Four Major Blogging Income Streams

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I write about how creating valuable content on a blog and then broadcasting that content using social media channels, RSS, email marketing, etc will make your tiny business successful.

I see the skepticism in your eyes.

Your thinking –  how can “little-old me” make money from writing on a blog or creating video content. It just doesn’t make sense.

Poppycock!  (I’ve always wanted to call something “poppycock” — and hey, it’s my blog)

Here are four ways it can be done –

Major Blogging Income Stream 1 – Affiliate Marketing

The facts are these:

1. You buy and use “stuff”
2. You like some of this “stuff”
3. You recommend some of this “stuff” to your network (friends, family, colleagues)

Why shouldn’t you get a commission for recommending this “stuff?”

For example -

I love my Flip Camera.  I recommend the Flip to a lot of people and I talk about the use of it in a lot of my blog posts —  If you want to buy a Flip Camera click here.  If you click on that link it will take you over to Amazon — if you buy the Flip from Amazon — I will make a commission.

And why shouldn’t I?  I use the Flip.  I like the Flip.  You like me.  You trust me.  In essence, I sold you that Flip based on my recommendation — both Amazon and Flip are happy to pay me a commission.

Now — what are you using in your business from which you could start getting affiliate commissions?  There is an affiliate program for almost any product/service you can think of!

Major Blogging Income Stream 2 – Advertising

Ads.  The oldest and simplest form of monetization on the web.

Banner ads, Google Adsense, etc.

If you are using a blogging platform like WordPress, putting ads on your blog is as easy as installing a plug-in.

Most ads are pay per click — meaning you get paid when people click on them.  You generally need lots of traffic to start making any significant money from ads.

Major Blogging Income Stream 3 – Freelance Services

There simply is no better way to market your Freelance services than writing on a blog.

Remember that as a tiny business owner — you are a risky hire.  How do I know that you know what you are talking about?  How do I know that you are trustworthy?

You need to establish a relationship with me.  You need to display your expertise without me putting any money in.

You don’t have a brand to back you up.

Creating content on a blog will give you the credibility you need to sell your freelance services.

Major Blogging Income Stream 4 – Selling Products

Selling products through blogging can be a huge income stream for you.

If you are selling physical products that need to be shipped you should be writing on a blog with the goal of increasing search engine traffic.

For example -

Jane sells high-end, quality coffee through a retail store.  She has recently set up a website where people can order from all over the country.

Hmmm… no orders are coming in.  Jane checks her website statistics and finds that no one is visiting her website.  Google is sending no traffic.

Why should they?  Google already has 1000′s  — nay — 100′s of thousands of websites that it trusts more than Jane’s that also sell high-end coffee.

Jane installs a blog on her website and begins writing about topics like:

• How to roast coffee
• How to brew the perfect cup
  
• Best coffee jokes

She starts asking people to send in a picture of their favorite coffee cup and posts these pictures on her blog.

She starts getting a buzz around her content, people start linking to her blog, people start talking about her stuff on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

People start visiting Jane’s coffee website on a regular basis.

People start buying coffee from Jane.

The second way that you can sell products through your blog is by selling Information Products like eBooks, audio content, video content, membership sites or forums, etc.

If you have something that can truly help your audience, build some content around it and charge for it.  Sites like PayPal and Google Checkout in combination with WordPress make this ridiculously easy.

All you really need to figure out is what you will be able to charge for.

For example –

Anthony is a blogger that writes about diabetes.  He has diabetes himself and creates great articles about the dangers of diabetes, the lifestyle of a diabetic, etc.

Anthony begins to create a small, loyal following of readers on his blog.  These loyal readers are diabetics as well.

Anthony decides to interview all of his loyal followers about the tips and techniques that can be used to make diabetes a more bearable disease to live with.

Anthony packages all of these interviews into a video series and sells his visitors access to the video content via a password protected page on his blog.  Anthony uses PayPal to collect payment and an automatic email sends the customer a link and a password to the page.

My Strategy — A Combination Of Income Streams

I am currently monetizing this blog through two of these income streams, although I have used all four of these at different times.

Can you guess which two income streams I am using?

If you said affiliate marketing and freelance services you were correct.    I make a full-time living through freelance blog design and marketing services that are generated from my blog.  About 10% of my income comes from affiliate sales (mostly hosting — by the way — do you need hosting   )  and the rest of my income comes from freelance work that I do.

Information products are certainly something that is on my radar for the very near future and I will certainly be rolling out some paid training sessions very soon.

Blogging is both the most effective and low cost marketing solution for your tiny business — and you can make a full time living by using your blog as to create multiple income streams.

What are your questions/comments about these major blogging income streams?