monetizing your blog
DESCRIPTION
Read more here: http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/businessideas/fl/Make-Money-Online-with-a-Blog.htm Strategies for running a profitable blog from Amanda McCormick, About.com Guide to Entrepreneurship. In this live interactive session, we'll cover the following topics: Targeting a Profitable Niche: How will you find the right audience for you blog? Ask yourself the right questions, find a profitable niche and tweak your business plan to align better with profit opportunity. Getting Set Up: Choose the right blogging platform for you blog. Do you want to use WordPress, Blogger or Tumblr? Are you ready to choose your own host? Building a Following: Many bloggers just starting out figuring, if I write about something interesting to me, my blog will naturally find a following. But it takes more than great content to build a following. Email marketing, press, social media and networking all make a huge impact on how many followers you can attract. Strategies for Monetizing: Finally, the all-important question of how will you monetize your blog? Ads are a natural first choice, but there are many other opportunities, including information products and affiliate marketing. Many bloggers who make a profit do so by taking a hybrid approach. In this article, we'll look at a number of ways to monetize your blog.TRANSCRIPT
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Monetizing Your Blog Amanda McCormick
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entrepreneurs.about.com
A little bit of background on me.
• Working in digital media exclusively since 2007
• I’m the guide to Entrepreneurship on About.com
• Have a client-based business where I work with startups, small businesses and nonprofits
• My specialities: copywriting for the web, social media, web production, WordPress, email marketing, content marketing.
• I blog at Jellybeanboom.com
• I teach: mediabistro.com
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Some common questions about blogging
• What should I blog about? • Which platforms are the best -- Tumblr, WordPress, or Blogger?• How do I get people to my blog? • How do I actually make money with this?
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A few good examples...
marieforleo.com
barkpost.com
brainpickings.org
pinchofyum.com
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What We’ll Cover Today
• Content Planning• Finding & Growing Your Audience• Getting Set Up• Monetizing• Evaluating Your Success
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What Should I Blog About
• Something that you’re an expert in or know a lot about• Something that you can sustain over several years• Something where there is an audience you can grow over time
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How Do I Know If There’s An Audience?
• http://www.google.com/trends/• Search social networks like Pinterest and Twitter• Look at the competition
Finding Your Content Focus
• What is the competition doing?
• What topics do you think would be interesting to your audience?
• What sort of content is timely
• How often can I blog?
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Content Strategy
Jeff F:
To become strong one needs to exercise an hour a day. Is this true of blogging?
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Content Strategy
Cynthia T:
How to get started? What will it cost? Are there any tips on how to get started for
free?
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Getting Set Up
Understand these distinctions!
•A “software as a service” platform, a bit like a social network•You are bound by their TOS•Can be a great place to get started with blogging and even sometimes site design•Limited control of the backend -- underlying software is not available to you.
•Where developers, designers and advanced users go to use WordPress as the software base of whatever they want to design and develop. •Allows complete customization. •Requires you to “self-host” or bring your own hosting plan
WordPress.org
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WordPress
Get a hosting account
Buy a domain
Install WordPress
Start blogging!
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Monetizing
• Advertising/Sponsored Posts • Consulting• Products/Informational Products• Affiliate marketing
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Advertising
entrepreneurs.about.combrainpickings.org
Affiliate
Amazon
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Other Affiliate Programs
LinkshareCommission JunctionWeb hostsSoftware that you use
entrepreneurs.about.commarieforleo.com
Information Products
Classes, books, seminars
entrepreneurs.about.combarkpost.com
Products
entrepreneurs.about.compinchofyum.com
Combination
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Growing Your Audience
Mary K:
What methods other than Twitter and Facebook can I use to get people to my
blog?
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Growing Your Audience
• SEO • Guest blogging• Email marketing
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Evaluating Your Success
RevenueTrafficEmail SubscribersSocial media shares
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Why Isn’t My Blog Making Money?
• Is your blog too general or covering too many subjects?
• Have you looked at every possible way to productize your expertise?
• Have you explored niche advertising networks and affiliate opportunities?
• Are you spending the right amount of time on your blog?
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Get more help monetizing your blog
• Tons of FREE resources at entrepreneurs.about.com• Take my class on Tumblr marketing at mediabistro.com• Visit my blog at jellybeanboom.com