How to Blog For Money
You’ve seen the bloggers out there who pull in a good income from blogging – can you can pull off the same thing?
Here, I’m going to show you how you can blog for money.
Some people just blog because they want to be heard, kind of like a journal. But there’s actually big money to be made in blogging for those who want to learn the game of online marketing.
There’s a lot of training out there, but sometimes you may feel lost when you are sifting through all that material.
I’m going to break it down for you in three easy to understand steps – you’ll learn the simplified version of blogging for money here.
Three steps revealing how to blog for money
Step 1 – Find out what you will sell
Will you be offering your own ebook, product or service? If not, then you can find an affiliate product to market. You basically sell other people’s products and get paid for it. This is the easiest route. When you are looking for something to sell, make sure you will make a high enough commission to make it worth your time.
Step 2 – Blog Set Up
First things first, you need to set up your blog.
There are several steps involved here:
1. Pick out a domain name (your blog’s url)
2. Pick out a hosting plan – I recommend Host Gator
3. Pick out the theme for your blog
4. Add graphics and content to your blog
I’ll go into a little more detail now. First, you must pick out your domain name. What will you be branding or selling? You may just use your own name like we did on this blog, or you may want to target a certain product or service that people will be searching for.
Then you need to set up the hosting plan. This basically pays for your blog to be live on the internet without having to have ads on it – it’s your own blog. Hosting for your blog is very affordable. After you have set up hosting, I recommend using WordPress for your blog. This is easily downloaded at no cost with most hosting plans.
After you have the domain name and hosting set up, you need to pick out the theme for your blog. There are free themes and paid themes. I have used both. A great free theme for WordPress is called “Arras” and it looks professional. If you are looking to customize your blog even further, you can use a paid theme such as Thesis.
*There is a service that offers a system that is already set up – click here to see one that we use and recommend to our team.
Now it’s time to add graphics and content to your blog. I actually like to create the graphics for my blog. I use Photoshop, but you can also use Gimp or other image programs. You can also outsource this step very easily. After your graphics are installed, it’s time to create your content. Figure out what your audience wants and needs. Fulfill that need for them. Decide what categories you will blog about.
Step 3 – Your List
You will get used to hearing this: the money is in the list! That’s what you really need to focus on. You must have a way for your visitors to subscribe to your updates. You basically need to capture their email, and this will be your list that you can send your updates or offers to. To do this, you need an autoresponder. An autoresponder basically puts your emails on autopilot. You can broadcast a message to your entire list with the push of a button.
When you are emailing your list, it’s best to offer value most of the time. You are there to help others. You will send out your offers as well, but focus on giving your audience the information they need and want. No one likes to be sold to in every email. Build trust with your list and you will foster a relationship with them. People like to buy from those they trust.
Putting it all together when blogging for money
Now you know the basics. It’s awesome when you realize that you can set all of this up and actually have it working for you even when you’re asleep. A few weeks ago, I went on a trip and made money even though I didn’t even have a computer near me! That’s pure leverage and working smarter not harder.
Click here to see a system that we use and recommend.
To Your Success!
David and Tara Walker
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Very true.
Unfortunately, many people want to start blogging first – and then try to figure out later how they can monetize it.
Almost like opening up a shop without knowing what you will be selling…:)
And then of course, most of them never get around to the “list” part…
Just my 0.02c
Right, Peter. It’s best to start off with a good plan before building your blog. It would be crazy to open up a shop without knowing what you will be selling – great example! Thanks for stopping by.