23 Reasons Your Blog Isn’t Making Any Money (And What To Do About It!)

23 Reasons Your Blog Isn’t Making Any Money (And What To Do About It!)

Reader Comments (91)

  1. If you are starting a blog with the sole purpose of making money off of it, you shouldn’t expect to see any revenue any time soon. It could take years to build up the reputation and readership to make your blog profitable. I’m not saying it is impossible, but you have got to be realistic!

  2. Awesome list, it’s probably one of the most comprehensive lists I’ve come across.

    However, all these strategies are a lot easier to work with when you have SOME traffic. A good intermediate guide to kicking some ass blogging.

  3. Great outline, and you’re absolutely right that it’s a multi-step process in order to make money online. Simply building a website and making a few token efforts towards attracting traffic isn’t going to cut it. Websites need to evolve over time in response to their customers’ demands, and you just can’t do that if you aren’t actively working on improving your site.

    Thanks for sharing!

    • Thanks, Sarah! I think oversimplification is the plague of the online world – it’s great to keep things simple, but not at the expense of crucial details. That’s why I like the Chain of Conversion – it gives enough detail for us to be able to do something about the situation, and make it better.

  4. Great post. Even though I have customers, I only have one product. I’m working on a second one so I’m hoping some will turn into repeat customers.

    I’ve got a lot of newsletter subscribers and a fair amount of traffic for my niche(16k pageviews/month) but I’m always trying to get more. I’m mostly doing content marketing to sell one product but I’m looking to branch out and get more more guest posts on my site instead of guest posting on others. I think this is overlooked as a traffic generator.

    • Oh, you’re absolutely right – guest posts on your own site are a great way to get traffic, and they also free up your time and resources to do other things, so it’s a double-win.

      Everything you’re describing sounds like great actions for you to pursue – the question is, which will give you the most leverage and best results to start with? Which link of the chain is the bottleneck right now?

  5. What else can I say, this is amazing. I found out that I fall into the second group of bloggers. I’ve got great traffic, in fact, they love my content and keeps coming back. But I barely make any significant cash monthly. I now know the problem, the format of my offers is the problem. I don’t have to stick with e-books, maybe I should switch to audio and videos.

    Thank you very much for sharing this comprehensive post. I’m totally in line and have gained
    so much. Good works and keep ’em coming!

    • I’m really glad you liked the post, Michael!

      Don’t jump to conclusions – make sure to test what works best for your audience.

      And hey, if you found this post helpful, you just might want to check out our whole marketing program… 😉

  6. I have “blogs” that make money, that haven’t been around a long time, but I’m working hard on one that will probably take longer to make money, but I think in the end it will make more and last longer than the others, and I will definitely go through your chain of conversion, first from the beginning, and hopefully also the reverse way down the line.

    Thanks for sharing Danny!

    • Jamie, you’re right that it isn’t just a process you go through once; as soon as you fix one link, you’ll find that another has room for improvement. The goal is to turn your blog and business into a humming conversion machine! 😀

  7. Great post Danny. I have noticed that a lot of local business websites need a lot of help turning their sites into lead magnets and ultimately convert. The chain of conversions is an excellent way to explain this process. Thanks for the gems.

    Mick

    • You’re very welcome, Mick! This is exactly the process that we use when we consult for small businesses – feel free to make use of it. 🙂

      And if you want the whole process that we use for fixing problems, too, you should check out our program. 😉

  8. Great post and very good comment from Nick! Maybe that’s why I don’t have a sale. Well I can wait a few more years.

  9. Such a great post!

    I keep asking myself – why some of my blogs can’t make money like the successful affiliate marketeers did? And I found the reason in your post.

    Thanks a lot. Time to fix the mistakes and start to make money!

  10. These are great tips, with a lot of ideas that I’ve never seen spelled out anywhere else. Thank you for making me look at things in a new way.

