Practicing What I Preach
While I was writing the LOST: Lessons on Blogging posts, I was struck by the fact that I’m not practicing what I preach when it comes to one of the lessons. The last lesson was to “Know Where You’re Going” and I wrote that
“Taking the time to create a plan for your blog and it’s success, or carving out a period of time to schedule a strategy session with yourself, is often all it takes to help make sure you know where you and your blog are headed.”
Don’t get me wrong, the goal of this blog is to make a full time income with it in one year’s time. I even recently had a week long break that included several hours of strategic thinking and planning. However, as increasingly more and more of you have asked, what happens when this experiment is over? To be perfectly honest, I have no idea.
When I started this blog, I didn’t really know what to expect and therefor had no real ideas as to what would happen at the end of the year. As things progressed and the blog became more and more popular, I began focusing on more and more ways to monetize and reach my goal. It’s a bit hard to believe considering the fact that I have a daily counter staring me in the face at the top of the blog, but the end of the year really snuck up on me a bit. As of this writing there are just over 100 days left in the experiment and as my dad recently pointed out, the time to plan what’s next is now.
I’ve been thinking about this for the past few days and the ideas I’ve come up with ideas that are all over the map. I’ve thought of everything from just discontinue posting to combining all the content into a book and trying to find a publisher for it. I’ve learned a ton over the past 8 (almost 9) months and I think the fact that the blog has gained roughly 1,000 subscribers means that there’s an audience for this kind of information.
One of the Proverb says that “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed” So, rather than limiting myself and this site to only the ideas that my mind can come up with, I’d like to ask a favor of you, the readers that have made this blog successful. Over the next few days, please answer the following question either through a comment, or using the handy dandy contact form.
The question is “What would you do with BloggingExperiment.com once the year is up?“
Comments
Damien Franco March 21st, 2008
I like the idea of a book. But what to do with the blog…
Bill March 21st, 2008
Ben I think it’s really up to you. Do you like blogging? Do you see yourself continuing to do it?
What constitutes a full time income? Do you have a number you are shooting for to know if you are successful or not? Full time income varies wildly from person to person.
If you foresee keeping it then you could always readjust your goal higher. If you’re making 3k a month after a year then raise the bar to say 10k a month within a year.
Same concept just different numbers.
Good questions to ask yourself and a lesson to anyone considering developing a blog, what’s your exit plan?
Income Blogger March 21st, 2008
After a year I would definitely celebrate. It’s a great accomplishment just to have gotten as far as you have already, and most bloggers seem to give up in under a month.
Then take the time to figure out what your goals are for the next year.
I would probably keep this blog going, just imagine where it could take you in 2 years, or 5 years, or 10! People tend to think very short term, so just imagine if you managed to keep growing for a decade.
Silvano March 21st, 2008
I would definitely celebrate, and make a big deal of being able to quit your day job if your goal is reached. Then I’d think about how to put a spin on it and keep the site relevant to the original goal. Maybe by apprenticing someone, or hiring other web devs and writers, and keeping a running track record of making your income rise, while building a full time income for your workers/partners. I’d volunteer myself, but I just don’t think I have what it takes to write proper articles, I prefer to rant about whatever’s on my mind at the time.
Les March 21st, 2008
Book: yes.
Blog: hmm… maybe blog about the trials and tribulations of getting a book on blogging published? Blogging Experiment 2.0
Personally, my own blog hasn’t been about making money, it’s about collecting money. The minuscule money I have made (4 AdSense clicks in I don’t know how long), wouldn’t pay for the tax on my latte, let alone the mortgage. I applaud you and your efforts to teach by example.
Blog on!
Ben Cook March 21st, 2008
One thing I’ve considered is actually creating a blogging course… basically organizing everything I’ve learned on this blog so far.
Would that be something you guys would be interested in? If so, what kinds of things would you want to learn from it?
Caroline Middlebrook March 22nd, 2008
Before I started my blog I was still in my day job and I knew that I wanted to quit and that I wanted to have some kind of blog about my journey with Internet Marketing. I came up with all sorts of ideas for a blog around making enough to be able to quit, or reaching a certain monetary goal etc and that kind of thing but the problem with them is that those ideas had an end point like yours has.
Luckily the name of your blog leaves it open ended. I think it would be a shame to close it down if you reach your goal because $5k income a month is pretty decent! If I was in your position, I would create a new experiment for year two (or some period). Take it to the next level – you’re on a full time income, can you reach $10k a month, or maybe your experiment could be to overtake John Chow – that should keep you busy for a while!
Scott Fillmer March 22nd, 2008
It is interesting to see the different posts going around right now about whether to give up their blog or not or to move on.
I did this. I gave up on it, was completely gone for about 4 months and never really got over having a place to express my thought on certain topics. I now have more topic devoted blogs than I had before, but I do not post in a frantic way, but when I really get an idea or thought and want to put it down.
Getting out and taking a breather helped my postings. I completely switched domain names and everything but it was quite refreshing. Scott
Ben Cook March 22nd, 2008
@Caroline and others, don’t get me wrong, I’m not at 5k a month at all yet. In fact, this month’s income looks like it’s going to be down considerably from last month (which is the wrong direction to be heading). To be perfectly honest I’ve been focusing on a project that this site has sort of spawned but is just in it’s formative stages. If I do hit my goal, I could see setting a new one year goal…. if not, I could be trying to see how long it would take etc…
Interesting ideas so far to be sure.
Christine March 22nd, 2008
I’d absolutely buy a book, and I’ve already been blogging for three years. I think it would make a great starter guide for beginners and a nice reference for the more experienced.
I think starting a new experiment, if that’s something you’re interested in, would be an interesting change. Maybe try to start a successful blog network. I also like the idea above about chronicling the process of getting the book published.
Solo Programmer March 22nd, 2008
I think a book is going to be a hard sell. Unless you can show publishers you have an audience waiting – and I can’t imagine much of an audience if you’re just reworking content that’s already out on the blog.
Personally in your shoes with some success but not able to quit you job I’d look to do some consulting. Take on a blog a week and help them with design, content and monetization. Post up the results here. Sort of like the community reviews that you see on Problogger but with you doing the work. Do that plus the occasional post here and I think you’ll keep your readership and if you show some results from the consulting you can start to charge for it – or perhaps ask for a cut of the increase – ie give me 20% of what you make over your baseline for the next 6 months.
Wayne March 22nd, 2008
Come on Ben… some goals just take a while, and we don’t always make it in the time we set. You have just been paying your dues, over the next few years you can begin to really reap the rewards of your efforts. I would vote for forget the book and WORK the blog. Good content like yours adds up and reputations grow. I am not a net expert but I have grown a successful business and I know that it takes time even out here. My vote for you would be, dont stop now you have just begun. Law school takes 3 years, med school takes four and then post-doc work, an MBA normally takes two years. This is just the education part… Show the rest of us that it can be done, and with Style and Fun… regards,
Wayne
John March 23rd, 2008
Pass the torch. Give it to someone else.. and see if they can better your results in “the experiment.”
That would be my suggestion.
Tom Ross March 23rd, 2008
I would keep going with it. You’re in such a privileged position with your blogs success it would be crazy to give that up when you have the potential to build it to john chow like status if you work hard.
Make Money Online March 24th, 2008
If you hit the goal, just set a new one. At any rate, you should continue writing here if you still have the desire. If not, you could sell the blog and make a fairly substantial amount, I’m sure.
Rob March 24th, 2008
If I was you, i would continue on with it. Why give up or just stop it now. I’m sure you can carry it on and make something more out of it because you obviously already have. Set a new goal maybe? I would just keep going with it. Why stop now?