This blog certainly has potential to grow! And it is worth subscribing to it for the information that is pumped out unregularly (unfortunately)

After I said those words, I got up and I walked away. I wanted her to really let those words sink in. I wanted her to really appreciate what I had said because it is something that most bloggers do not appreciate. Even those that make a living from this great thing called blogging, some don’t appreciate what they do. It’s just a business to them and frankly, I don’t agree with that. To each his own, but John Chow said it best with his video about the Dot Com Lifestyle. The most important thing to him (and I agree because it’s the most important thing to me) is his ability to have an outlet where he can talk about anything he wants.

My friend tracked me down after I had left the room to go take care of some things and she told me that she so desperately wanted to make a blog about how to help people. So, I sat down with her again and I said to her that she needed to pick something that she loved. I stressed that because if she didn’t love it, it wouldn’t work. She said, “helping people is what I love to do.” So I nodded my head and I started to help her set up her blog, get hosting, a domain, all of that.

Now…What am I trying to say with this story? She’s now having success with her blog. Traffic is rolling in, the earnings are starting to come (which most people don’t ever get) and most importantly, she’s starting to connect with her readers. She could have done the same thing with a different niche, such as health, and tried to make money. But instead, she found her niche. She really thought for that little bit of time about a topic that she was passionate about.

That was the best thing she could have done. Because she really thought about what she wanted to do, she was able to create the necessary idea that would make her blog grow. She found her niche. She found what she was passionate about. For me, I am passionate about politics, biology, and money. I own a blog on each of those topics. Politics, biology, and money. I own other blogs on other passions (I could write a post on my passions alone), but those are my biggest passions…

What am I trying to say? Find your passion. Be the blogger that found his or her niche. Once you have it, you’ve conquered one of the hardest parts of blogging. It really is a great feeling when you know people are coming back to read your writing because you are giving them something they need. Trust me.

First and foremost, I intend on getting into a bit more of the nitty gritty stuff behind making money online. You all can read a blog and understand that blogging about your passion is important. You want to know secret ways to get traffic. You want the earnings exposed. And because of that, I want to offer you all of that information. I want you to come back time and time again and really know that you’re getting the information.

I don’t want this to be any other Make Money Online blog. That’s why I am throwing information about stock and forex and all of that. But more importantly, my biggest complaint with other blogs is the fact that they don’t provide real information. It’s sugar coated. What right minded individual gives away their SECRETS to making money? Well…I guess I am crazy because that’s exactly what I intend on doing.

So, what to look forward to in the near future:

• A few give aways. Just some small things that Nomar and I feel might be good for you to have.
• A big contest. The contest will run in place with something we’re working on that might really be beneficial.
• More informational articles about things you don’t already know. Let me give you the secrets.
• And so much more…

I could ramble on forever, but let me just say that I am really excited and that I hope you are as well. Consider subscribing to our RSS feed so that you can stay up to date on all of the information that is coming in. And, remember one thing…The best reporters in the world try to expose everything. And we’re just another type of reporter giving away information for free. Honest, true information. Try it out.

The goal when monetizing your blog should be to make your money from private advertisers.

Voila…That’s it. That’s what your goal should be. Now, people are going to say: “why should I spend my time trying to get private advertisers when I can just put up Adsense and programs like that to make money?” The answer is very simple…Why should you rely on any other company to make you money? Why should you give them anything?

I’m not a proponent of greed, but I am proponent of making as much money as humanly possible on your website. If you have the opportunity to sell your advertising space to a private advertiser, you’re cutting out the middle man. The goal of a middle man is to make a profit. If you get rid of that middle man, the profit is gone for them and you get everything. Why give your money to someone else?

Getting private advertisers, though, is difficult which is why these programs are nice. But don’t rely on them. Use them as a secondary form of earning. Having Adsense on your site is not bad and it can definitely make a nice, residual income. But, you want to try and sell private advertising as well.

What’s better? Getting a quarter a click and hoping to get 100 clicks to make $25 a day? Or, having the ability to sell a single ad for $750 on your blog? Which will make you more money? Well, you’re looking at $750 for each of those ads. The Adsense one will make $750 a month and the private advertiser will make you $750 a month. But, let’s ask a question…Are you guaranteed to get 100 clicks a day? Are you guaranteed to get a quarter a click per click? No. But you are guaranteed to get $750 if that’s the cost of that ad space.

Do you see now why I am a strong proponent of private advertising? You get all the money and you’re guaranteed this money every month. You’re not paying commission to someone else and you’re not fluctuating day to day on your earnings. You know at the beginning of the month about how much you’ll make based on how many advertisers you have. That gives you the ability to invest correctly.

Your goal should be to get private advertisers when your blog gets to the point of achieving that success. It’s tough, but possible.

Signing up for Adsense is as easy as one, two, three. Hell, I don’t even remember what is required. If I can remember, they actually approve you and it’s not an instanteous approval. But, I might be wrong. Regardless, signing up is basic and before you know it, you’ve got your ads and you are plugging them on your blog looking to make a ton of money. Suddenly you realize that you’re not going to make as much as you had first expected. What happened?

You thought Adsense was your ultimate solution to success. I’ve found, unfortunately, that Adsense is not the most productive when it comes to blogs; however, it is effective when your blog is small and you’re just looking to make a little money everyday. So, it’s ideal for those small bloggers that just want to see some money starting to come in. Unfortunately, the dream of money can corrupt us and we don’t see the bigger picture.

What happens when your blog finally becomes bigger? How do you know when to expand? If you rely entirely on Adsense, that thought of easy money will get in the way of you making that necessary jump from using a company like Google to doing your own private advertising. As you can see on this blog, we don’t use Adsense. Why? The real money is in private advertising.

The point I am trying to make, in a weird sort of way, is that while Adsense can be effective on your blog (if you use it correctly), you cannot get comfortable and you cannot settle with whatever Adsense earns for you. If you want to earn more, experiment. Try different things out. Go ahead and throw up an affiliate offer. Try and sell some 125×125s. If you start there and begin to grow, you’ll see your earnings grow a lot. Don’t be sucked into the thought of easy money with Adsense. The money is much better when you use Adsense only as a compliment to other earnings.

If you are someone that wants to make money blogging, do it on a topic you like. I once got an e-mail from someone who I had asked to check out my blog and tell me what I could do to increase my SEO for it. His reply wasn’t an answer to my question, but instead, a discouragement. “If you want to make money, that’s not the right niche to be in…Go into health or finance or something.” He was right…If I wanted to make the MOST money, those niches may be the best bet. But…How long would it take and how often could I write about it?

I am passionate about: guitar, biology, making money online, history, music, books, and things along those lines. So, if I made a blog about any of those (I own blogs about two of those, can you guess which?), I’d be able to blog regularly because I find it of interest. But, a blog about parenting would not suit me because I don’t know anything about it. I want to be a Father…Just not yet.

My friend Barbara came to me once and said, “Jacob, I want to start a blog and make money blogging like you do.” I responded, “Cool…Find a topic you are passionate about and get back to me.” She came back a week later and said, “This is what I am passionate about.” And she showed me what she wanted to do. We talked about domains, I helped her with hosting and the final product appeared. Now she runs her own blog called The You Movement. Is it making her a ton of money? No.

But, she is passionate about it. Would her blog survive for the many months that I know she plans to work on it if her sole purpose was to make money? No. But, because she wants to write about the topic, loves the topic, wants to help others, she can grow and become more prominent. This blog is about making money…I love the topic, so even though there are currently no advertisers on the blog, I can write regularly because I love the topic. Be passionate and you will succeed with your blog. That’s my guarantee.