There is a 1-2 year gauntlet that all new site owners go through. The goal is to survive it and avoid as many expensive pitfalls as possible in both time and money along your way to site success.
Here I’ll share a couple of examples of what that journey looks like as a newb site owner moves to a money-making mindset and how an experienced site owner does it, plus an explanation of why we all have to take that journey and how to survive it.
Enjoying this series?
It’s all about how I’m turning a hobby site into a money-making blog.
Investing More Time and Money at the Start
I’m ready to write the final post for the mitre saw station build on Heartwood Art and it will include full plans that I’ll be offering for free.
Free build plans are a huge draw for site traffic.
And those plans require that I make a sketch and cut list.
I tried SketchUp and I was initially enthusiastic about learning it, not only for making my own build plans, but for doing video tutorials on it, as those have huge view numbers on YouTube.
Again, another traffic opportunity, plus a chance at monetizing the video.
But honestly, I just found Sketchup less intuitive than I had hoped, and a bit too limited in what I wanted to do with it.
So, I found tutorials on Fusion 360, which I really had not considered before, as it is a pro-level CAD program. You can model a car from the ground up with this thing and even see the engine running. That’s way more than I wanted to try to learn!!
But I found a course from someone who streamlined the tutorials down for hobbyist and woodworkers. I bought the course and I’m learning that program to do my build plans.
It’s fun and it’s worth me investing the time to do as I’ll be making plans for all of my shop builds.
The Investment Value
All site owners have two budgets to manage – time and money.
I spent my time budget searching through free SketchUp videos on YouTube, most of which:
- did not show me all I needed to know
- were so far over my head I couldn’t follow
- or were simply too far out of date with how the program has changed.
So, while I got the info for free from YouTube, I wasted time hunting for that info, kluging together pieces from each tutorial, and trying this and that until I eventually figured out what I needed to know to do the thing I was trying to do.
I would have come out cheaper paying for a course, but I couldn’t find one for what I wanted to learn at that stage.
However, the experience of seeing all of those tutorials energized me, in that I saw what was missing in the niche.
I also saw how many millions of views those videos had gotten over the years.
And because I’m a good teacher, it inspired me to make my own videos and monetize them.
And, I got to cut my teeth on an online CAD program which later helped make the jump to Fusion 360 easier and faster.
It also helped me vet the value of the course I found for it as being more than worth the price.
Yes, I would still have to invest my time budget to learn yet another new thing. But it would be far shorter the second time, meaning I would save time having expert guidance.
And yes, it once again delayed me getting out a blog post.
But considering how many blog posts I’ll make because of what I’m now learning, and the big traffic those build plans will bring in, it’s easy to justify the time.
In other words, the time I spend up front will pay bigger dividends later than if I had not made that investment and published those posts without the plans or with some cheesy SketchUp drawing.
The Journey Out of a Freebie Mindset
I’m working with a site audit client right now that started her hobby blog on WordPress.com.
The hosting was free and it gave her a chance to see if she could make a go of this thing.
Once she got into some blogger groups and/or took some courses, she realized that she would need to move to self-hosted WP.org to use the plugins and methods she needed to capitalize on the traffic she was getting.
Whether she was making money from her site at that point or not, she decided to invest in hosting and a domain and the other things she needed to get a self-hosted site launched.
She was able to grow her traffic to the point of qualifying for admittance to an ad agency.
She also joined new blogger groups of peers who were also making money with ads where she gained new insights about how to run a successful site.
That’s when she found me to help her take her site to the next level by putting it on a secure and fast foundation.
More than that, she was now in a place to vet the value of what I offered – not only in the site fixes, but in the sheer education to DIY her own site from now on.
And, she knew enough to realize that all the free advice in most of those groups is actually worth less than what you pay for it. In fact, it can be the worst advice you’ll ever get.
The Mindset Switch
That site owner hiring me is just like me paying for that CAD course.
I recognized it would save me both time and money in the long run, and that I would make more money than I spent in both time and money on it.
But, I didn’t recognize that at first.
Like most folks, I went down the freebie mindset path until I could see the payoff money in doing it at all.
Once I did see that payoff, I was encouraged to devote more time to it until I had enough knowledge and experience to realize I needed to seek out pro help to go to the next level.
And once again, I was investing more time and money to get to that next plateau.
The Journey is the Same
Whether you make the investment up front, as I’m doing with Heartwood Art, or you do as you go, like my site audit client is doing, you’re going to have to make the investment in both time and money. There’s no two ways about it.
That investment pays off either way.
I’m hearing folks in Pinterest groups who’ve been at it 9 months and are ready to throw in the towel. I see the same thing in member course groups too.
Ask any of my clients and they will tell you that 9 months is a drop in the bucket for site success.
It takes most online businesses, no matter what they are, about 2-3 years to catch fire when it’s a side gig.
The more you know, or the more money and time you can devote to your education, the shorter the time frame for you to make that success happen.
Are You Ready to Move Up to a Money-Making Mindset?
At some point, all site owners wake up to the fact that they are running an online business.
And like all businesses, you have to constantly invest in it with both time and money in addition to the thing that you offer.
I’ve enjoyed long-term relationships with my BlogAid clients since 2009.
They stick with me because they know the value of the info and the services I provide for DIY site owners.
If I offer something, they buy it because they know it will save them time and make them money and it’s a good business investment.
They never miss reading a Tips Tuesday either because that is priceless free help.
How about you?
Where are you in your site owner journey?
How long have you been at it?
