235 Hours Worked - Zero Dollars EarnedWritten by Rosalind Gardner on November 4, 2007 · Comments (42) |
This morning I came across a reference to Caroline Middlebrook’s “Stats & Analysis for October ‘07″ blog post on Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger.net.
In the post, Caroline shows in great detail her blog traffic stats, new RSS subscribers, a breakdown of how she spent her time online during the month and her final earnings for the month.
After reading through her stats and thinking “Wow! Those are awesome results for a 2-month old blog”, I was absolutely shocked to learn that after working 235 hours and getting 11,000 visitors to her site (without PPC) during October, only 259 folks signed up for her feed and despite all that effort, she didn’t earn one red cent.
More shocking still is the fact that Caroline left her job in late September to become a full-time Internet marketer / blogger.
She says..
Money Earned $0
Let’s get one thing straight here… I did not quit my job to launch a successful blog! I quit my job so I could earn a living online! I love that the blog has done well but all it’s doing right now is stroking my ego. A great (unmonetized) blog does not pay the bills! I slipped further into debt this month as I will every month until I am bringing in enough money to cover my living expenses.
Later in the post she analyzes the areas in which her efforts were misdirected and commits to shifting gears in November.
From the perspective of someone who has been working online for almost 10 years and whose blogs and sites earn 100K+ per month, I’ve listed some suggestions below for those who are tempted to head down the same path as Caroline.
- Monetize your site! Maybe I’m blind, but despite linking out to a number of different sites, I couldn’t find Adsense or one affiliate link on Caroline’s site.
- To make money, blog about what you know. Caroline writes very well and shares detailed information along with helpful advice. She is also upfront about the fact that she is ‘blogging out loud’ as she learns how to make money online.
- Less research, more writing. When point #2 above is heeded, a blogger doesn’t need to spend nearly 50% of their time researching material in order to develop content.
- Write to sell. Much of your informational content should be written with a product in mind - i.e. to drive traffic to your product recommendations.
- Avoid time-wasting marketing techniques. I write copious amounts about using pay-per-click search engines and blogging to drive traffic to my (properly monetized) sites as opposed to expounding the virtues of social media marketing.
- Lastly, do not quit your job… just yet! Not unless you have a rich relative who will support you until your business venture is self-sustaining.
I recommend monetizing a new site with Google Adsense until you start earning a sufficient income from your product recommendations to warrant its removal.
So far, so good… so what’s the problem?
Well, as I see it, Caroline doesn’t know her audience. For example, if you had a medical problem, would you seek advice from a student who just started med school 6 weeks ago? NO!! You would go to one or more qualified doctors with experience and follow their recommendations.
Likewise, would you accept a product recommendation for an Internet marketing tool from a blogger who admits to making no money? Probably not until you confirmed its viability with more experienced online marketers whose advice you trust… and they’d earn the commission from the sale.
So, although Caroline’s visitors may read her Internet business learning journal with interest, they will probably go elsewhere to buy until she demonstrates success in her pursuit.
Ultimately, when you work to your strengths and start with a topic you know well, you make money faster.
Here’s a tip.
Before you sit down at your computer to work, pick your topic for the day and create a bullet list of the most important items you want to cover. Then, before you check your email, the latest Google Alerts or your feedreader, open up your text editor and flesh those points into an article. Only then should you open a browser to surf for more information and statistics if required… not before.
Approaching your content development in that manner will save you hours and hours (even days) of time and ultimately results in more content to monetize.
Start with the question, “What product do I want to sell today?” followed by “What problem(s) does that product solve for my readers?”. Answer the question(s) in your article and link to your endorsement.
Depending on the nature of the market and my subscribers, anywhere from 20% to 50% of my articles ultimately link to a product recommendation.
That’s because I’ve found that compared to PPC and blogging, the latter is a huge and on-going waste of time.
