This is the sixth post in the ‘Why Blog’ series. Go back and read these articles if you’ve missed them!
~ Why Blog When There are So Many Out There
~ Blogging Helps You Be Found
~ Be Trustworthy (because, shouldn’t we all be trustworthy?)
~ What’s Your Take on That? ~ Blogging helps you establish your positioning
~ They Want To Know ~ Blogging allows you to educate your clients
I bet you’ve seen those monthly income posts floating around the internet. Did they make you ask yourself “Can I make money blogging?”
If you’ve seen these posts you know the authors are sharing how much they’ve made from their blogs. These are all well and good, as some of these people share as a form of accountability, but its not always something people promote.
So, can you make money from blogging?
I’m certain you can. I don’t think the people sharing their income reports are lying. But I do think it takes hard work and dedication.
The way most people make money from their blogs is either by affiliate marketing or by using their blog to support their business by pointing readers to their own product or service.
Many people write about topics on the fringe of their service or related to their product. These posts are used to educate and inform readers, build a rapport with them creating a relationship with them so the reader trusts the owner. All of the other things we’ve touched on while delving into this subject of blogging so far, they all combine to form a major way people are able to make money from their blogs.
The Reader Journey Example
Take this typical reader journey as an example of how a blog can lead to an income:
Readers search for a specific topic and are taken to a list of blogs, they pick one. They read a few blog posts on that site, maybe check out other pages of the website. They might come back a few times because they are learning and sign up for the freebie offered. (The freebie being something of value, possibly a pdf or helpful list of some sort.) The reader gets an email from the blog owner sharing a product or service that prompted their initial search. They return to the website and buy the product.
Now, this is a simple version of what could happen, but you can clearly see how visiting and reading blog posts helped turn that reader into a customer.
This whole process of going from a visitor to a customer is often referred to as a marketing funnel. This isn’t a topic to get into today, but many marketing professionals teach about them. Check out Neil Patel to learn more about marketing and Meera Kothand to learn more about blog strategy, which are both part of the funnel/journey I quickly described above.
Of course, this all depends on the product or service, even the positioning you establish and the brand values your blog conveys. Wait, I think I’m getting ahead of myself. But I also think you understand that its the bigger picture that has influence over whether your blog will lead to an income.
Even though we’ve been doing some pretty surface-level investigating into this ‘why blog’ topic, I think you can tell that blogging can truly help push your business further, or sharing your influence if you are blogging about a passion topic.
Next post we’ll dive into a deeper topic for you to consider as you start to wrap your head around blogging. Specifically, what you should blog about!
Take Action:
Think about a path your reader might take to land on your blog and comment below:
~ What things would they be searching for?
~ What other things would they be expecting to find when they landed on your blog?
