There are no two ways about it: you need to like what you are blogging about. If you choose a topic that is not of interest to you, one of two things is going to happen. You are either going to run out of ideas, or you are going to dread writing new posts. Either way, your blog is probably going to fail sooner rather than later.
I am a firm believe that blogging for fun is the best way to begin to make money. When you love what you are writing about, you will not care how long it takes you to garner a substantial readership. It will be more than enough to have the ability to write about a topic you are in love with. But of course, the more that you post the more traffic you will get. And as you continue with this process day in and day out, you will eventually realize that it is more than possible to make money with your blog.
Another great thing about blogging for fun is that it will show through in your posts. If I was to blog about a topic such as sewing or cooking, it would go nowhere. Readers would find out soon enough that this was not my passion, and of course, that I have no knowledge of the industry. Hopefully, this is not the case with this blog. I do my best to show my passion for blogging and freelance writing, and the results have been better than expected to this point.
When you start out blogging for fun, the money will come in the end. Simply put, you cannot expect to make money from a blog if you do not like the topic. After all, why should others find your blog interesting if you find it boring?
Is anybody else as amazed as me to see that so many bloggers put such a high stake on their Technorati ranking? Maybe I am missing something, but in my opinion I think that increasing traffic is much more important than a silly ranking based on backlinks. But of course, maybe I am wrong.
At the time of writing this, my Technorati rank is 124,330. We all know what this is supposed to mean, but does it really hold any credence? With an authority of 48 I am way behind the most well known bloggers. But of course, this is only based on backlinks; not the amount of traffic that I actually receive.
But I will say this. There is definitely a direct correlation between my Technorati ranking and the increase in my traffic stats. While this may not hold true for every blog, it has for this one for the most part. Since being mentioned on John Chow’s blog last week, both my Technorati ranking and traffic has skyrocketed.
So you tell me: should I be concerned with my Technorati ranking, or spend my time working on increasing traffic? I think I know the answer, but I don’t want to overlook something simple.
Freelance writing can be a very lucrative career, as I showed everybody at the beginning of the month with a post on my July income. One way to reach a solid level of income is to leverage existing clients into more work. This is not always easy to do, and of course, not always possible. After all, there will always be those clients who only offer one project. But even then, there are ways that you can turn one job into many others.
Generally speaking, there are two ways that you can get repeat work from an existing client.
1. The easiest way is to get your client to give you more projects in the future. Without repeat work, it is safe to say that my income would not be nearly as high. In fact, of the $5,000 I made in July, I would estimate half of it as being repeat work. These jobs will not repeat forever, but I will keep taking them as long as they come in.
2. Your other option is to ask current clients to refer you to others who may need your service. I know what you are thinking; you hate to ask this, right? But remember, you do not need to be pushy. When asking to pass my name onto others, I usually send an email that looks something like this.
“Thank you once again for the work. I had a great time working with you, and hope to do so again in the future. If you happen to know of anybody who would benefit from my writing services, feel free to pass along my contact information.â€
As you can see, you do not need to be pushy in order to get your point across. A nice note letting your client know that they can forward your information to others is all that it takes.
When you begin to garner repeat and referral work, it is safe to say that your income is going to increase. I am going to leave you with two tips that will give you the best chance to succeed with this.
1. Always do your best work. When you do, clients will never hesitate about sending new projects your way, or referring you to others.
2. Take the time to let your clients know that they can forward your info to others. You may be surprised to know that a little nudge like this can go a long way.
