Julianne Wish, Member Contributions
Once you have established your blog and you are meeting your initial goals, it’s time to look toward the future. How do you want to grow your blog? What are the possibilities for doing so? You can add monetization methods. You can offer more value. Of course, you can also grow your subscriber base.
Here are five tips and strategies to help you grow your blog.
- Get involved. Hopefully, in addition to posting on your own blog, you have been participating on other blogs in an effort to promote your own blog. If you haven’t, then you should definitely integrate this tactic into your blog marketing strategy. If you are already commenting on other blogs relevant to your industry then look for ways to become even more active. You can become a guest blogger. You could be adding a few more relevant comments to other blogs each day. By getting involved in your own community, you are more likely increase the traffic to your own blog.
- Offer new value. Is there a way you can add more value to your blog – over and above what you already offer? For example, you might consider offering a free report, ebook or online course. You might find a few guest bloggers to help you round out the content on your blog and help provide more information for your readers. You can also mix it up and offer different types of posts like videos, downloadable checklists and worksheets.
- Hold a contest. Contests are a great way to help drive traffic to your blog. Make sure, though, that the giveaway you offer is related to the topic of your blog. For example, if you blog about sugar gliders, give away a gift certificate to a pet supply store. When holding a contest be sure to spread the word. Tweet about it. Post it on Facebook. Ask others to help spread the word too. You might offer them extra entries for every person they refer that enters the contest. You’ll recieve more traffic because a lot of people will want to enter your contest. You’ll also gain new subscribers.
- Network. The right connections can help change the success of your blog rapidly. Can you imagine if a prominent person mentioned your blog on their blog or show? For example, imagine what would happen if you have a blog about crafting and Martha Stewart mentioned it on her show. Networking can make a huge difference for your blog so get out there and meet people. Offer value and connect.
- Add a method to monetize your blog. If you have already done so, super! What else can you do to make money on your blog? You can place a few affiliate ads in the sidebar or footer. You could join Google’s AdSense program. A little extra income can make a big difference.
There are a number of ways you can grow your blog. Before you implement any tactic, make sure you evaluate it. Make sure it supports your blog and enhances the experience for your visitors. Make sure it supports the goals and vision for your blog. Create goals for your new tactic! What do you want to accomplish?
To your success!
Julianne Alvarez-Wish is a military wife, mother, business owner, professional writer, blogger and legislative advocate. She is the Director of Communications for Our Milk Money, the Colorado State Leader for the National Association for Moms in Business and the owner of Buy By Mom and Buy By Mom Blog. She is the Colorado Springs Stay-at-Home Mom Examiner for Examiner.com. She also blogs at A Wishful Thought. Her passion, purpose and goal is to help parents work from home so they can be home with their children.
Julianne Wish, Member Contributions
Many of us self-employed parents who blog dream of earning money from our blogs. There are many stories of bloggers earning the “big bucks” and we would like to be one of those ‘stories’. You can earn money by blogging, if you are dedicated to doing so.
According to Technorati, the average American blogger earns $6,000 per year. The top 1% earn $200,000 or more.
Blogging requires long hours and a lot of work. Make sure you pick a subject you are passionate about. For me, it’s all about helping parents work from home so they can be home with their children. Find a subject that ‘ignites your fire within’. You are less likely to get burned out and more likely to stick with it if you do.
If you pick a topic like celebrity gossip, politics, photography or gadgets, the competition is fierce and it will be difficult to get yourself established. Select something else and remember…make sure you are passionate about it.
If you want to earn money from your blog there are several ‘musts’:
- your blog must be well-written
- your blog must not contain any spelling error
- your blog must not contain any grammatical errors
Here are some of the best ways to earn money from your blog.
- Advertising. The most obvious way to make money from your blog is with advertising. Advertisers pay a few cents when an ad is clicked. They may pay a certain rate per 1,000 page views. The most popular advertising program is Google AdSense. It places ads within context of your blog on your site. Regardless of the traffic level on your site, you can register for Google AdSense. There are other advertising methods, such as BidVertiser, AdBrite and AdGenta. If you are well know and have a large readership, you can contact advertisers on your own. To make money from ads on your site, you need thousands of visitors each month.
- Affiliate programs. Affiliate programs are similar to advertising. You can place a button/banner ad or text ad on your site. You can also place hyperlinks within your posts. For affiliate links to pay, the person who clicks on them usually has to make a purchase…you then get a percentage of that purchase.
- Pay-per-post. Some companies will pay you to write about their products or services. You will need some blogging time under your belt before you can get involved in pay-per-post programs. Be cautious, though. Your readers are reading your blog because they are interested in what you have to say. If you are getting paid to write about a product, be sure you tell your readers that. Full disclosure is important and your readers will respect that.
- Sponsorship. You may be able to get a corporate sponsor. However, your site will then carry only the sponsor’s branding and there will be less of your own ‘personality’ coming through.
- Employment. Many businesses have their own blogs. They use the blogs to stay in touch with their customers. You may find work by being a paid blogger for a company. This takes a lot of dedication. You have to show companies that you are worth hiring. This means you have to be well established and have posts with no errors. If you are really well known, businesses may come looking for you. More than likely, you will have to seek them out. Remember to treat this like any other job interview.
There are many ways you can earn money by blogging. It does take considerable time and dedication. Most bloggers earn a little bit to supplement their main source of income. If make a lot of money by blogging is your goal, dedicate yourself to the process and you will reap the rewards.
Julianne Alvarez-Wish is a military wife, mother, business owner, professional writer, blogger and legislative advocate. She is the Director of Communications for Our Milk Money, the Colorado State Leader for the National Association for Moms in Business and the owner of Buy By Mom and Buy By Mom Blog. She is the Colorado Springs Stay-at-Home Mom Examiner for Examiner.com. She also blogs at A Wishful Thought. Her passion, purpose and goal is to help parents work from home so they can be home with their children.
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