Another Blog? Another Website?
Posted by Mitch on Nov 16, 2008
So there I was, minding my own business while reading Garry Conn’s post where he Adsense questions from his commenters, who were asking about placement and such on their sites, when he said something to one of them that got me thinking again.
Actually, he said two things. The first thing he said to someone is that he felt it was better to have three different blogs with one post a day than one blog with three posts a day. The second thing he said was that there are some blog niches that just won’t draw the types of visitors needed to make money on either Adsense or any other product, and one of those niches was internet marketing. His thought was that anyone in internet marketing already knows a bunch of stuff, and probably owns a lot of stuff, and also is already hosted somewhere and selling something, so if you give them a tip, they’re less likely to buy what you’re selling, but definitely not going to click on your Adsense ads.
My head has been hurting ever since, because there are a lot of truths in his statement. As I wrote in my post on rethinking Adsense, I’d been thinking that having more than one Adsense block on the side of my blog was a bad thing, especially since the blog generated almost no income from Adsense, and that I was thinking about replacing one of those blocks, which, for those of you who stop by often, I’ve done up there at the top left. And the first two wouldn’t necessarily be common to the thrust of this blog, although the first one is an affiliate program of it’s own, the Imagekind.
So, I started thinking, and I’ve been thinking about it all day, even while reading and commenting on a lot of blogs. It’s not the concept that’s bothering me, mind you. It would be easy enough to start another blog, or even another website, as I do have plans for that, especially as I’m seeing the kind of success that my site Medical Billing Answers gets with Adsense.
No, the problem is what else could I write about, that interests me, that would keep people coming back for more. Not only that, but just how many things are there that I could consistently write about? I go back to my own blogging tips, where I say that one should think ahead about picking a niche that they won’t run out of anything to say, and thus far, I’ve already picked the two niches that I know something about, even if I’m not overly successful in one of them (but I’m going to get there).
Oddly enough, I figure it has to be about me if I’m going to write the blog. Sure, I could do what some people recommend, that being go to article submission sites and use someone else’s content, but that’s not my style. I could set up a scraper site; nope, not happening. I could pick a niche that’s popular, then spend my days researching different stories on those topics and write about it, but if it’s something I really don’t care about, where would my credibility be? And y’all know I’m all about credibility.
A website would be much easier. I don’t think there’s a topic in this world I couldn’t do some research on and write a 20,000 page paper on it. That would give me 20 initial pages for a website, all credible information that’s been researched, and I could put it up and then go away, worrying about adding one new page a month, and it would probably be fine. But do I really want to do that?
Consternation is my friend right now, because obviously I have three choices. One, create a new website. Two, create another blog. Or three; stay right here and keep working on it only, adding more and more content and working towards becoming an authority on so many things that people will finally realize they absolutely must come here to learn what they need to learn, buy whatever they need to buy, and generally just have fun. What say you? Will a little bit of fun, courtesy of the Muppets, help you help me out?
I'm Just Sharing is where I share my thoughts on internet marketing, writing, blogging and many other things. You never know what I'll be posting on. So keep coming back, read, enjoy, and buy! ;)
As for what blog to start. My Scenic Adelaide blog does quite well on SERPS and stuff, even though I don’t put that much time into it. Perhaps you could start one on the area you live in. I reckon people are always interested in stuff that’s going on in other parts of the world.
Sire´s last blog post..Wassup’s Bloggers Forum Adding To The Blogging Experience
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Mitch Reply:
November 16th, 2008 at 11:40 PM
Still, thinking more stuff locally isn’t a bad thing. I just learned that the CEO of one of the local hospitals has a blog; neat.
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As for ideas, I do come up with one on occasions.
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Mitch Reply:
November 17th, 2008 at 12:02 AM
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Sorry Mitch I couldn’t help myself
Sire´s last blog post..Wassup’s Bloggers Forum Adding To The Blogging Experience
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Mitch Reply:
November 17th, 2008 at 12:28 AM
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Sire´s last blog post..Wassup’s Bloggers Forum Adding To The Blogging Experience
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Id say short posts are good as well, but Im finding it harder now to make shorter posts, as now Im actually posting worthwhile information as oposed to what happened in my day, lol!
I’ve taken the attitude with my blog that its not going to make me any money, so I’m not going to try with it – yet I will use it as a place to converse with others online, and to store up ideas with regards to internet marketing, blogging, mmo etc.
I think maybe you should keep this blog as something personal to you, and try starting up others to make money online…just my opinion!
