Determining the Best Strategy for Monetizing Your Blog
You may be wondering why the chapter on monetizing your blog comes so late in this book, and there is good reason for the placement of this particular section. This is because the step that involves monetizing your blog is one that is fraught with the potential for error. It is my sincere belief that you should commit to building your blog and attracting an audience long before you ever consider monetizing your website. There are a variety of reasons for this, all of which I will explain in great detail in this chapter.
Once you are ready to begin profiting from your work you will have to make a decision with regard to how you will do so. There are countless options available to you, and some are much better than others. What works best for you and what is most appealing to your audience will vary according to the subject of your blog and the demographics of your audience, so I will merely explain these options and discuss the potential benefits and drawbacks of each:
Some of these options may be less appealing to bloggers who are concerned with creating a conflict of interest.
Your integrity should always be of paramount importance and you should be cautious in applying a monetization strategy that creates this sort of conflict. Of course, it is possible to be completely forthright with your readers when it comes to some of these strategies, but you should still be careful to protect your integrity when in comes to generating revenue.
Considerations Before Moving to a Monetization Model
I completely understand why most bloggers are preoccupied with monetizing their website. After all, you are putting a lot of work into your website and you should certainly be compensated for doing so. My personal feeling is that there is a fair amount of risk involved in attempting to monetize too soon. If you load your website with advertising before developing your readership, the visitors to your site may question your legitimacy or they may have difficulty understanding how to navigate the site.
My suggestion is to build an audience first and then begin monetization efforts. You may have to wait some time before your site is profitable, but you will also make it more likely that you will generate greater revenue over the long-term and will be able to better leverage your position as an expert in your field if that is how you ultimately choose to monetize your website.
Leverage Your Position as an Expert
Once you have established an audience and demonstrated your impressive knowledge of your subject matter, you will be positioned well to profit from your reputation as an expert. There are a lot of ways to leverage your position as an expert, including:
Think of your blog as an online resume that includes detailed analysis of a variety of relevant subject matter. When you are able to consistently inform and entertain an audience through your blog, you will find that you are also able to charge for your expert analysis.
Whether that is through a speaking engagement or consulting services will depend upon the nature of the subject matter, but these opportunities exist in just about every field and subject area. Make sure that your website makes it clear that you offer these products and services and that there are clear instructions so any interested parties will know how to buy your products or otherwise benefit from your expertise.
There is a right way and a wrong way to approach affiliate marketing, and if you employ the right way it can be an excellent method for monetizing your website. Affiliate marketing is a relatively simple process in which you recommend a product to your audience and receive a cut of the profit any time one of your readers buys the product. You probably can see why this is a dicey process for monetizing your website, as there is a risk of creating a conflict of interest.
My advice is to use affiliate marketing infrequently and only when you would recommend the product to your readers anyway. The best way to ensure this is to simply write as you would normally write and if you happen to organically mention a product that you actually use, just check to see if the product has a program for affiliate marketing. If it does, use the program. If it doesn’t, recommend the product anyway. This will help in protecting your integrity, but only to a degree.
The downside of affiliate marketing is that even when you actually believe in a product your readers will question whether or not you are just making the recommendation based on your potential for profit. You can add a disclaimer and completely disclose that you profit from your recommendation, but this will still raise questions about your integrity. Be very judicious when it comes to trading on your reputation in exchange for profit.