Methods and strategies to monetize your blog
Let’s start with the question: Is it really possible to make money with a blog? The answer is, without a doubt, YES! But it must be known that, like any job well done, it is not easy.
How do you make money with a blog?
• Create a blog that deals with interesting content.
• Have enough targeted visitors, preferably from multiple traffic sources.
• Have a clear idea of how to monetize.
• Listening to the user’s needs.
• Have a great sense of observation.
They seem simple conditions to reach and manage but let’s see them in detail.
Create a blog (which deals with interesting content) to make money
We often hear people say “to make money with a blog, find an interesting niche and write content“. This is correct but the information needed to reach the target is missing.
Finding an interesting niche isn’t complex but, once you find it, are you able to produce really interesting content for that niche?
Create good blog content
When we talk about content, therefore blog articles, we know that they must be unique, engaging, not too short, with images, SEO oriented.
One thing that is often underestimated is knowledge of the subject.
For this reason, when I recommend a niche to work on, to those who ask me, I tell them to start with their passions.
A fishing enthusiast will be able to describe well how to fish for seabass, all the techniques and important observations because (most likely) he will have some experience – compared to those who perhaps take an article on an American site “seabass fishing” translates it and draws final conclusions on the based on his own experience, that is the one created in 10 minutes by translating the article.
The user knows how to recognize these differences but above all, and I speak as a marketer, if he follows the advice of those who really have experience and will really fish a sea bass he will be ready to interact but above all to buy, which is essential for those who really want to earn with a blog!
Example: Making money with a cooking blog
Cooking blogs are poping out like mushrooms!
I remember a few years ago when everyone just made a wild copy-paste, the bloggers who knew what they were doing showed the images of the steps for the preparation, while everyone else was at the list of ingredients for 4 people meals and the textual description of the preparation.
Small details were the ones that made the difference. The really good authors were really passionate about cooking, they really cooked the dishes they presented, but most important of all, they understood the needs of the users!
The user needed to see the illustrated passages and not textual descriptions that they could find anywhere.
A blog is born from a passion and not from the entrepreneurial spirit!
The entrepreneurial spirit comes later, when there is a need to monetize the blog.
Let’s briefly hypothesize a scenario: I’m not passionate about the niche so to deal with some content I need to hire copywriters who produce interesting content. How do I know if that content is really interesting? I have to rely on the statistics. Ok, but how can I give the right added value? Here the problems begin!
It is easier to say how to start a successful blog than to say how many blogs close each year.
The challenges of running a blog – and why many quit
The main problems that people who manage a blog face:
• Lack of content.
• Lack of visits.
• Lack of money
Blogs basically arise in two ways or from the idea of a single subject or from multiple subjects. Often, in the initial phase, there are many exciting ideas and more or less a mission, all with a very specific purpose: to make money from the blog!
But to generate profit with the blog you need to have content, have visits and these activities are not always able to coordinate. This also depends on the competitiveness in the niche, but in 99% of cases, it is not easy to have a large number of visitors after just 2-3 months from the start.
Those who write content and have no visits after a while get depressed (and close the blog).
When the first visitors arrive, they do not perform interesting actions, they do not buy the course, the ebook, or they do not become leads. In fact, they don’t even click! Still, there are banners and links “as big as a house!” – At this point, many blog managers abandon the project thinking that the fault lies with the users!
Those who do not give up are linked to the strategy they use to create content, bring interested visitors, and how they monetize their spaces.
Often a blog closes because there is no clear strategy to achieve the objectives, as far as it may be within everyone’s reach (everyone can open and manage a blog, for example with WordPress). To make money with a blog and not fail, we must immediately think of it as a job and not as an amateur product.
How to increase blog visits to earn more?
The first step is SEO. Thanks to the research of keywords and positioning on search engines for them, we can have visits interested in the subject matter.
For example, generally those who search on Google for “affiliate marketing” do it to understand what affiliate marketing is and how to use it for their business, be it a potential affiliate or advertiser, so SEO can help us reach interested users to the topic … because they are looking for us!
From SEO we move on to SEM: we understand which keywords bring more quality traffic and more interested users and we help ourselves with Google Ads to take positions in a sponsored way, so as to be easily found by those users who are looking for precisely that. specific keyword.
From SEO / SEM to Facebook Ads or other social tools: Thanks to the implementation of the Facebook pixel, organically populated, I can create custom audiences that will allow me to reach interested people, or with the same interests as those who have visited my blog organically. In this way, I will be the one to propose my content to potentially interested people.
Thanks to the subscription to the newsletter, I can propose to those who have subscribed to this service on my blog to receive in addition to the commercial proposals (thus earning with the emails I send) also the last three most interesting articles in order to have visitors back.
However, you need to make the article well and write valuable content if you are looking for authority, this takes time, to make money with a blog instead you need to know how to spend your time well!
Possible sources of income for your blog
• Selling articles and backlinks.
• Selling community posts.
• Sale of own products.
• Ebook sale.
• Sale of promotional spaces.
• Sale of third-party products.
As you may have guessed, to earn you have to sell.
So it’s not enough to know how to create and manage a blog, to monetize it you need to know how to sell.
