[SHOW ME] You can monetize your blog today (even if you never have before)
The absolute beginners introduction to monetization
Monetization begins with content.
A “monetized” restaurant begins with food. A monetized piano player begins with music. A monetized blog begins with content.
With delicious meals and transformational music, the chef and the musician don’t start just because they want other peoples money.
You can create a blog with this purpose, affiliate marketer’s do it all the time. But this post won’t show you how to.
I can show you how to monetize something you love and are passionate about, how to turn it into an income so hopefully you can pursue it more and eventually live doing what you love.
Ready?
The Content
Are you writing a blog about your hobby, interest, or passion? Good. This is where we start.
The type of content which will make some serious income for the writer is
Genuine and
Entertaining and
Valuable
Genuine content is what readers identify with.
My friend writes a newsletter about his life as an artist. One of his first newsletter’s was the story of how he first came to work for a wildly successful, controversial, incredibly kind and very charming Art auctioneer, patron and collector.
The story is about how he was going to install an expensive and rare Frederick McCubbin painting, belonging to the Art Auctioneer, and what ended up happening instead.
The story is unique (when was the last time you tried to hang a 4 million dollar artwork in a countryside mansion?) and funny. It’s like a story someone tells at the pub on a Friday night. It also lets us see glimpses of the man behind the story- his past, his heartbreaks, his mentors and friends.
It is still his most read post, and it didn’t have to go viral to get there.
People read it because it’s genuine. There isnt any subtext, or preaching, it’s just a story from a man’s life. It’s a bit vulnerable, very honest and wonderfully sincere.
Another man, a designer, became the most high earning affiliate for Webflow within 3 months.
He is a digital designer, and began documenting his website design process on social media. He posted how he came up with ideas; what worked for him design wise, and what didn’t; and answered his followers questions.
He was putting himself out there initially to meet other designers and hopefully help newer ones. Essentially, to build a community.
His genuine approach of just wanting to share his passion for design gathered a decent following. Someone suggested he should post his designs as clones on Webflow, so he signed up as an affiliate and started to upload.
His followers, who had connected with his designs, because they had been there with him as he created them, bought his clones through his Webflow link. Because they were using his designs, they acted as free advertising for him. His cloneable sites began being used more and more, and were climbing the ranks in Webflow’s recommended lists.
Writing what’s genuine for you is how reader’s can identify with your content.
When you look at other peoples blogs, or look up “most popular blog topics”, there is a danger of trying to create something to meet someone else’s specifications, and destroy any chance of creating something real.
When you identify with something, what do you do?
Share it with your friends and family because you know they’ll “get it” too?
Repost it to social media?
Maybe follow and subscribe, because you want to see more of this person’s content and subject matter?
People engage with what they like and what they identify as reflecting aspects of their own personality.
Entertaining content is what readers enjoy.
Imagine you create a blog about an aspect of your life- for example, parenting a child with special needs.
A not sponsored shout-out:
Copywriting Converts is proud to share the music of Iowa artist Michael Enos.
Michael’s late brother, musician Larry Enos, was a very loyal and valued friend of mine.
“Feelin Better” is about Enos’s life walk through tragedy and challenge.
The guitar is stunning, reminiscent of 20th century American folk music. I also enjoy writers using common references, like baptism, without cliche.
Enos talks about the inexplicable experience of grief, which I personally relate to.
After my father died, I was numb with grief. One day, a co-worker, who had a blind date, described to me her outfit and who her date was. She shared so much happiness and nervous anticipation, I started feeling it all with her.
Suddenly, I realized: I could have feelings. I wasn’t an empty, grieving, husk. I started crying, which confused her, and me. I was feeling again, but I didn’t know why.
Please give Michael a listen, and follow him on Bandcamp. Now, back to the post.
When you talk about your parenting experiences with your friends or other parents, what is the most entertaining aspect?
Along with being genuine, sometimes even the most emotional, somber and serious aspects of life, are the most entertaining. By identifying and relating to the subject matter, we are able to appreciate the nuance, and find the humour in it, or understand the references or similes used to describe it.
Parenting a special needs child isn’t necessarily funny, or something entertaining. Describing the genuine experience of being one, providing essential information, helping other parents and caregivers feel seen and understood by telling their story, can be successfully done through humour and kindness. And thus, become entertaining and highly readable content.
