Home How to Make Money
Category:

How to Make Money

Are you excited about the idea of creating your first blogging product? Are you not sure where to start? These 5 ideas will...
BloggingHow to Make Money

How to Launch Your First Blogging Product

by Jen Snyder
written by Jen Snyder

*This post contains affiliate links. Thank you so much for your support!

Hands down making money from my own products is my favorite way to make money in my blogging business. It is so rewarding to see someone succeed from something you have created on your own.

But how do you do it? Where do you even start?

In the final installment of my series “How to Actually Make Money Blogging,” I share with you the steps I do to create and launch my successful products. If I can do it, you can do it too!

Related posts in this series:

Are you ready to make money blogging through your first eBook or course? Check out my 5 tips to get started making your own blogging products!

1. Pre-Test Your Own Products

One of the best ways to make money online is to create your own products. I absolutely love selling my own products for three reasons. First, I keep 100% of the profits. Not bad right?! Second, I control all sales and the products itself. Third, it is super rewarding to create something from scratch that helps people.

But I also know that it can be scary to sell your own products. What if you put all this hard work into it and no one buys it?

It’s soul crushing and it happens. It has happened to me.

My Fantastic Freebies course was first created for real estate agents. I had a ton of success with landing pages and created a course to teach Realtors how to do it. I had everything set up perfect. I wrote blog posts about the subject. I created freebies around the topic. I then presented and awesome webinar about landing pages. At every turn people told me how awesome I was and how great the content was.

Then I went to sell the course during my webinar.

And not one single person bought it.

Soul crushing. Curl up in a ball and cry on your husband’s shoulder, soul crushing.

So yeah, I’ve been there. I have created a course and watched it flop. But you know what? I learned more from that experience than I did the ones where I was successful.

Instead of staying in the fetal position, I drug myself up by the bootstraps and took a look at what I did wrong.

The biggest mistake I made? I didn’t pre-test the course. I didn’t find out before I created it, if anyone wanted the course. I could have saved myself a lot of time and heartache by running a pre-test. The pre-test would have shown me if anyone was even interested in this subject.

So I went back to the drawing board. I asked my email readers if they were interested in a course like this and what they would want to see in it. I asked in real estate Facebook groups if this would be something they would like.

When I got my feedback I went back and tweaked my approach. I started over with a lot more knowledge in my pocket.

I did the webinars again based off this new information and pitched my new course. Over the course of the next few months, I made a little over $12,000 on that one course.

Yes, it pays to pre-test!

I have seen so many online business owners create a course that nobody wanted. They worked their tails off, created amazing content, and then no one bought it. I have seen online business owners quit over this and who can blame them. It hurts.

But they all made one fatal flaw. They didn’t pre-test their idea. They didn’t ask their audience what they wanted or if they would pay for a course like theirs. They assumed they knew what people wanted and were bitterly disappointed when it didn’t work.

The easiest way to not have this happen to you is to take time and run a simple pre-test. Get your idea validated before you sink your heart and soul into it!

Action Step: Create a list of ideas that you could turn into an ebook, a membership site, a course, or a service. The simplest one to start with is an ebook or a service. Then post this question to your email subscribers: “Would you be interested in a course/service/ebook about X topic? What would you like to see included about this topic?” Pre-test and validate your idea before you create one piece of content for your product or service!

2. Decide on What to Create

Now that you have some ideas of what your readers want you to create, it’s time to create it! This is where the fun starts– you are on your way to creating your very first product!

The first thing you will want to decide is what kind of product you are going to create. Are you going to create a service? Write an ebook? Create a course? Here are the pros and cons of each.

eBook

Pros:

  • Super easy to start with to create your first product.
  • Usually less time consuming than a course or membership site.
  • It won’t cost you a lot of money to get started.
  • Great way to test the waters to see if people will buy from you.
  • Opens the potential to turn it into a course for more profit.
  • eBooks are easy to scale. You can create passive income through your courses.

Cons:

  • Typically you can’t charge as much for an eBook as you could a course, services, or a membership site.

Course

Pros:

  • Typically sell for a higher dollar amount so there is potential for greater profit.
  • More in depth way of helping your readers solve a problem.
  • Not overly expensive to get started with courses.
  • Courses are easy to scale. You can create passive income through your courses.

Cons:

  • Creating courses can be more time consuming.
  • There are more technical details involved with creating a course.

Services (Coaching, Virtual Assistant, Consulting, Freelancing)

Pros:

  • You get the chance to work one-to-one doing impactful work with your clients.
  • In most cases you can charge more for services than you can eBooks, courses or membership sites.
  • It is inexpensive to get started with offering services.

Cons:

  • You are trading dollars for hours. It is harder to scale with services.
  • You will need to find time in your schedule to work with your clients and work on your business.

Membership Site

Pros:

  • There is a recurring revenue model with membership sites.
  • You have the opportunity to really get to know the people you are helping.
  • You aren’t constantly launching and re-launching your products.

Cons:

  • There is a lot of upfront work to launch a membership site.
  • There are a lot of technical details to figure out for the software, plugins, etc.
  • It is more time consuming than creating a course or eBook.

There is no right way to get started when it comes to launching your first product. I have tried a mix of all the above before I settled on how I want to make money in my business.

But I will tell you, the first thing I started with was an eBook and I am so glad I did. When I first sold Find Your Tribe Online, it was an eBook for $7. The reason I started with an eBook at such a low cost is because I wanted to test the waters. I wanted to see if people would buy from me. It is a lot easier to crash and burn on a $7 eBook that took a week to put together, than a $67 course that took months to put together.

Starting small gave me the confidence that I could create a product that my audience needed. It gave me the confidence that they would buy from me. It gave me the confidence that I could actually make money online! 

Action Step: Based on your research from your pre-test, decide on the type of product you will create. Remember you can always start small to build your confidence. Then grow your products as your confidence and your business grows! 

3. Create Your Product

The Writing Process

A question I get asked all the time is how do you find the time to write your books or courses? My answer: you have to make it a priority.

When I am writing a book or a course, it is my number one focus. I lay out everything I have to complete for the product, and then I create a schedule to get it done. I aim to work on it for at least 2 hours every day. If I can sneak away from home for a weekend to work on it even better.

When I am writing my course or book, other things will give and that’s okay. I don’t write blog posts. I am not as active on social media. My 100% focus is on creating my new product. That’s the only way I can get it done!

Resources

Another question I get asked a lot is what tools do I use for creating and hosting my products? Here are a few of my favorite resources:

GoogleDocs: I write all my books in GoogleDocs!

Canva: Canva is what I use to make everything look pretty. I will sometimes create content for my eBooks in Canva too.

