The Cents of Your Blog
The other night, Joanne and I were watching 60 minutes and during their story on the worth of pennies, I could hear exactly how their story pertained to blogging.
You see, the US Mint produces 8 billion dollars a year in just pennies. And although the penny is just worth 1 cent when spent, it costs nearly 2 cents to actually make a penny.
Sounds really economical right? But there’s a high demand for pennies, they must be produced, even with the rising cost.
How does this pertain to blogging?
Blogs are created every single day. Someone discovers blogging, they think it’s for them; they setup a blog and poof, insta writer. It’s really a great concept. But few of those blogs ever make it past the three month mark. Quickly, the new blogger realizes something, blogging is difficult. And it’s especially more difficult when you have a niche blog and need to find topics to keep your blog fresh.
A new blog, just after setup is worth two cents to the new blogger. They can see the value, even without monetization. The blogger then however, has to show the worth to the public because when used, it’s still only worth a penny.
And now, we’ve have found the problem.
Newcomers to the blogosphere rarely know how to increase a blog’s worth from a penny to a nickel, a dime, a quarter, etc.
Let’s discuss how we can create value with our blogs, old and new, so that the general viewing audience sees the value of our blogs… for what they’re worth, not the depreciated value.
Know Your Niche
It’s easy to lose direction when you start a blog. Know what you want to write about it, display your expertise on the subject with an about me page, and build your knowledge in your niche. Even personal blogs have a niche.
Build
Your blog is never complete, build resources, information, research, and expand what your blog has to offer with valuable links. Once your initial setup is complete, don’t believe that you’re done adding information. Content is king, but the worth of your blog is the entire blog, not just the content you have. Offer resources that are helpful to your niche.
Research
Has someone else written on the topic of your blog post today? Research to find out. “Google it†and see what information turns up for the keywords in your blog post. Don’t hesitate to link to these blog posts as additional information for your reader. Gather sites about your niche that can provide you with additional information to keep your content fresh.
Network
I’ve already asked, are you an effective networker? Become one! Know other people; don’t be afraid to reach out to others in your niche and the bloggers that can support your niche!
Link
No one likes someone who is greedy with linking out. If someone knows something about a topic you’re writing about, reference them. Pass out link love when it’s appropriate for the topic of your blog post.
Keep Going
Building value for your readers and post regularly isn’t easy. But show that you’re in it for the long haul. Keep going, don’t give up. Don’t get blog burn out. Find ways to that boost your creativity and your writing skills and continue to work at it. Established blogs are hard to come by, don’t let yours fall.
Conclusion
When you’re working at it, you’ll not only begin to see the full value of your blog, well beyond a penny but your readers will to. Be helpful, give them value, not yourself. Be understanding, supportive, and give your readers a reason to come back by giving them something of value.
In the end, your readers see value when they learn something new, find someone that they enjoy reading, and are spoken to… after all, no one likes to ignored. Value, above everything else, is what is needed to sustain a blog. There are so many different ways to create value; it’s just a matter of actually doing it.
So, start today. How are you creating value for your readers? What are you doing that could be done more efficiently? What are you giving back with the vast amount of knowledge that you alone have?
Reference: 60 Minutes video about pennies and the US Mint
February 13th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Doing research is the key, and I should know. Recently I wrote a misinformed post and now, I’ll have to correct it. Resist the urge to post everyday if what you’re doing is incomplete!
February 13th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
a great article for many people to read. The main point I would want people to know is how blogs never get past three-month mark usually. This is usually really big. If many sites would just get past the mark of three months and they probably could drive in a lot of subscriber and traffic to their site. Many readers on the Internet like sites that have been up for a while anyways. Many readers do not feel comfortable with coming back in knowing that you will give them an article on most every day of the week and not have to worry about the blog just stopping.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
While what I usually talk about doesn’t require much research (the dreaded mommy blogger it seems, ROFL), I do try and do some more “informed” posts, and Google is always your friend.
