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Episode 4Apr 24, 2020· 13:47

10 Ways to Make Money As A Blogger

▸ Show notes from the creator
Most bloggers never make money from their blogs. That's why in this episode, I'm covering 10 ways to make money as a blogger indirectly. More Show Notes From This Episode: What’s up my bloggy friends! I'm slowly updating the show notes for this and every episode of The Bloggy Friends Show. My new home base for all things Bloggy Friends can be found here: https://www.famousashleygrant.com/podcast/ Be sure to follow me on social: Facebook | Instagram | X | LinkedIn | TikTok | YouTube ------------------------------------------------------------------- This podcast is supported by affiliate partnerships. Please check out a few of our partners below: – Start a podcast today here: https://rss.com?via=famous – Create content from your own voice with Castmagic's Suite of AI Tools: https://get.castmagic.io/dcjy15cirnts – Want to help support our show? Buy a girl a drink perhaps? https://ko-fi.com/famousashleygrant – Need content for your podcast or blog? Check out Tools for Motivation! The links above are affiliate links. This means my podcast will receive a small commission if you order through any of them at no additional cost to you. Affiliate commissions are one of the ways my podcast makes money so that I can create episodes free of charge. If you do purchase anything from my links, I sincerely would like to thank you for your support!
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About this episode
Most bloggers never make money from their blogs. That's why in this episode, I'm covering 10 ways to make money as a blogger indirectly. More Show Notes From This Episode: What’s up my bloggy friends! I'm slowly updating the show notes for this and every episode of The Bloggy Friends Show. My new home base for all things Bloggy Friends can be found here: https://www.famousashleygrant.com/podcast/ Be sure to…
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Full transcript
00:13
What's up you guys? Famous Ashley Grant here
00:16
and today I want to talk about how to make money
00:18
as a blogger. You know, one of the big misconceptions
00:21
about blogging is that you can just start one
00:24
day and then make a boatload of cash. Now believe
00:27
it or not, This actually is possible, but it's
00:30
the exception and certainly not the rule. There
00:33
are some bloggers that are brand new to the gig
00:36
who hit the virality jackpot with their very
00:39
first post and they start making money right
00:41
off the bat. But again, I want to stress that
00:45
these are major outliers. For the rest of us,
00:48
we have to get a little creative if we want to
00:50
make money as a blogger. And the truth is, we
00:55
may never make money from our blog itself. In
00:58
fact, according to blogging .org, 81 % of blogs
01:02
never make more than $100 directly from their
01:05
blog over the lifetime of their blog. That's
01:07
why many bloggers who are making a full -time
01:09
living actually aren't even doing it directly.
01:12
They're doing it indirectly. So here's what you
01:15
really need to know if you want to make money
01:17
as a blogger. Before we completely dive in, I
01:19
have to say something first and most importantly.
01:22
It's going to take work. If you plan on using
01:25
your blog as a get -rich -quick scheme, or any
01:27
business for that matter, then this episode is
01:30
definitely not for you, and I recommend that
01:32
you go ahead and skip it. I promise I won't be
01:35
offended. Now, for the rest of you who are ready
01:38
to learn how to make money, Here's what you need
01:41
to know first if you plan on making money directly
01:43
from your blog, because it is possible but it
01:46
will take you a lot longer. To make money directly
01:49
as a blogger, you can add affiliate links and
01:52
Google AdSense to start monetizing right away.
01:55
Now, it's very obvious to most people that to
01:58
do this, you're not going to be making a boatload
02:01
of cash right out the gate. You'll need to do
02:03
things like figure out your niche, niche way
02:05
down, and cater to a specific audience and then
02:09
start driving lots and lots of traffic as quickly
02:11
as you can. And you'll need to add lots of quality
02:14
posts and get as many eyeballs on those posts,
02:17
but even that might not be enough. And it can
02:21
get frustrating at times because if you're like
02:23
most of the bloggers I know, you'll have days,
02:26
months, maybe even years where you're not making
02:30
as much money as you'd like to be making. It
02:33
has taken some bloggers I know years to make
02:35
more than a few hundred dollars from their blogs.
02:38
In fact, pro blogger John Morrow, a smart blogger,
02:42
he worked 80 to 100 hours a week the first several
02:46
years of his blog. And now he still put 60 hours
02:51
a week in. He makes $100 ,000 a month now, but
02:55
that's not to say that even if you put that kind
02:57
of time and effort into your blog that you'll
02:59
make that kind of money. It's something that
03:01
you need to be completely aware of before you
03:03
jump in. I will tell you that there are several
03:06
bloggers that I've met that after getting in
03:09
on their niche, figuring out exactly who they're
03:11
trying to reach, they can make between $1 ,000
03:14
and $5 ,000 a month, but it's still not quick
03:17
and it still takes them a long time and a lot
03:20
of effort to get there. So that's why one of
03:23
the things that I do personally is I make money
03:26
indirectly from my blog and I want to share with
03:29
you 10 of the ways that I have learned over the
03:32
years that bloggers can make money indirectly
03:35
The first one is through email marketing now
03:39
if you're smart You've already started growing
03:41
an email list as soon as you start your blog
03:43
and I told you guys before I am really bad at
03:46
this. I don't have an email list even though
03:48
I know I should. But if I did have one, I know
03:52
it's a great way to have a potential income opportunity.
