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If you have been running a blog for awhile, it’s likely you’ve built an audience or following over the years. Now that you have a base of loyal readers, you may be wondering how you can monetize your blog and turn it from a side hobby to a business. While making money from a blog is hard work, it can be profitable for people willing to put in the time. As you work towards earning an income from an existing blog, remember to keep your audience and their interests in mind. To get started, here’s how you can make the transition from blog to business.
Give Your Business a Professional Presence
If you want to start a business, you’ll need to make sure you officially start up a business. You might already be doing some things as a self-employed person, in which case you may be running your blog as part of an existing business. If you need to start a new business, make sure you do all the official and legal stuff that’s necessary. Services like Legal Zoom or My Corporation offer business start-up services that make setting up your legal business easy.
You’ll also want your business to have a professional presence, especially if you work from home. Get an online mailbox for your business and you can use a physical address. It will look not only look more professional than display your home address, it’ll also protect your privacy.
Sell Branded Products
One way to promote and make money from your new blog business is to sell products related to your brand. Branded products can include a lot of things, from clothing with your logo on it to e-books with popular recipes or special resources to share with your audience. It’s a fairly unobtrusive way to start making some money, as long as you don’t promote your products too much. If you feel like your blog doesn’t already have a strong brand, you might need to work on building your brand before expecting others to buy your products.
Look for Opportunities That Work for Your Audience
If you’re going to look for money-making methods like blog advertising, sponsorship, or brand promotion, you need to keep your audience in mind. Luckily, you likely already have a good idea of what products and topics they like. If you’re not sure, spend some time thinking about what your readers like about your blog. Ask them if you aren’t sure. You don’t want to promote things on your blog that your audience isn’t interested in or will make them visit you less.
Offer Writing or Other Services
Another way to monetize your blog is to use it to promote writing or other services you want to offer. You might have a special skill set you can monetize. If you are a great writer, you can sell your writing skills. Are you a social media expert? Promote your marketing knowledge. Use your blog to share your video or podcast production or other skills.
If you’re ready to take your blog to the next level hopefully, these tips will help make the transition from blog to business easier.
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