6 MAJOR MISTAKES BLOGGERS WHO DON’T MAKE MONEY ARE MAKING

This month of August alone, I have gotten 10’s of messages about how to make money from Blogging. While every Bloggers journey is different, I believe every Blogger should get rewarded for the work they put it. Emphasis on the WORK they put in. 

Today, I will share with you some of the reasons WHY a lot of Bloggers don’t make money and may never make money if these mistakes are not corrected.

Let’s start with me!

When I started the Moj In Touch blog, I was crystal clear about where I wanted to take it. My vision was to help people through writing and styling and build a brand that would attract readers from different parts of the world; to have the opportunity to influence an audience, work with brands, write books and more…..so far, I have ticked all the mentioned and more……….

……..Still I consider myself a learner because I am learning everyday and discovering the potentials of maximising my blogging space……….a massive thanks to God, all my Mentors and to you for always reading + I work my behind off and invested time and money in my growth……

Let’s check out some key mistakes why some Bloggers may not make any money from Blogging: 

1, Never dive into the blogging world without clarity.

You need to know the 5 W’s 

1, WHY do you want to launch a blog or be a Blogger?

2, WHO do you want to help or influence?

3, WHAT do you want to blog about?

4, WHAT do you want from blogging / WHAT is your goal?

5, WHAT time do you have to commit to blogging?

Those are 5 crucial questions to ask yourself and then answer them sincerely. If you jump into the Blogging world without knowing what you want from blogging or what you want to blog about or why you should be blogging, you may end up jumping in and then jumping out real quick. You may also be confused and just go with anything you see online or what other Bloggers are doing. Remember, as a Blogger, you must be ready to OWN YOUR BLOGGING JOURNEY.

Lesson 1: Be Sure. Have Clarity.

Write on Your Blog

I personally use social media to inform my audience of new blog updates. I believe other Bloggers do the same too.  I use Instagram,Twitter and Facebook. Facebook being my favourite.

If you are a Blogger and you write your blogs on your social media instead of your blog, you will not:

1, Attract readers to your blog;

2, You are training your audience to wait for you to bring your well crafted contents to them without getting anything in return. The best you would get is a like, if you are lucky they will share it. Social media likes don’t turn to money!

3, You wouldn’t have any contents on your blog.

Brands who work with Bloggers check their blogs out first before they reach out to work with them. They see how often you blog even before the number of audience you have. They want to know that you are a serious blogger before they work with you.

4, The contents you write on your blog is what search engines e.g Google recognise and not the one you share on your social media except if you are a social media Blogger, e.g “Instagram Blogger”……..

This is what I mean:  when you write good contents, it helps your blog or site to rank well on search engines. For example, if someone is looking for an article on “Body Confidence”, if you have an article on your site with that title, Google could send the person to your blog if you are ranking on Google for that topic/subject. However, if you write on your Facebook for example, search engines may not recognise your hard work.

If you don’t write on your blog, Google would not recognise your site and unfortunately, brands who work with Bloggers find them via Google search sometimes….they find Bloggers other ways too, e.g via social media.

Lesson 2: Believe me, Bloggers who write on their blogs have the potential to have a long-lasting career as a Blogger and make money.

For Example: 

I am writing this article on the 24th of August and it is scheduled to publish on the 25th of August. Just yesterday, the 23rd of August 2017, I received 3 offers from brands from different parts of the world who wanted to work with Moj In Touch….

As the emails are business emails and I consider them “confidential”,  I have blocked out details of senders by painting major details in black and to highlight the date, I have painted that area in red. See below:……(zoom in on image if reading on mobile).

What I am saying is that when you write on your blog, creating great contents, brands wants to be linked with you except you have a couple of thousands of followers on Instagram, do your best to write great contents on the blog. Focus on your blog, it is your strength to build working relationship with brands.

By the way, Firstly, I receive emails like this almost every day, I then decide whom I want to work with because the power is in my hands and I have positioned myself like I mean business……read more about postioning below………

Secondly, I share to teach and not to rub it in your faces. #justsaying.

I recently finished a module on Web Analytics, Web Mining & KPI’s, here’s a summary I can share with you……..

What is Web Mining? A Quick Summary:

Web Mining is the process of discovering intrinsic relationships from web data be it textual, linkage or usage.

Web Content Mining: This is used by search engine e.g. Google to figure out what a webpage is all about.

Web Structure Mining: This is used to figure out who is linked with who online.

Web Usage Mining: This is used to figure out what people are doing on a site. This helps you as a Blogger to know who visits your site, where they are from, how long did they stay on your site for, what were they looking for and so on.

