How to Make Money Blogging in 2024 (From a 7-Figure Blogger)
In this guide I’m going to walk you through exactly how to make money blogging.
Why should you trust my advice?
I started this blog in January 2019 to track my progress as a brand-new blogger using everything I learned in the startup world.
And I’ve made over $1 million with this single blog 3 years in a row.
I also teach 4,200+ students in my blog coaching program AI Income Blueprint (formerly Blog Growth Engine).
Ultimately, to make life-changing money from your blog as fast as possible, you need to think like a CEO and treat your blog like a business, not a hobby.
Let’s get into it.
How to Make Money Blogging.
Before anything else, the first step is starting a blog by purchasing web hosting.
Here’s my favorite beginner setup at the lowest cost with the best features (based on my 10+ years of experience):
- Click here to go to Bluehost.com
- Click Get Started now and choose the basic plan for $1.99/month.
- Enter the domain name you want to use (for example: adamenfroy.com).
- Enter your account information.
- Under Package Information, choose an account plan based on how long you want to pay. (And remember, all plans have a 30-day money-back guarantee, so there is no risk!)
- Uncheck the Package Extras (you don’t need them.)
- Complete your purchase, choose your password, and log in to your Bluehost account.
- Answer or skip the onboarding questions, but choose “blog” when prompted.
- Click “skip” when it comes to choosing your WordPress themes. (We’ll get that sorted out later.)
- From the Bluehost dashboard, click the WordPress button on the top right, and you’ll end up on WordPress.
Congrats! You now have a self-hosted WordPress blog!
Now, let’s scale your new blog like a startup and make money blogging.
In Blogging, Market Factors Are More Important Than Passions.
There’s a reason that 95% of bloggers fail, and it’s not why you think.
The current myth is that bloggers fail because they aren’t “passionate enough.”
“Push through failure to succeed,” they say.
Google “why bloggers fail,” and you get the same answer from the #1 result: bloggers fail because they aren’t passionate enough.
I officially reject this notion.
The Real Reason Bloggers Fail…
The real reason bloggers fail is they run a business that’s not profitable.
Take my passions, for example.
I’m passionate about drumming, flying airplanes, traveling, astronomy, distance running, personal development, Detroit-style pizza, etc.
However, if I wrote endless blog posts about one of these topics without making any money, I’d burn out 100% of the time.
Additionally, some bloggers claim, “I’m not in it for the money” or, “It’s just a hobby.”
Hobby bloggers are just new bloggers that don’t know how to make money yet. There are beginners and experts in any creative digital field – design, web development, photography, copywriting, or video editing.
Source: Google.com
Plus, blogging advice is outdated, written only to rank on Google, and encourages a generalized approach to appeal to the broadest possible audience.
Bloggers don’t fail because of a lack of passion (they have that in spades).
Bloggers fail because they can’t transition from blogger to business owner.
So they choose a non-lucrative blogging niche targeting a low-value audience.
New bloggers forget to leverage networking and connections to their strategic advantage.
As one blogging quote goes, “You can work quite hard, in particular online… but if you really want to grow, you need points of leverage, and most of them come from knowing people.” – Yaro Starak.
Leverage is key.
Before launching your blog, it’s crucial to choose your niche based not on passions but on three business factors: audience budget potential, professional leverage, and market demand.
Check out my guide to launching a blogging business for more blogging articles.
1. Audience Budget Potential.
To offer a valuable product on your blog, you need to solve a pain point for your audience. That’s obvious.
As a blogger, you should deeply understand your audience’s challenges to offer the most in-demand solution. Check.
Start by looking at niches where you’re a member of the target audience yourself. This way, your domain expertise shines through faster.
But don’t think that after you’ve gotten that far, you should open up a generic list of 100 niches and narrow it down that way. Watercolors? K-Pop? Travel? Good luck with that.
What is the #1 most important factor when choosing your blog’s niche?
How much is your audience willing to spend?
It’s that simple.
Let’s break it down.
Determining How Much Your Audience Wants To Spend
So in this example, let’s say you plan to start a blog in the home design niche.
Your blog topics may pull in different readers. Visitors could include professional interior designers, college design students, and even stay-at-home moms who want the latest home decor inspiration.
To monetize this niche, you would create a new blog and move your readers down the sales funnel:
- First, you’d create content to attract an audience.
- Then you’d build a home design “freebie” to get email opt-ins.
- Finally, you would offer your email subscribers a $300 online course (with a money-back guarantee) about 10 Expert Interior Design Tips for the Perfect Home.
Nothing is wrong with this approach – this tends to be what most bloggers do, and it can earn some passive income after a couple of years of building your audience.
But is it a lucrative audience?
Stay-at-home moms, college students, and a few professionals with an average salary?
Here’s the secret…
Changing just one word in your niche can increase your blog’s income potential by 200x.
All you do is change “home design” to “retail design.”
Let me explain.
Adding a B2B component shifted your audience from individuals to businesses and increased your blog’s income potential by 200x.
Think about it this way.
If you sell to large businesses instead of individuals, you make more money for two reasons. The first is that they have more funds available. Second, it’s not coming out of their pocket.
Source: imab2b.com
The beautiful thing about this approach is that your blog launch, content strategy, and sales funnel are almost the same for B2C “home design” and B2B “retail design” niches.
Here’s the good part: while the B2C “home design” monetization stopped at a $300 course, the B2B “retail design” niche doesn’t just stop there.
After you build your professional brand, you become known as a B2B design expert.
This influence allows your price to jump from a $20 affiliate commission or a $300 course – to a $5,000/month recurring consulting service.
Understanding your audience’s pain points isn’t enough.
To 200x your revenue potential, your audience needs to be in a lucrative B2B niche and pay on a monthly recurring basis.
Source: Datapine.com
To recap, when choosing your niche, rather than worrying about your passions and getting thousands of passive, low-value site visitors, focus on closing 2-3 high-value clients.
With this approach, I hope you’re beginning to understand why I truly believe you can make $10,000/month in 90 days with a new blog.
2. Use Your Professional Leverage to Choose Your Blog’s Niche.
After uncovering a lucrative audience to provide value to, the next step is to discover your strategic advantages over others.
Ask yourself:
- What is my current level of professional experience?
- What connections do I have in my industry?
- Can I leverage this experience into a profitable blog?
- If I could pitch any website to contribute a guest post, who would take me seriously from the start?
To build a truly successful blog, you first need to build influence.
And to build authority, you need to step outside your comfort zone and leverage your connections, professional experience, and everything at your disposal like never before.
You will also be performing a lot of outreach to make new connections.
Outreach includes building relationships so you can guest post on authoritative sites in your niche.
These posts give you relevant, high Domain Authority (DA) backlinks for SEO, which is still one of the best ways to increase Google search rankings.
And when you’re just starting, you may not have many connections or published content.
You might say: “Why would anyone feature me?”
Leveraging your background helps tremendously.
For example, if you’re a photographer, you might have a base of clients, contacts from local meet-up groups, and even know photography influencers you met in the past.
If you can leverage these contacts in the future, you can accelerate your blog’s growth.
3. Your Niche Needs Market Demand.
Before you start, you need to research and see if people search for the topics you want to write about – and if they are monetizable.
The two main types of monetizable keywords are “best” list posts and “how-to” guides.
These two main types of keywords have the most affiliate marketing revenue potential.
For example, in the case of the “best” list posts:
- In travel, this could be “best travel insurance” or “best travel backpack.”
- In finance, it could be “best savings accounts” or “best Roth IRA.”
- In tech, it could be “best VR headset” or “best PS5 exclusives.”
When people search for the “best” something, they look for long-form guides recommending products that bloggers write.
Most of these will have good affiliate programs to join and promote.
In the case of “how-to” guides, these could be:
- In marketing, how to make a website.
- In lifestyle, how to decorate your kitchen.
- In health, how to get rid of acne.
These how-to guides are long-form tutorials packed with high-quality content. These are also good for adding affiliate links.
According to 77% of bloggers interviewed in a survey, the most popular blog format is ‘How-to’ articles.
Once you understand your leverage and passions, take your chosen niche and come up with the top 10 keywords to target.
Next, enter your keywords using a keyword research tool like GrowthBar, Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush, or Ahrefs.
With GrowthBar, you can do your keyword research while searching on Google.
Keyword Research Strategies…
Here are some strategies to keep in mind regarding keyword research.
If your top 5 keywords have search volumes of at least 5,000, this shows interest in these topics. Here’s an example of my target keyword in this blog post:
After that, look at the keyword difficulty score (a number from 0 to 100 on how difficult it will be to rank for the keyword).
If your keywords have difficulty scores of 80 or higher, the competition may be too fierce for you to make an impact.
Shoot for target keywords with over 2,000 monthly searches and under a 50 difficulty score to get more traffic with less competition.
Another way to view competition is to use an SEO tool like Ahrefs to see search engine results page (SERP) data.
Specifically, look for the first page results’ Domain Rating (DR) and the SERP position history.
If the top 10 results all have a DR over 70, your new blog with a DR of 0 will not get on page one, thus getting no traffic.
However, if you see a website with a DR under 50 on page one, that’s a good indication that you can outrank them over time with quality content.
Lastly, if the SERP position history hasn’t budged over the last six months, positions #1 – 5 have stayed in the same spot. In these cases, the competition may be too intense for that keyword.
To recap, when researching your blog’s market demand, shoot for topics that have keywords with:
- 2,000+ monthly searches
- A keyword difficulty score under 50
- The first page of Google has at least one site with a DR under 50
- A SERP position history that has changed recently.
In Short…
Focus less on writing and more on keyword research – every single blog post needs to target one keyword.
Choose your niche based on audience budget potential, professional leverage, and market demand.
Find an audience you’re a part of and understand their challenges personally.
Up-level that audience to make sure there’s a B2B component to 200x your revenue potential.
