One common thing you’ll hear when trying to make money online through blogging is how it’s a good idea to have a thoughtful plan for maintaining a monetization strategy. That way, if one method dries up, your cash-generating efforts won’t grind to a devastating halt.
As a blogger, you need to figure out how to make your site profitable. Doing that isn’t as hard as it might sound, especially if you follow some or all of the tips below.
Write About Things That Matter to You
A lot of bloggers start off casually and write purely as a hobby. If you are thinking about trying to start making money from the endeavor, you have to convince yourself that success is possible even if your blog is new and keep going long enough to make profitability a reality. You might initially think earning money from your blog means having to invest a lot more time and effort.
However, that’s not necessarily true. While testing out various monetization methods, you’ll go through a natural process of trial and error, which should help you become more streamlined and confident in your approaches.
Also, once you become committed to making money from your blog, it’ll be easier to write about your true passions. Maybe you’re a lifelong horse lover eager to share the knowledge you’ve accumulated through years of equine ownership, or perhaps you’ve seen first hand how meditation encourages having a calmer outlook on life and you’re ready to share nuggets of wisdom with readers.
When you’re able to go in depth about things you genuinely care about, your enthusiasm is evident, and it should encourage ongoing readership. That’s especially important if you’re primarily dependent — as many bloggers are — on one or more forms of advertising inside a blog as a way to make money.
Understand If Your Blog Is Making Money and When
Without a centralized system for tracking the income earned for your blog, you might make the mistake of taking it down because you don’t realize how profitable it is.
Take the time to create a centralized accounts payable system. Keeping track of all payments and earnings in one place makes it easier to manage invoices and check expense reports. It also minimizes errors.
Come up with a user-friendly process you can use to efficiently determine the amount of money generated by your blog and when the earnings occur.
After collecting this data and studying it, you might learn some surprising things. Maybe most of your traffic comes to the blog on a Saturday. In that case, it’d be smart to rearrange your posting schedule and publish new content on Friday night or early Saturday morning.
Whether you use an old-fashioned spreadsheet or a high-tech app, keeping tabs on your earnings is essential.
Research Ways to Do Your Tasks Faster
Managing a blog with the goal of keeping it profitable also means identifying how you typically waste time and figuring out how to complete stuff on your blogging to-do list more efficiently. If it often takes you a while to come up with topics, become familiar with brainstorming. Plus, bring a recording device with you during times when you’re most clear-headed, whether while driving to work or when you’re on a running trail in your community.
Perhaps you don’t have problems with topic generation but always struggle with writing fast enough. In that case, get acquainted with speed writing and practice it daily. If the required output is still too much to bear, consider starting a guest blogging program to pepper your site with viewpoints from other people.
Track Blogging-Related Expenses
Most people outside the accounting field aren’t very motivated to do even basic tasks associated with it. However, if you adopt a lackadaisical attitude about keeping your accounting records current, you’ll quickly get off track. Although knowing how much your blog earns is important, you also need to be aware of how much it costs to maintain it.
There are various ways to set budget limits and track expenses, and it’s wise to pick one that works best for you and stick with it for the entire time you blog. If it turns out you’re regularly spending more to keep the blog running than it earns, it’s probably time to re-evaluate your strategy. Sam has posted before about how the accounting systems work here at Tech Girl and how her brother assists (he can assist you too). You can read that post on financial tech tricks for content creators here.
If you follow these tips, there’s no need to feel overwhelmed as you weigh the possibilities for how to make money with your blog. You might make some mistakes, but persistence could help you enjoy impressive profits.
