Make Money
The Failure Of “Blog Monetization”
In blogger circles, the word “monetize” is a huge buzzword. Everybody is looking to “monetize” their blogs. Typically, you already have a blog and then you think, “Hmmm, how can I make money with this thing?”
The language we use says alot about our approach. It can also place an artificial limit on our mindsets and ultimately keep you from ever making money.
In thinking about this, I think that the phrase “blog monetization” is a symptom of going about it completely wrong.
You’re Not A Newspaper, Stop Acting Like One
Hey, you know what?
Newspapers aren’t doing so well these days. Revenue is way down and they’re trying to find new ways to live in the age of “new media”. Their income comes from ads and classified listings. Well, advertisers have a lot better options these days. And Craigslist makes newspaper classified ads less enticing. I could go on and on about it, really, but I’ll spare them.
The newspaper model is slowly dying away. So, why is it that so many bloggers are trying to act like them?
Planning, Dreaming, And Staying Broke. Or…
This is a guest post by Joe Gilder.
Does This Describe You?
You sit at your computer, switching between day-dreaming of making a full-time income from your blog and brainstorming ideas for your blog. You want to be David Risley. You want to create and release products and sell them by the hundreds.
And so? You plan.
Plan, plan, plan, plan, plan.
You’ve got three different text files on your desktop called “Product Ideas.” You’ve got an entire “Product Ideas” folder in Evernote with a dozen or more notes in it. Sometimes you even whip out a good ol’ legal pad (I can’t tell you how much I love a good legal pad) and write out some new ideas.
“I’m doing it,” you say to yourself. “Look how productive I’m being. Look at all these amazing ideas. If David Risley could see this, he’d be über-impressed.”
Bad news. If David could see you, he’d reach through the computer and smack your pretty little face. 
How I Make Money Blogging: 2010 YTD
Being a professional blogger is a business like any other in that you’ve got income and expenses.
It is easy to see bloggers like me talking about making full-time livings online and assume we’re just living large, eating caviar and wiping our butt with twenties.
The reality is that it takes money to make money. We don’t keep all the money we make.
So, today, I thought I would give a report card on my business in a revenue sense, but provide both sides of it. Income and expenses.
How Video Blogging Can Be A Fast-Track To Online Income
I’ve been a little quiet here on the blog the last few days. I just launched a new design on PCMech.com. and with it came some weird server load issues that I’m still working on. And when my head is in nerd-land, I don’t blog much. Or tweet much, for that matter.
But, I wanted to come out of my hole to tell you about a brand new report that just came out from Gideon Shalwick. If you don’t know Gideon, he worked with Yaro with the Become A Blogger program. Gideon is the guy who makes the videos over there look FANTASTIC. He is a hell of a video blogger and knows the field really well. He is a video expert who understands marketing and that’s just not something you see every day.
Well, Gideon just launched his Rapid Video Blogging report. It is 92 pages of awesome.
How I Got a 250% Opt-In Rate Increase With No Work… With Popup Domination
Some of you may have noticed that I silently launched a new lightbox opt-in form on this blog late on Friday afternoon. I’ve already had emails asking me how I did it. The design is really professional and it also resulted in about a 250% increase in opt-ins from what I was getting using Aweber’s lightbox form. And the best thing is…. I didn’t have to design it myself or hire anybody to do it.
How cool is that?
I did it using a brand new Wordpress plug-in called Popup Domination, being released by my far-flung blogging buddy from England, Michael Dunlop.
Product Launch Formula Review [Video]
So, by now, you’re probably thinking, “Yeah yeah yeah, Dave. I know… every internet marketer in the civilized world has been promoting PLF and now you’re just piling on.”
Well, sorta kinda. Here’s the deal…
I don’t usually jump in on launches like this. See, as we all know, some of these launches are pretty “hyped up” and I just don’t like participating in them. Especially when all that hype is aimed at a product that may or may not be any good.
The thing is, Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula isn’t that way. Whatever hype you may have seen this last week – it was deserved.
Bootstrap Your Way To Online Success
There is a good chance – a REALLY good chance – that what I’m about to say pretty much describes you…
You want to start an online business and make some money. You find the options for doing that overwhelming – REALLY overwhelming. There is so much to learn, so many strategies and tactics. You read about people making money online in various ways, but each time it just feels like they’ve figured out some magic X-factor that you don’t.
What’s worse, it seems you need to buy things to get off the ground. And you don’t have much disposable income.
It is the true catch-22. But, is it?
Why Banner Advertising For Blogs Sucks [A Story]
So, I get an email from a guy. I’ll leave his company out of it.
In short, he wants to place a text link on PCMech.com for a monthly fee. He isn’t interested in banner advertising. Just the text link.
So, I reply and essentially tell him that I’m not willing to do a site-wide text link for the purposes of SEO. Now, his site is related to mine, so that wouldn’t have been a problem. It was more a point about visual clutter. I don’t wish to litter up my blog with random links just because I get paid for it.
Blog Income Report, 2010 YTD
It has been awhile since I’ve done any kind of income report on this blog. That is by design. After all, it does seem a little bit vain to post things like that.
However, the truth is that people seem to find it super interesting. At the same time, I guess it serves as a little report card. So, I’ll do one.
Income Breakdown So Far….
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