4 Ways to Make Money Online Blogging

Seems like everyone is trying to make money online blogging these days.

There’s a blog popping up like every nanosecond. So, if you’re looking at ways to make money online with a blog, don’t let the massive sea of blogs and sites scare you. The vast majority of people who start a new blog don’t follow through with it. They just quit.

So, if you’re willing to develop your blog and give it time to grow, you’re already in the top 10 percent.

CONGRATS!!

Quality will always trump quantity. So, yes, you need to be good. You need to know what you’re talking about, and you need to be passionate about it. But there are still more ways to make money online than there ever have been.

There’s room for you, too. Even if you’re not a writer or have never sold anything in your life. Here are four core things to focus on for making money blogging:

Pick a Topic You’re Passionate or Knowledgeable About

If you want to make money online blogging, it really has to start here. If you’re going to create content for your blog, you have to have some level of expertise and passion about your topic.

Whether it’s health and fitness, politics, parenting, Star Wars, sports collectibles, farm animals, movie and music reviews, underwater fire eating…  whatever. Just make sure you have a knowledge and passion to share with the world.

Your passion and authenticity will always trump your writing ability. That’s that a license to be sloppy, but be yourself. Be genuine. Share your knowledge about your topic. You will attract the right people when you focus on what you believe. (Psst… click here for my 6 secrets to blogging mastery eBook.)

“People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.” – Simon Sinek

This also builds you up as an authority. As you blog more and more about your topic and area of expertise, more people will look to you as (yep, you guessed it) the expert. You become the authority. This is huge for building a following.

Ultimately, you want to build a following of people who want and anticipate your content. these are the dream clients and dream customers you want to attract. They’re the ones who subscribe to your email list and want to be notified when you publish a new blog post.

More on how to monetize a following later, but just think that if you built a following of just 400 people paying you $100 a year, that’s $40,000 a year!

[magicactionbox id=”853″]

Create Free, Valuable Content

This is the one that most people miss. When most people take their business online or try to make money blogging, they focus way too much on selling.

This is also the big mistake I made when I began taking my businesses online. Sure, you want to make money (so do I!). But that shouldn’t be the focus of your blogs.

The focus and purpose of your blog should be to provide value to the people you’re wanting to attract. This is a soul of attraction marketing.

Solve problems. Answer questions. Entertain. Educate.

The idea is to provide so much free, valuable content that people will WANT to buy from you or hire you. Plus, it feels really awesome knowing you are providing value to people.

Related: Secret Google Tools to Attract Your Target Market Online

Drive People to End Products or Service

Do you have a product or service to offer? If you’re wanting to make money with a blog, then you probably do.

If so, show people how your product or service solves their problems. But the key here is to focus on what your product or service DOES and less on what it is.

For example, don’t write a bunch of blog posts on the ingredients of your product. Instead, write about the benefits and results.

Make sure you have clear places on your blog for people to purchase products or at least to get in contact with you. You might have a call to action (yes, that’s a generic business term) at the end of every blog post. Maybe you have free samples to give away. Maybe you have a free guide or book to giveaway.

Don’t be afraid to ask for the sale. Just don’t make that all out in front. Maybe you have purchase buttons on the sidebar of your site. Maybe you send out an email to your list announcing a new product and give them an exclusive “email community” deal.

You’re end product or service is called the END product or service because it should come at the END. It’s OK to ask for the sale, just make sure your focus is on the valuable content that ultimately, and eventually leads to your product or service.

Become an Affiliate

Maybe you don’t have a product or service to offer right now. You can still make money blogging even if you don’t have your own products.

There are a ton of opportunities to market other products and services as an affiliate. Find companies in your area of expertise to partner with that have affiliate programs.

For example, if you blog about health or weight loss, find some weight loss supplements, programs or information products to try yourself first, then sign up as an affiliate. When you refer people to these products, you earn a commission. (That’s cool!) This is also known as affiliate marketing.

Let’s say you’re a makeup artist. You could write about or do videos tutorials on how to apply different types of makeup to get certain popular looks. Eventually, you can tell your followers what makeup products you use yourself. When they buy through you, you get a commission.

Direct selling or network marketing companies are great sources for this. Typically, the products are better quality than what you can find at mass retail chains. These companies offer pretty much any type of product or service you can imagine, and it’s usually no more than a few hundred dollars or less to sign up as a affiliate or distributor.

You can also search for affiliate programs at ClickBank.com or CommissionJunction.com. Find products that are a fit for you and that you are comfortable referring people to. A unique affiliate link is created for you to use that links to your account, giving you credit for the sells.

Don’t let a lack of experience stop you. You’ll learn through action. Trust in your expertise.