Leverage your network, job experience, and everything else at your disposal.
And make sure your niche has market demand.
Because in the end, passion doesn’t create money; money creates passion.
Scale Your Content Creation and Stop Writing So Much.
What if I told you that your blog’s first 90 days have nothing to do with your blog, and you won’t write a single word?
That the secret to scaling and making money blogging doesn’t include blogging?
And everything taught about growing a new blog has limited your growth?
Remember: you’re a business owner, not just a blogger.
From days 0 to 90, you shouldn’t focus your energy on writing first drafts.
I won’t give the same old, outdated advice.
I refuse to talk about how to write about your passions, follow an editorial calendar, writing habits, and writing consistency (or anything about writing, for that matter).
Instead, we’ll scale your blog like a startup and build credibility in your niche faster.
One big way to do that is to get writing help.
Instead of writing every first draft yourself, you can use a service like Fiverr to find freelance writers.
Plenty of writers provide blog post writing services so that you can spend your time editing, publishing, and link building.
Overall, there are five main components to this process:
- Outreach
- Guest Post
- Outsource
- Backlinks
- Repeat indefinitely
If you’re a blogger that wants to focus on writing, consistency, passion, and habits, you can stop reading here.
But if you’re one of the like-minded people serious about growing your blog like a CEO (and not a hobby blogger), let’s start monetizing.
1. Relationships Are Your Foundation.
You must understand one central theme before building relationships with other bloggers and influencers in your niche.
You have to provide value to others.
Don’t go into the process of building a relationship. Just thinking about what you’ll get out of the deal.
First, you need to focus on the benefits you’ll give others.
Ask yourself: what value are you providing in the relationship?
- Could you provide content because your expertise matches their audience’s interests?
- Is their blog currently in need of content to fill their editorial calendar?
- Can you leverage link-building for them in other guest posts you’re writing?
- Is there a topic you’re well versed in that doesn’t exist on their blog?
The first step in pitching is understanding your value and what you can do to help. This information will be vital in your initial email outreach strategy.
First Steps…
First, create a targeted list of sites.
Once you understand the value you can provide, it’s time to start building your blog outreach list.
This list should be a simple spreadsheet with five columns: Website, Name, Email Address, Status, etc.
To begin populating your spreadsheet, look up the target blog’s monthly site visitors and Domain Authority (DA) by plugging their URL into an SEO tool like Ahrefs.
Aim for blogs with a Domain Authority of 50+.
Remember, the higher the DA, the stronger the partnership potential, and the more SEO impact you’ll receive from the relationship.
To save time during your search, find an article with top blogs and websites accepting guest posts with Domain Authority scores.
Once you’ve pared down your list of blogs based on the criteria above, It’s time to find the right person to contact.
After you find 2-3 potential contacts, connect with them on LinkedIn.
2nd degree LinkedIn connections are better than 3rd – and if you have a mutual contact, even better.
Don’t spend too much time on your connection message either; often, your text gets buried or comes off as spammy.
Once you’ve reached out on LinkedIn, use an email tool like Hunter.io to scan the blog for email addresses.
Even if you can’t find the contact’s exact email address, Hunter.io shows your email structure, such as firstname@blog.com or firstname.lastname@blog.com.
Add this contact information to your spreadsheet.
2. Start Relationships & Pitch Guest Posts at the Same Time.
Valuable blogging relationships provide content and links.
Once you have a list of 50-100 potential contacts and have reached out on LinkedIn, it’s time to start your email outreach.
You can scale your guest blogging strategy by using an email template to start the relationship while asking to guest post simultaneously.
Here’s a sample template that I’ve used:
Hey (First Name),
My name’s Adam and I’m the (Title) at (Blog).
I’m reaching out because I love (Target Blog) and am interested in collaborating on content with you.
I was curious if:
1) You’d like to participate in link building. I write (X-X) guest posts per month and would be happy to link to your site in my content.
2) You allow guest posts on your blog.I’d love to contribute to your (awesome? informative? useful?) blog and can pitch some topic ideas that I think your audience will enjoy. Here are some recent samples from me:
(Sample 1 URL)
(Sample 2 URL)
(Sample 3 URL)Please let me know if you’re interested and I look forward to hearing back from you soon!
Thanks,
Adam
That’s it.
By using a guest post email template and knowing how to start an email greeting, you save time and scale your process by creating a relationship and pitching a guest post simultaneously.
Once your contact responds to your email and says they are interested in a guest post, you must pitch the perfect topic.
There are four main criteria for the perfect guest blogging topic pitch:
- Your content doesn’t exist on their site yet. When you have a topic idea, go to Google and search “site:blog.com topic” to scan their blog to check if it already exists.
- Your topic and target keywords have SEO value. Go back to Ahrefs and input the blog’s URL. View which organic keywords are driving the most traffic to see if you can find gaps in their content that you can fill.
- The topic matches your expertise. You should be able to write intelligently about the subject and use the guest blog to build more influence in your niche.
- The topic matches the audience’s interests. Check their editorial guidelines, look into how they write their blog posts, and try to match their blog’s style.
Once your topic is accepted, you can move on to the heart of your guest blogging strategy.
3. The Importance of Guest Blogging.
In January 2019, I conducted a guest blogging experiment.
I aimed to contribute as many guest posts as possible within 15 days to measure their impact on my site’s SEO metrics and traffic.
Here are the results after 15 days:
- Eight guest posts were published on websites with DAs of 81, 73, 60, 66, 71, 61, 94, and 84
- 32 new referring domains
- 247 new backlinks
- 268 new organic keywords ranking in the top 100
- 372% increase in organic traffic
- +12 to Ahrefs Domain Authority
- Alexa Rank improved by 600,000
The results were precise – guest posting on high DA sites still significantly impacts a new blog’s SEO.
With 65% of marketers saying link building is the most challenging SEO tactic to master, it can also be the most rewarding.
I recommend launching a blog with 5 “pillar posts” – long-form, SEO-optimized articles built for inbound links. Add statistics, infographics, and case studies to make linking easier.
Update 2020: In 2019, I published over 80 guest posts, increased my Domain Rating to 74, and now (as of May 2020) get over 400,000 visitors/month to my blog.
Update 2021: I continued publishing guest posts, increased my Domain Rating to 78, and grew my blog to over 500,000 monthly visitors.
How to Monetize Your Blog the Right Way.
There are many options for making money blogging – affiliate marketing, ads, online courses, one-on-one coaching, consulting, sponsored posts, selling physical products, etc.
Some of these income streams require more traffic than others.
That’s why it’s essential to plan your future revenue-driving strategy with the proper forms of monetization at the right points in your blog’s lifecycle.
1. Plan Your Future Blog Monetization Timeline
For example, putting ads all over your site doesn’t make sense if you just created a new travel blog.
Those tactics require hundreds of thousands of monthly visitors to make good money.
Similarly, you shouldn’t start affiliate marketing and cram a bunch of links everywhere at the beginning, either.
Generating affiliate marketing revenue can also require thousands of visitors to make a single sale.
Yes, you can eventually get a place where you’re generating “passive income” with affiliate marketing courses, ad revenue, and digital products, but that can take years.
What if you want to start making money from your blog to quit your job in 3 months?
The good news?
The most lucrative form of blog monetization can be used from Day 1 and doesn’t require much traffic.
Your perfect blog monetization timeline will focus on maximizing revenue in each stage of your blog’s growth.
There are four distinct areas of focus:
- 1-90 days: High-end consulting (0-1,000 monthly site visitors)
- 90-180 days: Affiliate marketing (1,000-2,500 monthly site visitors)
- 180-365 days: Your first online course (5,000+ monthly site visitors)
- 365 days and beyond: Course memberships (10,000+ monthly site visitors)
It may seem counter-intuitive to start with consulting if you’re a brand-new blog without much traffic.
However, you can land high-end clients from day one because you build relationships and treat your blog like a business.
This post will focus on days 1-90 and how to perfect your high-end sales funnel to make money blogging from the start.
2. Master Your Blog’s Sales Funnel
Your sales funnel will comprise five primary areas leading users to your end goal of a high-end $3,000+ consulting offer.
You can focus on lower-priced offers like online courses, affiliate products, sponsored posts, and digital downloads as you increase traffic.
However, an expensive offer is the most lucrative way to monetize a new blog.
It’s a simple balancing revenue act as you grow your traffic.
The newer your blog and the less traffic you have, the higher your price needs to be to compensate:
Low Traffic x High Price = High Traffic x Low Price
Here are the five steps to get prospects down your sales funnel:
- A user reads your high-quality blog content related to your high-end offer
- They opt-in for your email list for a one-page “freebie” offer
- Optional: Add a lower-priced offer of around $50-200 to build trust (we will add this down the line)
- Your automated welcome email series tells a story and take them down a path to set a meeting with you
- Finally, your ideal B2B clients set a meeting with you and pay for your high-end consulting offer
All you need for a brand new blog is your first five posts, a one-page opt-in “freebie,” an email platform and list, and a consulting page.
I’ll repeat: you’re a business owner, not a blogger.
Think about all those local business websites looking like they were created in 1996 – auto mechanics, financial services, real estate sites, etc.
They might be lucky to get a few hundred visits per month.
But their website is bringing in revenue because they’re filling a need in the market and providing a solution with high-end services.
Your blog must have a service that fills a need in the market from day one.
The early focus of your new blog isn’t to write a bunch of blog posts that no one will find.
Instead, focus on having five high-quality pillar posts, a consulting page, and a dialed-in sales funnel.
Your sales outreach will do the rest.
3. Master Your High-End Consulting Offer
As we discussed, when choosing your niche, you need a dialed-in sales process to funnel and convert $3,000+ in sales to business clients.
From day one, your goal to make money blogging should be driving traffic to your consulting page.
This page must be in your top-level navigation and include keyword research around the terms your high-end business clients type into Google.
