“Blog Monetization Outside the Box” plus 1 more

Posted: 05 Apr 2011 12:04 PM PDT

This guest post is by Matthew Kepnes of Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

Someone once told me that the only way to make money with a blog is to sell massive amounts of text links. "There's no other way," he said, and he was resolute in his opinion.

I couldn't change his mind, so I just listened and nodded my head. I didn't bother to argue, even though I knew he was wrong. I know plenty of people who make money online and they don't do it by selling text links. Yet lots of people seem to think that the only way to make money with a blog is through text link sales. When I hear people say this, I often think to myself, "You only think this way because you aren't thinking outside the box. You aren't being creative enough."

Don't get me wrong. Text links can be good money. I've sold text links in the past, and I know many sites that still do. Those sites still rank highly in Google, and they still have good PageRank. Sites that sell text links are controversial, especially after the JC Penny controversy, and I won't get into whether or not you should sell text links.

This post is about a larger issue: the idea that without text links, you can't make money online. I think that is a great fallacy and it is a line of thinking that is perpetually argued by those who are stuck in the box.

Outside the box

When most people think of the phrase, "think outside the box," they imagine a big boardroom of people brainstorming the next big idea. There's some guy at the head of the table going, "Come on, people, we need to think outside the box on this one!" and then everyone at the table looks around nervously at each other, unsure of what to do.

However, thinking outside the box, as contrived of a statement maybe, is the only way to succeed with a blog.

When most people think of monetization, they think AdSense, sponsored posts, affiliate sales, or text links. But the biggest sites in the world don't use any of those techniques. They get more creative than that.

Let me give you two examples.

First, take a site like Zen Habits by Leo Babuta. It's a popular site on simple living that probably gets over 500,000 visitors per month. But it didn't start that way. Leo grew the site every day, and he has made it a point to never sell advertising on the site. It is completely ad-free, and his site eventually allowed him to quit his job and focus on what he loved doing.

So what is on his site? Ebooks. Leo created a trusted brand and now people buy his books to learn more. The site even got him a real, physical-book deal. By focusing on delivering what his readers wanted, Leo was able to develop a following of loyal fans that supported him by buying his products.

Everyone has an ebook these days, but the most successful ebooks are completely unique. For example, everyone seems to have an ebook on how to travel the world these days, but I decided to think outside of the box. I launched a new ebook that offers a bit of a spin on the traditional travel ebook by lining up travel companies and offering exclusive discounts in the book worth over $700 USD. Now, my book is more than just another travel book on the internet. I found something people weren't doing, I did it, and I also created a better way for my readers to save money.

Secondly, look at the lifecaster, iJustine. All she does is video-blog her life. She didn't just start a website and think, "I'm going to sell text ads." No, she did something unique and cutting-edge. She thought outside the box. (And the fact that she is a beautiful blonde certainly helps!) She started doing crazy stuff online like singing and dancing in Apple stores and she got a great following. Now, she gets sponsorships and speaking deals. (After all, you can't put text links on YouTube!)

Take guest blogging, for example. I focus on travel, but this isn't a travel site. I guest blog on finance blogs, life hacking sites, and a wide range of other topics. I do this to leverage my knowledge into other fields, because, after all, everyone likes to travel and everyone likes to save money. So when I blog on other niches, I let people know I'm an expert in travel to people who would never have come into my own niche on their own. But many bloggers never do this. They only stay in their niche—but if you do this, you have nowhere to grow. Think laterally. Blog in niches that are similarly related. Don't always get stuck in your niche.

Experimentation pays

It's important to continue acting outside of the box. You should always be trying something new. In the words of Thomas Edison, "I didn't fail; I just tried 1,000 ways that didn't work." You must be willing to experiment, take risks, and lose in order to finally win. I've tried Facebook ads, AdWords, guest posting, using AdSense, not using AdSense, Facebook ads again, different hostel booking engines, and flight engines in order to see what works and what doesn't. I'll try new products and services. I am always testing. I'm always experimenting to find that perfect mix.

If you limit the online game to text links and banner ads, you will fail. My friend is right. You won't make any money. Even with over 100,000 visitors a month, I still have trouble attracting banner ads. The ad space in travel just isn't there yet. So I got creative, I found ways to expand my audience beyond just travel blogs, and I figured out how to expand my income beyond text ads. I experimented. I tried. I failed. I keep trying. I keep failing. I keep experimenting. And in the long run, I succeed.

