Many bloggers fail when it comes to making money from their blog. They can do great with design, signup forms, and even post great content, but they freeze up when it comes to asking for the credit card.
You see, many bloggers are afraid.
When you ask someone to spend money with you, your relationship with that person escalates like crazy. It’s like finally telling your girlfriend “I love you” or having the parents meet.
When you sell something to people, you have to know it’s cool, or you’re not going to sell it wholeheartedly (assuming you’re not a detached psychopath). People are picky when it comes to money: if they don’t get their full value, they’ll ask for refunds, leave negative reviews, etc.
In other words, selling stuff is BIG business!
Anyway, I’m going to give you some blog monetization tips that I’ve found to be some of the most effective!
1. Inexpensive eBook (about $17)
This one is great for learning, you don’t have the pressure to do anything live. If you want to take months to really fine-tune your content, there’s no stopping you!
2. Blog audits
Blog audits are easy to run. All you need to do is have a couple of PDFs ready to go, and then fill in the information with your customers’ information and send it to them.
Clearly, you need a bit of experience before you can ask for a price for this service. But all you need is a page on your blog and a PayPal button.
3.Blog writing service
This one works great for me because I like to write and I consider it one of my strengths. I can get paid quite a bit because I deliver everything I say I’ll do.
It’s another super easy to implement: a little sales page and a PayPal button!
4. Blog setup service
The secret to making money online is really not a secret. All you have to do is learn a skill that people need and get paid for it!
I don’t set up any blogs, my wife does. But she is self taught with WordPress, Photoshop, FTP and everything else you need to start a blog. She watched YouTube videos for about a week and made several thousand dollars in blog sales. Nice.
5. Charge for webinars
Personally, I have never done this. However, I once heard Mark Hoverson say something that changed my business.
He said that if he had to start over, the only thing he would do differently is charge people for things from the beginning.
The example he used was that he once charged $10 for a webinar where he taught how to set up a quick website. She made some money, but more importantly, she started to build a client base.
6. Affiliate Sales
Selling affiliate products doesn’t have to be a prolonged event with a lot of fanfare.
Most of my affiliate sales have come from selling people other products, or mentioning them in separate posts. I don’t write long sales pages or emails promoting affiliate stuff, but sometimes I’ll stick a link in a post as a quick recommendation.
Most affiliate sales are small, but they definitely add up!
7. Newsletter with announcements
Many internet marketers use this as their main source of income! Once you’ve built a fairly sizeable email list, you can send small ads in your newsletters and earn a lot of money.
8. 15 minute workout via Fiverr.com
This is one of the most ingenious marketing strategies I’ve ever seen.
Fiverr.com is a site that allows you to offer products or services, but you can only charge $5 for it. I met a lady who was trying to build her network marketing team. She would offer 15 minute MLM training for $5.
Now $5 isn’t a ton, and only makes $20 an hour (clearly won’t make you rich).
However, with that consulting session, he pocketed some money, got a new lead (and a very high-quality one willing to pay), and was able to build a personal relationship while showcasing his expertise.
When I saw that I thought, “She’s getting leads to PAY HER $5!”
9. Normal consultation
There are two reasons why the query on your site is valuable.
1. Bag some dollar bills!
2. Establish your value
If I say that my consulting costs $149 per hour, all readers will think that I am doing a great job to reach that price! You look like an expert immediately.
At first, I suggest setting a price higher than you think you can actually get, and then working on making yourself valuable enough to get customers at that price.
10. Cheer up
This strategy is kind of crazy and out there – I’ve never seen anyone else use this (so no competition right?).
Animoto is a service that allows you to make professional videos by adding images and text.
It may not have much use in my “teach others how to make money blogging” niche, but here’s what some of you can do.
My wife loves animals. She was a veterinary technician and even studied veterinary medicine in college.
Eventually he wants to start a blog about his experiences and giving people advice about animals. He wants to use Animoto to create videos about people’s pets and sell a bundle for around $39.99.
Cool huh? It’s super easy to do and a great way to monetize your niche!
11. Continuity Program
This refers to any type of program that requires a monthly payment, such as an expert group or premium content that you don’t offer anywhere else.
12. Sell emails to the list
Basically, you are giving people the opportunity to send a promotional email to your list.
I’ve seen people make money doing this, but be very careful. Just because you realize you can earn $200 per email doesn’t mean you should send 20 next week!
If you send out more than 1 or 2 of these per week, you’ll lose the responsiveness of the list you’ve worked so hard to put together!
13. Live course
This is my long-term plan for my blog:
Later, I plan to open an 8-week course where I host a live webinar every week. Every two weeks there will be new trainings, and next week there will be Q&A.
I will include bonuses like blog setups or blog audits.
Tailor that idea to your niche and you could make loads of money!
14. In-person conferences
Of course, this strategy is a long way to go, but it doesn’t hurt to make it your goal.
But really, being invited to be a guest speaker at a conference doesn’t have to be a pipe dream years down the road. Give it a try, make some connections and you will succeed!
15.Google AdSense
I’m putting this last, because I think it’s the worst idea out of 15. You’ve probably read all about this and how you need 17 million visitors to make $10 per month.
My point of view is this:
If you have a legitimate business that gets thousands of visitors per month, you can use much smarter strategies that generate much higher revenue without clouding your site with ads.
Just my 2 cents, but it’s a blog monetization strategy.
What other ways do you monetize your blog? Let me know!