Get Paid By Blogging: 11 Things Most Bloggers Ignore

Are you wondering how to get paid by blogging? Did you know that only 2% of bloggers earn over $150,000 a year?

Do you ever get this niggling feeling at the back of your head that you forgot to include something important on your blog?

Is there a system in place like a blog checklist to ensure that you remembered to include all the essential items?

You may have considered this before but what makes your blog stand out from the other 172,799 posts published every day?

I know that some people started a blog just as a hobby but here is another worrying statistic for you.

The average time spent writing a blog post is 3.5 hours which does not include research or strategy.

The truth is that many bloggers struggle with figuring out how to get all the moving pieces together but that is if they are aware of those pieces.

However, it does not have to be this way for you. In fact, I am going to let you in on a few secrets that successful bloggers will not tell you.

In the post, I am going to outline 11 essentials items that most bloggers forget to include in order to get paid by blogging.

Disclosure: Please note that this post may contain affiliate links which means that if you buy one of my recommended products I get paid a commission for sharing the link at no additional cost to you.  I only recommend products that I have tried myself and have experienced success.

The Purpose of a Blog

Before I dive into those 11 essential items it is super important for me to dissect the purpose of a blog.

At this point, I could go into the history of blogging where it is believed that Peter Merholz was the first to coin the term ‘blog’.

However, both of us will fall asleep before too long because as you can imagine history was far from my favourite subject in school.

In layman’s terms, blogs are loved by Google and other search engines because it provides fresh content on a regular basis.

Bloggers write blog posts as a way to market their content with the hope of attracting potential readers.

What happens when a reader views the content and after they read it is the main focus of this particular post.

Have you ever spent some time really analysing the journey of your potential readers?

woman who's back is turned typing on her laptop placed on her desk
photo by Karolina Grabowska

Get Paid by Blogging Using These

Now that we understand the real purpose of a blog let us look at the journey of your reader and what a blog should include.

At the end of these items you will no longer wonder how do bloggers get paid but you will have an idea of what needs to happen.

1. Set up Email Provider

Starting a blog can be such an exciting experience for anyone. The vast majority of bloggers spend their time worrying about blog traffic.

However, having 10,000 page views every month may look great on the analytics reports but it may have no effect on your bank balance.

Also, there is very little impact on your knowledge of this amazing audience if you are not finding ways to communicate with them.

Setting up an email provider is an important part of blogging because for every $1 spent on email marketing by a blogger it brings back $44 in return.

The good news is that you can set up yours for free today. Check out these 5 free email marketing providers for more information.

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2. Free Content Upgrade

How many times have you been given the option to sign up for a free email newsletter?

I cringe every time I see one, “sign up for our free email newsletter”. Here’s why, I stopped watching the news 10 years ago as part of my media detox.

Anyone wanting to send me more news will not be entitled to get my email address, yes I am weird like that but here is a fact.

If you offer a reader something more relevant other than a newsletter do you think they may be interested?

This is why it is important to start building a relationship with your readers by offering them something of value.

These items of value can include a cheat sheet, checklist, e-course, webinar or other printable.

Even though you are offering them for free they will help you to get paid by blogging when they purchase an item from you.

3. Monetise your Blog Post

This one can be difficult depending on your niche. In the early days, I was told not to include affiliate links until my post was ranking.

However, I have since ignored that advice and include them whenever possible. There are so many ways to monetise your blog posts.

If you are talking about products or services available on Amazon you can include a link to those.

You can, of course, sign up to the many affiliate programs that are available in your specific niche. Shareasale is a great place to find options across many niches.

Having your own products and/or services is yet another way that you can ensure that your blog is monetised.

I have a huge resource of 30+ ways to monetise your blog so feel free to head over to grab more ideas.

They will increase your chances and help you get paid by blogging.

4. Properly Set Up the Opt-in Form

This has happened to me several times so I am just as guilty as many people out there.

I remember being so excited to create a freebie or content upgrade for a new blog post only to realise that I did not set it up properly.

Ever wondered why there is a drop in your list growth? Did you check all your opt-in forms to see if things were set up correctly?

It is important to go back through every single form on your blog quarterly just to make sure things are connected properly.

Trust me when you get to 30+ freebies things can get a little bit confusing.

