People start up a blog for all kinds of reasons. Some people have tunnel vision and their only purpose is to make money with it. While this has been successful for some, it can also be disastrous if you lean too heavily on plugging links and forget to provide value for anyone reading.
Others are happy to set up a blog that their friends and family can read, but perhaps the best reason to have for blogging is that you want to help others – and maybe make a little bit of cash at the same time.
The truth is that whatever your reason for blogging might be, if you want to make it into a profitable sideline (or even a main business, as some people already have) then you need to offer people good content. If you don't then they don't have any reason to keep reading your blog – and that's exactly what you want them to do if you are going to make any real cash from your blog.
It's also important to get a balance of content on your blog. If your promotional ads, affiliate links and banners are too noticeable then you run the risk of driving people away. Think about what draws you in when you read other blogs and try to emulate that same balance of content.
Ultimately your main reason for blogging should be that you want to provide worthwhile and valuable information for other people to benefit from. That should always be your number one priority if you are going to produce a blog that is going to pull in the readers on a regular basis.
And of course the more readers you get, the more likely it is that you will start to make sales as a result. Just don't forget why you started blogging in the first place.
