How to Make Money Blogging: How This Blog Makes $100K per Month
Jon Morrow 325 Comments Last Updated Sep 11, 2016
You know everyone thinks we’re fools, right?
To most of the world, blogging is a joke.
It isn’t a career. It isn’t a way to make money. It isn’t a tool for changing the world.
It’s a hobby, a diversion, a fad that’ll come and go. Sure, you can start a blog, but don’t count on it to make you any money. That’s just silly.
Try telling your family or friends or coworkers you want to quit your job and make money blogging. They’ll smile politely and ask, “Does anybody really make money from that?”
Yes, they want you to have dreams. Yes, they want you to chase them. Yes, they want you to succeed.
But they also want you to be “realistic.”
If you really want to improve your life, you should get an advanced degree, write a book, or even start your own business, not hang all your hopes and dreams on some stupid little blog. Nobody can make money blogging.
Can they?
Well, I’m hesitant to say this, but…
This blog makes over $100,000 per month.
In fact, here’s a screenshot of our sales from January 2016:
Granted, it was a good month. We don’t always make that much money.
But we almost always cross $100,000 in sales.
How?
Well, I’ll tell you. Not because I want to brag (well, maybe a little), but because most of the advice out there about monetizing your blog is complete crap.
For instance, do you see any ads on this site?
No? How about e-books for sale?
None of those either, huh?
There’s a reason why.
How I Learned to Make Money Blogging
Over the past eight years, I’ve had the good fortune to work with some of the smartest bloggers on the planet. I worked with Brian Clark as he built Copyblogger to a multimillion dollar brand. Neil Patel and Hiten Shah also hired me to help them launch the KISSmetrics blog, eventually creating a multimillion dollar SaaS company.
Combined, I wouldn’t be surprised if both blogs have earned more than $50 million. In comparison, the $100,000 per month I’ve managed to generate is a pittance.
Want to know how much money you could be making from your blog? Find out with our free Blog Profit Calculator.
I’ll also be straight up with you… that income is far from passive. For the first several years, I worked 80-100 hours a week, and even now I usually put in at least 60 hours.
The good news?
It’s paid off. If you’ll take some of these lessons to heart, it’ll pay off for you too.
Because here’s the thing:
You’re Not a Fool. You Can Make Money Blogging.
So, you want to make a living teaching other people what you know? Nothing wrong with that.
Professors do it. So do public speakers and best-selling authors.
Hell, consulting is a $415 billion industry, and what are all those consultants doing?
Getting paid to teach.
Blogging is no different. It’s just the same old models with some rocket fuel thrown in, courtesy of social media.
Come on, How Do Bloggers Really Make Money?
You want specific steps?
Fine.
Here’s exactly how to make money from your blog:
Write content that gets lots of traffic
Convert visitors into email subscribers
Send those subscribers content that builds trust
Sell products or services your audience wants
That’s it. Four steps.
The problem?
It’s freaking hard to do. The process is simple on the surface, but each step is enormously complicated and requires extraordinary skill.
Especially the last one.
For instance, do you want to sell your own products or services? If so, which ones?
Here are just a few of the options:
Make money blogging by selling these types of things
Or… what if you don’t have any products and services to sell? What should you do then?
Well, you can also make money blogging by selling someone else’s products and services.
The most conventional (and least profitable) method is selling advertising, where you allow companies to promote their products and services to your audience in exchange for a fee. You can also form partnerships with other companies, promoting their products and services as an “affiliate” and earning a commission each time one of your readers purchases.
Which model should you choose? What should you do?
It’s up to you to decide, but before making your decision, there’s one crucial lesson you need to understand:
You’re Not Just a Blogger
The moment you decide to use your blog to make money, you’re no longer just a blogger. At that moment, you also become an entrepreneur, and your blog becomes a small business.
You’ve probably heard of financial planners giving free seminars to attract clients, right?
Well, blogging is a lot like those free seminars. You’re giving away your expertise and knowledge in the hopes of attracting customers and then gaining their trust.
In other words, if your goal is to make money, your blog is a lead generation mechanism. It also nurtures those leads until they are ready to purchase.
“But Jon,” you say. “This sounds too corporate. I just want to make a few bucks on the side teaching people what I know.”
My response?
Don’t start a blog. In my opinion, it’s a terrible way to make a few bucks on the side.
For one, there’s the time investment. I’ve never seen anyone learn everything necessary to build a profitable blog in less than three years.
For two, there’s the chance of failure. Your first two or three blogs you start will probably fail because you make a fatal misstep.
In other words, it’s exactly like starting a business. Exactly.
Can you get rich?
Sure, that’s why many people are attracted to entrepreneurship. If you start and grow a successful business, you can make millions or even billions of dollars.
But you can also lose everything.
For every entrepreneur who makes millions, there are dozens who invest years of their life into companies that ultimately fail, sometimes bankrupting them in the process. It’s a high risk/high reward lifestyle, and it requires more skill, smarts, and good old-fashioned work than most people can fathom.
I’m not saying that to discourage you. I’m just trying to make sure you have reasonable expectations.
Let me tell you how it happened for me…
My Journey from $0-$100,000 a Month
It took me about five years to earn my first dollar.
During that time, I started four different blogs, working on them at night and on the weekends. The first three failed. Despite investing hundreds of hours into each one, I made too many mistakes, and I eventually had to shut the blogs down. I didn’t earn a penny from them.
And I won’t lie to you… it sucked.
Each time a blog failed, I seriously thought about quitting. I felt like I was putting in all that time and energy for nothing.
But it wasn’t true. I was learning.
Yes, I made a lot of mistakes, but I didn’t repeat them. So, while those first four blogs were all “failures,” each one was also closer to success than the last.
With the fourth blog, everything finally clicked. I was getting 1000 visitors a day within about two months, and I sold it for $10,000. That’s when I knew I was onto something.
From there, I went to work for other big blogs for a few years, helping grow Copyblogger and KISSmetrics into what they are today. Eventually though, I felt the itch to go out on my own again, so I left and started this blog. It now turns a fairly steady $100,000+ a month.
