It is better to start your blog with something to sell?

Maybe I'm missing something here but... why would you wait?

As long as your blog as some content on it, I don't see why you would wait if you already have something to sell on your site.

Well, if you're planning some big launch for your eBook, where you're offering something like a launch discount or something, then I can understand waiting to build up your list. But, if you're just going to put it on your site, then I don't see the need to wait.

Hey wecoach, if you want to build a profitable blog the first thing to make sure of is that you can get your readers to come back.

You have the right idea about posting "good quality" articles to your blog as I've never seen a successful blog that doesn't have content that the target audience actually enjoys.

As I was saying about getting your readers to come back, having good content is one part of the equation, and another is building an email list.

So, instead of linking to products directly on your blog, you can link to an opt-in page where you offer a high value free guide if they give their email address.

How you monetize your list is up to you; you mentioned writing your own ebook so you can promote that (if you decide to make it a paid product) or you can even promote related affiliate products.

Regards,
Daniel

Well when you speak of a blog I assume its something where you want google and other search engines to send you traffic. That is good but I also notice you talk about selling or making a profit. For my say affiliate business I want to be able to send traffic straight away and have the ability to generate a subscriber today and not tomorrow.

Build your list from day 1 and leave the monetizing part for when you're ready.

You should also take into consideration the importance of a healthy social media presence and make a plan on how you want to tackle traffic generation.

It would be interesting to see a followup on your project in a few months and if it's not too much to ask, what niche are you in?

Imo, you do not need a product right away. Of course you should do your homework and make sure that the Niche has viable options with products that the people desire. i.e make sure there is money being spent to find solutions to problems in this niche

But other than that you can and should start Blogging if you have some knowledge and expertise concerning the subject matter


- Robert Andrew

It's best to start your blog with something to SAY.

If you are in a crowded niche - sports, weigh lifting, fitness, diet/nutrition - it's what you have to say that will make you stand out.

One thing to be wary of is inadvertently positioning yourself as "the freebie guy."

There have been a lot of well-intentioned folks posting sad stories over the years about building lists, giving them great free content for a long time, and then having the subscribers turn on them when they finally have something to sell. The subscribers end up feeling betrayed, because the marketers suddenly went from give, give, give to buy, buy, buy.

You can hold off while building your list, but make sure your subscribers know there's an offer coming - when it's ready. In the meantime, you can start conditioning them to the idea that you do offer things with a price tag on them by recommending things like nutritional supplements, or even signing up with Amazon and offering recommendations for training accessories like lifting gloves or back belts. Just get them used to the idea that not everything you have to offer will be free.

It depends on the value of the product you are going to sell. I say, it would be good to offer quality content to people, give them a freebie in return of an opt-in page for you to build your list, then from there make informative content that will make them find the "need/importance" of buying your product.

However, the tricky part happens when you start email campaigns and encouraging your audiences to buy your product. Again, it goes back to the value they can get out of purchasing what you have to sell.

Either way will work.
Normally I recommend starting without too much advertising (if any) to grow your user base (sometimes ads bother people) and work on just growing your site/brand first..

First priority is to get traffic and engagement - often the articles that get the most engagement, interest, traffic give you great insight into product opportunities.

After you begin to get a sense for what your traffic is most interested in, then go ahead and come up with some opt-in incentives and start building your list.

At this time you can also begin with paid offers to your list - you can start directly from your blog as well as on the back-end of your opt-in sequences...

I have worked with bloggers before who built solid readership over a 6-12 month period and then knew exactly what their readership valued, packaged it and hit home runs right out of the gate because they were close to the demand AND had built the relationship.

It's better to start the blog with something to sell, or some CPA program (ex: Adsense).

Why would you wait? Are you looking to gain buddies and pals, or are you looking to make money? Don't be one of those people who deliberately create road blocks, and use them as a reason why they aren't succeeding in business (or life for that matter).

Swings and round-abouts...

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

The beauty of blogging first is you can start to engage and interact with your audience first. You can see what posts, topics and comments you're getting and thanks to this extra intelligence you have a greater chance of creating a product that will sell.

If you create the product first, it might be something no body wants but the advantage is you will have quicker experience learning how to sell... and even some money to re-invest.

Whatever you decide, don't put off doing something, anything.

Just get to work, get people seeing your stuff and take it from there.

"Motion beats meditation" -- Gary Halbert

It's great if you can start your blog with something to sell but if you haven't built trust with your followers or readers they don't have a reason to buy from you. Think about it - how often do you buy something from someone that you don't know? It usually takes time for you to trust someone before you'll buy from them. The same holds true for your own products. Offering a product to people before they know you can turn them off and once that happens it can be nearly impossible to get them back if they leave. Build a relationship with them first, create a level of trust and then when you've delivered high value content to them over time and you offer them something they will be much more likely to buy from you. Everyone here will probably tell you the same thing, building your list takes time but every contact that you add to your list after offering something of value can mean a sale in the future.

Why is subscriber #1000 any different then subscriber #1?

My follow-ups include valuable information and references to "further resources" in a natural way. Right from the start subscribers understand they are getting free information that is supported by paid products and advertising.