I suppose if I had a free weekend, I could spend it Digging my own articles or trying to make a bunch of MySpace or Facebook ‘friends’ whose primary objective is to sell me something. (I especially appreciate the ads - a.k.a. ‘comments’ - that promise to help me ‘get rich quick’ or sell me ‘legal bud’ … NOT.)
While I do make time to comment on the occassional blog post that I find interesting, intelligent and unique, I don’t consider blog commenting a marketing technique - unlike the 2362 webmasters who tried to post comments to my blog today.
To me it makes much more sense to spend an hour building a PPC campaign that targets customers with fat wallets who want to buy dating service memberships, travel gear and the other stuff I sell on my affiliate sites, than giving free advice on other webmasters’ forums (that what my blog is for) just for the sake of a few backlinks.
Furthermore, that hour invested in a PPC campaign has a long term payoff. I have campaigns and keywords that have been in place since 1999 that just keep sending my sites traffic and resulting in sales.
Wait until your sites have more than replaced your current income. Although I too invested anywhere from 50 to 80 hours per week when I started my online business, I quit my job only after my sites were netting 10K per month, which was double my gross earnings as an air traffic controller.
When you quit too soon, you run the risk of making rash business decisions based on desperation and fear rather than knowledge and confidence acquired through experience.
To summarize, although a blogger’s primary objective should be to inform and/or entertain his or her readers with quality information, the ultimate goal of any business is to make money. While hobby blogs or journals can be monetized to a certain extent, you have to gain your visitors’ trust if you want to make serious coin.
You can read Carolines full post at “Stats & Analysis for October ‘07“.
So… any thoughts? What could Caroline do differently at this point to monetize her current site? Should she invest more time blogging about blogging, or concentrate on building another site? What do you think? Lemme know! 
Comments
42 Responses to “235 Hours Worked - Zero Dollars Earned”
Nancy P Redford on November 5th, 2007 4:59 am
I love the content on Caroline’s blog and am amazed she’s not earning a steady income, as yet.
Maybe she could review your HandBook and earn commissions from sales to kick start her affiliate income. Hint Hint!
P.S.
I admire your ever changing blog design, however I cannot view page content in Firefox I get a black screen. Looks OK in IE.
Been giving my blog templates a facelift too!!
[Reply]
Shannon on November 5th, 2007 7:59 am
Hey Rosalind,
Her marketing techiques are those taught by Ed Dale during the Thirty Day Challenge… They are effective, but not in itself… they are part of a bigger picture.
~Shannon
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Francis Burdett-Mills (burhide) on November 5th, 2007 23:57 pm
To do what you do well you need to be something of a sales person & exhibit confidence. There are other ways however, being an expert on your subject for instance creates respect & trust.. I dont make vast sums from my site but it does supliment my pension & I am doing what I want to do helping others.
Regards, Francis Burdett-Mills (Chartered) MCIPD
[Reply]
Dr.Mani on November 6th, 2007 0:47 am
Coincidence, Ros?
I read Caroline’s blog late last night, and went ‘OUCH!’ (even posted a comment to her blog about it)
Nice set of ideas you’ve shared in this post.
btw, there’s another post on Caroline’s blog I’m sure your readers will love - it’s about having a blog commenting strategy.
I read it last night too - and am putting it into action… as you can see from this comment
Hope all is well, it’s been a LONG while since I last wrote to you. Keep in touch
All success
Dr.Mani
[Reply]
Rob Wilson on November 6th, 2007 1:07 am
I have followed Caroline’s progress for a couple of months now after “meeting her online” via Ed Dales’s Thirty Day Challenge. I am sure she will appreciate your advice. One great thing about Caroline is that she has taken action, something that it takes people a while to understand…. unfortunately too much research etc and not enough on revenue generation. Still she recognised that after a month rather than the years of product buying, education and non-action that a lot of people go through.
For a very new blog Caroline has certainly managed to reach out to people and maybe hearing the progress of a non-expert is just what we all need now and then.
[Reply]
ALEX NEWELL on November 6th, 2007 1:46 am
Amazing amount of traffic to Caroline’s blog and no subscription box collecting opt ins! The one thing she needs to do is collect emails. Caroline should take advantage of the site she has and not rebuild another site.
