ProBlogger: Make Money Blogging: Start the New Year by Increasing Your Income Streams

---

Make Money Blogging: Start the New Year by Increasing Your Income Streams Posted: 05 Jan 2015 06:55 AM PST It’s the aim of the majority of the readers of this site – make an income via your blog. Today we revisit the post where Darren outlined all the ways he diversified his streams and how after 10 years he was still going strong. We also have a look at the Ways to Make Money Map – make sure you also see the Make Money Page, if you haven’t already. It’s a great place to begin, or to refresh your memory. Today I was speaking with a blogger (I’ll call her Alice for the sake of this post) who was feeling a little overwhelmed with the idea of monetizing her blog. She expressed that as she looked at other blogs in her niche, everyone seemed to be doing such amazing things. She said she felt she’d never be able to compete. Other blogs in Alice’s niche were running online courses, selling out hundred people live events around the country, selling ads to fortune 500 companies, authoring best selling eBook and more. The thought of even beginning to monetize her blog in these ways was completely paralysing Alice! It is so easy to be overwhelmed to the point of paralysis when you look at what other bloggers are doing. I know this from personal experience! My advice to Alice was to keep in mind that all those other amazing blogs started in the same place that she was – without any income streams at all. Often it is easy to forget this and see a successful blog as always being what it is today. By way of illustration, I shared my own story When I started blogging, I did it as a hobby. I had no intention of it ever being more than that and there were no examples of people directly monetizing blogs. Over the coming year and a half, my blog grew in popularity and the hobby became something of a passion and obsession. It also began to cost me money to run for hosting, domain, design etc. Phase 1 I began to dabble in monetizing with the hope of simply covering my costs. My first experiments were with Google AdSense and the Amazon Affiliate Program. The results weren’t spectacular but they were encouraging enough for me to keep trying. A few dollars began to trickily in but more importantly – I was learning a lot! Phase 2 Over the coming months I continued to experiment with AdSense and Amazon. I vastly improved how I was implementing the programs (better ad positioning, writing reviews for affiliate products). I also began to think about how to drive more traffic to my blog. I even started a second blog (and then more followed)! The results were that my income began to grow. I began to see my blogging as a part-time job and even began to wonder if it could one day be full-time. Over the coming year I also began to also look at other forms of monetization. During this time I started promoting affiliate programs with other online stores. I also did something that terrified me but which became a great income stream, I picked up the phone and began to sign up advertisers directly. This was a period where I had to bite the bullet and start to treat blogging not just as a hobby – but as a business. Again – these new income streams started small and were experiments. My first ad sale was for $20 for a month long ad. It didn’t bring me overnight riches but securing the ad taught me a lot and contributed to my overall income. It was around this time I realised that while none of my income streams were enough to sustain me alone, a blog could actually sustain multiple sources of small income that could add up to something significant. My goal was to go full time as a blogger. To do that I knew I needed to grow multiple streams of income and my blog’s traffic. Phase 3 It was around this time that other Advertising Networks began to appear. I experimented with quite a few but the one I had most success with was Chitika. At the time, AdSense was my #1 source of income but putting Chitika on my site almost doubled that income overnight and allowed me to go full time as a blogger! Of course it wasn’t just that Chitika worked well. I’d also been growing my traffic, building reader engagement/community etc – but the extra income stream helped a lot. Phase 4 It was around this time that I’d started ProBlogger as a blog along with a whole new range of income streams. I did monetize ProBlogger in the early days, using all of the above income streams but I found that ProBlogger was actually better to monetize indirectly. By ‘indirect monetization’ I mean that ProBlogger began to grow my own personal profile and authority on the topic of blogging and I began to be approached to provide products and services that I could sell. The blog itself didn’t necessarily make money – but it enabled ME to make money as a result of the blog. For example, it was through ProBlogger