Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

How A Blogger Makes Money Without Being a Slimeball

January 19, 2010 | Marketing

iStock_000000241330XSmall OK, well perhaps the topic is a little bit misleading. In reality, it is not any kind of requirement that you have to be a slimeball to make a buck in this business.

The reality is, though, that there is a segment of the blogger population who thinks this is the case.

Are you adverse to the idea of marketing on your blog? Do you feel as if you have to become one of “those people” to make a buck?

Shooting Yourself In The Foot Sucks

… and if you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, that’s exactly what you’re doing. Shooting yourself in the foot.

The truth of the matter is that being afraid to market on your blog is about the same thing as taking your success, tossing it in a hole, and pouring concrete over it.

Let us, for a moment, just look at how Wikipedia defines the word “marketing”. It says:

Marketing is the process associated with promotion for sale goods or services. It is considered a "social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and values with others." It is an integrated process through which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return.

Now, I added the emphasis in there and I did it for a reason.

As bloggers, we are in the business of creating VALUE and building STRONG RELATIONSHIPS. If you’re doing your job correctly, then that’s what you do every day. You want to build up repeat traffic. You want lots of comments and interaction. That’s what this is all about, right?

Where a lot of bloggers stop is at the point of capturing value from customers in return. Why do you stop? You’re providing value. Lots of value. Providing yet more value and then getting something back from them (in the form of an email or even a little money) is a natural part of this equation.

Our society is BUILT on marketing. It is everywhere – even places you don’t think it is. Your blog, if it is a “no marketing zone” is actually an exception to the rest of society and it shouldn’t be.

The Reality of Blog Marketing

Here’s the big thing that many bloggers fail to understand…

If you get a bad taste in your mouth about the idea of marketing, it is probably because you were subject to some really piss-poor marketing at some point. You don’t want to be THAT guy.

Not all marketing is that way, however.

Furthermore, bloggers are in an IDEAL situation to market things without being the slimy dude we all try to avoid. Why? Because we are, just naturally, building up relationships with our audience. We control the message on our own blogs. And we provide TONS of value.

The Simple Formula

I like formulas. They’re nice and easy to follow. So, here’s one for you.

This is my little formula for how you make money with a blog without being a slimeball…

  1. Provide lots of VALUE to your audience and do it continually.
  2. Be REAL. Never BS your audience. Be transparent.
  3. Be CONNECTED. That means you respond to your readers. You’re out there in social media. You don’t ignore them. This is all about communication.
  4. Make an offer. Alas, the step so many bloggers skip right over. Have something to sell your readers.
  5. Have confidence in the offer you make. Make sure it adds VALUE to their lives and you show them that.
  6. Repeat all of the above. Continue adding value to your blog, being a real person, respecting your audience, and fostering communication.

Does that make sense?

As I end off, I’ll just say this…

There is NOTHING wrong with selling something on your blog. You’re actually failing to serve your readers and yourself when you do that. If you resort to banner ad overload on your blog because you’re too stubborn than to sell something to your readers, you are failing them and you are failing yourself.

Marketing is the simple act of offering value and them offering value back. It is how this world works.

Learn More

bookcover_3d If you want to read more about my take on blog monetization, I invite you to check out the Six Figure Blogger Blueprint.

This report has been downloaded almost 4,000 times in the last few days and the feedback has been, well, humbling as hell.

As you read this report, I think your view of making money as a blogger might shift. I’ve been getting TONS of feedback to that effect from the people who’ve read it.

But, think about this as you read it. That report is me applying the above formula. I do make offers to my audience, and in about a week I’m about to offer something to my blog readers that I’ve spent the last six months working on. Believe me, the Blog Masters Club is the very definition of “lots of value”, as you will soon see. But, I provide lots of value on the outside, too, and the Blueprint is part of it.

I practice what I preach. :)

So, go check out the Blueprint. I’ll have another video for you tomorrow (most likely). Plus, details forthcoming on a free, public LIVE webinar I’ll be doing for you guys on Monday.