In total, it took me about eight years to get here, but in exchange for investing those eight years, I now have enough money to support me until the day I die. Also, every day I get emails from people telling me how I changed their lives for the better.
So, it was worth it. No question.
But was it easy?
No. It was just as hard as starting any other business.
I did learn a thing or two that might speed along the process for others, though. Below, I’ve recorded a few of those lessons, and I believe some of them might surprise you…
Lesson #1: Don’t Sell Advertising
Ask your average beginner how they plan to make money blogging, and they’ll say they plan to sell ads on their site. After all, that’s how big newspapers and magazines monetize, so why not them?
But it’s a mistake.
When I was at Copyblogger, we ran a little experiment. Normally, we refused to sell any ads on the site, but just as a test, we decided to put three ad spots in the right sidebar. The site looked like this:
Initially, we placed ads for our own products in each of the three spots, and we tracked all the sales resulting from someone clicking on the ad. I don’t remember the precise numbers, but we had something like $50,000 in product sales over 30 days. Not too shabby.
Well, out of curiosity, I shopped around to see how much advertisers would pay for the same ad space. The absolute highest rates I could negotiate would’ve brought in only $5,000 per month per ad spot, totaling $15,000 per month — 70% less than we made selling our own products.
And this was for a big, authority site! Imagine the pitiful rates a beginning blogger would get.
Granted, it’s not really a fair comparison. With your own products, you have to consider the cost of development, support, and other miscellaneous expenses, but even factoring those in, advertising our products was still more profitable by far.
The next most profitable strategy would have been to partner with other companies, collecting a commission on each sale as an affiliate. We never tested it, but I would guess we would’ve made somewhere around $25,000 per month on the spots — 60% more than advertisers would have paid.
The point?
If you have an engaged audience that trusts you, selling ads is never a smart move. You’re better off either selling your own products or getting a commission from endorsing another company’s products, assuming you truly believe in them, of course.
Sometimes though, you have no choice. If you’re a beginner, chances are you have no product to sell. What should you do then?
Let’s talk about that next…
Lesson #2: Start with Affiliate Marketing (or Services)
As I write this, it just so happens that I’m in the initial stages of starting a new blog (more details to be announced soon). It’s in a completely different space where I have no products, so I’ve been pondering the best way to monetize it, and here’s what I think…
Affiliate marketing is the smartest strategy.
If you’re not familiar with the term, it’s a business model where you endorse other people’s products or services in exchange for a commission. On software and information products, affiliates typically earn a 50% commission or sometimes even more, so it can be quite lucrative.
Pat Flynn, for example, makes over $100,000 a month in affiliate commissions. Here at Smart Blogger, we mostly promote our own products, but we also make a tidy sum promoting LeadPages and SiteGround:
Granted, you won’t make that kind of money when your blog is small, but affiliate marketing is still a good way to start for several reasons:
It’s faster. Instead of investing months or even years creating a product, all you have to do is publish a link on your site. Assuming your audience is engaged, you could be earning commissions within hours or even minutes.
The income from affiliate marketing is almost entirely passive. You don’t have to worry about creating products, supporting customers, or any of the technical complexity of selling your own products or services. You can also invest the time you save into growing your traffic, leading to more revenue later.
It can guide future product creation. If one affiliate product sells 10X better than all the others you promote, you might want to think about developing your own version of the product, because you have proof your audience wants it.
Personally, I think the advantages are so enormous that no beginning blogger should consider any other business model… with one exception:
Service providers.
If you are a graphic designer, real estate agent, attorney, or any other type of service provider, you probably want to offer your services on your blog from day one. The profit you make will almost certainly outstrip anything else, at least in the beginning.
Lesson #3: Build the Funnel in Reverse
Even if you’re making fantastic money from affiliate marketing or selling services, chances are you’ll want to try your hand at developing your own product at some point. So, where should you start?
My answer: with blogs, the most profitable price is usually the end of the funnel. Here’s what I mean…
Build a sales funnel in reverse, starting with higher prices.
You’ve seen a sales funnel, right? A company entices you with a freebie, then they offer you something cheap but irresistible, and then they gradually sweet talk you into buying more and more expensive stuff. It’s a tried and true marketing tactic, and you should absolutely build a sales funnel for your blog.
What you might not know is you should build it in reverse.
A lot of bloggers launch a cheap e-book as their first product, and then they get frustrated when they don’t make much money. Here’s why: the real profit is at the end of the funnel, not the beginning.
Selling e-books is fine and dandy if you have half a dozen more expensive products to offer your customer afterwards, but it’s downright silly if you don’t. You’re much better off creating and selling the expensive product first, and then gradually building cheaper and cheaper products.
When you do have some less expensive products to sell, you can offer those to new people first, safe in the knowledge that you have something more profitable up your sleeve to sell them later.
Here at Smart Blogger, our products cost $9,997, $1,997, and $997, $497, $197, and $47. We started on the expensive side first, and we gradually worked our way down. It’s been much, much more profitable this way.
Lesson #4: There’s No Such Thing As a “Cheap” Market
“But Jon,” I can hear you spluttering. “I can’t sell a $10,000 product! My customers don’t have that much money.”
My response: you’re 98% right. Unless you’re selling exclusively to multimillionaires, the vast majority of your customer base won’t be able to afford premium products, but what’s interesting is it doesn’t matter. Often, you can make more money selling to the 2% than you can to the entire 98% combined.
For instance, our $10,000 product is a year-long coaching program for bloggers — a group that’s not exactly known for their wealth, but I always fill all ten spots within minutes of opening the program. Here’s why: the last time we opened it, I notified 40,000 bloggers. 2% of 40,000 writers is 800 people. By only accepting 10, I’m creating a situation of extreme scarcity.
You can do the same thing, even if your list is much smaller. If you have 100 subscribers, chances are two of them might be willing to buy premium products or services from you, and those two will often pay you more money than the other 98 combined.
And let me be clear…
I’m not saying you have to charge $10,000. We actually make even more money from our $2000 product than we do the $10,000 one:
The point is, most people are afraid to charge more than $200 for a class, believing that’s all people can afford, but it’s just not true. Every market has customers who are and willing to pay for a premium experience. Give them one.
Just be aware… higher prices demand bigger promises. Let me explain.
