How Bloggers Make Money: Advertising

“How do you make money off of your blog?”

I get asked this question fairly often. And by bloggers fairly often. And I feel sort of weird answering. I mean I’m not rolling in the income here, folks. I’m very much a beginner at this whole thing. I’ve set reasonable goals (my main goal is to have my blog make an amount commensurate with a part-time job and that’s quickly coming to fruition) but I’m not rich off my blog by any means.

Still, I KNOW how it’s done. I just don’t always do it. For various reasons which I’ll not get into right now. But over the next week or so we’ll go over the various means of making money from a blog. I’ll do some reading up on the pro’s opinions of them  and I’ll ask you to weigh in.

Let’s start with the most simple to understand method. Advertising.

So you have this blog. And you have this audience. And your audience (no matter the size) respects your opinion and looks forward to your posts. These are the most basic requirements of your blog to seek out advertising revenue.

And advertising revenue is just what it sounds like. You are seeking out companies to place ads on your site for a price. What price? Good question. There are many schools of thought on how to price out advertisement. We can get into all that later. For now it’s just important that you know that there are methods.

Ok, so how does this all work?

Look at your blog. Look at your entire computer screen open to your blog. Every piece of space on your blog has potential monetary value. Some of it you can sell and some you can’t. Obviously you want to reserve space for YOUR blog posts and photos. That is, after all, what people come to you for. The rest is up for grabs.

Obviously anything in the first screen view (the view of your blog without having to scroll) is going to be the most valuable. The less people have to look for things, the more likely they are to look at things.  Bigger ads are more valuable (both because they are more noticeable and because they take up more of a finite amount of space) than smaller ads.

The pro’s of ad space

The con’s/reservations about ad space

I guess technically ad revenue is active income. You have to seek them out to get them. But they are sort of a passive form of active income. Once an ad space is sold, it’s sold. You cannot sell it again. And since there’s only so much space on your blog, there are only so many ads you can sell.

What Kind of Blogger Are You?

This is an important question to ask yourself. And the answer will in part dictate what you do (or won’t do) with your blog.

From what I've seen, bloggers seeking to build an audience fall into one of a few types. There are:

• Those blogs support a company, product or personality that they own. The blog is used as a promotional vehicle for that company, product or personality and without that company, product or personality that blog could not exist.
• Then there’s the ones who blog in hopes of gaining notoriety. The Perez Hilton’s of the world, I call them. And the reasons are endless. Maybe you want to be on Entertainment Tonight or maybe you want to meet a celeb. Maybe you want to party with them or get swag to look like them. Whichever.
• This blog is mainly for the type of blogger that blogs about what they are interested in and wonder if they might be able to make some money in the process. You are the ones who would probably blog even if you didn’t make a cent. But since you’re doing it anyway, why not get some kickback?

If anyone felt any shame or guilt about that last bullet point, stop it. Just stop. I know how you feel, though. I felt terribly guilty about monetizing my blog. I mean, I was “keeping it real” with my readers. Wouldn’t making money make me a “sell out?”

Most certainly not! Especially if you are providing something to your readership that is valuable and putting time and effort into doing so. Besides, very rarely do bloggers ask their readers for money. So you are providing something valuable FOR FREE to the people you want to serve.

So how do bloggers make money anyway?

That’s what we’re going to discuss next. I can speak on the methods but not necessarily the strategy behind the methods. I’m not perfect at any of them but, as always, I’m gonna tell what I know.

Until then, keep bloggin’!

How Blogging is Like Going to McDonald's

Okay so back to content for a minute.

I did a good bit of blog hopping over the weekend and I wanted to clarify one thing. Different blogs have different purposes and as such different blogs will have different kinds of content. But for every blog that builds a following (and builds income if that’s your desire), there is a product being offered.

For many of you,  But for every blog that builds a following (and builds income if that’s your desire), there is a product being offered. Think of content as the way you deliver that product to people. 

For many of you, YOU are the product. Especially in fitness and inspirational blogs, your experience is your product. People follow you because they can relate to you. They watch you as you do whatever it is you are doing and they root you on, give you advice, follow your advice and so on.

For others, perhaps your schtick is your product. Such is the case for me. Bariatric Foodie is about playing with your food. I would like to liken my blog as being the Alton Brown of the weight-loss surgery world. I made the choice in the beginning that I didn’t want to be the product (mostly because I am far too fallible to be anybody’s hero!).

So let’s talk about how content differs for these two approaches to blogging. Remember I said content is the good stuff people cometo your blog for. And I also said that blog posts contain content but aren’t (necessarily) content in and of themselves.

“What the heck does that mean?”

You ever been to the drive-through at McDonald’s (don’t lie). Maybe you like Big Macs. But maybe you also like the extra value meal because then you get a Big Mac and some other stuff conveniently packaged for one low price (stop chuckling).

