Why so many people are in on the ‘make money blogging’ game and the reality of doing it properly.

1. No initial investment required

Other than a few dollars to register a domain name and buy some cheap hosting for the year, there are no costs. Bluehost sell .com domains for $10 per year, about £5.95, and yearly unlimited hosting packages for $59.40. A total business start-up cost of $69.40 or £41.50.

As John Chow points out so often, the low barrier of entry for starting a blog has its downsides. Because there’s nothing to lose, what’s going to make you work hard at it consistently? If you had invested $100,000 in starting up your blog, would you still be treating it in the same half-assed way as you do today?

2. Work whenever and from anywhere

You could be anywhere in the world with a laptop and internet connection and still be able to work.

In fact, you can automate every Facebook update, tweet and blog post for the next 2 weeks while you’re away on holiday if you like. Write a bunch of posts and use Wordpress to schedule when they are published. Use Twitter scheduled tweets and Facebook scheduled status updates to promote posts.

As long as you put in the 42 hours of work before you go away on holiday, yeah you can automate it.

3. Seemingly little time required each day to maintain a blog

Spend a couple of hours a day writing a blog post or two, anyone could do that.

Then there’s guest posting on other blogs, networking, creating informational products, optimizing the website layout and content for SEO, and attending business events all to build traffic.

The money doesn’t come in just by writing the posts and sticking a few ads on the site. Still got time after all that to create a clear business plan and monetization strategy?

4. The bigger bloggers make it look easy to become an overnight success

Chris Brogan produced a great video series on this. Too many people start up blogs and become discouraged after a couple of months when they’re still only averaging around 20 unique hits per day.

The success of your blog isn’t 100% based on the quality of content. What use is good content if no one is reading it? It can take months of plugging your blog, establishing authority and reputation to build a following.

The reward of earning $40,000 a month from a blog comes after years of hard work.

5. No shipping costs, no production costs, no customers

Okay, so in a way you do have customers.

They’re the people who buy your informational products, click on your ads or buy other people’s stuff through your affiliate schemes. And you have to provide customer service in the form of answering emails and contributing to discussions.

But unlike other businesses there’s no need to waste time putting together quotes, tendering for contracts, and giving sales talks to clients who may never actually sign up for your service or buy your product.

Have any other ideas why?

Let me know on Twitter. Id be happy to make this 10, or even 20 reasons why blogging is such an attractive business model.

2. Make blogging a part of your daily routine
If blogging is your main source of income, this will already be the case. However, plenty of businesses want to start a blog, or already have one but don’t blog regularly because it takes time and doesn’t directly make money for the business. Instead of seeing a blog as just an ‘add on’ to your business and treating it with the least priority, include it as part of your daily work routine.

3. Write more than one post per day
Some days it’s easier to write than others. Take advantage of this by getting more than one blog post finished and keep them as drafts in Wordpress. On days when writing is more difficult or you’re short on time, use up one of your already finished posts.

4. Always keep a notebook with you
Ideas and inspiration can quickly come and go. Keep a notebook (and pen) with you to jot down ideas.

5. Read more
Books, blogs in your niche and completely unrelated blogs. Build your vocabulary, ideas and improve your writing style by reading more.

Business Link run regular events to encourage new businesses and help support existing ones. Here’s a review of a Business Link event I went to called “business ideas”.

If you’ve never heard of Business Link before, they’re an organisation funded by the government to help support business in the UK.

I was sceptical at first, with it being free event, only lasting three hours and never having worked with Business Link before.

There was a mixture of people there, all at different stages in developing a business or becoming self employed and all with an interesting and varied background. It was interesting to hear peoples’ stories and discover how in a room of only ten people there can be such a wide variety of experience and skills.

The content was alright, but nothing new to anyone already reading into business and entrepreneurship. Some of the topics covered included SWOT analysis, finding the right target market, looking for new opportunities and writing a business plan. I recommend a copy of Duncan Bannatyne’s Wake Up And Change Your Life for more information on developing a business idea.

