I was in the middle of producing a new screencast video where I discuss some of my methods on how I determine if I am going to follow someone on Twitter or not, and I stopped for a few minutes to check out a podcast Nathan Hangen had posted over the weekend called Why Are You Doing This? I had to listen to it twice because I didn’t want to miss any parts of it. I decided to put my screencast on the back burner and write this post immediately to talk a little more about his points.
Nathan asks a simple yet incredibly difficult to answer question for some people. Why are you in business online (or offline)? What are you trying to accomplish? It reminds me of so many “scatter brained bloggers” I see come and go on an almost weekly basis. They read a few posts written by someone that makes big money online, they decide “hey, I can do that” and immediately set out building a blog (or sometimes many blogs) and set out to tell people how to make money blogging. The problem is, they don’t know how to make money blogging themselves! I can’t help but laugh at people like this, but it really isn’t funny. While there is plenty of room in the MMO niche still, it will take something different to stand out in that market.
When I started marketing online over 2 years ago, I had a definite plan on why I was doing it, and it was simple. I wanted to make my offline business stand out online. Something most of my competitors weren’t doing a very good job of at the time. It was easy enough to see that people don’t use Yellow Pages to look for a business locally anymore, they use the internet. So, my plan was simple, I researched how to achieve it, then I pulled out my wallet and paid to get help with it.
It really isn’t that difficult or expensive to start an online business. Making that business work is another story though. It is easy to get trapped in the “copy cat” mode and just emulate things you see big name bloggers doing. Personally I don’t think that is a good plan, and you are setting yourself up to fail BIG! When I first started a blog to promote an offline business, I read articles almost daily on ProBlogger.net, but I used what he was teaching and applied to my own business plan. Darren was already making a full time income from a photography site long before he started ProBlogger, I looked at that as my example of how to use blogging to reach my goals. It wasn’t until recently that I decided (with a nudge from a friend) that maybe I could help others by teaching what I have learned over the last couple of years about marketing and building online businesses. That is my goal for this site in the future.
Use your previous experiences to help you decide where to go with an online business. After being a house builder for 20yrs, you wouldn’t decide to write a blog about working on cars just because you changed your own oil would you? If you are serious about making a living through an online venture, think about it like you would an offline business. Don’t be afraid to invest a little money into getting the proper help and tools you need to accomplish your goals. I hear bloggers all the time advising people to write about their passions, I am sorry but it takes much more than being passionate about something to make money with it. I am passionate about sports, but I don’t think it would be wise for me to start a sports related site right now, unless I wanted to do it as pure hobby.
That was Nathan’s question in his podcast that I am asking myself. I currently have 3 online businesses, so I will try to answer this on a general basis of why I internet market as my source of income:
Personal freedom means I work when I want to work (and for those of you that know me, I work more than I should sometimes. Providing a need means that each one of my ventures provides something people need (or is at least in the process of building up to that). Other businesses are providing the same thing as me, but I try to provide more personal service and a better value for the customer. Financial reasons, well I am not here for fun, I have bills just like everybody else. Help others, 2 out of the 3 online ventures I am currently involved in are there to help others achieve something, the third one is a products site and it provides real products. Because I enjoy this type of career goes back to the other reasons, but I believe you should enjoy what you are doing as a career, and I definitely do enjoy it.
What about you? Why are you doing this? Do you find yourself spinning your wheels trying to figure out a way to make it happen? What need are you providing people that visit your site? And finally, do you have a plan and is it set into action yet?
Related posts:
Your list is a good one, and all of those would apply for me.
But the one reason that outweighs all others is this: I have an irrational drive to build something bigger than myself.
I never see anyone write of this.
In a sense, I *cannot* fail on my current path. In the worst case it turns into a hobby measurably cheaper than either caving or surfing.
That being said, yeah, it’s going to produce income too. It already does. Just not very much yet.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Top 10 Traits for Finding Your League of Extraordinary Bloggers – Saturday Morning Surfing =-.
@Dave Doolin, That is actually a great way to look at it Dave, I do enjoy writing too, but I think I would much rather catch some waves or hook into a big Mahi with hobby time
.-= Keith Bloemendaal´s last blog ..Dell 23inch Monitor Review =-.
@Keith Bloemendaal, writing and coding is what I do.
After 15 years of that, I have _nothing_ to show for it, except Website In A Weekend.
Everything else I’ve done is encumbered with copyright restrictions, or it was done as work-for-hire.
This is what I mean when I say I can’t lose… because I’m already winning.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Why the Apple iPad Will Make Me More Productive =-.
To be honest I started blogging because I wanted to make money. But after a while I realized that it wasn’t really about making money. The best times I had blogging was when someone told me how useful all of this stuff has been. I think it’s great to help people and possibly the best reward for blogging.