Thrive Landing Pages: I create all my sales pages using Thrive. I get a ton of compliments on them so I know it works! Thrive is an easy-to-use WordPress plugin that makes creating a landing page easy peasey.

SendOwl: I am a huge fan of SendOwl! I used SendOwl to host my eBooks. All I had to do was connect SendOwl to PayPal and upload my eBook. From there I was given a link that I put on my sales page and I was ready to sell!

Teachable or Thinkific: Teachable and Thinkific are great options for hosting your courses. For a nominal fee they take care of hosting your course and payments for your course.

LifterLMS: If you are techy and stubborn like me, LifterLMS is an awesome option for creating your own platform to host your courses and eBooks. I host all mine on a separate WordPress site using the LifterLMS plugin.

Creating your first product is so much fun! It’s exciting to know you are creating something that is going to help people. The anticipation of creating something from your own brain that will make you money. It is just fun!

Yes it is a lot of work. And like creating an opt-in offer, there will be a lot of trial and error. But I promise you the rewards are well worth it!

Price it Out

One question that I see asked all the time is “what do I price my product or service at?”

First, there is no right or wrong price. Your clients will tell you what they are willing to pay for your product.

But you do have to start somewhere. What I do is research what similar products are selling for in my niche. For example, if other bloggers are selling their courses at $67, I would be selling myself short if I sold my course for $17. On the other hand, if other bloggers are selling courses at $67 and I price mine at $247, I might price myself out of the market.

Do research and then try out a number that feels good to you. You won’t know what people are willing to pay unless you put it out there!

Action Step: Map out your plan to create your first product. First, decide what it will be. Second, create a schedule for creating content for your product. Third decide on a sales system (Thrive, SendOwl, etc.) Fourth, start creating with a firm deadline to get it done!

4. Launch Your Product

Ah, launching a product. There’s nothing quite like that adrenaline rush! The thrill of possibility. The thrill of hundreds of people buying it. The thrill of creating something that will really help people.

Yup, I love launching!

But there is a science to a successful launch. I’ve had good launches, mediocre ones, and really bad ones. The key to a great launch is preparing yourself and your audience.

Here’s a few examples of a flat or mediocre launch:

  • You create your product and share it with your email list one time. No follow-up, no deadlines. Just an email saying “hey, here’s my product, buy it now!”
  • You create a product and share it only on your Facebook page. Same idea as above. You share it once and ask people to buy it. No follow-up or deadlines.
  • You share your product all over Facebook groups for their promo days. You hope that your one post will be enough for people to buy it.
  • Host a webinar to sell your product and only a few show up because they didn’t get email reminders about the webinar.

Now you may have a few people buy your product, but a few sales won’t get you to your dreams. Your dreams of quitting your job or traveling the country full time. In fact, these few sales will discourage you.

You will start to think there is something wrong with your product. And then you go down the rabbit hole in your mind. The rabbit hole that looks like this:

“If there is something wrong with my product, there is something wrong with my business, and I should quit.”

Dramatic?

Yes.

But it is real. I have seen it happen to people I care about. I have seen people make these mistakes when launching their products.

The truth is, there was nothing wrong with their products. In fact they were perfectly great! It’s that their strategy to launch them wasn’t that great.

I think people do these sort of half-launches for one of two reasons:

  • They aren’t sure how to launch their product.
  • They are scared to put their product out there.

Both these reasons are legitimate! If you have never launched a product before how do you know what you are supposed to do? How do you know that you are supposed to do lead-ins to launch day and follow-up emails after? If you aren’t experienced in sales you may think all you have to do is announce your product once and the money will roll in. (Not so much by the way.)

The other reason people have these half-launches is because they are scared. They are scared to put themselves out there. They are scared if they put themselves out there no one will buy. They are scared to fail. They are scared people will buy it and say it isn’t good.

So the easier thing to do is to half-launch it, not expecting it to go anywhere. That way you don’t have to live with the disappointment of it not working out.

How do I know all this? Because I have been there.

Because I have been scared and done a half-launch. And it sucked.

So what can you do to overcome either not knowing how to launch or to get past the fear?

First, you educate yourself. Educate yourself on every aspect about how to launch a product.

Second, you punch fear in the face and you jump off the cliff.

Then you come up with a plan on how to launch your first product. My pre-launch plan usually goes something like this:

  • Determine launch date so I can work backwards and publish content.
  • Write at least 3 blog posts before launch date about the topic I am covering in the product.
  • Create an opt-in offer for those blog posts that coincides with the blog posts and the products.
  • Do at least 6 Facebook Lives in my Women Winning Online Facebook group about the topic.
  • Share 1-3 tips a day on my social media sites about the topic.
  • Make sure I am consistently emailing my list every week with tons of value.
  • Write 1-3 guest posts about the topic, time permitting.
  • Doc Facebook group promo days and share only my opt-in offers to help grow my email list ahead of the launch.

In my previous business, I have also used Facebook ads to help me have more success with my launch. Facebook ads, when done right, will help you reach a ton of people. But done wrong, they can cost you a small fortune!

I do all the pre-launch work to warm up my audience to my new product. I work to educate them and answer any questions they may have about the topic. Then comes the launch! My launch strategy looks something like this:

  • Do a webinar about the product.
  • Send initial email about the product. Offer a special price only good for the next 5-7 days.
  • Announce the product in my Facebook group.
  • Wait 2 days, send 1st follow-up email asking if people have questions about the product.
  • Share a post or do a Facebook Live asking for any questions about the product.
  • Wait 2 more days, send 2nd email talking about the benefits of the product.
  • Share a post or do a Facebook Live discussing the benefits of the product.
  • Wait 2 more days, send 3rd email explaining how it will help my readers.
  • Send final email with price going up announcement.
  • Share final Facebook post about the price going up for the product.

As you can see, launching a product is INTENSE! But there’s a wrong way and a right way to do it. The effort you put in is the results you can expect to see. If you do a half-launch, you will see lackluster results. If you put in your all when you launch, your hard work will pay off with sales!

Action Step: Before you launch your product create a launching plan. Schedule it at least 30 days out from your actual launch date. This will give you enough time to warm up your audience and show them you are here to help!

5. Get More Sales

After the big launch is over take a day or two and give yourself a break. Launching is hard work! You deserve to put your feet up with a good book and a glass of wine. This is true whether you made 1 sale or 100.

Once your break is over, it is time to evaluate what worked and what didn’t work. What you could do better and what went right this time.

Then it is time to go out there and get more sales!

