The Crucial Difference Between Building a Blog and Building a Business

Posted: 10 Jun 2014 01:17 AM PDT

Are you building a blog or building a business?

Do you think of yourself — and perhaps describe yourself — as a "blogger"?

Or are you a freelancer, entrepreneur, consultant, ebook author, or similar?

When I got started in blogging, I was really excited by the idea of building a blog that made money. But I didn't initially see myself as someone who was in business.

As a result, it took me months to start making any money. It wasn't until I accidentally fell into freelancing (the first blog I guest posted for invited me to become a paid writer) that I began to think in a more business-like way.

So what's the difference?

If you're building a blog and you want to make money, then you're focusing on the wrong thing.

If you're building a business, you might not be making money yet, but at least you're moving in the right direction.

Here's something important to remember: your blog itself is not your business. Your blog is a marketing tool for your business.

What Numbers Are You Focusing On?

When I started blogging, I obsessed about a lot of different numbers, like:

How many subscribers I had
How much traffic I was getting
How many Twitter followers I had

… and so on.

These days, I often don't remember to check my stats — because I'm focused on the business metric that really matters: how much money am I making?

That might sound a bit cold and profit-focused to you. If your main motivation for blogging is to have an audience for your ideas, then you may not care about making money (though you might want to run a few ads or take donations to cover your hosting costs). That's fine.

But if you want your blog to be something more than a hobby — potentially a full-time living — then you really need to think beyond your blog itself.

That means figuring out how exactly you're going to make money. What does your business provide — what service or product do you offer?

That could be:

You sell ebooks (or print books, or ecourses) on a particular topic, and you blog about the same topic — though in less detail.
You sell coaching or consulting and your blog is aimed at your clients, covering the sorts of topics they want to know about.
You run in-person workshops or classes, and your blog covers similar topics, with a focus on your geographical area.
You offer a particular service, like freelance writing or design, and your blog is aimed at your clients.

Of course, many bloggers use a combination of these, and that can be a great way to use your blog to maximum effect. For instance, you might offer a particular service but also sell a "do-it-yourself" ebook.

Note: Some large blogs run lots of ads and make money that way. This requires a big audience, though, and it's not a business strategy that I'd recommend to new bloggers: there are much easier ways to build a successful business.

Many successful entrepreneurs in the blogging world started out just like you. They may well have launched a blog without much of a plan in mind, or without a clear idea of how they'd make it profitable.

But somewhere along the way, they all, without exception, turned their blog into a genuine business. And you can do the same.

Your Next Steps

If your current business plan looks something like "grow my blog and monetize it", figure out exactly what you're going to do (starting right now) to bring in money.

What service can you offer, or what product could you sell? How could you get started by offering that service or product for free, so you can get some testimonials?

Tell us about your business ideas, or about your thoughts on blogs vs businesses, in the comments below.

Quick reminder: If you’re yet to start your blog, don’t forget that our course Get Blogging is open for new members until Friday 13th June.

Wanna learn how to make more money with your website? Check the Online Profits training program!

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ALG Google Employee Responds After Google Dismisses Publisher Theft Allegations

Posted: 09 Jun 2014 07:23 AM PDT

Back in April, a person claiming to be a Google AdSense employee leaked information posting all of Google’s policies and making some strong allegations that Google is outright stealing money from publishers.

Shortly after Google responded to Techcrunch saying it was all made up… basically. I found that interesting because out of all the court cases and other stuff said about Adwords and AdSense, Google has never publicly refuted claims. I almost thought this gave the information credibility…

Anyway after Google responded the alleged former Google’r posted another response backing up their claims:

Begin response:

I am the former Google employee that had leaked the information regarding AdSense. I am writing this second part as a response to certain misconceptions and confusions my previous leak has generated within articles and websites regarding it.

Firstly, many have asked why I did not approach the leak in a more official capacity and bring my information to the attention of law enforcement. I want to make myself perfectly clear, my employment documents (such as the NDA's and non-competes) have very strict wording when it comes to releasing internal information in regards to processes and privy information. Google is not just some little company with little means of repercussion. They have gone after other internal leakers and were successful in damaging and ruining their lives on multiple levels. I do not want to be the next one.

I honestly believe very little would have been done if I had brought the information solely to law enforcement, even on the federal level. Google would have simply lawyered up and made it go away (which they have done before). I felt it was better to release the information to the public and let the publishers who suffered the thefts bring forth a civil case against Google. I think a civil action against Google will carry more weight to it, and have a much stronger outcome to the public than a federal case would. The second reason would be that my identity would be front and center if I had approached law enforcement, and if Google were to have squash it immediately I would not have been able to anonymously release the information to the public as a backup plan. The third reason is fear. I do not want to be in the direct identifiable crosshairs of Google's legal department. I have taken very extreme measures to cover my tracks and identity. I know what they can do, and I know which services and servers do what. I have made sure everything leads to dead ends and that tracking will be virtually impossible. I wasn't hired by Google for my body. I know, right now, there is a team inside Google working very hard to track me down. They will scour every service and product they have access to in an attempt to find me. But they might as well quit right now, I am an insider and know the inner workings. I know the how's, the why's, and who's. It will be quite futile on their part, but I will still exercise extreme caution.

In regards to my wording of the leaked information. I had planned and carefully thought out every word and every way I had said it. Everything was planned. The timing. The wording. Everything. It is not by accident, nor are there any accidental omissions. Of course I was not going to use terms only employees and former employees would know to explain everything. That would be simply foolish. I kept it informative and only mentioned a few select terms so that Google themselves would know I was who I said I was, because only an employee would have known. So everyone must know that I wrote it for the public, not for Google employees.

Lastly, and more importantly, there has been lots of talk about my information not stating any names and that I did not provide any hard proof. Many individuals have brushed off my information as a falsehood solely due to that and claim that I have nothing substantial. I want you to go a reread my previous information release. Where did I exactly say I did not have proof or hard evidence?

Because I do. I have communications. I have documents, I have files, I have lists, and I have names. I have all of it. Like I said from the beginning, I have carefully waited and carefully planned everything out. I do everything with reason and purpose. I have to be exceptionally careful in every way. So you ask why haven't I released it? The answer, if I release everything I have now, it will give Google too many possible avenues to discover my identity. Also doing thing such as publicly naming people and giving Google a pre-emptive look at what I have will only make them prepare for the class action lawsuit that will hit them. They won't be caught off guard and they will have time to come up with excuses and explanations in attempts to rid themselves of this issue. I do not want that to happen. I want the people to win. I want those who had money they earned, that was stolen from them, to get the right to fight for it on equal grounding. That is why I have chosen to only release it to the legal representatives of the class action lawsuit against Google in regards to AdSense. If those representative decide to release it, then it is up to them, but right now as it stands, I will not. I will carefully monitor the situation and wait to see how it forms and pick the right timing for the release of the evidence to the legal representatives. If several months go by and no class action lawsuit manifests, then I will have to selectively release a few key pieces of evidence to the public at large.

The information and evidence I have is extensive and quite detailed, it will also paint a very different picture of what Google is really like to the public.

For those who have a difficult time believing my information I ask you to simply ask Google and their representatives the right questions related to my first release of information. Force them to answer those questions specifically. Ask them "is there a VIP status for publishers", ask them "why do account bans always seem to occur just before payouts", ask them "why do you fail to provide reasons and evidence of your allegations against publishers". Keep asking such questions, keep digging, and you will come to find out by yourselves that everything I have stated is completely true. Like many have said, it will be difficult for them to hide it now.

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