Lesson #5: The Price Depends on the Promise
Let’s go back to the example of the $10,000 coaching program. How on earth did I get people to pay me that much money?
It’s not because they were stupid. They didn’t get one of my emails and say, “Oh, look honey, this is a fabulous opportunity to throw our money away. Let’s give this good-looking fellow $10,000 just for the hell of it.”
On the contrary, they expected a lot of me. In exchange for that $10,000, I promised to help them launch their blog from scratch and get their first 10,000 email subscribers in only 12 months.
That’s one hell of a promise. Just to put a dollar value on it, you could probably sell a blog with 10,000 subscribers for at least $100,000 in most markets. So, I was essentially promising them $100,000 of value in exchange for only $10,000.
This, my friend, is one of the fundamentals of business.
If you want to charge high prices, you absolutely can, but you must make big promises. Similarly, if you want to charge low prices, you absolutely can, but you must make small promises. In either case though, the value of the promise should be at least 10X the price.
The value of the promise should be at least 10X the price.
For instance, we have a guest blogging course that retails for $497. In exchange, we promise to help students get featured on a big blog or magazine like The Huffington Post or Forbes. I think it’s fair to say that exposure is worth $5,000 to the right person. So, the product sells easily and well.
Not to say everything is sunflowers and daffodils here, though. In fact, there are are two easy ways to screw up:
Charging high prices but making small promises (result: the product doesn’t sell well, and you waste a ton of time).
Charging low prices but making big promises (result: lots of customers, but you make no profit).
There’s a rumor floating around that I’ve made each of those mistakes on multiple occasions. Some people also say I have to be repeatedly reminded about the graph above, lest I slip up and nearly bankrupt the company (again).
But come on, who are you going to believe?
No, in all seriousness, I learned all of these lessons the hard way. If you’re wondering how to price your product or service, you’d be wise to heed my words.
Oh, and a few final points before we move on:
Needless to say, you should only make promises you can actually fulfill. Anything less is unethical.
If people immediately think you’re full of shit upon hearing your promise, then you’re in trouble. In my opinion, this is what marketing is really about: getting people to trust you when you say you can help them. The better you are at it, the more money you’ll make.
In the above graph, “value” refers to how much the customer values what you’re promising them, not your own personal value. For instance, I personally think my guacamole is worth $10,000 a bowl, but none of my friends agree with me, so I’m forced to give it to them for free. Bastards.
Also, I’m skipping a lot of other important topics like price testing, competition, and economics, but in my opinion, none of those things are even worth considering until you know the answer to this one simple question:
What can I offer people that’s worth 10X what I charge?
Answer that, and you’ll at least be headed in the right direction.
Lesson #6: Webinars Kick Butt
If you’ve been on our email list for long, you know that we do a lot of webinars. Here’s why:
On average, each webinar generates about $60,000 in sales. It’s by far the most profitable thing I do. Nothing else even comes close.
If you’re wondering how on earth we make that much money, part of it is how many people attend. For instance, here’s a webinar where we had over 3,000 people registered to attend:
But that’s only part of it.
The other part is just the skill of doing a really good webinar. If you want to know how we do it, all you have to do is attend one of our webinars to find out. Everything we do is on display, and you can study it, free of charge.
Lesson #7: Automated Funnels Are Even Better
You know what works even better than webinars for us?
Automated funnels. Take a look at this bad boy:
Use automated funnels to make more money.
Now, before I get into the nitty-gritty details, a word of warning: this is extremely advanced marketing. I don’t even recommend you think about this until you cross $100,000 per year in revenue.
But here’s the idea:
Through the magic of technology, we have sales happening every minute of every day. We can automate who gets discounts at what times, as well as when those discounts expire.
We can also chain together promotions. If you don’t respond to a $2000 offer, we might follow up with a $497 offer, which now seems cheap by comparison.
Oh, and did I mention we are tracking your every move?
For instance, you’re reading a post about how to make money blogging. If you’re a subscriber, what do you think the odds are that you’ll receive an email from us sometime soon offering you a product about how to make money blogging?
Hmm. Pretty good, I think.
And just to be clear, this is all automated. I’m not doing anything. No one is.
The computer is following rules we set up in advance, and it’s following them 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Welcome to the future of marketing.
Lesson #8: Your Email List Is More Important Than Anything Else
Okay, enough flashy technology. Let’s get back to foundational principles.
In analytics, there is a principle called “the one metric that matters” (OMTM). The idea is that you find a single number that accurately predicts the success or failure of your project.
In the case of blogging, that number is the size of your email list. (Not RSS, mind you — it’s dying a slow but certain death.) In my experience, your email list is the most accurate predictor of how much money you’ll make.
Here at Smart Blogger, we strive for one dollar per subscriber per month in sales, and I think that’s a good place to start when you’re a beginner too. In other words, an email list of 1,000 subscribers should result in at least $1,000 per month in sales, 10,000 subscribers would result in $10,000 per month in sales, and so on.
The more subscribers you get, the more money you make. Granted, your relationship with your subscribers and the quality of your products or services and dozens of other factors still matter, but to drive revenue, focus on email list growth. To make money blogging, it’s absolutely essential.
Find out how much money your blog could be making – and how quickly you could grow your email list – with our free Blog Profit Calculator.
Lesson #9: Start Selling from Day One
How long should you wait before you begin selling? 1,000 subscribers? 10,000 subscribers? More?
Nope. Start selling from day one. Here’s why:
Motivation.
If you’re not making any money from your blog, it’s hard to stay motivated to continue. The opposite is also true. For instance, how do you think I feel when I see this number pop up on my dashboard every day?
It’s pretty easy to feel pumped with numbers like that.
And honestly, the numbers don’t have to be big.
I remember the first morning I woke to discover I’d made $100 overnight. It felt… magical. It also gave me the motivation to do the work necessary to make sure that happened every night.
It’ll be the same for you. When you have money being deposited into your account every day, it’s a whole lot easier to keep yourself motivated.
It will also give you the funds you need to build a team around you. You can hire an assistant, a tech person, a billing person. The faster you get rid of stuff you suck at doing, the faster you will grow.
