Grow your blog

3 Ways To Monetize Your Blog Posts

Let’s start with a big assumption. You’re
writing your blog to make money, to earn a living, not to share fun stories
about what’s going on with your family or what you’re up to with your favorite
hobby or activity. If you’re putting in the work, doing the research, and
growing the audience, chances are you’d like to get paid for your hard work.
And for that to happen, you have to monetize your blog posts. Let’s look at
three different ways to do just that.

Make
Product Recommendations Directly On Your Blog

One of the easiest things to get started
with is to make recommendations directly in your blog posts. These can be your
own products or something you’re an affiliate for. If you want something really
simple to try, sign up for the Amazon affiliate program and as you blog about
things, work in a product here or there.

For example, if you’re in the parenting
niche and are working on a blog post about a fun park in your area that you
went to, you could mention the stroller you used and how well it did or didn’t
perform in the park. Or if you’re a photographer who also blogs, share your
latest pictures and mention what camera, filter, flash etc. you used for each
picture along with links to those products.

Work
With Brands

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Working with brands is another great
option. Make connections via social media or use one of the large networks that
connect bloggers and brands. They will often pay you to write a blog post that
mentions one of their products. Don’t be surprised to work for free products or
low pay in the beginning. That’s ok.

It takes time to build a relationship and
show the marketing person you’re working with that you have the reach and the
chops to influence a large group of people. And of course as your audience
grows, you can expect to get paid better to be a brand ambassador.

Grow
Your List and Make Offers Via Email

The most effective way to make money from
your blog is to focus on getting your blog readers on your email list first.
This gives you a chance to build a stronger relationship with your audience,
get them back to your blog and of course make offers to them directly in your
emails.

Keep your email messages entertaining and
helpful with some recommendations thrown in, and you’ll do well. Keep growing
your list as your blog grows and your income will follow right along.

Of course this is by no means an all-inclusive
list. There are quite a few other ways to monetize your blog, but these are
three relatively simple concepts you can start with.

By the way, if you are interested in learning more about BLOGGING for your direct sales business, check out this post, then start our 7 Days to Launch FREE blogging course!

How To Craft A Strong Call To Action on Your Post

If there’s one thing I see a lot of
bloggers do wrong, it’s not giving their readers anything to do at the end of
the blog post. Put yourself in the shoes of your readers. You read a great
article, get to the end and there’s no call to action. What do you do? You go
back to Facebook or go watch some cat videos on YouTube. Why not give your
readers something more. What if they wouldn’t mind learning more from you or
connecting with you via email or social media or even take you up on a product
recommendation? That’s what a call to action at the end of your blog posts is
all about.

Encourage
Them To Comment And Interact With You

One of the easiest ways to craft a call to
action is to ask your readers to leave you a comment. Invite them to share
their own experiences on the topic, a tip, a recipe etc. In other words, ask
them to comment on the post.

Example: What are your favorite ways to end your blog posts? Do you use a
particular call to action? Leave me a comment below and let’s talk.

Invite
Them To Connect Further Via Social Media

If growing your social media reach is a
goal, consider adding some calls to action on to “like” the blog post on
Facebook, share it on Twitter, pin it on Pinterest etc. Or share one of your
social media profiles in the call to action and invite them to join you there.

Example: Got questions about crafting calls to action? Let’s talk about it on
our Facebook page. (Link to your Facebook page).

Make
A Recommendation

Sometimes it makes sense to make a sale and
monetize your blog post in your call to action. This is also called
pre-selling. You talk about a topic and then at the end make a recommendation
for a product that helps your readers learn more or take the next step.

Example: There’s a lot more to be said about crafting a strong call to action.
Take a look at this guide to learn more.

Invite
Them To Join Your List

Often the best thing you can do at the end
of your blog posts is to invite readers to join your list. Once you have them
on your email list, you can invite them to come back and read other posts,
comment on them, join you on your favorite social media platforms and of course
make offers to your readers.

Getting them on your list should always be your first priority, so use that call to action often. Example: HEY, I have a super fun Facebook Group that is dedicated to helping want-a-be and new bloggers grow their blogs and their business – I would love if you would join us there – simply CLICK HERE and come and hang out! (see what I did there – catch you over on Facebook!)

How To Craft A Strong Call To Action on Your Post 2

5 Goals of a Strong Blog Post

Before you sit down and write the first word of your next blog post, stop and think about what you want to accomplish with your post. What’s your goals of the blog post? How is this post going to help you accomplish something to help you move forward with your business.

how to write strong blog posts www.thepurpleteacup.com

So what could be your goals of a strong blog post?

Are you writing a post that you
hope will get shared across social media and grow your reach?

Are you writing a post that
also invites readers to join your email list so you can get back in touch
later?

Are you writing a blog post to
start a conversation with your existing readership?

Are you writing a blog post
with the end goal of selling your readers a product?

Are you writing a blog post to
start a conversation with a fellow blogger in hopes of growing a mutually
profitable relationship?

All of the above are valid goals for your
blog posts and I’m sure you can add a few more to that list. The important
thing is that you are aware of what you’re trying to accomplish with your post.

Then start with the end in mind. If your
goal is to get the attention of a big brand you’d like to work with for
example, think about a post you can write about your experience with one of
their products.