.-= Julius Kuhn-Regnier´s last blog ..The 3 Unwritten Rules of Blogging =-.
@Julius Kuhn-Regnier, Helping someone solve a problem is the best reward, but getting paid to that can be even better….
.-= Keith Bloemendaal´s last blog ..Post Structure: Podcast =-.
Keith said: “I hear bloggers all the time advising people to write about their passions, I am sorry but it takes much more than being passionate about something to make money with it.”
I generally agree with this statement, but I think passion is what can make us different from other bloggers. Passion + Experience is the best combination. If you have experience but no passion for what you are writing about, that will come out in your writing and I don’t think there will be as much stickiness on the website.
Unless you are dumping huge amounts of money into promotion, the majority of websites strictly out to make money (where they do not have any experience or passion for what they are writing about) will not bring in much money…at least not in the long run.
.-= Chris Roane – MontanaProgrammer.com´s last blog ..New Logo, Site Updates and the Future of MT Programmer =-.
@Chris Roane – MontanaProgrammer.com, Yes, you do need passion too, but passion without experience will show much more than experience without passion, so I say start with your experience and find passion.
.-= Keith Bloemendaal´s last blog ..Blog Tip: Keyword Research =-.
@Keith Bloemendaal, that’s good advice. Yeah, I am kind of sick of seeing people create websites and “fake” it…meaning they really have no idea on what they are talking about.
It is like an incredibly obese person giving me diet advice. It just doesn’t get anywhere.
.-= Chris Roane´s last blog ..10 Things I Wish I Knew as a Web Programmer 10 Years Ago =-.
Great advice as usual Keith. I’ve said it a million times and I’ll set it a million more…..write useful content….success will follow. Let’s face it, unless a site solves a problem for someone….it’s just not going to be successful. Every time I write something…I ask myself how will this help someone solve a problem….if I can’t answer that simple question….I won’t hit the publish button.
.-= Todd´s last blog ..Spring Home Maintenance Tips =-.
I know why I have an online business, I always have. It’s taking longer to reach my goals but I’m still here. As far as blogging I have to admit I enjoy it. It has benefits such as relationship building, learning, building traffic and developing necessary skills for my other sites. Notice I didn’t mention money. I make very little blogging as far as income. My online income comes from other sources. I know others make money blogging but that has never been a pressing goal for me. That’s probably why I’m not making a lot of money blogging
As a side note, and a coincidence, I just received a Facebook message from someone offering to help me with my SEO needs. They had a site setup complete with blog, video and testimonials. The problem? No pagerank, Alexa over 10 million, zero comments and more lies than a politician. Just incredible.
.-= Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Do Banner Advertisements Work On Blogs? =-.
@Brian D. Hawkins, Sometimes people miss the fact that a blog can create indirect income sources by promoting something that has a direct income source. Using a blog to help with SEO for a products site etc…
.-= Keith Bloemendaal´s last blog ..How To Leverage Video Marketing – Become a YouTube Partner =-.
Hi Keith,
My reason for my doing Online commerce is that I’m really good with computers and I’d like to make my income this way. For me the challenge is getting comfortable with it. I’m not quite there yet. I’m good on the tech and I have a certain level of comfort with my small community that I am a part of. But I’m not sure weather I am ready to be popular like James Richmond. And I’m absolutely on tilt when it comes to marketing my products. I’m still trying to figure out the finer details, but I’ll get there!
.-= Jeffrey´s last blog ..Meg Hourihan =-.
Am I setting myself up for failure? Emphatically yes. And the more times I fail and the faster I fail, the more success I will have.
I must have to much going on. Lately it seems I have more days of “I have no idea” then any other.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..UPDATED: Theme Customization Part 3 – Banner Advertising NOT for Sale! =-.
I’m doing my online businesses for a simple reason – I need finances to sow more seeds into people’s lives.
That is my biggest motivation now – just $2 can feed a family in Africa for a day. My God what are we all doing not helping these folks?
My challenge is with my internet access right now but hope to get over it soon. I’m also almost done with relocating to another city where i can save 75% of my living expenses and get access to better infrastructure..
.-= Olusegun´s last blog ..20 Reasons Why You Should Choose WordPress –PART 2 =-.
I think you nailed it when you said not to get trapped in copy cat mode. Far too many people do that when they try to become successful bloggers or online business owners in general, and it rarely works. Yes, you can learn from them and follow their basic business plan but straight up copying what they do will rarely work.
.-= Trent Brownrigg´s last blog ..Top 10 Ways to Make Money Online =-.
@John Sullivan@The Blog No One Reads, No do-follow here
must be your plugin or addon you are using.
.-= Keith Bloemendaal´s last blog ..Dell 23inch Monitor Review =-.