The key to making consistent income every month is to come up with a plan to bring in new sales. You have to go out there and find your people. You can’t sit back and hope people will show up to your site and buy. You have to create a plan of how to attract people to your site and your products.

Here are some ideas on how you can consistently bring in sales every month on your products:

  • Opt-in offer + tripwire. Offer people a special deal right after they sign up for your freebie. I do this on the thank you page after someone signs up.
  • Opt-in offer + sales funnel. Offer people a special deal via email.
  • Guest posts about your product.
  • Pinterest pins that lead to your product, tripwire, and sales funnel.
  • Sharing in Facebook groups on promo days
  • Sharing on your social media sites a few times a week.
  • Offering discounts every month
  • Exclusive offer to email subscribers only.
  • Including it in your weekly email to your subscribers.

Action Step: This step is all about experimenting! Pick three ideas and create a plan of how you are going to bring in new sales every month. Work on the three ideas consistently until they are bringing in sales for your business. Then experiment with more ideas!

In Conclusion

Making money from your own products is a great way to turn your blog into a profitable business. You are helping people succeed through something you created from your own brain! To me that’s a win-win! Plus the added benefit is you control the product 100% and get 100% of the profits. Not bad right?!

To create your own product, follow these steps, and you are sure to have a hit on your hands!

  1. Pre-test Your Ideas
  2. Decide What to Create
  3. Start developing your own ebooks or courses
  4. Launch/Pick a launch date for your first course or book
  5. Continue to grow your business by adding more people to your funnel

What are your thoughts on creating your first product? Does it excite you or overwhelm you? Please share your thoughts in the comments below! Thank you for commenting!

2 comments
1 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedin
BloggingHow to Make Money

5 Key Steps to Make Money Blogging

by Jen Snyder
written by Jen Snyder

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting me!

Alright my awesome blogging business owner, are you ready to really make money on your blog? Heck yes you are!

In the first post in this series, I told you about what you need to do to get ready to make money blogging. Now let’s talk about how to actually start making sales. You know, actual $$$.

In this post I am going to share with you exactly what I did to start making a full time income from my blogging business. This post is all about finding your people and giving to them before asking.  It is also about getting comfortable with that one “s” word. It is about getting started with the easiest way to start making money online.

Let’s get serious and make some money my friend!

Are you ready to make money blogging? Click through to learn the 5 key steps you need to do to make money on your blog!

1. Find Your People

In the last post, you defined who your ideal client is. You know what she needs, what she wants. You know what she struggles with and what her dreams are.

You know a lot about her, now it’s time to go find her!

This part of the process is so important. You can’t just blog, hope people will find you, and then buy your stuff. “Build it and they will come” is so cute for a Hollywood script. But it doesn’t work for business and it won’t work for yours.

So where do you find your people? You go where they are hanging out online!

Ideas include:

  • Other Facebook pages
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Other Bloggers’ Posts

If you want to make money from your business you have to go out there and find people to actually buy from you. If you don’t find your people, you can’t make sales. You can’t make money. It’s as simple as that.

Now I don’t want you to get overwhelmed by this. I am not telling you to go to every website on that list and start interacting with your potential readers.

Whew right?!

Who has time for that?!

What I am saying is pick your top 1-2 sites and work on connecting with people that way. A a blogger, you must start with Pinterest. Pinterest will drive traffic to your site even when you aren’t promoting it.

After you have mastered your top 2 sites and seeing the results you want, move onto the next site on your list. But do not feel like you have to do it all at once. If you do that you will so get burnt out!

Action Step: Do some research and find out where your ideal clients are hanging out. Is it Pinterest or Facebook groups? Or is it actually LinkedIn. Do your research, then make a list of the sites you want to tackle. Make a plan of how you are going to do that! Remember, you can’t make money from your blogging business if you can’t find your people!

Are you struggling to find out where your people are hanging out online? Or do you not have time to do all that research? I hear you my friend! This is why I did it for you! Buy Find Your Tribe Online today and start connecting with your ideal client right now! 

Find your tribe online and grow your blog!

2. Give Lots of Value

Now that you have found your people, your new potential readers it’s time to give them tons of value. What is value? Such a loaded word right?!

Value is helping people. It is serving people. It is doing it all from the goodness of your own heart. And for free.

In a more tangible way, value is sharing blog and social media posts about your topic. It is tips to your audience that will help them grow. It is sharing other people’s blog posts that you know will help your audience. It is going into Facebook groups and answering questions.

Here’s an example of how you can create this “value” with your audience:

  • Go into three different Facebook groups in your niche. Look for questions that you can answer to help others in your niche. Do this at least 3 times a week.
  • Add tips to your Facebook page. Short 1-3 sentences that will help your readers.
  • Publish one blog post a week and share it on group boards in your niche.

Being consistent shows your new readers a few things. First that you know what you are talking about when it comes to your niche.

Second, that you care about your readers. That you are there to truly help them, not to only make money from them.

Third, it shows that you are someone they can count on. You are there day in and day out giving them information they need. The know you are someone they can trust. This is so important when building any kind of following online.

Giving lots and lots of value will help you to build your audience and grow your tribe. It will show them that you are serious about helping them. It will show them that you are the go-to expert when it comes to your niche. What a great combo right?!

Action Step: Get out a piece of paper or open a Google Doc. Brainstorm three ways you can help your audience today. Then add your ideas to your calendar so it actually gets done. Ideas for content are endless so don’t try to overdo it or you will get overwhelmed! Pick 3 ideas and start implementing right away!

For a list of content ideas, check out my Social Media Planner for Bloggers! 

Click to download your social media planner!

3. Build Your Email List

Your email list is the key to growing your blogging business and making money online. Bloggers are always so surprised when I say this, but it is true!

Why is email so important? Especially in this social media day and age?

Because email is more personal. Yes we are making connections on social media. But email is where we are getting personal with our readers. I have gotten so many emails where people pour their hearts out to me and ask for help. This is not something most people feel comfortable doing over social media.

I liken this to going to a party. Let’s say you’re at a party with 100 people. You aren’t going to stand in the middle of the room and share about your marriage problems. Or that you’re $50,000 in debt or that your son is in therapy. Right? That would be uncomfortable, awkward, and embarrassing.

But you will stand in a corner and be honest with your closest friend. You will tell her what is really going on in your life– both good and bad. Why? Because you feel safe. You know she won’t judge you. You trust her.

See how that is for social media too? You aren’t going to go into a Facebook group of 1,000 people and share all your troubles. But you will share with one person over email because it feels safer.

The other reason an email list is so important is because there is less competition. For example, when you post on Facebook you are competing with so much noise. Funny cat videos, pictures of cute babies, and news from friends and family across the world. Plus don’t forget about the ads!

