I started my first blog with the sole purpose of making money. I was at a low point in my life and desperate to create an income source that would help me pay off debts and relieve myself from constantly feeling underwater.
I wasn’t thinking about how I could best help others.
I didn’t worry about how I could add value to the world.
I just wanted a digital asset that would bring me some income and help my little family survive a difficult time.
I didn’t care how the blog benefited anyone else. I didn’t even care about the blog. I only wanted to create a blog that would help me by producing an income.
So I wrote the blog posts I thought would be popular instead of what I was passionate about. I linked to a bunch of different products, hoping that one of them would make money.
I started many different blogs at once because I hoped at least one would “make it.”
During that journey, I learned a few things about blogging:
If you’re just blogging to make money, you will not make it.
You’ve got to find something that you’re passionate enough to commit to.
Blogging is not a one-time endeavor. Making money blogging requires that you show up consistently to serve an audience.
Let’s break those down a bit before we dive into the actual how-to of blogging.
How to Make Money Blogging
There are several ways to make money blogging and no two bloggers make money in the same way. Here are just a few ways you can make money with your blog:
Sell a product or service: Create a product or digital course, or write a book.
Affiliate marketing: Share other people’s products and services for a commission.
Advertising: Promote other brands on your site or social media accounts.
Paid membership or community: Build a community around a specialized niche that you charge a monthly subscription for.
There are many ways to make money from a blog, but many people never cross the money-making mark.
Here’s the reason many people don’t ever see money from their blog: They only blog to make money.
There is nothing wrong with making money (in fact, I believe you should make money through your work). However, if you’re only blogging for the money, you may not have the stamina to make it through the beginning stages of blogging.
There’s an ugly stage that could last for years where no one’s listening, no one sees what you have to offer, no one knows who you are and you don’t make a dime.
Meanwhile, you’ll be spending money on your website host and email software. You’ll also be spending a lot of time writing or recording content, planning and sharing content online.
If your only purpose for starting a blog is the money, the lack of money in those beginning stages will discourage you from pushing through.
Finding a Topic You’re Passionate About
I decided to write my first blog about marketing. I thought that it was easier to make money by talking about the “make money online” space. I knew that there are a lot of marketing tools I could advertise online as an affiliate.
Do you want to know how many blog posts I wrote before giving up? Exactly one.
I wasn’t passionate about the topic. In fact, because I didn’t have any experience in online marketing, this topic wasn’t even a good fit with my skills.
If you want to make any money blogging, you cannot simply choose a topic that you believe will make you money. The topic must be in line with your personal interests and strengths.
Making A Commitment To Your Blog and Your Audience
Any blogger or influencer that has built an empire online knows who they’re serving with their content. There is a person out there who best needs their content, someone they know can reach their goals if given the opportunity.
In order to create a blog that is profitable, you must determine who that audience is for your content. Then, you must spend your time serving that person.
Here’s why: For you to make money, someone has to be willing to pay you.
Who pays you? The people you serve.
If I’m being 100% honest here (which I always am), your audience will only pay you if you are serving them to the best of your ability in the ways they want and need to be served.
To serve your audience, you must understand them. And to understand them, you’ve got to make a commitment to continuing to serve them over the years.
OK, if you’re still here that means you know what it takes to start a blog (and that it’s no small feat). Now it’s time to learn how to build a blog that makes money.
How To Start a Money-Making Blog
Choose the topic you’ll write about.
As I said earlier, you have to start with a topic that you’re passionate about it. If you don’t know what you’re passionate about right now, ask your closest friends these questions:
What would you like to learn from me?
What are my three best qualities?
What could I talk about for hours?
Sometimes we don’t see what we’re best at, but the people we’re closest to see it in us. That can be your starting point to take action and you can change your direction as you gain more experience.
Write a few blog posts to get you started.
Here’s where you really start: sit down and write a few blog posts on the topic that you choose.
At this point, it doesn’t matter that the blog post is perfect. It doesn’t have to sound like your favorite professional blogger. It ONLY has to serve the purpose of starting.
In order to become a professional blogger, you’ve got to be a beginner blogger first. So here’s where you do that. Write at least three blog posts about your topic to start your blog.
Build your website with 4 key pages
My website is built on Squarespace.com. I find it to be one of the easiest ways to create a beautiful blog with no experience. (It’s a little more costly upfront, but the functionality is worth it in my opinion.
Here are the four pages, you’ll need to get started:
About: Tell us about yourself, where you come from, where you are today, and where are you going.
Contact: How would I get in touch with you if I want to connect?
Blog: Here’s where you’ll put your three blog posts!
Products/Services: If you have products or services to sell, add that information to your website.
That’s it! Don’t spend a million years on a logo or the perfect tagline. Over time, you’ll learn about yourself and what you love to write about. You’ll learn the audience that is drawn to your message. You’ll learn what value you add to this world.
Drive Traffic to Your Blog
Now that you have a functioning blog, you might be wondering… How in the world do I get traffic to my blog?
My favorite way of driving traffic to my blog is Pinterest! I post all of my content to Pinterest and over time, my Pinterest audience has grown (and so has my traffic to the blog).
I use Tailwind to schedule all of my content to Pinterest and it’s by far my favorite tool for marketing my blog.
Start Building Your Email List as soon as possible
If there is only one tip I can give you at the start of your journey it would be this: start building your email list now.
Your email list is where you’ll create the most intimate relationship with your audience. This is where you can share your best stories and tips. This is where they’ll always hear from you because your messages go right to their email box.
Start this right at the beginning. Send out weekly emails. Love your list and serve them well.
The tool I use for email is Convertkit and I highly recommend them!
The number one service that you can do for yourself is to start a blog that you intend to have for a very long time. It takes a while to build an audience online, to find your voice, to learn how to write well, and to learn how to sell. Every step of the blogging process will take time. The best way to make money with your blog is to be in it for the long haul.
What are you most excited to start a blog about?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!
