Why do we blog? Do we blog for the money? Maybe some of us do. Or, do we blog for the love of writing and hope that it pays the web hosting bill?
Regardless of where we are on the spectrum, it is nice to make a few bucks, right?
So, how do we do that without spending all of our time on making money and none of the time on the creativity of the writing, let alone, the technical aspects of maintaining a blog?
Monetization Options
First, let's look at some of the ways that we could make money from our blog. Some of these are very obvious methods and utilized throughout the internet. You do not need to limit yourself to these methods, but it is a place to start if you are a newbie.
Website Advertising
One of the first methods that comes to mind, when considering monetization is advertising. Even within the topic of advertising, there are different types of advertising.
One is contextual advertising. That is when the ads that appear are relevant to the content that you are reading. An example of this type of advertising is infolinks.com.
Have you ever seen an ad for something appear in the sidebar of a web site after you have searched for that very same item on amazon.com? That is an example of contextual advertising. Of course, the algorithms that are used are proprietary, but fortunately, you can make money without having to understand all of the technical stuff.
In addition to the contextual advertising, there is also Google's Adsense product and there are other sites where you can broker advertising, like buysellads.com.
Here is a great article about AdSense, here on Basic Blog Tips: AdSense for Feeds Dies, AdSense for Search Rocks! by Ms. Ileane.
Another area of advertising is through YouTube videos. There is a wealth of information, presented by Ms. Ileane herself, on how to use YouTube videos in your blogging, branding, and marketing endeavors. But, they can also become a key portion of your income. You can create dynamic and engaging videos and embed them on your site, having the built-in advertising source built-in with your video. This works well with podcasts and accompanying slideshow presentation via video, or a Google hangout, or an animation video. The sky is the limit on what you can do. (Can you tell I am into videos?!)
YouTube Advertising Formats: The Essential Guide by Ms. Ileane.
So, those options for advertising include:
- Use an advertising system like Adsense, Infolinks, etc.
- Advertise through your embedded YouTube videos.
- Selling ad space on your own site, to other advertisers (i.e. buysellads.com).
Speaking and Training
Now that you are an expert, you can monetize your expertise. Come on, you *know* you are an expert in something, right?! One way to make money is to become a speaker. I once interviewed a talented gentleman named Patrick Schwerdtfeger (just remember “bookpatrick.com” — it is easier). He was inspirational on how to get started as a speaker, making $5,000 for sharing what you know and also having exotic trips paid for by the conference. He has a wonderful way of sharing his story that inspires those of us who want to do the same thing (travel and make big bucks).
For those of us who want to stay home (or need to stay home or don't like traveling), there is the option of sharing our talents by training others. You could coach them one-on-one or in groups. Coaching requires one-on-one time, which can be a lot of time! However, another option is to put your training into a self-paced program. This helps you to be available for specialized questions or shorter coaching sessions while containing the bulk of your content in the training program. This helps you to address the pain spots that your students may have, specific to their situation, but also keeping the price lower (compared to one-on-one coaching).
A great platform for that is Udemy.com. In fact, Ms. Ileane has a course on Udemy. Check it out and start building your engagement on YouTube while also seeing how Ms. Ileane monetizes using Udemy! Skillfeed is another site Ms. Ileane is using!
Considerations and Objectives
This sounds like it is a lot of work, but it is a matter of knowing your audience and identifying what type of monetization works best for:
- your audience.
- your web site.
- YOU.
So, if your audience is mostly small business owners and bloggers, you may not want to sell advertising to a combine manufacturer. (If you don't know what a combine is, click here.) Of course, that works well if you are blogging about farming or farming equipment. That might be a match made in heaven if that is the case.
When it comes to your site, consider the design of your site. In the case of Basic Blog Tips, Ms. Ileane has a nice clean layout. It is a sort of magazine style, and it is quite pleasant to look at, really. If Ms. Ileane were to fill it with ads in every nook and cranny, it might tend to look a little cluttered. However, this “cluttered look” may work for a more newspaper type design of a web site, where every spot seems to be taken up with something.
Along with the look and feel of your web site, there is the purpose (or objective) of your web site. If you are all about your role as a speaker, you may want to have less in the area of ads and really focus on your sales funnel pointing to the sale of your book and the contact for you to be the speaker at the next conference. In that way, for those visitors to your site who do not run conferences or events, you can lead them to purchase your book or sign up for your Udemy course. In that particular case, you may be focusing more on your services and aiming *not* to distract them with the web site or YouTube advertising.
A combination approach may be just what is perfect for your blog or web site.
When deciding on your monetizing strategy, don't forget about YOU. It may look wonderful to consider making YouTube your primary source of monetization, especially after looking at what Ms. Ileane does! But, if you detest video and are having a nervous break-down over the thought of doing it, well, maybe it isn't for you. In all cases, though, there is an option to outsource, so you don't necessarily have to rule out one method of monetization just because you don't want to do it (i.e. video production). If you are made of money, you can hire all of it out, but then, you are not likely reading this article if you already have that surplus of money, eh?
In Summary
Now you have some ideas for *how* to monetize, and you have some things to think about to help you decide what or how to implement those options. While you are percolating on that, here are some other related articles and books:
- How You Should Be Making Money from Your Niche Blog by Anil Agarwal.
- ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
- Authority Affiliate Marketing: 12 Steps to Long-Term Profits with a Single Niche
- Understanding How to Monetize Website Traffic by Mitz.
So, what is your next move for monetizing your blogging endeavors? Please do share it with us! (And, when you are rich and famous, come back to Basic Blog Tips and share your story with us little guys 😉 )