Blogging tip #10: How to monetize your blog efficiently

bysmartketeer

6.8K followers

Updated 6 years ago

Let’s face it, the ultimate prize and the ultimate goal is always the same: money.

It’s probably not the best approach, but it’s definitely the healthiest one. And it’s OK. Since the Mesopotamian civilization developed the shekel – the first unit of weight and currency – around 3,000 BC, everything revolves around money. In other words, monetizing your blog isn’t a sin. It’s a necessity, especially if you are spending hundreds and thousands of hours with research and content creation. But, it’s extremely easy to cross the line between sin and necessity! Using well-balanced, seamlessly integrated monetization techniques in a truly helpful, value-packed blog post is a must. Leveraging a valueless 200-word article as a binder for aggressive and excessively used monetization techniques it’s a sin, and has nothing to do with blogging! The bottom line:

Blog monetization is necessary evil in our money-driven society. But, don't forget, blogging is NOT about making money! Blogging is about creating value.

Obviously, there are many different ways to monetize blogs, and you’ll have to evaluate them carefully to see which method best fits your goals. Let’s see a few options that can help you to earn money with a blog or to make a living with blogging:

1. Affiliate programs

No doubt, is the most popular method. Why? Because, almost any type or form of content can be used as a carrier. It can be a simple product link or a bigger shop section, it can be a text-based content piece (article, review, tutorial, email, etc) with contextual links, it can be a web page or a visual solution with clickable areas (landing page, video, banner, image gallery, CTA, etc), etc, etc.

To put it simply: elegantly incorporating affiliate marketing in your blogging strategy is definitely the most efficient way to monetize a helpful and valuable content piece.

2. Contextual advertising platforms

If affiliate marketing is the most efficient monetization method, contextual advertising is definitely the easiest way to make money with your blog. Many, many bloggers are focusing on these contextual ads using different advertising platforms such as: AdSense, Bidvertiser, Infolinks, etc

Personally, I am not a big fan of these platforms, and I’ll tell you why. First of all: contextual or not, you can end up with all kinds of ads displayed on your blog, ads that doesn’t reflect at all your goals and your personality. Secondly: each platform has differently-styled and differently-sized ad blocks that can – and usually will – disrupt the well-crafted visual style of your blog. Thirdly: contextual or not, those ads are completely irrelevant to your content (your product, your review, etc). But, it’s a very convenient and relatively efficient way to earn money with a blog or to make a living with blogging … And the decision – as always – is yours …

3. Merchandising

An increasing number of bloggers are trying to build an extra income source by selling branded products. I won’t lie to you: merchandising is not my “style”, and probably this is the main reason why I didn’t have a great success with merchandising. Still, certain bloggers – especially those with a cult following – have made nice amounts of money with merchandising programs like: Printful or RedBubble.

As I said, merchandising is not my style … Plus, using merchandising as monetization method on a marketing blog it would be quite awkward … Still, in certain niches – for example, fashion – can be a quite effective method especially if you already have a nice group of fans who are highly dedicated to a given trend or a work of culture.

4. Selling PLR products

No doubt, if you have your own products, you are going to sell them on your blog even without “useful” ideas coming from smarty-pants like me. But, here’s the thing: you don’t need to create your own products! There are hundreds of different places where you can get high-quality PLR products with master resell rights. Just ask your best friend, Google, and you’ll see …

In my opinion this is the second best way – after affiliate marketing – to earn money with a blog or to make a living with blogging. Why? Well, first of all, because it’s efficient. Secondly: it’s pretty easy to find a high-quality product that will perfectly fit the topic of your next article.

5. Selling advertising space

Which is probably the third best option … Only the third, because in order to efficiently leverage it you are going to need a LOT of readers, subscribers, visitors, etc. It’s very simple: if you don’t have the numbers, you can’t be attractive for your advertisers. BUT! If you have the numbers, this could be your most powerful monetization method when you are trying to earn money with a blog or to make a living with blogging!

As I said, if you have a large number of regular visitors, your own advertising space should be your most powerful weapon. But, don’t get greedy! Keep your prices at a reasonable level, and more importantly, don’t accept any kind of ads just to make a few more extra bucks!

A few final – very important – thoughts about blog monetization

And these are only a few examples. The truth is, that when it comes to blog monetization, the only limit – as always – is your imagination. Here are a few more ideas: consulting and coaching services, paid reviews, workshops and online courses, paid webinars, virtual summits, restricted premium content, sponsored posts, donations, hosted surveys, private forums, paid guest posts, etc.

But, there is one more – vital – issue! Whatever you do, try to be smarter and more creative than others! Try to maximize your earning potential by exploiting the most common mistakes made by other marketers. I know, it may sound a bit harsh, but digital marketing is not about being merciful or kind-hearted. Digital marketing is about being decided, persistent, smart, and yes, sometimes even ferocious. Digital marketing is about survival, and if you want to survive, you’ll have to exploit any kind of mistake made by your opponents. In fact, only these weaknesses and blind spots can help you to become more successful than others …

Want some proof? OK! Here’s the biggest mistake that at least 99% of the websites are making on daily basis: not making a difference between visitors and subscribers!

In order to transform your visitors into subscribers you are going to use several different tactics and methods such as opt-in forms, landing pages, content upgrades, post screen overlays, etc. And that’s fine. Your ultimate goal is to transform your visitors into loyal, returning subscribers. But, there’s a huge problem: when they return back to your blog as your subscribers, they will still see the very same opt-in forms and popups! The very same offers that they have already signed up for! And that’s a huge mistake which is completely overlooked by 99% of marketers. First of all, it’s extremely annoying. Secondly: you are losing the chance to show something new and valuable to the most engaged part of your audience! It’s something I like to call “inert marketing”, and believe me, is one of the biggest enemies of your future earnings.

The point: don't irritate your subscribers with constantyl displayed sign-up forms and pop-ups! These are for the new visitors! Treat your subscribers with respect by giving them a different, valuable, popup-free content!

And there is one more thing which is also heavily overlooked by the vast majority of bloggers and marketers. The scarcity factor! Getting traffic to your blog is important … but, it’s completely useless if your site doesn’t perform. As Neil Patel said:

If you can create a stronger sense of urgency on your landing page or websites, then you can successfully spur people to do what you want them to do on your page (i.e., convert).

Conclusion

For a truly efficient monetization strategy you’ll have to forget the “traditional” approach and the herd mentality. You are going to need a few smart tools and you’ll have to make some efforts to create deeply optimized, interconnected marketing avenues that can help you to overtake your opponents.