Monetizing Your Blog
As a niche blogger, you want to always be thinking about your reader, but not to the point where you neglect your own financial success. That should be a strong part of your formula.
So after you map out the categories for your blog, you can rotate the topics when you create new content. Each time you pick a topic, think of two things:
- What good, valuable tips can I share?
- How can I monetize this post?
So let’s use weight training as our example again. Suppose you wanted to create a blog post called 7 Tips for Weight Training at Home. You would create 7 tips and for one or more of those, include a casual mention and link to a particular product.
For example, you might have a tip about choosing an area with plenty of space, and you could talk about why that’s important, and then say something such as, “If you live in a small area, then I recommend choosing space-saving equipment, like resistance bands that use your body weight.”
Then link to the one you recommend and talk a bit about it before going on to your next tip. The last thing you want to do is write one big ad. The reader should walk away feeling fulfilled if they don’t happen to buy anything that day.
You’ll be building trust with your readers that way.
What other monetization can you place on your blog? Banner ads – but don’t create a hostile environment on your blog where banner ads and buttons are flashing all over the place, blinding your readers.
Depending on your theme, you might be able to place a horizontal banner ad right below your header. You can promote products as an affiliate or promote your own products. These are usually called Leaderboard size.
The sidebar provides ample opportunity for vertical banners and smaller buttons. Try to select choices where they match the color of your site, or complete it in coloring – as long as it doesn’t clash.
You can also put banner ads and buttons inside your actual blog posts. So let’s say you were reviewing an info product from JVZoo or ClickBank. You could look for affiliate tools from the product creator and embed them into your posts so that they align with your text to the right or left, or break up lengthy blog posts right in the middle, too.
Make sure you monetize with text hyperlinks whenever you blog. These convert well. You don’t want every other word to be a hyperlink, but sprinkle them throughout wherever relevant.
Some blog themes don’t make your links stand out very well when you make them, so always go to the extra step of bolding the word or phrase and underlining it. Depending on the colors of your blog, you might also want to make them blue, like a traditional hyperlink.
Some of your monetization will occur from repeat contact with your readers. If your reader doesn’t notice your sidebar opt in form, they might sign up if you include the form at the bottom of your post.
There are plugins that can do this – or, you can simply paste the HTML code into the text – not visual – portion of your blog post. That way, not only are they expose to your offer during that first blog read, but you can promote to them repeatedly (as you serve their needs) over time and enjoy repeat commissions and sales.