Top 10 Blog Monetization Tips
So, you want to make money blogging.
But, how?
Which method is the best one?
Here, I will outline what I believe to be the top 10 ways to monetize a blog site in the best order I believe they are workable
1. Membership Programs
The “free” model is a huge and growing trend in online income right now. You provide a great deal of quality content to your audience for free, and provide a premium-level program to those willing to pay for it. You can charge a monthly membership that will provide a steady income stream.
Any blog can be turned into this style of membership program. We’ll cover that a little later.
2. Sell Your Own Information Products
The selling of knowledge is BIG Business! If you build your position within your market, you can then sell quality information to that market. This can be e-books, audio, videos, or all of the above. You can package in bundles or just sell them digitally. If you author the product yourself you keep 100% of the profit.
3. Provide Services
Another great way to make money with a blog is an indirect one. Use your blog to build your reputation, your brand and your audience. Then, make your money by directing that attention into offline services, consulting and/or coaching. I’ve seen many a blogger develop a nice, lucrative business just from coaching. The one drawback is the trading time for money so keep that in mind during your planning stages. How much time can you invest?
4. Public Speaking
If you develop your reputation, brand and audience to the point you can be considered an expert in your niche, you can turn that into a public speaking business that you get paid for.
5. Product Sales
If you have a physical product line to offer, you can use your blog as a venue for promoting your online store. Sell whatever you like. If you are an artist, you can develop an online store to sell your art pieces and a blog to build up audience and a following.
6. Affiliate Programs
Affiliate marketing is a great way to build up your income. You sell other peoples stuff to your audience and get paid when they buy it. In fact, any time I recommend a product or service to my audience, I check to see if they have an affiliate program. If so, I sign up and use my affiliate link. If I’m going to recommend something to my readers anyway, I might as well make a little something for the free advertising I’m giving them.
7. Direct Ad Sales
Banner ads and in-text ads a popular way to make money – but be aware, it’s not the most lucrative unless you have thousands and thousands of readers. This is usually the first method would-be bloggers consider.
However, if you’re going to try direct sales, selling the ads directly will result in more cash in your pocket. You should consider creating a media kit for your blog that includes ad sizes, prices and locations. As for pricing, a general rule of thumb is to aim for twice your eCPM from Google Adsense.
Why twice? Because that’s what Google is charging – you didn’t think you’d get it all did you?
8. Banner Advertising
If you don’t want to sell your own ads, you can still run network advertising from a variety of different sources. Personally, I use Adsense and keep it simple.
You can also direct sell ads and use network ads as filler for unused inventory.
9. Pay Per Post
You can get paid to review products, sites or services on your blog. Sites like PayPerPost, Social Spark and ReviewMe are among the most popular options. I’ve seen some blogs sell this option directly. When doing any type of paid posting, it is imperative to disclose the fact that it is a paid review. You also want to make sure to not challenge your integrity by giving a less than honest review.
10. Develop and Sell
You can build a blog, build an audience, sell it. In fact, some people actually buy blogs which are dead or setting idle. They’ll invest their marketing skills, build the SEO back links, cultivate readership then sell it for a profit. It can work.
I’ve sold three websites now ranging in price from $100 for one that I had that was dying on the vine and being underused to the more lucrative ones at $6,500 and $95,000.
There’s a nice amount of money to be had in flipping websites IF you have the skills to develop and market them to the point they become desirable to buyers.
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