These 13 Mistakes Are Stopping You From Making Money as a Blogger

Last updated on August 1st, 2018 at 06:39 pm

Making money as a blogger is not as easy as so many new bloggers think. If you’ve been considering starting a blog in hopes of making money, that’s awesome. As you know, I started my blog with the goal of walking away from my freelancing business. This post is going to help you understand what it truly takes to make money as a blogger.

There are literally thousands of new blogs started everyday, according to this site, there are over 2 million blog posts written per day. It’s enough to make you think that you’ll never be able to make money as a blogger.

Before you get discouraged and throw in the towel before starting, I want you to know that it is truly possible to make money as a blogger. Now before you think that it’s going to be a walk in the park, I want you to know that it’s going to take time.

How Much Time Does It Take?

Honestly, I have no clue how long it’s going to take you to earn money with your blog. What I can tell you is that if you are serious about growing a blog and turning it from hobby to profit, it is possible.

In this post, I am going to share 13 mistakes that many new bloggers make when they start their blogging journey in hopes of making money.

If you’ve made any of these mistakes, you’re not alone. I think all of us come to the Internet with pie in the sky dreams of earning money. Most of us have no clue what it takes to really grow a blog.

Maybe you still haven’t started your blog? Well, today’s the day to start and I have a step-by-step tutorial that will show you how to start your blog on SiteGround in the next 5-10 minutes.

#1 These 13 Mistakes Are Stopping You From Making Money as a Blogger

If you’re ready to get serious about earning money with your blog, hopefully, these mistakes will be an eye opener. The best part is that you can stop making any of these mistakes and change your blogging ways.

You Don’t Know Who Your Audience Is

Most of us who start a blog in hopes of making money really don’t know who we are talking to. We tend to believe that our blogs are for everyone and it takes us a while to sit down and decide who our blog can actually help.

I am sorry to tell you that your blog is NOT for everyone. There are going to be some people who visit your blog and hate what you write. (that’s okay, these are not your people.)

Then you’ll get some readers who find your blog and end up subscribing to your email list and keep coming back whenever you publish a new blog post. (these are your people and this is who you want to help)

The Fix

Do yourself a favor and sit down and decide who you’re are trying to attract to your blog. It can be confusing if you’ve never had a blog before. I mean how do you know who your content is supposed to be for?

Well it’s easy, all you have to do is decide what type of people you want to attract.

Let’s say that you have a food blog and love sharing your recipes online. There are already tons of food blogs online so you want to make sure that you niche down to attract the right people.

In order to get a piece of the Internet pie in the Food Blogging industry to you could niche down and choose a more specific niche such as: vegan meal planning for busy moms.

You would then cater your content to attract the busy moms who are interested in vegan meal planning.

#2 You’re Relying On Paid Strategies That Require A Lot of Traffic

Not all monetization methods are the same. Some will allow you to make money regardless of how much traffic your blog gets, then there are others that are reliant on the amount of traffic you get to your blog.

Most new bloggers will start monetizing their blogs with Adsense. While it’s okay to monetize your blogs with this type of monetization strategy, it’s just important to know that you won’t make a lot of you’re not getting thousands of page views per month.

Don’t overlook experimenting with other monetization methods that will help you make money with your blog without having to have 100,000’s of page views per month.

At the time of this writing, my page views are only in the 6,000 page views per month. Yet, I am still making money on a regular basis.

How?

By focusing on strategies that don’t require a lot of traffic to generate a profit.

The strategies that don’t require a lot of traffic are: selling online courses, selling eBooks, offering services, and sometimes affiliate marketing.

These methods have helped me earn with my blog while it is in the growth stage.

The Fix

Choose 2-3 strategies above and (offering services, selling eBooks, selling online courses, and affiliate marketing) and start learning everything that you can about them. Read blog posts, take courses, and do whatever you have to learn how to start implementing them.

Sign up with this free 12 Day Blog Bootcamp to help you get started on the right foot.

Start using these methods on your blog and your business. If you have ads on your blog, that’s okay. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with leaving the ads on your blog if you want to have multiple income streams.

#3 Your Paid Offerings Don’t Match Your Audience Needs

It’s so easy to jump into product creation, when you see others making thousands with their online courses. Maybe you already have an online course or have created an eBook that just aren’t selling.

Most likely you created a product that is not the right fit for your blog readers and subscribers. It’s easy to make this mistake and you’re not the only one who has ever done this.

If this is you, then it’s time to take a look at your products. This could be why you’re not making sales.

• The skill level is off – Maybe you created a product that is for complete beginners when most of your readers are at a different level than your digital products.
• Not solving a problem – Ask yourself if your product is actually solving someone’s problem? Does it hit a pain point that your audience is experiencing?
• Not Willing to Pay – Every niche is different and unfortunately, not all niches will be profitable enough to have people pull out their wallets. If you’re in a niche where people don’t have a lot of money, chances are you’re going to struggle to make sales with your digital products.

Before you can create a successful digital product, you need to understand what your audience is actually willing to pay for. You need to understand their pain points.