Australian Carly Findlay was born with Ichthytosis, a condition of the skin. She writes, not only about the condition, but about her life and experiences: working to advocate for appearance diversity, going to the hairdresser, and singer Darren Hayes (Findlay loves Darren Hayes).
Sometimes difficult, sad or cruel; sometimes uplifting and hilarious but always genuinely informative and interesting, Findlay’s blog, at its heart, is highly entertaining.
Findlay has been winning awards for her writing and her blog since 2010, and was a finalist for Australia’s best blog in 2019 (for reference, we’re talking about well over hundreds of thousands of blogs hosted by Australians). Genuine and entertaining blogs are winners.
Valuable content is what readers pay for.
“Give away your knowledge, not your product”
I love discussing copywriting techniques, I love curating lists of resources, I love creating how-to’s.
When I plan a post, I start by looking around on social media and in forums for the advice people are asking for. By interacting on these platforms, I can learn new things myself and improve my writing, and I can find out what information I already have to share with people who are searching for it.
I want reader’s to take something away from every post I publish- how to structure sentences or phrases, more ideas about what writing “should” look like, perhaps inspiration to test limits or experiment with words and structure.
Knowledge should always be given away for free. Literally, all of it. Every unique technique you have, every hack you’ve developed, every insight you’ve gained, absolutely every piece of knowledge about your subject:
GIVE. IT. AWAY.
For free.
This idea can be confusing when you want to monetize. If everything is free, what’s left to pay for?
Consider this example- a person writes a blog about being a doctor. The whole blog is about their medical knowledge, and the patients they’ve helped. They write about developments in treatment and medicine. They describe different lifestyle choices and what data says about their effects on health outcomes. You read it a lot, because it’s such a valuable resource. You also see the doctor has a book about medical health. Considering all of their blogs are so knowledgeable and useful, you buy their book. It must be good if their site is anything to go by.
Then you find a different medical blog. Everything is behind a paywall so you can’t see if the information is even decent before you cough up money. You don’t bother, and search for other sites. Why would you pay for something, when you don’t even know what it is, or if the person knows what they’re talking about?
Free knowledge is different to free products.
My friend, a professional photographer, showcases his photography online.
You might say this is giving his product away for free. But not necessarily.
His product is his photography skills- his keen eye, how he frames his images in the viewfinder, his equipment and ability to use it in the way he does. We can take his images from the internet, print them and put them into frames. But they will always be stolen copies. And my friend will always have his talent and skill to take thousands more.
He can also describe how his photographs were created- where he went to take them, what the aperture setting was, what software he used for enhancement and how he used it to achieve the end results. Again, he isn’t giving away something which people might pay for if it wasn’t free.
By showcasing your knowledge and understanding, by describing the outcomes achieved from your work, by providing resources for people to refer back to and save for later, you are positioning yourself as valuable. We pay for valuable things. While we can enjoy the photographer’s work we view online, we are willing to pay for his photography course, or hire him to take photos, or buy a piece from him, because we can see he knows his stuff.
We also become much more likely to purchase a photography thing he suggests, because again, look at the guys skills! Have you read his blog recently? He suggests using this tripod for your own photo taking, and if he rates it, it must be good.
Being valuable is about providing something worthwhile to others. True value can only be shown to exist, never told to others as existing.
Using genuine, entertaining value to monetize.
Your content will always be the reason you can monetize, or can’t. But focusing on creating genuine, entertaining and valuable posts is the best way to monetize if you can.
I’ve already described a few ways your blog can make money. But here’s a full list of resources:
Affiliate links-
Affiliate programs are not MLM’s. Affiliate links offer the person who posts them an amount of the profit the company generates every time someone clicks it and makes a purchase. The idea being, if you recommend something to someone, instead of being free advertising, the company pays you a little bit for the recommendation.
I hate the reputation of affiliate links being a cash grab, a way for people to force products down other people’s throats. Some sleazy styles of marketing definitely do that, and I agree, it’s gross. But if someone is using the product themselves, or introducing you to something they think you’ll genuinely use because it’s a good product or service, I say click the link. Why shouldn’t people get a share from companies? Does it really matter to you if they do? Especially if you’re using what they suggest and it’s working out great for you.
