I think the better question should be, who doesn’t blog?  Almost everyone today has their own website that they run somewhere on the web.  With so many blogs out there, it can be difficult to get yours noticed, but that’s where time and developing quality content come into play.  Anyone can create a blog and anyone can have a popular one.  The important thing to remember is why you started blogging in the first place.  I have noticed that blogging starts off as a passion that people have for writing.  Although, when the idea of making money from your blog comes into play, they lose the true meaning of why they started in the first place.

If you blog on a regular basis and your blog is fairly young like mine is, throw the idea of making money out the window for the time being.  Now, after reading that last sentence, you make be thinking I’m out of my mind.  Well, let me assure you, I’m not.  In fact, this could probably be the most important words you can ever hear me say.  Why, you may be asking yourself?  It’s simple.  When a writer changes the purpose of their blog for strictly making money, they will lose their ability to write high quality content.  If you are thinking you can do both at the early stages of writing, believe me it takes some time.  You need to be established and have a solid following before monetizing can even be a thought in your mind. 

Remember, you created a blog because you wanted to write.  You only found out about the money part after reading highly successful blogs like Pro Blogger.  To get to this level takes hard work and dedication.  If you are focusing too heavily on the money aspect and not on your content that you are providing to your readers, you will notice a lot of people unsubscribing.  A reader wants you to provide them with something useful that they can take with them and apply to their lives somehow.  If they notice that you are trying to use them to make money, they will flee in a hurry. 

Your readers are like customers.  Even if they aren’t buying something from you, you still want them to “come back again” as the saying goes.  However, this will not happen if you aren’t providing information that will keep them intrigued. Remember this saying, that you may recall from a past retail job, “The customer comes first.”  I know that probably sounds corny, but your readers are your customer.  Your blog is the store and you want your reader to browse around your blog for interesting content.

Just think, if they visit your blog and all they see is Google Ads and affiliate marketing links, they are going to feel like objects instead of considering to be potential subscribers.  The money will come later on when you have established yourself.  If you are trying to build an income from your blog too early, your website will fail and trying to get those potential readers will be a lot more difficult.  They will feel that the content on your page isn’t for helping them, but for trying to sell them something. 

If you are wondering to yourself, “ This guy really doesn’t care about making money.”  That’s far from the truth, I really want to make money off my blog.  Although, I realized that I have been getting positive feedback from the content I provide to my readers and that’s my main objective right now.  The money will come later and I focus on this question whenever I write – “why did I start to blog?  Simple, I love writing.”  If you can answer that question like I did, then your efforts will pay off and you will see it in the amount of people that take an interest in your writing. 

It’s funny because someone successful like Darren Rowe here on Pro Blogger could ask me, “When did you realize that quality content was the definition of true success?”  Well, he may not ask it like that, but I realized success after talking with internet marketer and SEO expert Nicolas Prudhon. He helps me maintain and implement successful strategies into my blog.  I asked him recently, “Should I use an Adsense plugin in my blog?”  His response was “No.”  That was clear enough for me because he made it known that you want to provide solid content and bring in loyal readers.  Monetizing is a path that you can go down if you have at least 500 readers.  I took these suggestions seriously and realized that the money can wait.  I’m blogging because I love it and I don’t want to get too ahead of myself.  It’s funny how the people you meet on the internet and the various blogs you come across will give you information that will last you a life time.  That my friends, is why we blog and don’t strictly blog for money.

Here are some related articles I wrote:

Why Blog?

Does Anyone Write Original Content Anymore?

What Blogs Are Your Favorite?