Now, a caveat: don’t turn your blog into a gigantic sales pitch. Nobody likes that. You should, however, be offering something your audience wants and needs. Don’t push them on it, but do make it available, and do remind them from time to time that they can purchase it.
Lesson #10: Share What You Learned
Now, we come to the reason for this post.
Why on earth would the CEO of the company (me) work hours to write a post like this, sharing all our secrets? It’s nearly 4,000 words, for God sakes!
Simple:
It’s my responsibility. If people are ever going to respect blogging as a legitimate business model, those of us who are successful have to speak up and share what we’ve learned. None of us works in a vacuum. The only way we can advance our field as a whole is to collectively share what we’ve learned.
After all, isn’t that what we’re here to do? Help people?
In the end, that’s what I love most about blogging: every article we publish, every course we create, every coaching call we do can change somebody’s life. Maybe not always in a big way, but we touch thousands upon thousands of people, and we make their lives just a little bit better. We inform them, we inspire them, and we give them the roadmap for achieving their dreams.
And the best part?
We get paid for it. It’s our job.
I just wish more people knew it was a viable career. Let’s change that, shall we?
About the Author: Jon Morrow has asked repeatedly to be called “His Royal Awesomeness,” but no one listens to him. So, he settles for CEO of Smart Blogger. Poor man.
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‹ How to Profile Your Ideal Reader with (Perfectly Legal) Surveillance › Why You Don’t Have Enough Time for Your Blog (and What to Do About It)
Want to know how much money you could be making from your blog? Find out with our free Blog Profit Calculator.
Note: This post has received a significant update since it was first published in 2014. As a result, some of the original comments reference points have since been modified, renumbered or removed.
325 Comments
Jason Chesters
Apr 03, 2014 @ 12:21:54
WOW Jon! great post, Only read it quickly so I will go over it again later! Lesson 9 is the eye opener! I find it really difficult to give away great content that I have just spent hours writing, but as you say, it’s got to be done!!
Zoe Uwem
Apr 03, 2014 @ 12:28:43
Wow Jon! Remarkable post.
These are great lessons and I agree with all 20 points…
This is very timely for me being that I’m just starting out.
Thanks for sharing!
Sonia Thompson
Apr 03, 2014 @ 12:29:44
We can do this! Just gotta put the right work in at the right time.
Speaking of which, time to get back to work on those guest posts…after I go read the link about promoting your content
Ruthie
Apr 03, 2014 @ 12:51:56
Great post Jon. I totally agreed with everything you wrote here and it’s so nice to hear these things from you. I think you hit the nail on the head!
Thanks for all that you do!
Harleena Singh
Apr 03, 2014 @ 12:59:06
Hi Jon,
Awesome indeed
I loved the way you shared everything so well with us – the way you have gone about doing things – it’s surely an eye-opener for me and for many others too.
Honestly speaking, I haven’t really started thinking of earning money from my blog as that wasn’t the aim when I started it, but your post surely motivated me to think in that direction for a change. I guess you need to make a start somewhere, and if you want to do that, you need to lessen down or cut-off a lot of other things you do too.
Thanks for sharing yet another inspirational post with us. Have a nice week
Carol Tice | Make a Living Writing
Apr 03, 2014 @ 12:59:32
Jon, you should turn this post into an ebook! So packed with goodies.
The thing I keep saying to my team is, “I know…I’m the bottleneck!”
I’m outsourcing fast as I can, but it never seems to be fast enough. Still working on it….
Jon Morrow
Apr 03, 2014 @ 20:56:41
An e-book? Nah, but maybe a $5,000 per month coaching program.
Marcia
Jan 09, 2015 @ 15:47:45
Jon, thanks for this awesome post. My question is, what do you think of blogs who ask for donations or claim to sustain themselves by them? (Also books and products). But what do you think about the donation itself and if you´re pro-donation, when is a good time to start asking for it in a blog? Thanks a lot for your time. Hope some day I can meet you Im from and live in Mexico
Esther Litchfield- Fink
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:00:31
Oh my God, this post is orgasmic.
Lynne from Design The life You Want to Live
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:13:06
Ha, so true Esther !!
I just had to write and say I LOVED your comment. So funny !
Lynne
Leanne Regalla | Make Creativity Pay
Apr 03, 2014 @ 14:18:17
Go Jon! Go Jon! LOL!
Jon Morrow
Apr 03, 2014 @ 21:01:28
Ash
Apr 05, 2014 @ 07:09:53
Esther while I can’t say the post had the same effect on me, I can definitely agree with your sentiments.
Great stuff Jon. You hit it out of the park again.
I’m honoured to have you as a mentor.
Brian Dean
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:04:53
This is solid, 14 karot gold, Jon. 100k per month from a single blog is absolutely bananas. You’re a living legend, a gentleman, and (based on your 100k monthly revenue) a baller.
Jon Morrow
Apr 03, 2014 @ 21:01:50
Thanks man.
Debra L. Butterfield
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:05:07
Jon, you always deliver! I’ve printed this out so I can have it handy to refer to as I build my audience/blog. I especially liked the survey info and the info on reverse the funnel. I really struggle with what to charge, but seeing your numbers helps. Tons of info here to digest. Thanks!
Octavius
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:07:57
Great Post. Just the information I was looking for. I just started my blog and I will be following your advice. Thank you !
Arlen Miller
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:08:04
What a raft of amazingness! Thanks, Mr. Jon. You are giving me a shot in the arm—it’s called hope.
Lynne from Design The life You Want to Live
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:12:02
Thanks Jon for this post !!!! I have been in the process of prepping for webinars and learning the techie stuff for how to make an epic webinar happen.
I met Brian Clark last week at SMMW14 and was soooo inspired !
Cheers for all that you do. You are by far one of my faves in this big ‘ol internet world, and your webinars rock out loud!
Lynne Knowlton
Ash
Apr 05, 2014 @ 07:12:07
Hear hear!
Malhar Barai
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:17:02
A gem again Jon!
The most interesting point for me was about doing more guest posts and then writing on your own blog. That does make lot of sense.
Franck
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:19:01
First, congrats Jon!
