There are two camps when it comes to making money online with blogging. When it comes to the question of the best way of choosing a topic, the perennial debate is passion vs. profit.
On the one hand, there are the “do what you love and never work another day in your life” types; I call this school of thought “passion.” Then there are those who insist on finding high-paying keywords that are relatively easy to rank for; this group is “profit.” I think that perhaps both groups are a little bit right and a little bit wrong.
Passion
Personally, I hate the word passion. You could even say that I hate it with a passion. I find the word misleading for the concept that people are trying to describe. When something is a passion, there isn’t room for anything else. You live and breathe passion. I’ve met very few people that were truly passionate for something. I’m more interested in interest. A person can have many interests and sustain them over a long time without their friends wondering if the person is mildly crazy.
Passion bloggers believe that everybody has a topic they are passionate about and that if you are, so are others. No matter the topic, there is an audience for it somewhere just waiting to read your insights. The passion group knows that blogging is hard work. They know that blogging is more than simply writing a post. It takes networking with other bloggers to get your name out there. It may or may not require basic SEO knowledge. Success requires work, time, and a commitment to excellence. But at the end of the day, they fundamentally believe that the key to success is finding a topic they are passionate about, something that they will want to come back and write about day after day for years.
I see two pitfalls to this passion belief.
The first is that not every topic really has an audience. As a teenager, I collected keychains. It was a major pursuit of mine. Every new place I visited, I bought a keychain to commemorate the visit. Friends and family would give me keychains from places they visited as well. Free keychains at fairs, keychains with witty sayings, logos of my favorite companies. By the time I graduated high school, I had well over 50 that stretched out over 5 feet. My nickname was even “Keychains!”
The problem? I’ve never actually met another person that shares my copoclephilism. A search for “keychain collector” yields less than 1.4 million results. Lest that should actually sound like a thriving community, the top 5 results include two Angelfire websites. Looking at the AdWords Keyword Tool, I discovered that there are just 210 global monthly searches for that particular keyword.
The other pitfall? Just as not every topic has an audience, some topics are over-saturated. Aside from keychains (for which my interest has waned over the past decade and a half), my other great interests include reading and movies. Now there’s a HUGE demand for reviews of books and movies. The only problem is that there isn’t a demand for sites that review books and movies. Over the past 3 years, I have written 15 book reviews on EdwardAntrobus.com. As far as I can track, they have resulted in a total of one book sale.
Considering the size of Amazon and the number of reviews and even the number of semi-professional reviewers that the online bookstore has, not many people are interested in looking elsewhere. And those who do have to go no further than GoodReads.
For movies, the picture (excuse the pun) is even bleaker. Aside from reviews on Amazon, there is IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. The internet may be somewhat of a meritocracy, but these days a lone David will have trouble gaining traction against these goliaths.
Profit
Now to be fair, I’m not a big fan of focusing on the money either. I don’t have a problem with capitalism and would hardly advocate a socialist society. But, funny as it may seem from a personal finance blogger, I don’t believe in money for money’s sake. And, no offense if this describes you, but people who are always chasing after more money bore me. Come back when you want to talk keychains.
This other group chases after the almighty dollar. Using powerful tools to analyze Google searches and advertising rates, they seek out niches in which they can earn the most money with the least effort. Profit bloggers focus on concepts like cost per click, keyword competitiveness, niche sites, and keyword ranking. Metrics are the name of the game and interest in the topic is secondary to being able to make money with it.
Know when profit bloggers talk about profit blogging, they will generally include “passion” as a requirement for building a successful niche site. But then that advice is often thrown out the window when a new keyword is discovered. If someone has a niche site about weight-lifting but has never been to the gym, can they really claim that passion was any deciding factor?
I have a friend that is building a travel site for a specific niche. He has some vested interest in the topic as a member of that niche himself, but he doesn’t actually travel. For him, tourism isn’t an interest, but a way to make some money. He has the potential to build a very good authority site, but make no mistake about his motivation; he is in it for the money.
