Someone once told that the only way to make money with a blog was to sell massive amounts of text links. There’s no other way. He was resolute. I just nodded. I disagreed because the people I know who make it online don’t do so by selling text links. So whenever I hear such declarations, I think to myself: “It’s because you aren’t thinking outside the box. You aren’t being creative.”
Don’t get me wrong. Text links are good money. Great money. I’ve sold text links the past. I can name many sites that still do. They still rank high in Google. They still have a good Pagerank. I won’t get into whether or not you should sell them. This post isn’t about that. But the larger issue that without text links you can’t make money is a fallacy and a line of thinking perpetually argued by those still stuck in the box.
When most people think of the phrase “think outside the box,” they imagine a big boardroom of people brainstorming the next big idea. There’s some guy at the head of the table going “Come one people, we need to think outside the box on this one” and then everyone at the table looks around nervously at each other. Well, be your own big boardroom. Think outside the box. Without creativity, you will not succeed.
For example, take a site like Zen Habits. It’s a gigantic website with over 500,000 visitors per month. But it didn’t start that way. He grew that site every day. And he has made it a point to never sell advertising on the site. But eventually, he quit his day job and now Zen Habits is his job. So how does he make living from his site then? Ebooks. He created a trusted brand and now people buy his books. He supports his whole family on his ebooks, which got him a real book deal.
In order to be successful online, you must think outside the box. You must always be trying new things. In the words of Thomas Edison: “I didn’t fail; I just tried 1,000 ways that didn’t work.” You must be willing to experiment, take risks, and lose in order to finally win. I’ve tried Facebook ads, Adwords, guest posting, using Adsense, not using Adsense, Facebook ads again, different hostel booking engines, flight engines, etc in order to see what works and what doesn’t. I’ll try new products and services. I am always testing. I’m always experimenting to find that perfect mix.
That’s the important thing. In order to succeed, you must try everything. You must think to yourself how can I reach more people? What ways can I make money? Where can I go that doesn’t have people already? What haven’t I tried? I guest blog on finance blogs not travel blogs. People on finance sites love to travel and save money so it’s a perfect match for my site. Think laterally. I’m thinking about doing iphone APPs. Gary from Everything Everywhere created a podcast. Christine is making a documentary.
The point here is if you limit the online game to text links and banner ads, you will fail. That blogger is right. You won’t make any money. Even with over 100,000 visitors a month, I still have trouble attracting banner ads. The ad space just isn’t there yet.
Be beyond ads. Maybe ebooks are right. Maybe affiliate ads. Maybe Adsense. Maybe selling someone else’s books. A membership site. Consulting. You won’t know until you try but if you never try, you already failed. Don’t box yourself in. Look at the lifecaster iJustine. All she does is video blog her life. She didn’t just start a website and think “text ads.” No, she thought what is something different I could. She thought outside the box.
There are many ways to make it online. Those who have made it have done it by bucking conventional wisdom and thinking outside the box. They got creative. If you want to make it, you must do that too. Narrow thinking won’t help you last on the internet. Be bold. Be daring. Be successful.
Thank you Matt. Being creative is it in a nutshell. I started with adsense and made a pitiful amount of money. When I looked at the site I realised they screwed up the look of it. So you need to be creative financial but also keep your ‘creative’ hat on.
I actually really like the layout that you are using, is it custom created?
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