Impressive milestone
5 years ago I would not be able to understand this post, as I do, now. It’s pure value, but most (98%) won’t decrypt it.
In case of doubt, do follow these advices.
I did. And I am on my way to 1$/subs/month. Thanks again Jon!
Dan
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:20:10
Wow, this is a great post with tons of data-driven insights that would take me years to figure out on my own. You can earn a good income from blogging, but I’m not sure I want to do it this way myself. I’m more interested in becoming a ghostblogger for businesses.
But much of the advice still applies. It’s tough to figure out a system that doesn’t demand most of your time though, so that’s what I’m working on.
Dave Nordella
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:24:30
Hi, Jon:
I love your straightforward style. To all those that doubt that blogging is a viable business, “This Blog Makes $100,000 per Month.” Hah! Take that, doubters!
I have recently learned the value of outsourcing work to specialists. I used to endure sleepless nights trying to keep up with all the work necessary for building a blog. The right specialists are dramatically cheaper at tasks than I could ever hope to be as measured by the cost of my time and the amount of distractions that I created for myself.
I am becoming much “smarter” as I find time to act based on resolving a challenge as opposed to merely reacting to the same challenge.
I had never considered the value of giving webinars. I had attended plenty of webinars and purchased some products based on same. It hadn’t occurred to me the economic value of giving webinars prior to reading your post.
“I was blind but now I see!”
I will share my #gratitude to His Royal Awesomeness (you) by sharing this post on social media. Thanks for sharing this incredible content. I appreciate your guidance.
Jayme Lang
Apr 03, 2014 @ 20:16:59
Hi, just wanted to comment that I agree with the straight-forward approach. It’s the best way to learn information quickly, without digging through ingratiated, sugar-coated words to get to the point. I can’t yet afford any of the training, so I find many blogs and pieces of information like this every day. I have to read fast and get through it, otherwise I’ll sit there all day reading through feel-good mush.
Soozi Baggs
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:24:35
I LOVE this post and have shared it as far and wide as I can. I must admit, having recently started writing for the HuffPost, I’ve felt guilty for hardly posting anything on my own blog (just don’t have the time to do both) so your post has made me feel much better for prioritising the guest posting.
Ash
Apr 05, 2014 @ 07:14:43
Congratulations on getting a gig with the Huff Soozi. That’s an awesome accomplishment.
Jawad Khan
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:45:29
Your Royal Awesomeness, you’ve just blown me away with this post.
It has given me lots to think about. Love your point about ignoring SEO for the first year.
I would, however, love to see a post specifically on your webinars and hw you go about them with your clients.
Carol’s right, turn this into an eBook!
Thanks for such high value practical info absolutely free.
A.K.Andrew
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:47:52
As always, a fantastic post Jon. Have just shared on G+ with the comment that you are simply the best at what you do. I love your style, and the practical advice is invaluable. I was particularly interested in your downplay of using twitter, FB etc to hope to grow your blog, but what you said makes total sense. As someone who is building an author’s platform prior to publication, I’d been hesitant to sell products, but no more. Thanks so much for your inspiration.
Peter Kanayo
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:51:44
Damn John your method beats the conventional and I just have to sit back analyze what it is I can start doing to serve others.
This is the first step am still struggling with.
Peggy
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:57:51
Thank you Jon, I mean Your Royal Awesomeness. I’m printing this out for me and sharing the blog love far and wide.
You sir, are a genius.
Peggy
Andrew
Apr 03, 2014 @ 13:58:19
This is a crazily useful post. I’ve retweeted it. Thanks a lot, Jon.
Leanne Regalla | Make Creativity Pay
Apr 03, 2014 @ 14:16:51
I’ve been in business over 12 years and I am always the bottleneck!
Great analogy to manufacturing – flashbacks to my previous life on the day I’m finally getting my first post published on my blog.
Ian
Apr 03, 2014 @ 14:21:25
Nice post, Jon. Always something new and useful. Thank you.
Michael Feeley
Apr 03, 2014 @ 15:12:25
I love this Jon. YOU ALWAYS INSPIRE!
What you say at the beginning is the biggest value for me — ‘I learned from the best …and I keep learning.’
It’s been true in my own life, training, education and with you…Learning from the best.
I knew nothing about Blogging until I met you. Things are happening for my coaching business because of what I learned from you. Headlines — subtitles – formatting — passion and a big mission. My writing has completely improved.
Thanks for your knowledge. This post is another one of your gifts.
My very best – Michael
Kimberly George
Apr 03, 2014 @ 15:32:42
Great Post Jon! I laughed out loud at Lesson#17. I launched a product from my blog that resulted in 0 sales. I will definitely use the tips that you mentioned here going forward in my blogging and business efforts.
Kay Fudala
Apr 03, 2014 @ 15:40:57
Jon,
Awesome post. Where was this a year ago? SMH.
Lesson #10 rings the loudest for me. LinkedIn and similar platforms are the best for gaining reputation and building a network.
Love #19 and #20 – I know that’s what keeps me going is the thought of serving clients and teaching what comes naturally to me.
Thanks for an awesome post!
Joseph Robinson | Inside Out Wisdom
Apr 03, 2014 @ 16:01:59
Kill the Bottleneck!
I’ve been a consultant for manufacturing execution systems and you are 100% correct. Awesome point.
While I still own stock in the software company that helps factories remove bottlenecks, I’m now helping people remove bottle necks from their lives.
Oh dear blog master, thanks for giving me the goods.
Now what was number 8?
oh, and “audience per hour” now that is true genius.
Only thing I could possibly add is go read: The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt
Oh, never mind. I’m going to just write more guest posts and headline hacks. Now, where did I leave that list of “cool kids” and guest post targets?
Ergh, I hate being the slow kid slowing up the works.
Ash
Apr 05, 2014 @ 07:19:28
Hey Joseph,
Someone else was telling me about the book by Eliyahu Goldratt. I’m heading over to amazon as we speak.
Um … On second thoughts … Maybe not. I have about 5000 posts to finish reading in the next 2 weeks.
My mentor’s a slave driver!!!
Caelan Huntress
Apr 03, 2014 @ 16:27:18
As usual, Jon, you make me feel like an idiot.
