Copywriting vs Blogging: Why Most Bloggers Have It Dead Wrong

I’m always shocked by the number of high traffic blogs out there that don’t make money.  Or at least not much.

The biggest problem most online marketers have is getting enough traffic.

So for the few who’re skilled enough to actually crack the traffic code, what’s the dealio?  How are you getting thousands of daily visitors to your blog and still failing to make more than a couple grand a month?

Are they allergic to money?

More importantly, how many lives are they truly impacting?  I have a theory and it goes something like this:

I think a lot of hardcore bloggers get so wrapped up in their content that they forget why they started blogging in the first place.  The blogs I’m talking about are definitely designed to make money.

But they’re falling short. 

Way short.

The owners are obsessed with cranking out as much “helpful” content as they can each day.  I put helpful in quotes because the reality is that most of the content is still pretty lame.

It’s certainly not on purpose.  Stuff just gets really watered down.  Think about it — how many different ways can you say the same damn thing?

Don’t get me wrong; fresh content is critical, now more than ever.

But I’ve never been a fan of blogging just for the sake of blogging.

Because, like I learned a long time ago when I created TopFatLossTrainer.com, all that does is eat up a lot of your time and draw in what I call “blog leaches” (pure information seekers).

The end result?

You gain artificial satisfaction since you’ve earned a commendable Alexa rank and you tend to brag about that, rather than pointing out just how little all that traffic puts into your bank account each month.

I’m quick to notice bloggers in this position today since I’ve been there, done that during the early stages of TopFatLossTrainer.com.  Luckily, I woke up one day.  Snapped out of my funk and realized I was self-medicating a lack of income with more meaningless posts and more worthless traffic.

That’s when everything changed.

I backed off the frequency of posting slightly and focused on trying to make each post as purposeful and profitable as possible.

Rather than mindlessly whipping up a new article because it was a new day and the leaches would be expecting more free stuff, I wrote valuable content intended to help out a specific individual with a specific problem.

Since not every post can be a grand slam, I used others to brand myself, share experiences and bring visitors into my life.  That way, when it came time to recommend an affiliate product, my conversion rates would be much higher.

Wouldn’t you know, it worked.

In addition to the mindset shift of blogging to actually build a business, better serve my visitors and sell more products — rather than just going through the motions — another skill helped skyrocket my earnings:

Copywriting!

Seriously, if you could practice just one marketing skill each day, hands down, that skill should be copywriting.  Effective copy brings you better traffic.  More importantly, it’s the one thing that determines whether or not that traffic will ultimately take the action you want them to take.

Whether that’s subscribing to your beliefs, putting their trust in you, opting in to your list or buying your products, it all begins (and ends) with your ability to express yourself through your written and spoken words.

Now admittedly, I’m no John Carlton, but I’ve come a long way since I first got online. 

And it’s paid dividends.  And then some.

For instance, despite my refusal to become a seminar whore, speak at live events and network with all the other big names in the industry, I’m able to get all the one-on-one marketing students I can handle.  That’s pretty impressive considering the first thing people think when they visit my coaching page is: “Who the hell is Brad Campbell?”

With no name and no preexisting reputation — and combined with the fact that my “Platinum” members invest $10,000 — that’s no easy task.

And yet, it was all easily overcome with quality copy.  So remember, blogging is just the platform that allows you to publish your copywriting.  Blogging in and of itself is not very profitable.  Don’t make the mistake of aimlessly publishing one blog post after the next, with no real plan for building a real Internet business.