All 3 of those blogs combined and many comments left by me and you know how many replies I’ve received from the authors? 2. Yet they all have thriving comment sections. It’s just a matter of finding and attracting the people who want to read your blog for their own personal reasons.

But my blog is just now turning 1 year old and I don’t comment on many blogs so I’m sure that doesn’t help my comment section grow so quickly. That’s ok though, true I’d love to have a thriving community over here, but there’s only so much time in the day and I doubt comment swapping on 30 blogs or so would put much food on the table and keep WP Blog Host running.

I think the mp3 / workbook thing is a great idea. Good luck with that!

@ Cath – You own one of those blogs I visit that I’d comment on even if you didn’t over here. I love your blog and the way you write with attitude. I did receive your email, sorry about the delay in reply. I’ve been out with a horrible headache for a day and a half and I sent you a reply.

I can’t believe you trashed a 30,000 word book you were writing. Man, you must of really hated it! LOL. I think we are our own worst / hardest critic. I betcha many people out there would have loved what you wrote.

I look forward to seeing what kind of business you develop. Does it have something to do with marketing?

Cath Lawson’s last blog post..How To Get 150,000 Web Page Views A Month

But I’ve also been planning a new business for months. I think I can send traffic to it from my blog, but I can’t see me actually being able to run it from my blog.

Did you get the link I sent you to those free templates Problogger was talking about? What did you think of them? I’ve started using one – it makes life a lot easier.

Cath Lawson’s last blog post..How To Get 150,000 Web Page Views A Month

As a career coach I have attracted coaching clients through my blog. I’m now scheduling more group programs aimed specifically at my target market of folks who want to make the leap to self-employment. I recently recorded that first group and I’m right now creating an MP3/e-workbook product of that program.

It’s refreshing to read these truths. Thank you for telling it like it is. It amazes me that such quality posts such as these don’t have more comments and I’m sure it’s because you have decided to not go out and comment just to receive a comment in return.

James Chartrand – Men with Pens’s last blog post..The E-Myth Revisited: A Review

I wonder though, if you were to develop some kind of eBook with a collection of all your tips (comments and posts) in blogging and sold it on your site for a reasonable price . . .
The thing with your blog is you tend to easily attract new bloggers, how can you cater to them but at the same time make your usual visitors still feel like they’re not being sold to?

It might even be wise to write an eBook and give it away for free to a select usual group of your commentators, that way they can back up your book to the newbies. ….just a thought.

@ Cath – Didn’t I tell you I’m psychic? hehe
The thing with blogging is, I freely admit I’ve only been blogging for about a year now and blogging-wise I haven’t made any money. What it has done though is attract customers and back up new customers who come to our site and show them we know what we’re talking about.

I kind of have the same suggestion for you that I had for Barbara. Create some kind of product which will appeal to the largest audience your site gets. If it can be an opt-in and monthly charge, great, otherwise just a product with a great landing page and link to it displayed in your menu bar and in your sidebar. (kind of like Dave Navarro).

The question is, what do you know really well that others will pay to learn or get?

@ James – You got me cracking up over here. You’re so F’n cocky! hehehehe
My wife said I should do a test. I should link to you in every article I write and see if you show up everytime LOL.

I agree completely with you. My experience thus far has been that discussion isn’t integral to a blog’s success in creating income. It’s more about the traffic it brings in from searches and a back up to reinforce possible customer trust.

Re: 8 points of contact
I know it must include the P’s of marketing: Pricing, Promotion, Product, Packaging, Positioning, Permission, Publicity and then there are things you need to know such as who your customers are, where they come from, how is their need currently being satisfied, and who are your competitors.

All those things need to be addressed in your business plan.

Did I pass the test? I’m trying to think back to my marketing classes if I missed anything.

Here’s where I stand, and you said it best:

For me, the best way I can see to make a profit in blogging is you have to think of it as a real business, otherwise it’s just a hobby and a place to go for discussion among like-minded individuals. Your blog then needs to be a tool used to help promote a product or service which will help people get what they are looking for.

I’ve come to believe that discussion isn’t integral to a blog’s success in creating income. Using a blog as a content management system to put up fresh information on a regular basis does a fine job of increasing the potential to have a healthy business.

However, it takes about 8 points of contact with a person for that individual to become a potential customer. Streamlining those points of contact into active discussion only boosts your chances. I believe that contact of conversation is crucial to a blog’s heightened potential for success.

It’s like shops I guess – you wouldn’t expect a fishmonger to sell the same stuff as a candy shop for example and blogs are pretty much the same.

I am planning to develop my own stuff to sell on my blog. But as you say, some of the folks I network with won’t necessarily be my customers – I guess they’ll help spread the word though. But it would be foolish to rely on fellow bloggers as your only potential customers – unless you’re Barbara Swafford, or Problogger – because I guess they are their customers. Folk really need to be getting their traffic from lots of different sources. Will shoot you that email later.

Cath Lawson’s last blog post..Give Value If You Want To Survive

For my main blog, I don’t have a plan to make money. Maybe someday I will, but for now I’m enjoying the community that has formed. How can we put a price on that?

You’ve brought up some great points in this article. I agree our target audience is of utmost importance.

Barbara Swafford’s last blog post..A.S.K. Andy Bailey – What Was The Inspiration Behind The CommentLuv Plugin