Money Blogger continues to grow at a rate far beyond what I had expected. We’re only 5 weeks old, but we’re on course for well over 100 subscribers and $200 revenue this month.

But looking at all the graphs got me thinking – what do I want from Money Blogger?

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know my primary goal is to see how much money I can earn from blogging in one year. But what’s the best way to do that?

Then it hit me – in order to make real money, a blog needs readers. Regular readers. If I spend my time now building up that readership, then the small amount of money I’m earning now will be completely insignificant by the end of the year. Rather than taking profits, I should invest as much of that revenue as possible in building up the readership – and that means advertising.

Now obviously, this approach isn’t for everyone. But if you’re blogging as a sideline and hope to “go pro” at some point in the future, then investing what you’re earning now into building up your readership may be just the way to do it.

So rather than taking profit from your blog and buying coffee/chocolates/holidays, why not consider some of these ideas:

  • Replace one of your key ads with a Feedburner email subscription form.
  • Use ad space on your blog to promote your most popular articles, rather than someone else’s site.
  • Invest your profits in a Text-Link-Ads campaign
  • Try a small AdWords campaign
  • Invest a small amount of your own money to kick-start your traffic

Now if you are spending money on an ad campaign (particularly your own money), always remember to keep a close eye on your budget. A few dollars a day can easily turn into a few hundred dollars a month, and if you’re not increasing your readership, you should change something.

It’s also worth trying to work out how much a subscriber is worth to you – and never spend above that figure to acquire a new reader.

For me, I can see revenue increasing, but for the first six months at least, actual profit is much less relevant than having people actually reading this blog.

Having that 12 month goal that I set myself at the outset was incredibly helpful in figuring this out. If I hadn’t had a goal and and endpoint in mind, then I would not have been able to plan so easily for a specific point in time when I could start thinking about profit.

So that’s my other piece of advice – have a long term plan. Write it down and stick to it!

Subscribe to Money Blogger for more tips like this.

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