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This is probably what you’ve been waiting for: how to make money!

There are many ways that you can monetize your blog. In this session, we will example 3 ways that you can make some money.

It takes time and work to monetize your blog

Before we start, though, this is not an endorsement of any kind of get-rich-quick scheme. This takes time and work. Eventually, it can become easier and take less time, but not at the beginning.

It could also take some money. They say that it takes money to make money. While this is not entirely true, but sometimes investing some money can accelerate the growth. A monetary investment could be advertising and marketing costs, graphic design, or hiring someone to do some other task for you.

You can save money in these areas, but that’s were there’s an increase in time investment. You may have to learn a new skill or just spend time doing the task itself.

No matter how long it takes to do the task, there is also a time for the ball to get rolling, especially if this is your first time.

With this in mind, here are the 3 simple strategies:

1. Sell affiliate programs

One of the easiest ways to start monetizing your blog is by getting involved in some affiliate marketing.

If you’re not familiar with affiliate marketing, it simply means that you get paid a commission for selling someone else’s products or services. There are a bunch of different options available for almost any niche.

It’s not available in every state, but Amazon can be a great place for affiliate marketing. Many people use Amazon for purchasing all sorts of things. If there is a product that fits your niche, you could advertise it as an affiliate.

I have promoted several different products from microphones to e-books on Amazon. I have also promoted products and services like Bluehost for web hosting and StudioPress for WordPress premium themes. I have made several hundred dollars from my efforts, which actually hasn’t been much. There are many more things I could do to promote these more and make more money. Why don’t I? I just haven’t invested the time.

2. Promote your own services

Another great way to monetize your blog is to offer services.

This may not work for everyone, but you may be able to offer coaching, consulting, or some other service. This doesn’t usually take a lot of time upfront, other than creating the sales copy to market yourself – and that’s something you can outsource. It could also take some time if you want to create some videos to promote the services.

This option is very much tied to time. You get paid for the time your spend. It may be structured as a simple pay-by-the-hour (or by the 1/4 hour, or by the minute…), or can be a package over a period of time.

This could also be where you create something for someone. Some of the services I offer are website development, website consulting, podcast editing and production, and voice-over. These are ways to serve your audience and meet their needs while being compensated for your time.

3. Develop your own products

The last strategy I want to mention here is that you can develop your own products to sell.

Selling other people’s products can be a great way to start (affiliate marketing), but you can really maximize your profits by creating and selling your own products.

These products can be e-books, videos, courses, clothing, etc. There are all sorts of physical and digital products that you could create.

Digital products can be great because you can create it once and sell it many times. It can become a passive income over time. There is something to be said about physical products, though: people like to physically handle things. Sometimes (not always) a physical DVD can have a higher perceived value than a video series offered online.

I have created a couple e-books myself. I’m working on creating a couple courses as well. The first course that will be available is about how to podcast, which is also the theme of the next semester of the Creative Studio Academy. I’ll be sure to let you know when that launches because I know that it will be beneficial.

Next Semester

This is going to be the last session for semester two. I was thinking about having one more and talk more about SEO and Google analytics, but I’m not quite ready to share some deeper insights into this yet. Don’t worry – it’s definitely still on my list of important topics to cover in greater detail!

We will take one week off, and then we’ll start the third semester of the podcast, where we will begin covering how to podcast. This will also include some other related topics like show notes (relating to blog posts), general audio production (maybe for creating products), and video (video podcasting, video products, or even video for marketing the podcast).

I hope you’ll stay tuned for this exciting new semester!

P.S. When we start the new semester, there will also be a free gift for those that are subscribed to the newsletter!