On email there is less competition. Yes, we get a ton of emails. But we have to do something with them right?! The key is to have a catchy subject line that will appeal to your readers. All you need to do is stand out and be consistent.

An email list helps you build your relationship with your readers. It will also help you sell your first products. But first you must start it and then SEND emails. You can’t only collect email addresses. You need to actually get in the habit of weekly sending out emails to your list.

This way they are connected to you and you aren’t only emailing them when you want them to buy something from you. We have all been on lists like that and it’s super annoying. It goes back to giving a ton of value before you ask for the sale.

Not sure what to send in your email newsletter? Check out my free email worksheet and be confident in sending out a newsletter people will love!

Action Step: The steps to building an email list look like this:

  1. Decide on an email provider. I use and love ConvertKit. It is well worth the money!
  2. Create a freebie that rocks! 
  3. Get it all on a landing page. I use Thrive for all my landing pages. Super affordable and super easy to use! 
  4. Promote your freebie everywhere!

Does building an email list overwhelm you? Are you not sure where to start? Check out my course Fantastic Freebies! I walk you through it all step-by-step!

4. Get Comfortable with the “S” Word

I am going to be bold with this next statement. If you can’t get comfortable with selling, you won’t ever make money blogging.

Ever.

I know this is a brutal statement, but I want to be 100% upfront and honest with you. Unless you can be okay with selling you will struggle to make money blogging.

I think the word sales has gotten an unfair rap in our culture. When we think of sales, we think of an icky used car salesman looking to sell us a car.

At least I did….until I married a guy that sold used cars.

My husband is a natural born salesman. He started his first sales gig selling Cutco knives on the streets of Chicago– the city, not the suburbs. Not an easy crowd to sell to by any means. He has sold everything from knives to Schwan’s food to cars.

He loves sales!

I know there are those of you reading this who are completely shuddering at the thought of loving sales. You are thinking how can he actually love sales?

Easy. It’s his perspective.

He loves helping people. He looks at selling as a way of helping people. Listening to their problems and helping them find a solution to it. This is why he could sell knives, cars, insurance, and really anything. He cares about helping people.

Now that’s interesting when you think about it that way isn’t it? Isn’t your blog founded on the same purpose? The purpose of helping people?

When you put it into perspective selling isn’t that much different than blogging. You are selling your blog posts when you write them. You are selling them when you pin them on Pinterest. You are selling them when you share them on Facebook group promo days.

You are selling already and you didn’t know it. Now you need to get comfortable putting a dollar amount to what you are selling. A lot of times this comes down to mindset and believing in yourself. Other times it comes down to educating yourself on something you don’t know how to do.

Are scared about the idea of selling anything on your blog either your product or someone else’s? It is time to punch fear in the face, and do it. I don’t know about you, but when I am scared I learn everything I can and then I jump in.

If you are scared or even the teeniest bit nervous about selling, get educated, and get out there and do it!

Action Step: If selling makes you nervous, first write one paragraph about why it scares you. Get all the icky and negative feelings out.

Next get educated! My husband recommends these four books for anyone that is nervous about selling:

I also have a friend that produces a podcast about sales called Sales Babble. Pat has great tips for overcoming the fear of sales!

5. Start with Affiliate Programs

The easiest way to start making money on your blog is through affiliate programs. First, you don’t have to create anything like an eBook or a course. Second, if you are nervous about sales, it is far easier to promote someone else’s product then it is your own.

I have to admit, the idea of affiliate sales completely stressed me out and overwhelmed me. How do you even start? Which ones do you choose? Amazon alone has millions of products you can sell and earn an affiliate commission.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by affiliate sales, try out my strategy. Pick 3-5 affiliate programs that match your niche. Don’t try to do them all. That’s where the overwhelm starts. Pick a few that solves your niches problem. Then go out there and promote them.

For example, here are my main affiliates that I promote:

  • Thrive: Landing pages, lead boxes, headline testing, and more
  • ConvertKit: The best email marketing service out there for bloggers
  • ThemeForest: Excellent and professional blog themes for cheap!

Once you have a list of affiliate programs you like, it’s time to get out there and sell them. Here are some ideas of how you can promote affiliate programs:

  • Create a resources page with all your favorite tools. Include links to your affiliate programs.
  • Send out an email to your list about the affiliate program and how it has helped you.
  • Create a social media post and share your testimonial about the affiliate program.
  • Create a freebie about the affiliate program. This could be a free workbook or cheatsheet about how to use the affiliate program.
  • Create a pin on Pinterest that leads to the affiliate program.

There are so many ways to make money through affiliate programs. The best part is you don’t have to reinvent the wheel and create something from scratch. You can use someone else’s work and earn a commission promoting a product you love!

Action Step: Create a list of 3-5 affiliate programs you can start promoting today. Then next to each program, write down how you will promote them. Then schedule it into your calendar and start selling!

In Conclusion

In the second part of my series, “How to go from blog to profitable business” we covered how to:

  • actually find people to buy your products.
  • give value to your audience first.
  • build an email list.
  • get comfortable with that dreaded “s” word.
  • start making easy money through affiliate marketing.

In the final installment of this series, I am going to show you how to make money through your own products! Yay! I am going to show you how I have created eBooks and courses that have helped thousands of women. Products that have allowed me to go from hobby blogger to full time income blogger. If I can do it, I promise you, you can do it too! Stay tuned!

What do you think about these steps? How do you feel about the dreaded sales word? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

P.S. If you like this post, I would love it if you pin it to remember later and to share with others that might like it. Thank you! 

4 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedin
BloggingHow to Make Money

How to Actually Make Money Blogging

by Jen Snyder
written by Jen Snyder

Start a blog, reach thousands of people, and make tons of money. You can retire early, travel and live the life!

Sounds wonderful doesn’t it?!

So you jump in with both feet. You are so excited! You are writing about a topic you love and are passionate about. You know the money is going to come in at any second.

But then it doesn’t. And you have no idea why. You are writing great posts, putting yourself out there, and even have ads on your site. Yet you are no closer to making money blogging than when you started.

Why aren’t you making money blogging if you are doing everything right?!

Because you are missing one key thing. One key ingredient to actually make money blogging.

A plan.

Wait what?! This isn’t business school. It’s blogging. Why do you need a plan?

Because if you don’t have an actual plan to make money you won’t in fact make money with your blog.

In this series, I am going to cover each step you need to take to turn your blog into a profitable blogging business. To take it from hobby to money. And the first steps start with you and getting your mindset straight. It starts with getting your brain ready to make money from your blogging business. Getting yourself ready to make your wildest dreams come true!

