Can You Profit From Your Blogging Skills?
Blogging is a very satisfying activity and can reward you in many different ways; finding new friends, voicing your opinion, help your business to customer communications, help you promote your business, and the list goes on and on. One reward that many bloggers crave is profit but truly monetizing a blog can be a tough task for most people. So what’s a blogger to do for money? Well, we’re here to help so read on…
You have a blog or blogs and it didn’t take long to learn the ropes and get things going in the right direction. Blogging is pretty easy, right? Not necessarily. Many laymen find blogging and all of the tasks that go with it overwhelming. Consider all of the things you have learned from blogging; installing and tweaking your blog software (Hopefully WordPress), keyword research, social media connections, site promotions, search engine optimization, advertising campaigns, and all of the required tools such as themes and plugins.
Can you see how all of that could be a little overwhelming to someone that never explores the internet beyond Facebook and their email? There are a ton of small local businesses in your area that would love to have a website but haven’t bothered to tackle the project. There are many others that have a website that needs redesigned and updated but they have no idea where to start. That’s where you come in Mr. and Ms. Blogger.
Let’s take a look at how you can take your blogging skills to town and profit from your knowledge…
Social Media
You understand the REAL way to develop relationships and network with others online, does your client? Everyone knows Facebook is king of the social media club but many small businesses have no idea how to even setup a Facebook page, much less work it right. Do they understand the power of Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest and all of the others? You do and that knowledge holds real value. Why not get paid for it?
Web Design
If you’ve been blogging for a while I’m sure you have learned a lot about HTML, CSS and even a little PHP. Whether your local client needs a static website or a blog, I’m sure you have the knowledge and skill to make it happen. There’s a lot of money to be made in web design. Don’t believe for a minute that web design is oversaturated, I’ve helped far too many businesses with their websites to believe that and I honestly don’t even look that hard for new clients.
Keyword Research and SEO
Many businesses have had a website online for years and have never enjoyed real targeted traffic. Take your SEO skills and offer your services to those in need; they’ll love you for it, they’ll pay you for it and, if you do a great job, just might send more business your way in the form of referrals.
Website and Online Product Promotions
So your local tire shop has a big anniversary sale coming up and has no idea how to get the word out online. You do, don’t you? A little social media networking, Facebook advertising, search marketing, etc.. You can profit from showing others how to make more profit by expanding their reach via online promotions and advertising.
Business Blogging
Many businesses can benefit from a blog but either don’t know it or have no idea how to set it up and maintain it. Aside from the obvious SEO benefits, a blog can serve many businesses very well; a local restaurant that wants to show healthy menu options, a Church that wants to communicate upcoming events, a flower shop that wants to promote holiday specials… well, you get the idea. Your blogging skill set can really excel here and, yes, you can profit from blogging. Don’t forget to take retainer fees into account with these services as well, that creates both a long lasting quality service and a monthly income.
I recommend you check out Why Your Geographic Location is Your BEST Niche for even a better solution than just business blogs.
Consulting
I saved Consulting for last because this takes a more advanced set of skills but it’s certainly something to strive for. With a little experience you’ll be able to walk into almost any business and see what’s working and what’s not with their online efforts. You’ll be able to recommend promotional improvements, website tweaks, social media campaigns, just to name a few. You’ll be able to tell them if building a list is in their best interest or just a waste of time. You’ll know what national and local directories they should be listed in and how to get them listed quickly and correctly. You will understand where and how to engage their target market. All of these skills are very valuable in the business world and most businesses would rather pay you to show them, and in most cases, do it, then take the time to learn everything themselves.
Be Careful
There are other ways to profit from blogging but be careful. I recommend you avoid things like paid links and sponsored posts on your blog.
Advertising is very tough and a complete waste of time for newer blogs, especially banner ads and pop ups. If you are an established blogger with traffic and some creditability, advertising can work and affiliate marketing can bring in a nice income.
Any Ideas or Suggestions?
There you have it, half a dozen ways to turn your blogging skills into cash. There are other services you can offer and I hope you will add them below in the form of a comment if you know of any. How are you making money in your local market? Have you tried offering any of these services? How did it go? Do you have any tips for our other readers and subscribers?
About Brian D. Hawkins
I would add this tip…
If you are looking at doing the blogging or social media for a “brick and mortar” store, start off keeping those places close to home. It can be really hard to write great post if you can not ever be at the place in person.
