If you want to actually make money with a blog, it’s easier to copy what works than try to blaze a trail alone.
When I originally started this site, I spent a lot of time thinking about the best way to help people change their lives financially.
This thought process made me realize I needed to provide a financial and business framework that people could easily copy and quickly implement.
I struggled for a few months because I knew it had to be something anybody could do.
Then I saw a shark tank episode and Mr. Wonderful said “settlers prosper, pioneers get slaughtered”.
I realized at that moment that I should be teaching others to do exactly what I was doing.
The answer was right in front of me (literally).
Settlers Prosper, Pioneers Get Slaughtered
There’s tons of truth to the settlers vs. pioneers statement for the entrepreneur.
Yes, pioneers in any area of business can make boatloads of money by getting there first.
But if you think about history and business, that’s not how the story plays out for most pioneers.
There may be 100 pioneers in an industry.
99 of them get slaughtered and one rises to the top (Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple), so that’s typically the company we automatically think about.
We tend to focus on the ones that “make it” and are massively successful.
Part of it’s because you don’t hear the stories of the failed companies, you just see the successful ones emerge.
But getting there first, doesn’t guarantee success.
Just ask yourself where myspace is at now?… yeah, I’m not sure either.
Calculated Risk is The Only Risk You Should Take
In your wealth creation journey, you don’t want to risk everything on anything.
That’s why they have the phrases “diversify your portfolio” and “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”.
Plus, if you only have a little to risk, you need to do everything possible to guarantee financial success.
Instead of doubling down on a high risk, high reward venture, you should find the best balance possible of something with low risk and high reward.
Here’s a quick little video to help you understand the concept a little more.
This isn’t an article about network marketing, but I use it to highlight the concept of high reward and low risk in my video below.
Once you have excess income and abundance, you can start looking at higher risk ventures with the possibility of higher returns.
In the beginning, be a settler.
Later, be a pioneer (if you choose).
In order to create a system that was reproducible, I purposely spent less than $100 getting this website off the ground when I originally launched it.
I decided on a domain name, registered, got an account at Weebly, and began building a site.
I also bought a Pro account with Weebly because I thought I needed it to get the free Weebly name out of the URL.
I learned later that you could do it without upgrading though.
However, now I use WordPress and I recommend everyone just go ahead and start with that.
It’s a steeper learning curve but in the end it is worth it and in the long run it’s a cheaper solution depending on which theme you purchase.
My theme costs me $19 per year… a little less than $2.00 per month.
Blogging is a Highly Profitable Business Model
If you’ve followed my posts for long, you may have guessed that I really like low risk, high profit business models.
Building a business online (specifically a blog) falls into that category for a few reasons.
1) Low Overhead- It doesn’t take much financially to keep a website going.
You just pay for the domain and hosting every year and also any tools you use.
You can easily run your business for less than $500 per year if you want.
2) Profit Potential- With a cost of $500 a year, that means you only need to make $500 a year to break even.
That’s hyper low risk!
Anything over $500 is pure profit.
So even if it takes you two years to make your first $1,000, you still broke even.
That will compete with any business model out there.
It’s almost too good to be true.
On top of that, if you’re offering valuable affiliate products, they are typically information or Software as a Service products (SAAS).
Since these products usually help people make more money, their value is based on what they can do for the person.
It’s not uncommon for products like this to be a few hundred (or thousand) dollars.
Considering you only need to make $500 to break even and many affiliate programs offer a 50% commission on sales, it’s not unreasonable to think that a handful of sales a year could put you into profitability.
I sold three $1,500 courses last year with no marketing expenses and my commission was about $750 per sale.
$750 x 3 = $2,250.
That can pay for basic blog expenses for almost 5 years.
That gives us one answer of how to make money with a blog…
Find a product like that in your niche and scale those sales up big… and you’re looking at some serious cash.
3) Compounding Potential- You’ve heard of compounding interest, right?
Now that interest rates are so low, it’s not what it used to be.
But the compounding effect is still as powerful as before.
If you build an online business (specifically a blog), every time you make a blog post, you are adding to the value of your site.
You’re helping people and also creating an asset.
What you put online is there forever.
That means your traffic and visitors (potential customers) can continue to grow- month after month, year after year.
However, the cost of running your business is pretty much a fixed cost and it remains the same.
Unlike traditional business, when an online business grows, it doesn’t mean you have to spend a bunch more money.