There are many ways to make it online. Those who have made it have done it by bucking conventional wisdom and thinking outside the box. They got creative. They went right when everyone was going left. If you also want to make it with your blog, you must do the same. Narrow thinking won't help you last on the Internet. Be bold. Be daring. And when you are, you'll be successful.

Do you think outside the box when it comes to monetizing your blog? Let us know in the comments.

Matthew Kepnes has been traveling around the world for the past four years. He runs the award winning budget travel site, Nomadic Matt's Travel Site and has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian UK, AOL's Wallet Pop, and Yahoo! Finance. He currently writes for AOL Travel and The Huffington Post For more information, you can visit his Facebook page or sign up for his RSS feed.

Post from: ProBlogger Blog Tips

Blog Monetization Outside the Box

Do You Have these 4 Unrealistic Expectations of Blogging?

Posted: 05 Apr 2011 06:07 AM PDT

Earlier in the year I surveyed a small segment of ProBlogger readers on their blogging experiences as a way of keeping in touch with the needs of readers.

I asked a variety of questions, but the answers to one particular question stood out to me like a sore thumb, because I saw the same themes emerging again and again.

The question asked bloggers to think about the unrealistic expectations that they had when they started blogging.

Hundreds of bloggers responded, but I was amazed to see the same four themes emerge in almost every response. I thought that putting these unrealistic expectations out there might be helpful for others starting out on their blogging journey.

1. “I thought it’d be easy to come up with regular content.”

Time and time again bloggers reflected that they had never considered how hard it would be to come up with content on a daily or regular basis.

The struggle came down to two main things:

Ideas: It’s not easy to keep coming up with ideas to write about. Many bloggers run into a road block on this just weeks after starting a blog.
Time to write the content: Many of those who responded said that they’d expected that they could just whip out posts quickly, but in reality they found it took considerable time to write great posts.

Related to this, respondents reflected on how much time other aspects of blogging can take, including comment moderation, networking, social media, and technicalities and design.

A few bloggers also reflected that they thought that because they “write well,” they expected that they’d automatically be able to “blog well.”

They quickly realized that blogging isn’t just about writing—it’s deeper than that. It’s about communication, relationships, understanding people, and engaging with them (plus a whole heap more).

Blogs don’t just happen—they take time, energy, effort, creativity, and a lot of work.

2. “I thought that if I wrote good posts that my readership would grow.”

If you build it … they don’t necessarily come.

Many bloggers responded that they had completely unrealistic expectations about how easy it was to build readership. They’d heard stories of successful bloggers with millions of readers who seemingly had that success overnight, but found that the reality was that those blogs usually took years to grow.

To find readers, you need to do more than write great content—you need to put yourself out there and be interacting in places where your potential reader is. You need to build a presence there.

It won’t be the same for every person, but this can mean getting involved on other sites, social media, guest posting, learning the art of SEO, leveraging other networks, and even attending offline activities like conferences.

Building a great blog is just half of the equation. Then you have to get off it and meet your potential readers wherever they are.

Similarly many bloggers reflected that they thought their blog would grow much faster than it did. The expectation was that things would move fast, but that in reality they had to take a long-term view of it.

3. “I thought that engagement and reader interaction would happen easily.”

Related to the unrealistic expectation of quick and easy traffic was that when readers did come, they’d be ready and willing to interact.

Numerous bloggers reflected that they knew people read their blog by looking at their statistics, but that they rarely heard from those readers or saw them interact—particularly in the comments.

They shared that it took time for them to work out how to draw interactions out of readers and build relationships with them. That rarely happens without the blogger first reaching out and building community.

4. “I thought that making money would be much easier.”

Interestingly, some bloggers reflected that they had built good readerships and interaction with readers, but had found monetizing those reasonably successful blogs more difficult than they expected.

The expectation was that if you attract readers and community, making money would almost look after itself. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.

Finding the right way to monetize a blog can be tricky. In some niches it can almost feel impossible. It’s not as simple as slapping some AdSense ads on a site—each blog’s different in terms of how it’s best monetized, and there’s usually a lot of experimentation and trial and error needed to get it right.