Thing I’m still trying to figure out is my official niche. I don’t want to be a “mommy blogger”, but I also don’t want to think of new posts all the time. I still don’t get how you can get this amazing information day in and day out.
February 13th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Troy » Yikes! That’s a hard lesson to learn. But the good news is now that you have seen the importance, it’s not likely to be a mistake you make again. That’s for sharing that with us to reinforce the importance.
Blog Enhancing Tips » Good points. New bloggers quickly discover that if you build it, they just don’t automatically come. It’s tough to realize.
Sarah » There is nothing dreaded about a Mommy blogger. Everyone wants to talk about something, your life is important and it should be made to be any less important than any other niche blog. Mommy bloggers can be just as huge, take Dooce for example.
As far as finding your niche, I think that’s a good blog post and we’ll talk about that soon. I never thought I’d have so many topics on one subject either. I’ll write a blog to explain how I gather my thoughts to build my blog and on my niche.
February 13th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
I guess finding our niche is the most vital and also most difficult step. Anyway, I just open your “about me” page and found out that you’ll get your birthday in few days :)…
February 14th, 2008 at 8:59 am
I’m glad I could “inspire” a new post. :) That’s what I’m here for, Xd
February 14th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Jerome » I agree with you, finding your niche is so important and yet so difficult. I’ll be making a post on finding your niche very soon.
And yes, the birthday is 6 days away. I keep forgetting, thanks for the reminder.
Sarah » You’ve done it more than once. LOL
February 14th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Great post! I really love the introduction with the production cost of a penny … ; about finding your niche … I can only repeat what so many others have already mentioned … you need to write about something that you are really passionate about, otherwise you are almost doomed to fail and/or never pass the three-month mark
February 14th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Wettanbieter » Thank you. The production costs of the penny was entirely my inspiration for this post. It really made me think that the value of a blog is more than what we perceive it to be. However, like you, and many others have said, that potential is rarely seen until the blog has gone past that all too famous 3 month mark.
February 14th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
To blog or not to blog?
To blog, and to do it right.
thanks
February 14th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Terry » Agreed, whole heartedly!
February 14th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Great post! I really love the production cost of the penny. You can earn money without Monetize your Blog but there is are chances of getting that as spam. Yeah! I agree that blogging is difficult but by making good contents we can help our blog get good traffic to the website.
February 15th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
I’ve been blogging for over four months now so I guess I’ve beaten the odds! A very important thing I’ve learned about blogging is that there is a huge difference between a social blog and a niche blog in terms of the potential for monetizing it. My main blog (I have several) is a social blog. The only way it will ever make money is if I sell products (or my services) to people I develop trust with.
Social blogging can take quite a bit of time where someone who knows what they’re doing can probably monetize a niche blog much faster and more profitably. By niche blog I am referring to those blogs that are on the edge of being spam blogs. They provide very little information, they don’t get updated often, they have lots of ads on them and they’re designed to get you to click on an ad because the blog itself did not prove helpful.
So, be clear. If you’re creating a social blog because you love to blog and love having relationships with readers, that’s great. If you think Google ads are going to make you rich on a popular social blog, think again.
I’m a member of Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind Community and I know the work involved in building a successful blog – it’s a lot.
February 15th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Mathew » Thank you. Spam is a possiblity with any blog, with or without monetization. And of course, living up to that “content is king” will always help to drive your blog in a better direction.
Sol » Congratulations on beating the odds. I agree with you that there is a difference between niche and social blogging. Each person should find their own but, I believe, that even social blogging is a form of niche blogging.
Monetizing a blog can be difficult, no matter where you’re at with blogging. It’s something that takes time, trust, and authority when done properly. And again, I agree that Google ads probably won’t make you rich with social blogging (although I have never personally used AdSense).
I’ve heard great things about the Mastermind Community however, never thought it was something for me. Good luck with building successful blogs!
February 16th, 2008 at 11:16 am
I touched on this on an earlier comment about some of the points you raised here.
