Give it Away or Sell it? Why I’m a Baby Blogger
As I wade through the ocean of information out there regarding blogs and making money online I’m excited and overwhelmed all at the same time. There are so many awesome blogs out there that have so much useful content, it’s hard to know where to start reading. Information overload is where I’m at right now.
What’s Your Information Worth?
I first started thinking about a blog while researching how to sell business related items online in the form of e-books. I wanted to package the knowledge that people were paying for when hiring me as a one on one consultant, and reach a wider audience. I thought that setting up a site and selling that knowledge in e-book or CD form was the way to go. As a single parent I wanted to maximize my earning potential without adding work hours. So I started my research. As I searched I indeed found many websites selling e-books on various topics. The selling tactics seemed like an online infomercial to me. Endless paragraphs of buildup just to convince you to buy. I found it tedious at best and shady often. But there were other sites; blogs, that were giving equally valuable information away for free. How was this a smart idea?
Word of the day: Monetize
I started to see how these blogs were utilizing a concept that I was much more comfortable with. And some were making a decent amount of money doing it. That concept is giving your readers valuable content for free, and generating a large audience because of it, thus becoming valuable to advertisers and leveraging your popularity by commercializing your site. Different sites use different variations of commercialization so I’m sure finding the right mix is important. My research is ongoing and there are many opinions about this. I’m sure I’ll be writing about this often as things progress.
It Makes Sense to Me
The proof will be in the results, but it really just makes sense to me to give first then receive, instead of the other way around. If the content is valuable then the giving will come back to me in a good way. I am constantly talking about giving first in my everyday life, so it only makes sense to carry it over into my web life. Stay tuned and see how this all works out.