5. Creating One-Time-Offers (OTO’s)

Be honest with yourself now, do you have any one-time-offers for your audience to grab?

Just in case you never heard this phrase before a one-time-offer is a product that you offer those who decide to subscribe to your email list.

Normally it has a price of between $7 and $57 and it is not available to purchase anywhere else on your site at that price.

Did you know that 5-20% of people who join your email list will buy your one time offer?

I know that it can be tricky to find a good software provider for one-time offers but you can always use Thrive or Elementor.

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6. Including Countdown Timers

At one point, I felt bad about including a countdown timer until I realised the psychology behind it.

Before I lose you altogether a countdown timer is a timer that is placed together with the one-time-offer. It gives your subscriber the chance to buy your offer within x minutes.

If the person needs it then they will most likely go for it. However, if it is not a need then the timer will not have any effect on them.

In the past, I thought that I was forcing people to buy something that they don’t really need.

That was until I realised that I will never buy something that will not be useful for me no matter the time or the price.

However, I have to tell you that finding an inexpensive countdown timer that is up-to-date is very difficult.

Many of them can set you back at least $25 a month.

7. Creating an Email Sequence

Yikes! Are you terrified of creating an email sequence because you have no idea what to say to your subscribers?

Welcome to the terrified-to-communicate-to-subscribers-club. Yes, I have to agree with you that it appears to be so difficult.

However, do you know what is worse? Not communicating with them at all. Imagine joining an email list and not hearing a word from the blogger.

So many times as a blogger, you are frustrated about not making any money blogging but you have not communicated with your audience either.

This is so hilarious but over the years I have learned that you don’t need to have your own product ready just yet.

It is a great opportunity to communicate with your subscribers to find out what they need so you can create it.

If you want to get paid to blog my advice to you is to create your first sequence of 5 emails and take it from there.

8. Have an Up-sell

The moment you create your product you should consider having an up-sell. If you have no idea what I am talking about let me explain.

After you set up your one time offer then it would make sense to have another higher priced item for those who purchased your one time offer.

I can see you cringing from here. Lol!! You are probably thinking why in the world would you have a second offer.

Statistics show that 60-70% of your existing customers will buy your up-sell. So if you currently have an email list of 500 subscribers here is what should have happened.

5% of them should have purchased your one time offer. At a price of $7 for the one time offer that works out at 25x$7.00 = $175.00

If 60% of them purchased your up-sell then it would look like this. Let’s supposed your up-sell is an ebook at $47.00, then 15x$47.00 = $705.00

As bloggers, we all think we need to have 25,000 page views a month with 5,000 subscribers before we can make $1,000. As you can see that is not true.

9. Offer a Down-sell

I can see you biting your nails after reading this title. Lol!! Yes, another selling point where you give your subscriber the opportunity to solve their problem.

Again, in case this term is very foreign to you a down-sell is simply giving your customer the ability to invest in an item at a lower price with bits removed.

Let me give you an example if you were selling a course with online video training for $197 as the up-sell then the down-sell would be just the ebook with templates for $77.

There was a time I saw this as a bit too much. However, if you see it as giving the prospect or customer a way to still solve their problem at a lower price then it is not as bad as you imagine it to be.

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10. Creating a Product

So many bloggers believe that they have absolutely nothing to offer their audience or they take way too long to create their products and services.

If you are reading this and nodding your head because you believe that you don’t have anything to offer then really think again.

Every one of us has at least one book in us that we need to tell the world. This is the year that you will start outlining the chapters of your book.

Your subconscious mind will help you to fill in the blanks. Think about it for a second, what can you talk about a lot without doing a lot of research?

Promise me that you will start creating your product as soon as you are finished reading this post.

Need help choosing a platform for your course? Check out my Thinkific review in this Teachable vs Thinkific resource.

Also, it is important that you have your product available to help solve the problems of your potential clients at a minimum.

11. Creating Your Avatar

Okay, if you have not done this one yet then you need to stop everything that you are doing and get to work on your avatar.

If you never heard the term avatar before it is the same as your persona or ideal client.

It could be that you are brand new to the whole idea of blogging and you are only in the investigative stage which is fine.

Before writing your first blog post you should have at least completed the first iteration of your avatar.

