Blogging For Profit
OK, if you’re thinking Blogging isn’t a real business, then the websites below might change your mind…
- Huffington Post– $41.6 million per month
- Endgadget– $3.95 million per month
- Moz– $3.74 million per month
- Perez Hilton– $3.44 million per month
- Mashable– $3.33 million per month
- CopyBlogger– $2.75 million per month
- TechCrunch– $1.87 million per month
- Tuts+– $833,000 per month
- Smashing Magazine– £425,000 per month
- Gizmodo– $400,000 per month
These might all be big companies now, but they all started out as one or two people writing about things they were passionate about…
There is real money to be made following this business model
And it’s a model you can apply to pretty much any niche
So how can you get started?
It really is as simple as setting up your platform… the most popular for that is WordPress, which you’ve probably heard of? It’s super-simple to set up, available everywhere, and totally free to use.
You will need web hosting and a domain, but they’re very cheap and your only expense!
Then once your blog is set up, you just start writing!
Write like you’ve already got a huge audience, bring in some traffic to get things rolling, set up some systems to keep your readers coming back… and then monetize your blog.
Not a writer? Post videos instead!
Either way, the process is simple…
Pay-Per-Click & Cost-Per-Action (PPC & CPA). With PPC you get paid when people click on ads on your site, the most common option for this being Google Adsense. For CPA you get paid (more) when those visitors complete some action, like submitting their email or phone number, on the destination website.
Affiliate Marketing: You can implement passive options like ad banners and text links, you can write your own reviews for relevant affiliate offers. Perhaps best of all, you can prepared extensive case studies of high-ticket items… a review and your documented results… to help people reach a buying decision!
Blog Sponsors: As you reach ‘influencer’ status, you’ll find can offer advertising space and endorsements on your blog to private advertisers. Even on a smaller scale, if you have a niche audience, people will pay you to put ads on you site… so make sure you have an info page telling them how to reach out.
Your Own Products: Almost a business in it’s own right, but definitely one for bloggers to consider. Create your own digital info products related to your niche and sell those directly on your blog. This is totally hands-free revenue once you set it up.
Email List Building: Make sure you are collecting subscribers fro mthe start, so you can reach out to them when you want, rather than waiting for them to come back to your site. You can then use this list to ramp up any other monetization systems you’re using… affiliate offers, endorsements, your own offers… just send an email!
That’s just a taste… the only real limit here is your imagination.
Ready to get started?
- Choose a niche that genuinely interests you.
- Set up your platform…. I recommend WordPress.
- Start creating high quality, valuable content.
- Send traffic to get things moving…
- Monetize it all!
It’s really that simple to start.
It’s also an area where you’ll learn by doing, so your best option is to just dive in and start publishing…
Fire… Aim… Ready!
To make that even easier for you, I’ve put together a Blogging Cheatsheet you might find useful…
Quick Guide To Setting Up Your First Blog
I’ve seen people spend months agonising over finding the perfect theme, when they should have been focused on writing new content. Just go with something clean and simple for now, and you can get creative on the design issues once you know where you’re going with it!
Astra is a great free theme that I usually load for any new website so I can get started fast. Sometimes I might go looking for something else later on… most times I don’t!
OK, next we’re going to look at what some people are doing in the world of eCommerce…
Selling (Lots of) Stuff Online…