And I want her ebook on how to get such a flood of traffic to my blog!
All The Best
Alex
[Reply]
Neil Shearing’s Blog - » Blog Archive » One Blog, 235 Hours Work And Zero Dollars Earned! on November 6th, 2007 2:29 am
[...] Rosalind Gardner picked up on a post at Caroline Middlebrook’s blog where Caroline says she spent 235 HOURS working on her blog in October, but earned $0 from it. [...]
Andres on November 6th, 2007 2:57 am
I think that you must have a plan. Not every blog needs an RSS feed. I realized that an RSS feed doesn’t fit with the plan that I have for one of my websites, so I removed it. Maybe later an RSS feed would be useful, but not for now. The RSS feed is not well suited for my site because it is very difficult for me to write in English fluently, so I have to outsource the work, which is somewhat costly.
You must stay focused on what you are doing. Maybe reading emails seems vital but it is not, the only vital thing is to make money, nothing else.
This is a plan that I developed to build successful websites, even without writing or speaking English well (I speak Spanish) and have two specific phases:
1. Phase One: Testing
You don’t know if your website will make money or the amount it will make will be enough to please you, so you test. Throw a PPC campaign and see how much impressions, visits and sales you get. If you are on a tight budget, select very little sub-niches and spend $5 a day (that is what I spend the test, no more than $5 a day and that will be my budget even if I had 1 million dollars to invest because that makes you disciplined). The goal here is only to break even, but if you can get out in black, then you can be sure that the niche is good (or you are very skilled at PPC, which is also good).
In this phase, many keywords get 2 digit CTR’s > 10% and in some cases, CTR’s of more than 20% (which is extremely good). It is simple, but not easy since you should work like crazy to get these results but if you do, you are 50% in the way of your success in that niche.
2. Phase Two: Optimization.
If profitable, then optimize. If not, throw it away.
Once the traffic proved itself, only then you optimize the site for maximum profits. Your goal is to get maximum earnings for the traffic, considering your low budget. This is: If you are investing as little as $5 a day, you should be getting an extremely good ROI since you are focusing extremely well (as I do). Several years ago, $100 a month was a very good income for me, so I couldn’t spend much money on advertising. Now I could spend a lot, but I don’t do it because that would be the beginning of your biggest failure, because at the beginning you know nothing about the niche or what people want, why they buy or what fears they have, in other words, you don’t know the market, so invest very little to learn.
In this phase you go maniac doing testing, testing and more testing and when you finished testing, test more and more and more. Think it is perfectly optimized? TEST AGAIN…. You understand me.
You can use the Google Optimizer, Taguchi Optimization, Split Testing, whatever, but you should be using some of these tools. Although the final destination of your content will be your Blog (at the end of the process so you can get links and write easier), after the optimization phase you will know what to put on your blog to get MAXIMUM PROFITS (You will need to change your Wordpress theme, which I always do, no problem for me cause I worked as systems programmer years ago, now turned to Internet Marketing)
3. Involve in SEO.
Once you know the keywords, you can do SEO effectively. In one of my sites I got the 9 first spots at Google for one of my keywords with very little work, which is incredible but that is the power you get when you know the keywords and you are a SEO expert (not renowed yet and probably I would stay behind the scenes since I don’t speak English very well). SEO will increase your ROI and make you more profitable and defend yourself from the sharks out there.
It is better to do Web 2.0 for the links, not for the visitors, so better do it in the optimization phase, not in the testing phase.
The main thing is: when you think about something you can do to your site ask yourself: I am doing a testing or optimization thing? If it is optimization, you should do it later, since ALWAYS you should be optimizing your website first, so you never get into the problem Caroline got with her website.
Some things that correspond to the optimization phase are:
* Follow up emails
* Tell a friend scripts
* RSS feeds
* Social Networking
* Article Marketing
* SEO in general.
