Think it : The Right Mindset to Make Money With a Blog

Most people who launch a blog hoping to make some money along the way start with the following path in mind:

1. Launch the blog
2. Write good content
3. Put banner ads and AdSense on the blog
4. Make money

While this strategy can work (and it does for some people), it is not the only one, nor the most profitable one. In other words, if your plan is based exclusively on these four steps, you will be limiting the income potential of your blog significantly.

In this email I will briefly share my story, and explain how sometimes it is more effective to make money thanks to your blog, as opposed to with it.

I started building websites and blogs back in 2005. Initially as a hobby, but after a while I realized that the Internet had an enormous potential, and eventually I quit my job to work full time with my online projects. In 2006 I launched DailyBlogTips.com, with the goal of sharing the tips and tricks that I was learning along the way. I was not planning to make money directly with that blog, but once the traffic picked up, I figured that loading some banner ads here and there couldn't hurt.
After two years or so I was already making more money with the advertising on the blog than with my prior full time job. It was enough to live by, therefore, but somehow I felt that I should try a different route.

The blog had given me some authority on my niche, a loyal audience, and a network of contacts composed of many influencers. Still I was hardly leveraging those things.

That is when I realized that I wanted to build a business rather than make money exclusively with advertising on my blogs. I polished the idea and worked on the project for around six months, and in January of 2009 I launched OnlineProfits.com, which is an online marketing and business training program. I opted to have a low profile launch initially and keep the program open for only five days. Still in that time frame we got over 200 members, which was above my initial expectations.

I am sure that the success of that launch came thanks to my blog. As I mentioned before, the blog gave me credibility, an instant influx of prospects (i.e., the readers), and relationships with people who made a difference on the project (i.e., the mentors and the joint venture partners).

The takeway message is: do not limit your blog to a source of advertising money. This is the wrong mindset. A blog is much more than that. It is your interface with the Internet (and consequently with the world). You can use your blog to:


1. make friends
2. build your audience
3. establish your expertise and authority
4. experiment with ideas
5. find partners, and so on

And the interesting thing is that you don't even need to know what you want to do in the future. If you manage to build a popular and authoritative blog in your niche, you will be able to leverage it for any type of project, whether we are talking about launching a product, publishing a book or landing a dream job.

Blog on!