Do you want to learn how to make money blogging? In this article I’ll give you 7 simple, yet unconventional tips for becoming a profitable and irresistible blogger. I’m not going to give you the same old tips that most people cover, because you’ve had enough of that.
I’ve been blogging for almost 3 months now. I’ve gone from 0 to over 700 subscribers in this time period. While I could spend this whole article talking about how I did it (psst… guest posting), I’m going to take you on a completely different journey.
The following rules are completely subjective and derived from my own experience. Yours may be completely different, which is why at the end of this post, I want you to share your own thoughts in the comments. With all that said, jump on board and let’s get started on how to make money blogging.
1. Embrace Uncertainty
In this space, you never know what’s going to happen next. In the blogosphere, a week is a month and a month seems like a year. If there’s anything I’ve learned in my short amount of time blogging seriously it would probably be the amazing effects of getting out there. If you’re serious about creating a business around your blog, and you do things right, people will notice.
To be honest, I really had no clue what I was doing when I started. My objective was to have fun, help people and relax. I didn’t really care if I hung out with someone who didn’t have 1,000 RSS subscribers or was important in anyway. I wasn’t out to really learn how to make money blogging, but it was constantly in the back of my mind.
I’m a big believer in serendipity. You never know how things are connected, so it’s better to treat everyone as a real human being and be nice. If you do good things, good stuff happens to you. Within 2 months of launching my blog, I got contacted for a joint venture project by Jordan from Not a Pro Blog, which I am working on right now.
Embrace uncertainty, because you never know what’ll happen. Your blog may get hacked, but it may lead you to a business project, which may lead to you going broke, which may lead to you discovering what you love in life, and on it goes.
2. Accept Fear
This goes hand in hand with uncertainty. Before I even started my blog, I was scared, worried and had a lot of excuses for why I shouldn’t proceed, but I went ahead and did it anyway. It felt like the right thing to do.
Successful people know they are afraid and then do something about it. If you want to succeed fast in blogging, then you’ll have to push your boundaries and you’ll have to feel scared, which is why I recommend you go after your passion, because it will keep you going and keep things fun. That’s what it ultimately is, isn’t it? What fun would this all be if it were easy and painless? It wouldn’t be fun and challenging at all.
Like I’ve said many times before, it would be like playing your favorite video game on god-mode. Sure, it would be fun for a while, but it would get boring quickly and you’d start looking for something else to challenge you.
3. Connect
There are subtle rules to connecting and being cool. You can’t start pitching people your stuff. Think about how you would act with your closest friends. Would you try to sell them your products or pitch them your latest affiliate offer?
You also can’t be needy, because people don’t like people that want stuff. You have to give more than is expected. You have to delight people. This is something I’ve discovered as the requests and questions have started to trickle in from my own blog. You have to act like you already have everything you need.
Keep giving and genuinely helping people and you’ll see the momentum building in your favor. Think about how you would like to be treated and treat others the same way.
4. Think Long-Term
How many bloggers have you seen that were more focused on making money blogging than anything else? No one wants to hang out with the guy who over-monetizes his blog and does it badly. There’s nothing wrong with making money with your blog from the beginning, but please be classy about it.
When I started my blog, I sort of knew what I wanted to do. I had a plan, a big picture view of where I wanted to go. I did not know the exact details. I kept my mind open and adjusted as I got feedback from my readers.
As the personal development people always say “begin with the end in mind” and I’m a big believer in that, because it works. If you want to make a certain amount of money per month, get exact about it and write down the exact amount you want to make. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect. I say this because this is one of the tendencies I deal with a lot. I want everything to be perfect, which blocks me from taking action.
Something that has helped me is to play with it and just have some fun. There are no rules that say you have to be dead serious about these things. So what if you fail the first time around? Pick yourself up and try again.
5. Be Yourself
The more you can be yourself in blogging, the more you’ll shine. As the great Kurt Cobain said “Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.” Let’s face it, deep down we’re all remarkable. We just have to have to courage to show our true personality.
The point I am trying to make is this: the more you are able to be yourself, the more the right people will find you. Think about it… who are your favorite bloggers? Why do you read them? Is it because you can relate to what they are saying? That’s why I read most blogs. It’s not because of the message, but because of who’s writing the message.
If you want to stand out and be remarkable, all you have to do is be yourself, which in turn will make you authentic and likeable.
6. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
Are you the sort of person that needs to learn everything from scratch without instruction? I hope not, because that’s going to hold you back, big time. I’ve had many friends like this and they often wonder why they aren’t rocking it after a year.
There’s no need to re-invent the wheel when it comes to blogging. Look at the bloggers you find irresistible and ask yourself why. If you resonate with a specific, successful blogger, I suggest you analyze what they are doing and learn from them possible.
This is also why I always recommend you checking out paid blogging courses, because the really good ones will help you avoid the most common mistakes. You don’t have to go through the learning curve most bloggers go through.
Before I started my blog, I contacted Chris Garrett and joined his Authority Blogger course. I did it because I wanted to have a mentor that could show me exactly what steps I would have to take to get the basics right. I followed his instructions to the letter but I also started to experiment as I got more confident and saw my blog take off.
7. Attract the Right People
Once you’ve learned, applied and experimented, you will have started to discover what works for you and your blog. This is the time to start teaching other people. There are always people that you can help out there. You can start attracting the right people by guest posting and commenting. I personally have used guest posting almost exclusively to build my readership.
I also recommend you start building your e-mail list right from the beginning. You can use a simple free e-course or e-book as a gift for people that sign-up to your list. This doesn’t have to be complicated. I do this by giving out my free e-course called Discover Your Passion in 5 Days. You don’t have to give away everything you know in your free e-course. You can write around the topic you’re covering, such as the problems, mistakes and what not.
You should always know where you’re going. If you’re giving out something for free and building a list, why are you doing it? Are you going to create your own product that is relevant to the free offer? Are you going to sell your coaching or consulting services? There are so many ways to make money blogging. All you have to do is start experimenting and see what sticks. It’s all trial and error in the end. The more you blog, the more you’ll learn what you readers want.
I’m sure I’ve left out a lot of things in this article on how to make money blogging, which is why I want you to share your thoughts and tips in the comments below.
This is a guest post by Henri Junttila who writes about self improvement for conscious people over at his blog, WakeUpCloud.com. You can also write guest articles and share your expert tips and tricks. Image by Cayusa.