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  • Duff_McDuffee
    David, you are "one of those people."

    From your sales page: "It is really easy to distrust somebody, but at the end of the day, it doesn't help you, does it?"

    Actually, being skeptical of pushy salespeople who prey on human greed like you does in fact help me to keep my hard-earned money out of the hands of scammers.
  • Hehe... alrighty then. Guess you can't get through to everybody. ;-)
  • travisamorgan
    Rock on, David. It's about time someone addressed this black-and-white mindset of "Scam way or the highway."

    I've been a follower of your blog for about half a year now, and I finally have a blog of my own. That's why it took me so long to comment. haha!! Don't ask.. I'm weird sometimes. I'm still currently in the process of thinking about exactly what I COULD offer to my readers, but I know it will come with time. It will be natural and it will be amazing.

    God bless,
    Keep on keepin' on!!
  • Awesome. And Thanks.
  • David, took a quick scan of your sales page. Looks good, really good. But I'm partial to long copy. Just love the stuff when it's done right.
  • Yeah, been thinking of testing a video-only page, though. The long-form sales letters are almost a fact of life, but no doubt some people see it and immediately equate me to some other "slimeball". Like the dude below. [sigh]
  • Do both. Be everywhere!

    I like how Robert Plank does it: video, text, slides, audio, whole nine yards.

    He'd put it out in smoke signals if he could figure out a way to stuff a smoke signal into a HTTP payload.

    I say this because I personally prefer long copy to video. (Actually, I loathe video, but it's super effective I admit)
  • Yeah, I understand what you mean about being a slimeball. Nowadays, there are a lot of self-proclaimed guru, expert, evangelist and super affiliate.

    The problem with that is they skip the part of building a relationship and providing value and just start selling. Most of the time, it's just bad advice to new bloggers.

    I like the way of doing things like the "third tribe" as Sonia Simone from Copyblogger describes it. Provide value, build a relationship and then talk about making a sale.
  • Yeah, the Third Tribe approach is what I subscribe to as well.
  • Another excellent point: I"ve stopped making offers lately. I need to get in the habit of doing so again.
  • Yeah, never stop. That is, if you like seeing some return for your time. :-)
  • Lols. I like the title. The problem I think is that most bloggers are trying so much to rush things by being a lazy ass. For example, they think getting 100 uniques in one night is cool, what would they do? spam their links in large sites like blogcatalog and etc. and some big forums like digitalpoint. Of course they get the traffic, but the return is a bad rep online.
  • Yeah. Rushing things can backfire.
  • Ahh the learning curve is steep! Figuring out what has value and what is complete BS takes some sifting but great pointers, cheers!
  • Bottom line is it takes work and few people are willing to do that because of two reasons I believe.

    1. They don't realise it takes work to make this happen as they've been brainwashed by people selling dreams.
    2. They're not willing to do what it takes because they thought earning a living online would be they're ticket to an easier life without have to put in much work.

    That's my point of view on it. Just give people what they want and make it worth they're time after building trust with them and you're in. Of course, by far, easier said than done from my point of view at this time lol.

    Good article, David.
  • There will always be people who buy dreams. There is no doubt it works in marketing. For me, its just a matter of feeling like I'm misleading somebody. I could never, with pure heart, sell the Blog Masters Club training to anybody on the notion that it wouldn't take very much work to execute what I teach. It'd just be a lie.
  • Hi David.

    This is a great article for us that is in the process of tighten our Blogging Wealth Gap.

    Knowing that you actually can make money with your blog follow some simple basic principles.

    I agree with RJ Weiss here.. maybe not in that order but the principle is the same;
    Build a relationship - create trust - provide value true your info/product

    And I think you have make room for your own failures on your journey to achieve your goals. I guess you as an pro-blogger David often hear things like the system is not working etc. And when we think the system is not working we tend to shoot the messenger, instead of take a good look in the mirror.

