The Same Old Story
Have you ever felt that blogging is like eating at the same restaurant all the time? You like the menu and it always sounds good, but when you get there you realize no matter what you order on the menu it all tastes the same?
I feel like this a lot these days. Maybe it’s the niche I’ve chosen to blog about or maybe it’s just because the things I am interested in are pretty much universal when it comes to reading or discussing them. Look around the blogosphere these days and most of what you see are sites trying to make money by, you guessed it, blogging. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make money blogging. In fact, I think it’s a great way to make money. The problem is that not everyone out there blogging about making money is actually making money. Guys like John Chow who blog about how he makes money blogging are few and far between. He makes money now mostly on selling advertising privately as well as his own advertising system TTZ Media.
You see, you can’t really blog about making money until you are making money and in order to get there you need to blog about it right? Ouch, catch 22.
Fake It Until You Make It
Unfortunately the moniker “fake it until you make it” doesn’t really work. Imagine you plan on opening a restaurant. You buy the space, decorate it, fill it up with pretty paintings and chairs and tables and by all accounts if you were to walk by the restaurant you would assume it’s successful because hey, they bought and paid for all this stuff and all this space. Then upon closer inspection you see there isn’t anyone in the restaurant. Then you dig a little deeper and find out why. Their food is terrible and bitter and the beverage selection includes water and a brown crud they call coffee.
So this restaurant spent a small fortune on advertising and decorations and fluff but forgot the most important thing. A restaurant is only as successful as the food is good. The most powerful method of advertising is word of mouth. Credibility goes much farther than any commercial can fake. Just because one can afford advertising doesn’t mean it’s going to work. Similarly, just because one has money does not make the venture successful.
Blogging For Your Health
When you decided to get into blogging you may have decided for any number of reasons. Maybe your friend was blogging and he was having so much fun you wanted to experience it. Maybe you saw $$$ on other sites and thought heck, if he can do it, I can do it. It really doesn’t matter how you got here. What matters is that you keep going. Success isn’t a destination, it’s a journey. Any successful entrepreneur will tell you that. The reason is because there’s always something more to be done. You are always going to reach a certain level where you are comfortable and then want more. The only way to do that is to keep going.
I’ve seen it time and time again. A new blog pops up, they have some interesting things to say, I subscribe and then poof! nothing. Their posts dry up and shrivel and die. They quit. You can’t succeed if you quit.
Save The Best For First, Not Last
So, how does the food taste at your restaurant? Do you use the same ingredients and just change them around like Taco Bell? Or, do you try to come up with original dishes and surprise your customers with something new and interesting, twisting the familiar and turning it on it’s head for something amazing and peculiar.
Think about that next time you make a post. Are you just saying the same thing everyone else is or are you going to take it a step further and really “wow” your reader?
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