This post is my contribution to a group writing project, Creating Value.  The object of this project is to write about how we intend to create a more value driven society as opposed to a profit driven society.  This happens to be a topic that I feel very strongly about, and is one the bedrock principles of Swollen Thumb Entertainment. 

I doubt that anyone who has been reading my blog would doubt that I have passion about it…

The Key To Having A Successful Blog

The successful blogs have one common goal, to provide value.  As a blogger, if you want to have a successful blog, you need to take your mind off of making money.  The money is a byproduct of having a successful blog, and you should never focus on the byproduct of anything.  The money will come if you provide value to your reader.

For example, I am adopting the blogger’s mentality to my company, Swollen Thumb Entertainment.  Other production houses follow a completely different approach, and would never dream of offering as much free content online as we are planning to in 2009.  (By the way, the free content begins in March, if you’re curious).

We’re going to offer free music to download on here.  Other production houses want you to drop 10 dollars or more on a CD that you won’t see for a few weeks anyway.  Why not distribute your music over the internet, for free?  That’s what we intend to do.

Also, we’re going to offer free video content on here as well.  You’ll get to sample many varieties of shows, and the most popular ones will become regular series.  This will begin soon on this website.  And at no point in this process will you need to pay us anything.

Not to mention, that this site will become a valuable source for writing content.  We’re going to show off the best young writers and give them a showcase for developing their talents, and an audience as well.  There will be original short stories, poetry, e-books, whatever the writer wants.  And once again, this will be free.

My eventual goal with this website is to provide a primary source of entertainment for people who want it, and to inspire other people to do the same.  I hope that up and coming artists will find the information that I provide to be valuable, and I hope that the common visitor finds value in the entertainment that we will provide.  And we are not in this venture to make tons of money.

We are in this for the love of creating.

 

You Need To Provide Value

But enough about this website.  What about you?  Are you more focused on making money than providing value?  There’s nothing wrong with making money.  Don’t get me wrong.  We gotta have money to get by, and if you were able to make a living off of your blog, then you could focus on providing value to your readers full time.  I know the argument.  Personally, I don’t buy it.

If you’re not inspired to provide value to a small group of readers, in your free time, then how are you going to get inspired to provide it to a large number of readers once you have more time?  It doesn’t make sense.

From day one, your number one goal should be to provide value, and not to make money.  People don’t care whether or not you make money.  We, as human beings, are motivated for selfish reasons. We want to feel like we are getting a good deal when we go online.  When a visitor goes to your site, and the first thing they notice is affiliate links, ads out the wazoo, and posts titled “How I Make Money Off Of My Blog” do you think that they are going to stick around and read your site?  Probably not.

 

Passion

When you create a blog, you need to get across how the visitor is going to benefit from being there. When people browse the internet, they are looking to fulfill a need.  It’s YOUR job to fulfill that need, not to make money.  Be one person’s hero.  Be exactly what someone is looking for.  Create passion in one person.  They will spread their passion to others, because passion is contagious.  But you know what’s NOT contagious?  Greed.

 

Greed

Greed is what you are focused on it you see blogging as just another trend that you can make money from.  Your visitors will see right through you if you are in it for the money.  Even if your number one motivator for starting a blog is to make money, you don’t want your visitors to know that.  You have to honestly have passion for what you are doing.

 

In Conclusion…

So the morale of the story is that if you are not passionate about what you are writing, then you probably won’t make money.  At the very least, you will most likely make a lot more money if you are passionate than if you are not.  And life is way too short to be living a life that is without passion.  That’s what your visitors are going to think, so why not adopt the same philosophy?