This is a guest contribution from Greg Narayan of Dear Blogger.
Reading back through an intelligent survey Darren issued recently, I noticed a tiny problem that maybe you’ve seen too:
63% of ProBlogger readers earn less that $100 per month from blogging.
“What?” I thought. ProBlogger audience are some of the net’s most savvy entrepreneurs, businessmen/women and bloggers.
So I got to thinking…
Maybe these 63% have full-time jobs and are thrilled to earn anything on a blog…or maybe they’re just starting out…maybe they’re on the margins, about to break through.
Either way I cut it, this just did not seem right.
In fact, I reckon there’s a major imbalance in effort put in (you’re reading ProBlogger after all, instead of tooling away at your blog) and returns pulled out.
*Queasy feeling in stomach*
I mean, every time I hear some outdated comment like “the economy is in shambles” I can’t help but think, “Ah, thank God for blogging.”
But not for under $100 per month.
Now I’m no Jeremy Shoemaker – I regularly monitor several income streams to make sure I make enough to make ends meet each month.
But I figured we could use a refresher on ways to make money blogging.
$14? Yeah, You Heard Right
Your Benz awaits you, Mr. Blogger.
Sure, it’s not much. $14 can hardly buy you a drink at Starbucks anymore.
It’s less than the going rate to walk outside your apartment in New York.
But factor in the warped importance online earnings have over normal hourly wages, and $14 looks a bit better.
Multiply it by 12 and you have $168 – more than enough to run a self-hosted blog on pretty much any trusted blog hosting, inexpensive or jacked up.
And if you’re earning about $86 dollars each month, it could push you into a whole new ballpark :) Hey, you’ve gotta start somewhere.
So, in this post, I’ll explain 14 ways to use blogging to make yourself $14 dollars richer every single month. I hope at least some of you will listen.
Fame, Fortune and Helping People in 2014
- Thank you Adsense clicks (my personal favorite + quickest)
Ever think readers would say thanks AND pay you in doing so? A few weeks back I launched an Adsense Ante-Up back on home base. In round one, we heard some powerful strategies from both beginners and major earners. I know I know, it’s Adsense. But people still do click. Google pays out millions each month, so here’s a trick you can use to get $14 of those millions in your Adsense bank: ask politely for clicks. Just place one ad above the fold and one in your post footer then write, “This blog is free for my readers and always will be, but I need to eat too [INSERT HUMOR HERE]. If you learned something here, please click on this ad. It’s a free way to say thanks and won’t make your computer blow up.” - Join Amazon Associates, the oldest network in the books
Know how much people make each month on AA? Hundreds of thousands. You may have tried Amazon Associates. If you’re anything like the average blogger, you slap an ad in your header and hope for the best. However, if you do have an audience seriously interested in a big time category of purchases (see Darren’s Digital-Photography-School.com for a ridiculously awesome example) then over time, you stand to make some good payouts. That $14 could land in your account as 4% of a big associate sale. Here’s a chart of the payouts:
On your 7th product shipped, AA pays out %6.00 of retail. Just think, for a product sold over $1000…
The Amazon advertising cookie lasts for 24 hrs too, so the purchaser could end up buying several items on your referral.
- Recommend your bread and butter goods
What blogging tools are you using at the moment? A premium theme or premium plugin? Recommending the very products you use is a smart way to make a few bucks because a. People can actually see your loyalty which increase trust and b. You’ll find better examples to use in your reviews which will make them more sincere. In my case, my theme provider (spoiler it’s Theme-Junkie) offers up to 50% commission rates not to mention a darn good product. It’s not lucrative money, but it will surprise me with a commission every now and then. On Thanksgiving morning, I made enough to cover last minute runs to the grocery:
Grocery money!
- Solicit premium services like my grandpa did
You know, like actually doing a real-life service? Back when my grandpa blogged, it wasn’t all just online earnings – he’d use his blog to solicit leather mending and golf lessons! (jokes, of course). Whether you blog about gardening, homemade gravy-making or gnome-carving, your blog should be able to launch you into a Candy Land of clients. You need a hint of SEO both onsite and off and some persuasive copy. But hey, I’d pay $14 for a nice miniature garden gnome. - Review your favorite products (which you already consume)
What’s your favorite energy drink? One of the most pro-active and no-brainer ways to earn money blogging is to review the products you’re already purchasing and consuming on a regular basis. Take an energy drink for example. In premium beverage land, it’s ALL about the marketing and PR game. Someone is probably paid to find a blogger like you, so impress them! Buy a whole crate of Bawls Guarana and become the finest expert that drink has ever known. Shoot the published link around, and I’d be surprised if they don’t send you $14 worth of product to review.