Selling articles and backlinks
When your blog has a good PA (Page Authority) and DA (Domain Authority) you can sell the space for sponsored articles that will have backlinks to other sites/blogs within them. It is not an illegal practice to make money with the blog by offering space for guest posts but I suggest using Facebook groups where it is possible to meet supply and demand.
Try to always host content related to your topics, making a selection of content you will get less from this activity but you will certainly not lose credibility in the eyes of the user.
Selling community posts
Before taking this path you must populate the communities and make sure that users are really interested in communications, information and commercials, in this way we could also “sell” this service.
A good example of this practice is DEMs on an email list. The most interesting data that you need to have (both for those who sell and for those who buy) is certainly the Open Rate but also the average CTR. This way we can justify the costs. The more the target users are interested in a specific topic, the more the addresses are profiled, the higher the interest … the higher the sending cost!
Selling your own products
To monetize a site, selling your own products is a path that many affiliates have begun to take. Partly because they are underpaid for their promotional spaces, partly because the average user is more inclined to buy online but above all because there are more and more tools to work with dropshipping quickly.
In this way, it is possible to do the work as an affiliate while also being an advertiser. This path is often also adopted for another reason, in very small niches it is difficult to carry promotional campaigns or fairly generalist programs and where it could be simple (for example using Amazon) the commissions are not interesting. In these cases, it is better to make a more conspicuous margin with few visits but with interesting orders.
Creating e-books and info-products
Behind this practice there is a real business, there are case studies that show how some marketers manage to generate thousands of euros a month through the creation and distribution of e-books (especially using Amazon’s Kindle format).
This practice can be supported through a blog and, by means of specific techniques that can increase the authority of the e-book, it is possible to generate earnings.
The data that we consider interesting from this practice are for e-books in English as they are aimed at a larger slice of the market. As for the sale of books and info-products on the blog, in addition to using Amazon, many affiliates choose to use Clickbank, where you can choose the information product to promote.
Anyone can write an info-product. Therefore we could find info-products that talk about nutrition and remedies, written by unqualified people but also other topics that should be written by professionals in the sector. In this regard, I suggest carefully evaluating the product to be distributed as it could harm the user or would not be useful.
Selling promotional spaces
If you have a niche blog, you can sell banner spaces or dedicated articles through monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual fees. To tell the truth, this is the dream of every blogger, because through the sale of a space (which does not affect performance for a secure income) it allows you to have a fixed income on which you can rely.
It is also obvious, however, that the advertiser who buys a space will have to really benefit from the purchase of this space, otherwise it would make no sense to spend money without any return on investment. Therefore, although the blog may be niche and focused on certain topics, to offer this service it is necessary to have target visitors who may be really interested in the space we are going to propose.
How can I evaluate the spaces that I will put up for sale? To get an idea not so much on the RPM but on what is displayed and how many clicks the ad receives, initially, I suggest you insert Google AdSense banners. The data collected by AdSense will help me understand the potential of the space that I will be selling.
Selling third party products = Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is certainly the most profitable way to make money with a blog!
By opting for affiliations, the blog manager (= affiliate) decides which product/service to promote on their pages and with which method.
For sure it will be the one that will allow him to earn more with minimal effort or impact on users. The affiliate is motivated to generate shares (be they sales or registrations) because his earnings will come from them.
Making money through affiliate marketing, however, is not easy.
No affiliate earns much money by placing any banner on their blog!
Although it may still be profitable to generate revenue from banners, this is, in my opinion, an activity that doesn’t go with true online income.
How to earn money with a blog with affiliate programs?
First of all, by selecting the best advertisers either through direct affiliate programs or through affiliate networks where you will have access to thousands of promotional campaigns. Each advertiser is an advertiser and the affiliate will earn on each transaction.
You don’t necessarily need many visits, but you need to target them. For this reason, you can take advantage of promotional channels such as SEO or SEM and use other sources of paid advertising traffic, obviously measuring ROI.
How much can you earn with a blog?
You can earn a lot with the blog or nothing! It is an opportunity for any person, be it a housewife, student, or unemployed person. There is no need for large investments and it is a job that can be done from anywhere in the world (just a PC and an internet connection). However, as we have seen, it is necessary to conceive it as a job.
If the blog manager in addition to writing content, managing communities and is a good SEO but at the same time is a good seller, then the blog will have a chance to earn.
All the earning methods, illustrated in this article, can coexist with each other and each of them will help generate revenue. The important aspect that you must never (and I say NEVER) neglect, is the care of the content!
Let’s remember that the user is the most important person who arrives on our blog. He will be the one to read the contents, trust the manager and buy or take other actions. Therefore, avoid overloading the advertising layout because you could generate confusion and among many choices, the user will opt for the most obvious one … RUN AWAY!
Hope you enjoyed this article and hope to see you soon!
Stay safe and stay tuned
S
P.S. I mentioned earlier that affiliate marketing is the best way to make money with a blog. But, there are 100s of ways to create a successful online business. If you’re serious about creating a thriving online business that will allow you financial freedom and more time to spend the way you want then watch this short video.
