HOW BLOGGERS REALLY MAKE MONEY

There’s no doubt some professional bloggers make massive amounts of money online. A few internet entrepreneurs have hundreds of thousands of followers and earn millions of dollars annually. These are not lucky gals and guys, like lottery winners. Profitable bloggers are intelligent, strategic, resourceful, ambitious, credible, likable, and above all, generous. And they have one common secret—the coin’s not in the blog.

So how do they do it?

First, let’s look at what blogs are and how they work. Then we’ll rip DyingWords apart to see what’s going on behind the scenes.

Blogs started in the 90’s as web logs or individual diary entries on the Worldwide Web. The term got cut to blog. Here’s how blog king Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.com puts it:

“It’s really quite simple. A blog is a type of website that is usually arranged in chronological order from the most recent ‘post’ (or entry) at the top of the main page to the older entries towards the bottom.”

Today, blogs cover pretty well every topic. News. Politics, Sex & Religion. Sports. Arts & Entertainment. Cats & Dogs. Cars. Beauty. Fashion. Travel. Games. Gardening. Garden Gnomes. Science & Technology. Lifestyles. Crafts. Men’s Erectile Dysfunction & Women’s Shoes. Living on Mars. Online shopping. Cigars. Wine. Marihuana. Books, Blogs, & Writing. And don’t forget Duct Tape and Danish Ditch-Digging.

Some bloggers make money. Most don’t. And the big guns in the blogosphere make it big by doing two things exceptionally well. They have huge audiences and have multiple products for sale—especially teaching their writing and blogging knowledge online to a multi-million audience of active bloggers and writers.

I’ve spent the past three weeks taking online courses in blogging and relevant stuff. One course is Tribe Writers with Jeff Goins through his site GoinsWriter.com. I began following Jeff when I started blogging. Back then, he was struggling to break the thousand mark on his subscriber list. I liked him. Jeff’s honest, knowledgeable, and exceptionally generous. In under four years, Jeff built a monster following and developed multiple products. Jeff teaches writers about writing and he’s good at it.

Another cool dude I follow is Jon Morrow of BoostBlogTraffic.com and GuestBlogging.com. Jon’s also the veteran editor with Brian Clark at Copyblogger.com. His blogging career has made him a millionaire. Jon’s got one unfair disadvantage the rest of us don’t—he’s a quadriplegic and works from a wheelchair. But Jon doesn’t make his money directly from his blogs. He teaches bloggers about blogging.

Mariah Coz is a young lady from Femtripreneur.co who’s using her blog to sell online teaching courses—specifically webinars—and she’s making incredible returns. I “met” Mariah through the Teachable.com group and I have to say I’m impressed all to hell with her drive and delivery. If you want to get motivated about the potential earnings from running a targeted blog site and developing online training courses, you gotta listen to what Maria Coz will tell you — for free.

Now you’re probably wondering what an old guy like me is doing hanging around people younger than my kids. Well, it’s because these impressive movers & shakers knew something I didn’t—and that’s how bloggers really make money.

Their common secret is not that complicated. It just takes immense time, enduring energy, and a proven system to build a large blog subscriber list and the initiative to create a number of quality-content products. Then, they use their blog list in driving qualified traffic to internet portals where they sell their products.

It’s a numbers game.

Whoever has the biggest list and most quality-content products—at the right price point—wins.

So where does DyingWords fit into this? Well, a tiny fish in an immense ocean.

For now.

But I’ve learned something from the past few weeks of paying people like Jon, Mariah, and Jeff to teach me their information — there’s a predictable formula to this blogging numbers game.

Here it is. If you do this—AND DO THIS RIGHT—the rule of thumb goes like this:

One dollar per month. Times the names on the subscriber list. Times the number of saleable products. Equals income.

I see what Jeff Goins is doing. He openly divulges that his list is over a hundred thousand and a look at his website indicates Jeff has about ten different products for sale through online books and courses. Applying the formula to Jeff Goins’s blogging business…

$1.00 X 1 month X 100,000 subscribers X 10 products = $1,000,000.00 per month.

Yep. Twelve million bucks a year.

Jon Morrow holds his numbers closer to his chest. He probably has half a million subscribers and at least six expensive stand-alone products on three different blog sites.

Mariah Coz is super-candid about her income. Her goal for the end of 2015 is 15,000 on her mailing list and she just pre-sold a new online course to a pile of followers for a total of $233K. Maybe I’m a sucker, but I saw her screenshots.