Confused on how to really make money blogging? Click through to read the 7 steps you need to do to make money as a blogger...

1. Blog or Business?

The first thing you have to decide is whether you want a blog or a business. A blog that makes money every once in a while is not a business and that’s okay. A business has goals with a plan and steps to meet those goals.

Whenever I do anything I like to start with the end in mind. What is my end goal? What results do I want to see? This is what you need to do when you start a blog. What is your end goal with your blog? What results do you want to see with your blog?

Did you start your blog:

  • So you can quit your job and blog full-time?
  • So you can retire early?
  • To pay off mounting credit card and student loan debt?
  • To help put your kids through college?
  • So you can live off the income from your blog and travel the world?
  • To retire your husband so he can work at home with you?

Then I have news for you. You have started a business, not a blog. Don’t be scared by this, it is exciting! I LOVE small business owners! They are some of the bravest and smartest people on the planet. You are one of them.

You have dreams and ambitions to do more than settle for a ton of debt. Or working a job you hate until you can finally retire. Only the brave can put their hand up and say “No. No more. That won’t be me. I want something different.”

Now, there is nothing wrong with blogging to blog. There are a ton of blogs out there that are hobby blogs that make no money. There are plenty of bloggers that do it just for fun.

But if you started your blog with the end goal of making money to meet one of your needs, you have a business, not a blog. Your first step in making money blogging is to decide that your blog is in fact a business.

Action Step: Write this down and say it out loud every day. “I am a business owner, not only a blogger. I own my own business.”

2. What is Your Why?

Talking about your why is trendy right now and for good reason. Owning a small business is HARD work. There are many late nights and early mornings. Days where you work for free. Working 60 hours a week to make only pennies.

No, being self-employed, much like parenting, is not for the faint of heart. But it is oh so rewarding. You are hooked the first time a client says to you “Wow, you helped me! I couldn’t have done this without you.” That feeling, that rush is like nothing else!

There are peaks and valleys of self-employment. Knowing your why, will get you through the hard times, and back up to the peaks.

I have several whys that have kept me going over the last 15 years of self-employment.

I want to:

  • Share my love of God with believers and non-believers.
  • Retire my husband so we can work on our businesses together and have more freedom as a family.
  • Continue to stay home with my children so I am here when they are sick or after school or just plain need me.
  • Not have to work for anyone else again because I am not so good at being told what to do. 😉

But there is one big, fat, hairy, audacious goal that is pushing me right now. One big goal that gets my butt out of bed when my alarm clock goes off at 4:15am.

I want to take one year off and travel the United States in our 5th wheel. I want to show our kids the country. I want to have a nomadic lifestyle. I want to have that bonding time as a family. I want to travel and hit the open road.

The only way to make this dream come true is to have a business that isn’t location dependent. This is my big why right now!

We all have our typical whys. “I want to retire my husband.” “I want to pay off my student loans.” “I want to be a stay-at-home-mom.” I share these whys with you and they are great ones! But I am a big believer in having a tangible why that keeps you going at 4:15am when everyone else is sleeping. A big dream that keeps you motivated when you don’t feel like you can keep going. Dream high and dream big. Find your why that will keep you going through the thick and thin of being a business owner.

Action Step: Dream! Take 10 minutes in quiet silence and dream! Pick your big why and envision it happening. Envision your husband working from home everyday. See your family taking off in your RV to travel for a year. Then create a vision board with your big dream. Stare at it, pray over it, and meditate on it everyday and especially when things get tough.

3. Believe In Yourself

We’ve established that being a business owner is hard work. It’s also hard on the heart. You must have a steady stream of confidence at the ready when things get to you on the inside.

What kinds of things?

Comparison, jealousy, and critics.

Well there are times when you will compare yourself to others. Something like “Wow, she is such a great writer, making more money, and helping more people. I must be terrible at this.”

 

I love Jon’s quote. Whenever I start to compare myself to other’s I remember this quote. I also remind myself that I don’t know that person’s story. They could have 5 failed blogs and this is the one that finally worked out for them. We don’t know what’s underneath someone else’s success story. So stay in your lane and be proud of what you have accomplished!

Another feeling that comes up is the ugly, old, green monster. Jealousy. “I launched my course and only 20 people bought it. She launched her course and sold out within 30 minutes.”

Jealousy is normal, but you can’t let it consume you. Instead turn it into an opportunity. Look at what the person did and use it to improve your next launch, blog posts, or Facebook group. Look at the thing you are jealous about and turn it into a learning experience for you.

Then there’s the critics. The more success you have, the more critics you will get. I think critics pick on people because they are jealous. But never fear, you will know you have “made it” when people start to criticize your work.

I’m not gonna lie. It hurts. I think you can have the thickest skin in the world, but when someone criticizes your work it hurts. This work is a part of you, it’s your words. You have to find a way to deal with those comments.

My personal favorite way to deal with my critics? I pray for them. I feel the feelings and then I pray for them. I pray for whatever is going on in their lives that caused them to lash out at me to be fixed, healed, and restored.

Then I go read my testimonial book. 🙂

My testimonial book is filled with kind words that people send me over email and social media. These messages remind me that I am good at what I do and that I am helping people. I encourage you to create your own testimonial book. Whenever someone says even one kind word about you, record it in your testimonial book. Pull out your book when someone criticizes you. Pull it out when you are starting to doubt your abilities. I promise it will lift you up!

Action Step: Take stock of who you are and how you help people before you start your business. Make a list of “I am” statements. “I am good at helping people. I am good at my ‘niche subject. I have what it takes to succeed.” Then keep a testimonial book with your “I am” statements to lift you up when you have rough days.

4. Have a Servant’s Heart

When you first start out in your business you won’t make a lot of money or any at all. It takes time to grow a following, learn about your niche, and figure out how you can help them. Now I am not saying it will take you years and years to turn a profit. If you do it right, you can start making money within six months in my opinion. But up until that point, you must have a servant’s heart.

What I mean by a servant’s heart is that you have to help a whole bunch of people for free before you can ever expect to get paid. People have to know that you care about them before they will spend one cent on your products. They have to know you can help them before they see your products as something they need. You have to reach out to your ideal clients and help them for free. Give them advice. Ask them questions. Get to know them. Help them. And do this all for free.

You want people to trust you and not because you want to make money off of them. You want to build a relationship with them so you can help them. You want to be their friend. Then once you know them better you will be able to develop programs that will continue to serve them.

But it all starts with that servant’s heart. You must truly care about your people and building relationships with them. I promise when you come at this with a servant’s heart, the money will come.

