Consider your WordPress blog as the marketing medium from which you make money. If you likened it to a brick and mortar business, it would be the store at the mall. Or think of it as the trunk of a tree from which all else stems.
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Before we proceed to the four money-making ideas, there are two things you need to know:
- You’ve got to make sure your WordPress blog attracts the right people – those that will buy what you’re selling. This is the foundation from which your ultimate success will depend.
- With each of the following ideas, make sure you set up ways to collect email addresses from your visitors, because 95% of the people who visit your site will not buy anything from you the first time, and you need a way to keep in touch until they are ready to say “yes” to a purchase.
Ready for the dynamo?
Let’s go.
Idea 1: Offer freelance business services
More and more companies are looking for virtual assistance, because it’s convenient and oftentimes cheaper than employing a staff member who sits on location at a desk.
If you possess skills that can help other businesses, especially smaller ones, you could build an entire business from offering freelance services.
Use your blog to attract business owners who would want to make use of your services, and be sure your website makes it clear about how you can help them.
This article explains how to use blogging to market your freelance business.
Idea 2: Promote other people’s goods
Use your WordPress blog to promote other people’s creations. This is commonly known as affiliate marketing, and there are tons of programs available to choose from. What affiliate marketing really is, is getting commission for what you sell.
You can choose to promote physical products, or digital goods. Many marketers start with affiliate marketing and eventually create their own products, for which they then set up affiliate marketing programs of their own.
With the proper foundation and guidance it’s easy to start blogging for money. To take your profits to the next level you need to select the program carefully, as some programs provide many tools you can use to make your work easier, whereas others hardly give you anything to work with.
Affiliate programs of digital products often offer up to 75% commission, while physical products will never pay out that much.
Do your homework to see what’s right for you.
Idea 3: Set up an ecommerce store
The amount of people who shop online is on the rise, and the industry is set to grow 20% every year.
With WordPress, you could either use an ecommerce theme or add an ecommerce plugin. Alternatively, you could even integrate Shopify with your WordPress blog so you can sell products straight from your website.
Blogging regularly will attract more potential customers. Make sure you add call to actions on all your blog posts, and make it easy for people to buy products when you suggest them in any posts.
Find out more about setting up ecommerce on your WordPress site.
Idea 4: Create and sell your own digital product
The wise steps to take before creating a digital product, is to know if there’s a demand for it. There are too many digital products that simply don’t sell, like many of the self-published books on Amazon.
Just because you think it’s a good idea, doesn’t mean others are going to think so too. But if you think up a digital product that is needed, you could make a lot of money.
Start with Google Trends to determine interest in products, or search terms. Then do a search on Google Keyword Planner to get an idea of the search phrases that are being used.
While you create your own product, offer other free stuff on your WordPress blog so that you start generating interest, and a list of subscribers who may just be interested in purchasing the digital product when it’s ready.
Some ideas for digital products you could create and sell:
- Digital book
- Course
- Coaching
- Membership
- Plugins or applications
- Webinars
Key take-away
Your WordPress blog is like a tree trunk, from which all other activity flows. Get the foundation right, and you’re up and away. Here are four brilliant ways to make money from your site:
- Provide online business services
- Join an affiliate program
- Start an ecommerce store
- Develop your own digital product