With my Bipolar Blog it was relatively easy to get into the top spots as it was a somewhat niche area. Well, actually maybe it’s not. Hmmm, I know it’s not, but for some reason, it always seemed that blogs on mental health were out on the fringes, maybe due to the real inner feelings that bloggers would talk about. Stuff that I guess usually you would not overly talk about to a stranger. But this is exactly why Blogs on these sort of subjects are so damned useful for other sufferers.
The research aspect is really down to personal experience, so that’s an easy one to tick off the list.
As with Know your Niche, if you had experienced any kind of Mental Health issue, then experience is one thing you have in abundance, as with creating content and link building.
It all becomes quite easy as the networking of like wise bipolar bloggers is quite closely related, and the support one gives each other is quite overwhelming. So there is plenty of you scratch my back i’ll scratch yours. It’s all good. Links flying all over the place, blog site reviews, blog of the weeks… it was all insanely active. Which one could say sort of reflects the personalities associated with Bipolar.
YOu could waffle on about anything and anything again, random quotes, pics, diary entries, journals, medication experiences, hospital or therapy accounts, it was all valid and it was all part of the parcel. Nothing was particularly corny or sad. It was all acceptable.
The Keep Going point is interesting, especially I found the unpredicatablilyu of mental health. Especially with illness’es like Bipolar, itself hugely unpredictable, you would frequently see your fav blogs go off the radar, and for the most part you knew why. They had hit a cosiderable low point and could not function as a blogger as well as keep going for everything else. So you would have these constant irregular blips all over the board. Not because anyone really got bored with blogging, just they had other things on their minds. When the depressive or manic episodes relaxed, then things would start to get back to normal.
So it was fascination to experience the actual highs and lows of this blog aspect of a person with a illness like this.
So again, after a massive waffle, I guess, to summarise, different niche’s will possible experience different types of blogging activity, which needs to be taken into account, although as a reader, you might not always be familiar with the background details.
…and, relax. :)
Graham Smith
ImJustBlogging
“Web & Blog Ramblings from ‘my’ Gutter”
February 16th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Graham » I would certainly say that Bipolar is a niche area. And you’re correctly, unless you’re coming from a purely medical stand point, it’s a topic that requires so much of the blogger to talk about.
My Mom, who has blogged on and off for a couple of years, has been diagnosed with Bipolar and I often feel like it’s a subject she should talk about. But, that’s another story. As far as talking about it with a strange, because it’s so personal to me I’m really of the opinion that strangers or not, that’s a community that could be built for a lot of support. I’ll have to refer to my Mom to your blog, I’m sure she’d find it interesting.
As far as the networking aspect, sounds like you have that one made. And it’s nice to hear that it’s such a “give freely” niche. Awesome! Certainly makes it easier.
And by the way, I enjoy your comments. It makes for lively conversation on many different topics. Nothing gets me more excited with my blog than when the conversation continues and involves in the comments. :D Feel free to “waffle” anytime.
February 24th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Very good article. I like to read posts that turn into conversations.
February 29th, 2008 at 6:41 am
Boris » Thank you! I too enjoy when posts becomes conversations. This is something that is happening more and more here.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
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March 22nd, 2008 at 10:00 am
I have some friends (who have never blogged) who assume it must be easy because I can do it from home. They have no idea how tough it is. Thanks for these tips–I am always looking to add value to my blogs.
March 23rd, 2008 at 6:56 am
Jason » A lot of people believe that blogging is easy or nothing more than a personal journal. And then they jump in feet first and find themselves in a pool of hot water. It’s not what is expected regardless if the blogger finds it easy or difficult.
Hope my tips prove to be useful for you.
November 13th, 2008 at 8:34 am
In my opinion the textual component of the blog (content) is far more important than visual component. However, the published information need to be short, relevant and straight to the point, as we all know that internet users are reading very swiftly and sloppy. The Information overflow can be very harmful and can affect your visits. However, finding a niche and concentrating on it is the right strategy to make your blog not only the content rich but also very relevant.