Why Many Profit-Driven Blogs Fail

I am a fan of marketing guru and author Seth Godin and regularly visit his blog. Godin talked a couple of days ago about the questions he gets from beginning bloggers. Invariably the most common one is how they can make a lot of money blogging. I hear this a lot, too.

The other day an acquaintance of mine called and asked me to check out her new blog. She had read a book on the benefits of business blogging, got all excited, and within days her blog was up. Unfortunately, the two posts that were up were miniature sales letters, with links to click on for many of her products and services.

Godin’s point, well taken, was that the best, most successful bloggers did not set out with the purpose of making a profit. Though it turned out that they made money, it wasn’t their reason for starting up. They just had something to say and a service they wanted to provide.

It’s one of those things that’s true in most aspects of our entrepreneurial lives. The monetary benefits will eventually kick in, but we start with our passion, our reason for creating our business and our desire to make our customers—and ourselves—happy. And the rewards flow from that. If you have a blog, what’s your purpose?