Make Money Online vs. Get Rich Quick
Apr 10th, 2007 by msdanielle
Do you remember that old adage that says, “Everything in life is free and easy“? I don’t either, because it doesn’t exist!
So then, here’s the million-dollar question for all you money bloggers out there: Are you trying to make money online, or get rich quick?
Ever since John Chow announced his blog’s February 2007 earnings, it seems like a slew of “make money” blogs popped up left and right in March. In fact, it even inspired me to start up MsDanielle and see what I could do with it. I’ve been slowly growing it, but knowing all the while that the potential isn’t there quite yet for me to be raking in the big money. You’ve got to finesse your blog, get everything optimized, and find your perfect niche voice, which I’m still developing. Some of the blogs I’ve come across seem eager about making money, when the focus should be on creating a quality site.
So this brings me back to John Chow. My friend Gary and I have been keeping an eye on JC’s blog for awhile, and we know he didn’t just up and make $7,000 in one month out of thin air. JC’s been in the internet marketing game for years and he knows his stuff. For instance, around 2001, he made over $25,000 with AllAdvantage (now AGLOCO). That’s no small feat! And because he’s internet marketing savvy, he was able to get over 30,000 unique users per week to his blog after about a year, at which point he began seriously monetizing it in September 2006. Throw some Google ads up in the mix and it wasn’t hard for him to make money. But most of us starting off don’t have the savvy to get a steady stream of tens of thousands of unique visitors per week, so in Feedburner terms, we analyze, optimize, publicize, monetize and “troubleshootize” our sites in order to cut out the fat. We persist and persist until we get a steady, loyal following.
Why am I rambling about this anyway? Because I’ve been seeing a lot of blogs lately where the main focus is on making money. That’s cool and all, we all want to make money eventually with our blogs. But just make sure that you’re not blinded by the bright bling bling because it’s quality content, internet marketing know-how, persistence and savvy that will help you reach JC level blog revenue.
One really great blog I recommend you all checking out is WhoIsAndrewWee.com. Who is Andrew Wee, you ask? Well…go to his blog and find out! He discusses making the mistake of committing “internet marketing suicide,” among a range other online marketing topics. I don’t see too many familiar faces in his MyBlogLog recent readers, so I hope you guys will find him a good resource. And if you guys want to see what a real “make money online” tips blog looks like, check out DoshDosh.com. I don’t know how Maki does it almost everyday, but he cranks out some awesome money-making tips!
The bottom line is, keeping a money-making blog isn’t some “get rich quick” scheme. Yes, there are a few tricks and short-cuts you can make along the way, but making money online is quite the opposite of getting rich quick. Remember that blogging for dollars is hard work, requires a focused niche voice (beyond “making money” unless you’re as good as DoshDosh!), takes an immense amount of research and time, and is not a quick process. Your blog isn’t a “set it and forget it” project. It’s an on-going, integral part of your life that, when done right, will be very consuming, but equally as rewarding.
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Danielle, great post! You’re right that this is not a quick ticket to fame and fortune like many people think. When I first started MyNewChoice.com it took a few months to start building traffic and seeing any real revenue come in. Unfortunately, it is those first few months when many people give up because the dollars don’t come rolling in like they thought.
hey derek! yea, i agree. i guess this was just me ranting, since it’s pretty much a rhetorical question. lol most people will realize right off the bat that blogging isn’t just some cute money-making hobby that takes 5 minutes out of your day. i would assume the weeding process takes even less than a few months, maybe just a few weeks, or days even!
I, too, noticed there was a ton of new blogs starting in February since everyone wants to be the next John Chow. Unfortunately, very few of them come up with very original content and are probably just out to make a quick buck. That just doesn’t work and most of them will probably end up losing money in the long run. Most don’t understand that John actually does put a lot of work into his blog and it doesn’t happen overnight. Great post, Danielle.
Personally, I doubt I’ll go after the “make money online” market since I don’t really know much about that sort of thing anyways. I’m more about being a pretentious ass and telling people that the movies they watch suck and that their music is a marketing sham. Oh, and that I’m awesome. Where’s the keyword for “being awesome online”?
thanks ed, and good luck with your crazy long tail keywords.
i actually googled “being awesome” and it kicked back 239,000 results! but don’t worry you’re still number 2 for “dozo izakaya” 
That search term was actually quite useless as dozo izakaya only really applies to people that live in my area. Having the top search result for Timbaland Shock Value Review two weeks before the album release sent me tons of traffic though.
