You love the idea of monetizing your blog BUT it terrifies you. You have no idea where to start and so you just avoid the WHOLE idea.

You don’t want to get your hopes up because what if it doesn’t work.

I want to take you on a little journey of my blog monetization journey.

2014 – I started blogging in October. I didn’t have a plan except to just write and so that is what I did. Monetizing it never crossed my mind. I was mostly blogging about mental health, self-care, self-love, healing and what it was like to be a survivor.

2016 – I started a life coaching business called BeYOUtiful Life Services. I coached two women in my first six-week program. It was a program based on how I learned to love who I was in the present moment. I was mostly blogging about mental health, self-care, self-love and healing.

2016 – I started a subscription box service called BeYOUtiful Box. This took my coaching idea a step further. I wanted to help women learn to love themselves by adding in self-care. This subscription box was filled with women-owned Canadian small businesses. My blog took a slight turn here. Even though I was still blogging about mental health, self-care, self-love and healing; I also added in blogging about other small businesses. I would feature the business in the box.

2019 – I closed BeYOUtiful Box and decided to focus on freelance blogging. My blog was still about everything mentioned above but it also was about how to blog for your business.

2020 – I started my blog coaching business. I can’t remember when exactly but I changed my business name to Creative Purpose. (I still love that name.) This is where I began to struggle with blogging about mental health and blogging. I was getting conflicting tips on whether I should do it together or separate them.

I may know a thing or two about monetizing a blog. I love the fact that my business has evolved so much over the years but the purpose and reason behind the business has ALWAYS remained the same.

I want women to fall in love with who they are.

I want women to know that their past has power.

I want women to take time for self-care.

I want women to own who they are and who they are becoming.

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF WHEN YOU START THINKING ABOUT MONETIZING

The possibilities are endless when it comes to monetizing your blog. I want to start off with a few questions that you should ask yourself before you begin.

1| How much time do you have to dedicate to your blog and monetization plan? Monetizing a blog means you are going to be putting more time, more effort and more dedication into your blog. I don’t say this to scare you. I say this so that when you begin to create a plan, you know how much time you truly have to spend on what it is that you want to accomplish.

Just like when you are creating a blog schedule, you will be seeing how much space you have available in your life.

What is important to you to have time for in your life?

What are your nonnegotiables in your life?

What time of day can you set aside to work on your blog and monetization plan?

2| In what ways have I seen others monetize their blogs in my niche? I don’t want you going around and stealing other people’s ideas but it is a great idea to see what else is out there.

What are other bloggers in your niche selling?

What do you love that they are offering?

What do you hate that they are offering?

Do you see any gaps in the market?

3| Do you want to make a full-time or part-time income with your blog? There are so many options that are available. You can start part-time and move to full-time. You can start full time and then move to part-time. Just be truthful with yourself and what your goals are. This is going to help you create programs, services, products or anything else that you want to do to create an income.

4| Does my current website allow me to monetize? If you are using a website platform that is free, you are probably not going to be able to monetize your site. You are going to need to have your own domain and you are going to need to have the ability to add a store to your website.

I know for Wix, you will need to upgrade to at least the Business Basic plan. I currently am on the Business Unlimited Plan through Wix.

STEP BY STEP PLAN TO TAKE TO START MONETIZING YOUR BLOG

I do want to share here that I believe that you should first begin to build trust and authority with your audience BEFORE you start monetizing. UNLESS you already have a business set up and you are blogging to build that business.

This blog post is focusing on if you are blogging without a current business and how you can begin to build a business through your blog.

STEP ONE| Make sure that your website platform allows you to add a store or a booking service as well as a payment option. For my website, I have both a store and a booking option because I offer different services. Through Wix, I can even offer live trainings directly through my website.

STEP TWO| Set up your payment processor. There are many different payment options that you can use. Whether it is etranser, Square, PayPal, or Stripe, make sure you connect it to your website. I personally LOVE Square out of all of them. I get my payments fast and with no issues. I also have PayPal set up on my website and if a customer wants to pay via an etransfer, they can also do that. If you would like to get $1,000 of free processing with Square, sign up using my referral code.

