Blogging for Profit Tips and Tricks

7203

Blogging is one of the 10 best ways for stay at home parents to earn money. It’s also an easy way to work part-time on an at-home business opportunity to supplement a full-time salary earned from a traditional employer. If you’re blogging just to be blogging, then you’re missing out on a wonderful opportunity to turn a profit.

Blogging for profit isn’t easy to do. Let’s be clear about this right up front. The average blog owner is going to make exactly $0 in the next 30 days. Although there are blogging millionaires out there, the chances of that happening for the average person are about as good as being struck by lightning. It can happen, but you’ve got to make it happen. In return, you might be able to clear five figures on some part-time work in the next 12-24 months.

If you’re ready to get writing and posting, then here’s how you can make blogging profitable.

1. Get Into The World Of Sales.

There are two ways that you can sell things through a blog: you can sell your own stuff or you can represent products and services from other businesses. The first option is referred to as “direct sales.” The second option, which is more commonly used, is called “affiliate sales.”

Being an affiliate means that when one of your visitors clicks a link on your site and then purchases the item behind that link, you’ll earn a commission on the sale. Amazon has the most comprehensive affiliate program on the internet right now, allowing anyone to sell virtually any item on their site to earn up to 7% of the sale. It’s often what you’ll see bloggers using because it is fast and easy to get started and the coding just pastes right into the blog.

Specific opportunities might be more profitable if they match up with your niche expertise. From SEO services to web hosting to baked goods, just about every industry is represented by affiliate marketing today in some way. Choose your passion and then create content with affiliate links to start turning a profit.

2. Don’t Make Selling Stuff Your #1 Priority.

This is where most bloggers get tripped up. Selling things through blogging is important to generate income, but it can’t be your #1 priority. Information is the most valuable resource that you have. Your passion for that information even outranks money in terms of value. If information isn’t proven and passion isn’t authentic, then a blog isn’t going to earn any profits whatsoever.

How can you be authentic on your blog and still create a foundation that will lead up to a sale?

  • Blog about topics you’re passionate about and only include sales links in 33% of your blog posts so that people aren’t overwhelmed by your hyperlinks.
  • Offer an email marketing solution that is sales-related so that people can get offers if they want offers.
  • Create products or offer affiliate products that compliment the subject matter. A musician might teach lessons online, for example, and offer a permanent link to their music CDs or downloads for sale.

Your information must be your priority. Never forget that.

3. Be Strict About Your Advertising Programs.

It is estimated that 10% of clicks that happen on every advertising program are fraudulent in some way. This has advertising agencies that specialize in internet advertising actively monitoring all of the clicks that happen to make sure they are authentic in nature. 85% of advertising clicks come from less than 10% of the blog reading population, so something strange stands out pretty readily.

If you do decide to include advertising on your blog, then make sure your family and friends know that they SHOULD NOT click on the ads ever. Accidental clicks can happen, of course, but a consistent pattern of clicking in an attempt to make you money will be discovered and get your advertising account banned. For life.

It’s often not worth the risk. If you are advertising, then sell your own space instead of using a program. Offer blog post sponsorships. Write sponsored posts that review products. Talk to local businesses about advertising. It will take some time to build up enough traffic to make it worthwhile, so use the other tips and tricks before implementing this one.

4. Do Something Different.

There are at least 40,000 similar pieces of advice on the internet right about how to make money from blogging. Each one offers many of the same tips because it is what works. The only problem is that if several thousand people are all doing the same thing already and you want to join them, there’s a good chance your blog isn’t going to stand out.

That’s why doing something different can make you stand out from the rest of the pack. Instead of writing your own blog, for example, offer to write content for other blogs instead. There are literally 10 million plus blogs being updated on the internet consistently. Not everyone has the time available to them to update that content. That in itself is a money making opportunity.

Of course there are other people doing that already as well. The best advice here is this: do what you do best and let your expertise speak for itself. If you’re fluent in English and can write a few thousand words per day, however, your skills are going to be in demand.

5. Link Up With a Tax-Exempt Organization.

The modern consumer wants to experience more value for their investment. Even if a reader isn’t creating monetary profits for you, they are spending time on your blog and that’s a cost to them. By linking up your blog with a tax-exempt organization, you’ll be able to help your readers feel like they are supporting something bigger than themselves.

Tax-exempt companies also like having the extra exposure because it gives them a wider fundraising demographic. Invite them to write guest posts to lessen your content load. In return, your blog will also gain more exposure through the attached tax-exempt network and give you the chance to earn more impressions, more clicks, and more chances for an ongoing paid sponsorship.

6. Be Controversial.

Polarization is the name of today’s blogging game. The blogs that tend to receive the most traffic tend to be the ones that take what most would consider an extreme stance on every given subject. There is some risk in using this particular tip because one side of the reader base will be offended, but the benefit is that those who agree will support your cause 100% and even provide monetary support directly to help you keep up with your work.

The trick to making this work is to be over the top, but not be completely over the top crazy. Invite alternative opinions to give your blog balance. Over time, the debates that happen on your comments page will add up to a number of clicks and that eventually means money in your pocket.

7. Be Consistent.

Blogging for profits must happen on a regular schedule. It can’t be something that you just decide to do when you have a free moment here or there. It must become a routine that readers can expect. Without regular updates, there won’t be regular profits.

The best thing to do is to get into a habit where you’re writing a little bit every day. Maybe some days you’ll just share a picture or two. As long as there is a regular update that your readers will find to be valuable, you’ll have the chance to continue down the path toward profitability.

Consistency also makes it possible to attract sponsors and donations to your blog. Sponsors like to see consistent posts so that readership totals have more meaning to them. If someone wants to give away a pair of shoes through your blog, if they don’t know when you’re going to post the contest, then why would they even try to make that opportunity happen?

Consistency can still happen on a crazy schedule. Write when you can and then schedule the posts to appear at a certain time. It doesn’t have to be a daily schedule. Every 2-4 days is generally pretty successful as long as the waiting period is the same. Some blogs can even post weekly and have avid readership.

8. Join a Network.

There are a number of MLM-style blogging networks available today that can also provide bloggers with some profits. It’s a fast way to get started, but beware that profitable posts can dry up quickly. If you do use a network, then make sure you have another personal blog as a back up plan.

These blogging for profit tips and tricks will help your blog one day make more than the $0 it is making monthly right now. Get to work, be consistent with that work, and one day you’ll have a profitable venture.