During my last speaking gig I asked everyone in the room, “Who wanted to make money with their blog?”, to raise their hand. I was not surprised to see 99% of the room with their hand up. Believe it or not, there are bloggers who write without looking for any monetary gains. As you might image, you can love to write and have a passion for your niche, sadly that does not mean you will make a dime.
If you want to make money with your blog, you need to tell Google what traffic to send you. The only way Google will know what visitors to send to your website is if you tell it. That’s right! You have to tell search engines like Google what your website is about so being clear is key. Traffic will be sent based on the blog post you write, videos you create and the words people use to search in Google. Your blog should be focused around one overall theme or topic to help search engines pinpoint exactly who to send to your site. You cannot make any money from your blog if you do not have people reading it.
If you want to make money with your blog, stop keeping it a secret. You can have the best product, service or blog post in the world but if your ideal clients have never heard about it then it doesn’t matter. Spread your content around the internet in places where your ideal clients are spending their time. You have to make it easy for your website visitors to share your information with their friends and colleagues. With the click of a button, good content spreads like wildfire with Facebook likes, ReTweets, Pinterest pins, shared on LinkedIn and Google+.
If you want to make money with your blog, you should get on the first page of Google. Unfortunately, it is not that simple but it is possible. Well as long as you know the basics for getting found online. This is where things can get really tricky especially if you don’t take the time to understand why your websites secret weapon is important to Google. When people search Google for a specific topic or words the results page will only list the top 10 blogs. Generally, people to do not click past the first page so your want your website listed to benefit from some of that free traffic.
If you want to make money with your blog, give your visitors a reason to come back for more. It is rare a first time website visitor will make a purchase. What they will do is look around your site to learn more about you. They want to make sure the information you create is valuable to them and you can be trusted to deliver. Before you try turning visitors in to customers focus on offering them a valuable sample of what you do. This will help your visitors keep learning about you until they are ready to buy.
If you want to make money with your blog, use the right tools to build your brand. There is a big difference between creating a blog using a domain (also known as a URL or web address) that you own and one that you do not. Ask yourself right now “Am I running a thriving business or is this a hobby?” Successful businesses have an online presence that includes creating a website and email address with www.YourBusinessName.com to promote your brand not Hotmail, Yahoo or AOL (YES! They are still around). If you are not sure where to start peek inside my small business toolbox which is filled with all the resources you need (and I use) to run your business.
Every business owner must complete a set of activities to run a business that’s why it is important to build a solid business foundation so you can make money. Are you willing to do what it takes? Take the quiz to find out EXACTLY how you can re-Energize your online marketing.
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