This article is a continuation from How to Make Money Blogging.
Tip 5: Make your Blog Subscription-Based
Though you need to have some seriously amazing content to charge your customers for access to your blog, it’s not a bad idea on some levels. However, if you’re going to do so, we recommend breaking it up into both basic free and premium memberships.
For example, if you’re a chef and have a food blog, give your readers free access to your recipes and tips. Then, consider adding another subscription-based layer that might include elements such as how-to videos, meal planners, grocery list generators, forums, etc. No matter who you are, don’t charge an arm and a leg for premium content. Strike a balance between helping your readers while still making a living, and they’ll be more likely to appreciate it and keep dishing out dollars.
WordPress offers a great membership plugin in both lite and pro versions. With lite, you can offer two different levels of membership which includes exclusive access to forums, downloads, videos, etc. With pro, you can offer unlimited membership and subscription levels. You can also offer free memberships that convert to paid memberships after a certain number of days, or indefinite subscriptions where users only have to pay once.
Look at and weigh the pros and cons of all of your options before making a decision and strike a balance between income and reader loyalty.
Tip 6: Be PR-friendly
Believe it or not, in addition to getting free products, services and trips, some high-ranking bloggers get paid a good deal of money to write reviews, participate in blogger outreach campaigns or document some sort of trip.
If you have a blog and are interested in partaking in PR work for companies, make sure it’s visible on your blog somewhere. You can also reach out to brands directly through their PR representation and express your interest. I would suggest starting out slow and participate at no charge until you build up your traffic. Then, you can start charging for your work once your blog is more robust.
Tip 7: Integrate a Job Board
Do you have a niche blog where users would be interested in finding out about job opportunities? For example, WAHM.com logically publicizes job opportunities for the work-at-home mom audience.
So how do you do it? There are numerous tools you can use available online such as the WPJobBoard WordPress Plugin, Simply Hired Job-a-Matic and JobThread. These tools allow you to post your own jobs, post jobs from clients who you’ve sold space to, as well as import jobs from other job boards of interest to your target audience.
There are three ways you get paid by doing this.
- You can receive money from users clicking on imported advertised jobs.
- You can privately sell space to other clients and then list these jobs within the job board.
- You can boost traffic to your blog by having your jobs posted to search engines like Indeed and Simply Hired, which in turn allows you to bump up ad rates.
The great part about this is that you’re making money while helping your readers find opportunities to make money. You’re also connecting paid clients to highly-qualified, targeted applicants.
Keep in mind that if you’re accepting advertised jobs and you don’t want to be liable for fraudulent activity, you should write a disclaimer to protect you from any legal action.
Tip 8: Sell Yourself
Here’s what you need to understand if you’re planning to make money by blogging. Don’t jump into blogging thinking that you’re simply managing a blog – it’s bigger than that. You need to realize that to maximize earnings, you need to turn your blog and/or yourself into a brand.
Look at celebrity blogger Perez Hilton or business/life blogger Marie Forleo. When you hear those names, you don’t think of a person, you think of a brand. Each of these individuals didn’t start a blog just to blog. Each started a blog as a way of building upon a predetermined niche brand.
So here’s your task. Look at your passions, use your passions to find a void in the market, fill that void by creating a brand around it, and then launch a blog with the purpose of spreading the message of your brand. Once you do this, you’ll slice open a barrage of opportunities. Then, start writing articles and books around your brand, start speaking at conferences, start selling related services, etc. The options are endless for making money once your brand is established.
Tip 9: Sell Your Own Products
In addition to selling yourself, why not create your own products to sell that support your brand? Whether it’s inspirational books, how-to DVDs, eco-friendly jewelry, organic beauty products, photography, custom stationary, handmade crafts or some sort of invention that relates to your brand, your blog gives you a perfect opportunity to reach your most likely consumers.
If and when you do start to consider selling products on your blog, just make sure than it aligns with your brand values and resonates with your audience. If you’re not sure, poll your audience to see if they’d like to see certain types of products for sale on your blog. If they do, then meet their needs.
It’s simple to integrate an e-commerce or a shopping cart plugin with a couple clicks of a mouse. To spread the word, run a promotion where the first 50 users to share the product or promotion on their Facebook page gets a 30% discount. If you’re launching a line of products or an invention, make sure to reach out to bloggers in your industry who can help spread the word, and don’t be afraid to pitch journalists on your product as well.
Will You Ever Be The Notorious Heather B.?
By now, you have a wealth of information to get started creating a revolutionary blog and using that revolutionary blog to generate substantial income. However, if you’re hoping to make 5-6 figures annually through blogging like Dooce, you need to have 6 things: a USP, time to commit, quality content, a target audience, an understanding of marketing and a plan of action.