Ensure the page has a professional picture of you and easy ways to contact you.
Your Home page, Start Here page, About page, and blog posts should strategically link to your Consulting page.
Also, you should add a link to this page in your guest author bio when contributing guest posts. Here’s what mine looks like, with links in bold:
Adam Enfroy is a content marketing consultant and blogger. He lives in Austin, TX, and writes about how to blog like a startup at adamenfroy.com.
4. Use The Magic Email Opt-In Formula
When building your sales funnel, you must use email marketing software and an on-site email opt-in tool to generate the most email subscribers.
What’s the magic formula?
ConvertKit + OptinMonster
ConvertKit is the best email marketing tool for bloggers.
It’s great for a few main reasons:
- You can create advanced email sequences based on different site actions. Note: 59% of customers say that personalization influences their shopping decision
- Next, you can create drip campaigns and link sequences together based on actions inside of emails.
- Finally, it’s perfect for bloggers because their text emails look professional and don’t have annoying brandings like MailChimp and other platforms.
Remember, simple text emails will generate the most revenue for your blog.
Don’t worry about fancy design features, adding your logo, or images.
Think about it.
If a sales professional was trying to close a $3,000 deal, what kind of email would they send?
It would be a text-based email based on a healthy relationship, not an impersonal, image-heavy marketing email.
OptinMonster is the best email opt-in tool when used in unison with the email platform,
It’s a WordPress plugin you can easily integrate with your blog (and ConvertKit) to generate more email subscribers.
With OptinMonster, you create different types of opt-ins, including exit-intent pop-ups, sidebar opt-ins, and even forms within your blog posts.
I have one exit-intent pop-up, one sidebar opt-in, one on specific pages, and one at the end of blog posts.
With these email opt-in types on your blog, you are maximizing the number of potential visitors entering your email funnel and converting your visitors into customers.
5. Aggressively Focus on Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is my absolute favorite form of blog monetization.
Looking at all the most profitable blogs, they are great at affiliate marketing.
And to be a successful affiliate, you need to rank for keywords on Google and mediate purchase decisions.
It looks something like this:
Google => Your Blog => Purchase.
Confused? Let’s look at a few examples.
NerdWallet is a massive affiliate in the finance niche. When you Google “best credit cards,” you always see them at or near the top of the SERPs:
When you click their link and visit their site, they provide a list of the best options, with affiliate links to purchase the cards:
There are 41 options laid out on the page, with a block of optimized content underneath to maximize their SEO.
When a user decides to click on one of the “Apply Now” affiliate links, they are redirected to the company’s offer page, and NerdWallet gets a commission on each sale.
As “best credit cards” is searched 182,000 times monthly, this page is a money-printing passive income machine.
More Examples Of Affiliate Marketing In Action
Let’s look at another example.
What if I search for “best laptops.”
Laptop Mag and TechRadar are in both affiliate blogs’ first and second positions.
When we click on Laptop Mag, what do we see?
Another list post recommending products with affiliate links:
Again, if readers click the “View at Dell” button, they are redirected to the product page on Dell.com via an affiliate link, giving Laptop Mag a commission on every sale.
As “best laptops” is searched 112,000 times monthly, this post is another passive income machine.
Did you notice something interesting when we made these Google searches?
There wasn’t a single company selling the products ranking for these terms.
No Capital One or Discover ranking on page one – just affiliate blogs.
There was also no Dell, Best Buy, or HP ranking for “best laptop” – it was all blogs.
Why is that?
Searches looking for “best” products want comprehensive review posts, not product pages.
They’re not ready to buy yet.
They want to read a long-form review comparing the different options.
This is how blogs make money.
They are searching for intent mediators.
They bring traffic via search engines, provide advice, and get people to click affiliate links.
It’s that simple.
So how do you get started?
You need to start writing transactional blog posts.
Remember, your blog is a mediator.
You must assemble content that can make you money and drive purchases, not aimless informational articles that can’t be monetized.
How to Make Money Blogging FAQ.
Yes, you can make a living blogging, which can be very lucrative. However, the harsh truth is that most bloggers do not make enough money to support themselves. I launched this blog in 2019, and as you can see in my Blog Income Report, I make over $80,000 per month from this blog.
If you’re starting, accumulating an income can take a little time. During the early days, bloggers should offer to consult and coaching services to earn a higher income in exchange for their time. Since traffic levels are low initially, turning those visitors into customers with a higher-priced offer makes the most sense.
After your steady consulting income and traffic levels increase, bloggers can add affiliate links, digital products, and ads to their blogs.
The amount of money that bloggers make varies widely. According to a ProBlogger Report, earnings per month are broken down as follows:
1. Almost 38% of bloggers make less than $10.
2. 10% of bloggers earn between $10 and $99.
3. 17% of bloggers earn between $100 and $499.
4. 7% earn between $500 and $999.
5. 9% earn between $1,000 and $9,999.
6. 4% earn $10,000 or higher.
Yes, bloggers must pay taxes on their income, regardless if they’re an LLC, S Corp, or sole proprietorship. Different income streams require various tax liabilities.
For example, if you sell products on your blog, you must collect sales taxes only if your customer lives within your tax nexus (in the US, this is typically the state you reside in).
If you generate income from affiliate programs, the companies you promote treat you as a 1099 independent contractor.
The short answer is no; you don’t need an LLC to run a blog.
You can start as a sole proprietor and include your income with your taxes.
However, once you start making a sizeable income, there are tax advantages to creating an LLC or S Corp.
Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post is the world’s richest blogger.
She founded her company in 2005 and now makes over $2 million monthly from her news website.
Another wealthy blogger is Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch. He brings in around $800,000 per month from his technology blog.
There are a few key differences in the blogging vs. YouTube channel debate.
YouTube channels are primarily used for sharing videos and multimedia content, while blogging focuses on writing and other textual content.
YouTube videos often have the potential to reach larger audiences than blog posts do.
However, blogs typically have a longer shelf life as they can be shared and read over again at any time.
Blogging also allows you to provide more detailed and in-depth information than a YouTube video, such as research, product reviews, and interviews.
Yes, every profitable niche website needs a unique content strategy.
That means identifying the topics your target audience is interested in and creating valuable content.
You can use keyword research tools to help you identify popular topics related to your niche and create content around trending news stories or questions people are asking online.
Summary.
Selecting a profitable blog niche based on market factors and B2B components means you 200x your blog’s revenue potential.
By scaling your content strategy, conducting ongoing SEO site audits, and outsourcing aspects of your writing process, you 200x your backlink acquisition and Domain Authority (DA).
Finally, by choosing the right high-end blog monetization strategies from Day 1, you can make life-changing money as a blogger within 90 days, not five years.
Using these tactics in the first year of my new blog, I started making $35k/month by month 9, got 7.1k backlinks from 1,000 new referring domains, increased my Domain Rating from 0 to 73, and my traffic from 0 to 250,000+ readers/month.
I hope this article helped you learn how to make money blogging. Join my email list for my full 2019 blog income report, highlighting how I made $203k in my blog’s first year and $812k in my second year. I then made $1M three years in a row.
Ready to get started?
- To learn more and work with me, you can get my free AI masterclass plus 10 free AI prompts to get started.
- And when you’re ready to start your blog, sign up for Bluehost and get 80% off your hosting ($1.99/month).
Recommended Resources on AdamEnfroy.com: If you’re interested in learning more about blogging, check out my ultimate guide to starting a blog and the best web hosting companies, and deeply dive into my guest blogging and outreach strategies.
Hi Adam,
This post is very informative.
Really guest blogging is very important as the competition is fierce.
I would love to know if you accept guest post.
Best regards
Eniola
Hey Akinduyo – thanks! Currently I do not accept guest posts but I will let you know if that changes.
If blogs in our focus niche don’t accept guest posts, should we target a sub-niche just in case we run into something like that?
Hey Bridget – great question! I would say that if your focus niche doesn’t accept guest posts, find a related niche. For backlinks, Google looks at the guest post site’s Domain Authority (DA) and also their relevancy to your content. So for example, for my blog, I aim to write on high DA marketing sites, but also find value in sites related to anything from sales to web design, ecommerce, etc.
Thanks for this idea. Blogging with passion in mind is just not going to work recently.
You’re right when you said that hobby bloggers are just there because they can’t figure out how to make money from their blog.
Thanks a lot though
Thank you very much.
Continue the good work on this blog.
Best Regards,
Eniola.
I really like the business model you have laid out. My struggle is the ‘niche’ and I know I have to devote more time to finding a profitable one. Cheers.
I appreciate your blog.This is the first time i am visiting to your post.really it’s so intersresting to read.Please keep up writing. Thanx for sharing.
Well done on an amazing achievement on your blog. I’ve been browsing around and you’ve created a real asset here. Your content is great. I’m practising my writing skills trying to engage my audience on my blog. Even went to buy Pro writing aid to help me with grammar. I’m really inspired by your success. Keep the great content coming!
Thanks Mozie – much appreciated! 🙂
One of the best guides on blogging, I was really interested in blogging.
Thanks for sharing such important information.
Hi Adam.
You mention you started all this success “without writing a single word.”. Did you outsource all the content on this blog too?
Thanks,
Hey Kevin. While I outsourced all of my guest post content, I wrote all of my initial content on my own blog. Now I do outsource some initial drafts for my site, but edit and update everything. Most of my writing is updating/improving current posts. So I might get a draft that’s 2,000 words. Then edit it and over time add to it to make it 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,000+ words.
Hey Adam, thanks for the article. Do you have a recommendation for who/platform to go to for outsourcing posts on your own blog? Thanks
Hey David, you can find individual freelancers on Fiverr and other sites like that. I posted a job on ProBlogger and got a lot of applications that way. Hope that helps!
Ok thanks a lot! What are you typically comfortable with paying for a 2000+ word article?