It works great for me.

Use your blog as a presell method to get people to like you, trust you and trust your recommendations.

Don't just post content for the sake of posting content and maybe build a small subscribers list by collection a few leads here and there.

Know exactly what you're promoting and focus your articles, videos and all your content towards effectively pre-selling whatever it is that you're selling to your audience.

Collecting subscribers only makes sense if you know what exactly you'll write in your email follow up sequence to warm them up and get them used to opening your emails.

Usually I follow a simple rule of 80%-20%. Meaning that 80% of the time I give value and 20% of the time I pitch an offer, product or whatever I'm promoting in my campaigns.

When they know me enough, I recommend them a product (ebook, video course, membership). They will buy because they trust me, my recommendation and feel that what I'm offering them will fix solve their problems.

Otherwise why would you need a blog or 1000 - 2000 subscribers if you don't know what the hell you're going to do with them?

Simply because you have a list of 1,000 - 2,000 or more subscribers doesn't mean that they will open your emails or buy your products (ebooks) if you don't give them a reason why they should do so.

Focus on giving value, connect with your audience and then offer them something.

You'll see the big difference.

In my honest opinion, you can make your blog for few months. When your blog become infomative and popularity you can start selling somthing on it.

What a perfect plan ! Staring blog with ebook is good. Hope you will success !

I think you go for your blog which is going to sell something or give an appropriate information to their users. From your blog you can also earn money very easily by sitting at your home only...

Doesn't matter, most important is to take action now.

IMHO You should wait until your blog gets some traction and after that start to monetize it.
This is how I work with the majority of my projects (except for the PPC ones, of course).
Focus on your content and on building your email list. If you try to monetize it from day 1, you won`t be 100% focused on the content.

There's absolutely no need to wait.

Before, it was considered selling out for bloggers to sell things on their website, but now, give value and sell like you're not ashamed of it. That's how you win, that's how you make money from blogging into oblivion.

Word of caution, don't sell too much or you'll kill your list

WOW. Some very excellent advice from several of the usual suspects. Making for a nice thread to refer back to.

Remember Services is also a product depending on your exact niche you can position yourself to solve a problem or make something they do already easier.

If you go to the popular blogs you will see the START HERE page. That is an opportunity for you to give them a little of your best stuff but also to make recommendations on tools and resources that will help them achieve their goals and nothing wrong with some of those recommendations having affiliate programs that pay you commissions if they make a purchase.

Just be sure to place a disclaimer in plain view that you could make a commission if they purchase. Everyone understands that.

Just like Aweber and hosting..people have to get those types of tools anyway maybe so why not from you?

As mentioned above..never waste a visitor ever from day one. But offer them something they will appreciate.

Get your readers to love your blog first. Selling can come in later.

Starting with selling is... wrong. You need readers that stick with your blog rather than disappear instantly again. The Key to making money online is to good, valuable content and a strategy behind it.

Quick tip...

If you're going to call out a spammer, remove the spam links from your quote. Otherwise, even if the spammer is banned and the post removed, the spam links live on in your quote.

Even better, instead of calling them out, just report them using the little triangle button under their name. If enough people report them, the post is removed from public view until a mod can deal with it.

The #1 reason to have a blog is to build an email list. It's also a great place to tell your story,do product reviews and brand YOU as a leader in your niche.

Should you be selling stuff on your blog? Of course! It's your blog,you can do what you want with it as long as you're not breaking any laws.

Just get that blog started, write some fantastic content and throw in the odd affillate link!

I personally think the blog itself is more important at the beginning (I won't bang on about online identity again...), just get used to writing good stuff and finding your way with SEO, getting traffic and looking forward to that all important first sale from that affiliate link!

Cheers
Jon

If you just want to sell ebooks have you thought about publishing on amazon ? Or you could do both, start your own blog with great content and at the same time start selling your ebook on amazon.

No. You neeed
A) A blog
B) Traffic
C) Legit Traffic
D) Time with SE

Do you even have an ebook yet? Do you even have 100 visitors a day>

Until you've actually done any of those, stop posting non-sense questions and go start your blog and make posts worth < 60% bounce rate.

Yes, Always I personally Sell one software by having the blog promotion.

I have always been taught that if you want to make a blog successful you should first concentrate on getting it up and running, providing valuable content that you readers will enjoy and therefore keep coming back for. Once you have established this relationship with them they are much more likely to buy from you. If new people are visiting your blog and there is only things to buy they are less likely to come back if they don't know or trust you. Hope this helps

It's obviously very important to have a plan to monetise but before that you need to think about how you're going to build your and your list. It's very difficult to that just flogging product all of the time.

I started selling the day I started making a website and blog, no reason to wait.

I think it would be best to build good content on your site so that readers will have something to come back to every time they think your site fits the needs they are looking for. After that, you may start selling your protect and boost traffic at the same time. Think of a funnels page, which is basically a page your audiences can signup to for a feeebie they can get in return. This way, you can always keep them in your list and give them value through emails with products which they can purchase.

Goodluck!

Yes, its best way to drive quality traffic on your blog/site.