What Do You Consider Successful Blogging
What is your definition of blogging success? Is it how many RSS subscribers you have, Twitter followers, FaceBook fans?
Do you want or do you have a successful blog?
How is your Page Rank, Alexa Rank, newsletter subscriber count?
Maybe you do not even know how to blog. I know, I was there too once and it can really suck big time. That is why I wrote an eBook for new bloggers to give them the tools and resources to become a successful blogger.
The truth is that for most bloggers it boils down to how much money we make a month. Your blog could have an Alexa rank of 2,000,000, receive 1200 visitors a month and only have 50 newsletter subscribers, but what if it was earning you $3000 a month steady income because you had enough loyal followers to support your blogging efforts.
I would consider your blog a success.
Let’s face it, blogging for profit takes a lot of time, hard work and energy to produce the fruits of our labor.
I don’t want to spend another six months of full-time blogging, full-time regular job plus family commitments only to have my blogging income steady itself at best.
Monetizing a site isn’t easy unless you have a plan. Since the how to make money blogging niche is saturated you could get lost in the information there and also lose focus on your goals.
So I will suggest something that I know will work if you use it.
My idea is to focus on one monetization area until you master it and then go onto the next one until you master it and so on. Since Adsense is my number one earner at the moment I decided to start focusing on another area, consulting.
Now I know as many entrepreneurs can attest to trading time for money sucks and I agree. But if you are blogging full-time in hopes of earning a living from it you are basically working on 100 % commission type work similar to a realtor. No sales equals no money.
I don’t intend on making consulting my only means of income but I do plan on making that my main focus for the next two months. With consulting I can set my own hourly rates as opposed to working for someone else and having them dictate my hourly rates and even worse the hours that I work.
I also like the idea of spending maybe 2 to 3 hours max a day on blogging activities including consultations. The whole purpose of my blogging was two-fold, one was to stop trading so much time for so little money and the other was to have more hours left in my day to do the things that I like doing.
My long-term goal is to get my blog earning $1000 a month steady income by the end of my one year anniversary in January 2012.
Use what has worked in your life before
I remember when I used to go to the gym after school every other day to work-out (unless it was football season). I would always do a general routine alternating days. I would do chest, triceps and back on one day and then biceps, shoulders, and legs on the other.
With this strategy I definitely got stronger and bigger but I didn’t see the results that I was after. The funny thing is that I never changed this routine all throughout high school.
It wasn’t until my early twenties where I learned to focus on one muscle for at least two months and forget the rest that I began seeing tangible results.
I always wanted to have bowling balls for biceps so I started there first. I learned every kind of bicep exercise known to man and I used them.
By the end of two months I actually had the look that I was going for as opposed to the four years that I spent in high school doing the same routine with the same results.
My point is instead of focusing on pay-per-click ads, direct ads, affiliate product promotion, eBook and other information products, etc, just pick one area and focus on it for two months. Study it learn it use it and get the results. If not you can try to be average at everything and achieve minimal results at best.
This method doesn’t just apply to blogging either. Whenever I learn something new I totally immerse myself in it for at least two months.
I eat, sleep and breathe it until I have fully integrated and mastered the new skill. Once you mastered something it becomes second nature to you and then you can teach it to others, (for a small fee).
Become Successful With Your Blog Now
How would you like to have unlimited traffic to your blog or website. Traffic is what makes your site money. More traffic equals more money right?
I see so many bloggers get real excited when they start off and then it fades away because they are not earning the money they thought they would. Don’t let this happen to you.
Invest a small amount of capital into your site and watch as your initial small investment turns into a huge return.
Check out the Millionaire Society and find out more about getting tons of traffic to your website. This product is perfect for affiliate marketers. Go ahead now and take a look for yourself.
Category: Blogging/Business
About the Author (Author Profile)
I became curious about what motivates people’s behavior and attitudes, and what is the secret formula to success. As a result I got my hands on every piece of material that I could find to answer these questions.
I have immersed myself with knowledge and experience for over 15 years pertaining to the fields of Psychology, Personal Development, Spirituality, Physical Health and Vitality, and Metaphysical Studies. I have read over 700 books, 1000s of blog posts and listened to over 100 audio programs pertaining to personal growth. I’ve made tons of mistakes along the way but more importantly I learned from them.Now it is my turn to share what I know with you. Are you ready? Let’s Rock!
