How to make money from your blog or website

So you’ve started a blog or website on something you love, you’re starting to get some interest from people and now you want to make some money from it…

Before I even continue any further with this blog, I want to give you some reality checks:
– This is not an easy path to follow
– You need to be open to continually learning and evolving
– You will be initially putting in some long hours with no return
– BUILD YOUR AUDIENCE first

Now I don’t want to turn you off and it is possible to make money from your blog or website, however I am sick of seeing these 6 figure people (actually I think they are up to 7 figures now) promoting how you can turn your passion into profit just like that. “Passive Income” (another term I hate) is not something that is just going to happen, you may earn some money while you sleep, but the reality is that you would have worked for that during the day.

So reality check aside, let’s look at ways Australian blogs or websites can make money online.

Affiliate Marketing

Let’s start with basics, of course this was going to be in here. Affiliate Marketing basically means that you promote someone else’s product or service and in return you get a percentage of their sales ranging from 1-50% depending on the business. This is usually done by providing an affiliate link which you direct people to from your website or social media. You may even be doing affiliate marketing in your everyday life, ever got a coupon from Uber to pass to your friend? – Affiliate Marketing!

It’s important to add another reality check here and I suggest you promote the products or services of businesses that you actually use, that you trust and most importantly that is aligned with your website industry/topic and audience.

There are 2 ways you can get started with affiliate marketing
1. Through an affiliate network which promote affiliate programs of several companies
2. Directly through the businesses affiliate program

Affiliate Networks

If you are looking to promote Australian businesses, then there are 2 key networks that I would suggest you look into. Neither of these have costs associated so you can start earning a % of those sales instantly.

Commission Factory – www.commissionfactory.com

This is one of the better platforms and allows you to quickly and easily see a company that you could promote and earn an income from this promotion.

Clix Galore – www.clixgalore.com.au

While is does have a few Australian businesses, I find it extremely hard to use and confusing. If you want to look for Australian businesses specifically, then change the currency option to Australian when using the search functionality.

Australian Businesses Affiliate Programs

This is where you apply directly with a business, they will more than likely do a quick background check of your websites content to ensure that you are not showing anything inappropriate for their brand.

This is definitely my preferred option and I would suggest that you look at the websites of businesses that you know and use and check to see if they offer an affiliate program, you will usually find this in the bottom footer along with business contact details.

Just a few option to consider in different industries:

iTunes – www.apple.com/au/itunes/affiliates
Promote your favourite app, book, music etc

Australian Amazon – www.affiliate-program.amazon.com.au
Just launched in Australia April 2018!

The Iconic – www.theiconic.com.au/affiliates/
Perfect for a fashion blogger

Wotif – www.wotif.com/affiliates
Perfect for a travel blogger

Digital Downloads

Now you may want to go down the physical product route, but I am going to assume if you started a blog/website that you are actually more interested in not handling physical products, so digital downloads are a good one to consider.

Again it needs to be aligned to your website topic/industry.

Some ideas to consider are
– E-books
– Planners
– Checklists
– Instruction How To Guides

Anything that is a bit more than a blog topic can be turned into a digital download for you to sell.

You could also consider an affiliate program to help get your message out – offer your friend bloggers a code so that they can promote your product to their audience.

Memberships / Paid Subscriptions

This is a growth area over the past few years and you may consider offering your audience exclusive material for being part of your group. The most important part of this option is that you need to offer value, nobody is going to pay for something (and continue to pay for something) where they get nothing in return.

You may do this in the form of a Facebook Group in which you present a particular topic each month or have guest experts offering advice. Or it may be that you offer your members  a free download of something they need each month. The options are endless and depend on your topic, however adding value and being available for your members are two common factors that you need to consider.

Paid Reviews (Sponsorship/Sponsored Posts)

As you continue to blog you will be approached by brands to promote their products and services. They will ask you to either blog about their product/services or you may be asked to post a photo on your social media channels.

You don’t need to have hundreds of thousands of readers either,  I first got approached by a couple of businesses when I hit 1,000 on Facebook and similar on Instagram, however I declined them as they were not aligned to what I was trying to achieve with my website.

You don’t need to sit back and wait for people either, if you are a “micro influencer” (3,000 or more followers) then consider looking at opportunities with the Tribe Group. This app allows you to browse through businesses who are looking for people to promote their product/services and you can offer to promote it via your social media handles.

Tribe Group – www.tribegroup.co
iTunes App – Download Here
Google Play App – Download Here

Paid Directory Listings

An aspect of this website is a directory where I charge the Digital Mums to list their business on this website. I then work to provide them with an audience who would be interested in their products or services.

This structure can be introduced for your own blog or website and will allow you to bring in that elusive “passive income”. The most important part of this structure is that you must build up an engaged audience that would be interested in the businesses you list. Directories will work best with a focus on a particular topic so that your audience has a shared interest.

Banner Adverts

I am mentioning this last as I feel it can be done in the wrong way many times. I like a clean clutter free website (at least that’s how I hope you see this website) so for me I am not a fan of placing adverts everywhere. My pet peeve is those websites that suck you in with images of a celebrity doing something crazy but you have to click through 20 pages to see the one that was advertised in your Facebook feed (*rant over).

There are however other ways that you can make this work and fit in with your website without feeling spammy.

The way banner advertising work is that you are paid when someone clicks on the banner from your website (cost-per-click). Google Adsense would be my recommendation here as you can control adverts you don’t want to appear, the advert sizes you would like to display and with some adverts you can customise the elements so it fits in with your website look and feel.

www.google.com.au/adsense/start/

Multiple Income Streams

If you are looking to bring in a “full time income” from blogging then you need to consider using some or all of these techniques. I hope this blog has given you some ideas on how you could start monetizing your own blog and making some money from your hard work.

Inspired, but not sure where to start?

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