5 Ways To Make Money With Your Blog

Online Money Making Tips

You’ve been working hard on your blog, and now you want to make money on it.

I get it - it’s only natural.

And the fact is, there are people making money on their blog - thousands in fact.

But for every one of them, there are another 4 people who are not making money on their blog (seriously, 81% of people never make more than $100 on their blog).

But it doesn’t have to be you.

There are a lot of ways to earn a buck. I’ve written about over 500 ways to make money online myself.

But that’s a pretty long list - so here are the 5 most common and likely to be successful ways you should be considering:

1. Take Donations

We all have to start somewhere, right?

And what’s easier than simply putting up a PayPal link on the side of the blog and accepting donations.

Some people might say this is tacky, but it’s entirely up to you what you do with your blog.

After all, most likely you’re producing valuable content for free. If people don’t want to donate, they don’t have to, but maybe they do?

2. Monetize Your Email List

The money is on the list, or so they say.

Perhaps one of the easiest ways to make money from blogging is to build up a list and market to them.

For example, if you use AfterOffers, you can usually get paid up to $1 per subscriber, which isn’t bad if you’re getting 10s of subscribers a day. I personally earn around $100/month on my blog through AfterOffers.

But if you properly monetize your list, a subscriber can be worth much more than $1.

I have read articles where bloggers wrote that a single email subscriber is worth over $15.

Of course, just having them on your list is rarely enough - you have to have something to market to them.


Which brings me to my next point:

3. Affiliate Sales

One of the primary ways bloggers earn money is through affiliate sales.

The model is simple - if you refer a customer to an affiliate partner, they give you a commission, sometimes as much as 50%.

This works very well because there are thousands of products out there with affiliate programs, much more than any one person can produce.

Basically, there is almost always a product with an associated affiliate program that can be promoted if you need one.

A common tactic is to build a resource page filled with all of the tools you promote so that people can see in a one-stop shop what they need.

This is how Pat Flynn, for example, earns the bulk of his cash.

Also Read: A Trustworthy and Best Performance Affiliate Marketing Network

4. Display Ads

Although display ads have been on a steady decline in recent years, they still have some life left in them, especially in particular niches.

One niche that is heavily monetized by display ads is the food blogging niche.

Why?

Because display ads require loads of traffic to earn money, and only some niches have that level of traffic (think the biggies like food, fashion, etc).

This probably doesn’t sound like much, because it isn’t, but it is completely passive.

There are dozens of paid media platforms, though the most well know is probably Google Adsense. You can be up and running in a day and earn money tomorrow through this. 

5. Sell Your Own Product Or Service

In my opinion, the Holy Grail is to sell your own product.

Why?

Firstly, you get 100% of the sales (as opposed to an affiliate program).

Secondly, it’s fantastic for branding (assuming it is a great product, which it should be).

Lastly, you have complete control over how you choose to market it and what you decide to do with it year after year.

Some popular choices in this category are:

     eBooks
     Courses
     Coaching

Though that’s really just the tip of the iceberg.

I have seen some bloggers charge $2k per hour through their coaching sessions, so this is definitely not to be overlooked!

Also Read: Extend Your Business Sales with iDevAffiliate Affiliate Tracking Software

Conclusion

It is possible to earn money from blogging. It is even possible to earn a full-time living.

Difficult? Incredible. Possible? Yes!

So what’s required to get started?

Three things:

Traffic. Authority. A Product.

If you have these three things, you can start making money. If you’re missing any of them - it’s time to get cracking!



David Schneider
David Schneider is an experienced content writer and business blogger. 





You’ve been working hard on your blog, and now you want to make money on it. I get it - it’s only natural. And the fact is, ther...

How to Create and Manage an Effective Newsletter?

Email Marketing

Important announcement for our readers, this month we start the series "Blog of the Month" or "BOM". In this series, we publish valuable thoughts and ideas shared by popular bloggers and entrepreneurs through their guest articles once a month.

