Part 6: – How To Make Money by Freelancing, Staff Writing, and Advertising
Freelancing and staff writing are two other great ways to make money blogging.
To break into these lines of work you’re still going to need a blog. Think of it like being an artist – you have to be able to display your work and your portfolio. Your blog lets other people find you and review your work.
I know many personal finance bloggers that make thousands of dollars per month writing for other websites.
To get started, you’ll have to work your way up, just like at any job. Your first jobs you may have to do for $20-$30 per article. Then you charge a little more. Then a little more. Then a little more. Some personal finance staff writers command $500 and up per article.
My friend Stephanie O’Connell (that I interviewed in episode 028 of my show) worked her way up from $20 and $30 articles to earning over six-figures per year writing for major media outlets and Fortune 500 companies.
Sponsored posts
At some point, you’ll get approached (via email) by someone wanting to write a sponsored post and put it on your blog.
They pay you money; they write the post, and you add it to your website.
Why would anybody do this? To get their product or service in front of the eyeballs of your blog visitors.
The post might be a product review, or include some links back to their company’s website. They may even want to get access to any newsletters you send out and include an ad.
There are a lot of types of sponsored content you could have on your website.
Warning: Be very careful any sponsored content you accept. You run the risk of losing part of your audience if you starting putting irrelevant or inferior products and services in front of them.
I’ve built my reputation as a personal finance expert by not ‘selling out‘. I don’t accept advertising revenue or sponsored content from any company offering a financial service or product.
Number one – it avoids any conflict of interest.
Number two – my readers and show listeners trust me.
That trust builds loyalty. When I do mention a product or service, my listeners and readers know I’m not trying to shake them down for a quick buck. The long term business is worth more financially than any short term gains. Plus I look out for my audience – they are more important to me than money.
It seems counterintuitive, but if you or a company puts People over Profit, you end up making more in Profit over the long run. Don’t you wish your cell phone provider or cable TV company thought that way?
Display advertising
I bet you’ve seen websites with advertising on them before – right? Your blog can also include ads. You get paid when a certain number of ads get shown on your blog or when someone clicks an ad.
Adding display ads to your website is another simple and easy way to make money. The more visitors you get to your site, the more you can make.
There are many sources of display advertising:
• Google Adsense
• AdThrive
• Media.net
You can sign up with any of these services. They include tutorials and instructions on how to place ads on your blog.
All of these services are free to sign up.
AdSense (Google AdSense) is one of the largest. It’s an advertising placement service by Google. The program is for website publishers and bloggers who want to display targeted text, video or image advertisements on website pages and earn money when site visitors view or click the ads.
My two cents
I’m going to give you my two cents about display advertising – I don’t like it.
It is my opinion advertisements take away from the true value of your website – whatever your message is. I think ads are distracting. Ads also slow down your website.
Website speed is important. If your blog is busy loading ads, your visitor might leave never to read your blog.
You have to strike a balance between making money with ads, keeping your site looking clean, and website speed.
Yes, you can make money by having display ads on your blog. If you’re just getting started, maybe you should try it just to earn your first few pennies and get that rush of making money.
The other ways of making money other than ads. And your visitors will love you for it.
And certainly don’t be afraid to say no.
I’ve turned down advertising for steaks, diamonds, all kinds of investing products. It’s funny the emails I get sometimes. Why would I want to advertise steaks?
But if Ruths Chris wants to advertise with me, maybe I won’t turn them down (my favorite steak place).
Action items
1. Pick one strategy for making money If you try to pick every strategy, it’s like trying to aim at five different targets at the same time. You’ll miss all of them. Focus on one at a time. Affiliate income is the easiest to get started (and free).
2. Sign up for a free Google Adsense account I don’t want to discourage you from trying advertising on your blog. Try out Adsense. Even if you’re not going to have ads on your site, you might as well check it out and be familiar with it.
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