While blogging is enjoyable for some, it’s difficult for the majority of people. After all, you aren’t spending hours of your day behind a keyboard for fun – it’s usually work. If you really want to make money with your blog, though, you must focus on two key words: cash flow.
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“When more cash is coming in than going out there is a positive cash flow. When more cash is going out than coming in, cash flow is described as being negative,” The Interface Financial Group explains in layman’s terms. “Ideally, a business experiences positive cash flow and is thus able to satisfy its working capital requirements.”
While we tend to think about cash flow in terms of large organizations and businesses, the reality is that cash flow matters to bloggers too.
Here are some things you should consider:
Get a Grasp on Expenses
You need to start by clearly documenting all expenses – down to the last penny. This means domain and hosting fees, design expenses, content expenses, subscription fees, and anything else that requires you to spend money to maintain and grow your blog. By documenting these expenses, not only do you know how much is going out, but you can also find ways to cut unnecessary costs.
Choose Affiliate Programs Wisely
For bloggers, one of the favorite methods for bringing in revenue involves aligning with affiliate programs and funneling traffic to their products so that customers will make a purchase. And while affiliate programs can be useful, don’t go overboard.
“Choose your programs wisely,” successful blogger Angie Nelson advises. “Don’t sign up for every affiliate program you come across in hopes you will get to it someday or because you heard someone else makes a lot of money on it. Start with a few trusted merchants you love and can incorporate naturally into your content.”
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Sell Some Relevant Ad Space
Another popular revenue producing option is selling PPC ad space. The thing you need to focus on here is relevancy. Just because you can sell ad space, doesn’t mean you should. All ads should be closely or directly related to your blog’s niche. Otherwise, you end up watering down your message and taking away from your blog’s main focus. Thankfully if you use a tool like Google AdSense, ads are automatically served based on your content.
Offer Backend Products
While the main content on your blog is free, you may be able to upsell some of your biggest readers on the backend by producing premium or exclusive content. Things like eBooks and webinars do particularly well.
If you’re new to the idea of webinars, you should start doing some research on them. For just a few dollars per person, you may be able to bring in a pretty substantial amount of revenue for just a little extra work. In addition to giving you an immediate and direct stream of revenue, webinars also allow you to build a focused group of customers who will be more engaged in the future.
Cash In On Your Blog
While blogs often start out as hobbies – or businesses use them to generate traffic – there comes a time when most bloggers realize that there’s actually a lot of money to be made from this pursuit. If you want to make your blog a profitable endeavor, then you need to reduce expenses and increase revenue.
Quality content is only one key to a successful blog. Once you find a system that works for you, pageviews and shares won’t be the only thing you’ll enjoy. You’ll also have some steady cash flowing in – and who doesn’t want that?
