I had always thought that the point behind having a “Make Money Blogging” blog was to give readers an idea on what exactly it is you do that makes you money, and to share tips and tricks with them. When I visit a blog within this subject I am expecting to read about someone who knows how to make money and a little detailed experience about what it is they did to become successful.
I’ve been visiting a ton of blogs lately and some of them have taken to discussing their exact financial details non-stop instead of actually discussing blogging, or how they make their income. And quite frankly, I think half of them are outright lying. Sure, plenty of them make decent money, and some of them are probably making exactly what they state, but there’s little to learn from that other than to give us some inspiration.
I know people like to read and see these figures but I don’t think it’s all that a blog should be about. I know of one blog where all the writer does is update almost daily about how much traffic he receives and how much money he’s making every day – but very rarely, if ever, does he actually blog about what it is that’s working for him. Not many screenshots of the income, and when there are it is generally poor quality pictures with the pertinent portions missing that would prove that what he is saying is true.
If you want to give your readers an occasional update on what’s working for you, that’s great. But I think the point is to show HOW it worked for you. Other than reading your bragging, readers don’t benefit from such blogs anymore. I’ve actually unsubscribed from several blogs recently that do this repetitively as there just wasn’t any content of true use to me to keep returning and reading.
Honesty & integrity appear to be losing their way in the online world. If you do a paid review, it would be nice to say so – we can all tell the difference anyway. If you’re going to brag about your monthly income, make us BELIEVE it, and give us some tips on what it is you have been doing to earn that income. Anyone can throw out figures and make claims.
If you’re thinking of your blog as a business, then you have to think “long term”. How long will readers keep returning if they aren’t truly benefiting from your writing? Sure, some subscribers will leave you on their list and forget to remove you, but contrary to “bloggers belief world”, a successful blog needs visitors returning to their site to ensure success.