  11. Great post. I’m just working to get my new blog on writing going. I have a couple other blogs, but they are doing well and I forgot all I did to get them going. This will help me get on with it. Thanks. Lou

  12. Hi Iny,
    Well these are some great tips that most of us either don’t know, or don’t want to face them; that is a lot of work for a ‘lone ranger’ like me :S However, I have copied this post and will try to follow step-by-step! Thanks again.

    • Hey ghost writer – you’re right, it is a lot of work, but the way to make it manageable is to focus on the link in the chain that is causing you the most trouble, fix it, and then move on to the next one. that way you’ve only got to do one thing at a time. 🙂

  13. It is virtually impossible for a newbie to write a blog and make money. It is something for the hardened pros – people who have already cut their teeth and are already experienced professional copy writers or journalists or marketers . But, even for them, at this stage in the game, it will be a tough option. The truth is that you will need truly vast numbers of visitors to make money, and getting there will be like chasing a mirage. Think of writing a blog as being in the california gold rush – the people who made the most money were those that sold the shovels.

    That being said – writing a blog is fun – but don’t do it with the belief that it will provide anything more than pocket money.

    • Hey Joe, that’s a fair perspective, but I have to disagree… I pretty much started blogging at the beginning of the year, and I don’t have crazy high traffic numbers, but I’m making pretty good money (and I don’t do it by teaching people how to blog).

      • Hi Danny, kudos to you – but I believe that is more due to your background and skill set. You obviously write well, and probably have a really strong background in marketing. I believe it is correct to say that only a very small minority, out of the hundred’s of thousands (or millions?) who try, will ever make any money at all writing a blog. All that happens is that the internet will get more cluttered with pages that are never read, and never ranked by the search engines, and also, many people will just waste money buying all the addons (mailing list generating tools, hosting costs, special site designs, etc), perhaps spending money on promotion, at the same time generating affiliate income for the top bloggers, and getting nowhere themselves.

        • Hey Joe, for sure, I don’t mean to suggest that it’s easy, and yes, I’m coming to the party with a lot of entrepreneurial and marketing experience. I’m just saying that it is *possible*, as long as people learn the right things and do the right things.

          I really appreciate that you mention marketing, by the way, rather than internet marketing, SEO, or anything like that, which is tactical. That’s why we make a point of teaching *marketing* in our training program – so that people have that same foundation to build on. 🙂

    • As I said in the comment below, blogs don’t make money, businesses do.

      A blog is a strong marketing tool. If you take or build a solid business and apply intelligent marketing to it, and you don’t get derailed by the many things that derail new businesses, you should start to see revenue.

      You do need vast numbers to make any revenue in some of the traditional “monetization” models, but that’s a different thing from using content marketing to support a business.

      • Hi Sonia – right on point – could not agree more. The monetization model is an oversubscribed marketplace. Blogs as a tool for real businesses, used to engage and inform the customer base, are commercially valuable.

  14. Great list. Each item could be an entire course itself but you really hit the nail on the head as far as the BEST things to focus on for building a profitable online business. Thanks for sharing and creating awesome content.

    JC

  15. Great post Danny! It almost starts looking like work to people, and that’s why people operate on the hope and pray strategy.
    I hope people show up, I hope they buy something, I hope they blah, blah, blah about me, etc., etc., etc.
    Nothing good comes easy, and that’s what separates the tribe. The weak from the strong, or those who are willing to invest time, effort, and money.
    Thanks for sharing great advice and guidance,
    AJ

  16. If you want to make money from your blog, you should have no misconceptions as to the amount of work you will need to put in at first. I think you have to be willing to devote a couple of years of your time to work on your blog and build up a good repository of quality content before you can think about making serious income from it. You should be prepared to make the odd couple of hundred every month at least for the first year.

    • Blogs don’t make money, businesses do. Danny’s post is very much about using your blog in service of a business, rather than as some kind of money-making thing by itself.

      How long it takes really depends on the business you’re in.

