How to Make a Living With Your Blog | Business 2 Community

Many people look down their nose at us bloggers. Staring over their reading glasses, they smile and nod patronizingly, all the while thinking, Poor Dear, he?ll be destitute by Christmas. The truth is, no matter what skeptics think many people have made a living blogging.

It?s not an instant riches career move, like many advertise. Like any career, it takes hard work and a detailed plan. If you are in it to stay and not to ?get rich tomorrow,? here are a few tips to make sure you are on the road to monetizing your blogging efforts.

Traffic Doesn?t Make You Money ? Quality Traffic Does

There are many ways to get traffic to your blog, but while sifting through them, make sure that your efforts are specifically honed to your very narrow market. Don?t just throw the net out hoping to catch something. Go where your fish are. Here are a few quick ways to ramp up your traffic:

Guest Post. Go to bogs in your field and offer to give them a free post if they allow you to link back to your blog. It is very important to guest post in your specific field. In other words, guest post on blogs that your market is visiting. Random traffic won?t make you money.

Long Keyword Phrases. Most people who are searching the internet are looking for very specific information. Knowing this, make sure to optimize each post with keyword phrases honed for a specific search. You want to do this because you will get more quality traffic and also because your chances of ranking in search engines with a long keyword phrase is much more likely than with a short one. Try to optimize each page and post in your blog with a keyword phrase that has at least three words.

Comment on Other Blogs. This is a great way to establish yourself as an authority in your field and also gain traffic. Again, make sure you post on blogs that your market is frequenting. When you comment, do not include a link back to your site every time. Sometimes, just sincerely make a comment. When you do link back to your blog make sure it is relevant and relates to the article you are commenting on. That way you do not appear to be spamming but are genuinely offering more information.

Build an Email List

With so many marketing networks and opportunities becoming popular, there has been a lot of question as to whether email marketing is still effective. Let me dispel all doubts with one question. When was the last time you checked your email?

Most likely you?ve checked it in the last 24 hours and you are not alone in that aspect. Email marketing is definitely not dead, and I believe it may still be the most effective online marketing method.

Make sure you have an email signup form on your blog. Put it in a multiple places: on the menu, on the side bar, at the end of every post. I have found that putting it directly below a post is a very effective way of gaining subscribers. They have just finished reading your article and if they made it to the very end they obviously found it useful. What better time to offer to give them more great info through their email?

Another way to build your email list is to offer free gifts such as ebooks, white papers, etc. When they sign up to receive your gift, ask for their email address and if they would like to sign up to your email list.

Start Small

As I?m sure you?ve heard, it takes more money to gain a new customer than it takes to keep one. Thus, quickly turning new customers into old ones is extremely beneficial. Offer small services and products that do not require a very large investment. This allows potential customers to easily become recurring customers and builds trust and relationship with your business.

Advertise Where the Right People Will See It

One way to get your offers to relative audiences is to put your related services and products at the bottom of blog articles. That way you ensure that the people who have the highest chances of buying your products are shown your offer.

One way to do this is to write a ?how to? article and then offer to do it for them for a small price at the bottom of the article. If they are reading your ?how to? article they are probably not an expert in this field and are simply wanting a quick solution. If your offer is fair, they may just take you up on it.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/blogging/how-to-make-a-living-with-your-blog-0323142

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