So in this series, we bring the first Blog of the Month guest article by Erik Emanuelli, founder of Klinkk. He explores valuable information about Email Marketing and tips to create and manage an effective newsletter. I know you are very eager to know about this topic, therefore, I stop my introduction and handover to Erik.....   

In the dazzling moment of social media, an "old" tool like the newsletter continues to do the lion's share.

Email marketing means more visits and direct conversions.

According to McKinsey, in fact, email is still more effective than social media to gather new clients.

It allows much better results in terms of "new business" (services or products), 40 times more than Facebook and Twitter combined (from the chart, it's interesting to note how ranking well in search engines definitely beats everything else).

Email Marketing Growth Survey

Of course, creating and managing a successful mailing list is not an easy task.

There are many metrics you need to pay attention to, such as the spam score, open rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, bounce rate, complaint, and unsubscribe rate.

Therefore, you should use all the web marketing tools available in order to build a comprehensive strategy.

How to increase the number of subscribers to your newsletter?

What topics and methods of communication should you keep in mind for your email marketing strategy?

How to manage a successful mailing list?

Here are some suggestions.

1. Content and Topics

Of course, it depends on your niche, but typically you should create unique content just for your mailing list.

People who want to follow your blog or website can simply subscribe to updates via RSS Feeds.

Your aim is to make your newsletter interesting.

But how?

Basically, after getting to know your audience, you want to solve their problems or needs.
Based on this principle, here are some practical tips you can consider when choosing the next topic for your newsletter:

- the most popular blog post on your website (the article of the month, the most shared through social media, or the most commented one);

- hot topics of the forum that you follow or groups you are in. It's better to talk about relevant and current issues;

- in particular, Linkedin groups in your industry are an endless source of inspiration. Find them here;

- take advantage of your work experience as well. For example, it makes sense to identify the most frequently asked questions of your customers/readers and give them concrete answers (also with a direct reply via email or gathering the most common questions to write your next email marketing campaign);

- the most interesting comments that appeared on your website, blog, or social media page. You want to stimulate further the dialogue with your users;

- always add media, such as photos and video.

2. Catchy Titles and Clear Calls to Actions

The significance of the title is an absolute determining factor for the success of your newsletter.

The title - the object you choose - it's your first exam.

Failing that will drastically reduce the change in your newsletter will be read.

A tip? Don't promise things you can't keep. Be realistic. But most of all, be honest with your users.

After that, be sure to create a clear and simple call to action.

Buttons or links are an invitation to perform the action you want your subscribers to do.

3. Trends or News of the Moment

Again, it really depends on your market, but the news or trends of the moment, really attract the attention of subscribers.

Some examples?

FIFA World Cup, Father's Day, International Day of the Earth, Christmas, Easter, and so on so forth.

Always keep in mind the calendar of national and international events to connect them with the content of your current email marketing campaign.

Remember, you want to stimulate the interactions and dialogue!

A tip? Google Trends is a great place to find the latest trending topics and news.

4. Tools and Resources

Using the proper tools is essential for creating and managing an effective newsletter.

Did you know that, according to ReturnPath’s Email in Motion study, more than 60% of Americans and 40% of Europeans will not read or even delete emails if not designed for mobile?

So be sure to choose the right ESP. A suggestion? GetResponse gives you, among other features, a list-building tool to attract subscribers and boost your list. You want your messages to be read easily on any device, as mobile will definitely continue rising.

Also, remember to always place sharing buttons at the end of your content, so your subscribers can easily share it.

If your newsletter becomes the source of valuable information for your audience, then you hit the perfect score. This way, you have won the attention and loyalty of your users.

So be sure to constantly survey the level of satisfaction of your subscribers, and from time to time, give them some free and relevant resources, for example, ebooks, events, or new tools you discover.

5. Have Fun

The semi-serious way to produce content has always been a good strategy.

Then things like the quote of the month, a famous line, or an enlightened opinion can become a pleasant event for the readers.

Also, remember to share some funny images or videos, from time to time.

Or you can place them in a serious context to decrease the weight of your topics.

6. Reward Your Audience

Why not turn your followers into protagonists?

