11 Myths About Making Money With A Blog and What To Do

Last updated on July 20th, 2018 at 07:56 am

So you’ve started your new blog and even published your first blog post. Now you’re wondering, where’s all the traffic and money? You keep checking your Google Adsense and your analytics refreshing it every hour on the hour. You’ve read so many success stories about people talking about how easy it is about making money with a blog, you’ve decided your ready to enter the blogosphere.

I still remember my first blog. I created my first blog post and put a really big Google Adsense banner on it. My thought was, if I make the ad big enough people will click.

Every hour on the hour after launching my first blog post, I logged into my Adsense account checking my stats. In fact, I didn’t even log out of my account because I didn’t want to miss that first “money click.”

Long story short…

It took me over 6 months to get my first Google Adsense check. I am NOT saying that you can’t make money with Adsense. If that’s the route you want to take, then go for it.

Just know that it’s going to take a while to get your first Google Adsense check.

I’m not saying that you can’t monetize your passion and hopefully, make money with your blog. I am just saying that there are so many different ways to do it. I won’t go into all the different types of ways…maybe in another post?

Instead….

I wanted to clear up 11 myths about making money from your blog. I struggled with these when I first got started. These myths made me feel like I wasn’t good enough to blog.

After failing several times I decided that blogging just wasn’t for me. So instead of learning as much as I could about blogging, I chose the WordPress freelance route. While I love being a WordPress freelancer, the truth is that my heart is in affiliate marketing and product development while helping others.

That’s why 3 months ago I started this blog, in hopes of helping others learn how to start, grow and monetize their passions through blogging. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes that I’ve made. You can create a successful profitable blog, many others have done it.

So what do the successful people have that you and I don’t have? Well they probably have a huge following that shares their work and buys whatever product or affiliate they review.

Plus they were willing to work hard and keep striving towards their goals, making tweeks along the way as they learned. Lastly, they didn’t fall prey to the common myths about making money from a blog.

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Let’s discuss some of these myths so I can show you what to do instead of falling prey to them.

Myth 1: You Should Monetize Your Blog On Day 1

You may have heard people say that you should monetize your blog as soon as you publish your first blog post. When you’re just starting your blog, your goal should be to start building your followers.

This means that you shouldn’t even be considering monetizing your blog. Your main goal should not be how can I make money from my blog, it should be how can I help my readers.

You want to WOW your readers with your amazing content. It’s going to be hard to create a loyal tribe if people are coming to your site and then clicking away from it with affiliate links.

If your only goal is to make money with your blog, chances are you’re going to struggle. No one is going to come to your blog just to click ads. Think about it, why do you visit blogs?

Chances are you’re looking for helpful information or looking for tutorials that will help you accomplish something.

Do This Instead: Focus on writing great epic content that helps your readers. As you continue putting out great content, people will start finding your content and keep bringing them back for more.

As your tribe starts to grow and people start getting to know and trust you, they will eventually, buy the products you recommend.

Myth 2: You Make Make Six Figures In A Year

Bullshit, unless you’re a celebrity or willing to pay for targeted traffic, chances are you won’t make a whole lot your first year. (I personally don’t know anyone who has broke six figures their first year)

If you’re just starting your blog and don’t have step-by-step roadmap, it’s going to take some time to learn. You may even fail your first year, I did.

Do This Instead: Keep learning as much as you can about blogging. Don’t compare yourself to others and focus on creating great content for your readers. Make time to network with other bloggers.

Myth 3: The Only Way To Make Money Is To Use Ads

You may have seen those blogs that the minute you open it they hit you with all kinds of sponsored ads. I don’t know about you, but one of the first things I do is hit the return button.

Sponsored ads make your blog look cluttered. The truth is that you only get paid when someone clicks on them. So unless you have a ton of traffic, chances are you’re not going to make a lot of money.

Do This Instead: Sprinkle affiliate marketing links inside of your content if it makes sense.

Myth 4: You Need A Ton of Traffic To Make Money

Not true, you do need some traffic to your blog, but you don’t need to have a million visitors. Focus on targeted traffic, people who want to hear from you and are interested in what you’re publishing are more valuable than just any traffic.

One of the most talked about things in Facebook Groups and online forums is how can I get more traffic. Don’t jump on board for every new traffic method that promises to help you get more traffic.

Do This Instead: Focus on writing content that speaks to your peeps. Eventually, people that resonate with you and will find your blog. Join Facebook groups that are related to your niche and get involved by answering questions and helping others.

Don’t overwhelm yourself with tons of traffic-generating methods. Focus on 2-3 methods and learn the ins and outs of it.

Myth 5: You Need To Create Your Own Products

Everyone seems to be creating Ebooks or creating their own products. While creating your own products can be a great way to add an additional income stream to your blog.

It’s not the only way to make money online. There are literally tons of ways to make money with a WordPress blog. If you need a little inspiration, read this.

Do This Instead: Start with affiliate marketing as it’s easier than creating your own product. As your blog continues to grow, you can then decide if you want to create digital products.

Myth 6: You Should Only Promote High Paying Products

From my personal experience, I only promote products and programs that I’ve used or use. It’s hard to promote something if I don’t know anything about it.

Most people who are just starting a blog don’t want to spend a lot of money. If you’re only promoting high-cost affiliate products, no one is ever going to click through your links and make a purchase.

Promote entry-level products that bloggers will need to run a successful blog. I’ve created a great blogging resource page if you want to look at it.

