This last year and a half have seen the rise in popularity of blogs in what has come to be known as the “make money online” niche. There seems to be 18 new blogs of this type born each week, at least half of which with newbies at the helm. When I first started blogging, I advertised some affiliate stuff, wrote some sponsored posts and waited for the checks to roll in. It was working for the rest of the make money online set, wasn’t it?
Well, actually, no it wasn’t. But they sure weren’t going to admit that. Or, if it was working they were leaving out several key steps. I think it was just a couple months after the birth of Pajama Professional that I realized that making money online wasn’t as easy as the so-called experts made it look. A couple more months after that I realized that, after the initial uphill battle, it might be relatively easy to make money online. The problem was, the bloggers who claimed to be helping people learn how to do it were either completely full of sh!t or didn’t know how to count.
Here’s what I mean when I say they didn’t know how to count. A step-by-step article for making money with Adsense might go something like this:
1. sign up for Adsense
2. Put some ads on your blog
3. Wait for checks
4. You are rich!
When I tried to follow those steps I realized that I must have been reading the Reader’s Digest version of the article because these four steps just didn’t add up. Yes, I signed up for Adsense, but then I had to choose the right type of ad, make sure my articles were keyword-rich so Google would know what kind of ads to show and then design it to fit in okay with my page so it was noticable but not annoying. That’s already more than four steps right there and the ad hasn’t even made it over to my blog yet. How the fuck is that one step? And how the hell am I going to get to step four by next week?
Luckily, I had been online for a long time and I quickly realized that this “make money online” bullsh!t was just another of the many niches infested with selfish liars. Quickly, before I get blasted, I am not - at least not in this particular post - attacking anyone specifically. This post is just an introduction to my list of the five blogs you ought to be reading if you actually want to make money online. If you want to stick with bloggers who just talk about how much money they are making, but leave out the “how to” part, then that is your prerogative. However, I am sick of wasting my precious time reading a bunch of posts that are either missing major points or outright lies.
If you are reading this and you start to feel defensive and offended by it, then maybe you ought to consider why it pisses you off? I haven’t called you out personally, right? If your actions and your words match, then you’re all good. However, if this article is making you uncomfortable and you feel the need to tell me how wrong I am then maybe you ought to re-read some of your “how-to” posts and make sure you know how to count.
Okay. On to the good stuff. I’m not usually so negative, but I found a couple of blogs lately that I really wish I’d found a year ago and I suddenly got really pissed off at all the b!tch bloggers out there who have wasted my time. So, yeah, this is a bit of a rant, but it’s actually long overdue. In fact, there should be a lot more bloggers like me. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been honest about my inexperience and my desire to learn instead of throwing together some bullsh!t ebook five minutes after I create my first blog just to try to scam some poor guy out of $27. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has tried to follow the whack-ass advice of these blogger-gurus and ended up with nothing but a little less enthusiasm and several wasted hours.
This series of articles is for folks like me. You want to make money online, you are willing to work hard to do it, you just don’t know where to start. You feel overwhelmed and irritated because you downloaded some ebooks or read some blogs and you try to get sh!t to work, but nothing adds up. The five bloggers I am going to tell you about are the cream of the crop. You might have heard of them, you might not, but if you are serious about making money online, these are they guys you need to read. I will be writing about each of them individually this week so be sure you come back to learn more. For now, I’m just going to give you their names and link to their blogs. This isn’t some sort of countdown so it’s not a numbered list. They are all worth reading and when you get this good, there’s no need to have a “best.” You will learn different things from each one of them.
Stay tuned for a post dedicated to each of these teachers over the next week. Also, if any of you five are reading this and you’d be willing to do an interview, please email me.
|
|
2.5 |
If you enjoyed this post make sure you subscribe to my RSS Feed
Hi Sara, great post again and a great list of bloggers, I agree with Court, Vic and Grizz, I found them about 2 months ago now through Courts site and can’t recommend them enough, the real deal.
Happy Camper’s last blog post..12 Pitching your Tent Tips for Camping
That short list actually looks like the Adsense sign up page. Yep, it’s going to take some work inside those steps before you get anywhere near the last one.
James - DigitalKeyToInfo’s last blog post..The Winter Of Our Discomfort
great post again. I read all 5 blogs on a regular basis…now i just need to start practicing what they are teaching…
Hi Sara,
Thanks for the nod. I did try and email you but the code is not quite right. You have emailto: - I think it should probably be mailto:
I’ve never done an interview but if you have questions I probably have a lot of long winded answers. lol
You can always contact me anytime.
Thanks again,
Griz
Grizzly’s last blog post..The Rating Blog - How to Game Your Stats
Thanks for the links and tips… although it is easier said than done.
James’s last blog post..Colbert Nation’s Global Food Shortage
I am glad to see someone that doesnt worship john chow and shoemoney. Great post.
Thanks! Great post. I have really been looking into Adsense. I am skeptical if I could actually make anything with not too many visitors on my site.
This is one of the most honest post I’ve read about blogging and trying to make money by blogs. You are right their are so many people out there trying to take advantage of this growing trend. People can be fooled easy about all sorts of get rich quick schemes. You’ve given some great advice and resources . Hopefully people will see that it’s not so easy to run a site/blog and make money from it unless you but work into it. Thanks for the great content provided at the end.
[...] will brighten up your Monday. A couple of weeks ago I sent a list of interview questions to my five favorite bloggers. They all responded (you guys rock!) and I will be writing those interviews up and posting them [...]
Good post. There certainly is lots of useless “advice.” Finding useful blogs is a great step toward making your blogs successful. One reason I think the good stuff is passed by, by many people, is that the useless stuff sounds easier. Those that real offer value don’t promise just do these 2 things for 3 weeks and you will be rich.
Addiction Rehab Centers Blog’s last blog post..Robert Downey Jr. Rehab Success