Many bloggers think that the best way to make money off their blogs is to install Google Adsense. This is a very popular way of monetizing blogs because it is so easy. You only need to sign up to Google Adsense, get your code, and install it on your site. Given that there are many plugins that help you with this, it is easy to slap on Google Adsense ads to your blog. Sadly, if you do this, you probably won’t make any real money unless you get tons of traffic. There are better alternatives. Check them out below.
Make money with your credibility
People go to your blog because they trust the information you have on your blog. They care about what you have to say. They find you credible. Turn your credibility into cash. You monetize your credibility when you recommend products or services to your loyal blog readers or email list members. For every sale your recommendation or blog reviews generate, you get paid a commission. Your commission is a percentage of the total value of the product or service you promoted.
Make money off your own product sales
If you have established a solid reputation with your blog readers and your blog attracts lots of readers, you might want to level up. The next level, of course, is to offer your own custom-produced products. This is a better way to make money off your blog because you keep all of the money your recommendations produce. Unlike affiliate product sales where you are only given a commission, when you sell your own products on your blog, you keep the whole amount of the sale. Also, you can increase the likelihood of making a sale on your blog because you know your audience members. You can create products that are specially-tailored to their wants and needs. This increases the likelihood that your recommendations can produce sales more consistently. Products are an excellent source of passive income: You only need to write the products once, and you can sell them many times over through your blog’s links or the email list you generated off your blog.
Earn from consulting
Another way to earn big bucks from your blog is to offer consulting services. With this business model, your blog’s audience members are basically renting your time. Charge based on fractions of an hour. You can consult for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour. Adjust your rates accordingly. Usually, the longer the consulting time block, the lower the price per minute. You are essentially selling your expert knowledge and making sales off your credibility. This can produce a huge amount of money if you charge a high enough hourly rate. If you charge a very high rate, you can ‘disguise’ this by selling your time in 15 minute or 20-minute blocks. For example, instead of turning off your blog readers by charging $300 per hour, they might think you are offering a bargain if you charge only $75 for 15 minutes of your time. Are you worth it? Can you teach them things that will save them more in time and money than you cost them? Then you are worth it.
By being clear as to what you’re promoting, you can use the right kind of monetization strategy for your blog. This can result in greater and more sustainable income down the road.
