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Monetize Every Single Blog Post
This post is Part 2 of my 12 Days of Consistent Content Content Challenge for 2019. Click here to check out Part 1: 5 Benefits To Multi-Day Blog Post Challenges
Writing, editing, and publishing a blog post on a regular basis takes time and effort, and it’s critical that you get a return on your investment.
A financial return.
Remember, your time is your most valuable asset, and you don’t want to waste it.
That’s why it is critical to ensure that you have monetized every single blog post you publish, in one way or another.
It’s a simple process: the more often you post new blog content, the more likely someone is going to see that content, and you want to make sure that you are guiding your audience—especially your new audience—to the paid opportunities your business provides.
If you’re not, you’re leaving hundreds, if not thousands and tens of thousands of dollars on the table, that you can and should be pocketing so you can reinvest it into the growth of your business
Monetize Every Post: Always Include Your Highest-Commission Affiliate Programs
No matter where you are in your business, you can and should participate in affiliate marketing. In fact, affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to create income for your business without having a product of your own to sell (but more on that below).
Especially when you’re just starting out, affiliate marketing is a great way to get your feet wet with sales, and also allows you to determine what it is your audience is looking for.
And if you’ve been at it for a while, affiliate marketing allows you to create a stream of income for your business that is passive, meaning: you make money even when you’re not working. Because anyone can click a link to a product you’re an affiliate for, at all times.
Monetize Every Post: Choosing Your Affiliate Programs
There are thousands upon thousands of affiliate programs out there, but that doesn’t mean you can or should join them all. Even websites that only focus on affiliate marketing determine what products they’re going to represent, and go on to only represent those things.
A second critical factor in affiliate marketing is to determine which, high commission programs you want to join. Not all programs are alike, and some have higher, and even scaled commission structures, while others don’t.
Amazon’s affiliate program, for example, is great for those starting out, because of the vast array of products it offers, but it comes with the caveat of a very low-percentage commission.
On the other hand, when you look at programs and software that you use on a daily basis, like your email service provider (like ConvertKit), your landing page software (like LeadPages), your Pinterest scheduler (like Tailwind), your website theme (like Elegant Themes), or even your website host (like Siteground), all are likely to have much higher commissions, which means you’re going to get more money when people sign on with them through your links.
And that’s also very important to keep in mind: only recommend products that you actually use. The software I mentioned above are what I use in my business, every single day, and I wouldn’t recommend them (or use them), if I didn’t love them. Without the investments into those programs, I would not be where I am today with my business.
Monetize Every Post: Including Affiliate Links In Your Content (The Right Way)
When it comes to including your affiliate links in every blog post, don’t stuff your content with them—it doesn’t look good, and your readers aren’t going to stick around if all you’re doing is talking about every single affiliate program you’re a part of.
That’s just going to turn your audience off, and most of the people who find you and your business through your blog content are going to be brand new to you and what you do.
So you want to make sure that you are providing a ton of value, and only representing the best of the best.
Maybe that means one day you do a roundup posts with your favorite resources that you’re an affiliate for, or maybe you do a post that focuses on just one product.
And you can also take your number one favorite, best, and highest-commission resource and include it at the end of every blog post you publish.
If you scroll down, you’ll see that I do just that with Siteground, which is not just one of my favorite affiliate programs that I am a part of, but it is also the core must-have in a successful, scalable online business. That’s why, no matter the post, I make sure to include that blurb, with my affiliate links.
For more on how to make money through affiliate marketing, check out this post, 14 Ways To Actually Make Money Through Affiliate Marketing.
Monetize Every Post: Promote Your Own Digital Products
Affiliate marketing is great and all, but selling your own digital products means more money in your pocket.
And a digital product can be anything from ebook e-course.
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, and in fact, it shouldn’t.
Because, as I mentioned earlier in this post, your blog content is some of the first pieces of content that your cold audience is going to see when they’re introduced to you. They don’t know you very well, they’re not warm, they’re not going to invest in high-ticket programs in you.
Yet.
And one of the best ways to nurture them quickly means that you can sell lower-ticket offerings to your audience through your website. And by lower-ticket, I mean products in the realm of a few hundred dollars, or even products that are less than a hundred dollars.
You can offer a short ebook for $27, or a pack of graphics templates for $17, or a short video series for $47.
And, of course, if you have a course that is a few hundred dollars, and you write a relevant blog post about it, then of course you should include it.
Note: when it comes to monetizing your blog content, you’re looking for passive income, rather than active. So in this case, it doesn’t mean live programs or group programs or 1-1 offerings or really anything that has to do with taking up your time where you have to show up and work with someone.
Monetize Every Post: Keep It Relevant
Like I mentioned during the section on affiliate marketing, don’t forget to keep your product offerings relevant to your posts.
If you’re writing a blog post about mindset, then maybe you’re not going to include an affiliate link to a piece of software like LeadPages, but if you are writing a blog post about mindset, and have a mini-course related to mindset, then don’t forget to include it.
Unless you have a very specific paid product offering that can relate to the bulk of your content, it may mean that you’re not going to promote a digital product on every blog post.
But that’s also how you’re going to be able to have a balance in the way you monetize. Sometimes you’re going to be promoting more affiliate products, and sometimes you’re going to be promoting your own products.
It’s all about what is relevant, and what matches best to your post.
Monetize Every Post: Give Away Something For Free
How does giving something away for free lead to getting money?
That’s easy.
Because you are going to make most of your money from your email list. And if you’re not making a concerted effort to grow your email list, every single day, you are leaving a ton of money on the table.
When it comes to the question of what to give away to your audience, you want to give them something that gives them a quick win, instantly.
With your opt-in, freebie, or whatever else you want to call it, you’re giving them a very small piece of your paid content. And more importantly, you’re giving them something that they can learn and implement very quickly—within the same day, or at most within a week.
When you get a new subscriber to your email list, you want to nurture them. Show them your expertise and allow them to get to know who you are and who your business helps.
And once you’re done nurturing them?
That’s when you get to start selling!
For more on why you need an email list, even now in 2019 (soon to be 2020), check out this post. And for more on how to monetize your email list, right from the start, check out this post.
What is your favorite way to monetize your blog posts? Join my free Facebook community, Consistent Content Creators, and share your answer!
Ready To Start Your Own Online Business?
Have a lot to talk about, but don’t have the website to guide your readers to? Now is the perfect time to get started.
Now is the perfect time to take my free email course, where I teach you how to plan a year’s worth of blog content in just one day. This training takes away all the mystery behind figuring out what you’re going to write from week to week and helps you plan the ultimate in blogging content that your audience will absolutely love.
Don’t forget to get hosting (plus a free domain) for as little as $3.95/month through Siteground. You can read why I choose Siteground to host my websites in my post, 6 Reasons I Host My Side Hustle On Siteground (And You Should Too).
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