As a Blogger who wants to get good results from Blogging and not just sharing pictures of your fancy clothes online, you must understand how to make Google recognise your blog; this way brands who wants to collaborate with Bloggers can find you and work with you.

Listen, a lot of times, a lot of Bloggers focus on the amount of followers they have, while that is important, it is more important to understand the technicality of blogging and how to get found by brands.

Understand the KPI’s of your site: how people got to your blog, what are they looking for, how long did they stay and on on. This will help you to know the kinds of contents you should be creating as a Blogger and before you know it, you will be able to build an audience who truly care.and brands would work with you when they see an interactive site.

3, “Free Style Bloggers”

Brands work with bloggers because they want to make sales and maximise their profit. If you want brands to work with you, you have to be a “serious Blogger”. If you only blog once in 2 months, you are a “free style Blogger”

Does this mean you have to Blog everyday?

No, you do not BUT you have to blog close enough that it does not look like you have being gone for too long. Brands do not want Bloggers who would be here today and not here tomorrow. They want results and they do not want to waste their money on a “free style blogger”

Bloggers who blog like they mean business make good money. Bloggers earn differently, some Bloggers earn more than others….. Research shows that Bloggers earn millions and millions of $ from collaboration, sponsorship and advertising.

Lesson 3: Blog often. Don’t be a “free style Blogger”

4, Positioning

In real life, when you position your business like a hobby or a joke, people will see it that way and they will help you treat it that way too.  Unfortunately, brands will see it that way too.

While Blogging is fun, it is important to have boundaries. If your friends and friends-friends who own businesses and make money wants you to work with or for them to promote their products or services without any compensations, it is your fault and not theirs.

Solution:

1, Position yourself like you are in business and that your blog is not a hobby.

2, Brand your blog like you mean business.

3, Prepare a media kit to send to brands or your friends-friends who may need your help. If they need you to help them advertise their business, they must be willing to pay you only if you make them see reasons WHY they should pay you.

Lesson Four: Position yourself like your mean business.

5, Ask For Money

A lot of Bloggers are not sure about how to ask brands for payments or they don’t know they should get paid to help brands advertise their products. Well, you are slacking. If you do not ask, you will not receive…..

There are different ways brands ask you for a freebie as a Blogger, they write you and say something like, “we love your work and we would love for you to write us a post (on a particular subject) and that we would shout you out on social media”…..

Listen, social media shout out does not pay bills and it does not put food on the table and neither does it put clothes on your back, it is just a shout out..

The person who drafted that letter and sent it to you was paid to do his or her job. You should get paid to do yours.

Some brands come to you and say something like, “we are currently selecting Bloggers who we would love to build a work relationship with BUT for now, we do not have a budget”……….

That person who also drafted and sent you that letter got paid to do his/her job. You should get paid to do your own job too especially because we all know that Blogging is not a child’s play. It takes your time and it is 100% brain tasking except of course you are just blogging for fun and your blog is not your business.

Lesson Five: Do not be afraid to ask for money to do your job.

Tit for Tat / Product Review

Some brands send you products to review. If you like, call it a freebie. While this is okay, be careful not to be reviewing products that are not worth your time. Reviewing products or getting sent products would not pay your bills too. A lot of brands have budget for you to help them review their products, like I said in 5 above, if you don’t ask, they would assume you are fine. Ask and if they do not have a budget, be sure that the product you are reviewing is worth your time.

I personally review products for free if I have a special interest in the brand, or if the product is worth the time I put in reviewing it.

Lesson Six: Listen, traditional advertising is slowly taking a back sit. A lot of brands now depend on Bloggers or Social Influencers to help them market their products, if you position yourself as a Blogger who knows what they are doing, you would be a part of the Bloggers who get paid to do their job. Until you position yourself well in the blogosphere, you may just be blogging for fun.

Those are some of my reasons why Bloggers don’t make money. There’s more but I hope you found these ones helpful.

If you need help with starting or launching your blog, branding your blog like you mean business, serious about maximising your online space and earning money while sharing / blogging, contact me on email @ mojisola@mojintouch.com  or check HERE for how I can help. It would be my honour to help you.

Watch Out for the Many Ways You can Make Money as a Blogger!

Latest Video: TOP 10 Back to School Hacks for Success

It is back to school season, I made a video on my top 10 back to school hacks for success. Hope you find it helpful if you are in school….

Thanks for reading. Wishing you the very best on your blogging journey.

Much Love, Mojisola