* Joint Ventures
* Press Releases
* ETC, ETC, ETC
Hope this comment will be useful to someone, and I apologize for my English if something reads “funny”.
[Reply]
Roy Carter on November 6th, 2007 3:20 am
Hi Ros,
Great Post! Very brave of her to leave her job before she had any income coming in. Wow!
I had no choice in the matter and had to get into internet marketing due to ill health. Thankfully i got through the difficult times and now make a great living online.
I think you are spot on with your advice. She should definitely monetise with Adsense to begin with if she has that many visitors.
Something must have made her decide to get into internet marketing in the first place though, so perhaps she has bought some ebooks or courses in the past that led her to making that decision.
Perhaps she could review those products and write honestly about what she got out of them (good or not), highlighting what successes she did achieve and promoting the products that worked for her.
My success came when I started to produce my own information products and that’s what I now teach with my own latest product.
It’s different for all of us, but the one thing that anyone must have is tenacity and a complete refusal to give up. Caroline certainly seems to have the work ethic, so I wish her the best of luck. It is that refusal to be beaten that has led to my own latest product being selected by a top internet marketer as the winner of his recentv JV competition, so my advice would be to stay focussed and refuse to quit, whatever it takes to get there.
Perhaps you could keep us posted as to her progress?
regards
Roy Carter
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AnneMarie on November 6th, 2007 3:28 am
Rosalind
How can we not take what you say onboard, when you have been so successful. Very wise comments you have made with regard to selling what you are experienced in!
Your ebook is the very first I read an, not meaning to butter you up - (hope you know that phrase - lol) - I would have reached my goals a lot sooner, if I had not chased every - ‘must have’ that came along afterwards.
Let that be a lesson to everyone who is starting out today and having said that, success to everyone as well.
AnneMarie
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Nick Johnson on November 6th, 2007 4:51 am
Dear Ros,
I disagree with the order of your suggestions - The first one in really LARGE letters should be “Don’t leave your job”. I am looking at switching careers to working at home as an affiliate marketeer. I have set up a number of sites and blogs part time to learn what works and what doesn’t.
Working with my own techniques I earned the grand sum of $0.11, yup 11 cents but as I am experimenting its no biggie. Now I will start applying the advice in the SAF and hope to earn slightly more.
.
The “don’t leave your job” is so important, if you start a bricks and mortar business you should assume no revenue for 6 months, if you don’t have that capital you shouldn’t go into business. My view, if you start an online career you can start it part- time and I would suggest all the money you make put into an account to cover your expenses until you are matching incomes from the net, then jump ship with the knowledge you know what you are doing and have cash to survive.
Regards
Nick
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Chris on November 6th, 2007 5:12 am
Hi Rosalind, have you seen this article when viewed in FireFox?
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Paul Guzman on November 6th, 2007 5:30 am
Rosalind
Awhile back in one of your post someone asked if it was better to have 2 or more websites in order to be fully successful.
Your reply was to concentrate on making one site successful first. Then continue on with your next website or blog.
If Caroline is knowledgable about blogging then I say continue with what you are doing until you have become satisfied with the results.
Paul
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Pamela Harper on November 6th, 2007 5:36 am
Rosalind, I think she should build another blog with these ideas in mind. I quite agree that quitting your job before you are successful in a business or have another job to sustain you income defeats your purpose.
It causes undo stress expecially if you have any type of bills to pay or someone else is depending on your income as well. Darren Rowse at least had his better half working a job and both agreed to give him 6 months to give it a go.
It all goes back to working smarter not harder. I really hope Caroline changes her tactic and gets her online business to work for her. I wish her much success.:)
[Reply]
Alex Yeo on November 6th, 2007 5:46 am
When I visited Caroline’s blog, I realized that she had a pretty decent alexa ranking at around 60k, which meant that she had a number of visitors visiting her blog. But the problem is, those visitors are mainly untargetted traffic.
I feel that she should not start a blog “sharing her journey on making money online”. There are far too many such blogs out there and they are not making money. They are just merely telling people that they are complete newbies and will people buy? NO, as what Ms Rosalind has mentioned.
