With the new year just a few weeks away, one of the most popular resolutions to make, is to make more money or to start a business in the new year. No matter how many people attempt to make the resolution, only a small fraction will take the plunge to actually get started, while even a smaller fraction will actually make any extra money in the new year.
A very simple way to start making a few extra dollars online in the new year, is to start a blog on the side. While you probably won’t get rich off blogging, you can definitely start a fun project on the side that “could” grow into something much more. The actual cost of creating a blog is only a few dollars ($7 a year for a domain and under $10 a month for web hosting), so there is a lot more upside then potential down side.
For those of you that have never created a blog, or still unsure where to start, I’ve created five different categories for you to choose from. Even if you start a new blog and only post once or twice a week, that is still 50-100 posts per year! By continually adding content to your blog, you are also building a resource which could turn into a nice long term revenue source. The categories listed below are in order of “revenue potential”.
Blogging for Passion
We hear it all the time, do something you are passionate about and the money will follow. While this may be true in some situations, it doesn’t apply to everything. However, if you are just starting a blog and have no idea where it could go, or how long you will stay interested, you might as well write something you are passionate about. This will not only provide quality content that you really know about, but you will want to stay active with your blog and it won’t die out for lack of interest. Depending on how many other people share your interest, and the success of your blog, the potential in this area can swing either way.
Revenue Potential: Varies based on topic/blog structure…
Personal Blogging
As expected, many bloggers have started out with their own personal blog, before trying to make a blog that makes money. Having a personal blog is a great way to teach yourself how to use the WordPress platform, while building a blog of your own. Once you have a good understanding of how to make posts, pages, use plugins and different themes, you blogging potential is limitless. If you are going to start a personal blog, you should not expect to make money with this type of blog.
Revenue Potential: 1/4 – A personal blog is made for exactly what it sounds like, “personal”. Personal blogs should/can share your every day experiences, posts about you and your family, and can be your online diary to share with the world.
Sports Blogging
This one can easily fall into the “blogging for passion” category. It isn’t enough to simply watch our favorite players and teams on TV, but we also want to have our own thoughts and opinions and meet with other fans of our teams. Having a sports blog about your favorite team or player, is a great way to start a blog that makes you want to keep writing more and more content. If your sports blog gets enough attention, you may even be able to score some free game tickets, press passes or interview a few sports players. Revenue wise, sports blogs are tough because there are so many, but many sites offer affiliate programs where you can earn commissions on any referred sales for sports tickets, memorabilia, apparel and sporting goods.
Revenue Potential: 2/4 – The majority of sports blogs out there are providing information, pictures and the latest news and scores. How many times have you visited a sports site with the intention of buying a product? Probably not many, if ever. If you end up creating a high traffic sports blog, you may be able to sell direct advertising on the blog as a revenue source.
Reviewing Household Items and Purchase
Shopping and review based blogs are definitely a big money maker. When customers are looking to purchase a new product, or see a commercial on TV, before paying for it, they want to see what other people are saying. Blogs about products, services and customer experiences are a great start for creating a revenue generating blog, but you are also providing a useful resource in the process. If you are going to blog about products you buy, you can easily link to Amazon’s associate program and earn a commission should anyone buy through Amazon, after clicking on your site. In addition to direct sales, Google Adsense and coupon affiliate program would work well on product review blogs.
Revenue Potential: 3/4 – A review site is for product reviews, and this is exactly what people search for online before making a purchase. For a customer to search “product name reviews”, they are already in a buying mode. Make sure your review blog provides them with the information they are looking for, and a place to purchase.
Niche Blogging
A different, but very effective methods for making money with blogs, is through niche marketing, or mini sites. The concept of niche blogging is to create a blog on a small specific topic, then being one of the best blogs in that niche (mainly to rank high in search results). If you wanted to make a niche blog about “red widgets”, you would want to get an exact match domain name such as “redwidgets.com”, write specifically about red widgets, link to Amazon red widgets products you could buy, adding Google Adsense to your site and so on… Having a tight niche blog is a great way to teach yourself how to blog, while giving you the best chance for making some money in the process.
Revenue Potential: 4/4 – Niche blogs and sites are built specifically to generate revenue and sales based on the tight focus of the product or service the blog is based on. Search Google for any specific toys or products, and you will most likely find a few niche blogs in your results.
No matter what type of blog you start, the main point I’m trying to get across is that you must GET STARTED! Don’t wait another year and find yourself making the same resolution.
I’ve created a ton of web sites and blogs over the years, and many of them I was really thrilled about starting up, then fizzled out and got pushed to the back burner. However, a good amount of those web sites and blogs still make me money months and even years after I’ve touched them. It’s all about building content that people are searching for. Remember, a blog or web site works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year… if your blog makes just $1 a day, that’s an extra $365 a year… and over $1,000 if you can earn just $3 per day!
We can all use a little extra money during the holidays, but imagine getting a few small checks everything from your own tiny blog? It is possible for even the untrained blogger, you just need to get started and take action.
For a step by step guide of how to get started as blogger, or how to make more money with your blog, download my free 137 page ebook, “Six Figure Affiliate Blogging“. You can also submit any blogging questions you have to my “Blogging Q&A” post.
I know I mention it a lot, but I’m a huge advocate for having a great custom blog / web site design. With that said, I am always finding new designers to work on web design, but it is always tough to find a quality designer that can provide both high quality design and PSD to HTML cutting as well. If it isn’t the quality you are having an issue with, it might just be the extra cost. You do have an alternative though, there are many sites that specialize in just PSD to HTML services, where they will cut up your design and have it ready for you within a day, or even hours.
One of the biggest problems we see when trying to teach and motivate others to make money online or start their own business, is that they won’t put in the time and effort. Usually it’s because their either too lazy and not dedicated, or just expect to see immediate results…. but why should you expect immediate results? Whether you run a retail store or a web site, business is business and the same principles always apply, you need a solid structure and plan to make anything work.
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