Earning six figures through your blog is certainly no duck soap. However, not being able to make an adequate income, if at all, means that you have real problem.
And believe me when I say this, it’s not all about generating sample content for your website and regularly updating it. The recipe for the perfect profit-earning blog takes a lot more than that!
Many bloggers are able to generate a steady flow of traffic, yet they still complain about the small amount of earnings they squeeze out from the few fund-generating sources they use.
The problem may not be the amount of content you create, the traffic you generate, or the number of emails in your list. Some newbie bloggers make the most obvious monetization mistakes that prevent them from running a profitable blog.
Here are the top 5 most common ones:
1. Low quality content
Having scores of content might fulfill one of Google’s ranking requirements. However, this doesn’t mean that your content is unique and high quality.
Understand the difference between quality and quantity. While quantity is an important factor in determining how much useful stuff you got, quality is also needed to stack a pile of loyal readers.
Subsequently, your readers, or in other words, the traffic you generate, will justify the ads, products, or other offerings necessary to produce a steady income.
2. Wrong design/theme
Selection of a blog design can have a significant impact on your earnings. A clear, organized, easy-to-navigate and responsive theme is likely to generate more revenue compared to one that is highly complex, full of distractions, and not responsive at all.
Aim for two things when it comes to choosing the right theme:
- user-friendliness and
- suitability (as per your niche).
Using a free theme in the beginning is fine, but as you move towards more advanced blogging techniques and start building a steady income, opt for a paid design that has plenty of ad space and customization options.
3. Wrong platform
While there is a multitude of options over the web for blogging purpose, not every one of them is best for money-making. WordPress is currently a blogger’s best bet at making the most from the blog and sky-rocketing earnings.
Wanna know why?
The reason deals with the designs, plug-ins, and other customization options offered by this popular CMS. Speaking of which, WordPress.com is a freemium which does not offer much customization options, unlike WordPress.org which is a CMS having endless customization options.
4. Waiting too long
Are you stopping your blog from making big bucks just because you are too afraid to hear “no” for an answer? Often newbie bloggers wait too long to have a huge following to begin their monetizing efforts.
Here’s a fact: you can start monetizing your blog starting from the day you launch your blog. Heck, your first reader might be your first customer. You wouldn’t know unless you give it a try, right?
5. Sticking to a failure
You can’t sit back and wait for the gold to rain down on you. Your monetizing efforts start from you and you only.
Find out what you are missing by testing various tools and techniques. It could be anything!
What works for another may not work for you and there is only one way to find out. By trying it! Ask your customer or potential readers, what they think, and give it a shot at anything new.
Try out a new blog theme, pay for a plug-in, put up a banner, sell a product, accept sponsored posts, join an affiliate program, use in-text links, or explore any other way to monetize your blog. Split test whatever legitimate technique comes your way instead of doing nothing and waiting for “income” to knock at your door.
Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!
One of the biggest mistake bloggers make is: promoting products that are not related to their readers. This is more important especially with affiliate marketing. The problem – The Product – The Visitor, all these has to be Sync in order to make a sale. Nice writing and thanks for it.
Hi Ven,
I certainly agree with you. Somehow people (visitors) realize very soon whom to trust and eventually to buy from.
Thanks for leaving your comment.
~ Dragan
Great post. I definitely agree with point 5, you have to find out what works for you not just with monetization but with blogging in general.
Hi Caroline,
Yes, trying different things with blogging in general is important to see what really works. Sometimes just simple asking your readers opinion can take you back on the right track.
I’m glad you liked the post and thanks for visiting. Have a great the rest of the day.
~ Dragan