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Grow your audience and your wallet with these simple steps.

Blogging is one of the best ways for content creators to grow their audience and monetize their content. When blogging first came about, it was more for journaling than for tips and fashion trends. Many people would use a personal website for blogging about their day-by-day activities. Today many content creators are able to use a blog to educate an audience or to sell a product.

Many bloggers can begin seeing a considerable profit gain in their first year if they properly monetize their blogs. Nomadicmatt.com is a blog written by Matt Kepnes. Matt quit his office job so that he could travel the world full-time. Through his travels, he began blogging about his journey. In a year, he was able to turn his blog into a $60,000 revenue, and now he makes $750,000 a year through blogging. 

I am going to go over a few simple steps to take in order to grow your blog audience and gain an income. Through consistent hard work, you will be able to see your blog grow immensely within the first year of creating it. Continue reading on so that you can gain the skills to be a successful blogger.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. Affiliate Marketing
  2. Pinterest
  3. Creating an Ebook
  4. Sponsored Posts
  5. Freelancing Services

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make an income from blogging due to the fact that your audience is already interested in your niche. Affiliate marketing is when you refer your readers to specific websites to buy particular products through a link. It would encourage your readers to purchase the products if you have bought the product and provided a review about it.

Affiliate marketing is pretty simple to understand. An example would be if you write an exercise blog, then you may use affiliate links for exercise equipment, clothes, or courses. When your reader clicks on the affiliate link and buys what you linked, then you will get a commission from any of the purchases. 

Many websites offer affiliate marketing, but the best one to use is Amazon. Amazon Associates program is a simple affiliate program that provides up to 10% commission. They do require that you keep a consistent amount of traffic, or they remove you from the program, but they do not require you to have a large blog right from the start.

If you are just dipping your toes into affiliate marketing, then Amazon’s affiliate program may be best for you. Affiliate marketing is a great way to monetize your blog, but it won’t work if you can’t drive traffic toward your blog.

Pinterest social media icon
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Pinterest

Most believe Pinterest to just be a place for recipes and DIY projects, but Pinterest can be the best place to advertise your blog and blog posts. Today Pinterest is considered the second fastest-growing social media out there. The benefits of pinning on Pinterest consistently will greatly outweigh posting reels on Instagram or Facebook.

Pinning a post on Pinterest will survive with a life span of one week, and during that time, you could receive two page visits and six page views in a day. To successfully drive traffic from your Pinterest to your blog wholly depends on how well your pins are done. The number one thing towards success is pinning an eye-catching picture with a text overlay. It would help if you had something to get the viewer to click on the pin.

Once the image has enticed the viewer, make sure the description of the pin finishes the job. The viewer won’t click on the link in the pin if just the image is pretty. Tell them why clicking the link attached to the pin would benefit them. If it is a recipe blog, then entice them by writing a bit of the recipe down.

Be sure you are pinning at the same time that your target audience is on Pinterest as well. With how many pins are being posted a day, you want to make sure yours stands out. Now that we have gone over the easiest ways to monetize your blog, let’s delve into some of the more advanced methods. Do not be intimidated, though. With enough research and determination, these can be done by anyone.

Creating an Ebook

There are two ways to go about this section. You can go the easy (yet tricky) way and simply create an ebook and sell it on your blog. The other way, which is hard (yet easy), is to turn your blog posts into an ebook. The reason I state them the way I did is because if you are writing an ebook from scratch, it can take a while and be a bit difficult. If you are writing an ebook from your blog posts, then most of the writing is already done. All you have to do is make sure it is readable.

To break it down a bit more, let me provide an example. If you write a blog full of recipes, then you can take all your blog posts and create a recipe book. All the recipes are already written, plus you already have people who have tried the recipe from reading the blog. They would be more likely to buy the recipe book so that they can have the recipe on hand instead of searching your blog for it. 

The other way is simple, but it also isn’t, especially if you are not used to writing a large number of words quickly. To write an ebook from scratch, you need to know what the book will be about and if people will buy it. There are a million different ebooks out there, so make sure that the one you want to write about is not the same as the other five hundred out there. 

Writing an ebook this way will also take time due to the research and writing you will have to do. It can take you anywhere from a year to more, depending on how fast you write.  I would suggest firing a freelancer to ghostwrite your ebook for you so that you can skip the heavy lifting and go straight to selling.

When you write an ebook based on your blog posts, you usually only have to copy and paste and then re-format so that the ebook is readable. If writing and selling ebooks are not your type of side hustle, then maybe creating sponsored posts could be something you could use to monetize your blog.

Sponsored posts are similar to how influencers use social media. A company or business will pay you to write a blog post about them and drive traffic their way. They will ask for you to either review one of their products or to encourage your readers to visit their site to buy their products. You may find many small businesses that will use this method as it helps them grow just as much as you. 

They will come to you requesting your rates for your services, and you will be able to decide what each post is worth. Another way is for you to go to the businesses or companies. Sometimes you have to put in the effort to get a sponsored post for your blog. Always make sure that you are writing sponsored posts for places that are aligned with your target audience.

There is no point in a sponsored post if your audience isn’t interested in the topic. Regarding charging for your sponsored posts, it can depend on how big your blog is. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that even if your blog is not huge, do not charge any lower than $250 a post.

Sometimes setting a low amount can turn companies away because they think your blog posts won’t be good quality. One thing to remember is that if you work with more prominent brands, you will want to charge more than if they were smaller brands. Another way to monetize your blogs is to offer your freelancing services to your readers.

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Freelancing Services

When it comes to freelancing, you can sell your services anywhere. Many freelancers have a website of their own that they offer their services. This is a great way to showcase your blog and pull in freelancing clients. You can write what your targeted audience is interested in, and then they can contact you about your services on the same site. Easy as pie. 

Kat Boogard is a successful freelancer that utilizes her website for her blog and her freelancing services. Kat writes blogs with helpful tips for freelancers and then sells digital products on her page. Her products range from contract and invoicing templates to help freelancers’ journey be more manageable.

Writing a blog can help you generate leads for your freelancing business. The more established you become by consistently writing good quality posts, the more likely you are to have a potential client contact you. Your readers will feel a sense of trust if your blog posts show that you know what you are doing. 

Blogging can be a beneficial way to create an income and career. If it is monetized properly you can quickly grow to six figures. Consistency and quality is what it takes to grow a good email list and continue bringing readers in. With the few steps I have provided to you, monetizing your blog will become simple for anyone. Go create a WordPress and get started!