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My number one right now is maintaining my focus. To be honest, I absolutely know how and where to start things. But since there are lots of thoughts running through my mind, I ended up planning and digesting all information in my head. It's pretty obvious that will not be able to master anything with this kind of attitude and mindset. Good thing that you've reminded me of what I need to do.
Hi Justin, in the real world I could be considered a Jack of all trades type person. I know a bit of most things and so I do all the maintenance around the house. When it came to maintaining the trucks in our wholesale business we did as much of that as we could. Being able to do that saved as a whole lot of money.
I'm afraid I do the same thing with my blogging in that I haven't really mastered any one area but I am pretty proficient in a lot of them.
I Money aside I actually judge my blogging success by the amount of great comments I get as well as the amount of Tweets a post receives. I've never really worried about PR although I do keep track of my Alexa rank as I see an increase in traffic to be a lot more important than some random ranking that Google may wish to bestow on me.
Hi Sire, Thanks for stopping by. You sound a lot like me, dabble in everything. I think that is also why I became a jack of all trades kind of person, to save me money and to also save me asking others to do it for me.
I found your blog when I was doing a search. I believe that I signed up for your RSS so I can stay in the loop.
I just believe for many that earning a living through blogging is the goal. But what I am also learning because I do not have a lot of computer knowledge is that it takes some time.
Thanks again Sire. :)
Great Post!
I think for me, successful blogging is to make great connections with people, to have them benefit from my writing.
I want to help others through my recommendations, i.e. affiliate marketing and also other opportunities.
I'm just starting out but I believe eventually I can earn from my blogs :)
Argee, We can earn and help each other at the same time. What a deal. :)
I must agree with you that defining your own success is very important. I've come across many blogs where the blogger, in a bid to promote some piece of software, tries to down play what others are doing online. They set up what success should really be and once you're not measuring up to that standard you feel as if your efforts are in vain.
What I think anyone trying to make money blogging should do is to set a target just as you have done. Focus on achieving that target and then moving on to others things.
At the begining of this year I set the target of increasing traffic to my blog and raising the page rank. I'm glad that I've been able to achieve this with the traffic presently triple of what it was when I started and the page rank moving from 0 to 3 with the recent update. Now, I'm moving on to other targets in the next 3 months. I hope I achieve my new targets.
So, success in blogging is about what you set out to achieve not what others want to set for you.
Hi Chadrack,
I agree with what you said my friend. We get to define our own success and what it means.
At first for me it was traffic, and then Alexa and them Page Rank and now it is Money. Not so much for the sake of money but using money as a means of measuring success.
Thanks for adding to the conversation Chadrack.
Great post. I have been inspired to do more with my blogging. Checked out your consulting page too. I've tried to get more into blogging about social media and am looking to do my first talk on social media this month, maybe a few talks. I blog at http://blog.beethomas.com. I really hope my speaking goes well and I'll put a "speaking" tab at the top of my page. Thanks again for the inspiration.
Hi Brian,
Blogging is a great way to have a vehicle to promote or sell you or your product.
Good luck on your speaking engagements this month. :)
Very good post, Justin. I really admire your progress, you seem to be very successful at what you are doing, so kudos to you for that and for sharing your success with others. I still seem to be struggling in the starting gates, progress fairly slow, but keep plugging along with the hope that someday things will "pop". Enjoy reading your posts, and keep up the good work.
Thanks Jennifer,
My best advice is to know what you want to achieve with blogging. For many it is the big 3.
1.Freedom
2.Money
3.Contribution
If you stick with it and don't quit then you will absolutely be successful. Good vibes to you. :)
You are welcome Joshua.
Giving a feedback to this kind of natural, simple yet very nice article is always should be a duty to everyone. I liked the topic that you have covered. It is very true that you need to be focused on one area to get the maximum out of it. Thanks for such a nice article.
We have to define what success for me is. I am already doing what I love which is sharing what I know but I have a life to create and money is generally the best way to help achieve that goal.
