If you are a blogger that is looking to monetize with a small audience, then this is for you! In this post, you will find gems from successful bloggers who share how to monetize an audience – even with a small following.
I asked bloggers the following question:
“What are one or two strategies that new bloggers can use to begin monetizing their content without a large audience?”
Janice of www.MostlyBlogging.com
“There are several ways bloggers can monetize without a large audience.
First, we need to determine what is meant by a large audience. Is it subscribers or readers?
You can definitely monetize without subscribers, but you need readers to discover how helpful your content is.
The best way bloggers can monetize their content without a large audience is as follows:
First, optimize for SEO. If you do your keyword research and find a search term many people are interested in but few bloggers are writing about, you can bring traffic to your site for years.
By weaving the benefits of your products or services into your content, people who come from Google will see your content marketing.
Don’t forget to advertise in your blog’s sidebar. Have an eye-catching graphic with a link to your product or service so waves of blog readers will see it.
Finally, put your blog posts together and sell them as an e-book. This is passive income that can also bring you money for years to come. Although the Amazon Kindle Program takes a hefty share, I recommend AKP for its convenience.
Don’t apply these methods in lieu of the others. Do them all. Bloggers who monetize have many income streams.”
Anastasia of AnastasiaBlogger.com, a YouTuber and Pinterest Marketing Expert
“1. Selling your services through the blog. The fastest way to start making money is to use your blog as a portfolio and offer copywriting services to businesses in your niche. Depending on the topic of your blog and on your skillset, these services may vary. If you are blogging about social media marketing for example, you could use your content to find clients and offer your social media management services. If you have a blog about money management and you are an accountant, you could find clients using your blog.
2. Selling your own products (digital or physical if applies better to your niche). This method will take more time compared to providing services because you need to create the product first. But once you have a product, selling it can be way more scalable because you don’t trade your time for money, you can focus on creating more content and promoting it in order to sell your product semi-passively.
These two methods of monetization can work for new bloggers with a small audience because you don’t need thousands of visitors to your site to convince a few clients to buy your services or products. But you do need to work more on the quality of your communication with the small audience you have. Start with making everything that allows you to invite as many visitors as possible to your email list because from there you have a way to contact them and offer your products or services.
You might also use a chatbox or contact form enabled on your site – this way, you will get a chance to have a one-on-one conversation with your potential buyers.”
Amber of ThriftyGuardian.com
“When I hit my first 4-figure month, my audience wasn’t anything to write home about – in fact, my email list was only about 250 people! What really mattered, though, is that I was intentional from the start in who I was writing for and how I was connecting with them. Too many people think that by narrowing in on a target audience, they’ll be outcasting those who don’t quite fit the parameters they set, but here’s the truth: when you write for everyone, you write for no one! Zone in on a niche, get familiar with SEO, and have a way to capture those leads as they come in; do this and you’ll find you’re able to monetize far faster than you ever thought possible.”
Valentina of TheFemaleBusiness.com
“When it comes to making money blogging, it is definitely possible to do it without a large audience. I think it comes down to defining your niche and target audience. Who are you writing for? What are they like? What are their interests?
Create content that serves that audience. Content that solves their problems and answers their questions.
That’s where SEO comes in. My number one piece of advice for beginner bloggers is to focus on SEO from the beginning. Take the time to learn SEO and create content that’s optimized for search engines.
That’s how you start making money blogging. By building a targeted and engaged audience.”
Shruti Pangtey of Digital Empires, Founder & CEO
“My favourite strategy to start making money quickly is by building a targeted email list that solves a pain point. The next step then is to create and sell a small product that solves the pain point. These products could be digital or physical although the former is a lot easier to create and fulfill. I’ve used this strategy to build my latest blog to multiple 6-figures per year in just 2 years whereas relying only on third-party platforms for monetisation would have taken a lot longer.
For example: You can start making $500 a month if you are able to sell a $50 template to 10 people. You don’t need 1000 subscribers and you don’t need to wait months or years before you are “allowed” in ad or affiliate platforms. In my experience, the best blogging income is the one you control.”
