Make Blog $$$
Make Blog $$$
Like any other business, blogging has the potential to make $$$, if you can provide a product or service to your target audience that solves their unique problem. Your blog can be one of the most powerful marketing assets you have, when you remain focused on the topics your target clients want most. You can start selling coaching services, equipment or books you have written, etc., by gaining a blog following.
Below are some ideas for making blog $$$:
Your Knowledge and Skills: The selling of knowledge is a very large part of monetizing a blog. Increase your credibility as an authority, and then sell quality information to that market. This can take the form of e-books, audio, SlideShare presentations, YouTube videos, Webex tutorials, or a combination of all things. Package them, or just sell them digitally. If you author the products yourself, then you keep 100% of the profit. Your blog is a place for you to market yourself and promote the knowledge and experience you have.
Consulting or Coaching: Another way to make blog $$$ is to build your reputation, brand recognition and an audience. Make $$$directing traffic into offline services consulting or coaching. Establish credibility into offline lectures or tutorials which you get paid for. This can be a great opportunity for more networking as well.
Product Sales: Bloggers can gain a high level of trust and loyalty from their readers. This makes blogs the perfect platform for launching products. A blog with targeted traffic can make blog $$$ by selling products directly to readers.
Products often include; ebooks, membership websites, courses, equipment, video games, training services, accessories, etc. As long as the product you market is closely related to your blog’s topic, it will sell. To get an idea of what you could sell to your readers, take a look at similar blogs within your niche and see what they are selling.
Email Marketing: The ultimate marketing tool for bloggers. It allows you to instantly deliver your message directly to the inbox of readers. This makes it a more powerful marketing tool than Facebook or Twitter. Put a Mailchimp box on your blog today.
Affiliate Programs: A large number of online shops and services offer an affiliate program to website owners that pay commissions to those that generate sales for them. The affiliate program usually pays a set fee or a percentage of the overall sales price.
Membership Programs: A growing trend in online income right now is to create a membership program with a leveled structure, providing quality content for free to your audience, and a premium-level program to those willing to pay for it. Charge a monthly membership that creates and online community and provides a steady income stream. This is a popular platform for athletic/fitness sites.
Direct Ad Sales: Banner ads and in-text ads are often used on blogs to generate revenue. Considering this method, selling the ads directly could result in more cash in your pocket. Advertising space can be sold directly to advertisers. Blog owners normally charge advertisers a fixed fee or charge per thousand impressions of the ad (cost per impressions are frequently referred to as CPM). For example, an advertisement with a CPM rate of $3 would cost $300 for one hundred thousand impressions.
Advertising Networks: An alternative to selling advertisements directly is to display them from an ad network. Google Adsense is by far the most popular for bloggers, however there are many alternatives such as Chitika, Kontera, and BurstMedia to name just a few. Advertising networks normally pay on a per-click basis or a CPM basis. Due to this, income generated from advertising networks will vary month to month
Banner Advertising: You can run network advertising from a variety of different sources such as, Adsense, Kontera, IDG, and more. You can also direct sell ads and use network ads as filler for unused inventory.
Paid Posts: One way for an advertiser to increase sales is to pay for a review on a suitable blog. You can generate additional income, reviewing other’s products and sites on your blog. A sponsored review refers to a review that you have written about a product or service for a fee. A paid post refers to an article that an advertiser has written and wants you to publish it on your blog for a fee.
Job Boards: Some sites have job boards. One way to take advantage of your traffic is to launch a dedicated job board, classifieds or marketplace. They are easy to set up and allow people to advertise, buy and sell items. Once job board has become successful, you can charge users for posting ads.
Build It & Sell It: You can always build a blog, build an audience, and then sell it. Some businesses buy blogs, re-brand them put their marketing teams to work on them and sell them again
Please remember that in order to implement any of the above, you must consider the following:
Traffic is a Requirement: You can’t earn blog $$$ without steady traffic, and advertisers won’t buy ads spots on your blog unless they see reach. Optimize your blog and increase your social media presence.
Enough Content: Many bloggers begin putting ads on their site before they have generated enough traffic. Make your blog rich in high quality content and market it fully in advance.
Target Audience: Writing to your target clients is really important as it can help you connect with your readers and increase your conversion rate. Advertisers are willing to pay you when you are marketing to a targeted audience.
Design: The initial and often overlook issue is creative design. Consider the placement, size and format of ads, and how changing these things affect blog $$$. Rotate ads frequently if your readers are returning often, but that doesn’t mean every time they come to your page things should be different.
After you have determined what problem you will solve, start offering it to your target audience. You can begin today! You will learn more about the problem and your audience as you write and receive feedback.
Tell us what problem you are going to solve!
Blog Happy!
Linda A. Amerigo
Instructor, Technology for Sports
Universal Sports Education, LLC.
[email protected]
http://www.amerigoconsulting.com/
#hashtageasy
A hashtag (#) is simply a label used to search for social media updates. It could be a trending social media topic such as #facebookfriday or a specific label such as a social media marketing campaign name. On most social networks, clicking on the hashtag will reveal other similarly tagged items.
Hashtags got their booming beginning on Twitter, but their popularity has grown across multiple social platforms and used wisely, can help get your message out by engaging your target audience. You can implement hashtags within Pinterest, Facebook and Google+ as well as Twitter. Consider the following when posting your content:
- Use Pinterest hashtags to mark, as well as search for content. Click on the hashtag in a pin description to navigate results that contain the exact hashtag, including pins with the same word or phrase in the description.
- When clicking on a hashtag in Google+, the search results will include the original hashtag as well as posts with similar tags and keywords. Google also offers the option to search within Facebook or Twitter.
- Hashtags can be used with photos shared on Instagram to help discover new accounts and gain new followers. Tumblr posts have a special “Tag” section. These tags function like Twitter hashtags, organizing posts by topic, and the hash symbol is inserted automatically.
Choosing hashtags that your fans are searching for:
Use relevant hashtags: See what hashtags other businesses in your field are using. If you’re promoting your sports photography business, you will want to use hashtags like #gamedayphotos and #teamphotos so users will find you when they search for those keywords.
Follow trends: See what hashtags are trending and make use of them while they can support your marketing campaign. Do not use high traffic hashtags that have nothing to do with your brand (for example, including #ESPN in a tweet about Olympic ice skating), you will look like a spammer and it will cause issues with your credibility for future posts.
Create your own hashtag: Create a special hashtag for an event or campaign, select one that hasn’t been used before and remind everyone to use it in related tweets and messages. Include the tag in any promotional materials. There is no preset list of required hashtags. Create a brand new hashtag simply by putting the hash before a series of words and you have created a hashtag. Below is a list of examples to help you build your hashtag mojo:
- Top 10 U.S. Sports Trending Hashtags in 2014 in America (5 are soccer related)
- Basic hashtag development examples(including sports)
Don’t forget to share your favorite use of #hashtags with us here.
Happy Hashtagging!
Linda
