Do You ACTUALLY Need Passion To Make Money Online? NO!
How many times have you been told something like this:
“Write about something you’re passionate about and everything else will fall into place.”
You hear it everywhere. It’s been told to many of us again, and again, and again. But is it actually true? Can online success really summed to ‘follow your passion’?
Let me tell you a story. My first blog was on technology. Yes, technology. My blog wasn’t focused on a niche, it was focused on a MASSIVE MULTI-TRILLION dollar market! My job was going to be so easy, I thought. I’d have so many new articles to write about each day.
There were two problems. First of all, one teenage kid was not able to write enough to cover a multi-trillion dollar market, and secondly, nobody stuck around. My niche was far too broad. The niche was competitive, but I was still pulling visitors so I wasn’t too concerned. Anyhow, I made very little money off of that site, a site which I invested a year of hard work in to.
But I was passionate about technology! How come money wasn’t flowing into my bank account? What was I going to do?
Listen to me when I say this: passion is not going to make your website successful. Believing that passion will equate to success is doing nothing but creating a false illusion that you don’t have to treat your website like a business.
After all, your website is exactly that – a business. If you don’t have interested visitors coming to your site to buy your products, you aren’t going to make any money. If you don’t have a defined target audience with a clear marketing plan, you’re not going to make any money. If you don’t think of your website strictly as a business and treat it as such, you are not going to make any money.
The biggest mistake I see with this comes down to niche selection, or a lack of. This was the mistake I made as well. In most cases, you’ll find people making one of two mistakes:
- They target a market instead of a niche.
- They choose a niche that has no profit potential.
Niche research is important. You absolutely must conduct niche research ahead of time. Create a marketing plan before you create your website. Learn what your target audience is like. Learn what products you can promote to them. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Don’t do what I did, and invest a year of your life into a website that has no profit potential.
Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t have passion. Passion will turn a good business into a great business, but only if you have a business in the first place. Passion won’t suddenly transform your website into a money making machine, like some people are making it out to be.
I don’t get it. Yes, you should absolutely love the work that you’re doing. But only if it’s profitable. Because at the end of the day, the most important thing is how much money you’re making.
How To Find Profitable Niches That You’re Interested In
It’s time to select a good niche. Make a list of all the specific topics you’re interested in (or could be come interested in), in order of passion. If you spend money on them regularly, even better.
Cross out all of the ones that you immediately know aren’t profitable.
Visit Magazines.com. Put an X by all of the niches that DO NOT have a magazine, but do not cross them out.
Visit Clickbank. Circle all niches that have at least one product. Of course, more is better.
Visit Amazon.com. Underline all the niches that have Amazon products for sale.
Cross out any niches that aren’t circled or underlined.
Whatever niches you have left are probably good choices. If the niche does not have an X by it, even better. Choose whichever niche you feel like you’d be able to stick with the longest. You don’t have to be super passionate about it, but you should just have some interest in it
My Niche Is Too Competitive! Now What?
The fear of competition is another idea you need to get out of your head right away. Competition is a sign of a healthy market. Competition means that there’s money to be made in that niche. Why would a niche be competitive if it wasn’t profitable?
Competition is only an issue if you plan on relying solely on SEO. There are many other ways to gain traffic to your website, which I cover in my free 7-day traffic building course. Check it out, and you’ll never worry about competition again.
So the next time someone tells you that passion is the key to success… show them this post! You’ll save them from wasting their time chasing nothing but a dream, when they could be building a profitable business.