I am going to talk about something I dont talk about often on my blog: Money.
Now many bloggers won’t touch the topic of money. It’s one of those things that can make anyone from the smallest to the biggest blogger uncomfortable. But the fact is, at the same time, so many bloggers are seeking to make a living online and so many have questions on how it’s done. And while some are successful (and many, many others are not) these are all legitimate questions that the community shouldn’t be afraid to answer. As an established blogger, I want you to know that myself and many of the other money makers on the community forums are interested in helping you grow your online presence and make money. I hope this article serves as a spot for someone to launch from what they are already doing to improving what they are already doing.
5 ways to increase your blog revenue in 30 days
has moved…click above to read!
This is a wonderful post! I found tons of great information and I’ve begun implementing many things I hadn’t been doing. Thank you!
AMAZING BLOG POST!!!!! I am a total newbie and this post has helped me A LOT! Thank you so much!
I sooo wish there was an online course or what not for blogging and making revenue. I am pretty new to the web scene and blogging in general and I have a feeling that I keep making errors in a lot of what I’m doing. I’m great at writing but not so great at web design, especially for blogging.
Plus does anyone know if Google has a how to guide? I read their instructions and it’s like reading ancient greek!
LOL
Tamara
actually we have one…it doesnt open for about another week though.
Up until the last six months or so I have just been talking to myself, and the family and friends that followed my blog, and that was cool with me. Then I started getting contacted more and more so I figured I would put my contact info up on my blog and now I am getting contacted just about every day for something. Went to my first small conference here on blogging and working with brands and there is so much I had no clue about and I am totally motivated to clean my act up– when I didn’t even know it needed cleaning.
Thanks for all the advice, its stuff I have asked candidly but have not found other bloggers to be very open about– even those bloggers that I was friends with in other communities who just started blogging and have had some success.
The one thing that is bugging me is SkimLinks. I signed up with them after IL was cut out of Amazon affiliates. I was making something every month just mentioning the books, movies and music I liked, but when I switched to SkimLinks so that I could still take advantage of Amazon earnings it was supposed to be able to link up other merchants automatically. I see the links on my blog pages and stuff, but after almost a year I have not made a dime and have been notified that it is working fine and tracking my blog traffick and links. How can I have been earning when I was entering the links myself for each product on blog posts but now all of a sudden I am not earning a dime. Going to check out the Ninja company you mentioned because I think I need to switch to something else at this point.
Try ninja! It may be that you also have the wrong link there…sometimes affiliate links are hard to deciper. Reach out if you need help!
I am super jealous of your GIANT blog checks!
These are great tips, thanks Trisha! I’m going to bookmark this page and come back in a month, after my wedding when I can really get into all of this.
I will definitely have to check out Affiliate Ninja as I am lazy too
Love the tips of going back and adding affiliate links to popular posts!
Love the tips! I am going to try Assignment 4 and 8!
Thanks so much! I am a newbie and already see some things I am doing wrong!! For one, my layout STINKS. Although I have a background in design, I am NOT a web publisher. I would love to find some FREE layouts that are easily customizable. My current layout doesn’t allow for much advertising and the sidebars are a mess. I am definitely going to take some of your advice. I have made a LITTLE $$, but nothing to go crazy over yet. I would LOVE to get up to 4 figure status monthly. It’s crazy what you can make blogging. Anyways…bookmarking your blog!
Thank you for sharing all your experience and knowledge!
Thanks for the posts. I’m going to check out some of the sites you posted about
Thank you so much for all your wisdom and allowing us to learn from you. I love that you share and I feel we all as bloggers benefit when we share and are united. Cheers
Wonderful as always! I like your idea of personalizing sidebar ads!
Thanks so much for this awesome post… love reading about successful bloggers!
Trisha- Thank you so much. You should write an ebook! There are still things here I don’t really understand yet. I have saved the info to review again and will try to get up to speed! Thank you for taking the time to help other moms learn about this. I’ve bought Mom Blogging for Dummies, Digital Moms, and Adsense for Dummies, and I am a little overwhelmed! I think this post has taught me more than any of the others! You rock!
BTW, I live on the Gulf, too, near Sarasota! How about a Mom Blogging conference for FL?
That makes me feel good that you believe I taught you something! I have been considering an ebook and combining past posts into an easy to download booklet for those interested in blogging. It helps to hear that someone would be interested in that. LOL!
I have done one in florida…earlier in may. We did Bloggers Gone Coastal just a few weeks ago. So sorry we didnt connect before then~!
I’ll join the next one in FL, Trisha! Looking forward to learning more and being part of this great team!
This is such GREAT advice Trisha!! Thanks for sharing!!!! I have stayed away from the affiliate thing, but I know I need to do it. As for PR reps, how do we get in contact with them? I have a blogger friend that got a few through MomDot a few months back (before I joined) and she has had consistent work with them. I haven’t been able to find that yet. Any advice on where to find a list to email or anything like that? THANKS!!!
Wow, this is one of the most informative posts on monetizing a blog that I have read yet! Very good and useful info. Like many other commenters, I have also not made anything off of my Amazon affiliate links, but I think that is because my blog traffic is still low…
Any plans on a post on how to grow blog readers!!! No pressure…
Thanks again so much for all this info!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this post! I finally had time to sit down and read it!! Now one thing, my site is lime green and some pink…. is that really that bad?? LOL??? Oh dear… I am off to buy the ninja because I think that will really really help me. I have no patience to add affiliate links myself! Thanks Trisha
Great post! Thanks Trisha!