Mariah, Jon, and Jeff represent entrepreneurs who use their blog credibility to parlay a variety of products and services into cash. Here’s a list of the least—to most—profitable streams of revenue that comes from blogging exposure:

11. Direct merchandising — selling hats, t-shirts, and beaded Kokopelli key-fobs.

10. Donations — relying on goodwill or subscriptions to support blog content.

9. Sponsorship — backed by corporations.

8. Blog networks — paid to write other blog posts / ghostwriting.

7. Blog flipping — selling your blog list as an entity.

6. RSS advertising — links to other parties’ products.

5. Adsense — Google or social media advertising.

4. Affiliates — kickbacks from Amazon or other online marketers.

3. Freelance writing — paid articles for The Huffington Post, etc.

2. Speaking & consulting — paid for appearances and personal coaching.

1. Digital assets — selling books, courses, and webinars.

Yes, clever and credible people are getting wealthy selling products through a large following they’ve built by blogging.

So how’s Garry Rodgers and his little DyingWords blog making out?

Well, I’m happy to share this because it might give you a measuring stick and some motivation or encouragement.

I started the DyingWords blog in June 2012. I’ve been at it for three and a half years. The first three were hit & miss with irregular posts and only one product for sale – a novel that I didn’t actively promote after its initial run. My purpose of blogging was to raise my profile as an authoritative author, hoping one day I’d get connected and make some decent money through crime writing.

Over time, I built a backlist of blog posts and experimented with content. I learned the craft of blog writing and began to get noticed. I played with social media and networked with other bloggers and influencers. One-by-one-by-one, people signed my email list.

I got serious this past July. I buckled down to really learn how the blogging business works and I wrote full time—with a plan—blogging being the core of my internet presence.

Things changed.

On July 1^st, my internet traffic was good. My mailing list had 504 subscribers. My Alexa Ranking was 2,940,467 and rising. By the end of November—five months later—my Alexa ranking increased 46% to 1,587,952. But my email subscribers leaped to 1,373. Two hundred and seventy-four percent!

WTF happened?

We’ll, I’d built an attractive platform and learned more about effective list building. Other things occurred. I began getting invites for guest posts on other blog sites and I hosted a few influential folks on my own. I spent more time on social media and it generated talk. Word-Of-Mouse, so to speak.

Then… right outa the fricken blue… The Huffington Post cold-called, offering me a paid gig to write a feature article on the world’s biggest blog. Then, they liked what they saw and took me on board as a regular contributing member of “The Huff Post Signature Blog Team”. Check out my latest post on today’s Huff titled Can You Beat The Polygraph. Or check out the blogs I’ve done for them now. Click Here

My platform elevated to appearing on the Huffington Post. Their website has an Alexa Ranking of 56. I got in front of millions of viewers.

Like—you just can’t buy that exposure.

The Huffington Post opportunity came because I took my writing seriously—as a professional. I’d committed myself to full-time, professional writing.

But something’s missing from the equation.

Money.

Now, here I’m standing on my platform—shouting out to my peeps and they’re shouting back, Hey, Garry! You look good and you sound good and your audience is growing. But you only got one product to sell. When’re you gonna put out some more stuff? That’s what it takes to make a living off this schtick, you know!.

Hang on. I’ve spent the last six months building a stream of new products to come online over the next six months and most of the heavy work’s already done.

One is a new 80K word novel titled No Life Until Death. Eight are guides on Crime Writing. One is a guide on Blogging. And I still have the JFK manuscript lurking out there. So that’s ten—maybe eleven products—twelve if you take in my first novel No Witnesses To Nothing. Plus, I’m seriously thinking of getting into the online course market because that’s where the really big return seems to be. And, as I write – another balloon was floated.

Hey, Mister Future Money-Bags — How’s that fit into your fancy formula?

Well, so far, it seems to fit fine. In the month of November, I got an Amazon royalty check for $100.00 and the Huff paid me $1,000.00 USD for their feature article. With the exchange rate, that converts to $1,385.00 Canadian.

Let’s see…

$1.00 X 1,373 subscribers X 1 online product = $1,373.00

Yup. Purdy akkerate.

Remember, the formula relates to online digital products and other stuff you need to have going—speaking, freelance writing, affiliates, advertising, etc. All 11 steps contribute to the formula and support the income statement. It’s part of the formula. You need to be doing related side jobs in addition to digital books—and putting in fourteen hours a day, seven days a week.