I need to work on guest posting and developing an email list. I keep reading that having an email list should be the number one thing to do, but I wasn’t sure about what company to use for growing an email list. I also like how you broke down the growth of website visitors to the days you’ve been blogging and methods of ways to make money during those times of growth. Thanks for this! It helps a lot!
Hey Jasmine, thanks for the comment and the kind words. I currently use ConvertKit and OptinMonster for email list growth. You can check them out if you’d like. 🙂
Hey Adam – Love this post! I’m referring to this religiously as I do my reachouts. From the email template you included in this post, just want to confirm, does this mean you guest post for each site multiple times a month? If so, how many guest posts do you typically do for each site? Thanks!
Hey David, I don’t guest post for each site multiple times per month. I often just contribute once to a site and never again. Others I may do a few times or monthly for 4-6 months. But I’d say in the vast majority of cases I do between 1-3 total guest posts for them. That way I can get links from a number of different sites. It requires more work/email outreach but is worth it to me.
Please Mr Adam I will Like you to teach how to Blog I need Your Help
Thanks.
Hi
Am sugargurl this write up has really changed my concept about blogging, I am glad I came in contact with it. I wanna know if all these features can be found on blogspot.com cause that’s where I just launch my blog…thank you for this tremendous information
Hey there, thanks for your comment. Ultimately, I recommend you do not use blogspot but purchase your own hosting and domain name and use WordPress.
This is the best Blogpost about Blogging I’ve read in a while! I have a question. do you thin all these strategies work for the Spanish speaking market? I’ve been wondering about starting my blog in English or Spanish or both languages. What is your advice for this subject? So little information talking about this!
Thanks in advance.
Amazing helpful article. Got to learn new things from this. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Very few people are talking so cleverly about making money through blogging. Thanks for sharing such important resources with us. It really helped me.
Thanks Adam for this revelation. I found this article very helpful. I’ll have to try out these tips on my blog. I believe it will work for me too. I can’t wait to start seeing dividends on my blog. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Helana, thanks for reading! I wish you the best and let me know if you have any questions.
This is quite refreshing and informative compared to what i usually read. That distinction between passion and business is where i’ve always struggled
It’s the best article I’ve read so far …
I read your post and found it very interesting and informative not only to me but to all digital marketing professionals. I love this kind of posts on how to earn from blogging.
Please share more posts like this.
Great content, I like the part where you said to always research about your niche and its demand. The first step is the key point
Dear Adam
You have expose every truth that there is to know about blogging.
Indeed blogging for passion is a no no but blogging as business owner is a sure path to real success.
There is so much I need to do now. Thanks a lot for sharing this awesome article. Keep up the good job
Thanks Kelvin – I really appreciate it man!
I read your post, it s very interesting.Now i am building my new blog and your suggestions are very helpful.VERY WEL DONE.The five pillars exposed by you are very important in creating a blog.Ihope to become as good as you as a bloger.a big thank youbit.ly/ 2iH6gdp
thank you, Adam.
thanks so much for this post.
men I have not seen this amount info in one place since I started researching on blogging.
what you just gave for free here is what people pay for.
thank you for your heart of goal and passion for helping startup bloggers like me make money. am just so in lone with this site right now.
if I tell you this is the most resourceful place I have been to in the blogging thing am not flattering. its truth. thanks much and I love sincere people like you.
thanks again.
I want o start a blog on relationships(love and dating advice).
– do you think it’s a good niche that I can make money from well since am not a certified coach yet? but I have good coaching skills and is working towards certification
– also, how do you think I can start monetizing it from day one as you said apart from coaching?
Adam, you ‘ve not replied to these my questions and i have been axiously been waiting for your reply for days now
Hey Nkenne,
Thanks for the kind words – I’m glad you’re enjoying the content. 🙂
To answer your questions, most dating and relationship blogs make money via affiliate marketing (recommending dating apps/products) or via ads on their site (which require a lot of traffic. While I think you can make money in this niche, it is a highly competitive and difficult niche to make money in quickly. You will have to develop your personal brand, rank on Google, and funnel your readers into an email funnel where you offer them a dating product. Is there a reason that you’re primarily interested in this niche? Apart from coaching, I don’t know how to monetize this niche from day 1 – I think coaching is the way to do that.
to answer your question of if there is any reason why I am primarily interested in that niche, I will say its because I know I have great knowledge when it comes to that aspect, and have helped people in the past have great relationships. though not certified.
Thanks Mr Adam.
Its inspirational post for me…
thank you mr ADAM
Thank you, there are a number of useful and effective make money with blogging ideas and how to make money blogging advice here now. Thanks
Hey there. Greetings from this side. Being a blogger myself I couldn’t agree more. This is a brilliant article. I really enjoyed reading this. This is truly insightful to your readers. Much thanks for sharing. Keep it up 🙂
Thanks Adam for the informative content. You recommend picking niches that make money even if you have no passion for them. Does this mean you recommend outsourcing all the content creation even for the first five blog posts you mentioned?
Hey Anthony, good questions. I would say that you need to pick a niche that you have either leverage or professional experience in. You shouldn’t go into a niche without having some knowledge in it or it doesn’t make sense. For example, I’ve seen people with a ton of career experience think they should start a fitness or nutrition blog just because that’s a niche they read about online. Go with your strengths. If you were to develop a personal brand and be known for one (profitable) thing, think about what that would be.
For the first five posts, I wrote those myself as I think it is important to get some writing experience under your belt so that you know how to format posts, what to provide your freelancer, etc. I hope that helps!
Thank so so much for this info. I just started a new blog from the scratch and hopping i will soon become a blogger like you.
Thanks for the post. But I think even though the niche market is really competitive – it’s hard to make as much money as your title
Adam, I am happy i found your blog. It gave out the real core insight on how to be successful blogging. I joined many top blogging site email lists to see what exactly, how they are doing their marketing and making their money. I found yours was different and unique.
Others seem hesitant to tell you the real stuff. They just want to sell you down the line through affiliate links.
I seems to have found the missing key (High DA Guest Posting) in my blogging. The first time i read your blog, i verified what you said by checking your DA (76), Blog age, i knew you know what you saying.
right now,I study your content like math books every day and firing my site on steroid
Adam, I am short of words! really. Really. God Bless you
Wow, thanks so much – your comment means a lot. And I agree with you on the key of high DA guest posting and link building. One good thing is that some niches don’t even require super high DA sites to link to you. Since my site is in the marketing niche it requires it, but lots of others can be successful with much lower DA links. Thanks again for reading and I’m very glad you found my site.
Adam
Thank you, there are a number of useful and effective make money with blogging ideas and how to make money blogging advice here now. Thanks
Great, thanks to much. I make money on my blog with Google Adsense
Thank you, there are a number of useful and effective make money with blogging ideas and how to make money blogging advice here now. Thanks
wow! such an informative blog Adam! You seem like a master of SEO. im new to blogging and you said every thing right, passion doesnt make money. money makes passion! Do you have any SEO courses or how to guespost? im so lost in how you get backlinks or just where to look for guest posting etc, and currently SEO is like just flying over my head! Would love some help and guidance please:) x
Hey Sadia, thanks for the kind words! I’m glad you found the articles useful. 🙂 Right now I’m working on an online course that will cover SEO, keyword research, WordPress, affiliate marketing – hopefully everything at a deep level that’s also easy to follow. For now, I have a product called Backlink Blueprint that provides some guidance and may help. I’ll keep you posted on when a full video course goes live.
Thank so so much for this info. I just started a new blog from scratch and hoping I will soon become a blogger like you!
Great Stuff!
I must follow these ways to make money through my blog
Thank you for sharing
Hello Adam,
You write with such authority and professionalism that it’s easy to see why your services are in demand and you earn such a good living. You obviously have the experience.
For someone like me, however, my area of expertise is writing itself, as a profession – I have been a ghostwriter and author of both books and articles for the past 11 years (a few awards for my writing and my clients), before that a screenwriter (award-winning also, and one produced film).
Another area of expertise might be puppy-raising and dog training (I’ve raised puppies for two guide dog organizations and have rescued and rehabilitated numerous dogs over the years. I’ve also helped train and breed bird dogs).
That said, both of those areas seem so saturated with online experts that I wonder if either would be a viable platform from which to launch. Your thoughts?
Thanks, Adam, for being so generous with your knowledge on this blog. Very insightful.
Blessings,
Noah
Hii,
really a good and helpful content.
Thanks for this information.
Love from India .
Thanks for this information. I have started a new blog to follow these steps.
Wow! I love your content, This is a fantastic blog. I will keep in touch with you for the next posts. Thanks for sharing.
What a nice presentation of the tips of making money by blogging! Thanks you for the post that you posted on the site.
Thanks for sharing on how to make money from blogging ..
Many ways to make passive income online, but creating the website and drive the traffic on your blog.
apply for google Adsense and keep the ads on your blog and earn money.. You can also earn money by affiliate marketing…
Thanks for this very informative article on making money from blogging.
Hopefully we can apply some of these techniques and see some positive results.
Thanks for this very informative article on making money from blogging.
Hopefully we can apply some of these techniques and see some positive results.
Really great article especially for new bloggers. Keep up the good work. You are a motivation to many of novice bloggers like myself.
This is great advice, really it’s exactly what I was looking for, but I’m wondering, what if you don’t have any impressive professional leverage to get you in the door? I’m a student, about to start graduate school in clinical psychology, and I don’t have the credentials yet to have any real leverage with businesses, etc.
I’m also curious if you think a blog can evolve (e.g. as long as a blog stays within a broad niche like lifestyle do you think that it may be able to shift main content type like from diy to parenting advice, for example)?
Hey Brittany, thanks for your comment – I sent you an email response. 🙂
Very nice article. Actually I agree with you You are right passion doesn’t create money; money creates passion. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful information.please keep sharing more info about HOW TO MAKE MONEY BLOGGING IN 2020.
