When I first started my blog I had no idea that you could make money from it.
Honestly, I didn’t even know what the word blogging meant.
I literally came up with a name, found a hosting company and started a website in a day. I still have that first blog, Frugal Fanatic.
I just wanted to share how my family and I were saving money. I thought it would be fun to talk about all the different ways that we were cutting down on our grocery bills as our family started growing.
I was shocked when I started reading all these articles about the different ways people were making money from their blog. It hadn’t even crossed my mind that it was something that was possible for me.
I started playing around with some affiliates and ad income to start generating revenue because it seemed like the easiest way to get started.
I’m sure you probably know that in order to make enough ad revenue to support your blogging expenses you have to have a lot of traffic. This led me down a rabbit-hole of chasing pageviews to try to earn more money.
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I was able to leverage Pinterest and increase my revenue, but it all depended on how many visitors I could get per month. It wasn’t sustainable.
I wasted years worrying about my vanity numbers to increase my blogging revenue instead of focusing on other profitable ways to generate money.
By this point, I had a very expensive hobby.
I got so caught up in the daily tasks of my blog and would tell myself that I was too busy to create my own product or service. I started following all these people online and tried to do EVERYTHING they told me to do.
I was making it WAY harder than it needed to be. That’s why I want to share with you how you can start making money the right way with your blog.
At the heart of your blog is your content.
It doesn’t matter what type of content you prefer - blog posts, videos, podcasts, etc.
You are using your content to educate, entertain and solve problems for your audience.
In order to start earning money you need to use your content to build an audience and then sell them a solution.
One of the fastest ways to grow your blog and your revenue is to focus on building your audience.
You don’t need to have a big audience, but you do need to get really specific on who you are going to serve.
As you know, I wasted so much time chasing pageviews and ended up with an audience full of people who weren’t even interested in my content let alone any of the affiliate products I was recommending.
I was just trying to target anyone and everyone and this was wrong because I couldn’t solve the problems that every single person who landed on my blog was experiencing.
The first step of the process is to identify what your audience needs BEFORE you create a product to sell to them.
You do NOT want to waste time creating an amazing product that no one will buy.
What normally happens is we have a great idea for a product and we spend months creating it and then wonder why we don’t get any sales.
I don't want this to happen to you. This is why you need to figure out WHO your audience is and what they need FIRST.
In order to successfully serve your audience, you need to uncover their fears, desires, struggles, and dreams so that you can attract the right people to your business (unlike me!).
Do you know what they are struggling with right now?
Oftentimes, we assume we know what our audience needs, but have you ever asked?
I know it sounds so simple, but a lot of times this step is completely overlooked.
We THINK we know what our audience needs from us, but in reality, it could be something very different.
You need to listen to your audience and really dive deep into the issues and struggles they are having.
The best way to do this is to just come right out and ask them what they want.
This can be done through email, social media, private messages and online surveys.
Doing this allows youto see which pain point or struggle they are experiencing right now.
Take the time to listen to your audience because this is the foundation of your blog.
If you do not have an audience yet, then tap into your personal or professional network.
Think about your knowledge and experiences and the content that you will be putting out to help a specific group of people.
Maybe there are people you already know who fit yourtarget audience criteria.
Or, you can even ask if they have any references for people who would love what you talk about on your blog.
Again, you are just trying to figure out the problem they haveright NOW and honing in on the specific characteristics of your target audience.
What issue do they need to be solved?
What can your expertise help them with?
Try to get as many people who are your ‘ideal audience’ to answer your poll or survey.
You don't want to just have anyone answer the questions because their response won’t help you to create this offer since they are not the person you are targeting.
Here are some example questions you can ask:
What are you struggling with most right now with X? (relevant to your niche)
Why haven't you been able to solve this problem yet?
How have you tried to solve this issue?
This will help you when you need to refer back to their pain points with your offer.
Once you know who your audience is and what they need from you, the easiest way to generate money with your blog then is to create a product to fulfil that need.
If you are just getting started, it doesn’t have to be a huge, extensive product, it could be something smaller.
Your goal is to be building your audience while you are testing your product offer so that you can actually sell it before you create it.
This is the perfect way to validate your offer and get paid to make the product.
Here are a few product ideas:
Digital Planner or workbook
Online course
Live workshop
Paid email course
Printable Calendars
Design-templates
Spreadsheets & trackers
Membership site
Ebook
Audio series
Stock photos
Think about how you can provide your audience with a solution and then start selling it before you create it. It could be done through a pre-sale event or reaching out to individual people and inviting them to take part in your beta product.
This means your focus needs to be on building your audience of the right people and then solving their problems with your product offer. That’s it.
If your daily tasks don’t include those activities then you need to re-evaluate how and where you are spending your time each day.Click here to read more about structuring your day for maximum productivity.
Your focus needs to be on growing your audience and growing your revenue.
These two things will allow you to simplify your blog and business and start earning money now.
If you are unsure what you should be working on to earn money from your blog then read my post on 5 Revenue Generating Activities for your Blog.
These will help you to shift your focus so that you are putting your time and energy into tasks that are going to bring in more money for your blog.
