Do What You Love & You'll Never Work Again

Increasing Ad Revenue Isn't As Straightforward As I'd Hoped

As a quick update I was curious about how to increase my ad revenue, so I reached out to my ad network to see if there was anything I could do to move things in the right direction.

What I heard back was shocking, and lit a fire under my butt to start a second website ASAP.

They told me that much of it was completely out of my control, because though I don't talk about alcohol in a negative way, even mentioning alcohol at all makes many advertisers unwilling to bid on ad placement at ALL. 

So, I know for sure that sobriety just isn't that lucrative a topic.

That's part of the reason why I chose to write about other things, like law of attraction, manifesting hacks and crystal healing. 

But even on the posts and pages where those more profitable topics are the main focus, I STILL am not earning as much as I could, because the entire website is focused on alcohol. 

Bummer.

Well...

Running Multiple Websites

I've been seriously considering starting a second website for a while now, and this was exactly the push I needed to make that happen!

For the past 11 months (my site turns 1 in a month... wow time flew!) I've been so focused on trying to follow the (many) courses I've taken and do things the way they SAY you should. 

They say "oh ad income is the worst way to monetize a site"... "you need to build a brand and a following and an e-mail list"... and you have to do all this stuff to be successful at blogging.

I tried so hard to do all that but it all just goes completely outside of my personality. 

You Need To Do What Feels Right For You

I literally despise social media, unless it's for lurking.

I have an e-mail list because I was told I needed it to be successful, but I don't enjoy it.

And I've tried making products too, but unless it's a book I'm not really feeling it. 

It Makes Sense WHY Top Bloggers Insist On Becoming A Brand

Like I really do understand that ads isn't the best way to make money blogging, and you can make like the 6-figure income figures some of the top bloggers make by building a following and creating courses and doing customer care and rocking social media... but no matter what I fall flat.

It's just not my personality. I really want to just... pick a profitable topic that I truly enjoy writing about and share what I know about the topic in an engaging way so people click, read, enjoy, and I get compensated for my effort, passively, through ads! 

Like I just love the idea of writing something easy and fun to write ONE time and that's it! No hustling trying to sell or promote things, no selling people on my personality or worrying about followers, no trying to build a mailing list by having to create and offer free stuff... like all that is so unappealing! I just want to write.

The Slow Way Is Okay Sometimes

So... although maybe it's a slower way to generate blog income, my strategy going forward basically ads and affiliates, and that's it! 

And since learning my ad income is pretty much always going to be low on a sobriety site, I figured now was the time to test the waters. 

All About The Money

Back about 6 months ago, desperately trying to add another profitable niche to my website, I wrote a ton of money posts. I'm passionate about making money online as I've already seen WILD success with my Kindle Publishing business and the freedom it gave me to quit my job. 

I can talk and write about ways to generate income online all day... and I genuinely think with the internet being so widely available to almost everybody, we should all be taking advantage of the opportunity to try it! 

I thought it made sense to talk about another topic I love so dearly all on the same site. 

But it never brought much attention and now I know why!

That was a big no-no.

Keep It Simple And Consise: One Topic Per Site

It's better to have one topic per site. By the time I added money my site was then about THREE totally unrelated things, so of course it fell flat. 

But now I have a whole new site just about money, and I have about 15 posts I'm taking off the first site and just importing to the second site, so after starting that site on Monday, it's already got 6 posts up by Friday! I'll do the rest over the next several days, then continue adding one every day or so until I get at least 20 posts, then start promoting on Pinterest!

I'm SO excited because I feel with almost a year of blogging experience I know exactly what to do and not to do this time. I won't make the same mistakes twice, and already things are just SO much easier. 

A Race To The $1000/month

I'm intentionally making this as simple, cheap and fast as I can. No frills. Just good content, attractive images and bare bones design. 

I want to see just how quickly I can build a brand new blog and get it earning an income of at least $1,000 per month, as passively as possible! 

Because what I learned over the holidays is even though I stopped really working on my site all for nearly 6 weeks, I still earned daily ad income and daily affiliate revenue. It's truly passive this way, which is what I need to feel truly free and motivated in business. 

So if I can build a site from scratch quickly and easily and get it earning at least $1,000 per month in just a few months' time without working more than a handful of hours on it a couple times a week, I think that's something I can do over and over again and just have a portfolio of passive income streams. 

Websites Are Like Virtual Real Estate

Just my line of thinking right now, and the comparison I like to roll with.

I feel like in some ways, websites are like virtual real estate.

One of the goals hubby and I had/have is to buy rental property. I don't know exactly what the profit margin would be based on area, but the way it is out here in LA, I don't imagine we could realistically FULLY profit more than 2k/month from a single family residence. Plus there's the upfront cost of purchase, dealing with tenants, repairs, taxes, insurance, etc...

I feel like with a website it's so much easier! Like if I am able to start a site today and just through writing and promoting, wind up renting space to advertisers instead of tenants to the tune of 1k/month in just a few months (and even more over time), I'm probably better off. 

No upfront cost. No repairs. No tenants. 

It's totally possible that I'm missing something, but either way there's one important thing that can't be missed...

It's FUN!

Building websites and writing articles and designing beautiful Pinterest pins and talking about subjects I love and know a lot about is FUN for me. 

This is the part of blogging I actually enjoy!

Some people hate writing. I type 120wpm and enjoy it! 

Some hate the back end of wordpress and dislike SEO and google analytics. 

I love all of that too. 

Like, I wouldn't think the idea of running multiple sites was appealing if I didn't like the building and writing. 

So... maybe not for everybody, but definitely for me, this makes sense!

I tried to go the guru/brand route and just feel the life being sucked out of me. I want to not have to work... ever... and still have money raining down on me from all angles. And if it's fun? It doesn't feel like work. So I feel free!

Do What You Love & You'll Never Work Again

I think it's possible for all of us, but we have to consider our unique personalities, interests, talents and skills and find our OWN paths. Everytime I try to do what others say I should do, it makes me miserable. 

I truly believe there is a way for most of us, if not ALL of us, to find a way to make our hobbies earn money!

Gotta do you. Gotta find your own way!