I will check out your post. :)
In the interests of keeping your comments free from distracting debate, I wrote an article instead from a different perspective where I address some of your points. In summary, I agree with you in principle--but I disagree with you in practice. It's here if you care to peruse it: http://lifewisdomcorner.com/wordpress/?p=400
Justin,
As I said, everyone faces unique challenges. Many artists and writers never saw a cent for their work although they may now be regarded as "genius" or "seminal". It isn't so much that they wanted to do it for free--more that they had to do it for free because nobody was paying them for what they did.
I pick up odd jobs where I can--sometimes in networking--sometimes with some astrology--sometimes not at all.
How would you rate the success of someone like Van Gogh? Or Poe? Or for a very long time--Hemmingway--or for that matter J.K. Rowling? I'm simply pointing out that if you use money as your sole means, well, sometimes people are not willing to hand you fist fulls of dollars for what you do. Are you a failure then?
Hey Joe,
This blog post is rating success in terms of income. There are a million and one things to do when it comes to blogging and there are various little success steps like FaceBook fans, Twitter followers, RSS subscribers, Alexa ranking and so on.
Over-all though it would be how many people that we help through our blogs message(energy) and how much that we get back money (energy).
Money is an exchange of energy, value for value.
Artists that didn't get success until after they passed away failed to thrive while they were alive yet someone else took advantage of their death and profited from the sales of their artwork and reputation.
JK Rowling is a success in my eyes.She has published many Harry Potter books, many movies were made, many jobs were created because of her.
If you are persistent at what you do people will eventually be willing to pay you money for what you do. It's all about establishing ourselves and our brand.
People like winners, people pay winners, money doesn't flow to mediocrity. It takes time to establish ourselves in whatever line of work that we do. We must remain committed, focused by having goals, and persistent so that we don't quit right about the time that we are about to strike gold.
It's seems Artists have the most trouble getting paid in this world yet I value the beauty of their artwork and creativity more than anything else.
Here is my take: Money and the money system is a male energy creation. Creativity including artists are right-brained-Feminine. They are at odds with one another.
So if a modern artist like Thomas Kinkade- right-brain can achieve financial success-left-brain than we need to model how he did it.
Kinkade is a success to me in both his ability to reach so many people with his artwork and also that he makes awesome money.
Hi Justin,
I like how you mentioned the need to focus on one area and master it first. When starting out online there is the temptation to do everything which then just makes it overwhelming and leads to the probability of a person quitting. Also by focusing on one area and doing it well, you are able to see the results and it builds your confidence and keeps you going.
I agree that while I am excited about my Alexa ranking, I need to work on monetization because that's how I know my blog is a success.
Thanks,
Diana
Hi Diana,
Great input as usual. :) I think that every new blogger goes through the try do everything at once phase, get's burned out and ends up quitting or taking a hiatus from blogging.
Being in it for the long-haul we have to become masters one area at a time.
I have learned that making money the sole means of determining success is a "bad idea". Why? Because what is valued is not always valuable.
I'm not against making money, but I do think each person has their own unique challenges in life and unique solutions. I write because I am a writer. If I make money at it, even better. If not, I'm still a writer.
Hi Joe,
How do you support yourself and your family? Many consider blogging their job, work, career. Just as we wouldn't write a book and give it away for free we shouldn't blog and expect nothing in return.
I wouldn't go around cutting people's grass for free or wash their car for free then why would we expect to not earn a living with our blog.
Thanks, I got three consultations so far after writing this post so I can confirm that focusing on one area which for me was consultations really does work.
The law of attraction- what we focus on and send out will come back to us, was what I used.
"This method doesn’t just apply to blogging either." I totally agree! I always tell people not to focus on different things at the same time. Take one step at a time. If you try to be jack of all trades, you'll be a master of none!
Mouh
Hey Mouh,
I am a jack of all trades kind of guy but I believe that mastery is the way to go.
Thanks for stopping by.
You are perfectly right when you notice that we should choose one area and see how it goes, instead of putting energy on many sides and make no or very little results with it. That way we can also specialize in certain field, which is more likely to gain success if we become experts for some particular matter.
Pick one area and immerse yourself in it and I guarantee that you will get the results that you want.