You don’t need more infrastructure, ore employees, more merchandise in stock, etc.
It just means you’re making more money.
How to Make Money with a Blog
By Creating an Affiliate Program
The best part about starting an online business is that anybody can do it.
You may want to steer clear of an online business because you think you don’t have anything to sell.
But that doesn’t matter anymore.
This is where affiliate programs and affiliate marketing comes into play.
Affiliate products are products that somebody else made and you help sell.
Just like grocery stores sell items made by other people, so will you.
The difference is, instead of spending money to stock your shelves with inventory, you are given a link to the seller’s inventory.
When somebody buys from your link, you get paid.
It’s that simple.
I am very selective about my affiliate programs.
I like to think long term and you should too.
When I started, I only offered two affiliate programs and I marketed them on the pages that have to do with the topic they covered.
One was an information product about flipping land (coupon code: WEALTHANIZE25) and one was about how network marketers can prospect better.
If you visit the links above you can see they are quite different.
That’s because they’re created by the person who created the program and they just gave me a link.
In fact, the flipping land one requires a coupon code because they don’t have an official affiliate program.
I just happened to like their program and reached out to them, and that’s how we decided to track my sales.
Eventually, I created a resource page for this site offering all the products that have helped me in my journey.
But Won’t Building a Website Be Too Hard…
Nonsense.
You just think it will be too hard because you haven’t learned enough about it.
Well, news flash McFly… you can learn anything.
Don’t forget that your simple mind did put together the entire English language AND figure out how it works during your first few years on this planet.
By the way, you did that without searching YouTube and watching language learning videos.
Your mind is more powerful than you give yourself credit for.
So quit playing small and start playing big!
Don’t get me wrong.
It is work.
But it isn’t too hard for you to do and you probably work hard at your job for somebody else everyday.
Why not working hard to create something for yourself?
Ready to go? – How to Start Your Blog
First, choose a topic you’re passionate about or like to learn about.
It could be health and wellness, exercise, losing weight, philosophy, religion, or anything.
Then learn as much as you can and start teaching the concepts on your website.
Seriously, you could have a site about anything, even basket weaving.
Although, there may not be a lot of affiliate marketing opportunities in the basket weaving niche.
It’s a good idea to pick a topic with the end goal in mind.
Just be sure you pick something you really like because you’re going to eat, sleep, and breathe that topic for awhile.
Step 1: Pick a Domain Name
This means, figure out ahead of time what your website will be about and pick a name.
Be sure to put some time and thought into this because it’s the foundation for your website.
Just like a foundation of a building, it needs to be solid.
I suggest you do the following when picking a website name.
- Get a Dot.com name- I don’t have time to go into this on a granular level here, so you’ll just have to trust me. You want a .com name if possible.
- Don’t use hyphens- How many websites do you use regularly that are hyphenated? Probably none. So try not to put in hyphens to make your name work (for example: how-to-be-cool.com)
- Decide on an Exit Strategy– There are two trains of thoughts here. The first is to pick your name for the personal branding potential. The second is to pick something different in case you ever want to sell it or rent it out. I opted for the 2nd option. Eventually, I can switch up the videos and pictures and rent it to a leader on my team so they can have all the leads for their business (which in turn will grow my business).
- Pick a name with SEO potential- If you don’t go with the personal branding strategy, you want to pick something with words in it that will be relevant to your industry or your website. For example, I made up the word wealthanize, but it has the word “wealth” in it, which can help it rank for things around that term. Here are some more ways words directly affect SEO.
- See if it’s available- You can use GoDaddy to do a simple search to see if your name is taken.
Once you figure out some options for your website (domain) name, don’t buy it yet.
You’ll need to figure out what hosting company you want to use.
For a while, I used GoDaddy only because that’s who I started with.
GoDaddy isn’t my favorite though and I don’t recommend them at all.
They like to nickel and dime you and increase the price like a bad landlord.
I currently use BigScoots.com and they are fantastic.
Step 2: Build Your Website with WordPress
The first thing you do is build your website (blog).
Starting a website/online business is free to learn.
You can speed up your learning and growth by purchasing information products to help you fill in the learning gaps, but it’s not required.
My brother has been a web designer and consultant for years.
If you want a great step-by-step instructional course that’s not expensive and doesn’t have an inflated price, you can check out my brother’s course at my blog building page.
It’s about halfway down that page and though it’s closed on and off, he usually has it set up to take clients from me.