03:55
There's a common thought that if you have 1000
03:58
true fans, 1000 true fans, that you can easily
04:01
be making 10 grand a month. I don't know how
04:04
true that is, but I have heard it happen. And
04:06
if you think about what product or service you
04:09
could sell to your email subscribers, you could
04:11
be making a potential income. Whether it's your
04:14
own product or someone else's for which you could
04:16
get a cut of every sale, you've got a chance
04:18
to get paid. So I do recommend that if you are
04:21
interested in going about using your blog as
04:24
a way to generate. an email list and then use
04:26
that email list to make money that you look into
04:29
different resources related to growing and building
04:31
an email list. So the second way to make money
04:36
as a blogger indirectly is with podcasting and
04:38
YouTube. And again, this is not get rich quick.
04:41
Every single thing that I'm going to say in this
04:44
episode, I'm going to keep saying over and over,
04:46
you can't get rich quick. And again, with the
04:49
YouTube thing, sure, you can go viral and you
04:52
might make a boatload of cash. But it could take
04:54
time and you have to get really lucky if you're
04:56
going to do it instantly. All right. So with
05:00
podcasting and YouTube, if you have a really
05:02
strong speaking voice and you think you could
05:04
reach a broader audience, podcasting might be
05:06
a good fit for you. It's one of the reasons I
05:08
started. podcasting myself is I wanted to reach
05:11
out to more people. And while some people believe
05:14
that it's just as hard to build a podcast following
05:16
as it is to build a blog following, others believe
05:19
podcasting is more appealing because we have
05:22
a fast paced society and no one really takes
05:24
the time to read anymore. And let's be honest.
05:28
If you're doing something else, podcasting is
05:31
a great way to reach an audience because if they're
05:34
doing something like going for a workout or doing
05:37
their laundry or even washing the dishes, someone
05:40
can be listening to your podcast while they're
05:42
doing those things. And that's why podcasting
05:44
is generally becoming a great way to reach your
05:48
audience. YouTube is also a great way to reach
05:52
audiences because... It again doesn't require
05:55
that anybody reads it and they can somewhat do
05:57
it passively while they're doing something else.
06:00
People love watching YouTube. and they love watching
06:03
videos everywhere. So why not leverage it to
06:06
make a little bit of cash? Now you will need,
06:08
I believe it's a thousand subscribers and 4 ,000
06:11
watched hours before you can monetize with Google
06:14
AdSense. But that's not to say that you can't
06:17
use your YouTube channel to start monetizing
06:19
right away. Your description area could be a
06:21
great place that you could add affiliate links,
06:23
or if you're selling services, then you could
06:26
add links to that as well. For example, let's
06:28
say you have a cake decorating blog. You could
06:31
start doing videos. on YouTube of you decorating
06:33
cakes and then in your description you could
06:35
add affiliate links to everything that you're
06:37
discussing during your video or let's say you
06:40
have a craft blog you could create short how
06:42
-to clips of how to create different crafts and
06:45
again use your description area to use affiliate
06:48
links for items that you're using in your crafts
06:50
or let's say you have an Etsy store Every craft
06:54
that you're creating in your videos, you could
06:56
then say, hey, go to my description. And if you'd
06:59
rather buy this craft instead of making it, here's
07:02
where to buy it. So that might be an opportunity
07:04
that you could look into to leverage your blogging
07:09
chops to make YouTube videos and podcasts. The
07:14
third item is speaking gigs. Now depending on
07:17
your messaging and your blog's niche, you could
07:19
actually start making money from speaking at
07:21
various engagements. Say you've got a knack for
07:24
describing how to build the best chicken coop
07:26
ever. You might just be able to land a speaking
07:28
gig at a farming conference. Now, it's important
07:31
to note that in lieu of cash, some speakers are
07:34
paid with tickets and hotel reservations for
07:36
the conferences or expos that they're participating
07:38
in. And I've done this myself. I've spoken at
07:41
conferences and gotten, you know, free entry
07:44
into the conference. And that's as good as cash
07:46
to me because then I can use that to network
07:50
with other people and create new revenue opportunities.
07:53
Am I alone in this that if I get something that
07:56
I would have paid for that that's just as good
07:58
as cash? Let me know. Tweet me at AshleyIsFamous
08:01
and let me know. My fourth idea for making money
08:06
as a blogger is to write books. Now, if you develop
08:09
a large enough knowledge base, you can create...
08:12
an opportunity for yourself to organize and distribute
08:14
that knowledge in book form. Thanks to the joy
08:17
of online publishing platforms like Kindle, Lulu,
08:19
and others, you don't even need a publisher.
