Are you in the business of making money from blogs?
If yes, this article could be for you. Internet-based business experts share a common belief that a web business should gear its focus towards meeting the needs of a target market. Famous bloggers proved that this principle applies to blogs too. This advice is formulated based on the well-known concept that a business performs better when it “specializes” in a niche topic rather than delving into unfamiliar industry areas.
However, business owners need to understand that a certain degree of diversification may highly benefit their online ventures, especially during an economic downturn. This article will guide you on 3 effective ways of making money from blogs with diversification as it pertains to your assets, your products and services, and your client database.
Proven Techniques for Making Money From Blogs
1 – Related Diversification – Upscaling Existing Products and Services
When a company develops new services and products that are directly related to the same items it already offers, it is referred to as “related diversification.” In simple terms, related diversification is taking what a company already has and upscaling it into a premium product or service that costs slightly more than the original. For example, an online ecommerce website can offer expedited delivery and/or gift wrapping to customers for a slightly higher price without having to make costly and extensive changes in their business.
2 – Horizontal Diversification – “Customers Also Bought…”
Another common method of making money from blogs is via “horizontal diversification.” A simple way of understanding this concept is to consider how you visit a site to buy, for instance, a portable digital device, and are offered also for purchase the batteries required to operate it. Another example is a shopper purchasing a book on homeopathic pet remedies and receiving a suggestion of other related products such as pet products or topic related eBooks or reference guides. Surely you've seen the ecommerce application that offers up, “Customers who bought this also purchased…” and a list of products is then provided. Extremely popular websites frequently utilize the HD (Horizontal Diversification) technique to tap into more sales from their existing customers. Consider the Amazon selling venue where customers are always offered a list of related products or those previously purchased by other shoppers in conjunction with a specific product.
3 – Unrelated Diversification – A Process of Diluted Risk
Unrelated diversification is the process of a blog or website promoting new services and products for their customers that are not related to what is already offered. The thought behind this concept is to dilute the risk across multiple markets or industries rather than funnelling all of the risk into one single product.
For instance, if your online business markets courses on how to invest in real estate, you can offer additional courses on how to stage the properties for quick “flip” or prompt leasing. UD (Unrelated Diversification) is a great opportunity for your business to embark on a new product or service idea without abandoning your specialized niche market altogether.
Diversification does have its own isolated expenses. New product development is required along with proper research, marketing costs, and distribution expenses for the new product or service. However, research has shown that the possible profits from diversification most always offset the risks involved.
In closing, you can see that diversifying is a much safer direction to take than keeping all business energies focused on a tight market that might not survive a negative economic plunge. And, making money from blogs follows the same rules as any other traditional business.
Your Thoughts on Making Money From Blogs
What are your thoughts on these techniques for making money from blogs; do you have more ideas to share with us?
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Wow thanks Alex
You are welcome Adwin. Alex
From three of them, I think the best way will be horizontal diversification. It is because we do leverage the things but still keep the leveraged things in the niche.
Hi Dana, this is the most prefered option! I too have to admit that I’m often scared of unrelated diversification!
There is too many to name..but what every you do..just make sure your having fun and paying your bills..
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”
Hi Cole, maybe we should aim for more than just paying our bills. In life we get what we look for. Why not aim for income that pays for our desired lifestyle in a passive way?
New product development required proper research, marketing costs, and distribution expenses . yes i still confuse with horizontal Diversification, its nearly same with unrelated one.
Almost all types of diversification require some kind of research or marketing expense. That can be in the form of time you spend to do your homework or add pages to a website. It is not always complicated 🙂
Everything seems complicated when have no idea what you’re doing 🙂
Being well acquainted with up-selling/cross-selling as I am, would you say 1 and 2 are basically the same concept?
Hi Dennis, good to see you here! Related and Horizontal diversification are indeed similar!
Horizontal diversification seems to be a great idea, just like how amazon do its conversion magic. Being smart with what you’re offering and being honest with it at the same time seems to be the most effective way to really sell through blogs, given that you also have to trigger your readers interest as well as trust before you can really get them to purchase from you.
As for me, I think the best way is to first establish trust through content, once its done, anything that’s next is much easier.
Jason, I like the strategy you’re using. Building my reputation and establishing trust with my audience is critical for my success here at Basic Blog Tips. That’s why I love to answer questions and help people solve software issues whenever I can. Thanks for your input, it means a lot.
Yes! Reducing risk in bad time and increasing profits in good times is the whole point of diversification. My grandma used to say, “just don’t put all your eggs in one basket”!
Hi Alex,
Great diversification techniques! I’ve done the first two, espcecially with my first online store and cross selling has proven to be a very effective technique.
I think the key message you’ve managed to indirectly get across is that the sale does not end with just the one product or service, but you can continue to upsell them on the backend end using cross-selling and/or after the sale (such as on the thank you page).
You already have an interested buyer, why not maximize on that!
Thanks for sharing this great article!
Hi Michele! Great to see you. I’m making my way over to your blog asap! Thanks for the comment.