But you’d never, EVER, be able to work the formula if you didn’t anchor it to a free blog that sells your voice.

Think about the potential with six products.

$1.00 X 1,373 subscribers X 6 quality-content, online products = $8,238.00

Imagine doubling your mailing list?

$1.00 X 2,746 subscribers X 6 quality-content, online products = $16, 476.00

Quadruple your list? Quadruple your products? Quadruple your average product price?

Does this sound like a pipe-dream? A get-rich-quick scam? Something that could only happen to someone else?

Nope. It’s happening out there.

I’m not drinking some kinda Jeff-Jon-Mariah Kool-Aid. These people are pulling it off, but they aren’t relying on a stack of 99-cent eBooks as their army of products.

Sure, they’re using some of their free and cheaper products as lead magnets and funnel books which have strategic purposes. Then they’re doing a mix of $4.99 guides. $9.99 eBooks. Some traditional publishing. Some freelancing. Some speaking and consulting fees. Lots of affiliates. Hundred-dollar-a-pop, hour-long webinars in front of two hundred eager people. And two, three, or four online courses at $499.00 each with upsells to $999.00 and even $2,500.00 if you want a couple hours of one-on-one with them.

What’s it take to get onto their train? Here’s some suggestions on how you can really make money blogging:

Be passionate!!!
Understand the system.
Network with other writers, bloggers, and influencers.
Write clean, concise, credible, consistent content in your posts.
Create multiple, quality-content products for sale online.
Build your mailing list.
Know your audience. Engage. Give them what they want and need.
Work your ass off.
Produce and sell lots of quality-content products.
Be highly professional. There’s no secrets on the net.
Never quit. It takes time.
Multiply your reach and develop multiple streams of income.
Never stop learning.
And—above all—consistently blog with your own unique voice.

I think I’ll give ‘er a try.

BTW… please subscribe to DyingWords.net! Just Click Here

WHAT MAKES CONSPIRACY THEORISTS TICK?

A conspiracy theory is the belief that a plot by powerful people or organizations is working to accomplish a sinister goal—the truth of its existence secretly held from the public. Conspiracy theorists see authorities—governments, corporations, and wealthy people—as fundamentally deceptive and corrupt. Their distrust of official narratives runs so deep that they connect dots of random events into what they believe make meaningful patterns, despite overwhelming conflicting evidence, or absence of supporting evidence, to their conclusions.

Aside from a lack of common sense, what makes these guys tick?

First, let’s look at what Time magazine identified as the prominent conspiracy theories believed by the American public. These were identified in a recent poll. I’m not kidding you. Some people actually swallow these crazy concoctions.

From lowest to highest percentage they are:

10. The Reptile Elite — Among us are flesh-eating, blood-drinking, shape-shifting, extraterrestrial reptilian humanoids bent on enslaving the human race. The British Royals and the Bush family are part of the group, as was Margaret Thatcher.

9. The CIA and AIDS — Thinking is that the Central Intelligence Agency was out to destroy homosexuals and blacks so they invented the deadly HIV virus and injected it in place of hepatitis vaccinations.

8. Holocaust Revisionism — Most deniers accept that the internment camps existed, but claim the numbers of people murdered are greatly exaggerated. General Eisenhower saw this coming when he forced hundreds of civilian witnesses to tour the camps and bear the truth to the world.

7. Jesus and Mary Magdalene — These folks claim Jesus and Mary Magdalene were a married couple, but Jesus occasionally shared her with his disciple, Peter. They attribute this to the Gnostic Gospels which were discovered in 1945 and claim it’s being covered up by the Vatican. Mainstream scholars dismiss as the Gnostic Gospels as even being authentic.

6. The Moon Landings Were Faked — According to this crowd, none of the Apollo missions happened. They were filmed on a Hollywood lot, or possibly at area 51. Watch this clip of Buzz Aldrin punching conspiracy theorist Bart Sibrel in the face. Click Here

5. Secret Societies Rule the World — If you’re a member of the global elite, then you’d already know this. And you might belong to one or more of many groups; the Illuminati, Freemasons, Skull & Bones, Opus Dei, Bilderberg Group, or maybe even have a seat on the Council of Foreign Relationship. Sorry, your Costco card won’t cut it.