Action Step: Aim every single day to help at least 5 people in your niche. Reach out to them in Facebook groups. Check in with them on Instagram. Get to know them, be their friend, and offer your advice for free.

5. How Are You Going to Make Money

Now that your mindset is ready, it’s time to figure out how you are going to make money. I think this is the number one place bloggers struggle. They don’t create a plan on how to make money from their blog. To see your blog as a business, it has to make money. It has to turn a profit. You have to know HOW you will make money or you will have no direction for your business.

There are so many ways to make money online. Here’s a sampling:

  • Sponsored Posts
  • Ebooks
  • Courses
  • Coaching
  • VA services
  • Social Media Manager
  • Ads
  • Membership Site
  • Affiliate Marketing
  • Stock Photos
  • Consulting

This list is overwhelming isn’t it?! I also think this is where bloggers struggle when it comes to making money online. There are so many ways to do it, how do you focus on what to do?

Again, you have a plan. A plan of how you want to make money.

I will give you an example of my plan. Here is how I plan to make money from my blogging business:

Women Winning Online Income Model

50%: VIP Membership Community

25% My courses + ebooks

25%: Affiliate income

Based on my plan I need to spend at least 50% of my time focused on bringing in new women into my membership community. My main tasks everyday need to revolved around supporting my membership community. The rest of the time I need to focus on promoting my courses and any affiliate programs I am a part of. But the bulk of my effort is bringing new women into my community and supporting them.

This means I am focused more on promoting the membership. I am reaching out more 1:1 and inviting women to join us in the community. I am actively looking for women that want to turn their blogs into a business. I am looking for women that want to work with a community of women that are pursuing the same goals. It is my sole focus.

One thing I don’t have listed on here is coaching. I do some limited 1:1 coaching, but I don’t advertise it and I don’t focus on it. I only take on new coaching clients when people approach me to coach them. This is not something I spend time on to attract new clients which is why it isn’t in my income model.

If you are serious about making money from your blog, you need to figure out how you are going to do it. It doesn’t have to be perfect but you must have a plan. Do you want more sponsored posts or do you want to coach? Do you want to do a little bit of everything? How will you turn your blog into a business and make money?

Action Step: Write down 3 ideas of how you want to profit from your blogging business. Then assign a percentage to each idea. Focus on how you will make money from your highest priority item. Then go out there and do it!

6. Set Your Goals

Now that you know how you want to make money, it’s time to set your goals. If you don’t set goals, you will miss your target every time and you will never get to where you want to be.

I think every online business owner, me included, starts out with this thought:

“I want to make $10,000 a month, every month.”

Whoooeee that sounds nice doesn’t it?! That’s my goal for sure! But guess what, if you start out aiming for $10,000, you will be disappointed when you make $100, $1,000, or $5,000. And that’s kinda sad isn’t it?

So start big, but build up to it. If you aren’t making any money online right now aim for making your first $100. Then shoot for $500, $1,000, and so on and so forth. Rome wasn’t built in a day and your jump to $10,000 won’t happen in a day either. It will start with consistently making money every single month and grow from there.

Once I know how much I want to make every month, I match that number to my plan of how to make money listed above.

For example, let’s say I want to start out making $1,000 a month. It would look like this:

50% Membership Community: $500 or 11 women a month

25% My Courses: $250 or 6 courses a month

25% Affiliate Income: $250

When I drill down like this I can see exactly what I need to do to meet my goals. It becomes more real and more attainable to me.

Action Step: Set your first money goals. Have a big “pie in the sky” number but also start out with a number that is easy for you to hit. Then increase your goals from there. Match it to how you are going to make money to make it tangible. For example, I have goals set at $3,000, $5,000, $7,000 and $10,000.

7. Define Your Ideal Client

Alright, you are on a roll at this point. You have decided yes, you want a blog that is a business. One that makes money and has a plan on how to do it. You are feeling great because you have tackled some serious mindset issues.

Now what?!

Now it’s time to go figure out who you are going to serve! Who are you going to help? Who is your ideal client?

I like to be very specific about this. If you try to capture all the people, you will miss every time. The more you can hone in on your ideal client, the more you will know their feelings and their needs. You will begin to speak their language in your blog posts, opt-in offers, and programs. You will know them inside and out. This is key to running a successful blog and business.

For example, my ideal client looks like this:

  • Is a woman between the ages of 25-60.
  • Wants to start a blog or currently has a blog.
  • Has her blog to make money, not as a hobby.
  • Feels overwhelmed at how to actually make money blogging.
  • Has big dreams for her blogging income, not just dollars but lifestyle.
  • Believes that we are better together.

Once I have the features of my ideal client I can actually begin to see her. I see her face, her shape, and even give her a name. Everything I do at this point revolves around her and her needs. This shapes my blog posts, my marketing messages, and my offerings. I am not selling to a nameless, faceless person at this point. I am helping a real live person turn her blog into a business.

It is so important to sit down and think about who you want to serve. Write down their demographics yes. But also include information about their wants, their dreams, and their fears. I have a posterboard dedicated to my ideal reader. On the posterboard I have listed her good feelings and her bad feelings. This way I am always keeping her at the forefront of my mind when I am working.

Action Steps: Who do you want to work with? Who is your ideal client? Take 20 minutes and write this out. Write out her story, what she needs, and what she wants. The more you know who you want to help, the more you can target your posts, your opt-ins, and your programs.

In Conclusion

In the first part of this series I covered how to start turning your blog into a profitable business. They are:

  1. Blog or Business?
  2. What is Your Why?
  3. Believe in Yourself
  4. Have a Servant’s Heart
  5. How are You Going to Make Money?
  6. Set Your Goals
  7. Define Your Ideal

It is important to get your mindset ready and treat your blog as an actual business. Take the time to figure out why you are doing this and who you want to help. Then put your ideas to goals and numbers. Make a plan of how you will make money every month and what goals you need to hit. This is how you start to turn your hobby blog into a profitable business!

In the second part of this series, I cover how to actually go out there and start making money every single month!

What are you doing to make money blogging? Do you see yourself as only a blogger or a blogger + business owner? Have you made plans to make money blogging? Please share with us in the comments below!

Did you like this post? If yes can you do me a favor and Pin It to Pinterest? Thank you so much my friend!

30 comments
3 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedin
13 Proven Steps to Make Money Blogging
How to Make Money

13 Proven Steps to Make Money Blogging

by Jen Snyder
written by Jen Snyder

The one thing all bloggers want to know is how to make money blogging. We see these blog income reports where people are making $50,000+ a month on their blogs. How do they do it we think? How do they make that kind of money blogging?

