Imagine walking into a classroom.
You are taking a physics class in college.
This is the first day.
You look forward to learning the ins and outs of physics over the next few months, waiting eagerly for teaching lessons from your professor. You are new to physics; learning the basics is critical. So you expect your college professor to patiently teach you the fundamentals of physics, to lay the building blocks for your education.
First day class.
You sit down. Look at the professor.
The professor looks at the class.
Then the teacher directs the students to buy a $500 course that teaches the basics of physics and walks out of the classroom.
Same deal 2 days later. The students meet. The teacher pitches the $500 course.
Of course the teacher would be fired after the second “lecture” if not after the first class.
Students are in the classroom to be taught. If the teacher does not teach, the teacher is useless in eyes of the students because a teacher who does not teach offers no value in a classroom setting.
Beginner Bloggers Eager to Earn Money Online
New bloggers desperate or greedy to earn money online are like the teacher who does not teach, simply directing students/readers to buy some product.
Worthless. Useless. Not from a nasty, negative perspective, but from the viewpoint of a student/reader who wants worth, or use, or value from the teacher/blogger.
If you teach people for free – generously – across a wide range of platforms you will inspire people to trust you, to enjoy your free content, and to buy your products or to hire you.
How it Works
People love the free advice you offer through your blog over the course of months or even years. They really love your free content so they know they will love your premium content, and buy what you have to offer.
The process is simple but desperate newbie bloggers totally ignore the learning and teaching aspects of blogging.
Learning
Before you teach, you must learn. Before you learn, you must commit to being a student of blogging. This means reading posts, buying courses, studying, practicing, and then, creating and connecting to teach people.
Learning precedes teaching for newbie bloggers because you cannot teach what you do not know.
Teaching
Teaching means sharing free blog posts, guest posts, answering questions on Quora, broadcasting live videos and publishing podcasts to help your readers.
Some of your readers will buy your stuff quickly. Others will buy your stuff a bit down the road. But nobody will buy your stuff – save the greedy or desperate – if you don’t teach people for free, because you’ll be just like the professor who skips teaching and instead refers you to some product. Fired. But you will be fired in the form of being ignored by readers, being written off as a value-less shill.
Monetize from Day 1
I advise all bloggers to monetize their blog from day 1 but in the same breath, devote 95% or more of your time and energy toward helping people for free across a wide range of platforms.
Be generous.
Help folks by answering questions, by serving people and by freely sharing your knowledge – no strings attached – and you will gradually allow in sales, hires and increased blogging profits.
The teaching is the money maker; not the product or service. Share the freemium and people will buy the premium. Some buy the premium eventually, others, 2 years down the road. Don’t concern yourself with that.
From your newbie blogging days going forward, focus on teaching, helping and serving folks across multiple channels online. First, learn, then, teach persistently (for months and years), then earn.
Video
Watch the video as I explain this concept.