that I landed my first paid speaking opportunity. I was asked to fly to Washington DC to speak at a conference – (all expenses covered plus a small fee paid). Around the same time, I was approached to write the ProBlogger Book (the hard cover one that is now in it’s 3rd edition). This only came off the back of the ProBlogger blog. Similarly, around this time I began to offer my services as a consultant to help people with their blogging strategy (a service I don’t offer any more). Once again, these income streams started small (in fact writing a Book isn’t generally a big income stream for most authors) but they each contributed to the overall revenue from my blogging, which was now adding up to be a lot more than I’d ever earned from any other job (keeping in mind that I’d been blogging now for 4-5 years). Phase 5 Most of the above income streams have continued to grow but other opportunities have presented themselves as new technologies emerge. While I’d previously been approached to create a hard copy book, we began to see the emergence of eBooks. While people previously had asked me to speak at their live events we began to see people delivering content via virtual/online courses and conferences. I began to experiment with creating eBooks and membership areas to my sites. eBooks have gone on to become my main income stream (both with ProBlogger eBooks and Photography eBooks). The main income from eBooks tends to come in fits and starts, when we either launch a new eBook or run a sale/promotion on one but even when we don’t have these events happening they still steadily sell each day in small numbers. Again, contributing to the overall revenue. I also added the Job board here at ProBlogger. The job board is an interesting example of what I’m talking about today. It has never been a spectacularly huge income stream but it has actually been a pretty steady source of income over the years. We generally see 1-2 new blogger jobs advertised every day and that $50-$100 per day in income adds up over time. I’ve not got the exact figures but I’d estimate that over the last 5 years it has brought in over $100,000! I’m glad I started it! By this stage my income was growing to the point where I was able to bring on others into my team. This started with some very part time outsourcing of small jobs but in more recent times has enabled me to hire a number of team members to help run different components of my business. Phase 6 The final income stream has become a growing focus of my team and I (although I have to say it’s not a massive income stream at this point) has been running events and conferences. Our annual ProBlogger Training Event here in Australia has grown in number each year and this year we think it’ll probably turn a small profit. Having said that, my intent with these events is not to make a lot of money. Rather, it is about giving something back to the Aussie Blogosphere (it is also great for branding and gives me a lot of personal satisfaction and fun). We’ve also started to run some smaller more focused workshops (our Email Marketing workshop in Melbourne still has a handful of spots left). My suspicion is that events will be something we’ll see expand a little in the coming years. Final Thoughts Let me sum up with a few thoughts, disclaimers and words of encouragement: Keep in mind that all of the above has happened over 10 years. While today there are obviously 12 or so income streams (although I’m sure I’m forgetting something) they all started quite small and as experiments. There have been moments where it did seem like I had rushes of income, those rushes were usually the result of several years work and investment of time and money. I also would say that in each case, I started each experiment not really knowing what I was doing (on at least some level) but really seeing the experiments as a chance to learn. For example, my first eBooks were taking previously published blog posts and updating, completing and adding to them to offer readers a more convenient way to access my content. At the time I had no idea if that would work and the design and delivery of the eBooks was fairly basic. In time I learned what did and didn’t work and was able to grow the sophistication of my delivery systems, design, authoring and marketing to the point that it’s become a fairly well-oiled machine. The key is to pick something to try and to see whether it connects with your readership and to learn as much as you can while you’re doing it. Often you end up evolving what you do to the point that it is a better fit for you and your blog – but you’ll never get to that point without starting. Update: I’ve since published a followup to this post that gives a split of the different income streams. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger Make Money Blogging: Start the New Year by Increasing Your Income Streams

