Whether you’re an author or not…everyone should have a blog these days. A blog brands yourself and gets your name out there. If you have a business, a blog is a great tool to build your stature within your industry community. You don’t have a business yet? Well why not try your hand at blogging and turn it into a money making machine for some extra income? Authors especially need a blog to develop their brand and generate a following!
Not only can you sell your books on your blog, but a blog can generate money in other ways as well…Follow these steps and set yourself on the path to turn your blog into a money making machine.
Set Up Your Blog
Buy a domain like, yourname.com or maybe the title of your book. Godaddy, JustHost & 1and1 are great places to start. You can host a domain for as little $3/month. Once you have your domain, your next step is to download and install WordPress. They have a handy tutorial so don’t fret!
Find a Niche
To be truly successful, you must find a niche for your blog – in other words, find a specific area to focus on with your blog posts. A good place to start is with your hobbies, or passions. To make money with a blog you must blog daily, so don’t turn it into a chore by blogging about something you find boring. If you’re an author, you likely write books in a specific niche already so this part will be easy! Google your niche and check out your competition.
Make Money with a Blog
Google’s AdSense is a great tool to get started. Let’s say you write an article explaining auto insurance coverages. Google’s AdSense program will display an ad box wherever you designate; and the ads displayed will most likely be links to getting quotes online from various auto insurance companies. If your reader clicks on one of the ads, Google gives you a small percentage of the ad cost the advertiser paid. Overtime this amount can add up – especially if you have high traffic to your blog. (You receive a check from Google when your account balance reaches a certain limit.)
Affiliate Sales
Another way to make money with a blog is by selling other people’s products. Let’s say you promote John Smith’s eBook on how to make money with a blog in 5 days or less. And the ticket price was $15. John Smith pays referring sales a 75% commission. You would make $11.25 every time someone clicked your affiliate link and went to his site and made the purchase. No inventory needed, no merchant account needed, just write an article review on his eBook and promote it like no other! Check out CommissionJunction, ClickBank, and LinkShare. Affiliate sales can be a great way to make money with a blog.
As an author, you should definitely consider selling your book via affiliates. With the scenario above, you would be John Smith paying out the 75% commission (hypothetical percentage) to folks marketing your book on their blogs. Check out ClickBank or e-junkie. Google “sell your book with affiliate program”.
Drive Traffic to Your Blog
Make money with a blog in the fastest time possible without paying to do so. How? Write a few articles a month (different articles then those you post on your blog) about your niche that you have targeted with your blog. Submit them to article directories. The top three I suggest are EzineArticles, GoArticles, and ArticleBase. In your “resource box” or your “about the author/bio box” you will want to add a link back to your blog.
Digg your blog and add your blog to places like Technorati and other blog directories. Also, another great way to make money with a blog, and drive traffic to it, is by commenting on forums and other blogs. Add a default signature to all your forum postings that link back to your blog.
This is just a bird’s eye view on how to get started making money with your author blog. Find out more by joining my mailing list below or contact me to receive a quote on a marketing package!
