Hey guys! This is a short but thought-provoking guest post from one of my favorite bloggers, Onibalusi Bamidele. I think you should really read it! 🙂
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One major thing you’ll see many bloggers do is that they tend to follow the crowd. If you have a decent audience and you come up with something unique today, give it a few days and you’ll be amazed to see it everywhere.
You don’t need to copy everything you see to succeed as a blogger and even if you will copy (or better said, learn) you should do that wisely and use it to improve your business.
We’ve already millions of blogs talking about how to blog and how to make money online, and we see new blogs covering this same topic popping up every day. Unfortunately enough, not all of them succeed.
Why Don’t Bloggers Follow Their Passion?
One thing you will notice in common among so many bloggers is that they keep choosing the same topic, and that topic is “blogging”.
Why?
It isn’t because many of them have something unique to say about the subject or because they have any plan to contribute to people’s life…
…but because they want to make money from it.
Many people are fueled by money by seeing a lot of gurus talking about how they made thousands and millions of dollars in the blogging niche and they think it is fun, so they can also go into the blogging niche and replicate the success.
You don’t need to blog about blogging before you can make money online! A better way to get more results from your efforts is by following your passion and by being unique in your own way. If you’re a professional medical doctor, why not start in the health niche?
You Can Make Money in Other Niches You’re Passionate About!
I have noticed one major misconception among most of the new bloggers in the blogging niche.
And that major misconception is that they think they can only make money from the blogging niche.
There are lots of untapped niches waiting for you to come and tap into them, many of these niches have a lot of traffic and little competition.
And it is relatively easy for you to profit from these niches than the highly competitive blogging or make money online niche.
I recently started a blog in another niche, and on my first day of starting the blog I got 31 unique visitors (I am using Google Analytics).
It was crystal clear that if I had invested all the efforts I had invested on my main blog on it then I should be getting over a million visitors monthly (no exaggeration!).
Read Blogging Blogs, Too
Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you not to read blogs about blogging. In fact, they are one of the great types of blogs you can read.
It is because, due to the high competition and millions of people blogging in that niche, there’s always a need for new discoveries and you can easily implement that in your own niche and profit from it.
What is your general opinion about blogs in the blogging niche? Do you think that is the only way to make money blogging? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section!
Gloson’s comment
A very thought-provoking post, Oni! Too many people fall into the blogging niche not because they like it, but because they want to make money.
Many people don’t realize that they can make money from any niche at all, as long as they are passionate about it. So don’t follow the crowd! Follow your passion!
So, being inspired and motivated by this post, I’m also planning to post more articles and funny poems on Poetry Talents after my UPSR exam on 21-23 Sept 2010. 🙂
photo courtesy of stevewampler & davidsurfer
This is really great Gloson,
Thanks so much for publishing my guest post.
I am so glad you loved the post, it was inspired by what I see to be common in the blogosphere – which is wrong!
You’re most welcome, Oni! Thank you so much for submitting it! 🙂
gotta agree..
many bloggers dont blog with passion, they blog for the money..
somehow nuffnang has changed the meaning of blogging, in malaysia.. =)
Haha… quite true… lol =) Don’t get motivated by Nuffnang, get motivated by your passion 🙂 .
Monetizing blogging is an art in itself, so to speak. Just as not everyone are able to blog, not every blogger is able to generate revenue through blogging. I guess that’s a moderating factor, since many bloggers who don’t succeed financially just quit.
Hi Oni
This is so true; many people start a blog to make money or blog about blogging but end up looking like everyone else and fall flat on their face. I have just started my niche site and am getting some results but I have hardly put any energy into it. When I do I think it will be very successful.
Thanks for sharing.
Michael
Hey Michael! Yes, I agree with you. When you are motivated by your passion and put energy into what you are doing, you would most probably become successful 😉 .
This is very true, Oni. I would say I am also guilty however, my blog kinda just happened and I didn’t really plan for it. Originally, it was going to be a blog about Html but, I realized most of my posts did not cover html. And I am glad my blog is not doing too bad for it’s first month on the internet. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Hi Mandeep. As long as you are blogging with passion, that’s ok. Blogging and HTML is related so maybe you could write posts on how to improve your blog using HTML. Congratulations on the first month of your site! 🙂
Hi Gloson and Oni,
Thanks for sharing the post with us guys. Awesome insight here. Living out your passions is the key to a happy, wealthy life.
As you noted in your example Oni starting a blog in a different niche off the beaten path yielded immediate positive feedback.
Don’t chase dollars. Follow your passions.Go against the grain and watch how this act of faith prospers you.
Ryan Biddulph
Definitely agree with what Ryan’s saying here. But, sadly, most of us grew up thinking about money first and then what will help us attain that monetary goal instead of the other way around.
Good post, Onibalusi!
There are still many bloggers who tend to follow their passion but failed to make money using their blogs.
What if you are passionate of sharing your daily life? Do you think you can make money from that? These days, every make money blogger must be flexible and accept the reality that make money blogging from your passion is now expired.
Another thing is that, if you blog from your passion that is very rare to see, maybe that niche is a good niche for you to continue blogging and make money.
– Felix Albutra
Well, Felix, that’s a good point but I don’t entirely agree.
I went to an Internet Marketing seminar not too long ago, and I heard a story from the speaker.
He said that one of his early students said to him, “I love to repair computers… I’ll write an ebook about repairing computers.” The speaker said, “Uhh… ok.” Actually, he thought it was a bad niche but he didn’t want to hurt his student’s feelings.
He priced the ebook at about $20 (if I’m not mistaken). The speaker thought, if the student made 3 sales, he would be surprised. Later, the student told him that he was making 6 sales… daily! :-O
That story really inspired me and I think that you can actually make money from any niche. It’s just that you need to use the right marketing skills – right friends, right promotion sites, etc.