But in a good way.
Thank you for clarifying all of these lessons. Super, super helpful.
Mark Hermann
Apr 03, 2014 @ 16:47:35
Jon,
This post is surely destined for the list post Hall of Fame. Some awesome tips to help stir up the pot of BS excuses most people hide behind and light a fire to finally get people off their asses and into gear. So here’s an unpaid endorsement.
Some time a few years ago I was fed up writing for no one online. I wanted my words to be read and ultimately wanted to be paid to write. So I decided to educate myself on the subject. Here’s what I did:
1. After paying for a few bogus online courses that didn’t do too much for me, I discovered your Guestblogging course.
2. You promised to get your students a guest post on a major blog of their choice. I chose Copyblogger. You made good on your promise. The post did very well.
3. After guest posting for all of 5 posts, my list grew from 4 to 500. Lesson #9? Check.
4. Last year your team contacted me and asked if I was intrerested in ghostwriting for one of your clients. I accepted and got my first paid client. In the first month, that assignment paid for your guestblogging course. Wish to be a paid writer? Check.
Now two other clients have followed.
I just wanted go say thanks in public, Jon. For giving advice that doesn’t suck and actually works!
You rock!
Jon Morrow
Apr 03, 2014 @ 21:06:05
Thanks Mark. You’re awesome too.
Ash
Apr 05, 2014 @ 07:24:47
Mark I remember reading your post about Jimi Hendrix on copyblogger. And I loved it!
Serena @ Thrift Diving
Apr 03, 2014 @ 17:16:08
This post was so good that I had to sit in my car and keep reading after I left work, here in the garage. Ha! What caught my attention is the funnel analogy and the webinars. Starting with the expensive first, then offering the less expensive. Brilliant. Also, I want to do webinar but am not sure how to get started. But dammit if I’m not going to think of how to move in that direction! Thanks for the kick in the butt, Jon!
Serena @ Thrift Diving
Mellie
Apr 03, 2014 @ 17:18:25
These are some great lessons to be learned. Just wish I had the funds to take your course. But may be someday soon.
Austin
Apr 03, 2014 @ 17:32:46
Jon,
I love all your posts, all points are solid. Number 9 and 14 are my two big takeaways for our blog.
George
Apr 03, 2014 @ 18:07:45
Awesome info, Jon, tons of great stuff here.
So, I’m pretty new to blogging, here’s what I’ve done to get started.
1. I joined your guest blogging course last month
2. Have been working on a freebie for my opt-in page for guest posts
3. Pretty much spend most of my time focusing on those two things – not much time on my blog itself
It absolutely makes sense to start off with selling a service, but how do you go about creating one?
You suggest not posting on your blog until you have a decent amount of subscribers, you also mention how surveys are dangerous for finding what your audience needs – My question is: How do you decide what your audience needs a service for if you’ve yet to build an audience?
In other words, how do you find your reader’s biggest frustration before you have any readers, so that you can start selling your service ASAP?
Who knows, maybe I just sparked an idea for your next post…Or you’ll tell me I’m just a dumb blogger and should already know…Or both
Bryan Collins
Apr 03, 2014 @ 18:24:14
A great post Jon. I enjoyed reading it and learn a lot. I was particularly impressed by your take the one metric that matters. I was also surprised to find that spending time on social media isn’t a great use of a blogger’s time.
Corey Pemberton
Apr 03, 2014 @ 18:32:45
Jon,
This is insanely valuable. Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to put this together! My only qualm is I wish I had seen this stuff earlier.
Congratulations on your massive success so far, and I wish you even more going forward. You deserve it!
Corey
Judy Hackett
Apr 03, 2014 @ 20:21:05
Thanks so much Jon. I have been struggling to ‘get off the ground’ and am devouring your insight and knowledge. You offer such invaluable and proven information and are totally inspiring. I know I CAN DO THIS and will continue to soak up your posts as they come through. I won’t wast too much time now on Facebook and Twitter which I’ve been trying to get my head around. You see I am very new to everything!
Jude
Paul Back
Apr 03, 2014 @ 20:26:21
Hey Jon
You know how you talk about blog posts that “stop traffic” well this is it. I couldn’t stop reading as every sentence was something important and it dragged me in.
Not only is this one of the most eye opening posts I have ever read its also a textbook example of what you teach – congratulations.
Paul Back
Larry
Apr 03, 2014 @ 20:48:07
Jon Morrow is the gold standard in this arena, and this post encapsulates that. He consulted with me at the launch of my blog, and these 20 principles feel like evolutions of that great advice. My numbers are nowhere near his (frankly, my subscriber list seems fixed lately), but my experience validates the core of what’s here: it’s all about consulting, leading to products (in my case, a bit of the other way around, via a book that arose from my website/blog). If you can afford Jon (I can’t), go for it… provided you truly are an “expert” in a given field, one that other people will pay to listen to. If you can’t, or aren’t (at least yet), just read everything he’s written, here and elsewhere.
Jon Morrow
Apr 04, 2014 @ 11:16:41
Thanks for this, Larry. I’m actually working on something that might help your subscribers/revenue. I’ll email you about it.
Daniel
Apr 03, 2014 @ 21:44:45
Hi Jon –
Good post, well described ideas.
I wish I had enjoyed a positive experience working with you to accomplish these things, but sadly, I just don’t think you get what it takes to make people feel like they’re spending their money with someone who’s interested in them.
I think the most important question you should ask is – before doing anything else – who are these people signing up for my mailing list? What have they’ve accomplished so far and where they’re looking to go? If they’re giving you money by signing up for one of your courses, that goes double.
Glad to hear you’re earning so much money though.
-Daniel
Bree
Apr 03, 2014 @ 22:53:10
Jon, it’s so disheartening to read this list. Not for my sake, but for the sake of all the hobby bloggers I know who keep asking me why their blogs aren’t getting the traffic, attention, or sales they were hoping for, and how in the world can I be building my email list before I even start blogging? Am I STUPID or something?!
Time and time again, I have to repeat many (if not all!) these points to them; some learn, some don’t. But the ones who learn will definitely see better results and probably become one of those bloggers who gets paid to do what they love!