Hay Adam Enfroy thanks for this very informative blog post. It helps me a lot.
No problem – I’m happy it was helpful.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful information to start making money online. I am also working as a freelancer since 5 years. Now I am trying to grow as a blogger.
Google Adsense is an easy way to make money from your blog. All you need to do is add a script from Google to your website and start displaying ads.
While this is true, it’s also the least lucrative form of monetization. It’s mainly used for news organizations and sites that can get 500,000 or more visitors/month. I personally have no ads on my site.
Hi Adam,
Thanks for you post that helped me a lot to update my blog traffic. I’m just a new blogger and I am afraid people who actually accept my invitation. Let me try your pitch and try if it works. Thanks.
This is a very intriguing post. Lots of great info.
I’m generally quite happy with the organic traffic I receive at my blogs. I’ve never done any guest posting or any other kind of link building.The info here has me wondering what I could be missing out on.
Sounds like some experimentation is in order.
Thanks for the info and the inspiration!
Rick
Hey Rick, that’s great you’re happy with your traffic. I think some more off-page SEO might be worth trying out.
Hi! I love the honesty in your post. I’ve wanted to start a blog for awhile because I just had a baby and would love to work from home. But of course my options are teaching or being a mom, either a small audience or a over populated niche, so I don’t think I’ll be able to monetize as I hope. My fiancé, however, owns his own business as a general contractor and can literally fix anything and has a wonderful eye for home renovations. He’s truly an expert in his work and would have much kore to offer. He wants to start a YouTube channel and I thought it be good to connect it to a blog. I’d love your thoughts and suggestions on the possibility of this direction. Thank you!
Amazing! very nice article….
I’ve been thinking how should I start blogging. You just nailed it. Your information is genuine and informative. I like how you did a detailed explanation of the ins and outs. One thing I learned from here is not just write about your passion but target a niche that would totally hit the sales! Nice job. Hope to read more about your blog. Once I start my own, I would definitely leave a comment again. Hope to connect with you in the future!
Hi Adam,
Wow, This article was nice and useful. You have described very well how to make money by blogging. You speak real that “Choose Your Blog’s Niche Based on Market Factors, Not Your Passions”. I appreciate your opinion💖.
Thanks for your valuable post and waiting for your next article.👍
Anita Jacobi
Contributor, Careeriz
Thanks so much Anita!
Hello, ADAM ENFROY
Blogging is a good platform in which you can start a good start and make a good income from it. In this blog, you share such good information on blogging and be able to earn money. I learned a lot from your blog about blogging. Keep it up, I appreciate you.
Thank you
Have a nice day
Thanks Kanchan – I appreciate it!
Whoah. I am a small online jewelry artist, that is looking for ways to earn extra income by selling something intangible.
The coronacrisis has dried up my sales as people are panicking and I am taking these 3 weeks of lockdown to think of ideas for another business.
A way to earn income for my family of 5, but no longer selling actual products that Amazon or aliExpress copies and sells for much less. I want a digital product.
But what topic? I have a background in biochemistry, but am providing as a small business owner in jewelry for 12 years now. I am quite good in google ads. What combination is that, hahaha, biochemistry, google ads and pendants. Sounds like a Quentin Tarantino movie.
Through the corona panic, hitting small businesses hard, i want to look back in a few years and think this was the turning point in my life. I just have no clue where I could add value. Can only think of google Ads tips for small business owners, but those are hardly high end customers…
Thoughts are much appreciated!
Lidia
Lidia, please email me at adam at adamenfroy dot com. I feel your story and was there at one point. Please connect with me there and I hope I can help. 🙂
Oh cool! Have contacted you, Adam. Thanks
Hello,
This was very informative. I’ve read several blogs about how to start blogs online and how to make money and they are very vague in their details and I really don’t understand how to do it. Blogging is something I’m interested in doing not as a hobby, but to be able to make money enough to provide for my family and to put away money for savings. It seems it’s possible. I really don’t know what type of niche to blog about. I work as a registered nurse, and I am also a part-time teacher.
Also, every blog I have read about starting a blog and making money always talks about how it takes years to become lucrative. I’m looking for something that I can make lucrative in the next 3 months. I just don’t know how to make my ideas work. Maybe I’m not creative enough?
Thanks for the information.
SJ
I really like the business model you have laid out. My struggle is the ‘niche’ and I know I have to devote more time to finding a profitable one. Cheers.
Hey Adam,
You gave some valuable information through this article. I just had a question on what to put on the start up tab on your blog. What do you recommend that goes under your start here page?
Hey Kyreese, excellent question. I recommend you put some important content for new readers that don’t know anything about your blog. For example, this could be a quick intro about who your blog is for/the problem you’re solving, links to some of your top posts, and a call-to-action to join an email list or get involved in your blogging community. The start here page is basically a place that new readers should go so that they can start to understand who are you are and sign-up to get involved in the community you’re creating.
Thanks for this idea. Blogging with passion in mind is just not going to work recently.
Thank you for your excellent writing. It’s really inspiration. I think I have got some ideas already.
However, I wonder whether blogging would be a stable source of income for the future (e.g: early 2021 & so on).
Hey, thanks – that’s great you have some ideas already. I do think that blogging can be a stable source of income for the future. One key to maintaining a consistent/stable income is to make money from affiliate programs that pay on a recurring basis. It’s also a good idea to stay on top of new SEO trends and things that can maintain your search presence on Google.
Hey Adam, this article is awesome. I’m using your strategy with my italian site and I can already see results.
Thank you very much!
Awesome!
Great inspiration, and thanks for the real info. One of the best articles I’ve ever read.
I’ve bookmarked it and signed up for your emails to keep in touch!
Awesome, thanks Robert!
Making money blogging can take a lot of persistence, but it can pay off in the long-run if your starting out from scratch. Just remember that you dont have to use all of these money-making avenues at once. Consider what other people in your industry are doing, and start from there
Hi Adam,
This quote is very inspring. Because in the end, passion doesn’t create money; money creates passion.
I learn something new that every blog have potential since day one.
Thanks a lot.
Really good information. Just getting my site going. I have done a few in the past, but this time its a different project. I love your detailed explanations of everything. It makes it easy to follow along. I love your approach on how you got this blog into profit so quickly and sustainably. Great Job!
Hey there. Thank you so much for the fabulous content. You got a permanent reader. Thank you so much. Keep posting great content.
Hey ADAM ENFROY ! Just stumble upon your blog, it is so incredible, I really enjoy this post CHOOSE YOUR BLOG’S NICHE BASED ON MARKET FACTORS, NOT YOUR PASSIONS. I got a lot of tips I can implement in my online business and start increasing my income. God bless more. Amen !
Hi. Thanks for the good tips. I have recently created a blog about something I am very passionate about and good at, although my site is currently under maintenance. It’s about a sub-niche of tourism niche, so pretty much specific. There’s not much demand for it but not even high competition. In any case, I am planning to start a new blog about a profitable niche, faster profit-oriented, and will follow your tips. In any case, all sounds very confusing. Increasingly more influential bloggers state that blogging is not a quick rich scheme and it takes years before it becomes profitable. You say the opposite this causes some confusion overall. Thanks a lot
Hey Giulia, thanks for your comment and I wish you the best of luck with your new blog. Yes, my advice goes against the grain and you can check out my blog income reports to see that you can make money quickly with the right strategies. Most “influential bloggers” started their blogs over 5-10 years ago – their tactics are somewhat outdated, and written for a broad, non-technical audience to rank on Google. My strategies are different. It’s less about writing and more about scaling your processes like a business owner – I hope they help you.
Great article to learn from in your blog. The one I enjoy much is How much can you make blogging. Thank you so much and more blessing.
I’m enjoying your blog – thank you for all the information.
Nice
One of the best guides on blogging, I was really interested in blogging.
Hello, Very informative piece of article, this blog has helped me to understand the concept even better. Keep on blogging.
Interesting angle. Bloggers don’t always get the transition to business owner correct – in the same way that many people will not be successful in opening their own small business. I wonder what the data looks like for bloggers that were business owners or operators BEFORE starting to blog?
Hii Adam, Your blog has lots of information and is detailed also. I got to know many things from your post. It was very helpful. Thank You…
Great article
I think most hobby bloggers are just afraid of failure, it better to earn a coin here and there as a hobby than not meeting the high expectations that come with treating your blog like a business it should be.
Hi Adam,
Thank you so much for your regular updates. I started working on my blog in February of 2020 and am already starting to grow faster thanks to you.
I knew you could make money by blogging, but for some reason, I didn’t truly understand the kinds of systems you need to develop to be successful. I’ve worked for start-ups in San Francisco doing sales and building an outbound sales pipeline for the last few years so it was a new experience building my own business.
Once I heard you describe treating a blog like a start-up and learned more about the marketing funnel you were able to create… everything clicked into place for me. I got a sales crm, began doing out reach, and built up my contacts. Within a month, I finally had some domain authority, did two guest posts, and made my first $25.
This month, I’ve doubled the traffic to my blog, lined up 3 more guest posts, and have 4 SEO optimized articles ready to publish. My growth seems to be slower than yours, but I know I will pick up speed as I commit to a routine and improve my process.
Thanks for your help and I look forward to your next update!
Kat
Hey Kat,
That’s awesome, congrats!
Keep up the great work. 🙂
Adam
Great inspiration, and thanks for the real info. One of the best articles I’ve ever read.
I’ve bookmarked it and signed up for your emails to keep in touch! Need your permission to make dofollow backlinks from your side,kindly approved!
Amazing helpful article. Got to learn new things from this. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Really helpful information. Thanks
Great post. I got inspired by this post! Nice work!