The handout was not so great, just a print out of the Powerpoint slideshow. It’d have been better if we’d have been provided with some details of books or websites for further reading on each of the topics discussed.

For example, OK, we’ve been told to do some market research, but what are the best tools and methods for doing so, and what books or websites do you recommend for market research? Again, we should write a business plan, but where can I find out what needs to be included in it and what are banks looking for in a business plan in order to approve a loan?

Overall, the event was well worth the time just for the networking opportunity for anyone currently in business or looking to start one and I’ll be keeping an eye on the upcoming Business Link events in sheffield. The best parts of the event were the interesting ad hoc discussions on real world problems that people were having. I came away with contact details of five really good people, who I’ll be keeping in touch with.

I think it’s important to remember when considering signing up for a course or event, even if the content isn’t so great, there’s bound to be people there with similar interests as you who you can learn from and exchange contact details with. It’s all about the networking.

I’ve booked another event through Business Link called “How to turn your Website into a Customer Magnet”, that’s on December 1st at The Source in Sheffield. It was fully booked nearly a month before the event and I’m definitely looking forward to it.

1. Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools

Every blog or website should be using both of these. They’re free and provide detailed statistics on your website visitors, where they came from and how you’re performing on Google for certain keywords. The dashboard of Google Analytics shows a high level overview of number of visits, average pages viewed per visit, average time spent on site and your bounce rate. You can then drill down into the categories: visitors, traffic sources, content and goals. There’s a lot of interesting statistics there for web developers too - web browser and operating system used, screen resolution and connection speed to name a few.

The amount of information Google Analytics provides could be overwhelming, you should concentrate on just the following for business purposes. Visits,  bounce rate, pages per visit and traffic sources. Pages per visit and average time on site give you an idea of how long your website can hold the readers’ attention for.

If you run a business which targets customers in a particular area, you should also check out the map overlay in the dashboard. A website which is well written and optimised for search engines will have the largest majority of visits coming from the area in which the business operates.

Let me know if you want to start using Google Analytics on your business website.

2. Feedburner statistics

Best used on a blog with regular updates, Feedburner can display the number of subscribers to your blog via RSS or email.

3. Inbound links

Both Wordpress and Google Analytics can track links to your website. Wordpress only displays links from other blogs to your blog whilst Google Analytics displays links from anywhere. Links to your homepage suggest that people think your website in general is useful, or are making recommendations of your business. Links to specific pages or blog posts suggest popular content, you will start to gain an idea of topics which are popular, allowing you to concentrate on writing more of it.

Here’s some tips on choosing a name for your future business. Don’t overcomplicate it, choose a name you enjoy working with every day and feel confident telling people about.

If you plan on running a local business or one which targets certain locations, choose a business name which includes the type of product or service along with the location you offer them in.

The business will benefit from high search engine rankings for searches targeted at specific locations. Your customer will have found what they were looking for straight away and you will attract customers who are conveniently located.

Real example: Searching for a plumber in Pimlico? Pimlico Plumbers will be top of the list.

Other ideas:
Sheffield Web Design
Longley Electricians
Doncaster Plumbers

Use your name or initials along with the type of service provided.

This works well for family run businesses and those looking to deliver their product or service with a personal touch. It has become popular with photographers, artists and ‘one man’ businesses such as plasterers or decorators. The name can create an image of trust and build a good relationship with the customer.

Real example: Timpsons have built an entire business based on trust and respect for both their staff and customers.

Other ideas:
Hartley Roofing
Robertson Photography
Martin Johnson Decorating Services

Don’t feel too bad if you go for a name which is slightly oddball.

These are my favourite as the companies behind them tend to be arty, innovative and just all round interesting. Because the business name is not self explanatory, it prompts people to find out more about the company and what they do.

Bison Grass Films
If Looks Could Kill
Hot Tin Roof

Your corporate name can be different to your trading name.

This gives you the flexibility of being able to develop new brands in future. All legal documents and tax returns are filed using your single corporate name whilst your company appears to the customer as something different.