With the horizontal diversification you were talking about above, that can also help with your SEO. On one product page, you’re linking out to a related product. Good for users, good for search engines.
Hey Alex,
I really like your third strategy “Unrelated Diversification”. I see a lot of companies online and offline using this diversification method. Most companies understand that investing in numerous products or services instead of just one is the key to longevity, so that’s why this strategy is so popular. Thanks for sharing your insights on this topic.
I think those 3 kinds of diversification can be applied but it will depend on what business you are running. If you are a risk taker why not try the 3 and see which works best.
wow that a great tips
Helpful one Alex. I agree with horizontal diversification because this really I guess is the most common way of earning and the most used process yet very effective.
Hi Alex,
Now, in these days everyone who have a blog want to make money from him but not everyone does. Why? It is simple. Not everyone threat blogging like a business. Who does that will get the money. In connection with what you said about diversification can say that it applies only to those who believe in their business that their blogs.
Hi Alex,
Thanks for sharing your insights. Sadly most new bloggers think by setting up a new blog, they’d start making money.
Blogging is a business if you want to succeed at it you should treat like a business.
I agree, diversifying is a great strategy to use to make money with your blog.
All the best,
Mavis
The ‘customers also bought….’ is a very good stategy for increasing your sales especially with some discount.
it tends to remind them of the necessary things they might forget and could buy elsewhere.
I’ve always been really fascinated by the HD strategy. Around here, if I’m on Amazon with intent to buy, it’s become quite common to shout at me, “Buy it and sign off!” because I spend forever meandering on Amazon looking at all the related things people also bought.
It’s great, because they introduce me to things I never knew I needed! Hence the shouting. =)
Delena
Hi Alex,
I very agree with the point, “meeting the needs of a target market”, in my case, it will be, who my audience are.
When I read some bloggers share about their income on selling wordpress themes, for example, their incomes are less than mine. Because, when I see their niches, their niches are not about wordpress, and mine is about wordpress.
So I guess, the more traffic on one niche, the related product will be easier to promote.
Thanks.
The best way to make money blogging is to stop blogging! I’ve been reading same great articles lately on this topic that say the same thing. I use blogging to increase search listings, or for fun, but not to make money directly. Search is by far the best traffic for sales.
Chuck, pretty soon you’re going to be making six figures and ranking for the keywords “make money blogging”. I saw your tweets on the topic and I’m waiting for your blog post! Don’t forget to take your friends along with you for the ride. Here’s to your (our) success my friend. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this techniques Alex, but you didn’t explained how we can integrate those into our blogs.
The blog content is free so “related products” is related content which is also free.
Really nice tips Alex! Superlike it! 🙂 Horizontal seems to be the best according to me.
These are some really great tips Alex. Diversity is the key to longevity when it comes to monetizing your blog. I also wanted to add that you should diversify your income and traffic streams. You don’t want to be to dependent on any one source if you can help it.
It pays off to be constantly building new traffic sources and finding new ways to make money from what you already have. This way you aren’t left high and dry if the day ever comes that you lose one of those sources.
As you stated, everything comes with an expense (product research, development, etc.) but you have to consider it as an investment because it really will reward you in the end. Great advice, thanks for the post!
I am a part of the TLC club for bloggers and one of our group members just recently talked about making money from blogs and its practicality. And now I come across this… I always keep wondering, does blogging really pay well?
Like stock investing, you need to diversify your online business. For example, your blog should not be dependent in Adsense alone, try promoting affiliate products or creating your own products to sell.
I’m a newbie blogger and I am eager to make money out of it. However, I don’t want to just earn without impacting other peoples’ lives. Since I am new, I am very eager to read posts related to it too. I saw your posts upon searching and I drop by. Glad to say I did that. Now I have another lesson to learn on how to become a successful blogger in no time soon. Cheers!
I think the first idea is just great. It makes me think about bloggers leveraging themselves by providing content writing service. What do you think? It’s a great idea because bloggers are familiar with writing good content every day and with writing service, they can simply earn more every day.
Hi Alex,
The Horizontal Diversification strategy reminds me of Amazon, too. So many times I have purchased a product simply because “Other customers also bought …”
Horizontal Diversification works really well. Here is how I know: In one of my blogs, I have affiliate links that point to Amazon products. When I look at my Amazon affiliate account stats, I notice every month that 2/3 of my affiliate sales come from products different from the ones I am featuring in my site. This is because people end up buying what Amazon suggests them they buy based on the Horizontal Diversification strategy.
I am not a full time blogger yet, but reading this attracts me to a great level to become a full time blogger and earn more money. With money, this also gives me so much to explore and chance to interact with so many people round the world on various topics of my interest. Thanks for sharing the post.
I hope the perfect way will be horizontal diversification. It is just because we make leverage the things but still maintain the leveraged things in the place.
Blogging has become a modern-day phenomenon of sorts, and for some people, it has become a career. While you have no doubt heard stories of blogs being purchased for hundreds of thousands of dollars, the truth is that a majority of professional bloggers will need practical methods for generating income through their blogs.
Really amazing. it helping me a lot. I found these strategies are working well.