How to Monetize your Blog
So, you have created, or are thinking of creating a blog, and are wondering how to monetize your blog? (You can read about Why to Create a Blog Here)
There are multiple ways to monetize your blog, however, before you begin to even consider monetizing your blog, here are a few things that you must give some thought to –
Publish relevant content:
While monetizing may be the ultimate goal of your blog, even before you do that you need to have some content posted on your blog. You should have published some posts that bring value to your readers before you implement your monetization plans. Generally, you should have posted between four to eight posts to give some shape and form to your blog, so that when a visitor comes to your blog, there is some value that you can deliver.
Get some targeted traffic:
While there are some people who believe that you can monetize your blog even before you start to see some traffic, in my opinion, if you are not getting any traffic to your blog, no amount of monetization will give you any positive results. It is therefore important to get some regular targeted traffic to your blog before you spend energy on monetization.
Once you have the above two steps completed, you can begin your monetization efforts. Here are some popular ways to monetize your blog –
Monetize your blog with Affiliate Marketing:
Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts.
The industry has four core players: the merchant (also known as ‘retailer’ or ‘brand’), the network (that contains offers for the affiliate to choose from and also takes care of the payments), the publisher (also known as ‘the affiliate’), and the customer.
In simple words, Companies pay commission to their affiliates for bringing customers to the Company’s online sales page website who then buy a product or service from the company. This is normally achieved by the Affiliate by encouraging a website or blog visitor to buy the product or service by ‘clicking’ through the affiliate link of the company.
There are a number of affiliate networks through which companies’ set-up their affiliate programs. Some examples would be ‘Clickbank’, ‘Commission Junction’, ‘Offervault’ etc.
There are other large online retailers like ‘Amazon’, who have a ‘Associate’ program.
You will need to apply for becoming an affiliate/associate either directly to the company’s affiliate program page, or through an affiliate network like Commission Junction or Offervault.
Mostly, commission offered by digital product sellers are higher than the commission offered by the physical product sellers. This is the reason that most affiliates prefer to sell digital products over physical products. The commissions on digital products sometime can reach 90% of the selling price!
Usually, the steps to become an affiliate are similar:
- Apply to become an affiliate/associate through the affiliate page of the company/network.
- Once the company accepts you as an affiliate, they will provide you with an affiliate link url that you can publish on your blog or website. The Companies track this affiliate link and if anyone clicks this link and buys a product from the company, the affiliate (you) become entitled to the agreed commission.
- You then need to publish content that brings in targeted website traffic to your posts.
More targeted traffic of website visitors you get, more chances are that someone will buy the product through your affiliate link, thus earning you an affiliate commission.
Sell your Own Product online:
Many entrepreneurs want to sell their own product online. If you have a physical product or a digital product, and you would like to sell that online, then creating valuable content on your blog is indeed the way to do it.
In the modern times, more and more product manufacturers and distributors/retailers are creating their online presence with an objective to sell their products.
On the other hand, if you have a digital product of your own, you can sell it through your blog.
As a manufacturer or retailer, you can sell directly to consumer though your blog, instead of going through a wholesaler or distributor. While it allows you to save on the percentage that you would otherwise pay to the wholesaler or distributor as their profits, you will need to have some advertising and promotion budget to acquire customers.
This monetization method suits the entrepreneurs who want to create and sell their own products.
Your blog content is accordingly focused on your own products.
Monetize your blog with Google Ads:
Many bloggers focus on earning income through google ads.
By signing up for Google Ads, you can place ads on your blog and earn money every time someone clicks on the ad. Google Ads is a good way to monetize your blog because it is an easy way to make money and it doesn’t require you to sell anything.
However, your profits or income depends entirely on the number of visitors (traffic) that you can bring to your blog. A small percentage of the visitors are known to click on the posted google ads, thereby earning you an amount per click.
If your goal is to use this monetization method, you should do good research to find out what niches attract high PPC (pay per Click) rates from Google. An example will be the Legal niche. Generally, law firms pay a much higher pay per click amount to Google, and therefore when someone clicks on a google ads link on your blog page, your share of the PPC amount is higher.
While in past, many blogs used to make a decent sum of money from google ads, this method is becoming even more competitive. Of course, you can combine the google ads with other monetizing methods.
