There was a time when a blog was something only super-nerds
maintained. Getting online was tough, expensive and had not much real
returns for the average Joe. The last decade has changed all of that.
We’ve seen the internet go from being a curiosity to a necessity.
Communication methods that we never imagined could exist are now
integral parts of our lives. Most importantly, the internet has become a
place where new ventures can achieve multi-billion dollar statures in a
matter of months – something that most definitely was not the case a
decade ago.
Here are six strategies for you to pick from and get started on building your own empire.
Run PPC Ads
Advertising
is the easiest and quickest way to monetize a blog. Not every blog will
earn thousands of dollars in ad revenue per month, but even a small
start is a step in the right direction. You can pick from a variety of
ad formats – text link ads, display ads or even paid content ads. Each
time a visitor on your site clicks on one of these ad types, you end up
earning a small fee. This fee varies among various ad networks and how
much you can earn is largely a variable of the size of your blog’s
traffic and the
genre of content you create on it. Mahesh Mohan offers a
very interesting calculation of how a blog needs at least 100,000 page views to make $100,000 a year from Google Ad Sense.Promote Affiliate Products
Affiliate marketing is
similar to direct ads on your blog, but not really the same thing. You
see, instead of selling ad space on your blog, here you’ll be creating
content about the brands that want to promote themselves and post these
promotional posts on your blog.
Bloggers with a decent readership
and a sizeable number of visitors per day are good bets to venture into
affiliate marketing. This is because, unless your audience already
trusts you and what you have to say, they’ll never consider the product
or service you’re peddling seriously.
When they do consider
it, click on to the affiliate merchant’s link and actually make a
purchase during that visit, you stand to get a pre-decided commission on
every such sale. Commissions can range from 10 to 30% of the sticker
price of the product you helped sell. Rakuten and ShareASale are examples of affiliate networks you can pick from to promote brands on your blog.
Source: Sugarrae
Sell Stuff
What
if you don’t want to turn your blog into a cluttered, ugly (or subtle)
ad-addled site? You can still make tons of money without defacing your
precious labor of love. Instead of promoting others’ businesses, sell
your own stuff on your blog. The variety of things you could
offer up for sale is truly limited only by your imagination and
abilities. From ebooks to whitepapers to PowerPoint templates to website
themes to good old real world products; there’s nothing ecommerce
cannot help you sell. All you need is a simple shopping cart plugin like
Shopify’s – no matter what CMS or framework your site is built on,
whether it’s Weebly, Wix, or something else – and you’re in business in minutes!
Offer Consulting Services
A
blog typically is a place where you share not just your thoughts, but
also some of your expertise with the world at large. So how about making
some money from this expertise via your blog, instead of doling
everything out for free?
A large number of bloggers have built
successful consulting businesses out of their blogging success. Most
rockstar bloggers like Ramit Sethi and Marcus Sheridan
offer their marketing smarts out on hire and charge their clients a
pretty penny for their expert advice. The best part? You can promote
your budding consultancy business via your own blog. Make money and save
money at the same time!
Pursue Paid Speaking Opportunities
Just
as consultancy is a great option to bring in some extra cash from your
blog, offering your services as a guest speaker is another awesome
opportunity. Mind you, this is not for someone who blogs to vent their
anger at the system or to keep a log of their daily innermost thoughts.
You really need to have something valuable to offer your potential
audience to even consider paid speaking as a means of making money.
Sign up for event and conference updates on sites like AllConferences,
which will keep you posted on the latest industry specific events in
your area. Trade associations in your industry niche, public service
organizations, colleges and universities are all fertile grounds for a
potential speaking paid gig. Use your blog to first establish your
credentials as a thought leader and then approach the right conferences
that match your skill sets with the offer of providing them with your
services as a speaker.
Ads in Your Email Newsletters & RSS Feeds
Nearly every serious blog has its own mailing list and RSS feed. Actually, if you don’t have one yet, start building one today.
A captive audience like a newsletter
or RSS subscriber base is an extremely valuable asset that can be
monetized through judiciously placed ads in your weekly or monthly
newsletters. These can be negotiated along with the banner or text ads
on your blog home page and can advertise brands that operate in the same
industry area as your blog content. This will make sure that the ads
don’t stick out like sore thumbs in your content and that your
subscribers find value in the ads you publish. A targeted ad network
service like LaunchBit is a good option to kick start the monetization of your blog’s newsletter database.
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