If you look around you can find plenty of free resources, articles, and videos online that will teach you anything and everything you ever wanted to know about creating a blog online.
It just takes a lot more time and energy to do it with free resources.
Top 5 Free Online Marketing/SEO Resources:
– WPBeginner
– Pat Flynn
– Moz
– Neil Patel
– Ahrefs
I’ve never bought anything on web design, SEO, or online marketing.
Everything I’ve learned (from starting this site to how to blog) has been from Youtube, online articles, or my own experience.
The only thing I can say is that I had my brother to help me when I got stuck.
Without him, some stuff I probably would have never figured out, that’s why I recommend his course.
He knows his stuff.
If you do create a blog yourself, you don’t need to be a web designer or know any coding.
Those days are past.
I still can’t write one line of code.
Truth be told, I’m afraid to go into the WordPress section that has my html code, but I’m the webmaster of this site nonetheless.
You simply pick a WordPress theme, upload it, and you’re off to the races.
Okay, it’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s it in a nutshell.
When the student is ready… the teacher will appear.
Step 3: Decide on the Best “How to Make
Money with a Blog” Strategy FOR YOU
There are lots of ways to make money with a blog and in this section we’re going to explore some of the most profitable ones.
You want to pick something that makes sense to you and also make the decision based on what your vision is for your life.
Once established with organic traffic, your site is working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Let’s do some math.
Suppose you’re selling an ebook and make $50 per sale, which you set up to be automated (meaning your customer just buys it online and checks out- completely passive).
If you just averaged 2 sales per day, your income would be:
2 x $50= $100 (per day)
$100 x 365 days (1 year) = $36,500.
That’s not a bad investment on a $500 a year blog.
You could potentially do much better than that.
Worst case scenario, you sell nothing.
Total fiscal loss for the year if that happens… $500.
When deciding on an income strategy for your website, just keep in mind that some ways to make money can cheapen the experience for your visitors, such as too many ads.
You need to decide if it’s really worth it from a risk vs. reward perspective before you plaster your site with ridiculous ads.
If you make $20 a month but cause many customers to jump ship, was it really worth it?
My goal is to keep my site congruent with everything else I do.
You should have the same goal.
I create passive income with this blog primarily through the methods outlined below, feel free to incorporate them into your strategy for making money with your blog.
1) Build A Network Marketing Team– If you just landed on this page and it’s your first visit to my site, here’s a news flash….
This is a network marketing site.
But don’t be scurred.
The main goal of this site is to find leaders for my network marketing company and teach them how to do the same thing.
That being said, I don’t want to direct anybody off my site for a dumb reason (such as distracting ads).
Generating leads is the bread and butter of this site.
But helping others be financially and spiritually free is the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing.
Plastering ads everywhere isn’t congruent with what I’m trying to do.
If done correctly, network marketing is the lowest risk & highest profit potential method for the average person to create wealth in a relatively short period of time.
There are tons of great companies out there with products from health and wellness, to beauty, to travel clubs, and cooking, etc.
As you’re thinking about a blog and how to make money with a blog, just remember you can set up a content marketing strategy around any particular industry (such as travel) or around a general concept (such as network marketing).
It’s a great leveraged way to start a small side hustle and and grow it big over time.
My goal is to recruit and train others to do what I’m doing and help them succeed with me.
Plus, it’s more rewarding than just giving information out, making a sale, and sending people on their way.
You may be thinking, how is it more rewarding?
Well, let’s suppose you get a fire lit under you after reading this post and go out and create a website.
You blog, get traffic, offer affiliate products, and over the course of a few years, you replace your income.
I’ve just helped change your life and it all started with this post.
So what could be more rewarding?…
Network marketing.
It’s the same principle as above but with one distinct difference.
As I help teach and lead you, I get to know you.
I get to share in your story.
So a few years from now when you’re making more income than you thought possible and living the life of your dreams, I’m there watching and sharing in your success.
I get to be part of your story on a bigger scale and my experience has been that my best relationships have stemmed out of this industry.
There’s something about working side by side in the trenches with somebody, working toward a common goal, that brings you closer together.
2) Sell Affiliate Products– Most people who land on this site probably won’t be looking to join a different company or I may not even resonate with them.
That’s okay.
That’s why I also recommend affiliate products that have been beneficial to me.