If the business is long distance, you have to rely on the people there to get pictures, details, local events…and send that info to you, so you can write about it. All of that is MUCH easier if you can be there in person and get everything you need yourself.
I completely agree Sheryl, even for simple jobs like site design and consulting. Last year I had a client over an hour away and that was bad enough. I made far two many 2-hour round trips for my taste.
Interesting – I was thinking of dabbling with sponsored posts – what are the drawbacks Brian? It would have to be on something I believe in or could really recommend just like with affiliate products I offer.
I would add giving classes – I did a small Twitter class and hope to expand upon that. Very few local businesses use Twitter to its fullest. I am constantly learning new things and the knowledge could be used for others too right?
Hi Lisa, by sponsored posts I’m referring to someone paying you to review or promote their site and/or product, usually for link juice. There’s nothing wrong with writing an honest review about an affiliate product you like but you have to cover yourself even then by using the rel=”nofollow” attribute on the outbound links. It’s a few years old but here’s Matt Cutts’ take on it:
Paid posts should not affect search engines.
Now giving local classes sounds like a fantastic idea! How does that work, you send invites to several businesses to attend your function or do you give a class to their employees at their location?
Thanks Brian for the tidbit on the no-follow – I just read that somewhere else recently – will be checking it out thoroughly now 🙂
First one at a restaurant and sent out invites to small businesses. It could be done at a business too.
I have never understood why companies are setting up a website with no SEO, it’s like sitting in a dark room and try to flirt with the customers, no one sees you. Many of the proposals in the article is really good, but it takes time to do it.
It’s because they don’t know any better and need you to come in and save the day Lennart. 😉 Just like a mechanic fixing a car, your expertise is worth paying for.
Good stuff Brian, and I wholeheartedly agree. Still, one has to be told that it’s not easy convincing people that have no idea what you’re talking about just how good all of this stuff is and how it will help them.
It’s true Mitch, a lot of businesses have a tough time wrapping their head around things like online promotions. Measuring success is a little tougher than they’re accustomed to as well so we have to keep that in mind for retention.
This is very important tip to deal with. Most of bloggers really need this kind of tip to enhance and upgrade their abilities to deal with all problems that will come along.
I love blogging because blogging make me a Search Engine Optimizer however i am not too much professional in Seo but now i am doing Seo freelancing jobs and doing well and thinks to read some more about Seo to become better in the field.
I do not have much experience, but I had planned in the future get a small profit from the various affiliate programs. I suppose it would be a success in the use affiliate program by ebay(ebaypartnernetwork.com) or Amazon, I found on the Internet related plugins for wordpress.
Affiliate marketing is a good way to make money from a website. You can write about products that are working for you and show to use them. I find this way of marketing to be the best.
So many of us get this wrong and wonder why are results fail miserably. When I started I was in Affiliate Marketing, but on a different scale which involved no blogging. As I changed my focus and created my blog, I never looked at Affiliate Marketing the same.
If you promote products in the beginning it really doesn’t get any attention at all so expecting to get something out of it is stupid. People have no clue who you are or what you are about. They won’t be focused on banner ads, but only your content. Win them over with your writing and build your readers a few at a time. Don’t even focus on how to make money on day one, but slowly learn how it all works and gently incorporate it into your blog as time goes by.
Remember people can careless for what you sale if you have no credibility. They don’t know you from squat and what you are promoting doesn’t have any merit at that time. As you become an authority or more experienced in your niche, start educating people about products and services you currently use to help others.
When you focus on “pain-points” that everyone experiences, that is when what you promote gets a person’s attention. Just don’t come off like a sales person and you should find success over time.
Exactly Sonia, that credibility is key. I just purchased Pin Button Attraction based entirely from Andy Bailey’s review and assurance that it’s safe. If Andy hadn’t built his credibility before marketing products he wouldn’t have the level of success he’s enjoying now.
A few more options you have when dealing with local businesses is mobile and video marketing. With mobile becoming more and more popular, in a few years it may even pass SEO and social media as a service for local businesses based on how many people want it. Video marketing is very useful and easy to do especially in the local markets. All you simply have to do is rank their video at the top of Google and YouTube. This is easy to do and can be outsourced for a very reasonable price.
Wow, great point Caleb. Video and mobile are huge and shouldn’t be overlooked. There’s so many of us behind in both of those that you would have a huge advantage as far as competition.
