In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about how to monetize your online content.

Whether you have a blog, a website, or buzzing social accounts – how can you take your content and turn it into an income stream?

• It starts by creating quality content that people are actively searching for
• Cultivating an online audience is a lot of work. They say your first 1k followers will be the hardest to get
• Once you have an active audience that looks to you for content, how do you begin to make money?

Voicemail:

“Hey! My name is Kyle, I have a blog FrenchieJourney.com, about French Bulldogs. We have about 113 blog posts up and our blog is making about $500-600/month on affiliate links, but I would love any thoughts from you guys on different ways we can further monetize the site and just take it to a whole other level!”

Let’s Take It To The Next Level

Kyle has already seen great success on his blog, so we’ll outline a few things Kyle is already doing well in case you aren’t at his level yet, and then build on that list with a few things you could do to take things up a notch!

• Create Content People Are Looking For:  This means researching keywords and search terms that are related to what you do or want to talk about. Then, strategically write about the things people are looking for.  It’s all about strategy and planning.
• Affiliate Links – These are custom links that you can use to generate a kickback from a purchase through a retailer like Amazon. You simply place your custom link to a particular product in your blog and when someone clicks on it and purchases the item you get a kickback for the sale.
• Selling Ads – Once you have a certain amount of traffic heading to your website, you can qualify to feature ads on your website. Then you can make a small kickback on the ads that people click and purchase from.  This could be done with programs like Google AdSense, etc.
• Email Marketing and Lead Magnets – There is no better place to reach your audience than inside of their email inbox.  You can gather email addresses by creating a value-packed download on your website and then email them about any other projects or opportunities you have.
• Merchandise/Digital Products – You can branch out and design products that would interest your audience such as, calendars, mugs, t-shirts, etc. With Print-On-Demand options, this can be a no-cost way to generate some income.
• Social Media & Collaborations – Utilize the networks within each social platform and join groups and “packs” to expand your reach and grow a larger audience.  
• YouTube Channel – Repurpose blog content in video format. Find your top-performing blogs and make them into videos.
• Guest Spots on Podcasts – Like social media, connect with the movers and shakers in the niche space and look to discuss your most popular topics to generate interest and opportunities.

Next 3 Steps

There are lots of ways to monetize your online content with a little bit of strategy and a good amount of effort!  If you have a blog or website with lots of valuable content and are looking to make some more money with it, here are a few key steps to take:

1. Review your numbers: See what your traffic looks like, the engagement you’re getting, and make sure you are strategically creating content based on what people are looking for
2. Link it Up: Start building your affiliate opportunities and adding affiliate links and possibly ads to your website to generate income
3. Reach Out:  Connect with others in your field and start collaborating to cross-promote and build a community
4. Digitize & Repurpose:  Create digital products and repurpose your content for other platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Facebook Groups, Email Marketing, etc.

Recommended Resources

• Leave a voicemail for us: www.learnit-doit.com/podcast
• Frenchie Journey

The post How To Monetize A Blog appeared first on Learn It - Do It.

In this podcast episode, we break down the phrase “fake it ‘till you make it” and talk about the practical uses and the impractical side effects.

Our three main problems with the idea of “faking it till we make it.” 

1. It never ends because there is no quantifiable “making it” period. How do you know when you’ve made it?
2. It breeds the foundation for the Imposter Syndrome. Even if you’ve gained experience, this way of thinking will knock you down into believing that you’re not supposed to be here or that you’re no good at this.  
3. It doesn’t allow you to learn and grow, because you avoid vulnerability.  

We talk about the psychology of what happens to your long-term confidence and growth and what you can do to maintain a healthy confidence level.

“Faking it” breeds a long-term identity crisis. You become obsessed with your external image and you end up putting yourself in a lot of stressful situations.     

We share stories of things that we experienced when we launched a photo portrait studio in 2013 and how “faking it till we made it” affected our business starting out and as we grew.

The Next 3 Steps to keep “fake it until you make it” in check

1. Set a goal for when you’ve “made it”. It can be a monetary amount, a certain number of clients, your number of products sold, or even a time frame. It’s entirely up to you and your business goals. But the point is to set a tangible goal and allow yourself to say you’ve “made it” and can stop “faking it”.
2. Take daily action towards “making it”.  Stop spending time, money, and energy projecting that you’ve made it and just focus on actually doing the things that put you on course to your success.
3. Find other ways to build confidence. You can do things like taking courses, networking with peers, and getting client reviews.

Host Bio –  Rhi and Pete [Rhi-Pete – now you’ll remember] are a wife and husband team who have been in business together for over a decade.  They run a creative media agency [Do Something Different Media] that provides strategy and consulting, video production, website development, photography, graphic design, and content writing for small businesses.  

Recommended Resources

Leave a voicemail for an upcoming podcast: www.learnit-doit.com/podcast

The post The Problem With “Fake It Until You Make It” appeared first on Learn It - Do It.