The purpose of selling affiliate products is to offer something that can help people with solving a problem or to help them learn a skillset (like creating a blog).
I see myself as an online marketer.
You should too.
Other Related Posts:
– How to Make Money with YouTube
– List of Make Money Ideas that Are NOT Stupid
From an online business perspective, you want to convert every possible visitor into a customer.
It’s not bad to have that goal.
It’s not greedy. It’s not sleazy….
It’s business.
It all comes down to whether you are offering value or not to the marketplace.
Focus on adding value and then later implement a plan to monetize it.
Do you think a gym is sleazy for offering protein shakes?
Of course not.
It’s what their customers want.
The same thing is true of a blog.
If you have products your visitors want, sometimes they’ll buy from you… but only if you have something they can buy.
No store (website) equals no sales.
It’s that simple.
Just make sure the products you have will help your audience and that they’re related to what your site is about.
Then you’re open for business!
3) Sell Your Own Products- At some point, I imagine I’ll create my own products.
By the time you read this, who knows… I may already have a few.
As your site grows, keep this in the back of your mind as an option.
There are people who will come to your site who want to learn specifically from you.
That’s why they come back.
They would prefer a product you created because they like you, like your personality, like your sense of humor, or just like how you deliver your information.
Plus, when you do create a product, you get to keep 100% of the profits.
4) Make Money Selling Consulting and Coaching – This one I haven’t decided on yet.
I know it can be quite profitable but there is one problem with it.
While it would increase my income dramatically, it moves me away from my long term goal- which is creating passive income streams and a lifestyle business.
Regardless of how much your coaching or consulting fee is, at the end of the day you’re still trading time for dollars.
I’ve included it here as a strategy anyway because it would be a great way to make additional income for people who want more help or want to work closely with you.
But just keep in mind, if you want to have time freedom, this may be a blog strategy to phase out over time as you figure out other ways to make money with your blog.
Step 3: Start to Make Money with Your Blog
Once you decide on how you’re going to create income from your blog, you can set up a monetization strategy.
You can do this from the very beginning or just learn on the fly as you get traffic.
If you’ve read any of my posts, you can see that they all point back to my work with me page or my actual team building funnel (see below).
It’s like one big marketing funnel, channeling people in the direction I want them to go.
You could also do ads if you wanted.
One reason I’ve kept this site ad free is because I would rather find better sources to monetize than the small amount I’d make from ads.
In addition, ads will slow my site down, which isn’t good because site speed is a google ranking factor.
I recommend getting content and traffic first before you start really trying to sell any products or even consider ads.
That’s just my preference though, I have no data to support that decision.
It just seems like it makes sense.
Right now I’m building a foundation.
I’ll continue to update my resource page as I find useful resources and hopefully some people (like you) will decide to purchase products through my links.
Building organic traffic takes time, which gives you plenty of time to vet any products you may want to offer.
Once you’ve got a handful of great affiliate products and/or some of your own, you can add them to your blog so people can learn directly from you.
Final Thoughts
I’ve shared with you some real strategies of how you can make money from a blog.
It’s not a get rich quick scheme and it takes a lot of work, but your efforts compound over time and so will your results.
How to Make Money With a Blog (REVIEW)
- Why a Website and Affiliate Strategy is Important
- How To Pick a Domain Name
- Why to Use WordPress for Your Site and How to Get Started
- How to Monetize Your Blog
- Build a Network Marketing Team
- Sell Affiliate Products
- Create and Sell Your Own Products
- Offer Coaching and Consulting Services
- Use Ads on Your Site for Additional Revenue
I truly hope this information was useful for you and you were able to pick up a few nuggets to take with you on your journey, wherever it may lead you.
A Journey of A Thousand Miles
Begins With a Single Step
If you’re not living the life of your dreams and not moving in that direction…. wake up!
You only get one chance at this journey we call life.
Helen Keller said “Life is either a daring adventure, or it is nothing”.
If you’ve read this and are currently thinking about starting or monetizing a blog and want somebody to work with, we’re always looking for leaders to add to our growing team.
The question is, do you have what it takes to keep up?…
If you think you do, contact us to see whether or not we’d be a fit for each other.
I’ll leave you with this final thought from Maya Angelo:
Nothing will work unless you do. -Maya Angelou Click To TweetLast but certainly not least….
If you would like to have all your sins forgiven, get your ticket to heaven punched, and have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ… you can do that here.
Jason & Daniele