There have been sites like this around for years, I don’t think the number has increased at all. I think this increase is just within this particular sphere, which is dominated by JC and a couple of other sites.
JC missed a massive trick with months worth of reviews in which he did not specify anchor text. I wrote a few times about anchor text etc and no-one took any notice, then, JC see’s his mistake (though as far as I am aware he is still not suggesting a list of keywords for the post titles), writes a post suddenly everyone wants anchor text. Some people are trying to anchor their user name in top commentors, its really silly.
Bottom line, dont be a clone / sheep and get out of this spere a bit more often!!!
I think it’s pretty safe to assume there is no ‘get rich quick’ scheme. If you’re going to be successful at something you have to put your time in and do something creative and original.
I also have a hard time breaking out of the chow circle. Right now it seems that ‘all roads lead to chow’
Im not saying dont read JC, I still read it, but there are lots of other sites out there worth reading too.
The point I was making about this sphere is that a lot of people try and copy JC, that simply wont work, JC is successful because he has been there and done it. You cant write about making money online unless your making some!!
Similarly, I am reluctant to write posts on SEO (though I still do) as I currently only have a PR or 3, the good SEO sites have PR 7 ….
Danielle, I see your now using the plug in I suggested
My one thought is that you (not you specifically, but the all bloggers) can only make so much money telling other people how to make money. At some point soon the market will be saturated.
I think it is saturated, it is possible to make money from blogs, but not blogs about blogging
or for that matter blogs like mine (tech sites oriented). To make any money you need to find a nice niche and work at it, easier said than done.
Another lesson banded around is the need for ‘great content’, but that’s also very difficult. The post that got things moving for JC was his “biggest google whores” expose, how many people could have written that, i.e. got that info out of those people??
If writing great content were that simple we would all be top selling authors….
JC and sites like it sell a dream, that if you follow the advice given you could also earn $8k pm for 100 hrs work, that simply is not going to happen for 99.9% of bloggers….
I don’t like John Chow’s site because its LOADED with advertisements and besides that he is really ugly lol. I KNOW i’m mean
hahaha! i just saw this comment today. you’re funny
Patience and Persistence. Nice article and thanks for the two links. I’ll be checking them out.
cool i’m really glad you enjoyed reading it. andrew wee and maki (of dosh dosh) both have amazing insight about online marketing, but approach the industry in very different ways. i think combining all of these types of aspects will make for a well-rounded marketer.
[...] Danielle brings us Make Money Online vs. Get Rich Quick by Ms. Danielle at [...]
well put. time to crank out the hard work
[...] post that she links to as a suggestion to mention is her article titled Make Money Online vs Get Rich Quick, a topic near and dear to my heart. Ms Danielle goes into how so many people look at other [...]
Hi there,
I started my initial blog with the intention of making money online. This is still my intention but I now understand far more that there is no GET RICH QUICK scheme with these blogs and have started to become very entertained withy this online world so am now in process of finding my niche(s). I’m really enjoying your site and your links and i’ll make sure I pop back and let you know when my niche blog that I am planning is up and running.
Thanks so much for all the help. Us little new bloggers need people like you.
Nowadays, there are many ways to become rich using Internet. It’s not a secret that many people start their blogs in order to make money. Every person chooses his/her own way of making money. However, it also requires time and efforts.
The thing with blogging is you have to take your time and write excellent articles and once you have done that, you will start making money online but nobody is a millionaire overnight unless you win the lottery!
Blogging takes a lot of time and talent. most people who write on blogs have nothing to say. That’s why they can not make money with their blogs.
I am about to start a blog site. I have a “niche”. BUT… the main focus and intention did not start out to make lots of money. I did, however, soon realize the time and energy investment and concluded that I would need a way to get my blogging site to earn revenue. How do blogging sites make money? Can you share the most basic and fundamental concept of that with me. I am not asking that you give away all your marketting strategies from your arsenal, rather, I am really that ignorant and I need someone to point it out to me.
Thank you in advance.
EN
could you please remove all comments I put on your blog.
Thank You
Making money is a time consuming task. There’s no need to fall for that get rich quick crap because it don’t work IMO!
nice article.. keep on writing !