Blogging For Passive Income, Step 8: Monetize.

When thinking about monetizing a blog or website, you don’t start with just throwing ads up on your blog. When I think about monetizing a new blog, I don’t monetize; I think about how I will monetize when creating content.

Wait, I Said I Started Monetizing Without Monetizing?

Yeah, that came out weird but true.

There are a few ways to monetize your blog, and here is a quick list:

Display Ads
Affiliate Offers
Sponsorships
Subscription-based content.
Digital Content(e-books, courses, etc.)

When I create content for the site, I will post more details about how I do this; I think about ways to turn my content into revenue later.

Some blog mentors tell you to focus on revue first and content second, but as a new blog, you need visitors first. Or you will never see revenue.

So focus on creating blog content that drives people to your site. The easiest way to get traffic is to answer specific questions fully (ASQF) that others have yet to respond to. Or, answer based on your experience and offer the reader tips. We will cover this more later. But look at Step 7( Blogging For Passive Income, Step 7: Create Your Blog Content. ) again.

While you are writing your content, think about monetizing it. Where would ads go, and what products would be best reviewed and recommended later? Is this post quick, and can more details be shared with readers through a subscription-based membership or a one-time pay-and-download digital product?

Just think about it and plan to monetize, but continue to focus on creating content.

If Not Monetizing Now, Then How To Monetize Later?

Based on the types of blog monetization I mentioned above, many will work with already-created content. Let’s go over them one by one.

Display Ads:

Display ads sit between paragraphs and on the sidebars of a blog page. So regardless of how the blog post is laid out, ads will find a way to inject themselves into usually blank spaces.

So no problem with display ads; focus on creating good quality content on your blog, and ads will fit within the boundaries.

The nice thing about these ads is AI is now being used to tune ad types and placements. So again, content is king. Keep typing.

Affiliate Offers:

Now affiliate offers need some thought about content if you want to weave them into the blog material. However, this is a relatively easy rule.

You can later interweave affiliate offers when they relate to content already created. Alternatively, you can use them like ads between content sections to get readers interested in clicking on a link.

Sponsorships:

Sponsorships are when you are compensated to create content for the client. In this case, creating content does not apply to sponsorship.

How you already create content can help with sponsorship if you can create great content and a client wants to hire you to write blog posts about their product or service.

So again, think about monetization opportunities, but focus on creating content to drive your blog traffic.

Subscription-based content:

Again, links to subscription-based content can be outside your already created content. So there is no need to change later content created on your blog to incorporate a subscription-based membership service.

However, sounding like a broken record, good content that a person can freely read that is good will attract interested members to a subscription service if they feel they are getting so much more by paying.

So create great content, and if you want to consider later including subscription-based content, you can hint at that fact by promoting what great material you provide for the reader. Get them hooked.

Digital Content(e-books, courses, etc.):

Digital downloads are a goal of any great blog writer. Blogs get fees from ads and affiliates, often very small, but profit margins for self-created or even third-party-created digital products are very high.

No need to worry about the later opportunities to create revenue from digital content early in the game, but as you write, you want to find what information the readers want to read further.

You can later create a digital e-book from your highest-read posts. But first, you need to create posts. 😀

So What Is The Point Of This Step?

I’m sure you are thinking about this. As mentioned, these are easy, quick steps to getting your side hustle blog going.

It will take time, and in Step 1, you must ensure you are ready for the commitment.

So for new blogs, think about how you want to monetize your content as you continue to grow your blog.

For blogs with traffic, consider incorporating additional monetization methods while still creating great content.

We will continue to address blog monetization as we go forward with later posts, but we are keeping this simple for now.

Quick Monetization For New Blogs?

I will cover this since you are chomping at the bit to monetize. Many are like me and want to monetize right out of the gate. So here is how I monetized early on.

The easiest way to monetize and hopefully not affect the quality of your posts is through affiliate links.

As you are writing something, an example of how to clip coupons for your Mommy lifestyle blog, between your paragraphs, you can post a link that reads:

Author’s Notice: This page contains affiliate links, for which I may earn a commission by their use. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Click For Great Coupon Organizers.

One line of advertisement follows properly, declaring you are an affiliate member, and you continue to write on.

The affiliate link does little to distract your reader from the content, you keep focused on creating great content for your reader, and you have the potential to make a few bucks.

An easy affiliate system to implement is Amazon, but again, wait till you get some traffic before you sign up for any affiliate or ad services.

Summary,

Again, new bloggers, think about monetization goals and methods as you create content.

Experienced bloggers, think about how you can monetize more while creating great content.

Back To Main Blogging Steps List: How Do I Create A Side Hustle Blog.

Next Step: Promote Your Blog.

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Step 7: Creating Your Blog Content.	Step 9: Promoting Your Blog.

Your Feedback.

Looking for feedback from new and experienced bloggers, what advice would you offer to someone just starting with creating a passive income blogging system?

Please leave a comment below.

Tom, Growing His Passive Income Generators.