Now profit blogging is a lot more labor intensive than passion blogging. But hard work shouldn’t be a deterrent for anyone who is truly interested in being successful. I’m not afraid of rolling up my sleeves and getting my hands dirty. I just haven’t bothered to learn the ins-and-outs of keyword research simply because that particular measure of success isn’t as interesting to me as simply being a helpful and informative resource. If I can help just one person, blah, blah. You know the line.
Coming at this topic as an outsider, I can’t provide an in-depth look at the pitfalls of blogging with money as your main motivation. But even when I’m writing a post that I’m less interested in, the writing takes longer and doesn’t flow as easily. You can probably see a change from the previous section to this one! I can’t imagine trying to do that every day just for a buck. Doing so on occasion is one thing, but I don’t see how people can actually make a career on writing about topics which simply don’t interest them.
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I never thought I’d be able to quit my job in 2012 just three years after starting Financial Samurai. But by starting one financial crisis day in 2009, Financial Samurai actually makes more than my entire passive income total that took 15 years to build. If you enjoy writing, creating, connecting with people online, and enjoying more freedom, see how you can set up a WordPress blog in 15 minutes with Bluehost. You never know where the journey will take you in 2015 and beyond!
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Regards,
Sam
Edward,
If we define success as longevity, then I would say having a passion for writing and communicating with others is the most important for the first several years. So long as you can speak forever, you can write forever.
I really believe money is a secondary outcome of blogging. You can create a blogging factory that is all made up of staff writers and sponsored posts to make money, but I really don’t think it’s as rewarding as building something with your own voice, no matter how much you make within reason.
At the end of the day, you want to be proud of the work you’ve created. Buying your way to success feels empty. Having a blog for the main purpose of making money also feels empty. There has to be a balance.
Sam
I would largely agree. But I do trip over that word “Passion” I have yet to find a thing that I would consider myself passionate about.
Everybody has to be passionate about SOMETHING. I do believe the word is thrown around way too much to the point of feeling ill. However, it’ll always be perpetuated if we have posts that talk about it.
I’m passionate about creating something out of nothing. I like the thrill of succeeding and the fear of failure. Life in America is a cakewalk compared to so many other countries. I’m not sure if some folks realize how good we have it.
As I said before, I have a few things that continue to draw my interest over the years, but nothing that I consider a true passion. I prefer a well-rounded and comfortable existence to an all-or-nothing drive. I know this limits my ability to be successful in my endeavors, and I’m okay with that. My goals are modest and reachable for the amount of effort I’m willing to make.
If you are happy with whatever you achieve based on your efforts, then that is all that matters. It’s when folks who don’t put in the effort start complaining about their achievements which really make for a curious case don’t you think?
Hey Guys. Just wanted to jump in here and say I am pretty passionate about the things I write at my blog, but I am really passionate about playing guitar. I meet with another guitarist almost every Saturday (today being no exception) and I cannot wait to do this little personal gig. Now that is passion guys!
I do think just about any topic has an audience. If keychains are your thing and that’s what you really wanted to write about I’m sure you could build a site around keychains that would eventually draw some decent traffic.
I find myself somewhere in the middle of passion & profit. Finance & Investing is a passion of mine, but I can’t say that I would continue to put the work in to write about it multiple times per week if no one ever clicked my adsense ads or left a comment on my site.
I’ve been looking into expanding into some more purely “for profit” sites, but haven’t made the leap yet. I’m interested to see where the discussion on this leads
But that’s the thing. The topic of keychains doesn’t have decent traffic. It’s a very small community that is mostly older and favors face-to-face over online. Which is why I used it as my example for not every topic having a sustainable audience.
I think Sam makes a good point, I couldn’t write something that I don’t enjoy and focus solely on the money. Writing about topics I enjoy, I attract similar minded readers and the money comes naturally. Putting efforts into writing something I don’t know about and hoping to make money out of it would be too much time for little reward, since I am not a pro for optimizing a niche website. I do believe there is an audience for any topic though, and if you know your topic, money should come eventually.