Hi, Adam
It is a very informational article I am a new blogger and working on my educational blog still, I am struggling to get traffic
I will Follow your points
thanks
Hey,
I was wondering how I can apply am this to my gaming blog (I talk about PS games)
You could write reviews on the best games/accessories/consoles and join video game affiliate programs like Gamefly or others. Make sure to do keyword research to see what people are searching for. These could be reviews like “Horizon Zero Dawn Review” or “best” content like “10 Best PS4 Accessories”. It’s a very competitive niche so you’ll need well-written, long-form content to stand out and rank. I hope that helps. 🙂
Hi Adam. Than you for the detailed information here. It is exactly what I needed to read: bold and straight to business.
I have a couple of idle months ahead before I go back to a 9-to-5 job and I wanted to start a side hustle. I found blogging a place I could feel comfortable, make money and finally become a business man. That is why your perspective resonated deeply on me.
There were 2 concepts I couldn’t fully understand:
1- Creating guests posts is important but:
Do they generate income or are just to get connections?
How can I be accepted to write in other blogs If I don’t have anything to show to them just yet?
2- In what moment I should start writing on my own blog?
I’m sorry, your blog was really clear but I’m falling to understand those two concept. I think that is because are so disruptive vs what I was reading about how to start a blog.
Thank you so much!
Hey Gonzalo, I’m glad my article resonated with you.
Guest posts do not generate income – they get you backlinks, which helps your overall SEO and ability to rank on Google. So they indirectly help get you traffic. If you haven’t written any guest posts yet and don’t have any samples to show, you can start with lower Domain Authority (DA) sites that might be easier to write for. You could also potentially pay a small amount of $100-150 to get on a decent site that is taking paid guest posts. I don’t typically recommend this, but if you are doing outreach and struggling to get any traction, paying for 1-2 guest post spots to get samples can help with your outreach.
When should you start writing on your own blog? While first drafts can be outsourced to content writers, you should be writing on your own blog all the time by updating your posts. I’ll get first drafts written for me, but will focus on making them longer and more high-quality over time. For example, a post that I get that’s 3,000 words I might update to 6, 8, or 10,000+ words depending on your competition.
Hi Adam,
I got to know about you blog from my friend and found it really amazing.
I love riding and have started a blog on one particular motorcycle brand.
I write and create content(mostly on Instagram) for people who love travelling and riding motorcycles.I’m building this as a brand and later want to sell affialiate and own products.
I can’t think of anything to offer as consulting service. How can i use Email optins and get in touch with visitors in this case ?
Hey Rajat, thanks for your comment and that’s great you started a motorcycle blog.
For email opt-ins, I recommend using OptinMonster (you can see it on my site at the end of posts and as exit-intent pop-ups). Then couple that with ConvertKit to send automated emails to your list when they sign up from your OptinMonster form.
OptinMonster is a little pricey if you’re just getting started, so you can start with Mailchimp for free first, although they have limited opt-in form designs and no exit-intent forms (where you’ll get most of your sign-ups).
Making money through blogging is very common now. And in this lockdown season blogging is most popular now.
Thanks for this good idea. Blogging with passion in mind is just not going to work recently.
Thanks a lot though
Hi
Thanks for good idea of guest blogging. I think before requesting for free guest post with other bloggers, we need to maintain a good or great stuff in the niche. This needs a lot of hard work and time for getting a consent for a guest post offer. And guest posting is lucrative one but highly competitive too.
However thanks a lot.
Great article! You have rightly mentioned that several lousy advice on how to blog, but it’s my personal opinion that consistency pays off. I agree with you that it is not the passion you lack responsible for the failure but the choice of niche that is not profitable.
I learnt so much…Thanks for such a transparent procedure as to blogging.
Thanks for your post.I stated a blog with a Blogspot.com domain name just to test and see different strategy but to no avail and most of online opinion is write more than 2000 words post and you will rank high not even talking about backlink and competitors domain authority so no matter what I try my post never ranked high and I was discourage even to get a custom domain thinking it would be wast of money but after reading you post I was happy and I am going to do the recommended approach. thanks once again.
Great Article! I have been wanting to start a money-making blog for a long time and it is time to get serious! I do have a Keto blog, but that is not making me money. What I am seeing as one of my niches is “ways to make money online,” and I am pretty established on Pinterest is that people are laid off from the virus and looking for work. Since the virus keeps people at home, they are looking for ways to make money at home. I truly believe this is a great niche right now! The name of my blog is going to be moneywisecorner. Going to use BlueHost and WordPress AND I am going to be that 4% who earns over $10,000 a month and I am not just saying that! THAT IS A HUGE GOAL OF MINE!! Thanks for all the advice in your column!
One, I feel like we would be friends.
Two, how many hours a week do you think you spend working on your blog life? I keep coming back to the idea that I’d like to blog but I’m a go big or go home kind of gal and time is, well everything.
Hey Angela! When I first started, I put in 40 hours per week outside of my full-time job so was quite busy. Nowadays, it’s much less than that but I put in as much time as I can. 🙂
Wow! Today is such a perfect day! Thank you for this! I have attempted several times to blog but I’ve been meeting dead ends every time because I was focusing on too many bad advice. Today I’m making you my personal coach as I start my blog in two months. I’m with another friend, Francis, and so far we have enough experience and determination. We want to focus on tourism and innovation in Africa. Thank you so much for this great advice
Hi Adam,
Great thanks for this awesome and informative post. really a well-explained article. I have also a blog and looking for more ways to monetize my blog. Thanks Again!
Best Regards,
This is the most and comprehensive knowledgeable blog I have seen ever on the internet. Adam, my dear friend you are playing in blogging like Adam Gilchrist played in Cricket just mind-blowing, amazing, phenomenal. You are inspiring millions, yes I like to be the first one among those millions, Hopefully.
Great my dear friend, mentor. What to say you? I am confused. Amazing.
Love from INDIA.
Haha that is very kind of you – thanks!
Great article thanks
Hi, Thank You for sharing this
Great info and what about a blog for transitioning vets from all services. I feel like there are so many topics and things which could be tied to this. I feel like all the networks out there for job hunting, real estate, medical benefits, retirement, real life stories etc. would provide a wealth of information and resources which would generate traffic. Thoughts and thanks alot.
Thanks
Aaron
Great blog post, when you where talking about the keryword difficulty score, 0.8 is on a scale of 0.0 to 1.0 ? Because a 0.8 (scale 0 to 100) keyword with 5k+ it’s hard to believe and even find.
Correct – I need to update that to be from 0 to 100. Thanks!
great idea brother…
I too love blogging and I want to earn money through blogging
thank you…
Your site was one of the best, your tutorials are very informative. Thanks for once again
I would like to ask if I write a guest post, should I want to tell the editor that I will put backlinks in the article?
It is kind of assumed that you will. You can check any guidelines they may have and ask if it’s allowed if you’re not sure.
Hii Adam,
Great info,
Most blogging advice is harmful, not helpful, that is very true that one of your point is very helpfull for the beginners who start the blogging.Your blog is very impresive and nice stuff to read.Amazing article.
Thanks – I appreciate it. 🙂
Mind-blowing ideas you have presented. Thanks a lot.
No problem!
Thanks Adam for this powerful approach to running the blog as a business and not as a hobby and for the detailed journey to take the reader by the hand from scratch to start a blog, with the best tools.
I started mine 4 months ago, I have only 9 blogs published, focused on encouraging people over 55 to start their own business on the internet, but I still have no traffic. I found your recommendation of guest blogging excellent. Can you give me some guidance on what doors to knock on to get some articles published on a blog with greater authority on the subject?
Thanks in advance.
Juan Manuel
Hey Juan, thanks for the comment and that’s great you’ve started a blog. I recommend checking out my article on guest blogging for more tips. 🙂
Awesome Content Adam! I really enjoyed reading this article. It was long as he** but worth it…LOL. He Adam are you active on IG or FB the most or what’s your go-to social media platform? Thanks Man!
As a former business student (who’s taking a short break from school), I’m ashamed to not have looked at blogging as a business-first project. This article has opened my eyes to how a blog should be run. I’d love to implement this strategy within the coming months and let you know how it goes; however, I have no real authority or leverage in anything (yet). I do have passions that I’d love to write about, but as you mention, writing from passion will take longer and the money is in the market that’s willing to spend the most.
I guess my next steps are to find a niche that interests me and become a semi-expert. Thanks for the awesome post!
Thanks for these new insights into blogging. I think you can still be passionate about your subject AND follow the steps you share here (as long as it is a valuable niche). Not sure I can be a consultant to anyone who wants to give up their day job (make money online is my niche) just yet (as I am still in mine!) but using the guest posting strategy would still be a winner.
I will definitely give work on this and let you know how I get one.
Best,
Jean
Yes, that is very true. Thanks for the comment!
Hi
I took notice as to incorporating initially. My website reviews audiophile products and a company owner wants to “ contribute” ( give support to me ) with a designated Quarterly monetary contribution to start off.
The owner needs an invoice. — How is this done and is it related initially to incorporating my 2 year old website??
Thanks
Howard
You can send invoices with PayPal – make sure to create a business account. Or sign up for a free tool like Wave Apps.
HI ADAM.
THANKS FOR SUCH AN INFORMATIVE POST.
I JUST HAVE ONE QUESTION.
DO YOU SUGGEST GOING INTO DIGITAL MARKETING NICHE FOR A BLOG AS I AM A DIGITAL MARKETING SPECIALIST AND HAVE DECIDED TO START A BLOG LIKE A STARTUP FOLLOWING YOU TIPS.
THANKS IN ADVANCE.
Yes, that could be a good idea. I recommend people always use their professional leverage and experience to their advantage. I’d make sure to not use all caps though in your posts lol. 🙂
Hi Adam, I really liked your post and I’m glad I found it!
I am thinking of starting a new sex & healthcare blog and I would love it if you can share your tips on that!
Please create a post on ‘how to make a successful blog’ on the niche in question and educate me on the promotion strategies.
Looking forward to it.
Best,
That’s quite a big ask lol. Many of the same strategies apply to blogs in many niches. I recommend you check out my article on how to start a blog like a business.
