MOVED – [PODCAST] 3 Ways To Monetize Your Blog

Hi, this is Charlie Page and I want to welcome you to the Common Sense Digital Marketing Podcast.

This is Episode One, and we don’t have any intro music or anything like that. We’ve just got some content that I really think will help you.

My name’s Charlie Page. I’ve been working online for 18 years. I own the Directory of Ezines, as well as 40 other membership sites, and I’ve written about 13 books on digital marketing.

Now, the reason I’m making this podcast is this: over the years that I’ve spoken with clients, so many times I’ve been speaking with a client and they’ll say, “Well, that just makes sense.”

So my goal with this podcast is to bring you digital marketing advice that makes sense.

Today, I want to speak to my fellow content marketers.

You know, I love content marketing. I teach content marketing and I do content marketing and I do that in part because it follows the golden rule: it gives before it expects to receive.

When you develop high-quality, original content, and you put it out there and you help people without asking for anything in return, on a blog, on Medium and a podcast, however you do it, you’re doing a wonderful thing.

People will reciprocate that wonderful thing by joining your mailing list, buying your products, becoming your friend and things like that.

It’s just a wonderful way to make a living online and it’s something everyone can do. You can have a website set up, you can have a blog set up this afternoon, or this morning, or tomorrow. It’s very quick to do.

Let’s get right to what I wanted to share today.

I want to share with you three ways that you can monetize your blog, three ways you can make money from your blog, no matter what niche you’re in, no matter how long you’ve been doing this, no matter how much content you’ve shared so far or if you’re just beginning. These are the foundational things that will put time on your side.

Number one is putting ads inside every blog post.

Every piece of content should have an ad for a product that solves the problem that you’re talking about in the blog post.

That is the breathing method of blog posting.

In other words, we breathe in and we breathe out. It’s kind of a two-step dance we do to remain alive. In content marketing, it’s very similar.

We share high quality content and then ask people to make a purchase or to get more information about a product that will increase their odds of success with the concept you’re sharing in your blog post.

Again, whether your blog is about vegan lifestyle or losing weight or finding your significant other or making money online, the niche doesn’t matter as much as the principle. The principle works in every niche.

So put an image ad inside every one of your blog posts and you’ll see that you will sell more over time. This is a very passive way to make income, and it works wonderfully well. If you check the top blogs in your niche, you’ll find almost all of them are doing this right now.

Okay, idea number two. Put a pop-up on exit on your blog.

You may be thinking, “I don’t like pop-ups. I hate pop-ups. I have a pop-up blocker running on my browser.” A lot of people do.

But the fact of the matter is, pop-ups work. They work wonderfully well.

Unless you’re trapping somebody in a series of pop-ups that they can’t close or they can’t get out of, you’re not doing anybody any harm.

You’re just offering them one more idea before they go.

You’ll be surprised, over time, how many people take you up on that one more idea, that last chance to get this free gift, that last chance to read this other blog post. Now, this can be done completely free with a WordPress plugin.

So just search the WordPress plugin directory and you can find plenty of tools to help you install a pop-up on your blog today.

Idea number three, offer them a gift and then follow up with them via email.

Now, this is as old as the hills and it’s probably something you’ve heard a thousand times.

But it just makes sense and it still works today.

The reason is, it’s the most passive way, it’s the simplest way, to get detailed information to people in a non-intrusive way.

Here’s what you do.

You simply come up with a free gift, that’s called a lead magnet. It can be a report, it can be a video, it can be pretty much anything you want, as long as it delivers real value, and you offer it to people right inside your blog post.

Put a button, put a link, put an image, whatever you want, and say, “Wouldn’t you like to have this free gift?”

When they click it, they enter their name and email address or just email address.

Now they’re on your mailing list and you can follow up with them.

Now, when you follow up with them, you don’t want to pound them into oblivion and just sell, sell, sell, but you have an opportunity to develop a relationship, to make the case for why the product you’re promoting is a good fit for them.

By the way, you’ll know it’s a good fit for them because you put specific products in specific blog posts that are consistent with each other, that are congruent with each other.

If you’re doing a blog post about a particular topic, you find a product to promote that fits that particular topic and that’s what you promote on your image ad and that’s what you promote with your free gift.

Okay, these three things, if you do them, will put time on your side.

They will help you create passive revenue, help you build your list, help you make your blog more profitable, and all of those are beautiful things.

Put these into practice today and you’ll find that tomorrow and in the days to come, you’ll start selling more, you’ll start building your list, and your blog will become more profitable.

All right, this is Charlie Page. I’m going to sign off and I’ll be back soon with some more Common Sense.