I suggest that Caroline should not venture into the Internet marketing or make money online niche right now. It’s far too competitive. Use what she had learned instead from the IM niche and apply to other niches online. I bet she will have a far higher chance of success.
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carolyn on November 6th, 2007 5:57 am
One thing I noticed almost immediately in Caroline’s blog, was that her (few) links did not open in a new window. She is driving traffic away from her site.
I recently hit the 10,000+ visitors per month mark but I made money. It wasn’t a whole lot for my first month but it was something.
Because Google has gotten very selective about which sites it approves, I waited till I had at least 50 unique visitors a month. That was many months ago, but I still held off. I’ve read to many comments in SBI forums about not making any money at all. (Yes, I am an SBIer!) I waited till I had at least 70+ a month, and over 200 pages on my site before applying to Google for Adsense. I wanted to be SURE I got approved.
I have realized that marketing is also about not holding all of your eggs in one basket too. I only had affiliate banners at first. I gave them a while and then realized that they weren’t working. Marketing has changed in the last few years. What worked even 2 years ago, is not working as well now. I now have many types of revenue on my site. Readers want information. Give it to them. But also give them choices in how to spend their money.
Test, watch, test, watch, test.
Thats the only way to realize income.
And sure, build another site. Why not? I’m getting ready to do just that!
Thank you Ros, for all your contributions. I started out with your affiliate guide years ago. I remember reading your book and saying ‘I can do this’. You gave me the best keyword advice I could have gotten. It still amazes me that people still don’t understand their relevance or how to use them properly. Without key targeted keywords, I would’ve been lost a long time ago! You Rock Ros!
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David Kamau on November 6th, 2007 6:07 am
You already mentioned her two main mistakes. One is that she started marketing “make money” information, though she is not making any money herself. Many have made this mistake, including myself.
Her second mistake is lack of monetization: Another common mistake. The side bar appears littered with links. I would suggest adding Adsense as well as ads for quality products (not too many) related to her niche.
Finally, she should write with a (monetary) goal in mind. What does she want her readers to do? Sign up for her newsletter? Buy a certain product? This she could mention at the foot of her posts, without being “salesy”. A related banner at the top or bottom of post, especially with some type of special offer, works well also.
To be precise, her blog is not a business as it stands.
[Reply]
Joe Stewart on November 6th, 2007 7:27 am
Hi Ros,
I think Caroline needs a lesson in “Bum Marketing” to get her going.
Personally, I’d continue to write one article per week to keep the blog traffic coming until she figures out the best way to monetize it, and start writing one page product reviews and submitting original articles to EzineArticles.com and other article directories that link back to them for immediate, targeted traffic. This is both free and very effective.
Also, the whole purpose of writing is to position yourself as an expert. By telling people that you’re new to a topic is defeating the purpose.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask someone to take an action. You don’t have to be salesy, just say something like “Learn more about how XYZ can help you Right Now by visiting http://www.XYZ.com“.
My sales almost doubled when I started asking people to take action. This also increased my leverage with the merchant’s that I was working with and allowed me to ask for (and receive) an increase in commissions.
Just my two cents.
[Reply]
Doug Philp on November 6th, 2007 7:32 am
Just a quick note to Thank You for some great advice Rosalind. I’m always amazed, even perplexed, at the number of people I witness quit their job out in the ‘day to day’ world without having another job to start the next day.
What are these people thinking? I do have my opinion - but will keep it to myself.
Thanks again,
Doug
[Reply]
Brian Cotsen on November 6th, 2007 8:02 am
Hello Ros
It’s always great reading you sum up of a business idea.
You get to the point, which is something I really appreciate.
Though I might be embarrassed at you pointing out it’s obvious flaws, I’d be more than happy to here your views on my own creations… but that’s another story.
I couldn’t agree with you more regarding the danger of doing too much research and ultimately not putting pen to paper soon enough.