4. Paul McCartney is Dead — Supposedly the Beatles covered-up the real Sir Paul’s death in 1966 and an imposter has been in his place ever since. Maybe I’m Amazed, because I saw a recent clip of Paul McCartney in front of tens of thousands at Hyde Park takin’ a swing at Pretty Woman with Bruce Springsteen. If he’s an imposter, he’s some good at it.

3. Area 51 and Aliens — There’s a real Air Force base at Groom Lake, 150 miles north of Las Vegas, where all sorts of black op aircraft are tested. Like most military installations, public access is restricted, but you can get a good look at it on Google Earth. The resolution is excellent but I couldn’t find any saucer-shaped craft or ET-looking creatures. Oh, right… they keep them inside… or maybe back at Roswell.

2. 9/11 Cover-Up — Apparently 42% of Americans believe the attacks on the New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania were orchestrated by some arm of the U.S. Government. Sad.

1. The JFK Assassination — The mother of conspiracy theories. Times’ poll reports that only 32% believe that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. So two-thirds of Americans truly think their 35^th President’s murder is unsolved? How can that be?

Well, it comes down to mindset.

I’m not saying that conspiracies don’t happen—even at a mass scale. The Holocaust was a massive conspiracy to exterminate the Jews. The Nazis totally believed the Jews were a threat to their existence. It was an article of faith within the Third Reich.

9/11 was a monstrous conspiracy—by Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. The Russian Revolution was a conspiracy. So was the American Revolution—fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence. Nixon conspired to hide Watergate. Abraham Lincoln was murdered through a conspiracy. So was Julius Caesar. And don’t forget Stalin, the Mexican Drug Cartels, and Scientology.

If some conspiracies are true, then how do you determine which ones are false? The more these characteristics apply, the more likely the theory is wrong:

“Proof” of the conspiracy emerges through dot-connecting without any hard, physical evidence.
Execution requires large and complex elements.
The agents require nearly super-human powers.
Everyone maintains secrecy.
There is a grandiose ambition for control.
The plot ratchets from small to large events.
Everything has a sinister overtone.
Facts and speculation are mingled without assigning degrees of probability.
The theorist is extremely suspicious of authority—government and private.
The theorist refuses to consider alternative explanations, seeking only confirmation of the theory.

I understand the mindset of real conspirators. It’s all about self-preservation. But what about the tin-foil crowd?

In American Conspiracy Theories, political scientists Joseph Uscinski and Joseph Parent conducted an “extensive empirical study” on the subject and found: Conspiracy Theorists are often caricatured as a small demographic composed primarily of middle-aged white male internet enthusiasts who live in their mother’s basements—but that’s wrong. Conspiracy theories permeate all parts of society and cut across age, gender, race, income, political affiliation, educational level, and occupational status.

What gives? How does a cross-section of otherwise normal people get so distorted in their thoughts and believe in really weird things?

Quassim Cassam is a professor of philosophy at the University of Warwick. He’s embarking on a study on why people believe in outlandish theories. Part of this work is to answer why people get pushed to extremes like joining ISIS.

Professor Cassam says: It seems to be because of the kind of thinker they are, or to put it bluntly, because there’s something wrong with how they think. It’s the peculiarities of their intellectual constitution—in a word, their intellectual character. It’s what social psychologists call a conspiracy mentality.

Cassam goes on: The gullible rarely believe they’re gullible and the closed-minded don’t believe they’re closed-minded. Closed-mindedness is the toughest intellectual vice to tackle because it’s in its very nature to be concealed from those who have it. There’s no reasoning with those kinds of people.

I found an article in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology where Dr. Jan-Willem van Prooijen of the University of Amsterdam summed it: Conspiracy theorists tend to have one thing in common—they feel a lack of control over their lives.

Part of my John F Kennedy Assassination book research was checking the online chat boards on the JFK forums. Lemme tell you—there are some whacko, nut-jobs out there.

I believe there are four reasons why people believe JFK’s murder was a conspiracy. These reasons probably apply to most conspiracy theories and theorists.

They don’t have the correct information to understand the case facts.
They haven’t got the personal knowledge, or experience, to properly interpret the evidence.
They simply want to believe in a conspiracy.
They don’t have the mental capacity for objectively processing thoughts.

There’s no reasoning with those kinds of people.

