This thing we call the Internet is so awesome, don’tcha think?  And look how quickly things change now.  Eight years ago I didn’t even have a computer.  And 25 years ago I had an office job that required me to use one of those old DOS systems.  I remember being afraid I would delete the entire network of information if I hit the wrong key.

But now here we are making our living, or at least trying to, by sitting at a computer all day.  When I stop to think about it I find that amazing.  Where will we be 10 years from now?  How will we be making our living  in 2035?

I don’t usually come on this blog and ramble, well, yes I do, but it’s usually about Internet Marketing stuff.  But I haven’t had time to post lately and it’s Sunday morning, I’ve got my cup of coffee, and I feel like blogging.

And since this blog is about making money online, and I’m in the mood to blog, let’s talk about blogging.

Do you read any blogs other than your own? Because I do and I just wanted to know if anybody else does or if I’m just weird that way.  But here’s what I think, and you can totally ignore this if you want to because I’m about to go totally against the rules of blogging here…

I read quite a few blogs and I have quite a few blogs and ya know what?  I’m beginning to think all this talk about keywords and SEO and social networking and social bookmarking and joining forums and blah, blah, blah, is just that – TALK.  I take a lunch break everyday, which I’m sure most people do, and since I work at my dining room table I just usually eat in front of this laptop.  And while I’m eating my ramen noodles or a sub from the 7-11, I check out my favorite blogs.  And not one of them has any sign of SEO or keywords or any of that other crap we get so hung up on.  And they’re all very successful blogs with a lot of traffic.

They don’t worry about the length of their posts.  Some of the posts might be only a couple, and I do mean a couple, of words long and an image and that’s it.  They don’t worry about keywords – a couple of the blogs I read just title their posts with something they overheard during the day or a word or two from a favorite song or movie.  And some of them don’t even have a niche – they’re personal blogs that have thousands of visitors.  Each post gets hundreds of comments!

Now in case you think I’m full of crap, check out these two blogs (and there is absolutely no monetization here – I just want you to see what I’m talking about.)

Waiter Rant - I’ve been following this blog almost as long as I’ve had a computer.  I used to be in the food service industry and I liked his waiter stories.  This guy is currently working on his second book.  No, he doesn’t write the blog to promote the book – he got the book gig because his blog was so awesome.

Barmaid Blog - This blog is set up on LIVE JOURNAL!  She doesn’t even have her own hosting!  And she’s been posting since 2006 and has thousands of followers AND she’s been syndicated.

GoFugYourself - I’ve been following these ladies for years, too.  When they first started out they were just a little blog like the rest of us but they’re now affiliated with Celebuzz, they’ve also published a book, and they get flown around the world to comment on their own blog, as well as some of the top fashion blogs on the net, for all the Fashion Week shows in New York and Paris.  (Scroll down past that first post and have a good look at this blog.  That first post is a recap that they do every week.)

Now there are just three of the blogs that I read almost daily and I dare any of you to try to find a keyword or any sign whatsoever of SEO.  Yet all three are making tons of money off their blogs.

To further prove my point that someone is definitely trying to pull a major con job and should be taken out behind the shed and whipped, look at THIS blog.  The one you’re on right now, silly.  The Battledome!  This blog gets over 150 visitors a day whether I post anything or not.  And if I remember to send out an email, then I usually need to keep an eye on my bandwidth.  (Of course, if I’d ever take the time to learn what bandwidth means, I could probably remedy that situation, but meh…)

To further, FURTHER prove my point, you guys don’t know it (well, maybe some of you do) but I used to have another blog that’s dead now because when I tried to transfer it to my new hosting I lost everything, but it was a blog where all I did was make a daily post about the most interesting site Stumble Rumba sent me to.  At that time I didn’t even know what a keyword was and if somebody said SEO I just said, “Would you like fries with that?”  THAT blog had over 10,000 visitors a month!  And I made money with it just by selling advertising space in the sidebar!

Now I ax ya – Doesn’t it make you stop and think?

We sit here all day long beating our heads against a wall searching for the perfect keyword and making sure it’s in all the right places and then bookmarking and submitting and emailing….when all these guys have to do is sit down and tell you what happened that day and they’re making a killing.  What’s wrong with this picture, folks?