If I have learned one thing over the years of running websites & online businesses is that I can never have enough good content, and the content I write could always be improved just a bit more if only I had the time to do more research.
I particularly liked your observation about remembering why you are writing, who you are writing for and what it is that they want to here and will make them follow your recommendation.
Thanks again for making me stop and think… as I am now off to write some more for my website.
Regards
Brian
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alan martin on November 6th, 2007 9:20 am
Hi, I have had a look at Caroline’s site and as you say she needs to have a sprinkling of affiliate links and maybe other types of links to make money with and also I would have a email capture box and she should be selling her own stuff if possible.
Yours Alan
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Brad on November 6th, 2007 13:16 pm
Is it just me or does this page look all whacked out in Firefox?
Thanks for the great article Rosalind.
Brad
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Von Doane on November 6th, 2007 19:19 pm
I met Caroline Middlebrook via Ed Dales’s Thirty Day Challenge August 2007. She was very active in the Thirty Day Challenge Forum. She frequently made informative forum comment posts, answered questions and socially interacted wih other 30 Day Challenge forum participants. There is a special group bond that exist among The 30 Day Challengers. Many of us continue to interact on Facebook and / or Twitter.
Caroline Middlebrook is following the Web 2.0 marketing techiques taught by Ed Dale during the 2007 Thirty Day Challenge and also tips from professional blogger Yaro Starak e-book Blog Profit Blueprint. According to Yaro Starak Nov. 2 , 2007 post ” Proof That Blog Comments Still Works To Build Traffic” Yaro claims Caroline Middlebroook… “she’s a poster child for my methodology”.
I believe… Caroline’s Middlebrook’s story is inspiring. She is an inspiration to entrepreneurs Online…. especially, woman entrepreneurs to follow the dream and visions in our mind and the passion and desires of our hearts and give energy to manifest what we really want for ourselves by utilizing and leveraging the power of the Internet…. even if it means we have to make a major change in our lives and take a big risk.
I believe and support Caroline Middlebrook. I am confident she will make money and be financial successful Online once she monetizes her current blog. She has answer the #1 question….”How Can I Drive Free Targeted Traffic To My Blog Within 90 Days?”… for aspiring online entreprenuers or struggling internet marketers whose #1 concern and challenge is traffic. Caroline Middlebrook gives hope. If Caroline Middlebrook can do it I can do it, too!
I read some statistics last week that 92% of the people on the Internet are struggling and not making money . The #1 reason seems to be most entrepreneurs are unable to generate traffic or drive the right kind of targeted traffic to their site or blog. Without a mentor or support become discourage and evenually quit.
For a very new blogger Caroline Middlebrook has position herself within a short period of time (within 90 days) from making a major career decision to quit her job and be self-employed and an unknown online entity to receive an amazing amount of free links, free world traffic, free world publicity, global recognition from several professional bloggers and a top super affiliate about her on their blogs.
Sounds like Caroline Middlebrook is a new blogger with tenacity that is focused, implementing her game plan and applying the internet marketing lessons she has aquired by participating in “The 30 Day Challenge” and reading Yaro Starak’s “Blog Profit Blueprint.”.
It appears to me Caroline Middlebrook has a well planned strategic marketing and blogging traffic plan that is working. She will have interested repeated visitors to see her outcome for monetizing her blog and to tap into learning her massive traffic strategies.
Von Doane
“Author Of The Kandu Pages”
Philadelphia, Pa.
[Reply]
joe on November 6th, 2007 20:12 pm
“Wow! Those are awesome results for a 2-month old blog”
Well done Caroline you have almost made it
Well done ED Dale
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Jen on November 7th, 2007 9:31 am
Her traffic strategies are definitely working it’s magic because within the last 2 days I’ve come across this woman’s blog from several different blog and newsletter sources. She is certainly making and getting great buzz.
I do take acception with your point that no one will buy from someone who isn’t making money. On the contrary. I personally like those blogs who talk about their online journey and silently find myself cheering for the person on who is actually taking action toward their goals.