The only way to do this is to know everything you can about your audience. You need to know their age, gender as well as what is their biggest problem or pain point in relation to your niche? What would they be willing to pay to solve that problem?

Once you have a better understanding of what your audience needs, you’ll be able to create digital products that are catered to them.

The Fix

Take the time to really get to know your audience. Once you start building your email list, survey them to find out what you can help them with.

It takes time to really get to know what they need help with. Don’t try to rush it and create a digital product without first asking them what they need. Otherwise, you’ll just end up wasting a lot of time creating something that no one wants.

#4 You’ve Put All Your Eggs In One Basket

It’s so easy to get tunnel vision and focus on just one income strategy. However, this is a mistake. You never want to just focus solely on one strategy for monetizing your blog. What would you do is that income strategy went away?

Chances are you would be screwed and your income would dry up overnight. Don’t laugh, it’s totally possible and it has happened to me in the past.

Instead, what you need to be doing is focusing on multiple income streams. Well, the average millionaire has 7 or more different income streams. Which makes perfect sense, because the more income streams you have the more money you stand to make.

So instead of focusing on just one income stream, this is what you should do.

Instead of reading income reports and learning that so and so is making $50,000 a month from their blog. So you decide that you’re going to pour your heart and soul into learning everything that you can about affiliate marketing.

You disregard any other type of income stream because you want to make money with affiliate marketing. After all, if this blogger is making that amount of money through affiliate marketing, why can’t you?

Related: Best Affiliate Marketing Programs for Beginners

The Fix

It’s okay to focus on making money with affiliate marketing. But don’t forget to monetize your blog with some of the other strategies that we talked about in step 2.

You never want to put all your eggs in one basket and just forget any other monetization strategy.

#5 Your Blog Hasn’t Been Monetized Yet

We see those blog posts all the time in Facebook Groups. Should I monetize my blog from day one or wait until I start getting traffic?

The truth is that it’s totally up to you. But if you started your blog with the goal of making money from it, I don’t see anything wrong with monetizing right out of the gate.

Now you probably won’t make any money right away. After all, it takes a while to start gaining traction on a new blog.

The great thing is that you won’t have to worry about going back and monetizing your blog once it starts to gain traction.

Related: How to to Monetize A Blog – 5 Simple Methods Discussed

The Fix

Start monetizing your blog from day one. Just remember that you don’t want to focus on making money right away.

If you’re a brand new blogger, your main goal should be to grow your blog. Focus on providing amazing content and then getting your content in front of the right people.

Take your mind off the money and eventually, you’ll start to make money when people gain your trust and see you as an expert.

#6 You Are Not Focusing On Growing Your Email List

One of the biggest mistakes that most new bloggers make is they don’t focus on growing their email list. I’m not sure if it’s because they don’t want to pay for an email autoresponder service.

Or if they just don’t think that anyone will sign up for their email list?

Whether you choose to use the popular ConvertKit or start for free on MailerLite, the truth is you need to be focusing on growing your email list.

Yes, you want to make money with your blog. But the truth is that you’re going to make more money from your subscribers once you gain their trust and respect.

The Fix

Even if you’ve just started your blog, you need to focus on growing your email list. These are your people and they are going to be the ones who will be buying your recommendations and products.

If you still haven’t created your email opt-in, then head on over here to read how to create an email library for your blog. Then read this post to see how to make the most of your blog traffic using a simple plugin.

#7 You’re Letting Perfectionism Hold You Back

I see it all the time in Facebook groups where someone wants to start a blog, but for one reason or another they don’t. They tend to believe that everything needs to be perfect before they launch their blog.

It’s so easy to think that you’re not ready to actually start your blog. But the truth is that blogging is a continual learning process.

I’ve started several blogs and I am still learning on a regular basis. I don’t think there is a blogger that knows it all, if they say they do, they are lying.

It doesn’t matter if your logo doesn’t look good. Maybe you’re struggling to find the right them, well read this post on how to choose a WordPress theme to help you out.

The truth is that you need to just start your blog today and worry about those little things later. If you want to create financial freedom with your blog, then it’s important to start today.

The Fix

Whatever has been holding you back from launching your blog, publishing your first blog post or whatever, today is the day to just do it. Don’t worry about things being perfect, because they never will be.

Anyone who tells you that you need to be perfect as a blogger is lying. We all learn as we continue to work on our blogs so let the perfectionism go, because it’s just holding you back from achieving what you really want.

#8 Your Audience Doesn’t Trust You Yet

It’s so easy to think that if you monetize your blog, you’ll make money as soon as you start getting some traffic. The truth is that you need to build up the trust with your audience.

If you’re not taking the time to build trust with your audience, then no one is ever going to buy what you recommend or sell.

How do You Build Trust?

Easy, provide awesome content that helps them solve their problems. Think about it, the only reason that anyone will come to your blog is because they are looking for an answer to their problem.

If you can provide them the answer and solve their problem, they will start to trust you. It also helps if you have set up your WordPress Gravatar and they can see who is behind the blog.

Don’t forget to share a little piece of your own story and get a little personal on your blog. People want to get to know the person behind the blog.

No you don’t have to share everything. Just share what you feel comfortable with so they can get to know you.