Monetizing your blog with Sponsor Ads:
Sponsor ads are advertisements that are placed on websites or other online platforms by businesses or individuals who sponsor a specific product, service, event, or person. These ads typically include a link to the sponsor’s website or landing
page, and they may be targeted to a specific audience or demographic. Sponsor ads can be an effective way to reach potential customers or donors, and they can also help to build brand awareness.
The sponsor ads are placed by the sponsors on the websites or blogs that are in the same niche as the sponsor’s niche or product.
Some networks like ConvertKit Sponsor Network help blog publishers create a relationship with the sponsors.
Before you start getting sponsor ads to be displayed on your blog, you need to build an audience and even an email list.
Sponsors pay for the placement of their ads on your blog with an expectation that your blog gets a large number of visitors who are mostly interested in similar products or services as those provided by the sponsors. Targeted traffic is therefore important for monetizing your blog with sponsor ads.
Offer your Services on your blog:
This monetizing technique is valid for those bloggers who want to offer their services to the potential buyers. While some of the bloggers may want to offer services to local customers, others are interested in offering services online to international buyers.
Some examples of local services include Plumbing, painting, yard work, landscaping etc. services that have a buyer potential in the local market. Of course, you may not want to go to another city if your buyer is from out of town. In the current market environment, almost everyone who offers services, needs to have a website and blog that is focused on the local market.
Other examples of services that may be in demand internationally can include website development, content writing, computer troubleshooting etc. If you have a skill, there is a market for selling your skill in the form of a service.
In order to offer your services, you can use your blog as a direct sales portal, or as a support portal for the same services that you can offer through networks like Fiverr.com, upwork.com etc.
Monetize your blog with online courses:
There is a huge international demand for courses that help people in their personal or financial life. If you are already an expert or are in the process of creating expertise in some area of life, you can create a course and write a blog about it as a marketing tool.
While you will need a different platform to actually deliver your course, you can use your blog to introduce the course to your visitors. Generally, the course creators publish a long form landing page and a few articles that talk about the benefits and the solutions to most common problems that the course will remedy.
Your blog still remains a wonderful vehicle to pass your message on to the visitors of your blog website and works as a pre-sell medium. Getting some useful information to your potential buyer through your blog articles increases your chances of a sale and increases your conversion rate. It also helps you build an email list of targeted buyers.
Offer Coaching Services:
Another way to monetize your blog is by offering coaching.
This is specially for the people who have developed a skill that they would like to utilize to help others. You may have seen quite a large number of blogs and websites that promote their coaching business through their blogs.
As a matter of fact, if you would like to be known as an expert in your area of expertise and would like to establish a coaching business that offers personal coaching through in-person or remotely through online sessions, it is almost imperative that you should have a blog.
You can be a personal coach, or a business coach, depending upon your area of expertise and interest.
Offer Speaking Engagements:
There are a number of niches that have a good potential for keynote speakers, or speakers in general who can address specific subjects.
You may have come across many websites of people who deliver motivational speeches. This is an area that has attracted a large number of personal coaches and speakers. If you have some background in such subjects, your blog can become your best marketing tool.
You can not only publish content on your blog that increases your presence in the market but can also promote your videos and possibly books that you can create and write.
Also, there are some networks who help promote speakers in getting speaking gigs.
Sell Computer Software and Digital Products:
If you are an Information Technology professional who has developed a software to address even a small need, your blog can become your marketing hub for selling your software.
On the other hand, you can create digital products and sell them through your blog. There is a certain amount of demand for even simple digital products like Templates and Guides. An example would be the Project Management Templates, Agile Project Management Templates, Key Performance Indicators templates, Business Governance templates, Personal Growth templates etc.
Your blog can help you create your brand and present you as a professional expert in the field of your choosing.
Conclusions:
In a nutshell, your blog is your window to the world where you can present yourself as an expert and earn a living. Monetizing your blog in a well-thought manner is important. Your blog publishing strategies will depend upon your monetization strategy. Some of the important factors for any kind of monetization are –
- Content that adds value
- Amount of targeted traffic to your blog
- Ease and structure of your blog
- Consistency of your publishing schedule
Once you have launched a blog, all above factors will help in making it successful in achieving desired results.
