Is it worth having a blog?

Well, it depends upon your niche – how competitive it is and how good are you in making use of it. Also, knowing the amount of time that you need to get your target number of organic visitors relies mainly on the strategies that you will be using to monetize the blog that you will be setting up.

Blogging is Great as a Marketing Canvas to share to all your audience about what you are doing...I would just look at it like that.

Forget ranking in google...500 visitors is osooo so easy man. You can get tons of visitors to your blog using social media using You Tube and Facebook Fan pages....I would start from there if you wanna get that many people to your blog.

A blog takes time to get visitors, and most people prefer to receive the posts at their email box thanks to the RSS feed, so they don't visit the blog. Ads in the RSS feed are not successful, and you must have many subscribers to add ads to the RSS feed.

You have to frequently update your blog with interesting posts, what is quite hard in the sequence. In the beginning you have a lot to write about, but with time your knowledge becomes insufficient, so you have to make a research, which is time consuming; unless you have vast knowledge about your topic.

However, a blog helps you become known, a blog usually has a better ranking than a static website because you can easily update it, and it helps you sell your products or affiliate products. You can also publish guest posts if your blog is about a popular topic instead of having to always write new blog posts yourself.

If you want to make money with ads at the blog you need more than too many visitors… With all these Google updates everything keeps changing, and everything is unpredictable.

If you are an expert in your field and a real writer, you should create a blog.

Otherwise, you will probably conclude that this is a time consuming practice and there are better methods to promote your products. Keeping a blog for years is not a simple matter.

Its worth but make sure your not making a overpopulated niche blog like webmaster or sports or something like that.

If you are looking for 500 organic visitors..you will have to get a lot of back-links from your posts on other related blogs, forums, articles, press release... and social media.

This will be a slow process at the beginning and grows faster over time.

Keep in mind, the number of visitors is also dependent on the niche that you are in..and the value that you provide to your audience so they can keep coming.

There are a ton of factors that influence how much organic traffic you can get from your site. But the more important questions are:
1. What purpose would your blog serve?
2. Do you have the time, resources, and energy to keep the blog going?

Blogging is a marathon, not a race. Don't blog for the sake of blogging. Your blog should serve multiple functions in your business model and you should have a sustainable plan to keep it running.

having a blog online is very very important in my opinion

some people may tell you that it's a complete waste of time and doesn't do anything and that is their opinion

i have had a blog online for over 4 years and it's one of the main components of my entire system

the reason is because you don't just have a blog so you can build big traffic or make sales and money it goes waaay deeper than that

having a blog allows people to learn and find out more about you and also it's a place to build your list, using your blog as a kind of a social proof platform works like a gem

a lot of my customers have ready my blog and read comments from other people and then decided to purchase one of my products or join my list

my blog is in the IM niche but this works in any niche

generally the people that tell you not to waste time building a blog are usually those that don't like to put their face out there and actually make themselves easily findable online, most people like to just sit behind their comp and make money without anyone knowing who they are.

once you make yourself easily findable and start being a bit transparent you will find that you will be able to build a lot more trust and also you will find it much easier to build a loyal fan base

lastly, you can still build big traffic to your blog so the potential is massive, if you were to create some good link bait then you can easily generate some good traffic

i average anywhere from 30 - 100 visits per day and when i do blog posts and link bait posts it can be anywhere from 100 - 500

having a blog online certainly helps and i always recommend to my students that they should create one

Yes, if it is an authority blog with good original content. Build list, send them to blog when you post. Let word of mouse build your audience.

It's always good to have a blog even if you struggle to get large amounts of traffic.

As long as it sustains itself every year then it is always something you can go back to in the future and have another crack at.

Yes it is worth it. In fact, I believe every internet marketer should have a personal blog.

How long will it take to get 500 visitors per day?

That entirely depends on what traffic generating techniques your are implementing. It can take anywhere between 1 month to 5 years.

If you focus and work hard, it should not take long at all. Right now, my website, which is just about 1 month old, receives approximately 50 visitors a day, and I have not been marketing it as much as I should.

Make a blog man, it is worth it...

haha... it's funny how people think about blogging

Get 15 long tail keywords that will bring in 32+ visitors to each post, everyday. Make sure the posts have strong backlinks. Then you'll have your 500 visitors per day.

The reason you want to keep blogging is that you wont rank for every keyword you target so you keep trying other keywords till you can get at least 15 posts pulling in organic traffic.

The best blogging approach these days is reverse blogging. The traditional way would be to create the blog 1st and hope for the best

But with reverse blogging you find the audience 1st then blog. You can use social media to build a community or fan base, once you have a crowd then start blogging. That's how you test if the niche is worth going for or not.

Just try it for yourself and figure out if it's worth it or not. For me, it's worth it.

In my opinion, a blog is essential as it acts as "social proof". It makes you more credible in the eyes of your prospect.

Besides, the internet world can be cold and rather "faceless". Having a blog puts a "face" on your products or services.

