Should You Set Up A Blogging Business?

The blogging business model is similar to that used by the information rich websites that make money either through adsense (or another form of contextual advertising), or by recommending products and then getting paid a commission when people buy from those links. Fundamental to both is the need to have a website to generate leads, or visitors.

Blogging is not just used for business purposes, and in fact was originally a way to provide a person's views on political or news items, or simply a way to present information on a favorite topic to others of like mind. Many blogs are also personal diary-like entries. Most blogs fall into these categories, rather than being used for business purposes.

With the popularity of blogs, many companies now have their own blog also, either to communicate to staff, or the public, in a kind of PR endeavor. The PR varieties don't tend to be as successful in communicating unless they follow fairly closely the original expression of blogs, which was to be highly personal.

Some blogging business endeavors essentially use a blog to post keyword optimized articles on a central theme, in the same way they would post them to a website. One advantage of using a blog this way in an established blog provider, is that the search engines index them regularly. And provided the information is useful, it provides an easy way for people to link to that blog. This has a positive effect on the search engine ranking for that blog. And the more visitors, the greater chance of earning an income from the blog.

Banner advertising doesn't work that well on blogs, just as company sponsorships don't. People expect a blog to be informative, and a blog poster may lose credibility by having banner advertising or obvious company sponsorship. People don't like being sold to - and if you keep this in mind when you create either your blogging business or your other websites, you will do well online. Ken Envoy wrote an excellent ebook on how to presell effectively. You can learn about it, and the concept, here.

Here's what one reviewer said about it:

"I have a descent site with growing quality content, but felt in the back of my mind that something was missing. Duh, MYCPS smacked me in the face with every page.

I have not been writing to my visitors but at them. I am a martial arts instructor and came at my website with the mentality of teaching and instructing from a seminar style (Which can be a bit cold). " (Trent from www.bigbearacademy.com)

And another:

""Blasted merchants! You send them traffic and what do they do? Let your visitors get away without buying, that's what they do!"

"Visitors huh! I wear myself out writing content, along they come, suck up the information like vampires and leave without spending a bean."

"Why the heck did I go and choose this niche? People interested in my topic just don't spend money, tightwads the lot of 'em! I should have chosen something else, drat!"

Guilty, yes I'm guilty of thinking all of those things at one time or another 

But then along comes MYCP and shows me the real reasons why I'm not enjoying quite the income I'd like...

... and it all boils down to me, me and my rush to grab that income.

Well, I have MYCP now, I need to do more than merely read it - I need to absorb it.

It is not a criticism if I say that you've told us most, if not all, of MYCP before, in the Action Guide, in MYSS, in the 5P Report, in SBI Xpress. In fact the message of MYCP is like a vane that runs through the meat of all your publications.

Why then have I been so blind to it? " (Larry from www.best-cat-art.com)

Make Your Content Pre-Sell is an excellent resource for both blogging business owners and regular website content publishers.

I would not recommend setting up a blogging business as the first type of online business or website you try. It is much clearer and easier to set up a website. However, if you already have a website that is doing well, why not try a different type of website, and use a blog?

You will need to choose a blog service provider. I don't recommended Blogger.com simply because some long time established bloggers, with highly original content, have recently had their blogs completely removed. They were not doing anything wrong as far as anyone could see. Whatever actually happened in these cases, it would be wise to err on the side of caution and choose another blog service provider to setup your blogging business.

• Automatic Blogging With Wordpress
• Does Your Business Or Website Need A Blog?