Blogs are fantastic! They can drive traffic to your site through SEO, and through social marketing, and they can make you money through:
- Affiliate sales,
- Through banner advertising,
- And through contextual advertising programs (like Google Adsense).
A lot of people want to make money blogging and, according to the Wall Street Journal, blogging is America’s Newest Profession. Internet marketers all over the world, who know the potential value of a blog make good use of it. Most of them have several blogs on the go at all times. Some are for the purposes of SEO more than anything but some blogs do a great job of SEO as well as creating profit directly.
So how do you increase the chances of making money blogging?
- Pick a Niche. The search engines won’t know how to categorise a general blog so pick a niche that you can focus on. That way the search engines will know how to classify the blog and the visitors you attract are somewhat pre-qualfied for sales
- Careful ad placement. Don’t overdo it! A few well placed ads helps your reader see the ads instead of being overwhelmed with banners and links
- A combination of graphic and text ads. A picture can be enticing to click but so can a well-placed link that fits into a blog post
- Pre-sell something in the blog entries. By pre-selling something, people may click a link to buy
- Don’t give too much info away! Provide valuable information but create curiosity so people will consider clicking to learn more.
- Work to get the visitor’s email address! Just because they don’t buy today doesn’t mean you should give up. They could subscribe to your blog through RSS and / or get on your e-mail marketing list allowing you to market to them in future.
Can you make a full-time living blogging? Maybe; maybe not. It can be fun and it can definitely be profitable, too. be Happy Blogging!
About Sean Rasmussen
HI Sean
Blogging is not only popular in America from what I see, it is becoming very popular in Australia as well I have been amazed at the number of people I know, who are online blogging
Hi Rita
I had never even heard of blogging before when I started my training for internet marketing last year but I am amazed at the amount of people I now know who have a blog or blogs.
The exciting part is that we can monetise them in many different ways. Now that is cool!
Hello Sean,
I love to blog. Its my passion, and I think always will be. I still have a problem with finding my “niche” as such. I think I am close to finding out what my next journey in life will be about. I have not made money from blogging as yet, but can see with your hints and tips what I need to be doing to my blogs to make that happen.
Here’s to finding out more and more and more….Information is power
Thanks Sean
Lisa
Hi Sean
I have found blogging to be a lot of fun and pretty easy to learn about it, if you have the right teachers.
Very interesting to learn about the different methods to monetize the blog. I will be implementing the strategies and let you know how it goes
Hi Lisa,
I’m reading your comments. It shows you like blogging by the interesting posts you are making.
Are you a member of the YOTA Forum, or just in the “Commenting Competition”?
There is so much info in YOTA forum and on the webinars concerning blogging and, getting started with blogging.
Good luck either way.
Hello Jill,
I am not a member of YOTA but I am following Sean teachings through his blogs. I have learnt more in the last two weeks with reading his hints and tips then I thought possible. I am looking at buying his website package deal “Year Of The Blogger” for my next project. I am in the process of having a product made, and once that is up and ready to go then I will be purchasing his Website deal.
Are you in the forum of YOTA? Would love to know what you think of it if you are?
Cheers
Lisa
Hi Lisa
Sorry for hopping in. Yes Jill is as I am. In my opinion it is the best forum in the planet. Sean would be the most honest and ethical marketer you will ever come across. He has surrounded himself with like minded people that are the moderators in the forum. They man the forum for up to 16 hours a day.
When you ask a question you will get a response sometimes within a minutes but certainly pretty quickly. Sean calls it pounce on response and it certainly is that. The resources are amazing. Heaps of videos, lots of webinars, technical help, the list goes on. I have been in the forum since October an from what I have learnt I am about to market myself. What Sean doesn’t know about SEO isn’t worth knowing.
I now have my blog posts on page 1 quite often thanks to what I have learnt.
I could go on for hours but better finish it there.
I will be happy to talk about the forum further if you are interested.
Hi Sean,
I can’t wait until I’m in the swing of regular blogging.
I loved writing at school, and that was a while ago so am a bit rusty. When I get going though on a topic of interest there is no stopping me.
Hi Sean,
I think this is the hardest thing; being able to monetize my blog. I’m learning lots of different strategies for doing this. I’m going to start implementing the ones I can right now. Some I will until I am more advanced.
Either way, I’ll be working on them on a daily basis as I’m determined to make money blogging.
Keep at it Jazz. It will happen
Better late than never but here I am. Personally I think Sean has definately got all the right strategies in all the right places when it comes to blogging and SEO.
As the forum has been fore-mentioned let me just add. I have been a YOTA Forum member since the beginning and watched the forum grow into what it is now. I consider it to be the best investment I have ever made. Sean is an outstanding mentor and he has the art of teaching from the simple to the complex covered.
Thanks Helen, it’s always been a pleasure having you as part of the forum as well
Wow, something just happened to my reply as I was typing so hope it didn’t submit accidentally…if you see a half chewed reply I apologise… I am lying flat on the floor with a neck injury trying to type this!
Anyway I think what you wrote about blogging Sean is very interesting.
I think a personal blog where people can get to know you is a good idea. That way you can build up good rapport with people and a following. You can then have another blog or blogs that can be monetised and you can link them from your personal blog if they relate in some way. Hmmmm I think I may have learnt that from the YOTA forum?
Kind regards
Elly
Looks like your reply turned out okay Elly and you are right on the money with your view of blogging
Hi Sean,
Thanks for the great tips on Blog Monetization Strategies.
I found two tips that you gave very interesting.
The first is writing a topical post series pre-selling a product, which creates a lot of interest around the product. The second is giving away enough information to creates enough interest for the reader to want to learn more.
These are two point I will definitely put more thought into, thanks.
Hi Sean,
Monetizing your blog is the really cool part in my opinion because I am all about making money online, however finding the right products & click through formula’s seem to be a bit trickier than I first anticipated.
I think it helps to have a decent amount of knowledge within the niche you choose in order to have an enticing flow of information on your blog.
Making money from blogging is such an exciting concept and is only going to get more popular. It’s definately not easy though so I think a lot of people may give up on their blog monetization attempts.
Its taken me a while to understand how a blog can be more effective than a traditional static website. As an online shopper, I’m much more familiar with static sites but I’ve learned that many millions of dollars are in fact spent and earned via blogs. I’m still deciding on which “passion” I should focus on. I guess the key is to establish one successful blog and then move on to building many more blogs,
hey sean thanks heaps for this- i’ve just clicked as i read cade’s comments what i’ll be spending time setting up next : generic, not product related blog in niche market relating to product we just found we’re panting over, then set up 2nd blog selling said product! oh – law school HASN’T made me stupid! excellent- thanks for this sage wisdom and tricks of the trade. and for the comment above asking in regards to Sean, his excellence and integrity knows no bounds, and we’re glad to know him!
Sean Thank you for the 6 Blog Monetization Strategies above. I like blogging and hopefully I can use these tips to make money online soon.
Re-reading as I set up the blog: any reccomendations for which type of monetization strategy is best for a baby-blog just getting off the ground without huge RSS subscription and/or following yet? if we’re hedging, i’ll say Google Adsense?
“Can you make a full-time living blogging? Maybe; maybe not.” At last a guru who gives honest answers and doesn’t promise the world as he tries to flog a blogging app.