I get by with a little help from my friends..

An old acquaintance asked me today, "How do you make money with a blog?" This time I had an answer ready!

I said, "You don't make money directly. Blogging puts you in the position every sales person wants to be, in direct communication with potential prospects who have a certain degree of confidence in you at a personal level."

With a blog, there is no need for the painfully obvious script that some salesmen use to develop closeness with a prospect. If some one reads your blog for even a short while, they have some feeling for what kind of person you are. You can try to put on a different, and better, personality for blogging, but your real personality has a habit of showing through.

It is difficult to make a sale without interacting with a customer. Most of the sales effort I have observed is concerned with finding and getting in communication with the potential buyer. The deal actually starts when the buyer and seller develop a healthy respect for each other.

All of the cards and letters and phone calls and introductions in everyday business are just a means to begin a conversation between buyer and seller. Nobody ever asks, "How do you make money cold calling?" or, "How do you make money advertising?" Blogging is the means to an end, not the end.

Blogging is just one very good way to reach interested people with your message. The critical difference is that they discover you. You are not interrupting them or jamming their inbox with unwanted communications.

Best of all, they typically find out about you from some of your friends who are also their friends. They see a mention of you on someone else's site and follow the link. What more could you ask? They were sent by a friend and may already be predisposed to like you as a result.

So for those who have to answer this "How do you make money with a blog?"  Why not just say, "It's another form of networking. If your sales depend on referrals, a blog will probably help you a great deal."

I am deeply grateful for my blogging friends. They have made it possible for me to successfully launch a self-published book because they spread the word by hosting ads for me or reviewing my book or mentioning that I was self-publishing and it looked like I was having fun. I am, of course, because of these friends.

Most of the non-BlogAd traffic for my Bent Crow Press site comes through these friends:

Wayne Hurlburt of Blog Business World 
Bren the Slacker Manager
Jennifer at DrinkThis
Chris Bailey at The Alchemy of Soulful Work
Dwayne Melancon at Genuine Curiosity
Yvonne Divita at Lip-Sticking
K Todd Storch
Rosa Say of Talking Story 
Eric of Free from 9 to 5
and Jane Chin, PhD

Their blogs are well worth visiting. These are talented writers and each has taken on a different slice of life to write about. There is something to learn in each of these weblogs. Enjoy!

Tag: Blogging

Comments

[Yvonne DiVita]

David, thank you for your kind words, which are right on target! I, too, count on my blogging friends -- for connections, for advice, for relevant information, and for great places to send prospects who have questions I can't answer.

Your blog is a favorite of mine -- I routinely send new authors to Ripples. Many of the other bloggers in your list are also among the good folks I call friend.

You have captured the true nature of blogging and how to "make it worthwhile" -- as opposed to making it "pay."

It's surely worthwhile to expand one's network to include outstanding folks from all over the U.S. and the world. I say, what's not to like about that?

[K. Todd Storch]

David,

On and to the point as always David. I also have sent a number of aspiring authors to check out your site.

You are doing a fantastic job and your book is outstanding. I hope you have multiple printings of the book and future ones as well!!!

Todd

[Phil Gerbyshak]

As always, an excellent post David. Thanks for the outstanding advice!

[Jane Chin]

Thanks for the mention, David, and for new blog bookmarks for my reading/learning enjoyment.

[tallglassofmilk]

David,
It is my pleasure to help you promote your book!

You have been quite an inspiration.

[Wayne Hurlbert]

Hi David. I'm pleased to help out you and your book sales in any way that I can. One of the goals of my blog is to help others succeed. I'm pleased to see that other bloggers have the same goals. Bloggers working together can achieve unlimited results. No challenge is too great when we help one another and form blogging alliances. We also make new and lasting friendships, and that is the most valuable treasure of all.

[Josh]

I love this! and am linking to it from my blog; it makes a point eloquently that I always try to make with people who are just getting started.