I wanted to write something like “how to be pathetic”, but I think some of my readers would be mad, so I sweetened this a little. Let’s learn now how to run an unprofessional make money online blog. This shouldn’t be too hard, since I see so many people succeed into having such blogs. Maybe this article, mean as it is, would also help some people understand what is they are doing so wrong.

1. You’re on Blogspot.

There are 2 possible free hosts for blogs that are well known and work nicely: Wordpress and Blogspot. Even if Blogspot is the one most professionals hate you are there. Why? Because wordpress.com (even if better) doesn’t let you put ads there. And we all know you are not in the business to just offer content, you’re here to earn some bucks.

Nothing wrong with that either (I do make money too), but bragging about how cool you are with making money and using a free host for your small blog really sends some signals to me. And, as you might guess, none are positive.

Solution: Get a domain and a hosting. You shouldn’t have to pay more than 50 USD/YEAR for this, I assume you can afford this. Even if you are not the most successful entrepreneur (you’d like to let us think this, but we know you are not .. still), you can afford 4 USD/month. I can afford this in a poor country (I have 25 domains of my own, 4 reseller accounts and tens of other domains given for free to my webmaster forums members as prizes), so it’s not a big deal.

When it comes to your IMAGE this will be a HUGE deal. I’ll come and see your blog on a nice host/domain name and would surely think to myself: “OK, the guy looks serious. He’s got few articles, it’s a small blog, but I see he’s serious about this. Buying a domain name already makes you serious. 

2. I have seen your skin thousands of times before

You are making 2 mistakes: you either try to emulate some of the big bloggers (WRONG!) or you’re using a stock theme we have seen in way too many blogs already. You know we have a free skin here too? I am not a wordpress theme coder and didn’t have the time to learn all the things I would need. But I made a “wrapper” in photoshop, sliced it and coded it and placed the code in the header/footer sections, while also making some changes in the CSS. And voila!, we have a unique look.

Solution: look for a less used skin and also change something in it. You have to make some changes in the CSS and maybe modify few images. If you don’t modify your skin at all, I won’t be able to REMEMBER your blog in the thousands of other money making blogs who haven’t changed their skin either. And, unless you do offer some outstanding information (which most blogs, no matter the niche, don’t offer) you’re just another one I won’t remember once I leave the address.

3. The million dollar blog and other asorted crap.

Are you already a millionaire? Then why do you try to “sell” me the information as this? Why can’t you just admit you’re an average Joe as I am and just have some ideas when it comes to money making. I would surely respect the blog some more. The true millionairs don’t have the time to mess with a 50 visits a day blog as we do. They have REAL business to attend and a lot of money to waste on anything that would make their life great.

“See how a x year old makes money” (change x with a small number, the smallest the better). So, you are 14 and making money blogging? Cool. I have 13-15 year olds in my forums who are already pretty decent programmers. And they don’t brag about this since most of the time they hate it when it comes to admit their age. Most people won’t take them seriously because they are kids and they hate this discrimination. You are just trying to milk this into another type of discrimination, by emphasising the idea that a 14 year old is useless and how cool you are for not being such loser. Even if it’s cute, I do think it’s wrong.

I am a woman. And I still get “that look” from people who have problems believing that a woman can be a good designer or a good forum manager or maybe a good IT “guy”. I try to change this idiotic mentality and prove them that “you can be a good professional NO MATTER the gender or the age”. These are just some reasons for others to discriminate against us and explain to them any flaws they might find. No, I don’t make mistakes because I am a woman, I make mistakes because I make mistakes. Because I made a bad judgement or because I was tired or didn’t pay attention. I don’t fail because I am a woman, I don’t fail because I am 30 or 130 year old.

Solution: maybe it’s a good idea to  just present yourself as a normal guy who’s got something to say. Don’t play the millionaire card, don’t brag with your age/sex/race that much. Just have some good ideas and articles and we’d come to your site day after day. Because we don’t care who’s doing the writing as long as this makes us come back.

4. Well, you’ve gone overboard with the ads

.. and widgets and affiliates and coupons and a lot of glitter and blinking stuff that makes reading hard. We do avertise too. We do promote affiliates that pay and we are pleased with them. There is nothing wrong with promoting SOME of them, just don’t make your blog another pixel advertising site, with the “pixels” being some big banners that clutter the content.

Try to understand that we don’t care about your ads. Most of us are already “blind” when it comes to them. Just placing tens of banners makes you “hungry” and unstable. You cannot focus on few advertisers, you are so desperate for 2 cents that you prostitute your blog for some small cash. THIS IS THE SIGNAL you are sending.

Solution: focus on 3-4 affiliates and have few ads. See which are paying nicely and kick the rest. Don’t put too many widgets (or chose the smallest possible sizes for them), don’t have things that take the eyes from the written articles, because you will be losing those few visitors this way. You need to look professional with the advertising too, not desperate. 

5. You don’t really have anything to say

I know this is harsh, but it’s true. I don’t care for links to other articles you found interesting (or at least do this once a week or something like that). I don’t want to see such list in each of your article. I assume you opened a blog because YOU have something to say. Why not make an effort and try to write something on your own?

Don’t make too many reviews for all kinds of products/services. I know you hope you’ll be milking yet another small payment, but you are ruining your content and compromise yourself as a blogger. Did you personally find excellent service? Then tell me about it. Same with bad service. Still, this shouln’t be such a frequent thing. I want to read INFORMATIVE posts, some ideas you’ve got, when you did wrong and how much you were able to mess that time.

Solution: Most of your readers should LEARN something from you. Give them some advice, offer an interesting article, write your own posts in your own style. Don’t sell us anything, but your good experience, this makes us come back. Don’t lie to us, don’t promote something just to gte few cents. Promote what you believe in and we’ll believe you.

When it comes to GOOD money making blog, there is a lot of effort in it. Because there are WAY TO MANY already, because you need to offer us an alternative, because we need to read something good and remember where the good article was.

So, how do we make this professional blog I will surely bookmark?

• on a nice domain/hosting
• a modded skin. Even if it’s a unique skin made from scratch for you, or you just made some changes to make it look different
• promote good content, not catchy stuff like “millionaire” or “2 year old”. I  know these should be pretty successful as catchy phrases, but most of the time they make us sick
• just relax with those ads, less is more
• write your own content, don’t copy content, don’t just review services for money, don’t make lists of links, don’t repeat same stupid things we hear all the time. If you have something to say, then create an article, if not .. maybe you need  day off. Or a year off.

Best of luck to you all. Let’s see some changes in some of the blogs, let’s read some nice articles. I am hungry for information, amaze me