Man, you guys are full of good ideas. When I put out the call for story requests on Thursday, you came through with over 150 suggestions. And some of them are stellar.
I’ll get to work on some of these, farm some out to guest authors, and see if the staff writers want to take a stab at a few. Between us all, we may be able to hit some topics that GRS has never covered before.
Many readers asked to see more articles on boosting income. In fact, there seem to be quite a few people interested in a series of posts about blogging as a business. I think this could be very interesting if done right, with periodic updates like the garden project we did in 2008 and 2009.
I wouldn’t want to use Get Rich Slowly as an example (for a variety of reasons), but since I’m itching to resurrect one or more other blogs, I’d be very open to showing how to build a blog from scratch, including all of the income stuff.
Here’s what I propose.
Blogging for Dollars
I have three dormant blogs, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. They are:
- Animal Intelligence, a blog about — well, animal intelligence. I’ve considered reviving this with a broader theme. I’d cover all sorts of fun and interesting stories about animals. Pros: There’s a huge market for this sort of thing, there’s plenty of material, each post would be quick to produce, not much competition that I know of. Cons: Difficult to monetize. (Animal Intelligence currently receives about 6,000 visits per month, and generated $8.74 of income in June.)
- Four Color Comics, a blog about comics. Four Color Comics was the first site I ever set up with the intention to make money. It died when Get Rich Slowly became popular. Pros: I have lots of source material to draw from, and would enjoy the research. Also, there are probably some moderately good ways to make money with this topic. Cons: There’s tons of competition in this niche. And though the audience is passionate, it’s small (especially for the comics I’d write about). (Four Color Comics currently receives about 600 visits per month, and generated $0.87 of income in June.)
- Success Daily, a blog about self-improvement. I intended to launch this site in April, but the book publicity overwhelmed me. Now I’ve pushed back the launch date to 01 January 2011 at the earliest, though I’d accelerate that if we chose the site for this project. Pros: I’m deeply interested in this subject, and would love to write about it. There’s a fairly good market for the info. Cons: Very tough to monetize; we’d probably have to do e-books or something. Articles would take a lot of work. (Success Daily currently receives about 500 visits per month and generates no income.)
What if I were to revive one of these hibernating sites and share publicly the steps I take as I try to build traffic and income? I could document my design decisions, the ads I choose, and the income I receive. I think it would be instructive. And if we kept the project to just one or two Saturdays each month, I don’t think it’d overwhelm the folks who just don’t care.
I think this could be a fun way for all of us to learn about building and monetizing a blog. What do you think? Would you be interested in a project like this? And if you are interested, which blog would you like to see me flesh out? I’ll tell you right now that I think Animal Intelligence has the best chance at success. Or maybe there’s another topic I could pursue? (I just don’t want to do another blog about money.)
This article is about Administration, Entrepreneurship
SEARCH FOR RECENT ARTICLES
On animal intelligance site the stats you have installed on the site says you get an average of 150 daily visits
http://www.sitemeter.com/?a=stats&s=s26animalintelligence
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Count me out. The behind the scenes work isn’t as interesting to me as all the other topics you come up with. This would be like your book work, in my mind, where all your energy is going elsewhwere and far too many posts on this site would be about some other site many of us won’t be intersted in. But – sounds like I’m in the minority.
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I have a website for my classroom. It is only accessible for the parents of children enrolled, so I have no interest in making money off it, but I would like to know more about the blogging process!
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I think such an article or series (re: blogging as a business) would be an excellent way to “share the wealth”.
Thank you for your website and please keep up the great work. I respect your need and decision to bring in guest writers to alleviate the stress on you of having to constantly think of topics that are timely and appropriate. From a reader’s point of view, it is great to be exposed to many other perspectives of a common topic, and this occurs in your blog on a regular basis.
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Count me in as interested.
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Very interested in the topic of monetizing a blog, no preference on which on you go with.
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I think you’d probably find the best merger of your interests, money & success with Four Color Comics…just my thoughts.
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I’m interested. I want to start a blog to increase my revenue.
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I like this idea more today than I did the other day, although I still can’t imagine I’ll love all the comments these posts will generate.
Chris Guillebeau may be a very nice person. I still think his blog reads more like marketing material for his paid products than a story being shared with friends, and so it doesn’t much appeal to me. I used it as an example of something I don’t care for just because I don’t care for it, not because I think Chris Guillebeau is an evil person or something.
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I’m definitely interested. I have two sleeping blogs myself and this would be a fun way to learn.
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Interesting idea, but I’m not sure how useful it would be. I have the feeling a lot of people would get the idea that it’s possible for them to quit the day job and blog full time. The reality is that almost no one can pull that off. (Of course there are a few exceptions.)
Would this series cover the technical aspects? I almost never hear about that. The standard advice is write about something you love and consistently produce good content. But if you don’t know how to set up a site in the first place all the great writing in the world will mean nothing. I think it’s often assumed that EVERYONE knows how to build a website, place ads etc.
Just me 2 cents.
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I think this is a fantastic idea. I can’t wait for you to share your case study. It’s not often an Alister such as yourself willingly puts their skills on show, thank you JD.
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I love the whole idea! Animal Intelligence would be my choice also.
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What happened to get fit slowly?
I think the most instructive would be to use something which is completely unrelated to pf, that is, no self-help.
This would demonstrate that it’s possible to build a blog using skills instead of relying on existing contacts.