There are many useful products available for every topic imaginable. Most companies have affiliate programs so you can find things to share with your readers to help them, or make their lives better, pretty much anywhere.
An easy way to manage your links and connect with companies is through affiliate platforms. When you apply, companies will vet you, and you may be rejected depending upon their requirements.
You can join the Copywriting Converts partner team by clicking here, automatically gaining access to our affiliate codes, and earning for yourself with your own links. This is probably the easiest way to start when you have lower engagement rates.
Your own products-
If you are starting from scratch, 3rd party platforms are much better to use than trying to self-host. They cost less and have the administrative side covered- like legal requirements, tax obligations, and delivery. Selling online looks easy, but many many people miss crucial elements trying to kick off with their own e-commerce site and lose time and money from small oversights. I strongly suggest using 3rd party platforms like these ones:
For digital assets like images, code, online courses and ebooks as well as one-on-one time like coaching or private lessons, manage them through Stan (click here). Stan gives you the software to make the products, host them and process sales. For blog posts which are instructional or if you are an artist or designer, link your product, course or ebook Stan listing from your blog so your readers can purchase your work.
If you have physical products, link directly to a shop listing. Click here to open one with Etsy. Etsy is an e-commerce platform for listing products people will buy and have delivered. For blogs about crafting, art, fashion, interior design or children and parenting, you might have kits, clothing or decor you’ve designed and made, to sell to your readers. Blog posts which describe how to use your products need to come with ways to purchase them and Etsy is a great platform for doing so.
Amazon-
If your blog is about book or film reviews, an Amazon affiliate link lets you share the media you love with your readers.
If you write about cooking, you can help readers find specific cake pans, utensils or ingredients with Amazon.
For artists writing lessons on techniques or styles, link to the paint brushes, canvasses, and other materials your readers need directly from the post.
Sign up to be an Amazon Associate by clicking here.
Renting out ad space
In order to host 3rd party advertising banners, you need your own site. This means paying for hosting and building it from scratch.
Webflow website builder and hosting are great products and have excellent educational resources to guide you through it.
Self hosting always comes with start up costs HOWEVER you have the freedom to choose what your site looks like, what you post and who can advertise. You also receive all the income from renting advertising space on your blog, instead of sharing it. Wordpress “free” version, for example, rents out your spaces for themselves, you don’t get to choose who advertises on your site and you don’t get paid for it.
Self hosting requires some degree of tech knowledge, skills and time on your behalf. I don’t recommend it for absolute beginners.
Paid subscription
Here on SubStack or other blog hosting sites like Medium, you have an option to offer a paid subscription to readers. This can be paid monthly or yearly and you can offer extras (like digital assets for example), or you can restrict access to posts (like free subscribers get access to two newsletters a month) or restrict access to engagement, for paid and unpaid subs.
Turning these options into income-
For Amazon, affiliate links, your own products and paid subscriptions, literally just put them into your posts.
Be selective about what you choose to promote, instead of getting the link or product and writing about it, see where links or products can fit into your posts.
If you read a great resource about herb gardening and your blog is about gardening in small spaces, and you’re writing about herb gardens anyway, recommend the book.
But if you get links to high ticket items just because you can make a lot of money with them, and post some random thing about it, it’s going to look exactly like you just want a reason to post your links. You can lose readers and engagement if it seems like your trying to pivot your blog from the topic they came there for, into something else.
Posts like that, makes it look like you’re trying to change your blog.
People will click on your links if they’re interested. They’ll be more interested if the link is for something they need or like and you honestly recommend it and explain how you use it, or how they can. Remember, genuine, entertaining and valuable.
For paid subscriptions, keep providing value. And again, just ask. People will pay for what they value and if they might lose that valuable thing.
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I love this. Such a cohesive explanations of all the things I never new about going on in the background of blogs. I agree, I always enjoy content that is more personal to the writer. It feels more genuine and when I relate to their stories, I am always up for more. It’s gives the reader validation and a feeling like we are ‘not alone’. ESPECIALLY as a Mum to a special needs child, I spend a lot of time online reading and sharing stories with other special needs parents.