Hi Adam Sir,
Really Thank you So much for the great and long informative article and it took nearly a long time to read and to note important points, I’m following your blog from recent days. all your posts are very useful for newbies like me. After going through your blog, I started a site recently.
That’s great – best of luck with your site. 🙂
As a marketing analyst and wannabe blogger I found this posts to be both insightful and inspiring
Thanks!
very important information for every blogger. this is article very use full me.
Thank For Sharing This information.
I have been creating other people’s content for years and I recently (very, very, recently) decided to cut out the middle man and start using that content to propel my own business/brand. I decided to start blogging to make more money. This post was the first one I’ve read that empowered that notion; everything else has made me feel like a greedy interloper drowning in a sea of passionate hobbyists. I found your site doing my nightly research on marketing strategies and it’s the most sound advice I’ve unearthed in countless google searches. I felt bolstered by some of your early success techniques. I have been billing myself as a consultant since I got the idea to branch out on my own; in fact, my domain name is for my consulting firm. I know you’re far too successful to read or respond to your comments but I felt obligated to thank you. This post alone has proven to be an invaluable resource so I’ve signed up for your mailing list. I can’t wait to see how my business develops under your tutelage. Cheers!
Hey Charlie, thanks so much. I’m glad that you found inspiration and guidance from this post. That is my goal! Best of luck with your new blogging endeavor and feel free to join our private Facebook group linked in the email series.
I dig how in-depth your article is, and how it has more than the generic answers. Pretty cool how quickly and massively you’ve grown your business. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Ryan!
What an outstanding article, and very well written disclosing unique and lesser-known strategies and tips. Yeah, most of the information available on Google is outdated and encouraging the same old techniques to follow your passion. No one is talking on how to make real money like a boss. You nailed it!
Thanks Amrit! Glad you agree haha. 🙂
Wow! Thanks so much. I really like your process and execution. I have been reading books as I want to begin a blog, (blog rookie), but get bored just reading the how to books. Passion, passion, passion. If I am bored with my own narrow field I had planned, I can expect readers to be bored and subsequently non-existent. You really got me excited about the blog now. Off I go to get started.
Thanks so much!
Connie
That’s great Connie – thanks!
I’ve been blogging for four years, but form this strategy i will definitely can make more money from it. I feel like I am on the way up. So, my next step is to (hopefully) make some money. Thanks for giving me lots of ideas!and powerful technique
Happy to help. 🙂
Hello Adam Enfroy
Thanks for this inspirational article.
I really like your extreme detailed blog posts with high value for every reader.
The title looks challenging though, as how to make money blogging.
Thanks again for your relevant and useful article.
Hi Adam,
excellent article – a lot of food for thought.
Certainly a very different angle to the majority of the ‘gurus’ out there. Clearly one that has worked too.
The more I dig into this blogging/eCommerce world the more I realise that I have probably been wasting my time this past 9 months.
Content is clearly not that important (you can see from the results of most google searches). It’s all about the links and for that you either need to beg for guest posts or adopt dodgy black hat methods.
One I don’t really want to do and the other I won’t do.
Hello Adam, Reading your post give inspiration and motivation too.
I have question, Do you recommend only adding long tail keyword on the blog?
How should we balance short tail and long tail. For example lets say, I have to articles (How many short tail) and (how many long tail keywords) should be there? please help with your suggestions.
Add a mixture of both. Long tail, high-value, low competition keywords and short tail, high volume keywords.
nice work
Fantastic, and very help. Thank you for such a great help and guidance. You made something impossible possible. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
No problem Vici!
Hey! Amazing blog post…Really helpful…..
Due to a lot of competition, it is difficult to stand out nowadays in terms of blogging. That is why it is important not only to consider the content of your blog but also optimize your blog site as well to be search engine friendly (SEO) so that it will attract more traffic. More traffic, more readers, more earnings!
Hi Adam!
Thank you for the detailed advice and direction for new bloggers!
If I am a health care professional and my blog idea is in the realm of that, I was wondering if my disclaimer needs to be approved by an attorney or legal consultant? Is a simple statement like “Information contained on this site is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment or diagnosis….” copied from other health blogs, okay?
Also, do you write things like a privacy policy and other disclaimers yourself? Or are there resources to get a good one created for my blog?
Thank you!!!
Hey Alis, you’re probably (and I say probably because I’m not 100% sure) okay with using a statement from a highly-reputable health site. And you can find good examples of privacy policies and disclaimers if you Google them online + examples. I hope that helps!
Hi Adam,
I left another comment a little bit earlier but as you might guess, I’ve been sitting here digesting this very helpful blog so I have another question. Can you please expand on what you mean by the following that you wrote:
“That’s why I recommend launching a blog with 5 “pillar posts” – long-form, SEO-optimized articles built for inbound links. Add statistics, infographics, and case studies to making linking easier.”
1. So from my understanding, you recommend to have 5 posts already on my newly launched blog before reaching out to other blogs to guest post, right?
2. Are “inbound links” basically links within one article that link to a different article in my blog just to keep traffic within my blog?
3. And when you say “making linking easier”, is this also referring to the inbound links or links to other blogs?
Thank you
Hey Alis – great questions. 🙂
1. Correct.
2. When I’m referring to inbound links here, I mean links coming from other websites pointing to your blog posts.
3. This is referring to the links pointing to your blog posts from other blogs.
Hey Adam,
Thanks for your responses to my other questions. I have more lol 🙂
For BlueHost, do you recommend to pay extra for the Domain Privacy + Protection in the extra packages? Because I know you recommended to uncheck the add-ons Sitelock Security and Codeguard Basic.
Also.. I don’t see the security feature “Cloudflare” that you mentioned… is this integrated in the basic packagage?
Thanks! I might be back for more questions …
Hey Alis, I recommend you uncheck those add-ons and use the free Wordfence plugin for security. And Cloudflare is a separate thing outside of Bluehost – it’s a content delivery network (CDN) that you sign up for on their website.
Thanks For Your Step By Step Guidance. It Helped Me Lot.
Hi Adam, your blog and articles are very instructive and useful.
Thank you very much. Have a nice day…
Hi Adam, extremely useful insight. I have a question here. We are a fitness studio and in the midst of revamping our website and will be adding a blog section as part of the site content. Will your strategy work for such ‘blog in a Corporate website’ or more on a blog site? Will we still be ‘earning’ from such blogging if it’s sitting on our company website?
Hey Lynn – you can still make money with a company blog the same way as a “normal” blog. I would mainly focus on building backlinks to your website so that your Domain Authority (DA) increases and you start to rank for content over time. Then use a tool like Ahrefs to find monetizable keywords. For example, if you put in “best fitness” and used the “Having Same Terms” keyword tool in Ahrefs, you could find a lot of keywords to write about like “best fitness trackers”, “best fitness xyz”, anything like that.
Hi Adam! Thank you so much for this very detailed piece! I have always wanted to be a freelance blogger and would like to work from anywhere and now I have more ideas on taking this path.
That’s great. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this very detailed article!
Hi Adam,
I must say I really enjoyed reading this comprehensive and insightful post. You mentoined so many useful tips for starting bloggers. Just to edit article like this take quite much time for sure. I appreciate your efforts teaching blogging more straightforward ways. Really great work. Have a great day! Paul
Thanks, Paul – much appreciated!
Hi Adam,
How did you decide what type of consulting work to offer those first 90 days?
I chose specifically based on my experience and leverage. I was able to offer SEO consulting at first because I had some connections with SaaS companies and it was what I was already doing for my blog. Not every personal brand blog needs consulting, but if you can find something interesting at the intersection of your professional experience and professional leverage, that’s where I’d start brainstorming. 🙂
Hi Adam,
When you talk about targeting monetizable keywords, is this referring to the title of the blog post that would show up in a google search?
Or also referring to anywhere within the bulk content of the blog post?
Thanks
Yes, the title of the post. Every single blog post that you write must have one specific target keyword. While there should be other related and semantic keywords in the article, each post needs to focus on one target keyword. That keyword needs to be in the H1, at least one H2 heading, throughout the content, in the URL slug, etc.
Hi Adam… Your strategy is good.. can this apply to any other niche say, FINANCE?
Yes, you should apply these principles to any niche.
Hi, Adam. I’m glad that I met you. Trust me, it’s day 4 of the email tutorial series, and I was waiting for your email to arrive.
I really admire your approach to blogging, and I can’t wait to start this adventure.
But I have two main concerns:
I work as a YouTube marketing specialist on Freelancing platforms. This is the field I have my expertise in (YouTube SEO and Growth). After research, I found that there is an average of 5k to 7k monthly searches for my targeted keywords and the completion is very low.
But even though the numbers sound good, I don’t find any low authority domains ranking for my terms (didn’t find many LA domains even targeting this niche). Also, I believe, most of the audience for this topic is individual creators, not businesses. Hence, I’m worried to dive into this niche.
But…
After I was introduced to your idea of blogging (and I’m really fascinated by it), the first niche which occur to me is ‘marketing for small businesses’. Obviously, the competetion is not very low, but I want to enhance my marketing skills and knowledge through this. And I see the business potential.
Since, I don’t have much experience consulting businesses, my idea for the consultation part is to work with a business partner who can manage service-providings, while I focus on outreach. I will follow the exact strategies you suggest but a little tweak to fill my demerits.
Please Adam, let me know your point of view on what I should go for. Also, whether my strategy will work well?
I have full confidence in myself that I will succeed in this, but I fear on getting support from other ends because of my location (Sorry, I had to mention this)
But anyways, I really appreciate your work on helping blog startups. I think, you are the only marketer I sincerely followed and ever took so seriously.
I really look forward for your response, Adam.
