So you’ve started a blog, and now you think you’re ready to earn some money. My first tip of caution is that you should never start a blog with the intention of making money. That’s where the first mistake is made. Blogging should be a passion, a hobby, or at least a past time. People can see right through to you if you’re intentionally trying to profit off of them, and they won’t allow it to happen. However, if you enjoy your blog outside of making money, you can stand to make a nice amount of dough, and it can truly be passive income. So how do you increase your advertising revenue and start earning some decent cash?
- Blog consistently for at least 6 months: New blogs simply aren’t going to have the credibility or audience for advertisers to notice. You have to be around and heard by a few people first before companies are going to want to be seen on your blog. If you have an active blog for at least 6 months, trust me, advertisers are going to notice. 6 months is still relatively new, but it’s long enough for people to start talking about your site, coming to it, and wanting to be featured on it.
- Join a blog network: While many veteran bloggers don’t think a blog network is worth it, it’s great for newbies. Blog networks are a way for you to connect to other bloggers, as well as advertisers. Big companies who are looking for web campaigns connect with these networks, ask them to find a few bloggers who write about specific topics, and they will offer you compensation for a post, a link, or a review. I’m part of 2 blog networks: Yakezie and Clever Girls. Both have been awesome in finding me a few advertising opportunities.
- Become an authority: Advertisers aren’t just paying you because they want to. They want the relationship to be mutually beneficial. In exchange for compensating you, they want to get their branding in front of your audience, in hopes that your readers will become their customers. So you need to be an authority in a niche or category. Is your blog about food or fashion? Do you talk about parenting and marriage? Brands in these markets will look for blogs and websites in the same market so they have a better chance of finding customers. Decide what market your blog is focusing on, and work on being one of the best blogs in that field. A great resource for this is Technorati, as it has multiple verticals and thousands of blogs that are ranked in those verticals. See what the top 10 sites have that yours doesn’t, and work on becoming one of those top blogs.
- Get your numbers together: Advertising is a numbers game. How many people does your blog reach? If you don’t already have it installed, you should install an analytics program like Google Analytics, to keep track of your readers. How many people visit your site per day, week, month, quarter? Where are they from? What browser do they use? How many pages do they read? How long do they stay? Advertisers are going to want to know this, and your numbers are going to have to be impressive. You won’t find advertising revenue if the only person who reads your blog is your mom. You need new people reading everyday.
- Have a price in mind: Once advertisers do start reaching out to you, you’ll want to have prices in mind. I have an Advertising Manager who handles my requests for me. Crystal came up with a list of prices for different types of advertising based on my site’s statistics, and she sends it to the people requesting advertising opportunities. I usually don’t budge on my prices, as I know what my site is worth. Obviously, you’ll get some lowball offers, but they’re trying to be thrifty just like you. Don’t overprice yourself, especially if you’re new. Try a few different prices and see the response you get, or hire Crystal and she’ll help you out.
These are the first steps to getting more money from advertising on your blog. Be patient, and the advertisers will come to you.