08:21
You can self -publish. In fact, you can even
08:24
sell your book as a PDF downloadable directly
08:26
from your website. Of course, you'll need to
08:29
use your blog and your social media and even
08:32
an email list to promote the books you create,
08:34
but it's a great way to take everything that
08:36
you've learned or that you know about and monetize
08:40
it. Number five, hosting workshops and teaching
08:45
courses. I've heard it said that if you were
08:48
going to write a book anyway, it takes just as
08:50
much effort to create a book as it does to create
08:53
an online course. And what's awesome about an
08:55
online course is that you can usually charge
08:58
a lot more money for it. This is because you're
09:00
going to be breaking it down even further and
09:02
giving even more knowledge. And some people,
09:05
they just do better with videos than they do
09:09
with a book. you can add extra visual elements
09:13
to your courses you can add group coaching and
09:16
all of that kind of stuff to walk your students
09:18
through every step of what you were going to
09:20
be teaching them in their book anyway so you
09:22
might as well if you're going to write a book
09:24
create a course out of it so that you can charge
09:26
more and make even more money number six consulting
09:33
gigs as a blogger you have already set yourself
09:36
up as an expert in your chosen niche As a result,
09:39
you could become a consultant in your area of
09:41
expertise. You might even look into consulting
09:44
about blogging. Although I have to say, if you're
09:47
not making money at blogging yet, you might want
09:49
to give that a hard pass. And it's also important
09:51
to note that some topics are more profitable
09:53
than others. But if you're interested in giving
09:56
one -on -one advice, there might be someone out
09:58
there who's willing to pay you for your time
09:59
to teach them what you know. As a blogger, you're
10:05
already going to be using social media to promote
10:09
your blog. And as you learn how to tweet and
10:13
post Instagram updates and add things to Facebook,
10:16
you're going to be learning a valuable skill
10:18
that some businesses are willing to pay for.
10:20
So you might want to look into different businesses
10:23
that are looking for a social media manager and
10:25
see if you can offer your services. Number eight,
10:29
creating physical and digital products. I've
10:32
seen bloggers create everything from special
10:35
spatulas to aprons to journals to planners. So
10:40
many different things. So if you have something
10:42
that you want to create that you can sell on
10:44
your blog, you might want to look into it. Now,
10:46
digital products are much easier to create and
10:49
sell because you can put them on your website
10:51
almost instantly and start getting paid. Of course,
10:54
physical products, you're going to need things
10:55
like distributors and suppliers, and there's
10:58
all kinds of stuff that's involved with that.
11:00
But still, either way, both of those options
11:03
are ways that you can make money as a blogger.
11:07
Number nine. You could land a swanky nine to
11:10
five gig. Perhaps the skills that you're learning
11:12
while running your blog make you a perfect candidate
11:15
for a new real job. Your blog might be the ideal
11:19
resume. And should you choose to go back to what
11:22
I consider the dark side of the nine to five
11:24
world, you could keep building your blog on the
11:26
side while bringing in a steady paycheck. And
11:30
if that's how you want to roll, more power to
11:31
you. Number 10 is my absolute favorite way to
11:37
make money as a blogger, and that is from ghostwriting
11:40
and freelance writing. Before you tell me that
11:42
you're not a writer, take a look at the number
11:44
of posts that you've written on your blog. If
11:46
you have formed coherent thoughts into complete
11:49
sentences, then you're a writer, my bloggy friend.
11:51
You may not be a good one, but you're a writer
11:53
nonetheless. And the more you write, the better
11:55
you're going to get at it. And with a decent
11:57
portfolio of your blog, you can find yourself
12:00
some awesome freelance writing gigs. You can
12:02
become a ghost blogger like I am, or you can
12:05
pitch magazines, newspapers, website editors,
12:07
etc. to write content for their outlets with
12:11
your own byline. It's my absolute favorite way
12:14
because You just take what you already know and
12:17
just with a laptop and anywhere with Wi -Fi,
12:20
you can create amazing content and get paid for
12:22
it. And there you have it. We've covered 10 ways
12:26
to make money as a blogger indirectly. Just to
12:29
do a quick recap, here's those 10 ways again.
12:31
Number one, leverage email marketing. Number
12:34
two, podcasting and YouTube. Number three, speaking
12:38
gigs. Number four, write a book. Number five,
12:42
host workshops and teach courses. Number six,
12:45
consulting gigs. Number seven, become a social
12:48
media manager. Number eight, create physical
12:51
and digital products. Number nine, land a swanky
12:54
nine to five gig. And number 10, ghostwriting
12:56
and freelance writing. To learn more about each
13:01
of these 10 items, I recommend going to our show
13:04
notes for this episode. It's bloggyfriends .com
13:06
backslash episode four. I'll be breaking down
13:10
each of these 10 items a little bit further and
13:12
giving you some more ideas and tips that you
13:14
could use to make money as a blogger. That's
13:16
all I have for today, and I hope this episode
13:18
was inspirational for you. Until next time, may
13:22
your page views be high and your bounce rate
13:24
be low. Thank you so much for listening, and
13:26
I'll catch y 'all next time.