Once Caroline begins to write about her successes and the produts she used in the process, she Will make loads of money. People are just waiting for her to talk about this and I hope she sees this as it’s so evident people will believe what she is saying versus the hundreds of name brand internet marketers out there who bombard with product recommendations.
The golden rule in sales is…”People buy from people they like”. It’s clear people really like Caroline based on all of the comments found in the blogsphere about her online journey.
Hi Jen - Actually, people buy fom people they like and trust and that was my point exactly. Folks will buy from Caroline when she starts demonstrating success in her efforts.
[Reply]
DazzlinDonna on November 8th, 2007 9:28 am
While she is on the right track, your advice is solid. Obviously she can’t make money if she doesn’t monetize. That’s a key missing component. I tend to repeat myself fairly often when I tell people to expect to do this part-time for at least a year before quitting a job (or have a very nice savings set aside). The only point I would quibble with that you’ve made is the PPC angle. Yes, PPC can be effective, but it shouldn’t be the only road you take. Organic traffic can be extremely lucrative, and if done right, it means you receive nice targeted traffic via search for free. (Of course, time is money, so that has to be factored in as well). But she would do well to listen to your advice, while still making use of what’s she’s learned in obtaining that organic traffic as well.
First things first though - monetize the site!
[Reply]
Sue on November 8th, 2007 11:29 am
Hello Rosalind,
I always enjoy receiving your e-mails which cover important issues that can’t be found elsewhere.
I would have to agree with your answers to Caroline,;since you are the expert. Your pointers may very well save her many more frustrating months that she may/or may not encounter if she takes heed of what’s being said. I think it should be taken as “constructive criticism”"perceived in a good way.
Thanks.
[Reply]
Stephan Miller on November 8th, 2007 11:47 am
This site looks fine in Firefox, unless you have it on a Mac. Firefox for Mac is the idiot step-child of browser. It doesn’t do either javascript or css right. Don’t worry, Rosalind.
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Susan Juliano on November 8th, 2007 16:19 pm
Wow. What kind of blind faith and full-throttle enthusiasm makes a person quit their job just on the *hopes* and *plans* for making money online?? Or did she really just detest her job that thoroughly? I am dumbfounded. I sincerely hope her link to the 30-Day Challenge was monetized so that she gets something from people clicking on it. I didn’t subscribe to her feed, but I did click that link. Gee, I hope I don’t get brainwashed into prematurely quitting my job!
[Reply]
Sebastian on November 9th, 2007 10:48 am
Hi
I feel sorry for Caroline as she showed a lot of enthusiasm for starting her internet career. However, she should have stayed with her current job before quitting. That was a very, very bad mistake.
Although, the internet is the wave of the future, it’s very competitive. I believe that Caroline could make some money online, but she needs to do more selling and less blogging. Blogging is nice but it should be part of the overall scheme of selling online.
SW
[Reply]
Halfdeck on November 11th, 2007 6:14 am
“Yes, PPC can be effective, but it shouldn’t be the only road you take. Organic traffic can be extremely lucrative, and if done right, it means you receive nice targeted traffic via search for free.”
PPC is basically free traffic as long as your ROI is good. Unlike organic traffic, PPC is instant gratification. So I would shoot for PPC first, organic traffic second.
[Reply]
Greg Johnson on November 11th, 2007 20:50 pm
If the purpose of Caroline’s blog is to inform, teach, or entertain, she’s done a great job.
If the purpose of the blog is to make money, then sell something. How much research is necessary to recommend a product or service to a friend?
Greg
[Reply]
The Importance of Flexible Goals & Plans | Caroline Middlebrook on November 12th, 2007 10:06 am
[...] I had given up my job as a programmer to be a full time blogger! Ouch! When I started seeing posts like this one popping up all over the place it really made me realise that I had to change my [...]
chipseo on November 12th, 2007 11:18 am
Funny, I have been reading her blog for a few months and I never really got the impression that she was doing a MMO blog? It was informational to me, but not a “here is how to make money”. Maybe I read it wrong somewhere, don’t know.
