There are all sorts of ways to make money directly from blogging, such as from advertising, sponsorship and affiliates. But even bigger money can come from using your blog as leverage — using it to promote your business or sell your products or services.
These are the basic steps towards building a blog with enough leverage to pull in big bucks.
1. Focus on a niche - It is infinitely easier and more effective to be a big fish in a small pond. Find a relatively narrow field of interest and become an active member in that community. You want to know as much as you can about those in the niche, such as what they like or dislike and what is trendy.
You might start by identifying a specific problem within a group and developing a solution. If a lot of people are worried about gaining weight while on vacation, create a week-long, light and easy beach workout routine.
2. Establish credibility — After choosing a topic, you need to work towards becoming the most trusted expert in that area. When people think of the topic you’re covering, you want your name to go hand-in-hand. Ensure your content provides authoritative information that is helpful to readers.
Your credibility can be enhanced or hindered by many things, such as:
- quality of content
- language (including spelling and grammar)
- site design
- third-party indicators
- contact information
- what you call yourself (see: everyone calling themselves “gurus” and “experts”…it works)
3. Freely distribute good information — rather than holding back all of your best pieces of insight or information, give away some of it for free. If you worry too much about keeping your best stuff for later, when people are paying you more money, then you’ll struggle to attract them in the first place. Avoid setting high expectations and falling short.
4. Be approachable — this one is pretty obvious. If you want your blog to provide you with additional opportunities, make sure people can get in touch with you. Consider giving out a phone number, email address, instant messaging account, etc. Also engage in conversations with your visitors through blog comments and other means to form a working relationship with potential business.
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