Thank you once again,
Dhanush
I say that you go for both. One reason my blog was successful was that I used my name as my domain name and gave myself the freedom to pivot. If one sub-niche wasn’t working, I simply deleted it. Your blog is a living, breathing thing and can adapt over time based on what’s working for you. I’d focus less on picking the perfect niche and start thinking about your current life experience and what you actually want to write about. The perfect niche comes with time, but a blog is truly an extension of you – your digital resume. What do you really want to be known for?
In your case, YouTube SEO is a great niche to try, but so is marketing for small businesses. What area do you have more experience in? While your blog needs one overall unique value proposition, you simply won’t know what works best until you try it and start generating a little bit of traffic/data. In either case, you’re going to need a lot of articles, so go with what is easy and works for you.
And if you want some early traction, try to find low competition keywords with decent search volume – maybe under 20 keyword difficulty and at least 200 searches/month. I hope that helps!
Google keyword planner is fun to use (for me at least). I have some affiliate links on my site which match your timeline, as I’ve really gotten into content the last month or two and visits last month were around 4000. That big step into a webinar might be next on the list. Your input and point of view is appreciated.
Thanks Brian! Good points.
Hi Adam, extremely useful post. I have a question here
Can you please expand on what you mean by the following that you wrote:
take your chosen niche, and come up with the top 10 keywords to target.
do you mean 10 articles, each article has a target keyword
That’s correct – I wrote more about keyword monetization here.
Hi Adam,
First thing to say that this post/blog is just amazing! Its just quality content all around!!
Wanted to ask you about the consulting part when developing a blog. I have it a bit unclear if the high-end B2B clients are to be attracted by the outreach and connections or the 5 blog posts it-self.
In case you are offering a service, there are not many keywords having medium traffic that B2B clients might type in, from what I have seen, the volume is generally low. “Best” and “How to” posts mostly target B2C clients (or at least it seems to me), so I would like to ask:
1. The first 5 blog posts – who are they to target if the B2B keyword volume is not high? What kind of articles should they be?
2. Does the main part of getting B2B clients consists of your own outreach and leveraging connections?
Thank You,
Toni
Hey Toni! The B2B or consulting side is 100% optional – it won’t work for every niche or experience level. It mainly helps fund the blog’s early months so that you can funnel money into more content to scale faster.
It’s mainly an outreach and leveraging connections game, not from the blog posts themselves. Hope that helps!
Hey Adam,
Great article! How could I earn by implementing this strategies to my freelance web development website. Your answer will be very much appreciated.
Offer consulting services on your website – web design and development packages. Then create monetizable affiliate posts on the best web design software, WordPress tools, e-commerce tools, etc.
great article about earn money to start blogging & also sharing many valuable tips. thanks for sharing to us.
I really appreciate the work you have done, you explained everything in such an amazing and simple way.
Hey Adam,
Congrats on the success and thanks for sharing it with us. After finally getting comfortable with a computer and learning how to code, I have a clearer path. Cheers to you for seeing that earlier. Finding topics you want to write about and are passionate about was what kept me out of the game for so long.
I really like your article, good tips!
Thanks. 🙂
The information you’ve shared in this blog is remarkable. Thanks for sharing such quality information.
Very interesting article and some really useful tips. I am applying in the music genre cause I write songs.
Hi Adam..
Your website is nothing short of remarkable. I’ve been reading your blog for few months and really itching to get started, even with a very demanding day job but I’m a little apprehensive as most blogs I come across are US based and I live in the UK. Can a blog still be as successful for someone living outside of the US?
Thanks in advance
Hey Charles, thanks so much. 🙂
Yes, you can absolutely be successful if you’re not in the US. If you want to get a lot of traffic and appeal to an international audience, just make it a .com site rather than .co.uk. While a .co.uk site might rank better for certain terms in the UK, a .com, English-based website can reach a wide international audience the same as my blog could.
Hi Adam-
Greetings from a fellow Michigander and Spartan! Go Green!
I’ve spent a lot of time on your blog over the last couple of months learning about different guest posting and link building tactics. Thanks for sharing your knowledge on these topics.
In your sample outreach email for guest posting, you offer to link back to the collaborating site in other guest posts you write. Given the value of those links, should that be part of a blog’s monetization strategy by asking for payment for those links? Or should they be free and simply part of building a solid relationship with the other site owner?
Hey Kevin! They should be free and it’s a good way to build a solid relationship and hopefully get more links in return in the future. 🙂
Hi Adam,
I’ve bookmarked your blog, as one of my mentors is in the UK and mentioned it in a recent training webinar. I will be coming back regularly for ideas and help in my own journey, thanks for putting this all together in such a concise way!
That’s awesome – thanks David! I’m glad you found your way here. 🙂
Many thanks for your tips and information.
Bookmarked your website. So much to learn from you 🙂 I am so glad that I found your blog post. thanks a lot for this, very motivating .
Thanks for reading!
Hey Adam, this is an excellent article. I was genuinely getting tired of reading articles that say bloggers fail because they are not passionate enough. Thanks for writing this. And yes, I would agree that everybody is in it for money, the one’s not making any money from it are simply the ones who are unable to. Cheers!
Love it – thanks for reading Komal. 🙂
Do you think i should target long-tail keywords for my five blog pillars. I am a freelance web designer btw.
Nope, those are harder to get links to and I’d consider that thinking too small.
Hey Adam, it’s been a while since I read such an eye-opening post.
You’re right, traditional blogging that focuses on the blog itself and getting lots and lots of content published isn’t going that well anymore.
Most bloggers get it wrong because they think and act like a blogger – they blog.
Instead, we should really work on the marketing and monetization part.
Thanks for your insightful guide. I learned a lot here and am going to apply what I’ve discovered.
Cheers,
Shawn
Glad you enjoyed it – thanks for reading Shawn.
I was genuinely getting tired of reading articles that say bloggers fail because they are not passionate enough. Thanks for writing this. And yes, I would agree that everybody is in it for money, the one’s not making any money from it are simply the ones who are unable to. Cheers!
very useful for newbie to understand thanks …
Hi Adam! Despite the fact that this post has been created for quite a period of time, I feel as though I’m watching a box-office hit movie while reading your blog post! Jammed packed with stunning informations, tips and tricks.
I want to thank you for creating this kind of post.
I’m bringing back a whole new level of informations for my blog.
I will leave you with this last request: Would you mind if we (the new bloggers) to CTRL + C your brains? Haha
Cheers!~
Haha thanks Nazeef!
Thank you, you opened my mind to another world. The reality is hard but sincere, but you also help in what a new blogger should focus on.
It is an amazing post and you explained in a detailed way. Nice to see this here. I will bookmark your blog for more details. Keep sharing the new things like this.
Wow, this is the kind of article about blogging I’ve been looking for!
One question, if I’m not getting any readers to my blog and I create a pillar post doesn’t that mean that it won’t be seen by many people because I’m not getting traffic, how do I keep it evergreen?
None of your articles will be seen when you’re first starting out. The goal is to write every post based on a target keyword and build up your site’s authority so that it can start ranking on Google. It usually takes at least 3-6 months to see any traffic results. You can keep it evergreen by making it valuable over time – most topics don’t change all that much and a blog is not a news site.
Hey Adam.
Long-time reader, first time commenter. I read through most of your posts, but I have to say that this one, as well as the link building and guest-posting ones, has been the most insightful and eye-opening for me. I can’t believe I stumbled upon such a gem of yours only today!
As mentioned, it is possible to charge upwards of $3,000 per client per month for consulting services, which comes at no surprise given that B2B SaaS companies deal with some of the biggest online budgets. How many hours of consulting would you say a company would get for purchasing these $3,000-$5,000 services? Or, since different companies have different needs, could you name a rough estimate of how many hours do you dedicate to working with them?
I’m in a similar, but slightly different niche which caters more to the individual, and thus still trying to work out whether there is any need for consulting or coaching services there. 🙂
Thanks a bunch in advance and hoping to keep seeing lots of your kickass content man!
Thanks Eddy! It’s really not at all about hours, but the value you’re providing. For example, if you’re providing SEO services, you could be getting them backlinks and that could take you 1-2 hours a month. Alternatively, you could be offering SEO content planning which could take 10-20 hours/month. It really depends on the value you’re providing and is not about the time commitment. I recommend reading the book Million Dollar Consulting Proposals to get a feel for the concepts behind solution-based selling.
Seriously great article, Adam! I too agree that you need a strategy more than anything and write strategically rather than randomly. I too was able to grow one of my blogs from DA1 – DA7 just from 3 guest posts I wrote just 6 weeks after I had my baby 🙂 After I saw those results I ditched my old blog and started a new one on the right foot. But I do have one question for you in regards to outsourcing guest posts: Do you still outsource it, even if the guidelines state that the content has to be written by you? Because I noticed most guest blog guidelines clearly state rules like this or similar. Thanks in advance and rock on, Kris from MommiesMakingCents
Yes, you can still outsource it. Just make sure it is still high quality and that you check it when you receive the draft. 🙂
Hi Adam. Playing devil’s advocate here: B2B obviously has more money than many individual consumers, however it’s very unlikely the affiliate link will work: an employee can notice your post and use your link once, but they won’t be the decision maker, especially in wealthy companies. It’ll have to go through several approval stages and very likely the person who will actually be buying an item won’t be using your affiliate link and most likely will email a PO/contract to the company – this is how companies work. As a result, it is rather surprising to read an advice about B2B. Also, it seems to me that you yourself are targeting individuals in your blogs, not B2B audience. Your comments are welcome.
The sweet spot for affiliate revenue is a $30-$100 product with a 30% recurring commission – software that is widely known with good conversion rates, and an easy self service checkout. So on the small business side of B2B. Enterprise software typically plays in the CPC space and they don’t have affiliate programs.
I totally agree with your all points I am also a blogger and working on my I site. in the last month my DA was 4 but now after doing guest posting and link building it is moved from 4 to 11. is it not a good improvement?
Yes, that is a good improvement.