I think if there’s an overlap, you’ll get a huge boost from your current readers which is a major advantage that rookie bloggers don’t have.
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I would love to read a series like that! I’d probably be the most interested in Animal Intelligence, but would happily follow along with any of them.
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It is a good idea not to reveal your income on this site because you will likely alienate a lot of readers once they find out you are making tons of money.
Gotta keep it on the down low!
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The short answer to your question is: YES!
The long version of that answer is: YES! I would LOVE a how-to on blogging as a business! PLEASE START THIS SERIES!
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Great idea! I am interested in learning blogging. Choosing one of the three you mentioned, I’d like to see Animal Intelligence.
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Success Daily has my vote.
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I’m sure most of us GRS followers would enjoy your insights on adding another revenue stream to our personal cash flow, J.D. I agree, the Animal Intelligence concept sounds very market friendly.
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Firstly, I love the idea.
I’m going to have to vote for creating a blog from scratch. I think it would be great if we could see the creation process from the perspective of a person that works a typical 9 to 5. If you know someone interested in setting a blog up, you could help them with it and write an article about the entire experience (including notes from the creator’s perspective) after the fact. That way, success or failure, we’ve got a look at not only the logistics involved, but the human element.
I really don’t want to see you get burned out though. So, do whatever works for you.
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You didn’t list it, but I’d actually be really interested in seeing you revive “Get Fit Slowly”.
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Oh, I forgot one of my points–if you help someone else create a blog, you won’t have to be stuck with all the minute that can make a project lead to burnout, and it’s less likely to become a big time suck.
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Do this as a project but in addition to your own, I’d suggest two or three unknowns who are not given identifying info so they can’t be influenced by the readers here who would follow them. They can’t give away info in their reports which would indicate their blog and allow us to follow them. Then we get the idea of people who are starting completely new, without the benefits you have, and see the difficulties. (Just like I’ve seen in the 2 attempts I’ve had–and like I’ll face with a new website project I’ve been considering starting this month which I’d like to monetize).
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“blogging for a business” would be an awesome perspective on how to increase revenue. I know there are a lot of people out there searching for that ‘get rich quick’ scheme, but blogging is definitely in line with the ‘get rich slowly’ ideal.
It would be interesting to see you pick someone else’s blog and help ‘flip it’. Have you ever seen the show ‘Flip that house’? You could do the same thing, but simply apply it to blogging. You could name it, “flip some blogging” or “A flip on blogging”.
Also, you could start from the very beginning on article generation and ‘learning how to write articles’.
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Well, I’d be a lot more interested in the behind the scenes work on GRS, but if I had to choose, I would go with Animal Intelligence. Seems like a more fun topic.
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“Blogging has changed, you need to build a blog with a Internet Marketers mentality, build a list, offer a products, etc..”
I absolutely guarantee this is false.
On another note, I don’t think it would be a good idea to mention the blog on here until you’ve been doing it for a while. The crossover traffic from Get Rich Slowly will massively skewer the results. I’ve actually been doing this for a while, writing a site on a topic very, very different than The Simple Dollar and documenting everything I’m doing to build traffic.
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Seems like maybe you should start two new blogs… The Blog (on whatever topic) and Behind The Blog(s). I agree with others that your followers on GRS might tend to inflate the following on The Blog, but I also think it would be very difficult to keep the startup blog a secret from the readers of Behind the Blog(s) because a lot of the decisions you would be publicizing would deal with the look and feel of the site. If the content of The Blog is not to the liking of the majority of GRS readers, then perhaps the following would have an initial uptick, then settle back into a believable initial level. Pick the one the fewest people voted for – after looking at the first 100 comments it seems like that would be the comics blog – even if it does have the least chance of success.
Another plus of a Behind the Blog(s) type site is you could discuss things you are doing with all of your sites, not just The Blog.
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Oooh. The one I’d most want to READ would be the self improvement blog. That would be awesome!
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As a guy who just recently started a blog/website and have no idea how to monetize it…I’d be greatly interested in learning how you do it. Currently, I’m just throwing a bunch of stuff on the wall and seeing what sticks (er, produces income).
I think your website Success Daily would tie in nicely with what you’re trying to do.
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I would LOVE to see the Success Daily!
I would probably also pay to get premium tips, and even more for one on one guidance.
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Absolutely! Blogging as a business is totally unknown to me, but nonetheless might be very relevant for me in the future, since I might become a writer one day, and blogging appeals to me.
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I’de love to see you do the one on success daily
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I’d like to see the Success Daily blog. I think it will benefit the reader (me) most if its something you’re super passionate about. Looking forward to this.
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I would definitly read this series of articles as I am trying to figure out ins and outs of making a little spare cash from my blogging.
Me personally Id like to see you use Success Daily as the test subject for this endevor. My main reasons for this is because it is currently not making any money so all the info and numbers will be honest and true and not inflated by previous success (even if its a small success).
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I started Consultant Journal in 2006. I made $7 the first month and my earnings have gone up substantially since then. I work 4 hours a month on the blog, usually, although I have recently invested a huge amount of time in strategic planning for both the blog and my consulting business. I’d be very interested in hearing more about the projects you’re proposing.
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Would be very interested in learning how you monetize your success daily blog. I hear you on that topic being tough to monetize, which is why I’m so curious on how you will do it. Thank you!
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