THE GRIM SWEEPER – MAKING A KILLING IN CRIME SCENE CLEAN-UP

Crime scene cleaning is extremely profitable for those who can handle difficult and unpleasant working conditions. In fact, this niche market of the multi-billion dollar janitorial and restoration industry is the fastest growing segment. Crime scene clean-up technicians are some of the highest-paid hourly workers, but they’re not the ones making the real money in death’s bloody aftermath. Let’s find out who is and exactly how this lucrative business works.

What got me curious about crime scene clean-up is when the Huffington Post asked me to write a feature article titled The Surprisingly Simple Clues Left Behind at Crime Scenes. The piece complimented the debut of a new Esquire Network TV series called Spotless which centers on a guy who runs a crime scene cleaning business that contracts for the Mafia to “sanitize” their hits.

I’ve seen some horrifically messy death scenes as a homicide cop and coroner and I’ve worked under unspeakably nasty conditions. But once I finished the forensic process, it was someone else’s job to clean-up. I used to think Boy, I’m glad it’s not me.

I never gave much thought to who was contracted, what equipment they used, what regulations they had to obey, what time it took, and certainly not how much it cost. I got my eyes opened when I looked into the business of crime scene cleaning.

First of all, it’s known in the industry as Crime and Trauma Scene Decontamination and Restoration—CTSDR. Secondly, they clean a lot more than just homicide and other death scenes.

These professionals are handsomely paid to also remove and restore the effects of dead animals and their droppings, insects who hatched from decaying bodies, damage from police tools such as fingerprint powder, luminol, tear gas, pepper spray, and the cutting of materials during preservation of evidence. They deal with mold from marihuana grow-shows, deadly chemicals from meth labs, drug litter like contaminated needles, and body fluids across the spectrum.

Their workplaces are everywhere imaginable—mansions to rooming houses, schools, offices, daycares, fields, playgrounds, boats, busses, trains, factories, shops and malls, cruise ships, vehicles, jail cells, police vehicles, hotels, and even on airplanes.

You’d think that a grisly murder scene would be the most difficult and expensive situation, but those experienced in clean-ups say the life-long hoarder’s home is the worst—especially the animal hoarders—the crazy cat-ladies who die alone and then… you know… They call this “Gross Filth”.

There’s a fair overhead in the scene-clean business. A significant amount of equipment and training is required—specialized vehicles for transporting hazardous biological waste, mandatory certification by government departments, licensing requirements, expensive tools like ozone machines, steam injectors, and chemical foggers to destroy odors and pathogens, biohazard suits and containers, respirators, chemical-spill boots, gloves, goggles, as well as commercial disinfectors, solvents, and neutralizers.

Employee turnover is high. Despite the high pay, burnout is inevitable. It takes a special person to fill the role. Strong stomach. Ability to detach emotionally. And serious attention to detail. Ever present is the danger of infection from a disease like HIV and hepatitis. Adherence to regulations like OSHA, WHMIS, DOT, EPA, NIOSH, Workers Comp, and professional industry governing bodies—the American Bio-Recovery Association, the National Crime Scene Clean-Up Association, and the National Academy of Crime Scene Cleaners—is required.

There’s a tremendous amount of information on the Crime Scene Clean-Up industry available online and two interesting books have been published, giving an insider’s look at the business:

So, yeah, yeah… these guys have a shitty job — you’re thinking — Get to the point. What do they charge? How much do they make?

Well, this seems to be a fairly guarded secret in the crime scene clean-up circles. I did some more internet searching, then made some phone calls. The standard answer was:

“The cost of remediating biohazards can vary dramatically from situation to situation, so we are not able to provide phone estimates or quote rates without coming out and doing a proper assessment which we charge an hourly fee for. By the way, are you insured?”

Drilling down on the net, I found these sites which reported the average technician’s wage (not the business owner’s) as:

Payscale — 100K+ per year.
Wisebread — 80K+ per year.
Business Insider — $25.00 per hour training wage, extending to $40-50 experienced.
CNN Money — 80-100K+ per year depending on location.

Then I found an article from the Toronto Star reporting on Christian Cadieux who owns and operates Crime & Trauma Scene Cleaning. Cadieux is 32 and charges $300.00 per hour just to estimate. Then he bills out from there. He likes to get six to eight good insurance jobs every month that make him sixty thousand dollars. Per month. That’s $720,000.00 per year. Christian also puts on five-day training courses on the side for $2,499.00 per student. When this article was written, he had four in the class.

Dying Words

Provoking Thoughts on Life, Death, and Writing