I’ll be sharing this post, Your Royal Awesomeness. Spreading the Blogging Gospel, and all that.
Mette
Apr 03, 2014 @ 22:58:09
Wow this is the best blog post I have read in ages!
But where can I read more about your products mentioned in lesson #3?
I have just started my business and think you could be a big part of my success
Jon Morrow
Apr 04, 2014 @ 11:09:02
Start with guestblogging.com.
Mette
Apr 04, 2014 @ 14:45:08
Great thanks. I’l do that.
I have only writte one blogpost on my site so far, so now I’ll go make a coming soon page instead Ang. visit guestblogging.com
Ash
Apr 05, 2014 @ 07:38:10
Hey Mette
Just wanted to say that I’ve done the guestblogging.com course and found it to be awesome. I can recommend it highly. It’s excellent to improve your writing skills and your networking skills – the latter invaluable to me as a beginning blogger.
All the best to you in your endeavours.
Brian Zeng
Apr 04, 2014 @ 00:55:04
Hey Jon,
this post is really inspirational, truth been told in your post, good read.
otseakemhe pascal
Apr 04, 2014 @ 02:47:53
This is a great article jon, it has greatly improve my thinking and i can’t wait to start workin on my site now. keep the great work going jon.
Nikhil
Apr 04, 2014 @ 03:05:41
Hi Jon,
These tips are awesome. Your guide for 0 to $100k is great and contains lots of great deals. All these points are pretty important for bloggers to start his journey as a professional blogger. And you are right most of the world thinks bloggers are fools? But we are fools for changing the world.
Thank you for this awesome guide.
Zara
Apr 04, 2014 @ 03:58:19
Dear Jon, There aren’t many men who’ve left me breathless – you are one. Thank you!
ronel
Apr 04, 2014 @ 05:20:23
Thanks for a great post. I have printed it out as I always like to read my inspirational stuff again and again. I am thinking of teaching a creative writing course to senior school kids, because in my country(South Africa) job opportunities are scarce and education expensive. I want to teach young people that you can create your own opportunities through writing and growing to be an expert in a chosen field. This way they will also improve their confidence in approaching opportunities when it do arise and with the right attitude. I am a real estate professional and writes a blog on aspects which I have noticed my clients are ignorant about. My readership has risen through the year and all my sales last year came from readers of my blog. Thanks again for the information you present so well and with a sense of humour. I still cannot afford one of your courses but I read every one and apply all that I learn. Praise be to Your Royal Awesomeness!
Aqilah Norazman
Apr 04, 2014 @ 05:53:20
This is awesome, Jon. Thanks so much! And I will definitely share this.
Martin Edwards
Apr 04, 2014 @ 07:03:25
Hi Jon,
As usual a top knotch post full of excellent advice, very easy to understand and follow. Just studying your posts is an object lesson in how these things are done. I, like many aspiring bloggers, am very familiar with the glazed look that passes over people’s faces when I attempt to explain what my plans are! I think the primary problem is that we have been brought up to do business in a particular way. You make something therefore you get paid for it. Most business people feel there is something inherently wrong about a system where you provide huge amounts of valuable content free of charge and without obligation. The peception is that the model cannot be susstainable.
The historical sleeze associated with the worst excesses “internet marketing” and “get rich quick schemes” hasn’t helped either!
The key insights here, in my humble opinion are that:
A. No one is being paid to do nothing, everything you teach depends on the blogger adding value to their customer’s lives in some way. This takes a lot of hard work – just the right sort of work!
B. The value in the guest blogging arrangement works both ways – top quality content/exposure win/win
C. The process works as a filter rather than a funnel. You expose your work to thousands, you hope to add value to those thousands for no cost to yourself but of those thousands there will be a few hundred who need your service and they pay for those things in proportion to the cost to you in terms of time or resources.
The reason this works is because the incremental cost of publishing acceptible digital content is practically zero so the blogger has far more leverage than any writers prior to the digital age.
Having said that, I have possibly also demonstrated another reason why people start glazing over when I start talking about this stuff
Anyway Jon, keep it coming, this blog is absolutely essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how our new digital world works!
Bill
Apr 04, 2014 @ 09:42:11
This is all great information from someone who has had connections and still has connections for year. If you never worked at copyblogger you’d have a real job. In other words…you got lucky and the other 1988098804880979 million bloggers out there won’t have your right place right time luck and therefore won’t have your connections and therefore won’t make this kind of money. Your bragging is embarrassing and shameful!
To all the bloggers out there…STOP sucking up to the very small, elite and narcissistic group of self-proclaimed influencers out there. If you all stop treating them like they’re special, they will not longer by special and therefore some of us who aren’t in there secret society will be seen as knowing what we’re talking about too! This isn’t High School, grow up and read someone else’s blog already!
Jon Morrow
Apr 04, 2014 @ 11:05:01
This comment is makes me sad, Bill. What happened to you?
Something must have to be so jaded.
Ash
Apr 05, 2014 @ 07:57:15
Bill: I couldn’t disagree more.
I don’t think getting a gig at copyblogger is as simple as “being in the right place at the right time”.
In fact I KNOW it isn’t. Brian Clark isn’t easily impressed and rightly so.
I think it takes years of working your ass off (with little or no reward) to produce jaw dropping, spectacular content that CANNOT go unnoticed.
And anyone willing to perform at such a high level, for so long, will inevitably find opportunities being thrown at them – by copyblogger or problogger, the huffington post etc.
This principle applies to just about anything: The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Abe Lincoln, Einstein, Edison, and just about any other successful person I can think of worked their ass off for a large part of their lives before they saw any success.
They weren’t in the right place at the right time. They created the right place and the right time for themselves as a direct result of their grit and sincere effort.
Jon Morrow
Apr 04, 2014 @ 11:07:39
Click the “Resources” tab up at the top.
Zara
Apr 04, 2014 @ 11:22:20
Dear Bitter Bill,
I’m sure your above critique was motivated by altruistic reasons but may I ask you to reconsider some of your views?
I think you may well be right if you are saying that few of us will have the skills required to attract and service a lucrative and large enough market to earn the sort of sums quoted. Nevertheless, may I just say that Jon has freely given us, not only a system but the commercial logic and reasonings behind that system.