Well blog posts are the extra value meal. Content is the Big Mac. Get it?

So for those of you who are the product of your blog, your experiences are what you are packaging. If you’re a running blogger, for instance, the first time you ran a 5k, half marathon, full marathon, did an Iron Man/Woman. Those posts contain content that you’ll likely refer to again and again. Those are your Big Macs!

For those of us whose products are our schticks, content can look the same or different. My Big Macs are posts like my tutorial on how tomake a triple thick protein shake and the most popular recipe on my blog.

“Why is this distinction even important?”

Because blog posts come and go. Blogs are set up to keep things moving. And even on sites like Wordpress, good posts can get lost in the darkness! But content rarely does. Why? Because you keep referring back to it! I link people to that tutorial and that recipe at least a few times a week.

Content also can take on a life of its own. In my case with the recipe, folks shared it and shared it and other folks made variations of it. When this happens, you know you are writing more than just good blog posts but good content.

Once we get more into monetization (I’m getting there but I am so NOT the ultimate expert so I am fact checking to make sure I give you all good info!) good content becomes the platform upon which you can build good, steady income on your blog.

But for now wrap your head around the concept of content and figure this out: what’s your Big Mac?

How to Write a Blog Post People Will Read (Part Three)

So you've figured out what "your people" want to know and you've written up a really good post about it that is both concise and well formatted.

Now what?

From what I see in my Facebook feed you bomb every possible outlet you can with your post link. And while that is one method of getting yourself out there, there are more effective ways.

First, do you have a Facebook Page? A Twitter Handle? If you do, then that's the FIRST place you should promote your post. If you and your blog are the same thing (and you're ok with YOUR personal social media profile being shared and re-shared as one would hope when trying to build an audience) then go ahead and share via your personal profile. But even if you and your blog are one and the same I highly advocate for a separate Page or Twitter account.

Once you have a Facebook Page or Twitter handle exactly how do you promote your post? Well at first you're not going to have very many followers. This makes the marketing of posts key. Here are a few things I've found that work well.

• Don't just use your blog post name and a link to your blog post! Think of when you see that. Do YOU feel automatically compelled to click it? Maybe if it's highly relevant to your day-to-day life yes, but otherwise probably not.
• Instead "create" a problem that you're solving for your reader. This may sound deceptive but it's not if you think about it. Sometimes you didn't know you needed something until somebody told you ;) In the last post's analogy about a "Top 5 blog post about running apps" you might say "Need an easy, portable way to track your mileage? Here are my top 5 picks!"
• Use a real photo Yes, Facebook will generate a photo from the blog link you provide but it will be tiny. Studies show people pause for pics! Upload a relevant picture and use your blog post call-out as a caption in the picture. Photo + compelling caption + link = click-through!

If you hang out in other spaces where "your people" are, promote there as well. So long as you're allowed to do so through the websites Terms of Service. You don't want to be getting kicked out of anyplace. Usually, though, so long as you're not selling anything you're good. 

Leave blog post comments on similar, well-trafficked, blogs as your blog. Not as YOU. Unless you and your blog are the same! (What the heck does she mean by that? She keeps saying it??? For example, I am Nikki. My blog is Bariatric Foodie. I post as Bariatric Foodie on other people's blogs, not as Nikki. Get it?) Be sure there's a hyperlink to your blog in there somewhere. You don't necessarily need to pimp a particular post unless it's relevant to the discussion.

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet! You can set up automatic Tweets when post on your blog through Networked Blogs, but I also highly suggest you do your own call-out (using similar language as on Facebook) with a shortened URL. Remember, don't just use the blog post name (which is what Networked Blogs will do). Tell folks WHY they NEED to read your blog post!

See? That wasn't very much to ingest, now was it? Simple things you can do to effectively promote your blog posts when you are ready to do so.

When is that point? I advised at the outset of this blog that you build up some content first. When you are ready to take your blog public, make sure you have links in the body of your blog posts to past posts. That will get people clicking around to see what else you have to offer. I'll go over the subtle art of hyperlinking another time.

Until now, let me ask you this. What effective ways have YOU found to promote your blog posts?

How to Write a Blog Post People Will Read (Part Two)

One thing that’s really hard for me to accept as a person who writes for a living is this: as technology and social media increase, word counts decrease.

Not only that, but well-performing websites and blog posts have figured out how to “package” information for maximum views.

Frankly, this hurts my heart. I mean I did read William Zinsser’s “On Writing Well” and, yes, he did advise that writers should only use as many words as necessary to clearly articulate their point, but in a 140-character, 15 second video world, even that is saying too much.

All this is to say that the #1 sin I see committed on blogs in general (but especially blogs that are seeking to build an audience) is that you use too damn many words!