Sarah of TheOldenChapters.com
“My favorite method of blog monetization is to turn blog content into useful printable worksheets that can be sold. Each printable can be advertised directly on the blog page, giving your reader an easy way to take action. At the same time, it adds a high-earning income source to your website. It’s truly a win-win!”
Ling of FinSavvyPanda.com
“If you’re a fresh beginner, or trying out a brand new niche where you have no experience, I have to admit it will be challenging to monetize your blog without knowing exactly who your audience is or understanding their true struggle and pain point. But with some decent traffic, even if it’s small, I recommend building an email list and learning how to use email marketing. That way you can connect with your readers on a personal level and understand them better. Ask them questions, emphasize with them, encourage them, and find ways to get them to open up to you 1 on 1 via email. Just be there for them. By building a genuine relationship with your readers and giving them options and solutions without hard-selling products will help you gain their trust. When they trust you and value your advice and insights, they are more open to buying products from you whether it be an affiliate link or your own products even when you don’t have a large audience.”
Swati of HearMeFolks.com – Personal Finance Advisor and Millennial Mommy Entrepreneur
1. Create Subscription Only Content
With a small following, you can earn consistently by curating paid content. The trick to this form of monetization is providing actionable advice to a small forum. As opposed to industry-wide and generic tips, dive deep into research and put your knowledge into action that you can later teach others; this will ensure that you have answers at your fingertips.
2. Include Niche Directory
Directories are the go-to sources for everything within a specific community, state, or profession. Now, ask yourself, is there a directory that targets my niche? With a simple WordPress plugin, you can be on your way to creating a unique directory that can easily attract niche followers and set your site apart as an expert. The best part is that you can grow the directory as your blog grows, and start selling new or updated versions for further earnings.
Margaret of MargaretBourne.com
“The best way for bloggers to start making money with a new blog is two-fold: a passive stream of income with affiliate marketing and secondly, offering their services.
Affiliate marketing is a very easy way to begin making money with a site. It may not bring in a huge income at first, but if affiliate links are included with the right copy, they can convert into sales, even with a small audience.
The second way – through services – seems like you may be jumping ahead, but there’s nothing stopping a blogger from personally branding themselves as a niche expert. They may not get any clients to start, but the opportunity is there. A good tip is to offer a select few blogger friends one’s service for free to get testimonials – a vital part of a good “Services” page. It also helps a new blogger “practice” without as much pressure as if it was a paying customer.
With affiliate marketing and offering services, you’ve got two streams of income in place, ready to build upon as your site grows.”
Ana of The She Approach – Blogging Coach & Strategist
“Instead of chasing the page views and vanity metrics at the beginning of your blog’s monetization path, focus instead on creating avenues that can bring you a steady income without needing a lot of daily leads or website visitors.
Here are a few ways I’ve monetized my blogs before they hit 10,000 page views per month (and still made a full-time income with them!)
1. Create and sell digital products. Instead of trying to make pennies from ads, you can earn anywhere from $15 to $150 per sale with your first eBook or digital product. Check out my article on How to Publish & Sell your first eBook here. But keep in mind – this needs to be something that adds value to your reader’s life! So do your audience research first.
2. Offer a service. The other way to start earning an income fast online is to get clients for various services – depending on your expertise. This could be coaching, blog management, virtual assistant services, photography, freelance writing, and so on. You’ve already got the skills – why not hand them out to other business owners?
3. Affiliate marketing. Another amazing way to get paid more per visitor is to monetize through juicy affiliate deals. Find and share the best products, negotiate free trials with companies that you know your readers will love, or offer problem-solving solutions for a commission.
As always – the quality of your traffic will make a much bigger impact than the quantity. So don’t worry about slot progress – focus on optimizing things on your back end first!”
Have questions about any of the tips in this blog post? Leave me a comment below or reach out at hello@morgankg.com.
Morgan
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