Top Tips and Tools To Create A Profitable Blog
Chances are, you either have a blog, or have thought about creating one. Maybe you even had one years ago and it simply died a slow, quiet death. In any case, because maintaining a blog takes time and your time is quite valuable, you’ve realized that you want a profitable blog, not just an online journal.
“If you build it, they will come” might have worked for Kevin Costner in the movie “Field of Dreams,” but it won’t work with a blog. With 380 new websites being created every minute, if you want to be more than a voice in the internet wilderness, you’ve got to find a way to stand out as well as how to monetize your blog.
Here’s our top tips and tools to help you create a blog that’s something you’re proud of. And, at the same time, is profitable.
A Profitable Blog Starts With Quality
If you were to look at the majority of those 380 websites per minute going up around the world, you’d find most of them offer no value. You certainly wouldn’t re-visit them. As you start out building your blog, go for quality.
Template or Custom?
A quick search online will reveal tons of sources of template websites. Many of them are quite well done and create an attractive and pleasing user experience. A high quality customizable template website can be had for under $100. On the other hand, you may want to go custom, so there’s no other blog that looks like yours. If that’s you’re choice, it’s only limited by your imagination and budget. You can easily spend thousands for a custom designed site. We suggest you go with a template.
Getting Great Content
Do not be tempted to purchase a bunch of prewritten articles to give your blog a boost start. Google does not give much value to the same content posted all over the internet. If you’re not aware of how important Google is to the success of your blog, read this article about the importance of Google’s always-present and watchful eyes.
That means you’re going to have to create your own content, multiple times each week. If you’re like most new bloggers, it’s outside your regular job. So you’ll need to find time to write, edit, proof, image, and post your articles. Any part of that can be outsourced. For a fee, of course.
Take on the parts you feel most comfortable with. You can find very reasonable help for tasks at which you don’t excel at many online providers. For example, if you think you can manage to write your own content, but you’re not sure of your grammar and formatting skills, you may want to consider editing and proofreading services.
Establishing an Online Presence
Just having the blog isn’t enough. In the sea of new websites, you’ve got to make yours more visible than the others. To a large extent, that means connecting your blog to appropriate social media sites.
Depending on the subject of your blog, you’ll want to have a blog profile on at least a few of the following:
- YouTube
- Tumblr
Some of the most profitable social media successes are on Instagram and YouTube. But choose wisely. Working social media can make you a lot of money. Or simply eat up a large chunk of your time.
Monetizing Your Blog
Once you’ve got your blog running and established your social media channels, it’s time to start making it profitable. Here’s the most popular ways to create income from your efforts.
Advertising
From sidebars to popups, all those ads you see on virtually every site are generating money. Many are ads provided by Google, and each time a visitor to your site clicks the ad, you get paid. There’s also banner ads, the ads you see on YouTube, and many others. But be careful, because too many ads adversely affect user experience. You want your blog visitors to return (traffic), so treat them well.
Sponsorship
You know those props you see in movies that prominently display a certain brand? Those are paid placements. Similarly, once you’re established, you can get consumer products companies of all sizes and types to pay you to directly or indirectly show or promote their product. But there may be disclosures required, so be sure to know the FCC rules.
Product Sales
Trying to sell products online, either your own or as a re-seller, can be challenging as well as rewarding. As we said at the beginning, just because you put up a product for sale on the internet does not mean anyone will even see it let alone buy it.
Rather than jumping into products sales on your own, consider affiliate marking. With affiliate marketing, you don’t have the risk of inventory or the hassle of shipping. You’re promoting someone else’s product and getting paid a commission on the sale. Amazon has a very easy to use affiliate program that’s a great place to start.
You Can Do It!
As with most things, starting from zero and building a successful enterprise can seem daunting. Take it one step at a time and be patient. To summarize:
- Go for quality as opposed to quantity. Serve up a great meal, not a bunch of junk fast food
- Whether it’s your blog or your social media page, proofread and edit prior to publishing
- Provide information that’s valuable and interesting to your intended audience
- Monetize gradually, adding sources of income that work with your image and content
A blog can turn into a profitable business of its own in a relatively short time. Who knows, you just might be the next blog and social media millionaire!
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