So – you’ve been thinking about blogging for a long time, and would like to learn how to make money blogging in 2017. You’ve probably read quite a few blogs on your own and are flabbergasted by the amounts of money that some bloggers are able to earn just by writing about the things that they care about. Who wouldn’t be? Running a popular blog is insanely lucrative and rewarding for those with a creative streak.
And now you’re asking — can you make money blogging?
You’d better believe it.
But for every blog that makes a decent chunk of change, there are 5,000 others that haven’t made a single dime. The irony is that many of those blogs share information about making money from blogging, even though they have no ground to stand on. Instead of listening to what a bunch of amateur bloggers have to say about professional blogging, let’s go straight to the source and look at advice from some of the most successful bloggers in the world.
Figuring out how to take your blog from a hobby to a legitimate source of income can be a long, hard road. There are an unending number of ways to monetize a blog once you have traffic, but the biggest problem that new bloggers run into is actually generating substantial readership and traffic.
Here are a few tips from professional bloggers that can help you make the jump and start making money blogging.
How to Make Money Blogging in 2017
Darren Rowse of ProBlogger Answers the Question “Can You Make Money Blogging?”
Darren Rowse of ProBlogger is one of the largest authorities on making money from blogging in the industry. His own blogging has turned what was once a hobby of his into a thriving business and one of the largest online blogging brands. His entire business model focuses on helping businesses and individuals build blogs that generate income and change lives.
Darren has some pretty interesting advice on the misconceptions that many new bloggers come into the industry with:
“One of the biggest misconceptions that I see bloggers having about monetizing blogs is that they have to do it in one of a handful of ways. The reality is that there are many ways to make money from blogs.”
In his blog post, Darren goes on to outline some of the different ways that he monetizes his own blogs, which include:
- Advertising Income
- Affiliate Income
- Product Creation
- Continuity Programs
- Services
The truth is that a single source of income isn’t a very safe business plan. Conditions can change and that source of income could rapidly dry up at a moment’s notice. In order to ensure that you have some stability, you should make every attempt to create multiple streams of income so that when one well dries up, another is there to pick up the slack. The most stable of all income streams is creating your own products, which are not dependent on other parties to be generate income for your business.
Jon Morrow of SmartBlogger on Growing Your Traffic
Jon Morrow has been a staple in the blogging community for more than a decade and his own brand has grown into one of the largest blogging brands in recent years. He is a blogger at SmartBlogger (formerly known as BoostBlogTraffic), and was originally a regular contributor at CopyBlogger. Jon’s story is one that has inspired millions of bloggers around the world. He was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a condition that left him wheelchair bound but motivated to pursue his writing and find a suitable career that would allow him to live comfortably.
In one of Jon’s more popular blog posts, he challenges aspiring bloggers to begin looking at their goals in a different way:
“A small percentage of students who initially struggled would all of a sudden take off like a rocket. For six months, they worked their butts off and got nowhere, and then BOOM, they would get so much traffic they could quit their jobs and become full-time bloggers…
… Did they work harder? Were they better writers? Were they just smarter? Did they have powerful connections?
Turns out, the answer was none of the above.
The only commonality between all of our success stories is they changed the question they were asking. Instead of asking how to get more traffic, they asked a different, much less obvious question.
Here it is:
“Is my blog capable of getting traffic?”
It might seem silly, but this distinctive change in the way that prospective bloggers look at growing their blog can have a profound effect. In his post, Jon states that there are many different traits that work together to make a blog successful, and no blog is entitled to being popular or making money, no matter how great the writing is.
He says that the 7 defining considerations for building successful blogs are:
- The size of the targeted industry.
- The age of the intended audience.
- The longevity of that audience’s interest.
- The language of the blog.
- The size and authority of the network of the blogger.
- The influence that the blogger has within their industry.
- The continued desire to interact with your audience.
Far too many “blogging experts” are selling advice and systems that promise huge results in a few short weeks. Can you make money blogging that way? The truth is that building a highly valued blog that attracts readership and drives revenue can take a long time to build and requires a coordinated effort on multiple fronts. You can’t just publish posts and wait for your audience to arrive!
Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income on Growing Your Traffic and How to Make Money Blogging
Pat Flynn has been a shining example of blogging success since entering the industry in 2008 after being laid off from his job. Today, Pat’s Smart Passive Income blog rakes in over $100,000 per month and has continued to grow year-to-year.
So what is Pat’s biggest advice for growing your blog and earning a living from blogging? Prepare for what comes after blogging. Sure, you can make a lot of money promoting affiliate products and selling ad space on your blog, but the blog is just a means to an end, not the end itself. Your blog should be the springboard for a larger business, not the business itself.
In his blog post about creating a profitable blog, he discusses when he first had this revelation and how it helped him to grow his business rapidly:
“I started monetizing it by utilizing Google Adsense, which eventually led to selling advertising space on my blog. At this point, could you call my blog a business?
Maybe.
I was directly dealing with third-party companies to fill those advertising spots. I was, in fact, “conducting business” – but I wasn’t seeing the kind of income I really wanted (and needed) at the time. Not even close.
It was only after following the example of some of my favorite bloggers, and some excellent advice from the Internet Business Mastery Academy that I knew I had to do something more than just blog to make some real profits. Soon after, I formed my LLC and leveraged the authority and trust I had earned on my blog to launch a profitable internet business.”
Pat’s advice is simple and straight-forward. Building a popular blog is great, but it should be seen as a stepping stone toward bigger goals. Keeping those larger goals in mind as you begin blogging can help you to craft a brand that is ready to grow once the readers start coming.
How to Make Money Blogging – Things to Take to Heart
A few hours spent browsing blogs and reading articles about how to make money blogging can provide a lot of insight, but it’s very difficult to know how to put it all together. The biggest mistake that a new blogger can make when chasing their blogging aspirations is to do so without a plan.
A few things that every aspiring blogger should figure out before posting their first blog post include:
- Who you will be writing for. Trying to cast a wide net will result in your blog not having a defined theme and audience. Know who your specific audience is and craft content that they will love. That’s how you come up with great blog ideas that drive traffic and it’s how to make money blogging.
- Create multiple income streams. The highest earning blogs online can earn money from 10-12 different sources. To maximize your income, make sure that you have multiple streams of income so that when one under-performs, others are there to pick up the slack.
- Create and follow a plan. Randomly posting ideas as they come to you is about as effective as throwing darts at a board blindfolded. Sure, some might hit, but a majority won’t pan out.
- Have an end business goal. Learning how to make money blogging is very difficult on its own, but having a successful blog shouldn’t be the end goal. As Pat Flynn suggested, thinking of the larger business picture when getting started can help to set yourself up for future success.
Learning how to make money blogging is only a small portion of the recipe for success. Blogs can take months or years to garner readership and getting your blog in front of your audience requires a streamlined promotional plan. By following the advice of some of the most successful bloggers around today, you can cut through the bad advice and get straight to the advice that will help you grow a successful blog and business.
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