You are subscribed to email updates from @ProBlogger To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States

ProBlogger: Email Lists: Make them a Priority in 2015 with These Tips

---

Email Lists: Make them a Priority in 2015 with These Tips Posted: 04 Jan 2015 06:44 AM PST Last year, Luke Guy ran us through why our email open rates are nosediving, and what we can do about it. He also gave us solid tips on how to write great emails to begin with. We’re re-running this post today so you can nail your email list right from the start 2015. You won’t regret it! This is a guest contribution from Luke Guy, blogger and graphic designer. It’s amazing how blogs have exploded within the last 10 years – take ProBlogger for instance. Blogs like these can provide a good living for the owner if the traffic remains strong and healthy. But how do these blogs retain the traffic and keep a steady flow? There are many ways, but I want to discuss with you a vitally important one: your email list. Usually more email subscribers would mean more traffic. Right? Well, not anymore. Bloggers are facing diving open rates today like never before. Small bloggers and the celebrity bloggers alike suffer. But why? Let me give you 8 Reasons Why Your Email Open Rate Is Nosediving. 1. You have lots of images within the email. When it comes to email open rates, fashion is not how you make waves. Simpler is better in this case. HTML is good, but text based emails are even better. I know we're tempted to be flashy, but if no one is seeing it, what's the point? Your email is going to be seen more when images aren't within them. They flag filters many times, and can annoy the reader also. It's best to simply state your message and get to the point quickly. 2. Way too long! In the blog world an article of 200-1000 words is considered an informative post (View Darren's Post On Word Count). Reading one of these could take 5-7 minutes to read, and 15 minutes to fully understand. In email this is simply not so. Why? You're simply updating them with short exclusive information, and persuading them to spend a minute on this unexpected message from you. Think of your email newsletter as a bite-size sample of your blog. Let every bite be extremely pleasant and leave them wanting more. Where do they get more? Your blog. In order to do this, your email must be short, sweet, and fulfilling in bite-size. 150-450 word count would be best when writing. You're sharing exclusive content, updating, and telling them about your new blog post kind-of-thing. 3. Links Everywhere. When all they see is outlined sentences everywhere, landing somewhere in the unknown, the word SPAMMY is the first thoughts of most readers. They get the idea that all you're trying to do is send them to a place they don't want to go, to spend money they don't want to spend. Put only one link in your article, and give them many good reasons why they should click on that link. Not one reason to click on 10 links, that’s not as effective. So choose your link wisely, and this also will prevent your email from getting vacuumed by the email filters. 4. Your agenda appears to be making money. When they see your email appear, what should they expect? If it's another course, eBook, or program in which they must buy, there's a good chance you're going to get turned off eventually. A good rule of thumb is to give your reader 10x more. Instead, offer freebies just so they will warm up to you. If you need some freebie ideas, go here: 6 Freebies That Will Spike Engagement In Your Blog I know we're all trying to come up with ways in which to make money, but it's better to have our customers coming to us with their money, not the other way around with us chasing them and their wallet. When they understand that you're for them and wanting to help more than to make a buck, they will come. 5. Your email is only a result from an RSS blast. Your emails should be exclusive content, not an email blaster from your RSS feed. Many will disagree with me on this, because they don't want another article to write. I understand their pain, but what's the point of offering this option of RSS if they're not going to read it? With Google's Gmail Algorithm, RSS is a turn off and a good chance it will never make it to their inbox. How will they find out about by my new blog post then? you might be asking. Give them many reasons within that email why they should read that article and give them a link to it. The reason shouldn’t be because it's new. It should be because it's helpful and can be found almost no where else. You're just pointing them back to it so they won't miss this amazing content. 6. Not full of helpful information. You thought that tips, helpful information, and how-tos were only for blogs? Not so, it will apply to your email rate as well. Except you have only a few seconds to persuade them to read it, a few more seconds to finish reading it, and finally to click on whatever link you may have for them (that was the point of the email right?). The only thing is with email, shorter is better. Why? When trying to catch the eye, you have only a few seconds to persuade them to read it and consume your information. As for a blog post, most were searching for the solution you have to offer and were willing to spend the time to solve their problem. So make it short but powerful since your message was unexpected! 7. They don't feel a personal connection with you. If all you do is sell, command, and write like you're talking to the wall, they're not feeling what you write. To avoid this, write as if they're your friend. Instead of writing to your readers, write to your reader specifically. Pretend that you're writing to one of your readers, and let them feel that one-on-one connection. It's about winning their trust, which is key to any business. 8. You're boring. If you're doing all of the above, it's time to face it. It's time for a recharge. Sometimes to make our tips more helpful, and our writing voice more inspirational, we need to read more and be inspired. Like an athlete, we must eat more than we burn. If not, we don't have much to offer. Go out in your niche and explore again. It could be the simple fact that you are burned out and need to refill with more helpful information. Ways to improve email letter quality: 1. Read a blog post like this one by Darren Rowse On Passion: Passion – Do You Have It? 2. Interact more in the comment section. 3. Listen to podcasts. 4. Talk to pros in your niche. 5. Take a course. 6. Think more, and spend more time with that writing piece. 7. Study your competition and how they write their emails. Read this to be inspired: Learning Your Foes Makes You a Better Hero So basically you're defeating two things here, the email filter and the reputation of scammers. It's so easy to be flagged as a scammer these days and you must work extra hard to appear the very opposite. These tips will make that happen, and will also get your emails to bypass the filters. Mission Accomplished. You're going to see great results from this if applied correctly. I've learned by not selling, you kind of are. When they know you're in business, and all you do is help, curiosity takes over them. When they see your free tips work tremendously, what will your paid versions do? Thanks for reading and I wish you higher email rates! Did I miss something? Leave a comment below and let's see what you have to offer to the Problogger community. Don’t miss the other side of the coin: How to Write Successful Emails and Improve Open Rates Luke Guy is both graphic artist and blogger, publisher for LukeGuy.com, and graphic designer for hire. He's loves to blog and helping people with dreams in starting a business. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger Email Lists: Make them a Priority in 2015 with These Tips

You are subscribed to email updates from @ProBlogger To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States