Dan´s last blog post..How To Overcome Distractions
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Mitch Reply:
November 17th, 2008 at 10:32 AM
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Dan Reply:
November 17th, 2008 at 11:03 AM
Tbh you don’t even need to have an interest in something in order to blog about it – you can easily make a standard blog with content written by others that you purchase(as I know how you dislike ’skimming posts’)
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Mitch Reply:
November 17th, 2008 at 11:08 AM
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1. Dang man you need to promote more; any newbie coming through might think your articles are a private conversation between you and sire. LOL! J/K
2. The decision is simple and I think you already made it in your article…good advice for anyone with this dilemma…if you have nothing to write about, DON’T FORCE IT.
A while back when DSWM was just getting going I had all sorts of plans for multiple blogs, this and that; and even spent a lot of time setting them up.
Oops, nope. Get my initial blog all n ice and tidy and running as smooth as possible, then “move on” while still keeping it running nice.
Now I believe I have and have 2 more blogs almost ready to launch.
The moral I suppose might be not to be so quick for the buck, that you lose track and focus on what you already have.
Something like that.
Dennis Edell´s last blog post..$5 Paypal For The Best Favicon Idea!
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Mitch Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 12:33 PM
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Dennis Edell Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 10:09 PM
Dennis Edell´s last blog post..$5 Paypal For The Best Favicon Idea!
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Mitch Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 2:27 AM
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Dennis Edell Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Dennis Edell´s last blog post..Do You Have An Advertising Page?
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Mitch Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 10:10 AM
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Anyhow, I hope you figure it out.
Rodney@Blogging with WordPress´s last blog post..How I increased my Alexa Rank by 2k percent
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Mitch Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 12:33 PM
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I’m more or less in the same boat as you are.
The only three things I really love to blog about are Internet marketing, affiliate marketing, and home based businesses.
All of them are horrible choices for blogging and building websites.
There’s too much noise (not necessarily competition), the readers are mostly already informed and are jaded when it comes to advertising, and we’ve already trained ourselves not to click on our own Adsense ads, so we’re much less likely to click on them on other sites, even if we’re interested.
The reason I continue to blog about affiliate marketing and home business is because I hope to spread some good information to newbies (and not-so-newbies) in the field so they won’t get pulled into some of the things I’ve investigated over the last decade.
I also want to share what I’ve learned that really works and to do more of it.
I’ve tried blogging about something I don’t really care that much about because I know it can be lucrative. An example is DilbeckCommunications.com, which I started and almost instantly lost interest in. One reason was lack of passion and the other was the changes Cognigen made when it converted to Commission River.
I have absolutely no interest in cell phones. I wouldn’t have one if you gave it to me. I carried a beeper for years and learned to hate that noise at 3:00 am during a thunderstorm. Perhaps a cell phone is not as bad at that, but I just don’t care about them.
I like helping people find better Internet access and don’t mind a bit if someone uses one of my links to register a domain or purchase something else the company represents. But, it will never be something I’m passionate about.
I still get a commission check now and then as a result of that blog, but I just can’t motivate myself to do any more with it. I’ll be taking it down as soon as I get to it.
Like you, Mitch, I have a LOT of interests, but not many passions. I enjoy music and play banjo and guitar, but I don’t want to try to monetize those interests. I stopped playing in bands over 20 years ago because the work aspects of it were ruining my enjoyment.
I’m an Apple Mac fanatic, but I just can’t work up any interest in seriously promoting them.
I love pretty women, but I don’t think I want to move into that side of the Internet world.
I earn more from Adsense on my (mostly neglected) local websites and blogs, and they rank highly for the keywords I’ve already targeted. That income has dropped with the whole real estate collapse, but I’m sure it will rebound one of these days. The highest paying ads on those sites are from real estate agents and developers.
Now that Mom’s moved into a nursing home, I’ve had to completely re-evaluate what I’ve been doing and what I’m going to do.
As you may, or may not, know, I was a computer consultant for over 25 years and had no trouble earning hundreds of dollars a day with most clients – at least when I lived in Atlanta and Phoenix. When I moved here to Murphy, NC, my consulting business got a lot harder to promote and I didn’t earn what I had been used to.
Still, I love living here and I like promoting some of the local businesses.
I got to thinking that I have nearly 10 years experience in Internet marketing and I know that I know more than almost all of the local business owners do about the subject.
So, how viable is it to spend maybe 25% of my time as a consultant helping offline businesses promote themselves online? I already have the websites and blogs and the knowledge. All I need to do is get out and start talking to them.
