A Comprehensive (Beginners) Guide to SEO
Our 8 part guide on all aspects of SEO, from how search engines work to the effects of UI and UX.
Creating quality content for your blog can be a great way to make some additional income each month if you know-how. From small niche-specific sites, to large generic news, sites that can bring in regular visitors can be used to generate revenue.
Here are some great ideas on how to start monetizing your blog. Remember you can apply more than one approach to build your revenue streams.
1. Advertising
Providing ad space on your site is a great way to make money. You can tap into different ad networks that will channel their ad content through your site. The most popular options include Google Adsense, Ezoic, and PropellerAds. Once you create the ad space on your web pages, the ad networks will then fill them with advertising. The type of advertisement is typically based on the kind of content you publish on the site or blog.
By matching ads as closely as possible to the interests shared on your platform, there is a better chance of the online visitor clicking through. There is some flexibility in being able to decide the size of the ads and their placement on the page. These ads tend to be of good graphic quality that does not cause the user experience on the site to suffer. This is a great way to monetise your site as this often turns into a recurring and growing income.
2. Publish Sponsored Posts
As you continue to publish new and interesting content while attracting more followers and mentions on social media and through backlinks, you will likely start being approached by companies that offer products or services linked to your interest. They may offer to sponsor you. This means they will pay you for posts that you create that mention their products to your audience. This payment may not just be in monetary form, it could also be in the form of some of their free products, invites to events, and so on.
The content you create may likely be in the form of product reviews or demonstrations of the sponsor’s products. You however need to be careful about this revenue. It is advisable to always be honest that you are being sponsored for content posted and give honest opinions. Being upfront will help to reinforce trust between yourself and your audience, earning their loyalty. If you prefer to have mostly positive reviews then you might want to stick to brands that you know have a good reputation and your endorsement can be trusted. Sponsored social content is another good revenue source where you come up with easy posts to promote events, new products, or social content. You should indicate that they are sponsored posts.
You also do not need to wait for sponsorship offers to come in. You can actually get in touch with companies in your locality and ask if they would be interested in such a collaboration. You will need to have certain facts on hand to justify such a proposal, including verifying the nature of content that your site is about and how it relates to their brand, and the number of visitors that visit your blog daily/monthly or subscribed followers.
3. Sell Products/Services
With a website or blog, you have a captive audience with an interest in what you have to say. You can capitalise on this connection to sell related products or services directly to your audience. Opening an online store is easy on a website or blog.
Where possible, you should aim for digital products like e-books, webinars and online courses. This will make it easier to appeal to a broader audience around the world to who you can deliver purchases instantly online. You can still offer physical products, but be sure to have a good understanding of how taxes and shipping apply in different locations.
Also, consider leveraging your brand identity. If you created an attractive logo or slogan for your site, you can use this to brand all kinds of merchandise, like t-shirts, caps, stickers and other items. You can then sell this to your followers, or use them as promotional freebies for other merchandise.
4. Affiliate Marketing
You can also make good money from promoting other people’s products. Affiliate marketing often involves mentioning different products or services and then incorporating links to where they can be found. You can do this on your site or blog, or even through your social media posts. Whenever one of your audience members clicks through to make a purchase, you earn a commission on that sale.
It is not difficult to find businesses that are willing to offer affiliate links. There are several affiliate marketing programs you can browse through that will connect you with such companies. This is a great source of passive income that has helped many bloggers to earn huge amounts of revenue. The commission amounts can vary so be sure to do adequate research and learn how to create content around such links that will appeal to your audience.
5. Paid Subscriptions
You can try this when you have built up a good audience that regularly checks back with your site or blog. Once you have an audience that is happy to keep coming back, you can develop subscription plans that allow those willing to pay access to exclusive content.
You need to make it worth their while and offer a preview or limited-time access to see what they are missing out on. A section of your content should however remain freely accessible. This will allow newcomers to your site a chance to enjoy your content and become more tempted to pay for a subscription.
You can tempt your audience to sign up with offers for such rewards as free e-books, webinars and other downloadable content. Do your research to see what rates other bloggers in the same niche are offering to ensure you set competitive amounts.
If you are interested in learning more about how to monetise a website, or looking for some help with your SEO, get in touch with Phoenix Media today.