I certainly agree about the amount of work it would take to be a successful profit blogger, especially since one Google algorithm change can wipe you out over night.
I go with passion any day. But I wouldn’t assume that passion is something that is there and doesn’t change. I often find that the more I learn about something the more passionate I become about it. There are several points I would like to raise:
1) Passion is important and it comes through everything we do; I recently found that the lectures during which I almost put myself to sleep were not appreciated by my students. It is the same with writing – if I don’t feel goosebumps while writing it doesn’t work because the readers know it.
2) I even describe writing in terms of passion – good writing is like dancing the tango :).
3) My experience is that where there is passion the money follows – because it is the passion that drives you to become ‘the best’ and contribute value. Were it only the profit I would have given many things already.
I can’t say that my interest has ever increased as I learned more about something, aside from some movies with a poor first preview. :)
Edward,
Why do you think some people complain about others making money online if they are focused on the passion of blogging and not on making money online? If they wanted to make money online, why not just shift focus to revenue generation instead?
S
Coming from someone who used to be a complainer until I figured out that I was hurting my standing with other people, it usually boils down to a concept you have written about before. Sometimes people think that the world owes them something that they aren’t getting. Yeah, sometimes life hands you a raw deal, but in most cases, people don’t understand how much work went into other people’s “luck”
Edward, curious to know why you were a complainer in the first place, and what made you stop complaining? I’d love to understand the psychology behind it all.
I always asks those who complain to me to join me in waking up at 5am to get to work, or write longer posts and other things, but they never take me up on the offer and I don’t know why if they want to get better. Help me understand. Thanks.
Why is a question I can’t answer. I can’t say that my parents ever complained more than most, but as a child I complained a lot. Actually, looking back, I can’t even stand the person I was.
What was really a combination of things. I had a very good friend who would get on me if I started to complain too much. I have him to thank for a lot of my character. We were friends due to being across the street from each other, and he always tried to integrate me with his other friendships. I’m sure he got a lot of flak from it, especially in the earlier days.
Also, in high school I went on a retreat where I happened to meet someone that was almost a clone of my personality. I was finally able to see my affect on people and it was pretty sobering.
Do I still complain? Well, yes I do. I still find it someone cathartic. But I do it in smaller doses and I try to act on it where I can.
Thanks for your perspective! Maybe we are just born the way we are?
I started blogging because I thought I had something to share and thought I might influence a wider audience. Some may call that passion! After about a year, I started to think I would like to be compensated for all this effort. My passion has gone up and down, but I still enjoy contributing to the conversation particularly when I get a hit (I will never retire!). I will probably always blog, but the profit motive is there too. This year, I am concentrating on my writing and I think the income will follow. Time will tell!
I know that when I hit upon a big traffic generator, it feels like winning the lottery.
I think you need to share a strong balance between the two. You need to have a strong passion for what you do – writing, the topic, learning about stuff online, etc. But you don’t need it to be a loss leader for you, and there isn’t any shame in optimizing your writing to make higher profits. It just takes time and balance.
Balance is key. I think that focusing too much on either one side is a good path to burnout.
I don’t like reading posts written by people pretending to be experts on a certain topic that they know very little about. However, I am open to reading posts written by people who are open about their lack of experience on particular topics because honesty is appealing. I think those who write about topics they are genuinely curious about are much more interesting to readers, especially when there is a personal touch to them.
I think some topics can be researched and presented without any experience, but for most cases you are absolutely right. When I am looking for facts, I’ll probably want something presented in a knowledgeable manner;. But when I’m looking for opinions or insights, then the writers who are up-front about how they are learning as they go along are the most entertaining.
I used to host a small show on ESPN and I would ask the competitors why they were doing what they were doing. They all said the same thing. It’s my passion.
