Money doesn’t grow on blog trees. Money comes from the fruit those blog trees produce.
Instead of me telling you where the money is to be found on the internet (which I have done before, but only a few heard what I was saying), I’m going to propose a bit of a project to get all our minds working.
After reading several of my favorite blogs this morning, I realized one thing, most everyone is telling how to make the money once you decide on your niche, but so few are telling you how to arrive at the profitable niche in the first place.
With so many blogs about blogging making their way onto the scene, I can only venture to guess that many think that’s where the money is made. If that’s what you’re thinking – STOP! Right now! It’s not where the money is made. In fact, my blogs about blogging generate less than 10% of my entire monthly revenue each month.
Go back to the drawing table, put together some ideas of what you think might be a profitable niche and share those ideas with us. In exchange, I’m hoping you’ll get enough feedback from myself and my readers, that you can establish a nice profitable niche for yourself.
Can you tell the difference between the people who are blogging for profit and those who are blogging for passion?
Perhaps there are some who are blogging for passion that happened to turn into profit?
So here’s a thought –
If money comes from the fruit that blogs produce, what kind of fruit will you be marketing?
Where do YOU think the profitable niches are?
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This really is thought provoking in so many directions. Is blogging for profit necessarily a bad thing? Can you really make a profit unless you blog passionately?
Is it possible to tap established niches or should you find an untapped niche? How do you find an untapped niche that’s profitable?
For me personally, this is evolving into – is blogging the best way to express my passion? If I love filmmaking, shouldn’t I be out there making films instead of blogging?
So many questions – and I’ll bet there are many different (right) answers!
This would be two parts, knowing what you love to blog about and blogging in a way to hit that target audience.
I think any topic can be a hot topic. Ice sculptures can be a topic. I’ve seen one blogger posting about c-string panties.
I think it is knowing where your readers are, and socializing in those networks to get more readers, etc.
People don’t listen and they don’t take constructive criticism very well which is a BIG reason why my WAHM posts have declined lately. Plus, it felt like I was sharing my secrets with too many people who were not helping me out in return. It can’t be a one way street, that’s for sure!
I’m blogging my passion, though whether it will turn into a profit remains to be seen.
I’m learning to blog my passion (it helps that writing is also a passion) and learn from marketers to make small adjustments. For example, I prefer the term “afternoon tea” to “tea party”, but “tea party” is searched for 600% more than “afternoon tea”.
Currently, I’m “niche-less,” but I’m for the first time I’m considering running ads on my site, something I’ve been opposed to in the past. I’m at the point that my blog is sucking up enough of my time that I feel I need some tangible reward for it.
Ok seriously.
How can you focus a blog on c-string panties? I mean, hey…I like panties (on women) as much as the next man, but unless you’re posting pictures of the things every day…what’s the draw?
Now about niches…
Localization is going to be the key in the future. Knowing and being able to communicate with your local market for your chosen niche – ANY NICHE – will be the key to wealth in the next wave of blogs.
For example – a blog about restaurants in the area. A blog about real estate agents in the area. A blog about customer service experiences in the area.
All could be interesting in one way or another, but especially to local people, and businesses, who would be much more likely to BUY ADVERTISING from the smaller, localized blogger than any big national chain would be.
I would imagine that certain types of ads might be more profitable in certain niches. AdSense definitely works better for some than others but it seems like some of the entertainment/TV/sports/movie type of sites that don’t seem to get much per click from AdSense might do better with some kind of impression based banners if they get decent traffic.
I gave up trying to do profitable niches and have stuck with just writing stuff that is fun for me and then seeing if I can make a couple bucks on it.
I’m blogging with passion. Still, I would be more than pleased if blogging with integrity and honesty on all things related to marketing and advertising will ultimately bring me more business.
There’s some bloggers who don’t believe in placing any form of advertisements in their blogs because they don’t want to sell themselves out. As a marketer, I see no reason not to. A blog is already a part of the online media. An ad is a bridge between problem and solution, buyer and seller. One just needs to ensure the ads on the blog are aligned with the blog theme, and everything will be fine.
I like your post, Gayla but I felt differently to your “Money comes from the fruit those blog trees produce”. My take is “Money comes from the roots those blog trees grow from”.
BTW, check out my post on Rockin Girl Blogger because you just received the award!
And I forgot to mention, W-List Outstanding Women Bloggers as well.
Good post loads of people blog about blogging don’t they what niche do you find most profitable?
It’s really interesting to see all the varied opinions to this post.
It certainly is a thought provoking concept. For me, the most profitable niche has been in the health related blogs. I know many who are highly successful in the entertainment arena too. Aside from that, I’ve very little knowledge of what might or might not be the most profitable niches.
I was thinking about starting a health related blog, reckon I will soon
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