I feel that many will not break down their exact strategy of how they make money blogging. Unless you pay them for it of course and I want to change that! I want to share with you how I went from making $59.66 blogging in July to $2,047 in August. These 13 steps are the exact steps I took to start make money blogging with my small blog using my own program.

13 Proven Steps to Make Money Blogging

1. Define My Niche

Before you can make money blogging you must define your niche. This should be a key part of your blogging strategy. Who are you writing to? What do they need from you? What do they want to learn? These are all questions you must answer before you can make money blogging.

One thing I have my clients do is write a story about their niche. Give that person a name and write her story. Write who she is, what she needs, what her life is like, how you can make her better. Instead of focusing on one huge niche, write one person’s story. When you do that it becomes clear who you are writing for and who you need to go out there and find.

For me, I knew my niche is women bloggers that want to grow their blogs, help people, and make money blogging.

Here’s what I know about my niche:

  • They are women between the ages of 28-65.
  • They are passionate about helping people through their writing.
  • The majority of them are moms.
  • They want more traffic to their blogs but they struggle to get it.
  • They don’t have a ton of money to spend on courses or programs.
  • They also don’t have a lot of time to blog. They are fitting it in during the fringe hours.
  • They want to make money blogging but aren’t sure how to. But they see the possibility as wide open!
  • They are the most loyal people when you help them. (Love this about my tribe! So blessed!)

2. Found My Niche

Once I knew my niche I had to go out there and find them. I had to find out where they were hanging out online. Were they in Facebook groups or on Twitter? Could I engage with them on Pinterest? I knew that to make money blogging I had to go out there and find my people.

You can’t just create a product or a course, put it on your blog, and hope people will find it. You have to be active about getting people to your awesome program or course. To do that, you must go out there and find your people. Find your niche and where they are hanging out online.

3. Listened to My Niche

Now that I knew where my niche was hanging out, it was time to get to know them. In my Women Winning Online Facebook group I started to ask questions. In other blogger groups, I asked more questions. I asked what they were struggling with, what they wished their blogs would look like. I asked “if you could wave a magic wand over your blog, what result would you like to see?” I made a Google spreadsheet and I kept track of every answer.

Then I looked for the questions they were asking in my group and other Facebook groups. I made a note of those questions. I also took the time to engage with my niche and answer those questions. You must listen to your niche, really listen to them, if you want to make money blogging. Engage with them, get to know them, share your expertise with them. Above all else pour value into them and help them.

Bonus offer:click arrow button to get your 13 Step Checklist to Make Money Blogging!

4. Built My Email List

While I was doing all this niche seeking and learning, I was also building my email list. I knew that they key to any successful launch is having an email list. I knew that 20% of my email list would buy my program. Out of all 13 steps building my email list was the most important step.

In two months I built my email list to over 500 people. By the time I launched Find Your Tribe Online in August, I had an email list of just over 800 people. In that post I explain how I built my email list so fast.

In short I did the following:

  • Figured out what my niche was struggling with.
  • Created a freebie opt-in offer
  • Put the opt-in offer on a landing page.
  • Shared that landing page in a ton of Facebook groups including my own.
  • Put that link in my bio when I did guest posts.
  • Pinned the landing page on Pinterest.

I also made sure that building my email list was my number one priority. I knew how important my email list would be to the success of my program.

5. Surveyed My Audience

I am huge on sending surveys to my niche. I love to ask them open-ended questions about what they need, what they want. In the last six months I have sent two surveys to my audience. I send them to my email list and share them in my Facebook group. People have been kind in filling out my surveys!

One of the main reasons I love doing surveys is the answers always surprise me! I always think I know what people want, or more correctly, I assume I know what they want. But there are many times I learn what people need through these surveys. This is where most bloggers go wrong when trying to make money blogging. They assume they know what their audience wants. Then they create a product based on that assumption and then get frustrated when it doesn’t sell.

Trust me when I tell you, if you know exactly what it is your niche wants, your product will sell like hot cakes! If you assume, it will fall flat and that is depressing. Ask your audience what they want, don’t assume and give them something they don’t need.

6. Created My Product

Once I did the research, had enough data, I started to brainstorm product ideas. This can be the tricky part. When you are working on ideas for your product you have to be careful to accurately read the data. Again you want to make sure to create something that people are asking for, not what you assume they need.

Here is what I did to analyze the data from my niche:

  1. Put all questions in a spreadsheet. Put the correlating answer underneath each question.
  2. Looked for the most common problem, the most common struggle.
  3. Brainstormed how to solve that problem.

In my case I saw that the thing my niche struggled with the most was getting more traffic for their blogs. I wanted to create an action based program that would help them get more traffic. I know the quickest way to get traffic to your blog is to get exposure to it. The quickest way to get exposure is to find your people online and build your tribe.

And with that, Find Your Tribe Online was born!

7. Launched Find Your Tribe Online to My Email List

The first thing I did to launch Find Your Tribe Online was send an email to my existing list. I explained in great detail what I was offering and why. Here is what I wrote:

1st-email

Here’s the trick to this email though. This wasn’t the first email I had ever sent my list. By the time I launched Find Your Tribe Online I had sent a weekly email out for 16 weeks straight. I never missed one. I also put a ton of value into each email every week. Are you sending out a value packed email each week? It’s a must if you want to make money blogging. I can help you with this through this worksheet. Trust me, you want to fill this worksheet out and use it for your email newsletter.

My weekly emails accomplished two things. First, my email subscribers were used to hearing from me. I didn’t just add them to my list and only email them when I wanted something. No, I first gave them value before I asked for anything. Second, I believe that if you give enough value to people, it is perfectly okay to ask for the sale. But this is only after giving, giving, giving, and then giving some more. Help people first, truly help them, then ask for the sale.

That first email went out at 2:30pm Monday, August 1st. By midnight that first night 25 people purchased Find Your Tribe Online. Over the next two days, 9 more people purchased Find Your Tribe Online from that first email. From one email I had 34 sales of my first program– I was stoked!

8. Launched in my Facebook Group

The next thing I did was announce Find Your Tribe Online in my Women Winning Online Facebook group. At the time there was about 800 people in Women Winning Online. The hard part about launching in a Facebook group is I don’t know how many people purchased from the group.

Did I have an overlap of people who purchased from the email but were also in the group? If I could do it over, I would have used a link shortner like Bit.ly to track how many clicks came from my Facebook group.

9. Sent Multiple Emails

The number one mistake bloggers make when launching a program is only sending one email about it. We are busy people! We don’t always have time to read all our emails. We also don’t always act on that first email we receive. Often we think about it, and think about it some more before deciding to buy something. This is especially true when we are buying something online.