Hey Justin,
The majority of monetizing on a blog is just time, and experimentation. Possibly give yourself a dead-line and if you hit the deadline with the results you intended, then stick with it. If it isn't getting the results at the timeframe, then go ahead and switch it up and experiment. Consulting may be a good source of income for you as well. That's the reason I feel like if someone is really working their passion, eventually it will make money because they are invested in it so much that there is no other alternative. It is like saying to the universe, here this is what I was born to do, now assist me in making money from it. =)
Thanks Baker,I was inspired to write this article after Ana from TrafficGeneration.com went out on a limb and disclosed her earnings and also monthly web traffic.
Ana started her blog 6 months before me so she is now celebrating her one year anniversary. I have something to gauge my own results by seeing where Ana is now with her blog.
It's all about experimenting with monetization and getting traffic and helping people in certain areas of their lives.
I have a contest going for my newsletters subscribers at the moment. One free e-mail consultation, drawing will be held on July, 4th.
See how good I am to my newsletter subscribers.
Justin, Great post. I enjoyed it and I like the idea's. My goal is earning E3000 a month on my blog anniversary by May 2011 and E50000 a month by May 2013. At the moment I'm not monetizing, but concentrating on building readership and learning of blogging skills as planned. In one month I will shift it to the next level.
I think your idea to 'focus on one single area' for 2 months, is very valuable. For me the period is 3 months. First, it is valuable strategy to focus on one topic and immerse in this topic completely. Secondly, I can concentrate in a very passionate way for only 3 months on the same subject. It is a natural phenomena: after 3 months I have to do something else ...
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Marc.
The $ amount isn't everything to me. It's not like if I was earning $3000 a month after a year would be a bad thing.
I'm just having fun with it now and good luck to you as well.
I always get a lot of amazing responses when I write blogging posts.
What a great topic and you are so right about learning one skill and only concentrating on that one until you have mastered it. I think most people get flustered and upset when they don't see the results they feel they should be seeing, throw their hands up and quit. Haven't we all been there before?
I have no doubt you will be successful with your consulting. You are a lot more patient than I am. I wish you the very best for reaching your goal of what you want to be making from your blog.
Enjoyed the post as always Justin. Have a wonderful afternoon and a fun and relaxing weekend.
Adrienne
Thanks Adrienne. :)
One day at a time and one skill at a time.
It's strange because for awhile I was doing intention manifestation exercises and so on about money from my blog and the amazon affiliate links and even donations were coming in. Then I stopped, and even though I have more traffic now, I actually make less.
But yeah, Adsense is definitely my number one earner. I've since stopped worrying so much about making money from my blog, and I just let it flow easily. I spend very little time working on it now. Most of it is just writing articles and comments these days, and the occasional blog post.
If I could make even 500 bucks a month from my blog, I'd say it's a major success. That's SO much money to me, especially if it's "free."
Fred,
I know you heard of the point of adding value and in exchange the money will follow. Of course this is true if we intend it to.
Since we can't focus on everything at once when it comes to blog monetizing unless we could afford to hire staff then it is easiest for us to just focus on on area to contribute the most in. For me consulting for you affiliate sales or whatever you choose.
I wrote this post because I could sense that many were pulling their hair out trying to maintain and do everything on their blog.
I think you have the right idea. That's the way I was trained to think in MBA school - focus, master, refocus.
For me success would be reaching all of my internal goals. However, money is nothing but energy exchange - put out the right thing, and money comes to you. Simple as that. There is more than enough abundance in the world for every single blogger to be a success on their own terms. If they do it solely for the money, well...that is something else again. But when you're doing it with your purpose in your heart as you are, you succeed financially as well.
Very well said. I could have titled this post Add value to others and the money will follow.
I wanted to write a simple to understand and straight forward post that get help us bloggers do this full-time.
Everybody has a monthly figure that they would be happy with. I chose $5000 because I like the feel of it. After $5000 I may change it to $8000 and so on.
For me it's all about the journey and not the final destination. Money is just one means for me to see that I am adding value and valuing myself accordingly.