On one of my first blogs, I asked a new tea company over Facebook to send me samples for review.
- Be a blog consultant for a friend
Got friends who admire your work? Offer your knowledge of Blogger, Tumblr or WordPress to an up and coming blogger, then charge a fair consultancy fee. Let them know up front. Personally, I’ve been offered healthy sums of money for blog setup and it makes sense. Think of the doors you just opened for that person. Could take them from average Joe to online pro. However, my blogging guides will always be free (which to me makes even more sense, as blogging should be free wherever humanly possible). - Design the sexy logo everyone needs
Know a little about Create Suite 4, 5, or 6? Hop on over to Photoshop, watch a few YouTube tutorials, then start making logos. The details count; it’ll make them sexy. Everyone and their mother needs a logo. Advertise your services at your local ball club, the local coffee stand or even your mothers knitting and scrabble club. $14 for a logo is a steal. - Sell ad space and PageRank link juice
Got a blog already? More importantly, have some PageRank built up around it? Note: if you’re not sure what PageRank is, here’s a URL checker, and here’s a Chrome extension to check ANY websites PageRank. I recommend you take 15 minutes and try all of them out today. The point is pretty simple – linking to an advertiser sends them a bit of PageRank juice from your own blog, and if you’re linking to a relevant source, it should be white hat enough in Google’s eyes. I personally know advertisers who’d do backflips at a $14 PR1 link :) Just FYI. - Join the lucrative eBook industry
Still waiting endlessly for some motivation to publish your viral eBook idea? Please do me a favor and wait no longer, because each day you wait other people are covering that very topic. You need an eBook to position yourself as an expert, simple as that. Fourteen greenbacks seems fair for something you pour nights upon nights of your soul over, right? Or, how about writing a $30,000 eBook like ViperChill did? - Haul fashion products with multimedia videos
Obsessed with facial products? Hauling is a form of YouTube or Vimeo (still mainly YouTube-based) marketing where one basically goes on a shopping spree for new products, then applies them while filming the whole process, then posts the video on YouTube. Earnings come through YouTube ads and private deals with the brands you’re showcasing. If you want to get started, do some Googling around at the current competition to see if hauling might be for you. - Simply stay indoors this weekend
Spending too much on the whole wine and dine scene? Money saved is money earned in this little trick I learned when I started blogging. I bet you’ll save way more than $14. Enough said, I suppose. - Flip blogs that cover upcoming events
Interested in a fixer-upper or two? A while back, a reader over at the answers community mentioned how big Flippa would be in 2014, so I went ahead and did some basic research. What I found was that you’re in a good shape with the following types of domain names under your belt, as they’ve become quite valuable. The idea is to get yourself an exactly match domain name (EMD) for these topics: - Major upcoming events (The Olympics, The US Open, The FIFA World Cup etc.)
- New products yet to be released
- Guides on using new products yet to be released
- Major changes in political climates (harder to predict and earn from)
- Become a beta tester known for trustworthy reviews
Think your opinion needs to be heard? One reason the biggest bloggers are able to launch products that seem popular right away is because they hire swarms of people to review the product in pre-release, or beta stage. These individuals aren’t paid for their loyalty or their commissions, they’re paid on honestly. If you’re a good writer and know a friend who’s got a product in mind, offer to write a beta review for $14 and post it to Twitter, the blogs, and more. Heck, you could even recruit more beta readers for some cash. - Ghost-write for someone who knows nothing about blogging
Prefer faceless blogging? Last but not least, you can always write on behalf of another individual. Ghost-writing is your tool to show folks you can craft messages beautifully and people will be pay handsomely for the time you save them. The only trick is to find clients, but if you have a blog with some decent traction, that should be more than enough proof that you can handle a ghost-writing assignment. Remember, most of your potential clients will have no clue what blogging means, even today, so really sell your abilities in every area you can.
Conclusion: Why Stop at $14?
Think $14 is chump change? Me too. But as someone who understands you’ve got to earn on the margins at least when starting out, I’ll take it.
The start of the year is a tremendous time to flex your marketing skills. People are eager to buy, try new ideas and invest to improve their own lives. So get out and network, sell your services, and make this the year you become a professional blogger.
For the comments, how did you earn this past month? Unlike 63% of readers here (and perhaps everywhere, just think of that number!) did you break the $100 barrier? Whether you did or not, please share some insight for the community!
p.s. Show-offs more than welcome
Greg Narayan talks about style, SEO, earnings and other musings here at ProBlogger. Read his column at HuffPost, check out his article on HostGator coupons, and join his email club to find out about pro tennis, Ed Helms and Greg’s other adventures.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
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14 Ways To Earn $14 Blogging in 2014
