5 Ways to Monetize Your Blog Without Advertising

One of the topics I receive the most questions about is blog advertising. When can you start accepting sponsors? How do you price your ads? How do you manage advertising?

The bottom line: doing advertising right is hard work.

From ads on Scoutie Girl – a 3.5 year old blog with a monthly readership of 35,000 unique readers – I only generate 15% of my income. Sure, I like that 15% – but you have to ask yourself just how much money that would mean for your blog, because doing the work is about the same. In most cases, that means the same amount of work for a lot less money.

And the truth is you can make a LOT more money from selling your own stuff or service via your blog.

Oh wait? You wanted explanations for those? Right on. Keep reading…

Advertising on a blog is the least personal way to make money. It’s the most traditional – magazines & newspapers have been supported by ads for decades – but the least fitting the medium. Choosing one of the 5 ways listed above gives your readers a personal experience and a way to support you directly. Consistent blogging – good blogging – is hard work, an entrepreneurial endeavor whether you’re making money already or not.

Be thoughtful about the way you monetize your blog and you’ll be rewarded!

Sell a service.

You probably blog [for the purposes of this post, feel free to substitute "writing" or "creating content" for the word blogging] about lots of things. But I bet you’re really good at just 1 or two. This one thing is what you’re most passionate about, what you have experience or education in, and it’s what you have proven track record of success with.

Offer your expertise to others. Offer your infectious spirit, your enthusiasm, your empowering ideas to others who aren’t gifted in this area. You can sell consulting services, skill-based services, or any kind of outsourcing you can think of! The key here is to match your network’s need with a skill you possess.

The benefit of offering a service is that there’s interaction, personalization, and a higher ticket price because of both of those things.

Sell a digital product.

Do you love giving presentations? Could you write a book on a your favorite biz topic? Have a pattern you’d like to share with the world? Turn it into a digital product.

Any PDF, video, audio, image, etc… can be sold. The days of purely free content are over (were they ever really here?) and people are willing to pay for really good, useful content that saves them time & energy and solves a problem. Use your expertise to create a product that does just that.

The benefit of selling a product is that you can price it slightly lower than a service because it can be sold over & over again ad infinitum. And earning money in your sleep rocks. Hard core.

Sell other people’s stuff.

This might be new to you. You can help other people sell their products & services and earn a commission for each sale you make. While many corporations like Amazon have million dollar (billion?!) affiliate programs, many small ma & pa companies have affiliate programs as well. Even individuals (like me!) have affiliate programs.

Companies & entrepreneurs are thrilled to get word of mouth exposure and they will pay you for results. And pay well.

Consider supporting books you love, classes you’re taking, your web hosting service, your email service… anything you pay for and LOVE, you should check for an affiliate program for. It’s a great way to earn passive income and your readers appreciate knowing about the services you recommend.

The benefit here is that you review products that you love and already use. Other people click & buy – you make money (sometimes in your sleep). This is a real no-brainer. It’s just figuring out how it will work for you.

Sell your stuff better.

Do you mention the product that you sell regularly? Do you talk about how it was created? Do you talk about the problem it solves and the people who love using/wearing/engaging it?

If you don’t, you should. Your blog is not all about you – it’s about your potential customers. Tell them how they will benefit from using your product and use it they will.

Is your online store or product page displayed prominently in the sidebar? Or even in your header? Or your footer? Or before your comments? Some place people are going to click it and click it often? Some place people can tell you’re selling something?

Your business blog will convert more readers into customers if people know you’re trying to sell something. Seem silly? Look around at blogs in your niche. Probably very few feature a prominent link to a store or product. Sad, but true.

The benefit to selling more of what you’re already creating? Easy. You get to do more of what you love for more money. Jack pot.

Sell your content.

Take the first 4 ideas and use content that you’ve already generated to create income. Take several blog posts, write transitions, fill them out, answer questions that came up in the comments – and you have an ebook. Take podcasts you’ve created, have them transcribed, and turn them into a free ecourse that promotes other products. Take your preparation from workshops you do in the area and turn them into a paid ecourse.

The benefit here is that you’ve already done most of the work. You can create income quickly and easily. Just remember to do your best to add value to what you have. People pay for value.

Sometimes, thinking big is about thinking outside the box. It’s about forgetting what you see everyone else in your community doing and embracing something new or something that works better. Challenge yourself to create new streams of income within your own business. And don’t forget to let me know how it goes!

[image credit: kevin dooley via flickr]

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