Let me guess:
You’ve been blogging for 6 months or less and you’re trying to make money with your blog. You see others do it.
But, for some reason, you’re not rolling in the dough and making enough to splurge a little on yourself. You might be thinking you’re the only one failing at this; you’re not.
Only 5% of all bloggers earn a full-time income from blogging.
Ouch! That’s hard to read and realize. It’s a small percent, but it doesn’t mean it’s never going to happen for you. It will. I’ve been blogging for more than 3 years. I have and started different blogs and different ways to make an income as a stay-at-home mom to twins.
So, how can you turn this all around and be in the 5% of bloggers? Here’s what you need to do to start earning consistent money with your blog.
1. Figure Out Your Why
There are a lot of reasons why moms start a blog. For me, I started Twins Mommy because I wanted to blog more about being a work-at-home mom.
I’m also a freelance writer and on my freelance writing blog, I couldn’t really express the challenges I faced working from home and taking care of twins.
What is your reason for starting your mom blog? Was it to:
- Connect with other moms?
- Teach others what you’ve learned?
- Inspire others with your story?
- Get your creative juices flowing?
- See if you can earn some income?
Whatever your reason is, make sure you remember why you started a blog in the first place. This can help you see if blogging is really for you and if what you are doing is aligning with your ‘why.’
For me, my why changed a bit once I changed the content on this blog. Instead of focussing on WAHM’s, I pivoted to mom bloggers trying to become mompreneurs (start an online business).
My ‘why’ then became a way to teach and inspire other moms that they can start a blog and create a business so they can stay home with their little one.
2. Look at Your Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a free tool to help you figure out where your audience is coming from and which content is resonating the best with your audience. It also provides rich information about your traffic source and pageviews.
By knowing where your traffic comes from, you can tailor your promotion. Go to Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Social.
For example, Pinterest is very visual, so having gorgeous images and fancy fonts for your pin graphics is important.
If you see that Facebook is your biggest traffic driver, then you can create a Facebook page and share native posts like Facebook lives.
You can also share tips on your Facebook page with an image. These types of native posts (with no links but does have an image) reaches much more people to help you grow your brand.
If you’ve been blogging a few months, you can go back to Google Analytics to see how your content is doing. Go to Behavior > Site Content > All Pages to get a snapshot of popular posts.
Right now, my most popular posts concentrate around making money and growing your blog. Based on this I can create more content about these topics – which I have, find affiliate programs in these niche topics or create a product like a course on these topics – which I have.
3. Create Income Diversification
Is affiliate marketing the only thing you’re doing to monetize your blog? While you can generate income this way, it’s not sustainable and can be a challenge.
Instead of relying on one source of income, try having multiple income streams. When I first starting generating income, I had a service-based business – freelance writing.
I quickly added coaching to the mix as well. When work got to be too much, I dropped coaching and focused on my client work and creating a course for freelance writers.
I then added affiliate marketing. And from there I started a new blog, Twins Mommy!
And I’m doing it all over again! Instead of starting a service, I am doing affiliate marketing and I created a course (and I’m working on another).
So, can you see the pattern? I’m not just a freelance writer, but also a course creator and affiliate marketer! I’m building a business for myself by creating multiple streams of income ensuring that I make money every day.
If you have an Etsy shop or an eBook, consider creating another product or sign up for affiliate programs.
4. Focus on Building an Email List
Is email on the back burner of your focus? For a lot of new bloggers, email is the last thing to think about. You are still learning WordPress, Pinterest, Instagram and blogging!
Well, once you can breathe for a little bit, start thinking about starting an email list. Your email list is the best way to create income for your blog.
How so?
By having an email list, you create a relationship with your subscribers that’s much different than the visitors that comment on your blog. And when you invest in your subscribers, they invest in you.
If you’re new to emailing, I suggest you try MailChimp. It’s free to use for up to 2000 subscribers and you can do automations like send out a free email course to help you grow your list.
When you start an email list consider how often you want to notify your list and what type of content you want to send your list.
If you’re having trouble with what to send, check out my post, 8 Emails You Can Send That Aren’t Your Latest Blog Post.
5. Generate More Traffic By Doing This
So, here’s the thing, you can do all of these things, but to really monetize your blog, you need targeted traffic. This is traffic that comes to your blog, reads your content and is hooked.
They sign up your list, follow you on social media and become a raving fan that will buy from you.
You need traffic to send people to your affiliate type of posts. Right now, one of my affiliate posts is my #1 post. This post helps me make money every day.
But, how do you do this? How do you boost your traffic to your new blog?
The one thing I suggest is to focus on your content and make it more engaging. Have those hooks in the headline and introduction. Create engaging posts that people HAVE to click on. And make each of those posts full of valuable tips to help solve a problem.
When you do this, the traffic will come.
Tell me what first thing you’re going to do to make more money for your blog in the comments! I want to hear from you!
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