When I first got online I was happy to be there and in a space where I could potentially reach so many people. However, it was always foremost in my mind that there needed to be a way to pay my annual domain name and hosting fees. Thankfully I had a generous friend and tech guru who let me use his hosting space at little to no cost for many years but it could not stay that way.
As I added more sites it became very important that they generated income and added real value. Managing multiple sites is a lot of work and you won’t be able to do it alone forever. Don’t treat your site as a hobby but a business. You will feel more committed to growing it when you are happy that it is earning its own keep.
What is your plan to make money from your blog?
You need to have one.
Yes, current trend of give, give, give, give, then sell is good but you need to be positioning yourself to make an offer. If you are only giving and not expecting to sell then your value also diminishes in the eyes of those who use your work.
- Set some annual and quarterly sales targets. Write down what you want to achieve even if you don’t have an idea of how it will become possible.
- Identify areas of your site and content which can be leveraged for income.
- Sign up to be associates or affiliates of larger sites which will pay you for clicks and purchases as a result of your content and network.
- Develop advertising contracts, promotional offers, barter opportunities which can not only grow your audience but your revenue.
- Create content which can be leveraged in multiple formats. Can your articles become a book? Can your videos and podcasts become a class which you can put behind a pay wall?
- Can your content lead you to book deals, speaking engagements, contracts for consultancy?
Position your blog so that it will be one which keeps on giving not only to your readers but to you as well. There are so many other ways to monetise your blog. Share a few in the comments.
Nerissa Golden is an author and editor of Discover Montserrat. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Visit www.nerissagolden.com.