    I love to make food. And very often I pull up one of my cook books here that is full of various recipes. Well, I can promise that more one time the end result did not come out as expected even though I 'followed' the recipe. But I knew the recipe had worked for 100's of others. The trick then is not to shoot the messenger, but figure out why it is not working.

    Cheers.. Are
  • David -

    It's posts like this one which make me so happy to have discovered your blog in the second half of 2009. I flipped the switch and started treating my travel blogs like a business, and everything has improved since then - traffic, income, brand awareness.

    And I'm excited to release my first product in less than two weeks - a membership site that I'm beyond confident can offer value to travel bloggers.

    Thanks for all the straight talk and encouragement.
  • That's awesome, Dave! Let me know how it goes.
  • I am not afraid to market on my own blogs. Why should I? I mean if some of the people on my blog are interested in certain type of products, and the want information about it, I give them information, review, suggestion, advice or whatever else, and they act on that (affiliate sale, opt-in form, click on adsense ad...)

    Just like you said, you are failing to serve your readers.
  • Great post. It's weird how everyone thinks the rules have changed for blogging. Making money from blogging is the same thing great salesman have been doing for years. Providing value, creating trust, and building relationships. It doesn't change that much.
  • Bingo. The medium has changed. The way things are done, really, hasn't.
  • You couldn't be more "coorect" about this, David. However:

    The (same? opposite?) thing applies when you look at the way your readers view what you write, how you promote yourself, etc.; is people PERCEIVE you as a slimeball, then you are one (perception is reality).

    I always append posts I make to others' blogs with links back to mine. I only post on-topic, and as I am adding value to your blog by furthering discussion I feel it TOTALLY appropriate to "hand out my card while at your party".

    Some people take exception to this. I understand when I get lumped into the same category as REAL slimeballs who post everywhere JUST To create linkbait. I get past that in my own head easily, but . . . perception is reality. Others are even worse: as I've recently written about on my blog, the Managing Editor of CNet went out of his way to tell me he didn't like me doing this privately through email . . . but refused to continue the conversation with me even though I explained myself politely.

    So at the end of the day . . . if perception relly is reality, I can see why people would feel slimy. But yeah, you're right; they shouldn't!

    Jeff Yablon
    President & CEO
    Answer Guy and Virtual VIP Business Change Coaching

    Answer Guy and Virtual VIP on Twitter
  • I understand what you say about perception, but that still goes right to my point, actually. The way I see it, if you do the stuff I said, that negative perception wouldn't be there.
  • David... You're post is right on... Too many people look at selling as a bad thing... Everybody sells something to someone... whether it's reasons to be friends with someone... selling a boss reasons to get a position or an ecourse on a site... Everything in life is a sell...

    @ Rod... You made the comment of the year...
  • I've read your free ebook "6 Figure Blogger Blueprint", I left comments on your site and wrote a post on my site reviewing it.
    I liked the report. I believe everything you said in it about making money blogging is true.

    I'm not sure why people are down on people like yourself, who make money online by selling valuable products.
    It drives me nuts actually when people say they want to be rich but they won't follow the principles you outline to achieve their goal.

    And, I would rather be given the option to purchase information from someone I think is giving me value on their site than be forced to look at masses of banner ads on a site linking me to some other site...

    I think you are providing a valuable service whether I buy your products or not.
    Thanks for that..
  • Very nice post.. If done right selling on your blog makes for a beautiful relationship.

    I think your "true" will see the overall benefit you offer so when there is a little selling they are fine with it, and respect you advice, recommendation.
  • Rod
    Hey, David, I couldn't agree with you more, as a blogger, our job is to "create value for customers and build strong customer relationships." However, I think where a lot of bloggers fail is they don't take the job seriously. Which means, less "playing" with their blog and treating it like a business. Even if they do understand the relationship of blog & business, some don't see past the short-term benefits (traffic & comments) and look at the long-term benefits (prosperous relationships & an online monetary system).

    Great work you're doing here, keep it up, sir!
  • Thanks. And you're right, too many bloggers are short-sighted.
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