So here’s three solid suggestions for how to structure blog posts that are not wordy and that people are more likely to read.

People like “top” posts.

Top 5, Top 10, whatever. For some reason, ranking things (even if it isn’t a true rank, but a “in no particular order” list), really motivates people. So if you write a blog about running, you could do a “Top 5 Running Apps” or “Top 10 Things You Should Do to Prepare for a Marathon). If you read my post on getting your blog off to the right start, you also know, then, that said post should be called “Top 5 Running Apps” or “Top 10 Things You Should Do to Prepare for a Marathon”).

If your paragraph goes beyond four lines, bullet point it.

Yep. Chunky paragraphs are the bain of web reading. People see them and they run the other way! It’s crazy because studies show it’s not the content but the actual paragraph length. Some studies have had the text in a chunky paragraph and then broken up and readership went through the roof on the latter. So don’t do the chunk. If you absolutely MUST have all that information in there, break it up into bullet points. And make the bullet points short!

Use the “ABC” Method of writing.

When I was in college my professor shared a life-changing quote with me. It seems overly simple but stay with me on this one. In good writing you “Tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em, then you tell ‘em, then you tell ‘em what you told ‘em.”

In the writing world we call this the “ABC” (Abstract/Body/Conclusion) method of writing. When we’re writing, being reiterative seems ridiculous but think about when you are reading a good article. It usually repeats the point several times throughout and you leave not annoyed but…with a good sense of what the author was trying to convey!

Especially in longer posts, I tend to do an intro, then the body and my conclusion summarizes the body in bullet points, to make it even easier. Plus, this gets your point across to those notorious “scanners.” They’ll zoom straight down to the bullet points.

Which brings me to a bonus item. If you summarize in bullets, put your calls to action in those bullets! If you’re selling something, make it a bullet point. If you’re linking to an affiliate account (if you don’t know what that is, we’ll go over it later this month), put that. If you want people to sign up for something, ask there. People are more likely to read that call to action in a bullet point than in your text!

So those are just a few tips on setting your blog posts up so that people actually READ them. My next post will tell you how this set up can help you SHARE your posts – and make sure others do too!

Blogs All Serious Bloggers Must Read: CopyBlogger

This is going to be a running list. I am on the mailing list of a lot of blogs about blogging. Many of them are run by people who make GOOD income from their blogs, so I tend to believe their advice!

Copyblogger (www.copyblogger.com) is a blog you should ALL subscribe to. It gives lots of great advice on how to draft content so that it gets read, about search engine optimization (SEO) and posts like this latest one on how to keep a list of fresh content ideas.

If building an audience is a craft, Copyblogger is a great tool that helps you get good at it. Go, subscribe!

How to Write a Blog Post That People Will Read (Part One)

I see them all the time in my Facebook feed. You do too. People's blog posts. And you mean to click them, you really do. But first you have to read this other thing. And somehow you never get back around to your friend's blog post. So when they ask what you thought about it, you shamefully ignore them.

This scenario plays itself out over and over again every day on the internet. So how can YOUR blog avoid this fate? Let's discuss.

If you've been reading this blog so far you know that by now you should have:

• Decided whether you want to blog just for yourself OR to build an audience
• Determined WHAT you want to blog about

You've all done these things right? (Slow nods)

If you've done the second thing especially, you have a few pieces of information at your disposal, especially if you've (smartly) picked something you can naturally talk about and are interested in. You know:

• The language of your "thing"
• The things that make people happy about your "thing"
• The things that frustrate people about your "thing"

Using these pieces of information you can write a blog post that is highly relevant and, more importantly share-able.

Step One: Find out what people are talking about

How do you do that? Consult the great and powerful Google, of course! Use Google Trends and run a few of the keywords you know are associated with your "thing" into it. If your "thing" is gardening, for instance, you might run a search on the words "soil," "planting," or "fertilizer." The articles that come up are trending topics for those keywords.

Google Trends is fairly easy to use. You go there, search the keyword you want to know about (let's go with "garden soil." At the top a line graph will appear with various points marked off by letter. Hover over those letters and you'll see the articles and other media trending on this topic.

 So now you know what people are searching for/reading on your topic of choice. 

Step Two: What do YOU know about what people are talking about?

This is where the last two things come in. Let's go with the analogy about gardening. If you garden you have personal experience with it. Say you see that an article is trending lately on a particular kind of potting soil and you've used it. Perhaps that warrants a review of that soil. Or perhaps it warrants your top five choices for potting soil. Or perhaps a post on picking the right potting soil that mentions the trending potting soil. The possibilities are endless but I think you can see where I'm going with this, right?

Step Three: Craft a blog post that's easy to read and share

How do you do that? Ah...we'll go over THAT in part two of this series. But until then, get to searching and remember that if you have any questions, leave them in the comments! I know somebody is reading this blog!