Establishing Your Blog to Make Money Online

By: Terry Philpott

In order to make money online by blogging there are two schools of thought as to when the best time is to monetize the blog. On the one hand you could immediately start to market to your readers upon launch. Now this makes sense since earning an online income is why you've started the blog to begin with. On the other hand there are those who feel it is best to first establish a reader base before introducing any type of online marketing techniques.

On the surface it would seem pretty obvious as to what approach to take if earning an online income is the objective behind your blogging.

Well even though managing a blog over a period of time without the intent to make money seems a little strange it does pose some interesting advantages.

Let's have a look at 3 compelling reasons it would be to your advantage to DELAY monetizing your blog:

EASIER TO CREATE 'COMMUNITY'

The very basis behind blog popularity is the ability to interact with other visitors and the site owner WITHOUT the distractions of online advertising. Freedom from sales pitches and the opportunity to contribute concerning content of interest to the reader is what most visitors expect at a blog.

Online advertising of any kind will hinder that 'cozy' and 'protected' feeling visitors are expecting from a blog. As a result it may slow the growth of blog readership since many may not feel as comfortable with these distractions.

EASIER to DEVELOP LOYALTY

With good content and the implementation of effective online marketing techniques to attract traffic most blogs can expect to grow quickly. The interaction of both readers and the site owner through blog comments left and also responded to a certain degree of familiarity develops. This spawns a feeling of camaraderie and loyalty between and amongst all participants. This loyalty then results in readers returning and in fact with their continued participation they in effect are helping to build and improve the blog.

At this point the feeling of community is in full bloom and continues to feed upon itself to grow the blog even more. Now you have greater participation, more input, and even referrals from the existing subscription base are arriving. It is of utmost importance that the site owner continues to take advantage of blog comments left and act upon them to improve the blog. These comments are the readers telling you what they want; all you need to do is respond.

ENHANCES FUTURE MARKETING EFFORTS

This communal feeling and the loyalty that now exist has given the blog owner tremendous momentum upon which to launch a money making blog. Readership resistance to any marketing attempts will be minimized due to the trust that has developed. In fact sales conversions should be very high as also should be profits.

Blog marketing relies upon the trust and familiarity that the blogging community is noted for. A blog not monetized will generally gain a greater and more immediate acceptance amongst visitors thereby leading to a faster growth rate.

To make money online it will always involves a certain amount of trust from your customers. In order for them to respond positively to any online marketing efforts they'll need to believe in either you or the product. By not monetizing your blog from the outset you should be able to develop this trust quicker. This will in turn lead to greater sales with less effort in the future.