not making money online, why not?
In this post, I provide a checklist explaining why your blog is not making money. As you learned in part 1 of this post (titled Why your blog ain’t making money online!), there are many variables that you could blame for your blog not making bringing the monthly income you hoped for. Some of these variables are a little easier to tap into and cross off the checklist. Let’s take a look at these variables in further detail.
Is your blog new?
Is your site/blog indexed?
How competitive is niche?
Are you promoting your blog?
Are you writing for your readers or for the money?
If your blog is new, keep in mind that it takes time for the search engines to index your site. Indexing is how the search engines Google, Bing, etc. gather information and data about the content of your site. This information is used to list your site in the search engines. This is also based on the keywords that are associated with your site and your site will appear based on how it is ranked by the search engines for those keywords.
Fortunately, there is a way to check to see if Google has indexed your site. To check this, follow the steps below:
- simply type: site:(YourSiteName)
- your website address for example site:drlwow.com (see image below)
If you are not making money online, your site may not be indexed.
Once you have that information, it will help you determine next steps. If your site is not indexed, use google search console to allow Google to index your site. You can also download and install plugins in WordPress to create sitemaps that help search engines with navigating your site and indexing it.
Get to know the competition in your niche
Your niche or genre that you are blogging in may have thousands of bloggers writing similar content. Also in your niche, there are experts who may have been blogging for a lot longer than you have (years). So, they may have a few tips and strategies that position them well ahead of you in the search engine results.
In addition, with so many bloggers in a niche, so many styles of writing are available for readers. Some readers look for the style that speaks to them and it may or may not be yours.
How are you promoting your blog?
Not making money online, let’s change that!
Are you promoting your blog online? If not, you should consider doing so since that is where a lot of your traffic will come from. If people don’t know you exist, how can they visit your blog? You can’t just write some blog posts a few times a week and wait for “it to happen.” Be active and be in control of your traffic to an extent.
Schedule your week where you spend time posting and organizing your blog, while you also carve out some time to promote your blog. This will significantly impact the traffic coming to your posts and the amounts of comments and shares.
If you don’t promote, then you are increasing the likelihood of not be making money online from your blog! As you write and promote posts, think about how everybody has a story to tell and people are always looking to read these stories. Let this drive you to promote your blog and get noticed!
Who are you blogging for?
When I read a lot of posts from experienced bloggers about making money online, I immediately know their audience. Once they start sharing their stories, their struggles, their triumphs, their failures/mistakes (including how at one point they were not making money online with their current blog), etc. I know I am reading a blog that was written for content readers!!! Ask yourself that question as you write, am I telling a story that is written for my readers or am I communicating that I just want to make money and I could care less about helping others do the same?
As you know good things come to those who… It’s not wait, but my belief is Good things come to those who do good things for others. My only caveat is, you don’t do good things, expecting something in return… the universe takes care of you! In the words of Dr. Richard Carlson,
“Do Something Nice for Someone Else and Don’t Tell Anyone About It.” Take that approach as you blog, write good content…Okay well promote it, and tell people about it but don’t expect something good to happen just because you shared a good post. Just practice the habit of doing good things.
In closing, know your audience and continue to write for them. Develop loyal followers and readers who will continue to come back but equally important they will comment and share your posts. The final thing to consider is whether or not you know and understand the ways to make money online. In addition, they will contribute to the discussion around some of your content.