That means that I’m changing my marketing model from websites and blogging to mailing lists and autoresponders, primarily. Email is still, by far, the best way to contact people who live mostly in the offline world.
I’ll be doing a lot of offline promotion to move people to my online properties.
The goal is to create a new marketing funnel – using what I’ve learned from the IM experts – to promote my clients and their businesses (and my consulting practice, indirectly).
Did I pick a good time to do it? Probably not, due to the economic climate.
Still, one local client can easily bring in more revenue in a few days than I earn in a year of Adsense revenue, and I get a check from Google almost every month.
The good thing is that it would be in addition to the Adsense revenue – so I don’t see much of a downside.
If I can prove that they get a positive ROI with my help, I’ll get more clients. If not, back to the drawing board.
Either way, I’m still going to put my efforts into building my marketing funnel – building my lists, as it were – and I’ll be using my blogs, websites, forums, communities, lenses, and everything else to attract people to subscribe to my various targeted lists.
It’s a lot more work to set up than blogging a few times per week, but I’m sure it will also be more effective and profitable.
In other words, I’m moving from a more-or-less-hobby-blogger to building a business where I can earn a real living.
I’m pleased with what I’ve accomplished over the years when I was housebound caring for Mom, but I know the offline world can be much more profitable – especially when I help business clients increase their profits using the skills I’ve developed in online marketing.
You, too, know the benefits of being a consultant. Maybe that’s where your real business interests are centered?
I don’t know if anyone will find this interesting, it’s just what I’ve been thinking about and planning for the last couple of months as I decided to refocus my efforts on building a real business as opposed to a potential business.
I much prefer getting paid in advance in real dollars before starting a project than doing the project, taking all the risks, and hoping for payment somewhere down the line.
For whatever it’s worth.
Even if it turns out that I earn most of my income next year from local business clients, I’ll still have a home business and will be doing the same things I love doing related to online marketing – with the exception that I’ll be getting paid in advance.
Act on your dream!
JD
John Dilbeck´s last blog post..Can AWeber and Squidoo Work Together?
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Mitch Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 9:42 AM
I’ve also been thinking more about connecting with the local offline world about doing some things online for them; just have to figure out the business model so I wouldn’t be cheating myself.
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I’ve been spending a lot of time over the last month or so on a membership site devoted to just this topic.
They have some good forums that are free, but the real information is in the Gold Member area.
I joined and it’s been well worth the investment.
Now, I know that it’s not as easy as some people there make it out to be – until you have some experience – but I also know it’s possible.
Most people with business consulting experience will feel right at home there and they have some very good ideas about the business model so you wouldn’t have to develop everything yourself.
This is an affiliate link, but you can still join the forums for free, or upgrade if you see any value in it.
http://offlinebiz.linktodetails.com
I upgraded two days after joining for free and I’ve been very happy with what I’ve learned there. I may not remain a member forever, but I’m going to continue until at least January. It takes a lot of time to read all the forum posts.
I haven’t been posting in their forums. I’ve been too busy reading, planning, brainstorming, and trying to tie everything I’ve been doing together with this new direction I want to go.
I won’t be building websites. I can outsource that to several people I know who will do an excellent job, but I’ll be helping with the promotion, social networking, PR, mailing lists and newsletters, customer referral systems, and so forth, as well as promoting my clients on my existing local websites.
Two important things I already knew and which keeps getting said on those forums are these:
1. Go out and talk to the business owners. Get off your butt and on your feet. (grin)
2. Price high and work with the best businesses in your area. Price by the project whenever possible and make sure you get 50% up front. Be sure you’ll be happy with that amount if you are unable to collect the remainder.
I know from my own consulting experiences that the higher I raised my rates, the better I liked the clients who hired me. Work for the 20% who bring in the most profits and have the fewest complaints.
Price the project at what you think is fair and then double or triple it before starting to negotiate. As long as the price they pay you is less than what they earn as a result, it’s a fair deal.
Don’t cheat yourself. Don’t be a bottom-feeder. Aim high.
Act on your dream!
JD
John Dilbeck´s last blog post..Happy Birthday to EzineArticles.com!
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Mitch Reply:
December 15th, 2008 at 2:11 AM
Of course a couple of things have happened since I was last here. One, I got a consulting assignment, and I’m all the way across the United States; well, practically anyway. Two, I did go ahead and create another blog, although I actually purchased a new blog from someone else, so it may or may not count. Waffling; sigh.