STEP THREE| Have a goal-creating session. I love creating and setting goals. If this is something that you struggle with, feel free to book a Blogging Bundle with me. This is a combination of a blog audit and a blogging strategy session. I will look over your current blogging website and come back with some suggestions for you to implement. In the 60-minute blog strategy session, we will come up with a plan to help you reach the goals you are wanting to achieve. You can book these services separately but the better option is together.

Need help thinking of goals to set, check out my blog post on examples of blog goals to set.

STEP FOUR| Now that you have your goals figured out, it is time to start implementing your action items. I want you to get crystal clear on when you can work on your blog. This is going to include writing your blog posts, showing up on social media, doing guest blogging and everything in between.

Now that you have decided you want to monetize, you need to get serious about the work that you are putting in.

Grab your calendar and start planning your work hours. Things to include in your work hours are…

1. Writing your blog posts.
2. Creating your social media posts.
3. Scheduling your social media posts.
4. Planning out your content.
5. Creating videos. (If this is part of your plan.)
6. Being a guest expert on other blogs, social media platforms, podcasts or summits.

STEP FIVE| Get serious about posting on your blog. Now is the time to get serious and consistent when it comes to your own blog. Write content that is going to help you share your expertise with your followers and potential customers. Focus more on high-quality content (you should be anyway) rather than the number of blog posts that you are writing.

STEP SIX| Start writing guest blog posts. You want to monetize and build a business. That means you need to step out of your comfort zone. Aim for 1-2 guest blog posts per month. This is going to help you get in front of new and already established audiences. You do not need to sell them anything at this point. This is all about building up your trust and your authority when it comes to your expertise.

STEP SEVEN| Start creating how you want to monetize your blog. Write down all the ideas that you have. Choose one from the list that you can start to build and create it. Take your time. Whether it is a product or a service, start piecing it together so that you can have it ready to go.

A tip for you. You DO NOT need to have it 100% completed before you sell it. This does work easier with a service vs a product but it can work for either one. Start slowly adding it into your content plan. Tease your followers a little bit with what is coming. Build up the excitement for it!

STEP EIGHT| Start showing up as a guest expert in other ways. You may be a blogger but that doesn’t mean that your target audience is ONLY reading blogs. Start looking into other ways for you to get in front of new people. Learn more ways to become an expert in your niche.

A few ideas for you…

1. Be on an online summit.
2. Be a podcast guest.
3. Start your own podcast.
4. Be a guest on a YouTube channel.
5. Start a YouTube channel.
6. Answer questions in FB groups.
7. Ask friends to share your blog posts.

STEP NINE| Just start creating. Sometimes we get so caught up in the things that we need or should do that we put off what we can do. Just start. Put your idea out into the world and see what happens.

You aren’t always going to hit gold on your first try and that is okay. Even within my coaching programs, I have allowed them to evolve and grow as the year has gone on. Take a step forward and just do it.

A FEW EXAMPLES OF HOW YOU CAN MONETIZE YOUR BLOG

You are probably thinking,

“This is great information but I still DON’T understand what I can do to monetize my blog.”

It can feel and be overwhelming so I want to share a few ways that you can do this.

Client #1: She started out blogging to share her family’s story about her spouse and father of her children working halfway around the world. She shared her story which is incredible and more. She was then able to turn her passion into a coaching business.

As she began to coach, she realized that it wasn’t what she truly wanted to do and is now pivoting and creating a brand new business to help men and women.

Client #2: She was already blogging when she started working with me. She was sharing her story of PTSD and her mental health journey. She was also a published author but it was nowhere on her site.

She added her book to her site but she also did so much more than that. She has created these beautiful journals to help women with their self-care and self-love journey. She has created PTSD journals that help women through their journey.

She has also started a relationship coaching business to help women learn how to build a relationship with themselves to find love.

Oh, and she published book #2!!!!!

Other ideas for monetizing your blog for different niches.

1. Create meal plans.
2. Create journals.
3. Create planners.
4. Create a consultation option for your niche. (Organization consultation as an example)
5. Courses.
6. Freelancing.
7. Affiliate Links. (Stay tuned for an upcoming blog post on affiliate marketing)
8. Dropshipping.
9. Create a subscription.
10. Create self-care products.
11. Create other products.
12. Workshops.
13. Masterclasses.
14. Create graphics.

For this week only, I am offering a 45-minute coaching call for $45. I would love to help you brainstorm and create a plan for monetization. Now is the time to take your blog to the next level or even just start. What are you waiting for??