10 Misconceptions about Creating a Profitable Website or Blog

1. You need know HTML, CSS, and programming

You do not need to know these skills but they do help (especially HTML). With the invention of Content Management Systems, template design websites (like Weebly), web development applications (like Dreamweaver), and blogging platforms (like Wordpress) you no longer need to know how to write code for your website because these tools write it for you.

With that said, I think it would be VERY beneficial to learn some HTML (and possibly CSS) so you can customize your site and understand the code that makes up your site. You don’t need to have extensive knowledge about writing code but a little will go a very long way.

Also, if you ever want javascript or a snippet of code to do something on your site you can always look it up on the internet. Focus on your website’s content and not on coding your website from scratch—it’s a waste of time.

2. You need to hire a web designer

You can create an entire website from scratch with a content management systems or web development application. You can actually create everything from blogs, forums, polls, forms, visitor roles, shopping carts, and advanced websites with Content Management Systems. You can also customize your website’s theme/design with a content management system or web development application (and there is no need to know HTML or CSS; although, they will help you customize and design your site if you choose to learn them).

 3. It’s expensive

Creating a website or blog can be very cheap! The only things you need to pay for are a domain name and hosting (*note--there are free hosting options but I would not recommend these if you want to make good money from your site). Domain names are typically around $10 and hosting can be as cheap as a few dollars a month when you are first starting out. Aside from those costs....marketing, content creation, building your website, and customizing your website are all free if you do it yourself.

4. It’s time consuming

When I first starting into creating profitable websites I only worked a few hours a week because I was a full time college student. After about a month I was already making some money (*if I knew then what I know now about making profitable websites I could have made a lot more money in that time period). But the moral of this is...it's not time consuming. You'll basically get out what you put in. If you can only work a couple hours a week...you can make some extra income on the side. I work more full time on my websites...and I make a full time income!

5. You get rich quick

While it’s true that there have been people that have made great money right after a website launch because they had a great/unique idea for a website; you should not start a website with these expectations. Realistically, you need to develop a good amount of quality content for your website, traffic sources, and monetization methods before you will start seeing good money role in. If you are pretty devoted and are writing good articles for your website or blog then I think it is fair to say you could start seeing decent money come in within a couple months if you promote and monetize your site how I teach.

Your goal should be to steadily produce regular content when your schedule permits it so you can start developing a reader base and climbing up in the search engine rankings. Once you have a fair amount of quality/original content and you put some time into promoting and monetizing your site you will start to see some good payoffs for your work!

6. Visitors will automatically come if you create a website or blog

Just because you create a website or blog doesn’t automatically mean people will come to your website. You need to create a website with good content and put time into promoting your website like I teach—then people will come!

7. People want to read about you and your life

Unless you are a celebrity, don’t create a blog or website just about you (because only your friends and family will read it). That’s assuming you want to make money from your site though. If you want to just have a personal blog about yourself then of course that's fine; however, if you want to create a website that makes money...you need to start a website in a good internet niche.

8. The best websites are the best designed and most advanced sites

When I created my first website I definitely fell into this trap! I thought I had to know everything about HTML, CSS, programming, and had to create a website with all the bells and whistles. However, I learned that what people really want is a clean, good looking website that is easy to navigate with good content on it…and not a website with the most perfectly written code with all the newest widgets embedded all over it. Doing all your own HTML, CSS, and programming is a HUGE waste of time when you have Content Management Systems and Web Development Applications that can easily do this for you. Instead of focusing on creating the best designed website, let content management systems or website development applications do this for you...so you can focus on creating good content.

9. You must be web savvy

If you don’t consider yourself web savvy, you can learn to be! All the skills you need to know can be learned on the internet and this website...and there are hundreds of free tools that take all the real hard work out of creating websites.

10. Placing ads on your website will hurt your web traffic

This is another trap I fell into when I created my first website. I hardly placed any ads on my site and if I did they were poorly placed because I wanted them where they wouldn’t be in anyone’s way. However, I just ended up putting them where nobody would ever look; therefore, no one ever clicked them. For some reason I thought my ads would annoy my visitors or even drive them away. However, I have found this to be completely false. My new philosophy is--I have worked hard to create a good article to help people so it’s ok for me to be compensated for it.

Also, if you are using pay per click advertising, these ads are relevant to the content your readers are looking for—so by placing these ads on your site, you are just linking your visitors to something they are looking for. Since I have been placing ads more effectively across my websites, my visitors (and profits) have only increased! I would encourage you to do the same. *note—to see how to make money with Google Adsense click here.

...So do you agree with this list? Do you have other misconception examples? Feel free to comment and discuss below.

Also, If you want to learn about search engine marketing, SEO, and link building for your website or blog...check out this free report I wrote.