Alright, let’s talk about blog monetization strategies now that you have a website fully optimized, tweaked and filled to the brim with relevant content.
Hopefully you studied the last blog post and have begun to generate traffic to your website using the free resources mentioned, now it’s time to talk about blog monetization strategies.
This is where it gets interesting!
Like regular sites, there are many different opportunities available.
You could check out Google Adsense, or other offers from services like CPALead.com.
But it doesn’t stop there.
As a blogger, you can promote affiliate products on your website.
And build your email list so that you can promote your own products and services to.
Of course, this will ultimately depend on how much traffic you are able to generate to your website.
The more traffic, the more lucrative your blog will be, and of course, with consistent traffic you can make money through commissions from affiliate products that are purchased through your referral.
As someone who has been blogging a few years, Sheldon recommends to new bloggers that they focus on growing traffic before ever trying to monetize their blogs.
You need to build your brand within your niche, generate as many subscribers as possible, and get your website out in front of as many interested prospects as possible before you focus on making money from your blog.
You need a engaged audience, a real following, and returning visitors who find your website informative, useful, interesting and worth returning to time and time again.
Once you have built your blogs foundation, simply take the next step and implement more strategies into all areas of your blog, doing the real work first and focusing on generating a steady stream of traffic to your website.
There are a few blog monetization strategies, one of these involves building a list.
Put an email opt-in form on your site that captures your visitor’s information.
By doing this, you are able to build a relationship with your subscribers, and once you have developed that trust, you can deliver more value even before your blog is generating a lot of traffic.
To do this, you need an autoresponder account, I personally use AWeber.
With AWeber, your first month is only $1, then $19 per month.
One thing to consider is what you are going to use (your opt in bribe) in order to motivate your visitors into becoming newsletter subscribers.
The easiest way is to purchase Private Label Rights (PLR) reports from Fiverr
If you are going to write something yourself, make sure that what you are offering is relevant to your topic.
Next, log into your autoresponder account and create your welcome email.
This the introductory email automatically sent to each subscriber upon confirmation of their request to join your list.
In this email, you will introduce yourself and thank them for subscribing to your list. Be sure to include the download link to your report.
Just like other blog monetization strategies…
Your first priority is to build a relationship with your list so that they trust your recommendations and look to you as a sound source of advice, tips and information relating to the subjects that interest them.
Communicate with your subscribers, offering them free material, information, tips and resources that will help them.
Before you know it, you’ll have a group of people who will eagerly open up your emails, respond to your offers and genuinely investigate the products that you recommend.
Affiliate Links
The most popular affiliate program online is Clickbank.
You can promote Commission Junction, JVZoo and Warrior Plus, but these networks have requirements.
With that being said, if you write a review make sure you actually purchase and use the product.
List out the benefits, the disadvantages (don’t leave this out because adding the negative points about a product will make your review more credible to your readers) and how the product has helped you.
This is called pre-selling to your readers and will help to encourage a higher conversion rate.
Clickbank offers digital products such as video courses, ebooks and software. You can find a huge range of products to promote.
With Clickbank, their marketplace can be easily navigated by using filters and attributes.
Their marketplace is filled with thousands of products that you can promote.
It’s free to setup a Clickbank affiliate account, so you can begin exploring potential products and services instantly.
Here is an overview of how to choose the best products for your niche:
Log into ClickBank and click on the Marketplace link on top.
Then on the left side you’ll see the categories listing. Simply click your choice.
You will see the results of your selection listed by popularity, or click the drop down arrow to reveal sort by options.
As you view the details of any given offer, you will see stats located under each listing, one of these statistics is called gravity.
Clickbank uses gravity as an estimate of the most recent sales for a particular product.
A product with a higher gravity rating demonstrates the product is receiving a large number of sales from affiliates.
It means that the product is converting.
That’s important because you always want to ensure that the product you are promoting actually converts.
Google AdSense
This type of advertising uses full text classified ads that are displayed on your websites or blog.
Simply apply for the program and once approved, Google will display relevant AdSense ads on your website.
It works like this. You earn a small commission every time a visitor to your site clicks on one of the Google ads displayed on your blog.
How much you earn depends on how competitive the keywords used in the ads are.
Naturally you will have to pay more money for the more competitive keywords.
The keywords for topics that are very popular like insurance, loans and mortgage can cost up to $50 per click.
AdSense pays you for every click made to advertisements featured on your blog.
It’s free to join Adsense.
Click here for more information.
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