I don’t remember exactly when I thought that I could make money blogging. I have always wanted to be a writer and blogging filled that void in my life. It made me fall in love with words again after abandoning them for many years. The years when words failed me in so many ways.

Money was never a reason for starting a blog. However, I do know that creating an income through blogging is a goal for so many people out there. Being able to support yourself, your family, or even just having a part-time income can help in many different ways.

For the past couple of years, it became apparent that I needed to get even more serious about creating an income stream for myself. When COVID came, my husband lost hours at work. At the time, he was the sole income provider. It is hard to work when you have little kids at home.

That is when the thoughts of, “what would happen to me and our kids if something were to happen to my husband.”

Has anyone else ever had those thoughts pop up?

I bring this up because we all have different reasons for wanting to monetize our blog but the reasons are personal. My reason for building my business is that I can support myself and my family now and in times that something happens.

Whatever your reason for monetizing, having a plan and knowing the basics BEFORE you begin are important.

PREPARING YOUR BLOG AND YOURSELF FOR A BLOG MONETIZATION PLAN

If you have been following me for a while, you know that I have a strong opinion on when someone should monetize their blog. So let’s talk about that.

I do NOT believe that you should monetize your blog immediately. There are more important steps that you should do BEFORE you get to this point.

Now, if you already have a business and you are starting a blog, that is a different situation. For the point of this post, I am talking about starting a blog that has no business connections in the first place.

BEFORE you monetize, you need to build trust with your readers. You need to be able to show that you know what you are talking about and that they can come to your site to gain valuable information and knowledge.

NO ONE WANTS TO FEEL LIKE THEY ARE BEING SOLD TO INSTANTLY!!

Building trust is going to be the fastest way to grow your monetization plan. This doesn’t mean that it is going to be easy or come quickly, it means that by building trust, you are giving reasons for your readers and potential clients to come back and keep coming back.

I remember being told by someone that my stance on blog monetization meant that I was scaring away my own potential clients and that I needed to change it. Honestly, I laughed and said no, and here is why.

We have all been scrolling through Pinterest and seen those beautiful pins screaming at us how they made $10,000 in their first-month blogging. Sounds like a dream, right?

When I see those posts, it breaks my heart. Not only are they setting someone up for some massive disappointment when they don’t reach that income goal, but they are also discounting ALL of the work that they put into blogging before that.

Yes, it may happen that someone gets lucky and make that much money in their first month of blogging BUT that is a rare case. In reality, they spent many more hours and days to reach that point in their blog and their business.

My ultimate goal is to help those create an income that is based on their story, their expertise, and their goals in life. That means that it will take some time, effort, and a solid plan to get there.

THE BASICS OF MONETIZING YOUR BLOG

You are here to learn how to create a plan for your blog when it comes to monetizing. I want to set you up so that you can get crystal clear on WHY and HOW you want to do that.

Currently, I am taking a course on Udemy about creating a strong strategy for your business goals. I love how he broke down coming up with new products and services to add to your business and I think it fits in perfectly for this blog post.

Here is what he says about creating a strategy for your business goals.

0-18 months into blogging, what simple products or services can you add. These are called your current products/services.

12-36 months into blogging, you will be adding your next-generation products or services into your monetization plan.

24-72 months into blogging, you will be creating your emerging products or services into your monetization plan.

We will get into this more later but I wanted to share the idea with you now so that you can understand the process later.

1| Being consistent with blogging.

You need to be consistent with writing and publishing blog content BEFORE you can begin to sell. This is going to take months of time and effort on your part. Remember that blogging is more than just hitting publish. It is about the creative effort that goes into the blogging process as well as sharing that content in many different locations.

2| Building up your authority in your niche.

This means that you need to go out and actively find places to share your knowledge. Whether that is on podcasts, by writing guest blog posts, or being a guest on other social media feeds. You need to put yourself out there, in front of already established audiences to build up that authority. This is going to build trust.

You also need to begin doing this immediately when you start blogging. It may be hard and take some time to find someone that is willing to give you a chance but don’t give up. My BIGGEST blogging mistake is not doing this when I first started.

3| Know your unique stance in your niche.

I believe that there really isn’t any new information out there BUT we all have our own ways, techniques, and stories that make what we do and know unique to us.

What is it that sets you apart from others who are in your niche?

It can be hard to see this because a lot of us don’t go around sharing our strengths. We are usually blind to what we are great at. By getting to know this, you are going to be able to set yourself apart and fall in love with what you do.

There are tons of experts in the blogging niche. There are some that know WAY MORE than I do and some that don’t. I don’t let that stop me. It means that I am constantly allowing myself to grow and learn. Plus, my strengths are different than theirs so yes, they may know more and they may even know the same amount as me but the way that I share it is different and that is what connects me to the women that I work with.

4| Creating a monetization plan.

Now, this is where we are going to bring back the current, next-generation, and emerging products and services plan. Remember I said that I don’t believe that beginner bloggers should focus on monetization? I do, however, believe that you need to have a plan for what you want to create from the beginning.

To translate it to fit blog monetization, here is my take on it.

That means that I believe that your current products should come into play at around the six-month mark of starting your blog. That gives you six months to build up your audience and your authority.

By saying this, it doesn’t mean that I think you need to have a HUGE audience in order to monetize. It just means that you have given yourself time and space to build up your foundation of blogging before you add in the selling piece. A key piece to the audience puzzle is understanding who they are.

I want you to brainstorm products and/or services that you can sell or offer to your audience. Write everything down. Once you have this list created, you can take them and add them to your current, next-generation, or emerging options. This will give you a clear plan on where to begin when it comes to monetizing your blog and where you want to go.

These are the pieces that I want to cover today. For all of March, I am talking about monetization and I will break down even more in blog posts to come. On Friday, I will cover what you need to have on your website when you are FINALLY ready to add your products and services to your blogging website.

If you are needing help with coming up with a strategy for your blog monetization, social media content, or blog content, I would love to help. This is one of my strengths and I have room for four strategy sessions in March. Let’s get you a plan and strategy so you know where you are going when it comes to your blog.

What Jody has to say about her strategy session…

One of my glitches in business is the social media consistency and add in the TRUTH that I SUCK at technology. Have you ever felt like it is just TOO much? Samantha guided me to schedule out day by day, my Facebook and Instagram posts. And all I had to do was talk about what I wanted to talk to my potential clients about. She made it EASY! And she used different colours!!

I am relaunching my business, and I need to connect with people, NOT worry about what my social media looks like. If this is stressing you out, you need to book a strategy session with her. I went from, “I can’t do this” to “We’re done already?” A weight of pressure and anxiety just lifted and I FINALLY feel like I’m ready to launch!!!!!