The Only Two Ways People Really Make Money with a Blog

I’m just gonna keep today’s post short and sweet. If you’ve been following my online journey for a while, then you already know that I have three blogs in three different niches. Obviously, you’re reading one right now – frombloggertoentrepreneur.com  - that’s all about using social media to build your brand and grow your business. The other two are rosettathurman.com (leadership development and career advice for nonprofit professionals) and happyblackwoman.com (personal development and business advice for black women). Obviously, I like helping people. I love giving advice and I love it even more when people use it to become successful! Although I give away advice on my blogs all the time, I also earn money through my sites as well. Whenever I tell people that though, they always give me a blank look. How do you “make money” with a blog? I really think people still have images of someone stealing credit cards through a website from the early days of internet scams or something.

The truth is that there are a lot of different ways to make money with a blog, and lots of people – from stay-at-home moms to hobby bloggers to small businesses to nonprofits to big corporations – are figuring out how to use this social media tool to add more dollars to their bottom line. But the guy in the photo above? The guy who makes “millions” online while sitting on the beach just by setting up a website? He is a myth, people. Blogging for your business takes lots of time, planning and yes, WORK.

It may seem mysterious how this all works, but there really are no secrets here, folks. As a broad overview, the only two ways anyone really makes money with a blog are the following:

1. Use your blog to sell your own products and services.

2. Use your blog to advertise and market other people’s products and services.

That’s it. That’s the big guru mastermind formula in a nutshell. If you can figure out how to do #1 or #2 or both, then you have the beginnings of an effective plan for monetizing your blog.

Is it time to monetize your blog or use it more effectively for your business? Does this spark any new ideas for you to start expanding the potential for your site?

If you want more detailed information on how to create a viable strategy for using blogging for business (specifically, the “how do you make money” part), I invite you to join me on August 24 for a special webinar, Strategic Blogging for Business: 11 Practical Ideas for Turning Readers into Customers.