In short, yes having a blog is more than worth it. (Just my opinion BTW)

Yes very much so.
You need a central hub.
Optimise your posts for the search engines and you will find your blog is a great traffic source. It's easy to pull in a lot of low quality visitors instantly, but if you want quality traffic over time then you are going to have to work for it.

No formula really works for everybody. I think that it depends upon the effort and the investment that you will be spending in developing and monetizing your blog. What works for one person might not work for you. Just start by regularly making content that is sensible and significant for Google and your readers to love you.

It's just like everything else in internet marketing: it's worth it for some people, but not for others.

When I start a new blog/site, I can get 500 organic visitors to it terribly quickly, but it doesn't help me, because search engine traffic is no good for me, anyway. I regard search engine traffic - in all of my niches - as just about "the lowest of the low". It's hardly an "aspiration". 100 visitors from a site where I've had an article syndicated will - regularly and reliably - earn me more, overall, than 500 visitors from Google!

That's about as poor as traffic can get, for "selling stuff". I tend to advise people not to put much time, effort and energy into trying to attract "organic SERP's" traffic, for two main reasons: first, it's very precarious and makes your business Google-dependent, and any business that's Google-dependent is no more than one algorithm-change away from a potential accident (or even a potential disaster), as so many Warriors have been finding out over the last year or two, some of them to their very great cost; secondly, for me, search engine traffic has been uniformly the worst-converting traffic out of everything I've ever tried in 8 entirely different niches over the whole of the last 4 years - search engine visitors to all my websites typically stay the least time, view the fewest pages, opt in the least often and actually buy anything by far the least often. I admit I do get tons of search engine traffic to all my main sites (just because of all the high rankings I've got, incidentally, from article syndication to relevant sites) but I'd certainly hate to have to make a living from that traffic! Google rankings, in short, are usually not really much of a "traffic-generating plan" at all: that traffic's very poor quality and often temporary, too. Just reading this forum regularly will convince anyone of that.

I am also a blogger here and I think Blogging is really a Good way to generate some residual income. The most important thing for starting a blog is writing a high quality contents and articles and monetize it with some affiliate or PPC affiliate programs.

Blogging is a great way to share your knowledge. We live in an economy where knowledge is a valuable resource now, and if you ensure you concentrate your posts into one area, blog 2-3 times a week with highly relevant content you'll find it improves your search visibility. Also you can link your blog through to your social media channels. People love sharing blog posts as they are short easy to digest content.

Most people don't blog as they're not disciplined enough to create content 2-3 times a week. Remember blogging doesnt have to involve writing. Jeff Walker shares videos regularly through his blog, and if you're so inclined you can share podcasts instead if audio is your thing

Some great and valuable advice, as usual thanks to Alexa for her insight.

Himani

It is worth it as long as you know what you're doing, so that you can earn.

When i blog i usually do two things:

1. Write using long tail keywords which help to bring me traffic easily and quickly because the home page has a good PR.

2. Write something really unique, out of the blues and hot. Just the type of article people will love to see, read, like and share. However, this comes once in blue moon but it always stick.

7 to 30days though it's going to largely depend on your expertise.

In my first sentence up above i did made mention of some good tactics.

Good luck.

Also, having a blog has a lot of benefits. You get the freedom to post whatever you want to post and you get to share knowledge to other people while you gain money from doing it. However, in the competitive virtual world where you are in today, you will really need to come up with exceptional content to be able to make a fortune.

The main thing you should be focused on is how much money your blog will make for you. Forget about 500 visitors a day... anybody can achieve that with devious means... but orders on a regular basis will keep your blog business afloat, and will encourage you to do more.

Once you feel that money is already coming in too easily, you would not even feel that you are still doing something to get such kind of result. With a blog, you will only need to find the strategy that you think makes you feel most comfortable. Stick to it then be innovative every once in a while to keep your visitors interested.

Of course it is, very much so! You have already had several replies to that effect so to add to what's already been said and correct some things we personally disagree with regarding the purpose of your blog here goes.

First of all never sell anything from your blog. You do that once your website has created a mailing list of subscribers with follow up autoresponder emails but only after you have given them real value and addressed the very reasons they signed up in the first place.

You could add an opt in box on your blog but we think it is far easier to simply place a link at the end of your post so that anyone who enjoyed what you had to say might click on it to find out more about you and possibly sign up to your list on your squeeze page?

Keep adding more information of real value as often as you can on your blog and make sure there is a "contact or about me" link and add some relevant pictures and possibly a video?

Choose a niche related to your squeeze page and never make your post self promotional. Instead provide reasons why anyone would want to know more to click on your link to take them to your website.

People are only interested in what's in it for them not what money you can lever out of their wallet. Emphasize benefits not features and tell your reader exactly what they will gain from clicking your link such as a free report worth say $67, if that is true, or a 12 part free newsletter mini-course of real value to get them to visit your website but also make sure you do have useful free information on your blog to wet their appetite for more? This helps build credibility and trust!

These are our views and others have every right to disagree but these tactics have served us well and continue to do so. We wish you success as you will also need to drive traffic or prospects to your blog. There are many ways to do this including but not exclusively social media.