I agree with focusing on a specific area. Success to me is when you stick with your plan, no matter what happens in between and finish your goal (regardless of the outcome). Because now that you have finished your goal...you can have a true perception on what needs to be adjusted when creating new goals. Just like focusing on one area. My one area in blogging is to focus on my Reiki energy clearing services.
Can you send me a long distance Reiki healing:) been working too hard lately.
Goals are fun especially monetary goals. Because I never had a job that I really liked I never made much working for others.
I made the bulk of my money through one real-estate deal and also the stock market so I am eager to produce the same results with my blog.
Hi Justin,
I like your focus on focus theme. It's the key to significant accomplishment. Good luck on attaining your financial goals.
Riley
Hey Riley,
Just know that the majority /almost all of my posts are about something that I am experiencing in the moment.
For the past month I have been having major problems focusing on any one thing. Sometimes my posts are just simple reminders for myself and also reminders for others that are in a similar situation.
Hi Justin,
Nice post! For me, I rely one adsense and my ebooks sales for now. Hopefully by the end of June 2012, I will have around 7 ebooks that I sell, each for $15. Therefore, to make $5000 a month, I would need to sell around 11 copies of my books a day and this comes only with traffic. The more traffic we get, the more we make in adsense and in selling our ebooks and services. For traffic, I rely for the most part on search engine as this is targeted traffic for the most part. It took Steve pavlina 6 month to make a living online, Glen 1 year, Farouk 1-2 years, Yaro (not sure) and many others…Hopefully all of us will achieve our goals and visions ;) Thanks for sharing Justin
Hey Dia,
Thanks, $5000 is just a tangible number that I can comprehend. If I said $100 than that would be too quick of a goal for me to achieve.
$ 5000 will not happen overnight but giving me six months to do so will allow me enough space to reach it.
I believe that within six months of steady focus that we should be able to earn part-time money with our blog and after one year full-time.
Keep in mind that all of those guys had other jobs to hold them over while they worked on their jobs. I also know for a fact because they said so that Steve and Yaro are not employee type people and that is why they chose blogging as a means of earning a passive living.
the thing is, people always assume that they can create a successful blog in an instant.... not always. They assume that in one month they should be making hundreds if not thousands of cash - this is very rare. If you want to be successful you need to be able to put in some hard work and be open to failure at times, too. But what you have said in this post makes a lot of sense - to me - and I ope a lot of people can learn from it.
I have been working daily on my blog since Jan 2011 and I am no where near where I want to be financially.
I knew that it would have it's challenges and also contain a lot of hard work but the end result will be worth it.
Hi Justin,
I believe any business or job for that matter is what I would call our outer purpose. It is secondary to our inner purpose which is the same for all of us, to wake up to consciousness.
When we align our outer purpose with our inner purpose then what we do to make a living in the physical world becomes clear to us.
I also don't think it necessarily means that we all have to become Spiritual teachers for a living. Our consciousness will shine through whatever it is we are meant to be doing.
Following our intuition in this regard and believing that this is what we are meant to be doing is where it's at for me. This means sticking with it.
The reason why so many people jump from one thing to the next is that they are either not following their own inner guidance or they are not trusting it.
You are spot on with choosing what feels best and sticking with it. The money comes when we are doing what we are meant to be doing.
~Marcus
Hey Marcus,
Right on Marcus, I couldn't have said it better myself.
It's all about doing for a living what we really are.
I read a lot of your article about blogging but still I don't understand the technique about how to have a page rank,and how to improve my blog. If you can help me with out a cost, I will much appreciated. Thank you. God bless.
Hey elpidio,
There are many good blogs out there that can answer that question for you.
1.http://www.trafficgenerationcafe
To help your blog get Page Rank comment everyday 10 times a day and also write and submit guest-posts for other blogs.
If you do this consistently then you will eventually have Page Rank.
This is great advice Justin. I LOVE your goal of making $5000/month by your one year anniversary. My blog will be one year in Feb 2012, so I'll be running along right beside you. :) I've been focusing exclusively on providing tons of value to build a readership, but will monetize soon. I read the interview with Ramit, as well, and I totally agree with his philosophy of providing as much value as possible first (although I don't plan to wait 3 years before monetizing).
I really enjoy these types of posts. Keep it up! :)
Hugs,
Melody
