How do you earn passive income from blogging? These 5 tips are proven income accelerators for bloggers who want to get real about how to monetize websites with their content.
COVID-19 has forced a lot of people to stay inside and online. With so many people looking for something new to read, it’s a great time to get your blog off the ground.
Blogging is a good way to channel your expertise and earn extra money while funds are hard to come by. With 77% of internet users regularly reading posts, now is the time to get writing.
Here are 5 proven tips that will help you correctly monetize websites like your blog, so that you can start earning passive income every month. Consider this the start of your blogging journey.
3 Things You Need to Know Before You Begin
Every blogger wants to be a successful blogger.
There are 600 million blogs in the world, and 31.7 million active bloggers in the US alone. Yet, very few people manage to make decent money with their blog.
You need 3 basic elements:
- An in-demand topic (the problem you will solve)
- A red hot readership (also called a paying audience)
- Reliable sales infrastructure (the avenues to sell)
This is also known as your basic sales formula – you need a niche, ongoing engagement and a platform to succeed. Get these three right, and you’ll already be well ahead of a large majority of bloggers trying to earn passive income online today though monetize websites.
How do you get them right?
- Niche success requires market research
- Engagement success demands consistent quality content
- Platform success means using the right digital tools and partnerships
Focus your blog on your target reader and keep to your niche topic. These 5 best way to monetize website tips are easy to implement when you’ve got strong infrastructure in place.
Tip #1: Invest in a WordPress Blog
Money from blogging comes from two places – your traffic volume and your repeat audience (found in your email list and social channels). You need full control of these if you’re serious about monetize websites!
There’s a reason why 70 million blog posts are published every month by WordPress users. It’s a powerhouse platform that integrates with every sales tool you’ll need to grow, sell and thrive.
Many new bloggers choose an easy website builder that costs very little to setup. These are simple to use and don’t require much effort, but they also limit your functionality and can cost more over time.
To monetize websites it’s best if you start with a small investment. A few hundred dollars can go far if you know where to invest it. A WordPress partner will help you overcome any learning curve and will get you started..
Either way, it costs the same as using a limited builder that owns your traffic and will charge you more each time you want to expand.
With WordPress blogging you’re still fully in control of your growth and your content. Get those blog posts live and working for you!
Tip #2: Create Helpful Digital Products
Next up, is to use your WordPress website to sell the content that you create. You can monetize websites blog posts, or create other digital products to sell directly from your site.
Pick Your Digital Product Type
Sell digital products like eBooks, online courses, live-classes, podcasts, software, games, photography and video content from your WordPress shop or LMS.
Decide which formats will best suit your niche and customer base. A psychiatrist blogger for example, could create video lessons that are released weekly as part of a subscription model or are sold directly as products. Get creative and make your ideas reality!
Turn Blog Posts into Other Formats
An easy way to get started is to write 10 blog posts on the same theme, then turn them into an eBook or a podcast series.
Turning posts into other content formats saves you time, and it accelerates your SEO. This is because you focus on a specific theme, then release high value content on that theme.
Blog posts can be converted into eBooks, videos, live-lessons or podcasts. Spend some time creating a brief monthly strategy for 10 posts, then rework and sell a complete product at the end of the month – it’s easy!
Do this for a year, and you’ll have 12 digital products for sale and a bustling blog.
Introduce a Section on COVID-19
During COVID-19, adapt your content to make it relevant to people in your niche who are struggling with the same challenges that you face.
A resource center, or knowledge-base is a valuable tool for customers in your niche that are looking for solutions.
It also makes your content extremely relevant, and gives you a dedicated place to put that content. Reach out and help customers in your niche!
Adopt a Subscription Model
Turn your WordPress website into a membership website, and gate your highest value content for your loyal subscribers!
Add a plugin and your blog will earn you money every month. All you have to do is create 1 piece of valuable content a month for subscribers.
A florist for example, could release a video each week on plant care from home. Subscribers would pay $9.95 to get these 4 videos each month, clear instructions and community feedback.
If you found 300 subscribers at $9.95 a month, you would earn $2985.00pm from 4 pieces of content. Your subscribers become advocates for your blog.
Bonus Blueprint
Use each of the above ideas to formulate a quick, simple monetize websites strategy for your blog.
- Add your membership plugin (4 pieces of content)
- Decide to post 10 blog posts per month (a batch of 10)
- Pick your content formats to convert from blog posts (video, podcasts, eBook)
- Create products in batches of 10 as you blog (1 product per month)
- Dedicate a third of your blog content to a COVID-19 section
WordPress Plugins:
Some of the most successful bloggers have made their money by selling digital products. As your traffic and email list grows, you’ll be able to sell more products at higher prices.
Tip #3: Focus on Traffic Attraction & Audience Retention
The next tip focuses on the content that you create for your audience. To build long-term passive income, you’ll want to generate incoming traffic and then retain that traffic for future sales.
- Traffic attraction means doubling down on search engine optimization
- Get a WordPress plugin like Yoast to make sure your posts rank on Google
- Build an email list by collecting blog subscribers on your website
- This list will be notified when you post, or have something to sell
- Post on social media daily and be consistent
When you combine the listening and engagement power of social media, with SEO’s traffic attraction potential, you’ll be able to build your email marketing list super-fast.
Tip #4: Invite Sponsored Content & Guest Post
Once you have products to sell, and you’re growing a nice audience – the next logical step is to attract sponsored content opportunities. This is a great way to earn with a small blogging site.
Micro-influencers (audiences less than 50,000 people) are in-demand because you’re more authentic and cost effective, so brands and other influencers want to work with you.
- A sponsored post is when a brand pays you to review a product or to write-about it in a creative way. Nano and micro-influencers are part of brand influencer marketing strategies
- Alexis from the Fitnancials Blog earns $3000.00 a month on sponsored posts alone
- Sponsored content includes any paid media that you create for a brand
An unpaid version of this is to perform outreach to other bloggers and to create posts for their blogs. Guest posts siphon off some traffic and lead people back to your blog.
Tip #5: Include Affiliate Links & Advertise Onsite
Finally, what’s blogging without the inclusion of affiliate links and ads? These will create a small amount of income for you to start with, but it will grow with your traffic and audience numbers.
- Affiliate marketing is when you put other people’s links or leads in your content
- When someone clicks or buys from that link, you earn money as an affiliate
- Choose from an enormous range of niche-relevant affiliate networks
- Reviews, compilation lists and comparison posts work well with these links
Then you’ll want to go ahead and include advertising as another revenue stream. Google Adsense is the most popular and it can be a steady earner for your blog.
This set of tips will help you create a revenue stream that starts as a trickle and turns into a flood over time. WordPress gives you the ability to add all of these passive income sources to your blog from day 1.
Remember to invest in the right platform partners, to monetize websites content by adding a membership area, a learning management system and a variety of digital products. Then, build your traffic flow and audience with SEO, social media and email marketing.
You can also monetize websites with sponsored posts and guest content as part of your overall strategy. Your affiliate links and ads will generate income for you throughout your growth spurt.