If you don’t want to do NinjaAffiliate, Skimlinks is another option. I’m sure it doesn’t have as many setting options as NinjaAffiliate, but it doesn’t cost anything up-front. (They take a small percentage of whatever you earn.)
thanks for sharing the link! just be careful on someone else taking your money…that could add up way more than the cost of a plugin
It could be good for starting out, though – use Skimlinks, earn enough to cover NinjaAffiliate, then buy the software and switch over!
Thank you, Trisha, for letting us tap into reasons for your awesomeness (at least some of them). I know you always encourage diversity but this great write-up helps pinpoint where more energy can be spent and, therefore, areas that don’t need as much attention.
Congrats on your 4-year blogoversary
Thanks so much Trisha! I’m going to be visiting this page often. I’ve got some advertising on my site, but not nearly enough! I hate affiliate ads because I never get anything from them, my readers don’t seem to click links.
Thanks for the wealth of information. I’m going through the steps now.
Thanks Trisha! This gives me food for thought and direction on where to go and what to do next.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
You have given me so much to consider & I will be implementing a ton of these tips!
Trisha, this was an amazing post! Really thorough, from the heart and informative. Thanks so much for the info! I’ve been in the affiliate industry for over 10 years, so that’s the one thing I DO want to do. The other stuff is relatively new to me, so your comments are super helpful.
Thanks so much for sharing these tips! I use Amazon Associates links for every single product I review, and have never, EVER made a single sale off of one of them. I have no idea why, and when I ask other bloggers, they look at me wide-eyed and say “really? I make something off of almost every link”. I’m starting to think Amazon hates me or something.
I worry about having too many ads. I think Adsense only recommends three per page, right? I’ve been to blogs where it’s hard to see the content for the ads, I never want Table for Five to be like that.
I’ll definitely be back after I’ve implemented some of your tips to let you know if there’s been any progress!
elizabeth, have you ever tested your code….can you see people going to amazon but not purchasing or jut not going at all?
How would I test the code? Can someone else in my family click one of my links from their computer, or does Amazon track IP addresses? I’ll do some googling, see if I can find any suggestions.
I’m like you, I’ve made very little from Amazon! No one clicks even clicks my links
Trisha, you haven’t even scratched the surface of lazy, I’ve been blogging for six years and I’m still not making anything from it (tho in the beginning it wasn’t a business – but it’s morphing into one) so I’m going to bookmark this post and start one step at a time.
Thank you so much!!
Thank you for the tips though honestly, reading them makes my head spin a little bit. I think of all I need to do to get to where I want to be with my blog and I feel overwhelmed. And then of course, I stall. But it’s time to kick it in the behind and get serious. Thanks for the places to start.
Great info and I stink with affiliates (and can’t use Amazon Affiliates with being in Illinois) but I’ll have to look into it again. Thanks!
there are tons more affiliates than amazon. Have you checked out googles affiliate programs
I haven’t but I am now lol. Thanks Trisha.
You are incredible for sharing your knowledge. Looking forward to monetizing more and you had some excellent tips. I’m so grateful to have found your forums over 3 years ago, I owe a lot to you and to the forum, it’s gotten me where I am today.
Thank you for these awesome tips…but I’m already doing them all because I learned these lessons as a member of the MomDot community!
Well, except for affiliate linking…because I am lazy. LOL!
me too, but i think i missed out on 50k the past four years
Thanks for the tips! I’ve been trying to get more people to read my blog!
THANK YOU Trisha. It’s always good to take a look every few months and check to see what you’re doing and how you can improve it. I love it when you write posts that REMIND ME to get back to basics.
I am constantly doing research on ways to do things better myself, so it reminds ME to get on track…Thank you for reading Zippy!
GREAT post, Trisha!! This is a valuable post all bloggers need to read. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for the great tips Trisha!
These are all great tips! I am doing many of them but there are several that I need to work on. There are also a few sites that I need to sign up for still! I am seriously thinking about purchasing Ninja. Currently I use a free plugin called SEO Smart Links, I like ti but I have no way of knowing if it’s working for me, I love how you ca see each click with Ninja! Great food for thought!
I use it not just for affiliates, but also to see click throughs on posts…so if i talk about kim for example and i want to know whether people click her name, ill mark it in ninja so i know…
Great tips. I need to step it up a notch when it comes to affiliates.
Great tips. That $3k check is serious motivation!
Thanks Trisha. I have so much to learn and so far to come. But I appreciate all of this insight.
Thank you! I was making a little bit of money as a BlogHer blogger, but I got bounced when I started doing the occasional review. Oops.
While my blog has been as equally ADHD as I am, I do find I prefer four content areas, so I’ll use your tips to build on those areas.
Great information here! Thanks for giving me a clear list of things to think about.
I am bookmarking this so I can read it over and over! Great article Trisha! Thank you so much for all you do!
This. Is. Amazing. Thanks, Trisha!
Thanks Trisha! Great tips! Off to implement them now!
Thanks for the tips. There are a couple I’m not doing, but I’ll correct that right away.
thanks for reading!