I think there is certainly a risk of imitation with certain types of websites. I was never keen on posting income reports myself, however many readers requested it and I gave in to peer pressure ;)

Posting income reports seems to validate the author in the eyes of many readers. Whilst I do believe that content is the most important thing for my own blog, I do realise that reputation is a factor too.

No problem Matthew. I’ll be sure to check it out.

I didn’t realise you spent that much time writing the income report. That’s impressive.

The 1st of the month is always a brutal day, 4 hours of accounts, 3 hours of reports and 8-12 hours to write the income report.

Oh wait its the 1st tomorrow.

And its a Saturday ><

I probably wouldn’t be (that) inspired by people like Pete Cashmore and Peter Rojas as what they have created is far beyond the realms of my imagination of what I could create. I couldn’t relate to their success.

I think I mentioned that by learning of someone’s income, you can see whether their advice is relevant to you (me) or not. If I read an income report from someone making $100,000 a month then I would think “that is great for them, but its not something I am likely to achieve”. Whereas if I saw someone making $5,000 a month, I might be more likely to follow their blog as it is something to aspire to. But that is just one factor of many as to why I would chose to follow them.

It doesn’t really make sense as its probably best in life to follow the most successful people but such is human nature!

Why doesn’t Pat only focus on his blog? I think with Pat, and other people in the MMO niche, is that if you aren’t making money elsewhere, apart from your MMO blog, you lose a lot of credibility. Again you could argue that he is teaching how to make money online and has made a site (his blog), that is making lots of money; but people could also argue that he only makes money from teaching, not doing. I agree with both sides of this argument but tend to fall on the side of the latter. Although in Pat’s case his blog has outgrown its original purpose and has become something in its own right.

I guess people (me) want to know what successful people are doing in general to help try and get into that mindset. You are right it comes down (mostly) to hard work and determination, but those can he hard to maintain when things aren’t working out etc I am inspired by Pat, as on one of his podcasts he said he has two kids, is a stay at home dad and does his work at night after the kids have gone to bed. That is some impressive time management there which I’d love to emulate!

Joe

That is a good point Joe. I can appreciate why some people may not relate to someone in particular.

As I noted before, I find inspiration from Pete Cashmore because he is not a developer (by trade). I can still remember when Mashable was a new blog. At the time it was no different to other blogs that I myself created. He quickly changed that and set out to distinguish it from the crowd with high volume posting and high quality articles. So whilst I cannot relate to having a mega blog that is worth millions, I do find inspiration in the fact that his blog started in the same way as mine. As did Peter Rojas’s first success Gizmodo. I guess when it comes to inspiration, people find it in different places.

I am not sure that Pat should worry about credibility. Perhaps he is thinking more about diversifying his income. Maybe in two years from now, a bigger part of his income will come from his other projects.

He is definitely someone to inspire to. He works incredibly hard at what he does and is a great example of a blogger that knows how to connect with his audience.

Thanks again for taking the time to leave such a good comment.

I agree, it is one way to decide whether someone is worth listening to. I do think the websites they own and developed are a better indicator of someone’s capabilities…and their past success counts for a lot too.

I personally find more inspiration from guys like Pete Cashmore and Peter Rojas as they have created mega blogs (Mashable and Gizmodo/Engadget respectively). And I don’t believe they are technical guys. I only know basic coding so I was never inspired by Mark Zuckerberg; as he did something I could never have done.

Cashmore and Rojas are different. They developed their blogs through nothing but sheer determination. Peter Rojas wrote a blog post two months ago in which he noted that when he initially started Gizmodo and Engadget, he was writing more than 30 posts per day. I know most were short posts, but still, that to me is very inspiring. It also shows what one person can do if they are determined enough.

Another factor for me is how they make their money. For example, John Chow is a great blogger. He blogs frequently and he knows how to sell products to people….however, there is no mystery to how he makes money. He is fantastic at what he does but I have never wondered how he has built his blog (though like the other bloggers I mentioned, I’m inspired by his work rate).

Pat Flynn is another good example. He is making around $58k a month. If you look at his breakdown, he is making around $46k of that total from his blog (around 80%). He is making around $3k each with the niche sites he owns.

I’m sure that many people get inspired by the fact he is making so much money…though it isn’t a real mystery as to how he makes the majority of his cash. It all comes from his blog. However, like you said, he has demonstrated that he knows how to make money on the web with niche websites. He makes great videos and podcasts too. That is what people should be focusing on, rather than his income.

The only thing I have always wondered about Pat is why he doesn’t focus 100% of his time on his blog. I realise he needs example websites to teach people…however if I was in his boat, I would be focusing more on the website that brings in the majority of cash. Alternatively, I would save up a few hundred grand and start buying websites.

Pat comes across as a nice guy. Again, it’s his hard work and determination that inspire me.

I do take your thoughts on board though. I’m hoping to relaunch a website soon and I’m keen to share details about it with all of you. I didn’t even think about sharing details about what my days involved etc. It’s little things like that which I forget others would like to know.

Feel free to give me a buzz if there is anything you want me to cover…or if you have any questions about how I make money.

I can see where you are coming from and agree with a lot of what you say.

However, I still think income reports can be one good way of determining credibility. Sure they can be made up and if I saw a new blog spring up from someone I’d never heard of, who wasn’t linking to any projects they’d done or wasn’t mentioned anywhere else online, and they posted a big income report I would be wary.

Likewise if someone with a good reputation and was ‘known in the scene’ was posting in-depth advice, but wasn’t posting income reports I wouldn’t discount his advice as he wasn’t backing it with an income report.

I should’ve really said I think income reports are *one* way to help determine if someones advice should be followed or listened to. In the make money online sphere there are so many bloggers offering advice that is can be hard to know who to listen to.

If I discover a blog that is new to me that contains a guide on keyword research that I think sounds interesting, and then I see an income report showing that the last site they built made $1000 last month, it then puts the guide in perspective. This is someone who has done something, made some money and is now sharing what they did.

But equally I should also say, to cover myself, that just because someone isn’t making money online their advice shouldn’t be listened to. How many football managers had less-than glittering careers as players but go on to become top managers at the highest level? Why should a player listen to someone tell them how to play when they can’t play themselves…

What would inspire me? Income reports, ranking data, traffic number, bounce rates, number of subscribers. Reports of progress against goals. Work/life balance. What you are doing with the money etc

They all add up to create a good picture of how someone is doing and whether I would aspire to emulate their success in my own endeavours.

So yes I still think income reports are a good idea but they are only part of the bigger picture.

With regards to discovering a competitor’s ranking keywords, what methods do you use? Alexa does provide some stats but they aren’t really that accurate.