What are the best and worst investments you’ve made with your time and money to move you toward site success?
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I haven’t been monetizing because of income restrictions. But I am learning that growing my blog may make monetizing a better fit. I look forward to the journey and following yours too. These are exciting times. I see the value in all the WP changes as well as what Google has up her sleeve. I am in!
That’s great, Marilyn!!!
As I read this, I was thinking that your experience trying to find and learn a sketching/CAD-type program that would work for you describes my own experience trying to set up YouTube to work for me. I am not talking about the mechanics of setting up a channel. I am referring to the actual lighting, filming, editing, and scripting.
You say:
“So, while I got the info for free from YouTube, I wasted time hunting for that info, kluging together pieces from each tutorial, and trying this and that until I eventually figured out what I needed to know to do the thing I was trying to do.
I would have come out cheaper paying for a course, but I couldn’t find one for what I wanted to learn at that stage.”
I am thrilled that you have found a course and a solution that is getting you where you want to go. For now, I will continue to look. As a DIY site owner, I know that free does not always work. OTOH, a $999 course is beyond my budget. Waaaaaay beyond.
So, in the meantime, I still continue to search for answers, as frustrating as that can be. And I follow Blog Aid, of course, to keep my website secure, fast, and ahead of the pack.
Totally agree with you Gaye. On top of that, I’ve looked at $499 courses offered for $10 on Udemy. I know most of them are only worth $10 because Udemy requires folks to have a certain number of video hours and way too much of it is fluff. The LAST thing I want is a 20 hour course with 2 hours of meat and potatoes.
And then there are the $1500 courses that only open once a year and the majority of it is full of all the freebie optin things the creator developed over the years to get folks interested when it was just a $500 course. Quantity over quality falls short for both of these.
On the other hand, I make courses that are to-the-point and zero fluff. Yet folks compare mine to the $10 that has 200 videos.
All I can hope to do is create quality and my students spread the word about the value.
I learned about MaAnna years ago while talking with a support tech at Intuit. He said she was the most reliable source he knew of when it came to understanding all things Word Press. That was back before she went full time with BlogAid. He was right. I feel honored to have known her back before she became more famous :-)
Having been a “One Man Show” when it came my own site, reality came crashing down in 2017 when the tech required to keep my site fast, secure and valuable over took my ability to keep up with the changes.
Ma Anna did a site review and eventually we replaced the old site.
The new site immediately showed up in more searches, become easier to manage and took a huge load off my mind, mind being the operative word. I spent the money to get it right, get it done and get on with it.
Money is a tool and if used properly becomes a viable commodity for generating peace and prosperity. Just going for the “Money” rarely pays very good dividends.
MaAnna provides awesome tools and advice for doing what works. What she gives away is more valuable than what some people charge for and even more amazing is her information is based on real world experience and not BS.
By the way, regarding the “Money” part, my site improvements have helped increase sales to the point where I sell my extra leads to a friend, who doesn’t understand the value of an powerful, online presence.
Rick Daniel
Thank you so much for your kind words, Rick, and mentioning how the audit paid for itself!!
Thrilled for all your new biz!
I am 13 months into my first blog/website, but about 18 months into learning it. Pretty much on my own but after countless free webinars giving me tiny tastes at a time, or reading up on blog posts like this one to compare and broaden my progress. *It’s been a huge time suck.* But each time I figure something out, it’s like a rush of fresh air.
This past week I acquired the Genius Blogger’s Tool Kit, which I will dive head first into — after I take care of some administrative stuff with NameHero (per your timely recommendation in my preferred blogging group), and I will be contacting you for a consult after I finish my current need at NameHero. My next BIG *progress* goal is Elite Blogger’s Academy, methinks. Between those, I have a set list of *progress* tasks I intend to complete.
That’s great, Jess!!!! I used to offer a full Scratch to Published course that took you step-by-step with getting started, including the site tech so you don’t get into trouble with plugins and security issues, all the way through SEO. It took 6 weeks tops to launch a site that hit the ground running.
But, over the years, so few folks want to pay upfront for their training and instead do these freebies or all-in-one bundle things. You do learn, but it ends up taking so much longer and costing so much more. However, that’s the mindset of newbies – more sweat equity available than money.
My issue has been that my husband’s income is what pays the bills. So I’ve been mostly on my own for resources all this time. I started an Etsy to try to get overhead but my kiddos keep eating my time there. *cringe* Buuut, I’m working on it. Whenever there’s a moment, I’m working on it. GBTK should help me with my set list, and hubs helped get me that because it interested *him*! The first big course I took was one that my intuition said “go” on, which is what led to me getting into blogging. I’ve just been slow to find other big courses I really resonate with. But my first comment is my current road, and I think it’ll do for now. :)
NameHero wise, I need to move my first domain because I want it under the same roof as two other domains I have in mind to start staging for launch in the Spring. And I have other blogging mischief planned following that. But then you mentioned about the Security Headers thing, and it moved up my need for NameHero…
For better security and performance, it’s not good to have multiple sites under one cPanel. Better to trade up to a reseller account and have all sites in their own cPanel. I also help with migration.
I do secure site setups for new sites, and the site audits get everything up to par on existing sites.
Yeah, I’ll have to figure out a better When. I was looking at the Reseller account. :) But I forgot how the sign on with a host is all up front. I’ve been spoiled on my current setup. It’ll have to wait. :( But in the meantime, I am curious about how Security Headings are fixed. :/ I need to email you about that.