      • I disagree a bit that blogs don’t make money, businesses do. I think a blog doesn’t have to be in service to a business but at least needs to be treated like a business. No one should assume they are going to get rich quick off of it just like any other business. Danny’s post lays out what is needed in a blog to make it a real business.

        • Yayson, you’re right, but I think Sonia is right, too – the point is that a blog by itself doesn’t make money, and once you take all the steps to turn it into a business, the blog is really just the marketing arm. 🙂

  17. I am just now starting to get my feet wet in the world of blogging and internet marketing. I recently got my site running and am starting to add content. I realize its going be a slow process to begin to grow my network but I appreciate the intermediate information and the tips you mention. Thanks.

    • You’re welcome, and if you focus on doing the right things, in the right order, you can see big results. Not to say that it won’t take time, but just that there’s a light at the end of that tunnel. 🙂

  18. That was an awesome post.

    Presently, my blog is small as I have only been blogging for a few short months. I have spent about an year or so educating myself while writing for my personal blog, only recently shifting this one. I am pretty much at my first stage where I am building my audience and happy to be here. It will take time for me to go through all the stages efficiently but I am willing to put everything into it to do so. Only time will tell …

  19. Danny, I feel that main problem for you to not able to convert a stranger or make them stay is because you are not targeting the right audience and or not producing quality stuff. Good post.

  20. These are great point you have mention here, Thanks.
    My website is doing really good,as i am focusing on content,traffic and reputation rather then making money. Once you reached up to level to hold the users money will automatically credited, Am i right Danny?

  21. Hi Danny,

    Powerful tips here.

    Lack of persistence is 1 area where some bloggers fall short. They are doing the right stuff but don’t spread their message consistently enough.

    Think of some TV commercials. Eventually, hearing the message day after day grows on you. Sure, you might reach the annoyance factor too, but if you aren’t annoying anyone you aren’t doing anything of note in this world.

    Thanks for sharing your insight!

    RB

  22. This is such an incredible post but I almost don’t want anyone to see it because it essentially sums up everything I’ve learned about my blog through a year’s worth of trial and error! Haha. No, really, thank you for all of this. It’s been a long and hard journey to even get to step one of drawing people into our blog and we’re still not even close to reaching our goals with that one yet. Keep up the thorough + informative posts!

  23. Great Tips,
    I’ve checked out your site firepole marketing and really enjoyed what you have to say. I’ll be continuing to visit and what how your site grows.

    Cheers
    /B

  24. Danny, you hit the ball out of the park twice with this:

    Asking for the wrong action. If they haven’t heard of you, then don’t start by asking them to buy — it isn’t likely to happen. Remember that your goal with each piece of messaging is to get the audience to take the single next action. When you’re talking to strangers, the goal is for them to become leads (visit your site) and then prospects (opt in to your list). So don’t even mention whatever it is that you’ve got for sale.

    And this:

    Your content is “me too” content. If you’re just writing generic, bland content of the “6 tips everyone already knows about productivity” variety, or (gasp!) going so far as to actually spin articles, then the truth is that there’s no reason for people to come back to your site, because you haven’t impressed them yet. So pull out the stops and write some truly compelling content!

  25. Very good information. If you really want to make money online, you need to gain followers and people need to trust you. Build more followers through your blog by providing good information and automatically they will trust you and you can start your online business and make money online.

  26. This blog is really what I was looking for. So many marketing, e-marketing, affiliate marketing blogs, but this one really covers issue’s which are actual. I will follow this blog for sure! Thanks
    Eric, Belgium

  27. Beautiful points but what I always tell people is to blog for the passion of it and not for the money. Chances are your going to make no money from your blog for a very long time. Write from the heart and something you care about and it will show in your writing and draw people to return back again and again.

  28. Sooo much to do
    Why don’t you swing by my blog and fix it for me – yeah I wish 🙂

    Keep up the good work – and for the love of god keep the tips comming. For a newbie like me even the smallest things can be gold.

    All the best
    Simon

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