day and $73,000 per year. Just from one advertisement method. Add in a few more areas and you could easily be making 6 figures from one method.
Sorry I just don’t like when people say you have to have people that will buy something. They don’t, there are plenty of ways to monetize your website without selling a penny to your visitors.
This was one of the most poignant on mark postings I have seen. Comes down to whether you want 300 customers a month or 30,000 visitors. Focus on the buyers if you want the money. And the visitors if you want fans.
Bottom line is knowing what you want.
It’s amazing how easy it is to get pulled in various directions and lose focus. With so many options available to bloggers, it can actually work to ones detriment.
Great point also on selling.
I’m own several retail businesses and I never give someone the title of salesperson. It has just been dragged thru the mud and sounds cheezy.
People don’t sell they share… which is a natural human action. People share for many different reasons, such as reciprocity. I’ll share and item with you and you’ll share your money with me for helping you fill your desire.
Enjoyed reading the post!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge…
Really good post. I’ve actually just switched onto the idea of selling, but I think selling on a blog does also have to fit the format of the blog. I’m doing it with things from Amazon which I think are cool and have a huge discount and then offering them as the manager’s special – which fits with the supermarket theme of the blog. But selling car parts or trying to get people to sign up for a poker site wouldn’t fit. As with a lot of things, I think you have to be congruent.
Your post made a lot of sense to me. While I love the popularity, I do need to find ways to make money, so your advice was very helpful.
I need to figure out better ways to monetize my blog while still staying true to myself and providing real value to my readers, the number of which is not that large right now I must say.
Ana/YourNetBiz Mentor
I loved this post. I love coming here to read ProBlogger and being told it’s ok to want to make money from blogging. For some reason there’s a large population that thinks you should just be happy blogging for the fun of it.
This was also a great post to explain the difference between growing an audience and an income. So often I sit frustrated at the starting line thinking of the huge hurdles it will take to grow a list of readers and how to get people to like coming to my site that I often quit before I start. I feel like this post gives a great starting point and a better game plan.
That’s great advice and great observations!
Thank you Johny for putting up this post because it might be a real eye-opener for a lot of beginner-bloggers. I think that your tips are great and I personally need to start working more on “selling” my blog other than making it popular (well, I still have long ways to go in that direction).
It was a great read for the weekend!
Great post and really useful. I think the start, to gain the trust of your readers, is to write what you’re passionate about and share your knowledge openly, then when you move to promoting items for sale, if done right, it’s almost like you’re doing your readers a favour by letting them know about something great that they need.
You should be willing to learn how to and do all this. Letting your readers know up front about changes is also something important that way if you decide you’re going to put something on your blog in order to start a stream of income, you’ll know who’s going to be (possibly) and who does/does not like what you’re doing.
And yes, even a huge ass list of people does not mean buyers. I don’t even have an emailing list and I have roughly 5 to 20 comments on my blog when I put up a new article. This might change here and there but it’s a rough estimate. Point is, who knows if they’d buy until I ask.
We’re just getting started, and the focus of our daily alexa rank and the number of daily visitors. Now we begin to consider both sides of the equation, how to increase popularity and how to increase income.
Thanks … we learned a lot
Fascinating post, Johnny.
People also assumed that because I wrote that list, I was placed on a similar authority level as those who featured in it. This has helped me network – I touch base with people first and, when they realize how down to earth I am, we have good conversations about blogging and guest posting :-)
This post was really useful. I’ve used a lot of those tactics that have helped me earn significant amounts of income for the time put into a project. I would be doing a lot better financially if I was putting full time hours into my blog but right now, I just want to continue generating good will.
– Jade
I like #5… believe in yourself. My mother always told me that. Excellent advice, especially when you’re doubting yourself.
I also agree with John Paul, fame without wealth could be awful. Especially now that everyone seems to have a camera phone and a blog. More than once I’ve tried to decide which of the two I’d rather have…usually the result is riches rather than fame. But I have to admit, there is a side of me that likes public appreciation. :)
Good post, we cant overlook money and as blogger we cant survive if we wont able to make money from blogging.
BTW, I’m not ignoring everyone. I have a long comment above that’s still in moderation.
C’mon Darren; it’s only mildly filled with spam links! :)
Great! Yes building trust is very important
blogging for money , and money for blogging
Excellent post. I heard Bill Murray speak one time, and an audience member asked him if he liked being rich and famous. I’ve never forgotten his answer: “Try just being rich, and see if that isn’t enough.”
I’m struggling with this issue right now. My little blog has been growing nicely, and while I want to entertain folks, it’s time to begin making some money from it. I’m still not sure how, but your post definitely confirms my instincts.
As a part time blogger, it’s the fortune that most of us are going after. After blogging for 3 months, I have yet to achieve any of them, be it popularity or fortune, sigh….
But I do believe popularity does bring traffic. It’s only how we capitalise on these traffic to fortune that matters.
Great post…My purpose is that people have trust in me. I don’t want to make money with a horrible reputation.
I think it depends all on your strategy…sometimes you want fortune and sometimes you want fame to bring fortune it. The smart person knows how to capitalize on fame and/or fortune.
Brilliant article. Building trust is the most important thing. Becoming rich is not an easy thing to do. Making someone shell out money calls for a lot of insight.
thats true, when people trust they buy.
but i think its not enough to be a good talker to make people trust you especially in a virtual world.
thats really a hard job but not impossible also.
I’m tired of being famous yet short of cash.
Problogger and Johnny are real heavies. Bravo.
Thank you, Johnny, great post.
Selling still has an unflattering reputation. Being a salesperson is not considered such a good thing in conventional society.
It is much better to join the ranks of the prestige professions.
However, it is equally true you can be a good salesperson without being pushy and trying to manipulate customers into buying what they don’t need anyway. There is a method to it.
It takes a long time to build your credibility and you can damage it even by making one lousy mistake, so you have to be careful.
It is therefore great to know that you practice what you preach and that your customers/clients trust your words and ideas.
It seems you have struggled hard to maintain such quality relationships. It is a good PR strategy to try to create win-win situations too. Your ideas are a source of inspiration for me.
@Chloe – Nope, I’m not rich at all… but that brings us to the difference between INCOME and WEALTH. What I’ve shared publicly elsewhere is that my online business now brings in five figures a month… but what I’ve also yammered on at length about to my regular readers is my terrible real estate investments that have thus far sucked it all away.
So I’m doing the “rich blogger” thing right, but I have not been stellar at the “avoid crappy investments” part of the equation! (I’m getting out of it, though.)
@Cody – No, you’re absolutely right. I try not to write in absolutes, but I did have a lot of “you have to’s” in here, which makes it seem like… well… that you HAVE to. Surprising how that happened.
But yeah, I’m not really thinking of the extreme ends of the spectrum. Obviously, a huge enough following can be monetized pretty simply and without a ton of effort, but not many of us have 100k uniques a day, so I don’t really think about that when I write.
Of course, by contrast, someone who is totally unknown can also land one billionaire client who pays them a million dollars a year to do something… on the opposite end of the spectrum — all fortune, no fame.
So yeah, you’re definitely right. I just usually work in the fatter parts of the bell curve.
Thank you for reminding me the number isn’t as important as the quality.. sometimes I feel like I am writing to no one, and wonder if it really matters. Then later I will get the client that says, I was reading your blog and… and then I know it really matters!