The Fix

Start writing content that your audience needs and wants. You can find out which blog posts of yous get traffic and are the most popular by checking your Google Analytics.

Make sure that you start sharing some of yourself with your audience. Let them see who you are and don’t be afraid to share your mistakes and successes with them. People love to see that you’re human just like they are.

#9 You’re Too Focused On The Money

I know that you want to make money with your blog. After all, you have blogging expenses that you have to pay on a monthly basis.

But if you’re just focused on the money, people will see right through that. Remember, no one is going to buy from you until they trust and respect you.

So focus on providing value to your readers and building that trust. If you are still not making money with your blog, that’s okay.

It takes time to actually make money with a blog. Take your mind off of the money and ask yourself “how can I serve?”

The Fix

If you really need to make money and your blog is not profitable, then start a side hustle that will allow you supplement your income while growing your blog.

Related: 11 Blogging Sites That Pay Good Money for Your Articles

Focus on providing awesome content that actually helps your readers. If you can do that eventually, it will pay off and the money will start to come.

#10 You’re Not Willing To Experiment

Once you decide to become a blogger, you become an entrepreneur. This means that no one is going to tell you what needs to be done or what you should be working on.

Yes, some people will write case studies to share what works for them. But the truth is that just because something works for one person or they make a killing with this specific monetization method, doesn’t mean you will.

The only way to know if a specific monetization method will work for you is to test it out.

For instance: Maybe you’re currently using Adsense on your blog. But you have heard so many people talking about how they make more money with Medianet ads.

Well, the only way to know if it will work for you and increase your blog’s income is to test it out. Sign up with MediaNet and see if those ads increase your blog income.

You won’t know unless you test it out.

The Fix

Don’t be scared of testing new monetization methods. It’s okay if you try something and it doesn’t work. That’s the only way that you will know what actually works for your blog and niche.

If you’re looking for some new affiliate programs to join and test out, here’s a list of 13 high paying affiliate programs you can join.

#11 Your Price Doesn’t Match Your Target Market

We see it all the time, if you’re in the blogging niche people are willing to pay more for their blog investment. Yes, you can make a killing in the make money online niche.

That’s one of the reasons that so many people enter this niche.

But if you’re in another niche that is not as popular let’s say the “sewing niche.” I don’t know anything about sewing, but chances are you won’t be able to create an info product and charge as much as someone in the make money niche.

You have to make sure that your prices match your target market. If you overcharge then no one is going to buy your products and services, I don’t care how great they are.

The Fix

Take the time to research other bloggers in your niche and find out what they are charging for their products. Of course you’ll need to make sure that they are actually making sales and that’s a whole other story.

Grab a spreadsheet and jot down what they are charging for their products and services. Do this for the top 10 bloggers in your niche.

This will give you an idea of what people are willing to pay in your niche.

#12 You’re Undercharging

While it’s so easy to overcharge for your products and services. It’s also easy to undercharge because you want to make money.

Yes, I know that you want to make money with your products and services. But don’t make the mistake of undercharging just to make a few dollars.

If people see a product that costs very little, the truth is that a lot of them won’t buy it. Some people tend to believe that they will get more value from a product that costs more.

I know it’s funny, you would think that opposite. But ask yourself, have you ever looked at two online courses and chosen the most expensive one because you thought it was more valuable?

If not, then you’re probably the only one. I’ve seen so many people say that they chose a more expensive course because they think it’s more valuable.

The Fix

Make sure that you’re charging the right price for your products and services. I know that it can be hard to know what to charge because you don’t want to over charge.

But if you offer valuable products and services, make sure that you’re asking for a fair price. Here’s a great article that will help you get started on pricing your digital products.

#13 You Have The Wrong Mindset

Maybe you started your blog because you read someone’s income report online. It’s so easy to read how so and so made six-figures in their first year of blogging.

So you start your blog jaded because you think that it’s so easy to make money online. After a month of blogging, you’re inside the Facebook Groups asking, why hasn’t my blog made any money? Or how long does it take before I make money, in fact, you’ve probably seen posts just like this.

I see it all the time and don’t we wish it was that easy to make money online. Starting a blog is easy, heck you start one right now in just 5 minutes with my step-by-step tutorial to start a blog.

What you don’t realize is that growing a blog is a different story. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and patience.

The truth is that a lot of people don’t have the patience that it takes to grow their blog. They want to see the money now. When they don’t see the money in a short amount of time, they are off and looking for a new get rich scheme.

The Fix

Understand that it takes time to grow a blog. Take your mind off the money and focus on “how can I serve.” Yes, I know you want to make money with your blog, but the amount of money that you make will be dependent on how many people you help.

So focus on helping your audience and eventulally the money will come.

The Final Take Away

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with starting a blog because you want to make money. So many people have chosen this path to start earning financial freedom.

Just know that it isn’t going to happen overnight. Heck it might not even happen in a year. If I remember right, I think it took me about 8 months before I made my first affiliate sale from this blog.

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Are you making money as a blogger? If so, what were some of the misconceptions you faced when you started blogging? Let me know, I’d love to hear about them.