Some of my clients use WP Engine for their sites and it really is a great hosting account. However, if you’re just starting out, I recommend SiteGround.

Do This Instead: Promote products that you have used or use. It’s a lot easier to write honest affiliate reviews on products that you’re familiar with. Take a look at this post I wrote on choosing a WordPress theme to get an idea of how I sprinkle affiliate links throughout my blog.

Myth 7: You Should Be Ashamed Of Trying To Make Money With Your Blog

Don’t ever be ashamed of trying to monetize your blog. If you’re putting out great content and trying to help others, there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t monetize it.

As bloggers most people are always looking for free ways to grow their blog. You might start out offering all kinds of free tips, tutorials and advice on how to grow your blog.

Eventually, you might want to create a product and start selling. As soon as you do, some people will bash you for trying to make money.

You might even lose some followers and email subscribers for trying to monetize your blog or email list. Don’t let it stop you, it’s your journey, own it.

Do This Instead: Provide as much helpful content as you can. If you decide to sell products later on, don’t be afraid to sell them. The right people who love you and have gotten value from your free tutorials, advice or whatever will be happy to buy your products.

Those that are offended by you trying to make money will go elsewhere. That’s fine, no harm no foul.

Myth 8: You’re Giving Away Too Much Free Content

People need a reason to visit your blog. If you’re not providing valuable, actionable content they can use, why would they visit? When you’re first starting out, chances are you don’t have a big social media following.

The only way that people will want to visit your blog is if they learn something. Remember, your blog is NOT for you, it’s for your readers. People want to know what’s in it for them, what can they gain from visiting your blog?

This means you have to share your experiences and advice that helps them improve their lives in some way. If they don’t get any value out of your blog, they won’t come back.

It could be some small tip like sharing crucial blog configurations for WordPress. Or maybe you’ve written a detailed post that takes the reader by hand and shows them how to start a blog.

As long as the reader feels like they’ve gained some value out of your blog, they may come back. If you’re lucky, they may even share your post on their social media accounts.

If you’re not providing valuable content that helps others, they have no reason to come back. Your goal is to build your loyal tribe of followers that enjoy your content. Sign up for your email list and love everything about your blog because they agree with you.

It won’t be everyone, but then you’re only speaking to your peeps. If they haven’t found you yet, they’re out there, you just don’t know it yet.

Do This Instead: Give away 95% of your content for free…you can monetize the remaining 5%.

Myth 9: If You’re Not Making Money In A Year, You’re A Failure

The truth is that blogging is hard work. As a beginner, you have to publish new content, create videos, promote your posts and network with others. I am assuming that you don’t have the funds to hire a VA.

There’s a lot to learn and do. Most people don’t figure the ins and outs in 365 days. If you ask most successful bloggers who have figured out how to make money with their blog, they will tell you it took more than a year.

Heck some people will tell you that it took them 4 plus years to figure it out. Everyone is different and has their own obstacles to overcome to reach their goals.

Don’t compare yourself to others and just keep learning along the way. Eventually, you’ll have that ah ah moment and the money will come.

Instead Do This: Give your blog 3-5 years to really succeed, if at that point your not making any money, you may need to change your strategy.

Myth 10: You Have to Post Content Everyday If You Want To Make Money

You don’t have to post every single day. If you’re trying to grow your blog, you can post once or twice per week. Choose a blogging schedule that works for you and stick with it.

As long as you’re consistent with your blogging tasks, you will eventually start to see some progress. Most people write everyday, because they aren’t sure what they should be doing other than writing blog posts.

You need to be spending time promoting your content. Here’s a great article I found that will help you focus income generating tasks.

Instead Do This: Choose a blogging schedule that you can live with. (even if you’re only posting once a week) Write your content in 3-4 weeks in advance. This will allow you to have time to focus on other tasks that will help you grow your blog.

Creating an editorial calendar will also take a lot of stress off of you. It will also give you time to take breaks from blogging and deal with life without having to worry about not posting fresh content on your blog.

Myth 11: You Need to Spend Money to Make Money

The last myth is that you need to spend money to make money. This is not true.

If you start on a self-hosted blog, then all you need is a domain and reliable hosting. This will run you about $60 a year (this is paying for your hosting for a year in advance.) You’ll save more if you pay for more than one year in advance.

Even though I use Genesis on this blog, there are a ton of free themes and plugins you can get started with. If you’re not sure on how to choose a WordPress theme, read this.

Spending money from the get go just means that you’re investing road map that hopefully, helps you get fromPoint A to Point B faster. It saves you time and money from having to source through all the free information online.

Do This Instead: Don’t invest in courses if you don’t feel it’s the right course for you or it’s not in your budget. If you’re tight on money you can learn a lot of the stuff for free. Join helpful Facebook groups and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Follow 3-4 bloggers that share actionable content (like this one) that will help you grow your blog. Sign up for their email list and absorb as much information as you can.

Learn as much as you can for free. If after a year, you’re still struggling to grow your blog, you might want to consider investing a blogging course that will help you learn the ins and outs.

Final Take Away

You may have read more myths about making money with a blog that are not listed here. If so, don’t fall prey to them.

My goal is to make new bloggers aware of the blog monetization myths. Don’t let these myths stop you from creating a profitable blog, if that’s your goal.

Blogging can be fun, and there’s nothing that you can’t learn.

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If you found this post helpful, don’t forget to share it. My goal is that it helps new bloggers realize what it takes to start making money with a blog so they don’t give up too soon.

Also, be sure to comment below if you’ve heard of another myth blog monetization myth that I overlooked.