Blog Migraine, Should I Give Up?

Blogging is a long game unless you are doing something like game reviews, product reviews, possibly with free trial signups as the offer the lead sees but you get paid by the creator for getting that signup... AND ... you need traffic (eyeballs) from somewhere * today *. I doubt you are getting any eyeballs. I used to know where to get the free signup affiliate offers, but that marketplace shut down a few years back and I haven't bothered to look since.

I have a blog I've been taking care of like a gardener since 2014. Just last week I got a client from it. They saw a Quora article, that linked to my blog, and they contacted me because the buy link for an hour of consultation happened to be broken on that particular page (it was a 2015 article and I hadn't looked at it in years, whadya want from me? ). And that is a rarity because frankly there isn't much organic traffic. Most of the people who look and buy are sent there by me in conversation... or they click over from a post on social media.

Could I pay for traffic? I could. But my strength is in relationships. I don't do the "1000 viewers to 1 buyer" thing...it's closer to 1:1 or 4:1. Every week someone does the SEO snoop of my sites, looking for the magic bullet to traffic that I must have after 11 years in the online marketing field and 8 with the blog. And it just isn't there. I laugh because it's the power of my personal relationships, the fact that I can call up the Air Force Research Lab in New Mexico and the desk officer and I know each other by name so getting on the Director's calendar is no big deal. And you can't duplicate that.

I say this to guide you in better managing your expectations.

I will reproduce a recent Quora answer and FB post here, where I was asked how to sell courses online. The principles apply to blogging (you have an affiliate offer instead of your own course as the offer).

Q: "I have #courses & software to sell, but I don't know how to sell it online. How do I do it?"

My Answer: "[A2A] The dream has been sold to many people: create a course about what you know, and you'll make money!

A lie.

Every business--McDonald's, Home Depot, that chicken street vendor you pass by every day--every one of them needs two things: Traffic and Conversion.

Your course is Fulfillment. That's fulfilling your promise to the buyer.

But you need Traffic: eyeballs on your offer.

And you need Conversion: a way of turning some of those eyeballs into buyers.

This is why people host courses on platforms like Udemy, Great Courses, Skillshare and the like. Those platforms have eyeballs--people looking for answers to their questions and how to learn a skill or be creative.

Conversion can be done in different ways. A sales letter... a video sales letter... a phone call with a live salesperson... other ways. But you need one way at least. The platforms above give you a conversion method along with the traffic.

There are other platforms to host courses, like Thinkific, Kajabi and the like. Those don't give you Traffic. They'll help you with Conversion, but not guide any eyeballs to your offer. You'll need to generate Traffic if you use one of those.

Same for software: you need a Traffic source to get eyeballs and a Conversion tool to sell it. Review sites like G2 can help but I wouldn't rely entirely on that source.

Eventually if you want to grow you'll have to learn (or pay for an expert on) how to use paid Traffic. That's lead generation through YouTube, Facebook, or another platform that lets you advertise to hopefully targeted people.

The lie has been sold that "anyone" can sell their knowledge, and that it's "easy" to have a course and make money with it. Not the case.

Start learning about Traffic and Conversion if you want to progress.

Here's a hint, from being a money-making online seller for myself and others since 2011: Every business needs four systems. These fit under the Traffic and Conversion umbrella.

1. Lead generation -- where are those (hopefully targeted) eyeballs coming from?
2. Qualification -- how will you filter good leads from those who aren't a fit?
3. Closing -- what way will you show qualified leads the offer, and turn some into buyers?
4. Fulfillment -- how will you deliver the result you promised?

Smart business owners write down and start improving on these four systems. Some business concepts are simple to do this with, eg. McDonald's. Their systems:

1. Leadgen: radio, TV, print, online advertising.

2. Qualification: thank goodness, it is easy for the lead to figure out themselves whether they are hungry or not.

3. Closing: lead comes into the store or drive through and orders the food.

4. Fulfillment: store gives the customer the food, hopefully after a not long time period, and before the drive through buzzer starts going off because the staff have taken too long.

Some concepts are more challenging, eg. boutique IT firm that programs custom database-driven software for colleges to manage student records (a thing I actually sold). Systems:

1. Leadgen: white papers & SEO, outreach, networking in like-minded groups

2. Qualification: booking time to speak with college administrators, finding out more about their situation, and helping the leads calculate the large ROI in having a secure means of solving this problem.

3. Closing: further sales discussions to uncover pain, develop customized requirements, and agreement on price. Completion of the sales order and receipt of payment.

4. Fulfillment: a 90-day project where the programmers architect the solution with tilt-up software, build it up and customize it as agreed upon. At conclusion, customer happily takes ownership of the solution.

These are basic outlines but some brains need to be put into the process of figuring these things out. You cannot expect to magically make money just because you have invented something [or started a blog 3 days ago]. The marketplace has to confirm for you a) there is a problem you can fix that they will pay money to solve, and b) they can find you and have a means to buy and receive delivery of your solution."

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Thus endeth the lesson.

Traffic ... and Conversion. You need both.

Maybe you could gather fans of whatever topic you're blogging about in a FB group, then link them over to your blog for the reviews/offers. That takes time, too.

Even I couldn't make sales from a blog I started 3 days ago. It would be a fluke if I did. Instead I would look for a good traffic source (which 10 years ago this blog was--there were far more participants here and North American & European so they had some money despite being in a low value marketplace where "$27" was "a lot of money"), write a sales letter, put it in my signature and then go answer questions demonstrating I knew what the hell I was talking about. People would hop over and some would buy. I know because that is what I did in 2011 with a $10 offer.

I remember my first sale, December 2011, a Friday night. Buyer was from Australia. I'd sold many things in person or over the phone for hundreds of thousands and even over a million dollars (power generation equipment)...but the fact that someone would send money over the internet to someone they'd never met was a limiting belief I was relieved to have the evidence to get over.

Just because I haven't worked SEO well doesn't mean you can't--I'm a Conversion guy not a Traffic guy so it's not my strength--but I do know from 10+ years of agency work and hiring leadgen pros that SEO takes a long time. 6 months, a year, to get going. Not 3 days.

I recommend you get a job that pays weekly or even daily--I've seen some fast food restaurants that pay daily. Depends on where you live of course but in my area it's at least $15/hr, $17-18+ and I've seen franchise fast food restaurants saying they pay daily. And when I go in, if there's more than the skeleton 2-3 people, they are happy the other bodies are there, even if those other people stand around a bit and don't seem to do much. It spreads out the stress from what I can see. Much faster and more certain way for you to make money right now. There's nothing bad about getting a job. Your self-esteem will feel better because you'll be contributing to something, even if it's not a career. I know you're in India and the job situation must be different from the US.

[quote=DWolfe;11716613] I said I plan to post on Quora for the new blog I have..
To get traffic for it.
Never said I am against Quora.