Making Money from Blogs In The First 6 Months

Elly asked to me: “If you start blogging and would like to earn some money with it, what should you do in the first 6 months?”

One of the quickest ways to make money with blogging is to join a blog network, like b5media.com. There are other blogging networks that pay bloggers too, and if you’re interested, check out this List of Sources of Blogging Jobs. Of course, different blog networks offer payment in various ways. Some offer flat fees, some offer revenue share, some have a mix of both… Obviously, those that offer some kind of flat fee or “minimum fee guarantee” will ensure that your efforts are paid off more securely and quickly.

But, if you want to ‘go at it alone’, then here’s a suggested month-by-month work schedule (of course, you might choose to approach this differently, depending on your working style, availability, resources, personal tastes, etc). This is basically just a guideline to show you what a new blogger can do to get started with making money online through blogging.

Month 1:

• Decide on your blog’s topic and purchase your domain name and hosting. However, if you wish to use hosted services (if setting up your own blog, etc isn’t something you wish to do), you can use Blogger.com (free) or TypePad (monthly fees apply).
• Once you have your blog set up, start adding content. Different topics will have different types of popular content. It’ll be good to start creating ‘evergreen’ or ‘pillar’ content at this stage.
• Develop some kind of an ‘editorial schedule’. Know how often you can blog. Set yourself some targets.
• Consider adding 1 or 2 advertising options. At this stage, something like AuctionAds or Adsense might be something you can consider. Although some people might argue that it’s not a good idea to add advertising to a new blog. This really is up to the individual blogger. But, I will definitely caution against adding too many ads.

Month 2:

• Create a promotional plan for your blog. Consider the 20/20/20/20/20 Rule.
• Implement at least one of your promotional strategies.
• If you haven’t added an advertising programme yet, consider doing that at this stage. You might also consider trying another ad programme that you haven’t tried yet.
• Add at least another two (2) ‘evergreen’ or ‘pillar’ content, as a minimum.

Month 3:

• Implement at least another one of your promotional ideas.
• If you haven’t done it yet, consider working with one or two other bloggers in your area – or better yet, a complimentary area. Carnivals and blog projects are just two good ways to collaborate.
• Add another 2-3 ‘evergreen’ or ‘pillar’ content (minimum).
• If you have no affiliate programmes running yet, consider adding a handful that ties in well with your blog. It’s very tempting just to add an arbitrary or popular affiliate programme like Amazon. Well, it’s okay to work with Amazon. But, consider linking to specific products with your affiliate link instead of using just a general affiliate link.

Months 4 and 5:

• Consider doing some round-up posts, if you haven’t done them yet. Make sure to highlight your ‘evergreen’ content as best as you can.
• Again, add more of those evergreen content.
• Implement at least another promotional strategy.
• Make sure you continue to network with other bloggers by linking to other blogs, leaving comments on other blogs and participating in various conversations.
• Review the results of your existing advertising programmes and affiliates. Consider experimenting on adding 2 -3 sources of income for your blog. Other possibilities are Tip Jars and Product Sales.
• Get your readers and visitors more involved, if you haven’t done so yet. Introduce other community features such as polls, content rating, Q and As, and contests.
• Work on your Search Engine Optimisation. Learn more ways to improve your SEO practices and rating.
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Month 6:

• By this time, you would’ve collected at least a dozen ‘pillar’ or ‘evergreen’ content. Make sure that they’re properly highlighted on your blog.
• By the 6th month, you should’ve been able to implement a minimum of 5 promotional strategies, if you followed the 20/20/20/20/20 Rule. Consider which ones are working for you and which ones aren’t giving you the results that you’re looking for. Look at experimenting with other strategies.
• If you’ve worked on your SEO and there are no issues with Google and other search engines, you’d probably see a better PageRank at this stage (if not sooner). This will open up better advertising and monetisation options for you.
• Another review of your existing revenue is called for at this stage. Add, remove or retain ads and affiliates, depending on the results on your blog.

So, there you go. A working plan to get you started with pro-blogging. If you have other suggestions and ideas (or if you did things differently when you started your own blog), feel free to share your thoughts and feedback too.