Hi Brian, I’ve been so crazy lately trying to increase the value of our services, as you know it’s not always easy maintaining customers and making sure everyone is happy. You share some great ways to generating extra income from blogging. I know I could do a few things on your list, specifically consulting I mean I’ve been doing this since 2007 now.
Without a doubt Brian, any potential client that just Googled your name or looked at your sites would know they were in good hand. Not to mention all of the online recommendations out there for you. 🙂
Awesome tips Sir Brian. It is really an amazing idea but I think the competition is high :/
Thanks Herbert, I guess that depends on your location.
Really helpful tips, and it is actually what I had been searching for. I’ve just started my new blog, and I have heard so much about the importance of the appearance. I unfortunately haven’t done anything like this before, so your useful tips could be very helpful for me. Thanks for sharing them!
I do agree – You can practically start your own Business as a consultant – There are huge gaps in the private sector when it comes to small to medium sized businesses and their online activities / presence. If you have the knowledge and the experience and willing to take a risk – you can even do this part time after hours – if you donât want to risk giving up your day job. “Knowledge is power!”
Knowledge is power is right Anton, and there’s a profit potential there. Thanks and I agree completely.
I think you have pointed out the very important skills of blogging! Although, passion for writing is one of the very foundation of effective blogging, unfortunately, it takes more than that if you want to rank in search engines or at least convince your readers to come back to your site. It takes constant modifications and updating for you to stay relevant on your niche. Rich content, social media, search-engine and user friendly website, i think, knowing such would definitely profit you.
This is something I completely agree with, having your own blog can give you so many great skills that you can capitalise on from setting up WordPress blogs to writing content for other people. Local businesses need these skills and a full package is a big seller.The only problem I see is that small businesses know absolutely nothing so they have no idea of cost or how much to get back. In today’s economy spending a few hundred dollars and not knowing if it will reap any rewards or benefits takes a big leap of faith from the small mom and pop businesses.
Thanks Andi, I’ve found that as a challenge as well. Small business is accustomed to immediate results, for the most part, so even after you have convinced them to hire you it’s important to help them understand the benefits from the work you’ve done.
This is very important tip to deal with. Most of bloggers really need this kind of tip to enhance and upgrade their abilities to deal with all problems that will come along.
Great advice Brian. I don’t think most local small businesses realize how much traffic they can receive by doing even minimal marketing online, to be honest though. I live in a fairly rural area, and almost none of the businesses here have even the simplest of webpages. The ones that do however, are the ones that are taking online orders,appointments,etc and reaping the benefits. The internet should go hand and hand for any physical location store.
I am new to blogging but I had been looking for alternatives to make money from my blogs! Thanks for the post.
I think once you’ve got the hang of writing great posts and getting them published, probably the best way to profit from them is to build up an unbeatable set of backlinks to your own site to help its SEO. Nice post – always good to think outside the box!
Oh, and I forgot to mention – I’ve made good money before by being paid to get guest posts published on behalf of companies on other people’s blogs so they could build up their SEO too. You can easily get $50-$150 per post depending on how good the comment is. Getting the clients is the tricky part!
Great idea Jamie, good money for doing what we do – blogging. 🙂
With web design you can make big time in the town. Taking blogging skills to the town is surely a great step to go to the next level. Many more opportunities will open up and some new relationship will knock your door.
Hey Brian,
Thanks for this useful post.
Its funny how the quest for money online is increasingly taking us offline… 🙂
Hi Brian,
Wonderful tips you shared with us. How to use blogging skills for money. I am newbie blogger and I am using Affiliates on my blog, I do promote my content on social media accounts getting traffic but still no sales. Would you like to tell me what I am doing wrong ?
Thank you.
I completely agree Sheryl, even for simple jobs like site design and consulting. Last year I had a client over an hour away and that was bad enough. I made far two many 2-hour round trips for my taste.
Blogging is really a great skill which is very useful in SEO, social media, web design etc…. 🙂 Thank you and before blogging you must be careful.
All my profit online was made throw hard work. I never found a client who needed a facebook page made, seriously, how much can you ask for such thing? It takes just a couple of second to create one and not more then a couple of minutes to insert all the info and all that, maybe another 15 minutes for creating a custom banner.
I had lots of clients that wanted me to create a hole website as well as a blog, did the facebook page and other social things for free.
But I was never paid for consulting for example, though I have the experience and skills needed. Where do you guys find such clients?