I DO know that writing quality blog content does take a lot of time, and earning money comes slowly. Scott
[Reply]
Kristy Davids on November 12th, 2007 14:38 pm
I think your post is rather misleading as Caroline didn’t quit her job intending to earn an income from blogging. Her plan was to build niche sites and monetize them via affiliate products and/or Adsense.
Since her blog stats have rocketed off to a far better start than the niche sites she’s been working on, she’s obviously rethinking this plan.
But like you said in point #2, since she IS just starting out, she never had any intention of trying to earn money with yet another “make money online” blog. Why in the world would she start up a PPC campaign at this point?
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What Whirling Dervishes Can Teach You About Blogging » Reader Appreciation Project on November 13th, 2007 11:36 am
[...] they will reward you: they will make you money by buying whatever you may sell; they will give you invaluable feedback; they will provide you motivation to go on with your [...]
Codrut Turcanu on November 15th, 2007 7:21 am
Hi Rosalind - what a great insider view of Caroline’s strategy.
I loved your tips. However, while I agree with your advice on writing a bulletpoint outline before you do web research, I think that newbie writers and affiliate would be able to write it in a more effectively manner if they do research FIRST.
Just think about it -
They could get a feeling of what’s hot in the market
They’ll know what are the killer bullet points within their sub-niche
They’ll know exactly what to write about…
Cheers,
Codrut Turcanu - “Succeeding Against All Odds!”
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Val on November 20th, 2007 10:20 am
I have to fess up, I broke the rules….started reading this post, then went to Caroline’s Blog, then went to other bogs she spoke about. Before I knew it, two hours had passed - the upshot being that I have done no work on my business today lol But I did get a lot of useful information
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Gus on November 28th, 2007 6:57 am
Hi Ros,
Great tips! But, I have a few questions.
When you’re writing, what do you use to gauge “enough research”? I find the whole internet marketing arena daunting, so I’m constantly researching. (I guess that would be a little “too much”?)
I’ve read (and still re-read) your Super Affiliate Handbook, but I never got a handle on the nuances of “social bookmarking”, ie, kids trying to impress their friends. Do you see much impact from all the techo-diggo-blatto buttons on your web pages?
I thought Caroline was pretty brave to publish her blog as a start up.
Kind of reminds me of an apprentice carpenter who built a garage on his own, figuring he’d learn while building.
All was well and good until the first big snow. His nice two-car garage, flattened under the weight of the snow, was an expensive lesson in learning the RIGHT things. He was quite good at finish work and painting and fixtures, but didn’t know much about structural.
Regards,
Gus
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Rosalind Gardner on November 28th, 2007 8:12 am
Hey Gus,
Great story… hope the fellow found another ‘hobby’ or got some instruction.
Good questions too. It’s easy to get drawn in all different directions based on a question, but it you want to save time on research — When you first question is answered, research is over.
Re ’social bookmarking’. Although I know there are those who spend their lives Digging their articles to get Dugg (?), I don’t concentrate any effort in that direction primarily because I see it as a tail-chasing endeavor. Once you stop, the traffic stops. It might be good for building a list, but I always come back to the fact that building one ppc campaign that runs and runs and runs is much more effective from a time perspective… and time is money.
Hope that answers your questions!
Cheers,
Ros
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unTECHy on February 11th, 2008 20:01 pm
I have been stumbling for hours tonight and have read several good blog articles. This one however has ranked #1 for the night. Not only does it cover Caroline Middlebrook (one of my favorite bloggers), it also lays out very thoroughly the steps one should take when running a blog.
Thank you very much for this post. *Stumbled*
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Time-wasting Internet Marketing | freelance-zone.com on July 1st, 2008 14:38 pm
[...] sites and blogs earning 100K a month), Net Profits Today, she recommends investing your time in a pay-per-click campaign rather than random forum or site comments for the sake of a few backlinks. The rewards are greater, [...]