When your “passion” aligns with the “passion” of others, good synergies result, especially if you have talent or skill to back it up.
What if my “interest” is building websites for profit. I might even say that I have become passionate about learning how to do so and sharing with others what I have learned. I don’t know that your argument necessarily has to be one vs. the other. I’ve been on both sides of the spectrum and have yet to get rich from either. Ultimately, I’m shooting for the money! Interesting discussion here Edward.
Is it shooting for the money, or what money can ultimately buy? Freedom baby!
Exactly Sam! I don’t have my desire for freedom confused with a love of money.
It is not about the money, at least not for me. My articles try to give insight from my perspective of my tax and estate experience. This can really help my readers. Whether they call me to engage my services is really not something I can control, so why even think of the monetary aspects. It is just giving back to others while I am able to do so. Just my perspective as a tax/estates attorney who likes to blog about stuff I have learned via 35 years of experience.
Whether or not it was intentionally, you seem like a classic example of Gary Vaynerchuck’s Crush It. By showing yourself to be an expert, you ARE influencing whether or not potential clients find you. And you are certainly making it easier for Google to put you closer to the top for what I’m sure is a competitive keyword.
I can’t see how one would last for very long if they weren’t passionate about what they were writing about. Making money at it is an important part for me but not the main reason I blog.
I’m in the passion group. Unless you’re a super awesome writer like JD Roth and Mr. Money Mustache, it’s hard to make real money with a blog. If I didn’t like blogging, there is no way I would have stuck with it for long.
Shooting for money is good, but I think there are much easier way to make money. At least that’s my experience.
And even JD’s writing was no better than the rest of us when he first started. Most of it is time and practice.
The word passion, like the word torrential, is hugely overused and therefore almost meaningless – to me.
I blog because I enjoy writing.
I agree whole-heartedly. I blog because I enjoy it, but it is hardly within my top 5 interests.
Thank you for sharing this with us. I believe the path to success in blogging is having a passion for it but speaking of passion I somehow agree with you that people have misused the true meaning of passion because some confuse it with loving doing something.
However the other way I see it and I think this is where some do not get it right is the level of passion. It’s true you can have some passion on doing something but how passionate can you claim to be in that thing? There are things we are a little passionate about and there are others we have great passion on and once we are able to define our levels of passion in something then we will be able to say this is how passionate we are or we just love doing something though it’s really hard to love doing something that we have not even a little passion on.
People who write largely for the money will probably not hold my personal interest. They may get some occasional views if they write a topic that I’m interested in, but I largely want to hear the persons voice when I read another blog, and I’ve usually found as a rule of thumb that if you are profit driven, you write for the money and your voice is largely not there, which makes it less interesting to me.
The interesting thing though is that the largest blogs have lost their voice as it gets diluted with so many staff writers, or so it seems. The voice gets lost when big bucks come into play. Can’t risk offending anyone anymore b/c of the potential for profits.
Well with regard to passion versus profit, I feel a line needs to be drawn in that one blends the right mix of both. With passion alone, one may end up not making any money online and that may be disconcerting while with profit alone, the temptation to sacrifice informative writing for money making at least doubles. So, there must be a balance
I probably fall under the passion category. I do work hard and would also love to make some money off my blog, but to me I feel like if I just focused on topics that would drive traffic, I would start to lose my own unique voice. It’s a trade off I guess. If I had a “mission statement” for my blog, it would always state “content first.” Love what you are writing about and the rest takes care of itself. I would still do my blog even if it didn’t make a cent.
I think Sam’s latest post touches on this nicely. Focusing on traffic leads you to loose sight of why you started in the first place. That is, unless you are a profit blogger who started in the first place to make money!
Like I said earlier, there mnust be a balance between both. Even to be a successful blogger, there must be a balance between money making and good content because even in the quest to sacrifice great content for money making, the purported leads will see through the unprofessionalism and sales will drop. So…… I leave that to your imagination