And another question, from a buyer’s perspective, how can a client trust someone that never had personal success with websites/blogs in the first place?
I’ll answer both of those at once Cristian. What I did was approach local businesses AFTER I looked at their online presence and determined they needed a lot of improvement. I then took those satisfied clients and requested referrals, recommendations and even testimonials. For the most part, businesses were happy to help and I even had a couple referrals without even asking.
I guess I have tried most of the tips listed here. But I was never steady. I guess for a newbie, it’s better to stick in some strategy and consistency should be the key for making profit. Try, try and try !
Its smart decision before start anything is to get a third who can really help to build the business. They can guide you really well for they know that area.
Thanks Andi, Iâve found that as a challenge as well. Small business is accustomed to immediate results. for the most part, so even after you have convinced them to hire you itâs important to help them understand the benefits from the work youâve done.
Thanks for the good tips provided here! I agree that we have to have an action plan in place before making the offer and we should be sure about itâ¦
Hi Brian,
There are so many ways one can monetize their knowledge of blogging and Social Media in their own neighborhood.
The example you gave of consulting. One really has to know their stuff in order to consult on a professional level.
I have done some “consulting” with neighborhood businesses. The people were pretty savvy but didn’t know how to keep their blog up to date, nor realize that there is more to social media than Facebook.
I charged them a price per hour and got them up and running. If they get “stuck” they can always give me a call, I’ll come down to their business and give them more advice “per hour” It’s been working well so far and I like to see a neighborhood business do well.
Also, I have had a few on line people come to me to “coach” them through The Social Platforms. There are many people out there that would rather pay someone to teach them the effectiveness of this for their business. The only thing I stress is that they are on it every day!
Donna
Hi Donna, I prefer to charge âper hourâ as well. I had a couple bad experiences where I charged a flat fee for small projects and was called continuously for any little change they thought of. It’s hours rates and retainer fees now.
I haven’t done any online coaching. That’s another thing to look at, for sure.
The one thing better than doing exactly what you love doing, is getting paid for it. The same applies for bloggers. The main reason a blogger continues to blog, is because he loves doing so. But getting paid for blogging, just makes life all the more sweeter. But so many bloggers don’t realize the monetary value their talent has. And the ones who do realize that, don’t exactly know how to go about it. Every blogger needs to be made aware of the ways in which he can monetize his work and also learn how to use social networking sites to their full potential.
Best quote of the day Gerald,”Many bloggers donât realize the monetary value their talent has.” It’s true and there are a number of ways to monetize blogging but I think the local market is the fastest way for those that live in somewhat populated areas.
I’ve been encouraging bloggers to build a blog and social media audience for their local geographic area. Most small business owners just don’t have the desire, knowledge, money or time to maintain a blog of their own and if they have you do it for them each site has to promote on its own.
If you build a great blog for a local area you can deliver a local audience for ALL local businesses. Once you have an audience then it makes sense for businesses to pay for advertising, featured posts, to be listed, to hire you to do their local listings on sites like Google, Yahoo! Local, Bing, SuperPages, Merchant Circle, etc. (NOT manually – there is a MUCH better way to offer that service) and for you to manage a blog outreach campaign when they want more visibility.
It just makes sense to have one major site for your local area instead of building separate sites for each individual business. I linked my best post that explains that concept and the why and how to my blog name in this comment.
Hi Gail, I just read your post and it’s exactly what we’ve all come to expect from GROWMAP.COM, absolute top shelf. 🙂 I updated the post and linked to it for our readers.
I started a similar blog several years ago called Safe Detroit but had trouble monetizing it. It’s a huge project but I’m sure can pay off for those that stick with it.
I definitely agree with you, Brian, about the charge per hour. I’ve been doing Web Designing year ago and it was a fixed price contract but later on I found out that an hourly pay is way better. Thanks for sharing!
Consulting seems a good option to me along with blogging. I would surely try it, getting paid to lend advice and suggestions to people who have problems marketing their business and earn profits out of it must work out exceptionally as this job is too helpful.
Lovely Blog.This is innovative and Informative.Iâve just started my new blog, and I have heard so much about the importance of the appearance.i haven’t used like this tips before.but i must say .These tips is grateful for us.Well thanks for this post.
Wow, great point Caleb. Video and mobile are huge and shouldnât be overlooked. Thereâs so many of us behind in both of those that you would have a huge advantage as far as competition.