How To Make Money With A Blog 2022
You’ll know by now that one of the best things you can do for your business is to expand online. I always suggest that the next, most logical step is to use blogging as a tool to super-power yourself into success. Here, I’ll tell you how to make money with a blog. So you go off and you write and write; with no plan, no outcomes, no real direction.
Back in the good old days, the first rule of business used to be location, location, location… It was all about being in the right place on the high-street. Now we’re all moving online, it seems to be all about information, information, information. But the benefits of churning out constant content seem to have been watered down and instead of reaping results in all areas of your business, you’re just keeping yourself busy, busy, busy!
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Let me ask you something; of all the information you’ve churned out in blog posts and on social media in the last 12 months, how much of it has actually resulted in a sale? The thing is, we are so bombarded by information today, it’s highly accessible and readily available. Let me prove that by giving you some Google stats: Google now processes over 40,000 search queries every second on average, which translates to over 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide. WOW!
Can you see now why churning out MORE information just for the sake of it is an ineffective use your time – especially if you believe that it will generate sales? So, before you write another blog post and hope that it will bring people rushing into your business, consider the mountains and mountains of information that is already bombarding people, every second of every day. So here are some great tips on how to make money with a blog.
You see, information alone is great when it comes to building the important foundations of your business. You’re actively informing your customer and potential customers about what you know. You’re building authority whilst boosting your Google rankings. But that shouldn’t be all your blogging is about. Some people think that by “content marketing” your arse off, you’ll somehow sell more and therefore earn more. But there’s serious pieces of the puzzle that you’re missing! The one thing people forget about blogging is that, in its own right, you can actually make a lot of money from it. So, you’re thinking about starting a blog as part of your passive income journey, bear this in mind! Let’s dive into the benefits of blogging, and some of the elements you could be missing, that may well be leaving cash and customers on the table. How to make money with a blog….
Rankings and Authority
Not only does content marketing increase your websites Google rankings, which is great, but it also gives your customers even more from you – building the “know, like and trust” factor that happens to be one of the key elements to making money in any business these days. By introducing your customers and potential customers to you and what you know, you’re able to create a rapport with them, that will build authority within your niche market.
The thing is, people don’t see every single piece of content you create – I promise! Even your most loyal of customers will not see every blog post unless you make them see it! Stop just creating content and hitting publish; share your blog posts in other places including on all your social media platforms (more than once!), sending out a quick email to your list and not forgetting Pinterest!
This will continue to drive traffic from other sources, not just Google, and will ensure that the next steps become even more beneficial to your business and your back pocket!
Affiliate Marketing
Within each blog post there’s a strong chance that you’re making recommendations to products or services that aren’t yours. It’s human nature and we all do it! Why not maximise the return on your time by adding affiliate links to those recommendations? If you’re smart about it, you’ll plan out your posts to include affiliate marketing as part of your bigger picture plan. If you’re writing content anyway, you are literally leaving money on the table if you don’t leverage that content.
Advertising
Speaking of leveraging content; if you’ve worked hard on your blogging plans and have been creating content for some time, you may well be seeing those returns in the form of traffic to your website. Leveraging that traffic is your next step; by including small amounts of paid advertising within your site, especially PPV (pay per view) advertising, then you’re making money simply for providing damn good information! Even the smallest ads, that don’t encroach on your overall business values and brand, are worth throwing out there when your traffic is good.
Sponsored Content
Have you considered charging others to allow them to have blog space on your website, not just through ads? Sponsored content is just that, where brands pay to have content on your site. Sometimes they’ll write the posts themselves, sometimes you can do it for them, but however you decide to play it, it’s worth considering if it’s a brand that you would recommend anyway.
I have a strict policy of only working with brands that will be suitable for my audience. There is absolutely no point in jumping to work with brands that pull the audience away from the true message and service of your business. That wouldn’t be sensible for the business or my customers! As such, I set myself a strict strategy in my business plan of how I will work with brands. This includes:
- How much I will charge and what that charge includes
- What I am willing to include within a promotion
- The limits of the charge include (exclusive content being one!)
- A strict timeline and expectations for both me and the brand I’m working with
If all parties are clear about your process and terms, it’s less confusing for everyone and ensures consistency and quality for your readers and customers every single time. I do reach out to brands on occasion, but more often, I am approached by them directly through the website or social media. I’d recommend making it easy for brands to reach out to you too, by providing a domain registered email address.
Calls to Action
Drawing attention to our own products and services is also something we’re pretty crap at! I will regularly follow a Pinterest pin to a blog post that interests me, only to find that I have to really dig around a website to find out what the person actually does/sells/creates/whatever! Annoying right?! And most people won’t do that.
You need to imagine everyone who visits your website as being super-lazy (not in a mean way!) and TELL THEM what you want them to do now with a call to action or visible prompts that naturally guide them to buy from you! If you’re writing a blog post that provides amazing information for free, your potential customers will naturally think “wow, what will I get if I pay?!” So send them to your products or services. Guide them to an email optin list so they become a warm lead. Tell them what to do and the majority will do it!
Repurposing Content
As I mentioned previously, you can re-use your blog-post content across a variety of platforms to gain more exposure without the risk of seeming spammy. Why? Because not everyone is everywhere at the same time! Even your most loyal customer won’t notice that you’ve published a blog post, a twitter post, an email, a Facebook post and a Pinterest pin with the same content. People won’t see it everywhere so you must ensure they see it somewhere! Otherwise, what’s the point?
One other thing you can do, especially when you’re on topic and have a really good, consistent niche that you’re speaking to – repurpose your blog content into a published work. This is not cheating because these are your words. And it’s so unlikely that someone will come to your website and read every single post you’ve ever written. So allow them to do that by compiling you best work into an eBook or paperback (or both!) and get it out there, earning money in it’s own right. Alternatively, take just a handful of your best work and compile an eBook to use as your content upgrade to get more people on your mailing list.
So there you have it, content marketing plus! There are bloggers out there making millions from these strategies and more and there should be no reason why you can’t maximise your own profit by leveraging some of these ideas into your own business. So what might you do with your blog today that will earn you more?