You can think about simple initiatives like featuring the comment of the week or month, via a tweet or placing it on top of your Facebook or LinkedIn pages.

Or else, a reward with a nice gadget becomes an effective way to market your brand or business via word of mouth.

Conclusion

I hope these tips are going to help you build a successful and effective newsletter.

Use them as a checklist to follow when creating your next email marketing campaign.

What do you think?

Do you have anything else to add?

Please share your views in the comments below, thanks!


Erik Emanuelli is a 
Blogger, Traveler, and Entrepreneur. Extreme sports lover. Now learning how to skydive. Founder of Klinkk and running Nopassiveincome.



Important announcement for our readers, this month we start the series "Blog of the Month" or "BOM" . In this ser...

The Increasing Emphasis on the Importance of Quality Content

Quality Content Strategies

The algorithms of search engines, such as Google, keep changing with the passage of time. There was a time when sites with an ample number of backlinks could rank higher in Google. But the case is no more the same. Now the emphasis is on the quality of the content. The contents need to be relevant, informative, and unique. But the question that often arises is –what are the criteria that define the ‘quality’ of the content? Well, nowhere have search engines made it explicit, and neither have they given any definition of ‘quality’. 

Google or other search engine insiders may know how the search algorithms function. But they would never let anybody know, and the only way to know about how the search algorithms function is to study and observe the behavior of the search engines.

No Place for Poor or Bad Content

For a long time, SEO tricks and techniques tried to manipulate search engine algorithms. The creation of backlinks, stuffing of keywords, and many more techniques could somehow push the page ranks of the websites to higher places. Whether the keywords led to the right answer to the queries or not, was not important. Something that really mattered was that the SEO professionals steered the traffic towards particular websites despite the poor web content. 

However, the current scenario is quite a bit different. Search engines have been emphasizing the quality of the content for a long, but not all website users paid enough heed to it as the SEO tricks enabled them to get good web traffic despite poor content. However, search engines have been stricter now, and there would be no place for bad or poor content. And, it is for this reason that the ‘quality’ of content is receiving much emphasis these days.

Google’s Emphasis on Quality Content

With the rollout of Hummingbird, Panda, Penguin, etc; the marketers have certainly got the idea that the content is vitally significant. Moreover, Google’s Quality Guidelines explicitly spell out the importance of high-quality content or data. It clearly says that the pages must be made for the users and not for the search engines. The users must not be deceived and there must be no tricks applied to enhance the page ranks in the search engines. 

Also, the website should be unique, valuable, and engaging. Whether Google really cares for the users or not, it knows that the supremacy of its existence is very much dependent upon the users, and it would lose its significance if it fails to provide the real answer to the queries of the users. So, Google’s effort certainly is more for its own sake than the users, but the users are certainly not left without benefits.

Understanding How Google Scales Quality Contents

The webmaster guidelines offered by Matt Cutts and other webspam teams are very much helpful in understanding how Google scales the quality of the content. Online marketers or professionals have no alternative except to work as per the guidelines. The contents failing to conform to the quality guidelines are sure to fall off the track. Google scales the quality of the content quite differently from the way humans look at it. 

For instance: high-quality and engaging content would compel visitors to spend more time. 

This engagement of the readers or visitors sends clues to Google about the quality of the content, and it would surely render a high web rank. Keeping Google page ranking aside; the obvious benefits you receive from such content include the reduction in bounce rate, the creation of a real user base, building the site authority, and higher conversion rates, etc. The high-quality content thus escalates the page rank of your website, and simultaneously, you also receive the apparent benefits. As a business owner, you may not be able to master the art of high-quality content; however, the experts are not far away.


Satyajit Seal
Satyajit Seal is a web enthusiast who loves to explore various niches in his content, which he composes for different blogs. In his writeups, he touches upon different topics, such as health, entertainment, lifestyle, fashion, and so on. He tries to include something unique in each piece of content, which the readers find interesting. He is a lover of modern arts, painting, and wildlife by nature. Follow him
on Twitter
.

The algorithms of search engines , such as Google, keep changing with the passage of time. There was a time when sites with an ample num...