I knew that in order for Find Your Tribe Online to be successful, I needed to send more than one email. Lucky for me, the first people to buy Find Your Tribe Online were having tons of success with it. Their testimonials gave me good content for my follow up emails.

Follow Up Email #1: Facebook testimonial, Sold 6 more copies of FYTO.

Follow Up Email #2: Tripled traffic testimonial, Sold 19 more copies of FYTO.

Follow Up Email #3: Combined three different testimonials, Sold 3 more copies of FYTO.

Because of those follow up emails I sold 28 more copies of Find Your Tribe Online! When you launch a program, make sure you have an email launch sequence in place. You want to follow up with people who don’t buy right away. Doing this you will earn many more sales for your program that you might not have otherwise!

10. My Weekly Emails

Like I mentioned above, I send out a weekly email every Sunday morning without fail. Even after we got home from vacation late on a Saturday night, I still sat down at my computer and typed out my email newsletter.

In the email newsletter I answer a question from the Women Winning Online Facebook group. Then I add a list of any blog posts for the month. Short, sweet, and most important– helpful information.

Then the last thing I do is add in my postscript aka the P.S.. When I launched Find Your Tribe Online I always included it as the P.S.. I did one of two things. I added a benefit of why FYTO would help them grow their blog. Or an actual testimonial from someone who had success with FYTO.

In August I generated 6 more sales from the three weekly emails with a P.S. about Find Your Tribe Online!

11. Signed Up Affiliates

Many bloggers are hesitant to have affiliates help them sell their programs. They worry about not getting all the money from the sale of their programs and having to share it with others.

Not this lady!

I look at my affiliates in two ways:

1. Sales Team

My affiliates are my sales team. They are out their advocating for Find Your Tribe Online. They are out there saying how great it is, how it has helped them. They are my own personal sales team!

2. New Sales

I also believe that my affiliates bring in sales for Find Your Tribe Online that I wouldn’t have gotten. First, they have their own email lists, Facebook groups, and audiences to share FYTO. I more than likely don’t have the same access to their audience. Plus they have built up a trust with their audience. They are going to believe what the affiliate says about FYTO because they trust that person. They may not know me at all but still bought FYTO because they trust the affiliate promoting it.

Second, affiliates can promote in other Facebook groups in a way that I can’t. For example, if someone in a Facebook group asks about the best Pinterest boards for bloggers, an affiliate could share their link to FYTO without punishment from the admin of that group. Now if I were to share the same link, it could be seen as a promo by the admin and I could get banned from the group!

Also, the affiliate will share in the group that Find Your Tribe Online helped them. It is seen as sharing a valuable resource with other bloggers. If I were sharing FYTO, it could easily be seen as me just trying to sell something or promote myself.

If you worry about sharing sales with your affiliates I have one thing to say. There is plenty of money to go around, plenty of sales to go around. I can tell you nothing makes me happier than seeing my affiliates do well from something I have created. I feel like we can celebrate together!

My affiliates rocked it the first month Find Your Tribe Online was live! I launched the affiliate program on August 11th and by the end of the month I had nine affiliate sales!

12. Testimonials

There is something powerful about testimonials. It’s part of why Amazon is as popular as it is. We want to review things before we buy them. We want to know it has worked for someone else. We don’t want to invest our money into something only to find out it is going to be a waste of money and time.

For me it felt like a stroke of luck but within 5 days of launching Find Your Tribe Online, I received these two testimonials:

darci1

darci2a

 

My client Tania received 5 new Facebook likes to her business page in 25 minutes using Find Your Tribe Online!

tania-screenshot

I know for a fact these two testimonials drove in more sales for Find Your Tribe Online. I was lucky, both Tania and Darci messaged me with their results. If you aren’t getting testimonials from your clients, I recommend you reach out and ask for them. I have saved every single testimonial I have received for Find Your Tribe Online. You can see a lot of them on the sales page here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenwinningonline/!

13. Raised the Price

When I launched Find Your Tribe Online I sold it for $7. Yup seven dollars. Almost immediately I heard from six people who  had purchased it that I had priced it too low. They were concerned that I was selling to for much less than what it was worth.

I had a starting point of seven dollars for a reason. I wanted to see if I had a minimum viable product. I wanted to see if my audience, my tribe, would in fact buy something from me. I wanted to see if what I was offering to them was of value to them. All the online marketing experts tell you to create a minimum viable product and sell it for seven dollars.

So I did. 🙂

Then there was a slight kick in the pants comment from someone in one of my groups. She said:

“It seemed SO value packed that I was like “how is this only $7?!?” That actually tripped me up and stopped me from buying (I have a number of lower priced things that I just HAVEN’T used).”

Wow. There it was in black and white. I wasn’t charging enough for Find Your Tribe Online.

Between those six people, my new coach, a few blogging friends, and that comment, I decided to increase the price of Find Your Tribe Online. It was less than a week old and I decided to go from $7 to $17 for the program.

Before I made the price change I announced to my email list and in Women Winning Online that I was increasing it by $10. On Monday, August 8th I announced the price increase would happen that Wednesday. Between the 8th and the 10th, 30 more people purchased Find Your Tribe Online.

There are three lessons here:

  1. Don’t be afraid to sell your program low to find out if people will buy it.
  2. Once you have a winner on your hands, do not be afraid to raise the price.
  3. A sense of urgency (closing the cart, raising the price) will get people to jump off the fence and buy.

Using all 13 steps I am proud to share that the first month Find Your Tribe Online I grossed $1,403 on the program. Even more important to me I can proudly say there are tons of people that are continuing to have success with this program. It is truly an honor for me to help people grow their blogs using Find Your Tribe Online! (P.S. Have YOU checked out Find Your Tribe Online? Come join the party with us and grow your blog too!)

Bonus offer:click arrow button to get your 13 Step Checklist to Make Money Blogging!

In Conclusion

The $64,000 question is “How do I make money blogging?” Yes you can make money through affiliate income and through ads. But that can take forever to build up an audience that would make you a decent income. I knew this which is why I first focused on finding my niche, building my tribe and my email list. I then took the time to really listen to what my tribe wanted and brainstormed how I could help them. Once I found the perfect solution I created a marketing plan to launch my program. I used the power of my email list, affiliates, and testimonials to increase my sales of Find Your Tribe Online. This proves that you don’t need a large audience to make money blogging. Just one that you have helped time and time again. One that trusts you and believes you are the expert that can help them!

What are your steps for making money blogging? What has or has not worked for you with your blog? Have you created your own product or are you nervous about doing that? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

26 comments
1 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedin