Blogging for Money Displaces Your Focus
16 May, 2008 - Blogging - 18 Comments
“The Blogging Playing Field” - Photo by Fort Photo
The best blogging advice I ever received came from Jane May, who was once a very active force in the make money online scene of the blogosphere. In a review of my blog, Jane said:
Don’t try to monetize your blog straight away. Focus on building a loyal base of readers and visitors before you think about money.
Since Jane wrote that review last year, I’ve never really understood why she made that particular comment. Until now.
For the most part, I’ve spent the month of May at a self pity party. I wasn’t really sure where to take this blog. I was finding myself losing the inspiration, dedication and motivation needed to write. It just wasn’t fun anymore.
It took me a couple of weeks, but I eventually realised what the problem was.
The problem lay with the fact I was trying to make money.
With all my focus being lost on Adsense, advert prices, advert positions, advert sizes, affiliate programs and every other source of revenue, I had lost all my focus for community.
The Lack of Focus on the Community
When I started blogging in this niche last year, I was looking out over the playing fields. I could see the small bloggers, the medium sized bloggers and the larger bloggers. I could see the bloggers I wanted to build a friendship with. I could see the bloggers I wanted to guest write for. I could see the whole playing field from my perch.
As time went by, I slowly succumbed to the trap. I slowly developed my blog with monetization in mind. Over a long period of time, almost long enough for me to entirely miss the small signs, I started to look inwards to myself and my own blog, rather than looking outwards over the playing field. Suddenly, I could no longer see the community. I couldn’t see my friends. I couldn’t see the new bloggers.
I was so intent on earning some money, that I forgot to take part in the community.
When I started blogging, I would comment on every single post that came in to my RSS feed. Not one line comments either. I would write at least a paragraph and usually a lot more. Each day I would wake up to emails and comments from bloggers telling me how they loved my excellent comments on blogs they read. I was told on more than one occasion that the comments I wrote were the best comments they had ever read.
When I started looking inwards, I forgot about the community. I read the posts in my feed, but I lost the habit of writing comments. And with the lack of comments came the rest of the downward spiral. Suddenly, I was no longer emailing my blogging friends just to see how their day had been. Ya know, like real people do. Bloggers only seem to contact each other when they need a favour. In my early months, I would contact a select few blogging friends just to chat with them. I didn’t expect any favours, and neither did they. Just friendly chat.
Looking inwards made me lose all that. Suddenly my circle of friends had been reduced to just two or three. Not all because of my focus on money. In fact, many of the friends in my circle that started blogging when I did have now either closed their blogs and moved on or participated less in the blogging community.. Jane May. Stephen Welton. Jeff Kee (heh. Jeff had the biggest crush on Jane May and he used to write some of the most hilarious comments on her blog. 
).
When Did You Realise You Lost Your Focus?
Actually, it was a couple of days ago when I was stood at the kitchen sink washing some cutlery. I contemplated what blogging would be like if I decided not to make any money. What would it be like if I focused on the community? What if I got my pleasure just from helping people? What if I got my pleasure from the compliments from those people saying they like my work? What if blogging became as exciting as it was when I first started?
It was then that it hit me. Losing the focus for money and rekindling the focus for community was the key to the success of this blog. And with that, I would like to announce…
As of May 14th 2008, I have made the decision not to monetize this blog. Maybe not forever. But for now, and for as far in to the future as my little pea inside my skull will allow me to see, I shall not be making any money from this Web site. Any reviews I do will be done for free on the basis that they help the community. Any Amazon links I publish in the future will not contain affiliate ID’s. Any advertising requests I receive will be directed to a Web design forum I manage where we maintain a list of sponsors to help us break even (we never profit from the forum).
While I was stood in the kitchen, I realised that community spirit and honest compliments from people I’ve helped are far more valuable to me than money. I realised that what I’m really interested in is not making money, but rather receiving comments, RSS subscribers, incoming links and emails. Not to make money, but just to get the sense of self-satisfaction that comes with helping others.
If you’re not extremely careful, blogging for money displaces your focus. It makes you look in, not out. It removes you from the community. It changes your face and your voice. Conversing with other bloggers happens only when you sense a reward. Writing is done, not because you want to help your readers, but because you want to help your bank balance.
My advice is to lose the focus on money. Don’t even contemplate monetization. Focus on the community. Focus on your passion. You’ll build your blog far faster by losing the focus on the green paper and rekindling the focus on the people.
Are you motivated to blog by the sense of community that it brings, or do you blog entirely for the money?
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Posted on 16 May, 2008 by Jamie Harrop
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I was wondering why your posts had become less frequent.
Focusing on non monetary goals can often lead to unintended consequences, resulting in opportunities which end up making you money.
Good Luck.
DaveD’s last blog post..Tax Links From Finance Blogs
Hey Dave,
Yep, that would be the reason I slowed down the post frequency. I just needed a little time to find my blog again.
“Focusing on non monetary goals can often lead to unintended consequences, resulting in opportunities which end up making you money.”
That is such a powerful quote. No truer words have ever been spoken.
Thanks Dave!
Good post. It seems like if you go into blogging with money on the mind, the content becomes secondary to your blog. That’s obviously backwards. When I started blogging from a more professional standpoint, I didn’t even know you could make money (granted things change in two years).
As someone who makes money blogging, you really have to focus yourself on thinking that you’re not selling advertising or affiliate space or whatever your monetization strategy is. You have to think your focus is on selling content. That’s where the money comes from. That means writing compelling content and promoting your blog based on the content that you are creating. If people won’t come to your site to read your content, they won’t come to read your advertisement.
I echo Dave’s comment saying you’re on the right track if this becomes your focus.
Lance’s last blog post..The Four Click Supervisor’s Manual
Hey Lance,
Thanks for such a well thought out, constructive comment.
I think you sum it up well when you say “If people won’t come to your site to read your content, they won’t come to read your advertisement.”
Thanks Lance.
Excellent post.
I feel too that it is all about the community, and I think about the community often. Knowing that you have something to offer is important to them, as well as yourself.
I as well like to educate - but most importantly keep people interested in what I’m doing. Why? Because I think making a difference is important!
torbjornrive’s last blog post..Bring Back That 1st R: Refuse
Thanks for the comment, torbjornrive.
I completely agree with you. Making a difference, and knowing you’re doing so, is so valuable.
Sunday Links: To Monetize or Not to Monetize, It’s a Matter of Opinion…
I’m often amazed by the many different opinions about blog monetization. Some people are fanatical about the latest trends, others implement a more traditional strategy, some decide not to monetize their blogs all together, and some are dissatisfied w…
I have links and paid advertisements on my site but that isn’t what my blog is about. I admit that I was blinded by making money but then I realised that the writing something I enjoy doing more than anything else.
With regards to the paid posts, I have to admit I have never been tempted and I hate reading them on most sites. I think they devalue an otherwise fantastic blog. Am I the only person who feels this way? When I was reading blogs the other day, I came across seven blogs with promoting the same product…
Sarah’s last blog post..Spelling - Double Letters
Seven?! Ouch! That’s shocking!
I completely agree with you that the average paid post devalues the content of a blog. I actually have a post title in my list for future posts which reads “How to make your Paid Posts More Valuable”. I think paid posts can still be a valuable asset to a blog. They just have to focus on the readers, rather than the advertiser.
I’ve never wrote a paid post in my life, but I’m sure there has to be a way to strike a good balance between satisfying the advertiser and supplying quality content to your readers.
Thanks for the excellent comment.
Your welcome!
I think your right, I haven’t written any paid posts but then there isn’t a lot I could write about as my site is very ‘niche’ orientated.
Sarah’s last blog post..Spelling - Double Letters
That certainly seems to be the case. Well, I don’t really think you’re missing out on too much.
I just decided to write a free review each month for a lucky reader. I guess we’ll see how easy it is for me to strike a balance between quality for the advertiser and quality for the rest of the readers.
Wish me luck!
[...] my readers. And yes, I also want to give the blog a new boost. So, in line with my thoughts on the community of blogging, I shall be writing a review of one lucky readers blog or Web site every [...]
[...] This was Sarah’s first comment on my blog, Here is her comment, in response to my post “Blogging for Money Displaces Your Focus“. “I have links and paid advertisements on my site but that isn’t what my blog is [...]
Oh that Jane May.. she broke my heart.. oh wait I never had one. But yeah she’s off the radars eh?
Jeff Kee’s last blog post..Get a Buzz Everyday with 7DayBuzz!!!
Hey, look who it is! The comment master himself! How ya doing Jeff?
It seems Jane stopped blogging when she moved in to her new place. It’s a shame. She put out some fantastic material, and was a great help to me when I first started this blog.
I really wish I had more time to carefully write blog posts but I got so busy… with teh TTZ Media engine project, realtor websites, my own CMS development etc… add soccer, salsa dancing and other personal hobbies that I still never put down and you got a full time life.
But I will get back into blogging for sure, simply because I like it, and I could care less about whether my blog makes income or not. Income is nice, but without income I’d still do it for myself, and for the sake of sharing.
Jeff Kee’s last blog post..Get a Buzz Everyday with 7DayBuzz!!!
[...] Blogging for Money Displaces Your Focus [...]
Awesome ariticle… You really are adding value to the online community… Gregory Drake