How a website makes money?  This question has been the forefront of my thoughts for two years.  (Actually when I think about this question there is a ‘does’ between ‘How’ and ‘a’, but I need the question to be without ‘does’ – you will see why later.)

It has been two years of reading about websites and how they make money with them.  Two years of writing about websites and how I am not making any money with them.

For two years I have had to read people brag about how rich they are, how rich they can make me for $19.99.  I have been tossed around in all directions – buy this, do that, don’t do this, sometimes do that – an acorn in a mountain stream.   If the last two years online was physical then I would now be wearing an eye patch, a bandage around my head, and a crutch under my armpit.

The problem is that you spend so much time and effort – kick in the balls – and receive nothing in return.  A human hamster wheel.  The faster you run the faster it turns.  The more you work the more work you need to do.  Hamsters do not mind the wheel, they increase their stamina, improve their heart and tire themselves  for a good nights sleep.   I get a dollar a day.

The above is how I feel on most days.  But not today – finally good news.

This Website Answers: How A Website Makes Money

Lets say some poor sucker gets the idea in his head that he will make money with a website.  He goes to his favorite browser, opens Google and types in ‘how a website makes money’.

Here is what he will find:

Of course he will click the first two results – most people click on the first few results, but that is not the point.  The point is that I am position 6 and 7 for the phrase.

For some reason Google believes that this website answers the question: ‘how a website makes money.  I checked Google for ‘how a website does not make money’ but surprisingly this website is not in the results – also good news.

I am happy.  Being so high up in the results shows actual, real, unimagined, provable evidence that this website is making progress.

As soon as I saw this I checked how many people type in the phrase per month.
According to Google’s keyword tool around 33,000 people want to know:

So far only about 5 people have come to my website via this phrase.  But that is because I am in the 6th place.  I need to be in the first place.

If I can get myself in position one for ‘how a website makes money’ then I can expect to receive most of the 33,000 people every month.  That is almost 1000 unique visitors a day.

Having a 1000 visitors a day is  how a website makes money.

All I need to do now is to move up 5 positions in the results.   How hard is that? Who knows.   But obviously the first step is to write a post that specifically answers the question:  how a website makes money.

Optimistic and Motivational, There is a HOW TO in the Post

If an apple falls out of an old ladies bag and rolls down the street stopping at my feet I will bend down, pick it up, and hand it to the lady.  She will smile and say, thank you kind young man.  I will return the smile and move on – she is right, I am a kind young man.

A guy is walking down the street staring at a map and obviously lost.  He looks at me with a face that is a plea for help.  I will look the other way and try to ignore him, making a silent prayer that he does not stop me.  Why should I help him – he should be able to help himself.

I feel the same way about my readers – why should I help them?

I do not possess any need to help people that can help themselves.  The old, the blind, the slow, I will help if forced – if an apple hits my foot.  But everyone else are on their own.  I do not care if somebody is lost or needs a dime, there is no force driving me to help people in need.  If they have a brain, eyes and the major extremities then they should be able to help themselves.

And that is why blogging is difficult.  Blogging  is about giving advice, tips, suggestions and information with the intent of helping the reader.  Provide content that helps readers.  They do not know how to do something – show them how.  They do not know about something new – tell them about it.  They want to be entertained – stand on a beach ball and roll around juggling bananas.  Blogs are not for the blogger, they are for the reader.  You exist to serve the readers.  They should be able to help themselves – but no – they want you to help them.

But honestly, I do not care about the readers.  Besides the couple of visitors that leave comments, I know nothing about the other readers.  There is no connection with them – they are just bodies without souls.  No different then the hundreds of bodies I walk past everyday on the streets.

Do Successful Blogs Truly Care About You?

Successful blogs are run by kind people.  People who care.  Their posts offer free advice in a pleasant and loving way.  The bloggers care about their readers – they want to help.

But do they truly care?  Or are they just good at giving the impression that they care?

Obviously they are just pretending to care and are very good at it.

Just like the vacuum salesman who arrives at your door worried about your children.  You open the door and see a man holding a vacuum and beaming a smile.  You say, hello, may I help you? Suddenly with a  worried look he proclaims:  there are a lot of bacteria in your carpets, bacteria that can make your children sick, your children!  Like you, I care about your children – I do not want them to cough and sniffle,  poor little things.  Please buy this vacuum so that your children will not be sick.

Being a vacuum salesman is difficult.  You have to look sincere when you talk about ‘the children!’.  The best salesman are those that can form a little tear at the edge of their eye as they speak.  How could you say no to somebody caring so much.

You cannot sell vacuums if you do not care about the children.  To be a successful vacuum salesman, I mean blogger, you need to appear like you truly care.  Be kind to your readers.

How To Test Whether a Blogger Truly Cares

Probably there are successful blogger that truly care.  To test whether a blogger really cares is easy.  Write the blogger an email and ask them a question.  Be easy – do not make them work hard.  Ask them something simple like:

Hello.

I have really enjoy your blog and your style of writing.  Just wondering how long does it take you to write a post?

Thanks,
You

After you send this email there are three possible outcomes:

1. No response.  Does not care.
2. A quick response.  No hello, no punctuation, no capitalization, poor spelling.  For example: it takes 2 hours.  Does not care.
3. A well formatted email response with greeting, punctuation, correct spelling and capitalization.  Truly cares.

Of course, if you email me my response will belong to the ‘Cares’ category.  But that is only because I am not successful and I need to appear to care even in my emails.

So You Want To Be A Webmaster...Get in my Head, There is a HOW TO in the Post