Bloggers the world over are trying to cash in on blogging. They want to "monetize" their blogs with advertising or affiliate products so they can sit back and see the cash roll in. However, few bloggers are actually earning serious cash from their endeavours.

One of the reasons for this is the fact that many blogs are too general. Sure you can have a general blog if you wish to create or enhance reputation, or build reader loyalty. True, you can have a more general blog if you are not trying to make money from it. However, if you are intending to earn some cash from blogging, then the evidence suggests that general blogging is not the way to go.

General blogging is when you write posts on a specific subject, such as Internet Marketing. You won't make money from such a blog because it is too broad. You could make money from a blog on getting the most from Google AdWords, for instance, which is only a tiny fragment of the whole Internet Marketing arena.

So, if you want to monetize your blog it's best to start a separate blog on the specific topic you are hoping to make money from. If your general blog contains several sub topics, you could make money out of each of them. As an example, I run a web site on presentation skills, but I have a product which is about removing the fear of speaking. The manual has been available on the main web site for a couple of years and sells a trickle of copies. However, when I set up a separate blog on the fear of public speaking, the sales have started to rise. I am able to discuss in that blog specific things related to fear of public speaking and use the entries to sell my manual. I couldn't do that on the more general blog on public speaking because it's not what everyone who visits that blog wants to read about.

Often, people blog generally and hope to make money. But the potential buyers are looking for something much more specific. If your blogs are tightly specified, then you will start to make money from them. If your blog is more general, use that to build reputation instead. In other words, separate blogs for specific purposes - not one blog fits all.

Labels: blogging

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At May 30, 2007 5:05 PM  Jim Cronin said…