How to Make Money From Your Blog
IF you are one of those people who love taking photos on Instagram and painstakingly work on editing your photos before posting on your blog, but do not know how all these other bloggers out there are making money while doing what they love. Here is some some advice on how to make money from your blog that I learned while blogging and working with bloggers over the years.
As a blogger, I started my blog in 2008 and became one of the early influencers in the blogging industry before starting my own digital marketing company to help other fashion companies work with bloggers. I learned a lot about blog monetization along the way and helped companies work with bloggers to create creative campaigns that were lucrative for the companies and the bloggers along the way.
My personal blog took a little hiatus as a built my company during those years. Today, I use my blog to showcase some of my clients, my work, as well as give advice to newer bloggers, and also blog on fashion finds that I love. Let’s get to it.
Consistency Will Affect How You Make Money Off Your Blog
Consistency – In order to monetize your blog you need to work on consistently blogging regularly about your specific interests and finding your voice which will help you grow an audience. A regular growing audience is the key to blog monetization. The more eyeballs and blog traffic your site gets, the more money your blog can help you generate.
If your reader comes to your blog at 9A on Monday and you have not posted in 3 weeks, they won’t know when to come back again. Make a schedule and stick to it. In the industry, this is called a content calendar. If you blog a few times a week, make sure your schedule is a consistent weekly schedule so your reader knows when to return to read your newest post. Readers like to know that when they return there will be new interesting information for them to read again when they return. If they return a few times and find no new info, they may not come back. So sit down and decide how much you can devote to your blog based on your work and life schedule and carve out that time before you get started. It will take planning, hard work, and dedication.
Blogging What You Know Will Help You Make Money On Your Blog
Blog what you know – That means deciding on what you are really interested in blogging about and putting your personality into writing about it on your blog. If you love photographing and documenting your travels then a travel blog is probably your best bet. If you love photographing food, trying new foods, and writing about different food finds, then start a food blog. If you love sneakers and love collecting sneakers, wearing sneakers and researching different types of sneakers and brands, then start a sneaker blog. Bottom line is blog about what you are love. If you blog about something you are not interested in or don’t know anything about, people will generally know that you don’t know what you are talking about and won’t find your information interesting or helpful to read.
Good Photos Will Help You Make Money On Your Blog
Photos – Photos are important. Whether the photos are about food, people, clothing, or places, your photos are everything on your blog. Not all photos have to be your original photos, but the photos need to bring interested readers to your blog. If your blog post is about travel to New Zealand and you went there, make sure you show the photos of the places you visited along with the information you are providing to the reader. If the photos are not detailed or do not show the place you visited, the reader can quickly lose interest. The content should be accompanied by your photos to keep the reader interested. Invest in a good camera or at least make sure your photos are edited with good light before you post.
Being Social on Social Media Will Help You Make Money On Your Blog
Be Social – Visit other blogs that you like that are in your same category and comment and read their blog posts. Go to their social media sites and like and comment on their posts. The other blogs will do the same for you and their followers will see who they like to read and come find out what you are all about. Blogging is about community and if you can build a community that will support you within your niche topic, you can succeed even faster.
Guest Blogging Will Help You Make Money on Your Blog
Guest Blog – Ask blogs that you like to read if you can offer a guest blog post on their blog and vice versa. By offering to write an original blog post on your expertise on another blogger’s blog, you will potentially gain a new audience that may never have discovered you otherwise and the blog that you wrote a guest blog post for will have some new original content.
Joining Affiliate Programs Will Help You Make Money on Your Blog
Find An Affiliate program – If you want to make money on your blog, you should make sure to join the appropriate affiliate program so you get paid for your work when you drive traffic to your site. Many affiliate programs will require you to have had your blog for at least 6 months and some will require a referral or an invite. Some affiliate programs can automatically link to your blog content based on keywords that you use on your blog post once you add the tracking code to your site.
The one I really like for commerce enabled content is Skimlinks. My other favorite affiliate program is RewardStyle which requires a referral by another blogger. This affiliate program is also content driven and you can easily create links to your content to monetize all your blog posts. If you are interested in a referral to RewardStyle, email me at shopgirl@shoppingandinfo.com with your full name, URL to your blog and your email address and I will have them send you an invite to see if you qualify.
A great affiliate program to join if you are an influencer is a search tool for brands or companies looking to hiring influencers. This influencer search tool can help the brand find influencers through a search function to help cut down on the time consuming legwork. However, not all influencers will be on all these types of platforms, but with a small monthly fee, it is worth a look.