Cheers and Best Regards, 🙂
Gloson!
Hi Gloson,
An information about repairing computer is very helpful for every tech enthusiast. What I mean is that, by tapping those niches that you can’t make more money is those niches that won’t benefit to the readers.
Example, those topics that only talks about yourself. Another niche that you can’t make more money is those niches that don’t have a product to promote.
I mean “more money” because google adsense is not included on the monetization method.
Maybe the only way to make more money with adsense is to do the right marketing strategy in order to get more traffic and more clicks.
Thanks for the reply.
– Felix Albutra
Haha… good point, Felix! Some topics just aren’t benefit to readers… like negative thoughts, or, as you mentioned, talk about only yourself. And yeah, I agree with you too. Google Adsense makes more money on some niches than others 😉 .
Agree, Ryan! If you don’t follow your passion for the sake of making money, you won’t be truly rich – you would have a lot of money but you are not really happy. When you have both, then you’re truly rich 🙂 .
Wow! You guys are incredibly brilliant to have come up with such an insightful post. I never thought of young boys around making an excellent blog.
Anyway, thanks for sharing. I agree with you. In every work, if you really have a passion doing it then there would be a greater probability of succeeding. To GLoson and Oni, kudos!
Thank you very much Charlotte! I’m really glad you enjoy me and Oni’s work! 🙂
Cheers!
People think that the blogging niche is the only way to make money. It’s an exhausted niche, it may look like you’ll make something out of it but thats about the most you will get from it.
True, Peter! That’s a really big myth! 🙂
I am blogging in the niche that I am passionate about. I love to discover new things but what I learned from my blogging niche blog is that, if you tend to make money blogging, you must treat blogging as a business.
Yes, there are many niches that are untapped and if you know how to implement niche marketing correctly, you can blog and make money from those niches that you are not passionate through sharing the information that you’ve learned from your research.
Right now, I blog in various niches and implement those useful techniques that would suit to a certain topic.
Thanks for sharing this post.
– Felix Albutra
That’s a good point, Felix. And another way to do niche marketing is to make yourself passionate about it… haha 🙂
Hi Gloson,
Thanks so much for your help replying the comments, I really appreciate it.
Your most welcome, Oni! 🙂
Very strong point Oni. Nowadays so many blogs are created just for making money. Some newbie bloggers just search for high paid niches and start writing on them . Most of the content they write is taken from somewhere else.
Bloggers should write only about a particular niche for which they have passion.
Exactly Asad,
Blogging should be around your passion. Many people think they can only make money online in the blogging niche, which is wrong!
Very true.. In my point,most of the people who is new to blogging fell into those topic because they don’t know what to write in their blog at first.
It’s very nice article and thanks for sharing.
cheers @ GLoson and Oni
Yes Goutham,
You’re absolutely right. Everybody has to start from somewhere and sooner or later they’ll be a better writer.
Thanks so much for commenting!
I just love blogging and as i get spare time from busy schedule i start working on it. Wonderful post, I really enjoyed reading it!
Glad you liked the post Jamie 🙂
This is such an excellent and insightful article .
Took me time to read your post and some of the comments as well. I really enjoyed reading it. I must say that money is not everything in blogging. It must have a higher purpose, to channel one’s ideas and virtues.
Great Augustus,
I’m so glad you loved the post and got my point.
Thanks so much for commenting!
Short,sweet,simple and well said Onibalusi. We are all so trying to succeed at the same thing that all we end up doing is failing-in the totally wrong way while youre at it. Doing what is popular does not guarantee success or satisfaction. What we need is originality and value .
Yes, it’s not always good to go with the crowd. Why not list what you’re good at, what you like, your hobbies or your favorites and from there choose a niche and research keywords that would not have a lot of competition but would have a lot of people searching for it and that will earn you money. Best to standout and be yourself eventually people will notice.
Hi Andrew! Thank you very much for the superb tip! That’s the way to monetize your passion 🙂 .
All I want to say is that follow your heart when blogging and you’ll get the pleasure that far outweighs the pleasure of making money.
Very good point, Umair! You’re not really “rich” if you are not happy, even if you have a lot of money. 🙂
Thanks for all the tips, your blog is great!
Thank you very much, Johnny. I’m glad you like my blog! =)
completely agree with Oni! Yes, we can make money by blogging in our passionate.
*excellent blog here
Thank you very much Terry! 🙂 I’m glad you like my blog!
Hai….
Nice ti fist visit here.
Hi! Nice to see you here! 🙂
Yes, it’s better not to follow the crowd but just follow only your passion. It’s hard to go to the flow, why not go against the flow. I’m sure leading a different path compare to others means a lot of people will have much interest on the choice you make.
Go for you passion. Its like you stole my words.
Thanks.
Hi Oni,
You are right there are a load of blogging posts out there, and ones that keep on getting rehashed.
The idea should be there but posts should be tackled in a different way to others
Yes, you’ve made a great point! – Delivering a point through a better way! 🙂
Hey:
This is agreat post
please keep writing like this
Regards
Hector Jayat
I totally agree to your point of view. For me when you keep on tagging around the crowd you will end up losing your visitors because they will just find same niches as other have. But when you have your own uniqueness I think it will drive you more visitors because they will find your passion different.
I really agree! Being unique is very important because people tire of listening to the same stuff over and over again. And it is necessary to be passionate otherwise you will tire your readers by writing boring posts. 😛
You nailed it Oni. Its as if they only niche to make money with is blogging. But if you really dig dipper, you can actually see that blogging doesn’t rank that high amongst money making blog niches.