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John Dilbeck Reply:
December 16th, 2008 at 8:52 AM
I’m kind of in the opposite end of this spectrum. Over the years, I’ve created way too many blogs and lots of them have similar or exact content because I was testing to see which would attract the most visitors and rank the best.
Now I have a good idea of what they do and I’m really looking forward to deleting some of them and not having to think about them anymore.
I have 40 or 50 or so domains and I don’t want to give up any of them, so I’m going to have to decide what to do with them – probably point them at the surviving blogs or a page on a website. Don’t know yet.
The more I plan this local business promotion consulting, the better I like it. Still won’t know the reality of it until I set up appointments next month. There may be overwhelming interest, or I may be met with sighs and yawns. I’ll know in 60 days.
Still plugging along.
If nothing else, I could always go to Reno and play high-stakes Texas Hold ‘Em.
JD
John Dilbeck´s last blog post..Have you seen Twitter Me Fun?
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Mitch Reply:
December 16th, 2008 at 10:56 PM
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John Dilbeck Reply:
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:42 PM
My original business model was to do something like you describe – building multiple websites and/or blogs. I know that works well for some people and very well for a few.
However, I have learned that there just aren’t that many topics I want to write about – even if it pays well.
That doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea, it’s just not for me.
Maybe as I get older I’m getting lazier.
I’m looking forward to following what you’re doing and hope it goes very well for you.
Act on your dream!
JD
John Dilbeck´s last blog post..Did you know you can syndicate your SquidCasts by RSS and email?
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Mitch Reply:
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:54 PM
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Rodney@Blogging with WordPress´s last blog post..How I increased my Alexa Rank by 2k percent
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Yes, I like your idea of the new niche.
Still, it’s a combination of both offline and online promotions that should have a synergy that one or the other, alone, doesn’t have.
Most local business owners are too tied up doing what they do, that they don’t have the time or energy – or possibly the skill – to do an effective job of marketing.
In my area, most businesses rely on newspaper ads in our local weekly. We all know, however, that newspapers are moving in the direction of buggy whips.
Online promotions are cheaper, have a wider reach, and electrons cost much less than dead trees.
Part of the trick is to get the customers to cross the offline/online chasm. Most people around here live almost entirely in the offline world, so it will take offline promotions to get them to enter the online marketing funnel.
Most of the websites are basic brochure sites and the SEO is sadly lacking, so even if they have a site, it’s practically invisible.
I got an email from a prospect who is wanting something almost exactly like what I’ve been talking about here.
He has a landscaping business, but he’s invisible on the web, even though he has a six page website. Google can’t find him for any relevant keywords, and even if I search for the exact name in quotes, I only find five references to him in the local newspapers.
With some basic promotions, I can easily have him on page one, #1, for keywords such as “landscaping murphy nc” or whatever his best phrases would be. That’s a much easier target than trying for page one results for topics related to Internet marketing, home business, etc.
Hook all of that up to Friendfeed, Facebook, Squidoo, Stumbleupon, Delicious, Twitter, and all the other sites we use and he’ll start getting traffic to even the site he currently has.
He’s doing nothing to interact with any prospects and help them down the marketing funnel into becoming customers, and then repeat customers.
So the first step is to get a new website that can be found. Then, I can start promoting that on my various local presences to get him established in the search engines.
Then, we can modify his site to offer one or more short PDF reports on topics related to his most profitable landscaping services. To get the report, prospects and customers would have to sign up for the newsletter.
We all see where this is going, don’t we. However to most brick and mortar businesses, this is completely alien.
Then, put links for the report in all his advertising, dead-tree brochures, promotional products, etc. to get the prospects and customers online at least enough to get the report and subscribe to the online newsletter.
Then, it’s a matter of pushing the emails out to them and pulling them back to an interactive environment where they build rapport and become friends. (Kind of like a blog or forum, maybe?)
As far as for being able to do it, you already have a lot of the technical skills. You can manage a blog, increase your Alexa rank, get found in the search engines, etc. That puts you far ahead of most of the business owners anywhere near where you live.
Perhaps there are other things that would stop you now – time, energy, sleep, etc. – but don’t underestimate your knowledge and experience.
Act on your dream!
JD
John Dilbeck´s last blog post..Getting back to work
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…it’s the middle of January.
Any news to share?
Act on your dream!
JD
John Dilbeck´s last blog post..Twitter Grader – find local Twitter elite
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Mitch Reply:
January 16th, 2009 at 2:01 PM
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