Depending on your present funds you can use free traffic or pay for it; the latter is faster but less responsive. Getting good search engine rankings using long tailed keywords with high monthly searches and low competition and of course great content, is the key.

Don't listen to those who say SEO or keyword research is a waste of time because Google keep changing their rules. Our best blogs and websites remain because we provide what google wants, good content, and that will never change!

Also backlinks will also get good search engine page 1 ranking although don't expect fast results. This business is a marathon not a sprint and success requires hard work and learning before wealth becomes a possibility? Time it takes depends upon you alone and how hard you work at it? Never quit and then you could make it?

All the best,

Stephen & Jennifer.

Yes, I have a blog. More important than random numbers like 500, it is more important to analyze why you'd want a blog. A blog is only worth what the value of its content is to its readers. It can be a lot of work to keep up with the blog, but also rewarding, depending on how valuable the content is, and how you monetize it. Are you selling a service or product(s)? Are you monetizing via affiliate links or ads? Is it a "junk" blog with tons of spammy ads or is it a quality one to which people will return again and again?

Blogs can be very useful especially if you really express yourself and show that you are a unique voice. I've always found blogs to be much more inreresting when I am actually reading posts from a real person and not just copied information.

Let your readers know how you feel about the topics or niches you are discussing.

I do agree it can take a while to build up traffic, but I think when a blog is done right, it can be very useful for the readers.

I madly respect bloggers. I couldn't do all of the work involved.

OP,

If you ask "is it worth having a blog?", you will get a number of people saying "Yes of course, blogs are crucial for Internet Marketers".

However, if you ask the following 2 questions...

1) How much money do you make off your blog?
2) What is your dollar-per-hour ratio from blogging?

... I can assure you that the answers will NOT be as enthusiastic. Take a wild guess why that might be...

Make your users to subscribe to yours and send the follow up regular?
Make your blog socialised it will get more visitors.
Be specific in your topic. Entertain people.
Make good blog posts, attract visitors.

Make money!!

Cheers!!

I say, don't be afraid of the popular niches like IM because that is what people want! It's like instant traffic, just be sure to add quality content regularly and that by itself increases your visitors, but do that along with other things as well.

Think of this as a business, not a bunch of detached tactics or tools.

What you need first is...

1. A well defined market
2. A desire for something (product, information, service) within that market
3. An understanding of WHY they want it...putting your finger on desire is the way you can best target your offering toward fulfilling that desire
4. A way to reach your market (ideally 2-3 ways when you start out)
5. A sales funnel that converts visitors --> leads ---> customers ---> repeat buyers ---> champions

Blogging is one platform you can use to reach your audience, you can also use paid advertising, partners/affiliates, articles, videos, etc...

Blogging is effective because it a) Is an easy UI to generate content, syndicate it and wrap various pieces around it (opt in's for example) without having to know html b) serves multiple purposes including attracting traffic, maintain interest and adding credibility + trust which helps your conversions. All of this is of course assuming you are blogging effectively

Others I know never blog and do everything using paid ads and partners - that works too. Somewhat depends on your strengths and passions (do you like to write, are you good at communicating using the written word or video?) - if not, then stay away

Jeff

I have a few blog. The one with the highest traffic gets 30,000 unique visitors per month. How fast you get 500 visitors per day depends on how much content you have and how fast you are willing to produce. If you have 500 posts in your website, and if each post gets 1 visitor per day from google, you will get 500 visitors per day easy. Of course you don't need that much content but the more content, the easier it is. Backlinks also help. You can have one post which ranks in the first search result of Google for a keyword that get 15,000 searches a month and you will get 500 unique visitors from that one post alone easy.

Blog definitely helps. You can generate a lot of organic visitors if you write on hot topics and keep your post interesting.

More the post, more the visitors. Quality articles will drive a lot of traffic

Blog is a great way to connect with people. Once they know who you are, which is an easy feat to accomplish with a blog, you can easily make them buy stuff from you, be it your product or an affiliate product.

500 visitors is not much at all, you can get that in a very short time. My advice to you is this:

1. Pick a niche that you are passionate about
2. Start posting at least 1 blog post a week (1 a day or twice a week would be really good)
3. Then, promote that blog post in every medium you can find. You can syndicate the article in major article directories (make sure your blog post is indexed before you do this), post status updates about your blog post in social media and web 2.0 sites, create youtube videos directing to your blog post, create press release and so on (the list is endless).
4. If you keep doing this, you'll be astonished at the amount of traffic you'll get to your blog. Google rankings will come automatically if you follow this.
5. Then you can build your list or promote affiliate products or your own products in your blog.

Good luck!

Are you asking for a per month or per day visitors? Writing and having a quality blog is like your best weapon to not just building your ranking but also drawing visitors to your website. Even after the hummingbird update, you can't go wrong with blogging. Just be mindful of using links and anchor texts of course. Make sure the topic and hyperlinks are relevant.

I agree with some of the posts here. It really depends on the niche you are in. If you choose those overpopulated niche, you will have a hard time, huge competition and possibly low visitors. Try some niche that's hot but few are paying attention to.