And here’s another thing…

Spencer Tweedy’s Blog - Thirteen year old blogger.  THIRTEEN!  And look at the comments and followers this kid has.  (Not to mention how cute he is!  God, if I was thirteen again….).  Can you imagine where this kid’s blog is going to be in another couple of years?

Style Rookie – This is Tavi’s blog.  She’s Spencer’s thirteen year old friend.  She gets FRONT ROW SEATS at New York Fashion Week, designers send her free clothes, she has a contract with Target, and she’s only friggin’ thirteen years old!  She’s been written up by all the business magazines, all the big style blogs and by GoFugYourself!

Now if you look reeeaaallll close – YOU WON’T SEE ONE FRIGGIN’ KEYWORD ON ANY OF THOSE BLOGS!

And just in case you think I’m losing it, which I assure you I’m not, but now I’m really going to drive my point home so watch out here it comes…

WhateverLife – Let me just quote you from DoshDosh here:

Her numbers are indeed impressive. 17 years old high school dropout. Made more than $1 million. Earns as much as $70K a month. Owns a website that attracts more than 7 million monthly visitors and 60 million page views.

Her first Adsense paycheck was $2,790 and she has already rejected a $1.5 million buyout offer. I’m referring to Ashley Qualls, the founder of Whateverlife.com, a free MySpace layouts website.

If you get a chance, read His Article – I find it extremely hilarious that Dosh feels the need to tell a 17 year old high school dropout who is making millions of dollars with her site what she needs to do to improve it!

When I first found Ashley’s blog it didn’t look anything like it does today and at that time she was already making a million bucks with it so I can only imagine what she’s doing with it now.

OK, here’s my point…

Yes, I understand the importance of keywords and SEO as related to niche marketing so don’t leave me any hate comments telling me I’m an idiot and you’re going to stop reading my blog.

However – I read all of those blogs and then some two or three times a week.  How many blogs do YOU read regularly and are they niche blogs?  Do you really go to a niche blog and read it every three of four days, which is how often the “experts” tell you you should post, to get more information about acne medication or training your dog?  Because I don’t.

If I want information on training my dog I do a Google search, I find the information I want, and I move on.  I don’t stick around and read the whole blog.  I MIGHT buy the product, but probably not at the blog because I know how to find things cheap and free on the Internet.  But that’s not the point.  Those niche blogs do make money when you attract the right audience.

And it’s obvious from the blogs I showed you that in order to attract an audience you have to give them more than just regurgitated information.  If you want to keep them coming back you have to stop worrying about monetizing your blog and develop a following  first.  It’s all about content folks.

The difference between US and THEM is that none of those bloggers started out with the intention of making any money.  THIS blog and my dead blog, may it rest in peace, were not started with the intention of making any money.  So there’s no stress and worry involved in writing them.  You just log on and speak your peace and hope you don’t piss anybody off but if you do so what it’s your blog!  YET – This blog and my dead blog, may it rest in peace, are the two most successful blogs I’ve ever had.

But Beamer…We’re Here To Make Money!

Yeah, I know!  Me, too!  I’m not trying to tell you to give up niche blogging.  Quite the contrary.  (Can you tell I’ve been writing articles for someone in the UK?)  What I’m trying to tell you is that you first have to engage your followers – you have to GET followers – before you can worry about selling them something.  And when you look at YOUR niche blog, if it doesn’t sound like something you’d want to keep coming back to and checking up on three or four times a week, why would you expect anyone else to do the same?

Look – you’re here because I sent you an email and told you there was a new post up and you wanted to come and see what that lunatic Beamer was up to today.  Can you do the same with your list?  Can you send them an email and KNOW that most of them will make it a point to click on that link and visit your blog?  Have you even been able to grow a list with your blog?  It’s all about the content folks.  It has nothing to do with the keywords or the SEO or any of that other crap.

Sure I promote this blog.  I do the article marketing and I bookmark posts when I think about it.  I send out emails and I’ve got links to it in my signature files on forums and I have a Twitter Account and blah, blah, blah….But none of that stuff matters if ya can’t keep ‘em on the page.

What say ye?  Comments open!  Proceed In An Orderly Fashion…

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