Just as social media has become an important marketing tool for business, so has blogging. Blogging is a great way for business owners to share knowledge on their field of expertise and promote the business at the same time. But can you make money from it? Here are 7 ways you can get the most out of your blog.
1. Know your audience: whether your site aims to raise an individual or business’ profile, blogs are about creating communities. To be successful you must know your audience and deliver information relevant to them. Remember it’s the people you monetise, not the content.
2. Track and measure your community: blogs are a valuable medium for advertisers because they are targeted and reach an already active, captive audience. Tools such as Google analytics will enable you to measure the number of ‘hits’ and traffic to your site – essential to show advertisers you are serious about maintaining your blog.
3. Make it interactive: like him or not, much can be learnt from successful blogs such as perezhilton.com. Sites with videos and images are interesting, and are more likely to be forwarded on, which in turn, will build your online community.
4. Get to know the press: taking the time to build relationships with the specialist trade publications most read by your online community can pay off. It attracts third party endorsement and recognition, and linking to media sites directs new visitors to your own site, increasing your web traffic.
5. Know who to approach for advertising: while targeting big brands may seem like the fast track to success, it is in fact the media planning and smaller digital agencies that make the decisions about which blogs to advertise in.
6. Produce a ‘media pack’ for your site: savvy bloggers will create a one page fact sheet describing their blog, audience and circulation to attract advertisers. Don’t be worried if the circulation rates seem low – agencies know the value of quality over quantity when it comes to niche, community-driven sites.
7. Market yourself: don’t stop at advertising. Successful bloggers make most of their revenue from other streams generated by success of the profile the blog has helped them to build. Think speaking events, workshops, corporate training, book deals – the sky is the limit!
Examples of websites that make money from blogs:
– www.order-order.com – political commentator
– www.dabagirls.com – dating a banker anonymous won a recent book contract
– www.PetiteAnglaise.com – secured multiple book deals
– www.PerezHilton.com – attracts advertising from major brands
Turning your blog into a success is all about knowing your audience and the right people to approach for advertising. A blog is only as successful as its marketing campaign.
Simon Robinson is the Marketing Director International for Vignette (www.vignette.com/au)
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