Readers who know me know that we pay more attention to the generation of value than to the generation of dollars.
It is not accidental, and I have absolutely nothing against making money with your blog (rather the opposite), but I will explain why you must go systematically, and the first step is never money.
But obviously online marketing has two legs: the generation of audiences, and their subsequent monetization, and here you will learn both. I just want you to build the house on the foundations, and follow a logical order.
When it comes to monetizing – that’s just the fine way of saying “make money ” – most blogs are thrown into the arms of ad networks such as Google AdSense or affiliate platforms like Commission Junction or Click Bank .
Directories and bulletin boards
They say, “Information is power, ” but I think this is not entirely accurate. What is valuable is the right information, in the right hands and at the right time.
For example, a road map for generating income on the Internet can be very valuable for someone who has just quit their job and wants to set up their own online business but lacks usefulness for another person who has been lost in the jungle and What you need to know is how to build a shelter and make a bonfire.
Think of a great search engine like Google, or a great directory or portal online classifieds.
These information aggregators can earn money in three ways:
- Selling the information to the User
- Giving the information to the User but charging everyone who wants to be present in the search engine, directory or board (traditional model of the Yellow Pages)
- Giving the information to the User and the presence in the search engine, directory or board, but charging everyone who wants to stand out (traditional model of Google, where there are organic results and payment results).
Sell your own eBook
If you get used to offering free content with high benefit, as we have been doing for several years, little by little your Audience will increase.
Depending on your niche, the intensity of your efforts, your knowledge and luck factor, your exact traffic figure (as well as the time it will take to get it) will vary.
However, there is an immovable truth: a percentage of your audience will be willing to pay for premium content.
When you go for the benefit through a blog (or a podcast, or a video channel), and your main objective is to solve the problems and frustrations of your audience, some users will ask for more.
Live online training workshop
As we have seen previously, when you get used to offering quality content around a certain niche market and you consolidate yourself as an expert, there will be people willing to pay for more.
And one thing your followers will be willing to pay for (if you’ve shown them beforehand that you can really fix their problems) is by quality training.
In fact, webinars or virtual classes live over the Internet are fast becoming one of the main sources of income for authority blogs (small, medium and large).
Recorded online training
One of the main advantages of webinars is that by definition, they are live; The User must register and be seated in front of his computer on a certain day at a certain time, or the event will be lost.
That is also its main drawback; Not only for the User but also for you, the presenter, who also has to be seated in front of his computer a certain day at a certain time.
The problem of using live webinars as a recurring source of income for your blog is that if you want to earn more money you have to organize more events, attract more Users, or charge more.
Private Communities
If you have come here and you have implemented the monetization initiatives described above, you may have noticed that despite the large amount of free content on the Internet ( or precisely because of it ) many people are willing to pay for content Of value added.
Private communities or “Membership Sites” are closed websites that offer their subscribers different types of exclusive content.
In general, the monetization model of these private communities is based on a monthly recurring payment (the modality most wanted by digital marketing professionals), which implies a continuous updating of contents and services for the partners.
Services, consultancy and coaching
In my own experience (and that of thousands of bloggers who have done exactly the same thing), when you position yourself as an expert in any niche market you will come up with unforeseen opportunities.
The monetization techniques we’ve reviewed so far (especially eBooks, online training and private communities) will not only enable you to activate new or more passive recurring revenue streams, but will also strengthen your opinion as an authority in your niche market.
Crowd funding
The world is changing, and one of the deeper transformations is the kind of content we are consuming.
New generations are increasingly consuming more content produced by anonymous people through podcasts, blogs and independent video channels to the detriment of “traditional” media.
Today, new technologies allow anyone to produce and distribute their own content, attract a loyal audience and monetize all this effort with barely any entry barriers.
Sponsorships
Sponsorship is one of the most attractive revenue formulas for a blog, since it allows for a recurrent stream of revenue regardless of variables that handle conventional advertising networks such as impression volume, number of clicks or conversion rate ( Although in the long run you will have to fulfill the expectations of the Advertiser to keep that sponsorship alive).
In its most basic formulation, the sponsor will pay you a monthly money in exchange for having a prominent presence on your website (and / or your social networks, e-mails etc …)
Direct affiliation
The effectiveness of affiliate marketing – and the weight it must occupy in your blog’s monetization plan – depends almost entirely on the theme of your website.
Basically, affiliate marketing consists of promoting third party products and services (an ” affiliate program “), where Advertiser will pay you based on the actions performed by your Users on your website.
Donations
In his masterpiece ” Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion ” Robert Cialdini (professor of applied psychology at the University of Arizona) expounds a series of concepts and concepts that I believe is necessary for any digital media professional.
Commercial, salesmen, politicians, NGOs, family and friends – the human being in general – we consciously or unconsciously seek to succeed in our arguments, to be right and persuade others to do what we want.