Include the following:

  1. Age
  2. Gender
  3. Where do they live? (country, city)
  4. Do they live in a house or an apartment?
  5. Their neighbourhood, what does it look like?
  6. What are their daily, weekly, monthly or annual challenges?
  7. Outline their biggest needs?
  8. The kind of problems they are trying to solve personally, financially
  9. Their deepest desires and dreams for them and their family, what are they?
  10. In terms of their biggest fears, what are they? (not spiders, emotional ones?)
  11. Do you get their short-term and long-term goals?
  12. Any idea of their good and bad habits?
  13. What gets them excited?
  14. The stuff that annoys them, what are they?
  15. Their passion projects, what are they?
  16. Where do they spend the most time online?
  17. List the kind of items they spend their money on when they get paid?
  18. What type of podcasts do they listen to?
  19. Which software and/or apps do they use?

It gives you the opportunity to really get to understand your audience, reader as well as your potential client in a lot of detail.

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Recap

Can you really make money blogging? The short answer is yes but it is what results from hard work, dedication and a keen understanding of your audience.

In order to help you with this list let’s do a quick recap of all the items, you should include if your goal is to generate an income with your blog.

  1. Set up email provider
  2. Create free content upgrades
  3. Monetise your blog posts
  4. Set up opt-in forms
  5. Create one time offers
  6. Include countdown timers
  7. Set up an email sequence
  8. Have an up sell
  9. Offer a down sell
  10. Create a product
  11. Formulate your avatar

As you can see it is so easy to be a blogger or entrepreneur for many months or years just publishing several blog posts a year without blog growth.

Take a step back and revisit your blog goals and see how you can incorporate many of these ideas to achieve your blogging goals.

Conclusion

One of the secrets to get paid by blogging is to grow your email list and develop a great relationship with your subscribers.

This is only applicable to anyone who would like to treat their blog as a business so that they can generate a full-time income online.

It all starts with knowing your reader or audience on a very in-depth level so working on your avatar is actually the first step.

With an intimate understanding of your readers you are now able to offer them content and courses that adds value to their lives.

What has been your experience so far with these items? Have you created an avatar and set up your first one time offer?

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29 thoughts on “Get Paid By Blogging: 11 Things Most Bloggers Ignore”

  1. This is a super useful list. As a blogger I am definitely guilty of forgetting about many of the items on this list. Bloggers do seem to find the most success when they are able to create a product!

    • Natalie, you are so right times have changed a lot over the last 7-10 years. I believe the culture of influence is causing this change.

    • I am a new blogger. And believe me it feels so overwhelming. I need to start working on earning from blogs. Your post was so amazing. I guess, whole night today I would be checking the posts and learning.

      • Arun, welcome to blog land. Thanks for the kind compliment. I’m so glad you found the post amazing and there is no need for you to feel overwhelmed. Just take things one day at a time.

  2. This is really helpful for people wanting to make money blogging. I get asked all the time how I make money with my blog and so many people are shocked when they find out how much work it actually takes.

    • Silvia, great to hear that you’ve been monetizing your blog for years. You are right that there is always room for improvement.

  3. What amazing tips! I’m bookmarking this so I can come back and try to implement one new thing a week. I think first thing I need to work on is incentivizing signing up for the newsletter… hmmm…

    • Heather, I am glad you found it amazing. Yes, you do need a great sign-up incentive. Thanks for the kind compliment.

  4. I am not using my email list as I should yet. There are so many things to do after writing a blog post that I don’t have time to create extra content and extra campaigns. I prefer affiliate and ad networks as income providers.

    • Joanna, that is awesome. The big advantage of having an email list is that you own it and no ad network or affiliate program can take this away from you.

  5. These are great, often overlooked steps to make money blogging! There are so many ways to monetize and you explain each in such detail! Thank you ?

    • Lauren, it is great to hear that you have been blogging for years. Implementing these should be a walk in the park for you.

  6. This is great! I wish I had this when I started blogging years ago. It all started off as a side hustle, but the truth is that now it has become my own business. I love the freedom of being able to blog from wherever I want and whenever I want. These are great tips! Thanks for sharing<3

    Candace Hampton

    • Sundeep, you are very welcome and I am glad that you found some amazing tips in the post.

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