I never thought of my blog as a money maker. I started it because I love to write. This is one of the most asked questions that I get. I know that you have heard those stories of bloggers making x amount of dollars in their first month of blogging and that the number always seems to be huge. I want to start off by saying that that is not normal.
I believe in building your readership and trust with your ideal reader before you begin to sell to them. Now, this is totally different if you have a business already and you are blogging to create more awareness and more connection to your target market that you already have. Why do I separate the two?
If you are looking to start a blog and have no business currently but know someday that you want to, you need to build that trust. You need to set up your foundation before you start selling to people. People don’t want to feel like they are being sold to. They want to feel that connection with you. They want to get to know you.
If you currently have a business but no consistent blog then it is okay to sell your products through your blog. This is especially helpful if you already have loyal customers already. Starting a blog will allow them a more intimate view of your product and your business. You more than likely already have a website that you are selling on.
I hope that made sense to all of you.
MONETIZING YOUR BLOG, YOUR WAY
There are so many ways that you can make money with your blog. I will be going over a few of them today. I want to start off by saying that I know we have all been on a blog that has had so many ads pop up that you eventually leave. I can’t be the only one. I absolutely hate it when that happens. I will leave a site if I can’t read the content so please keep that in mind if you want to use ads.
1. Add advertisements to your blog. The thing with ads is that you are normally sending your readers off of your site to another site on that ad. You don’t really want to do that but I know that some bloggers make a good amount of money with ads. I personally don’t use ads because of what I mentioned above, I can’t stand ads that continuously pop up and block the content that I came to view. You can use Google Adsense, Media.net, and more.
2. Charge for writing guest blog posts. If you have a good amount of traffic to your site, you can start charging for guest blog posts. You can even charge to have people write on your site as a guest blogger. With this option, ensure that you have clear rules for those writing on your site. Also don’t accept just anyone and everyone. Make sure that if you have guest bloggers on your site that they are bloggers that will mesh with your ideal reader.
3. Create courses for what you are an expert in. What do you blog about? You can turn anything into a course so start brainstorming. It doesn’t even have to be a course that is 100s of dollars. It can be a course that you sell for $20 or $30. There are so many options in setting up a course. I have my course through Teachable. It was easy to set up. Through Teachable, I have to sell through their platform and not on my website but I have the course on my website and it sends them to Teachable to purchase it.
4. Affiliate marketing. You can use the Amazon Affiliate program. This can be a great way for you to monetize your blog. Make sure that you are using the products that you are linking to as well as ensure that these products will be useful to your ideal reader.
5. Sell an ebook. You can even create an ebook and turn it into a course. Now with 1 type of content, you have created 2 income streams. This will also help to build up your authority and expertise in this niche. You can use Canva to create an ebook or you can pay someone to put it together for you.
6. Create a membership site. If you have a topic that you want to offer to a select few people, offer a membership site. They can either pay monthly or a one time fee and they can have access to specialized worksheets, blog posts, and information that a non-member doesn’t get access to.
7. Sell your own products. If you have your own business then sell your own products on your blog. Blogging allows your customers a more intimate way of getting to know your business. They will see the love that you have for your products.
8. Host workshops. This is a great way to get offline and get in front of people. A great way to connect with your readers in real life.
9. Sell services. I have 2 websites and on each one, I have a different selection of services to offer. Creative Purpose is all about blog coaching and selling my group coaching program and workshops that I host. Whereas Meraki Pages will be all about 1 on 1 therapeutic writing clients and small intimate workshops. Use your strengths to guide you.
10. Product reviews. You can either get paid to do this or get free products. That will be discussed in the contract that you and the other business agree to. This is a great way to share products that you use and love. You can even see if the other business will set up an affiliate link for you so you can have 2 income streams coming from product reviews.
These are only a few ways that you can make money through your blog. You can do 1 or multiple ways from this list. My advice is….
Don’t rush it. Create a strong base before you begin to do any of these monetizing options on your blog. Get to know your audience. Get to know your blogging style and your blogging strengths. Monetization is fun, hard, confusing, and exciting all at once. Look into each option carefully and create something that you are going to be proud of. What way of monetization sounds most fun to you?
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