Does blogging still make money? Many content platforms are available on the Internet today.
So what should you do to monetise a blog these days? Find out in this post
It is true that the Internet offers many ways to earn money, so much so that we see millions of companies and individuals taking advantage of this opportunity.
However, a question arises: what is the best way to do this? In this article we focus on explaining how and why blogs still make money.
From time to time, the news shows successful bloggers who have become celebrities or have turned this online medium into a source of income large enough to have the expected income and quality of life.
Of course, some of them have been working on the Internet for years.
This makes "newbies" and emerging business owners wonder whether it is still worth investing in a blog, if it is not too late to start.
Is it still possible to make money with a blog?
As much as some people think it is not, the answer is yes, it is still possible to have a blog and make money with it, even in this day and age.
One of the reasons for this disbelief is the fact that the Internet has so many other content channels: social media, podcasts, videos (both recorded and live).
However, there is a caveat: the form and experience of consuming this content is different.
In addition, the texts have a higher chance of ranking in Google search results.
As the first step of monetisation is on the Internet, blog posts are the ideal format.
But with so many blogs on the Internet, isn't it too late to start one?
No, it is still time to blog and be successful in terms of monetisation, although there is a difference between the early days of blogging and today.
15-20 years ago, SEO techniques were simpler and there were fewer blogs with relevant, quality content, which made it easier to appear on Google and make money.
However, this does not mean that there is no place for new blogs.
The difference is that in the red ocean of today's blogosphere, only the best blogs, i.e. the ones that perform well online and have the best content, stand out.
What are the reasons that make it possible to make money with a blog?
To convince you that it's time to start a blog and monetise it, here are the four main reasons. Let's get to it!
1. Many users
When you need to buy a backpack, do you do a search on Google or Instagram?
When looking for information on how to buy a property, do you turn to Google or a podcast?
As much as shops may sell on social media and real estate agents may record a podcast, most people turn to Google for these searches.
2. Ideal way to build trust
Would you buy financial advice from someone who doesn't know how to manage their own finances?
SEO training from a marketer who doesn't even appear on Google? Or even a cooking course from someone who doesn't know how to cook?
Certainly the answer to these questions was "no", because we can't trust those who don't have full knowledge of their area of expertise.
That is why it is so important to have a blog.
From the moment you start producing and publishing blog posts, your audience realises how well you know a certain topic and starts to trust everything you publish.
This is fundamental for sales, because once people start following your content, when the time comes to buy products or services like the ones you offer, the first option they will remember will be you.
3. Search engine visibility
Search engines place the most relevant websites and blogs in the first positions of the queries made by users.
This takes into account both SEO techniques and good content production practices, such as:
- periodicity: blogs that bring new content frequently are considered important by the engines, so ideally they should be updated at least once a week;
- quality of content: Google has taken more into account the user experience, so only quality content, well written and really useful for readers wins the top positions.
So, when writing articles for your blog, keep in mind your person's intentions when searching for a post like yours and also what SERP competitors are delivering in terms of content to your audience.
After all, to get ahead, your copy must be better than theirs.
4. People are buying online more and more
This year, e-commerce sales grew at an accelerated rate driven by the pandemic.
In addition, audiences that previously preferred to shop offline, such as the over-60s, also got into the online shopping habit.
With this increase in the number of people willing to shop online, blogs are becoming more important.
Once a blog offers content about a particular niche, it begins to attract people interested in that niche, which is the first step in offering related products or services.
How is it possible to make money with a blog?
Now that you know the reasons that make it possible to monetise a blog, let's see what are the main ways to do it.
Affiliate marketing
Some people think that online sales are only for their own products or services, which is not true.
You can also sell third party products and earn a commission for each sale, it's called Affiliate Marketing.
There are several platforms that offer product affiliations in the market - Monetizze in Brazil and Amazon in Latam and worldwide are some of them -, so you can choose the most appropriate products for your audience.
If your niche is weight loss, for example, online courses that teach weight loss practices are the most appropriate.
But, you must be wondering how to promote these products on your blog, right?
The affiliate link can be present in strategic parts of the blog, such as the main menu, the sidebar and within texts and banners.
Own product
Of course, if you have your own products or services, you can (indeed, should) use blogging as a way to promote them.
However, the appropriate way to do this will depend on the type of offer your business provides: simple or complex.
Simple selling refers to selling where people do not have to go through many commercial steps to buy.
For example: clothes, cosmetics, shoes, electronics, games, books, etc.
By having links to your online shop, you can drive your visitors to this place.
Complex selling involves a more extensive commercial process, requiring people interested in buying to contact you or, if you have a sales team, a salesperson.
Advertising
Using your blog as an advertising space is also a way to monetise it. However, for that, you need to have very good traffic.
After all, hardly an advertiser would be interested in investing in a blog space with few visitors, right?
So, you can create your media kit to report how much it costs to advertise on the top, sidebar, banners, footer, among other points of the blog.
As with print newspaper advertising, the bigger and more popular the space, the more expensive it becomes.
Hotjar is a tool that helps you to know what these spaces are.
Another modality is the advertising post, which can be a review of the advertiser's product or service or a content prepared at the client's request.
The price will also depend on the number of visits to the blog and its level of authority.
Consulting
If you are an expert in your field, offering consultancy is a way to earn money, and the blog is a very efficient channel to generate this kind of demand.
For people to be interested in hiring your consultancy, you must have authority not only in your field, but also in the digital sphere.
This means that, as much as you are a renowned professional in the offline world, you must also be online, depending on the content you produce.
Google Adsense
Finally, another way to make money from blogging is through Google Adsense. Display banners from Google Ads advertisers within your blog, which your readers will see based on their browsing history.
In practice, these ads are displayed on the blog as in the image below.
Google Adsense monetisation occurs when visitors to your blog see or click on these ads.
As it is pennies on the dollar, the increase in the number of visitors makes the Adsense earnings increase as well.
How to have an attractive blog to make money with it?
So far you understood that having a blog that brings quality content and thus become an authority in your segment is essential for monetisation.
Now let's see what your blog must have in order to gain this relevance on the Internet.
Create an identity
In the same way that you got here because of Digital Marketing related issues, the same should happen when your audience accesses your blog.
Therefore, your identity should be clear to all visitors.
Have a good platform
According to research conducted by Google, the maximum waiting time for websites and blogs to load is 3 seconds.
This means that your blog should be fast and perform well online, as does Stage (more on this later).
Be useful
A mistake some content professionals make is to focus solely on Google ranking, ignoring the quality of the content.
This is wrong, as being truly useful and informative to the audience is essential in blogging.
Interact with blog followers
Once your blog starts to become relevant, comments and messages start coming in via the blog as well as via email and social media. It is important to respond to them, as this increases the blog's engagement with its greatest asset: the audience.
Keep an eye on digital changes
Now that you've reached the end of this text, you should understand that yes, blogs are still making money, so it's worth investing in yours.
However, the digital world is constantly changing, bringing new platforms and habits necessary for success.
Pay attention to these changes to adapt your blog content to them, as well as targeting the online channels that stand out the most and, above all, where your audience is also located.
Seems like a lot to do alone, doesn't it? But don't worry.
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