Now, once you and I have taken advantage of that info. (and I am still in the process of launching) then we will be in a better position to either thank Jon or criticise him. Of course, timing is almost everything but with the amount of free flowing, easy to read, writing that Jon provides, which is the hallmark of all good communications, plus incorporating such useful content, then I like to think that if we could follow that example then eventually we (yes, you and I, Bill) would be rewarded with fans and finance.
So, I do hope, Bill, that you are in the midst of preparing an inspiring blog full of up-liftment that we can all enjoy. In the meantime, please accept my kind regards and my wishes for your success in the future. Onwards and upwards!
Zara x.
adeem jan
Nov 22, 2014 @ 14:54:55
People who start to blog always thing of making money which tends them toward failure. In my opinion bloggers should choose the topic which interests them. They don’t think about making money. It’s about knowledge, try to learn more and don’t think about money stuff. There are many top blog topics to make money online but you can get success only with the topic you like to write on. Try to choose your topic for the blog. Making money is very easy, don’t think about it much.
Sherice Jacob
Apr 04, 2014 @ 16:33:55
Bill hit upon an interesting point (although I disagree with how he expressed it…) Jon, you’re a phenomenal writer, but would you say it’s phenomenal writing alone that got you to where you are today, or your connections with well-known blogs, or both?
Spot-on post though, I’m just genuinely curious…in your experience, have you found it more difficult for people to break into guest blogging since it’s so pervasive among the IM crowd? Is it more-so a matter of who you know versus what you know?
Keep up the good work
Sherice
Mike@ Gecko Rock Resort
Apr 04, 2014 @ 20:03:28
Success in every facet of life is based on who you know and not what you know The secret is to start connecting with more people, if you build your network wide enough you’ll meet someone who can help you, no matter what it is that you are trying to achieve. Some meet these influential people more quickly by complete luck of the draw, others need to keep plugging along longer. The system works either way, and whether or not it works better for others is irrelevant, all systems in life work better for some than others.
Jon Morrow
Apr 05, 2014 @ 19:18:56
Connections definitely matter, but I don’t think meeting the right people is a matter of luck. When I was a beginner, I made a list of all the people I wanted to know, and I mapped out a strategy for building a relationship with each of them. It’s no coincidence that, years later, all of them are friends. I made sure of it.
Sherice Jacob
Apr 05, 2014 @ 20:16:22
I know you don’t go into *anything* without a plan
I think I’ll try that approach myself, many thanks!
Bobby
Apr 04, 2014 @ 16:56:05
This goes against the grain of 90% of what I’ve learned from the”experts” in the last 9 months of blogging. But man it feels right. I’m so worried about short term gains that I’m not building a long term foundation. I’m thinking so small! These lessons are profound, Jon. Thanks!
Mike@ Gecko Rock Resort
Apr 04, 2014 @ 19:58:13
Your blog is great and every single post is packed with truly useful and up to date information and tips, but one thing I am finding, not just with BBT, but most “how to be a successful blogger” sites is that the focus is almost entirely geared towards people who want to be a “blogger” and not on how a company can use a blog to drive sales.
I was wondering if you knew of any specific resources that focused less on how to be a successful blogger per se, and more so on how to run a blog that helps make your business successful?
One example is this: since our blog is a sub-domain for my wife and I’s boutique beach resort, nobody seems to want to touch me as a guest blogger. I get the same response every time “you’re commercial and so you’ve got to pay for a sponsored post”…and while yes, we are commercial and not a private blog per se, we’re a tiny family run business and 95% of private blogs are striving to be commercial, whether they’re associated with a company name or not.
I can’t imagine that it’s worth the payoff to actually pay $25-100 per guest post. I mean, sure, if Conde Nast would let us write for them for a hundred bucks that would be one thing, but I don’t think it’s worth it to pay to guest post on a middling travel blog.
So yeah, my comment is getting a bit long-winded here, but how can blogs that are meant to funnel traffic to a business site best gain traction without paying for the right to write guest posts?
Cheers.
Peter Kanayo
Apr 04, 2014 @ 22:40:37
Mike you will need to target sites like Forbes and huffington post.
Challenging but ll be worth it. Another site I can think of is business insider.
Just take a look at their viral post and pitch them a topic.
It will be best if you contact the editors of the site. Its quite easier that way.
Warm up with them through twitter. And you could hit that big deal
Mike@ Gecko Rock Resort
Apr 05, 2014 @ 01:12:22
Thank you for the input Peter.
Our blog actually covers travel tips and insights into expat life along the Oaxacan coast of Mexico, so I am not sure that those sites would be the target audience for our blog’s content even if they were more accessible, which clearly they aren’t.
I mean, of course I’d come up with suitable content for Forbes should they wish to publish me, haha, but honestly we’d be happy with guest posting on even mildly popular travel blogs. The problem up to now, as I mentioned above, is that nobody wants to let us guest post, they want us to pay to do a sponsored post since our blog is attached to our business. If my blog was MexicoMike.com instead of blog.geckorockresort.com/ then it wouldn’t be an issue, but as soon as anyone sees the name of our business they incorrectly assume we’re loaded
Whereas the truth is that we’re trying to build our blog in lieu of paying for advertising.
Somehow it’s OK to let an aspiring blogger write a guest post, but not a boutique hotel owner who writes a blog to funnel traffic to the main hotel site.
Gagan Masoun
Apr 05, 2014 @ 04:23:18
Hi Jon,
I really liked your premium tips. Your guide for 0 to $100k is just awesome. All bloggers should follow the rules of blogging if they are on starting point.
Keep it up
~Gagan Masoun
Sudip
Apr 05, 2014 @ 06:34:13
To be honest, this is the first time I am here in your blog. Someone in my FB friend list shared this article and this is really a great and well-documented article for a newbie blogger like me. Thank you.
Ash
Apr 05, 2014 @ 08:15:50
Hey Jon,
I really like point #4. There’s not such thing as a “cheap” market.
I agree with your statement “Often times, you can make more money selling to the 2% than you can to the entire 98% combined.” and your following example about selling a $10,000 mentoring<