If your goal is to grow your list, think of a topic that’s complimentary to your opt-in offer freebie. Write the content and then transition into an invitation to join your list and download the free report.

If your goal is to sell a product, using story telling is a great way to engage your audience. Talk about the problem that you encountered, then a solution that you tried and didn’t work. Finally, go in a description of how you found the product that you are promoting and how it solved your problem.

Do you see how much easier it is to craft
goal driven blog posts when you know what your goal is before you sit down to
write? You can reverse engineer the entire process and make sure everything
flows well and leads your reader to whatever action you want them to take at
the end.

Being able to do that is pretty powerful
stuff. It allows you to craft different posts strategically. Write a post that
helps you grow your reach. Then work on one that starts the conversation with
our new readers. Next work on getting them on your list and finally make them
an offer. Intersperse this with posts that help you get the attention of
potential JV partners and Brands and you’re all set to not only grow your blog
and your audience, but make money blogging as well.

Hey, come and check out our Facebook page and give us a like! We love to know what people are looking to learn in WordPress world! Our group, The Bloggers Bistro is filled with an amazing group of Female Entrepreneurs learning how to blog to promote their business, their passions and their voices!

How long should a blog post be?

How long should a blog post be you may ask!

Every few months we get some new advice from a blogging guru saying that our blog posts need to be longer, or shorter, or that they should be broken up into 10 pages of bite-sized chunks… it can make you crazy. Let’s talk about this. How long should your blog posts really be?

It would be great if there was a magic
number that guaranteed best results, wouldn’t it? But that’s like asking
someone to tell you how long your conversations with other people should be.
Sometimes it’s nothing more than a few words or sentences; sometimes you have a
nice long talk. It all depends on how much you have to say to each other,
doesn’t it?

The same approach works well with your blog posts. Sometimes you’re sharing just a quick tip or a recipe for example. In that case something around 400 to 500 words will do just fine. Add a pretty picture and call it good. However, most SEO tools are going to be looking for between 600-700 words. Always make sure to include text in your image alt area as well!

Other times you want to go into a little more depth. You want to cover different aspects of a topic, share some examples and give your readers as much information as you can. In those cases make it as long as you need to make it. Long posts are great. They help establish your authority and if the content is great, they are often shared on social media. Plus long posts give the search engines a lot of text to sift through and give you more chances to rank for long-tail keywords. So, the reality is – there is no PERFECT post length.

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The best advice is to mix longer and
shorter blog posts. It will make your blog seem more natural and organic. Don’t
force yourself to reach a certain magic word count if you don’t have that much
to say on a topic. Keep it short and to the point. Your readers will thank you.

If on the other hand you have a lot to share in a different post, go for it. Break the longer content up into small paragraphs and help your readers stay on track with subheadings and bullet points. Make it easy to scan longer posts so your readers can get an idea of what the content is about before they commit to reading it all. And if you are looking for a quick way to write posts in under 10 minutes – check this out!

And if you’re finding yourself writing a
few thousand words, consider breaking it up into a series of blog posts
instead. It will help both you and your readers from getting overwhelmed with
one long post. Link from one part of the series to the next to make it easy for
your blog readers to follow along.

Above all, enjoy the process of writing and
pay attention to what your readers prefer. If your short posts tend to do
better, consider keeping your posts short and to the point. If you’re getting a
lot more engagement and social media shares on longer posts, combine a few of
the shorter blog post ideas into a longer one. And whatever you do, don’t get
hung up on a number of words.

How To Write Attention-Grabbing Blog Titles

The most important part of your blog post is your title, and attention-grabbing blog titles will – well, get attention!. If you don’t grab your reader’s attention with the title and get them to actually read the post, nothing you put inside the post matters. It doesn’t matter how great and helpful your content is. It doesn’t matter what offers or affiliate links you have in your post and it doesn’t matter who sponsored you to write it. If you can’t get them to read it, the blog post doesn’t do you much good.

And when it comes to getting free search engine traffic, your title is important as well (it is an important part of your SEO strategy!). It is the most important factor when it comes to getting your content to rank. Yes, there are plenty of other factors, but a good title with the right keywords in it will do more good than anything else you do.

How do you go about writing a good, attention-grabbing blog post title then? I suggest you start with a working title for your post and craft your content. Then come back and work on the finalized headline, implementing as many of the tips below as you can. (I have a great article here to help you!)

Make
it Interesting and Tell The Truth

You want to write an attention-grabbing headline. With that comes the temptation to hype it up and stretch the truth just a little bit. While that may get you some extra clicks, there’s a trade-off. You’ll lose credibility if you’re exaggerating or telling little (or big) white lies. You see a lot of those headlines on social media. You click through and end up disappointed because the post doesn’t fulfill what the title promised.

Instead, make it interesting without all
the hype and stick to the truth. A great way to do that is to think about
what’s in it for your readers.

Keep It Short and Engaging

Shorter titles tend to do better both with
click-throughs on your blog and social media. Keep it short and to the point
and think about engagement straight from the title of your post. Ask your
readers a question. Make a statement that makes them think. Put numbers in your
titles to get them thinking about what’s in the content (i.e. My 5 Best Tips To
…)

Keep an eye out for titles that catch your
attention. Copy and paste them into a swipe file and see how you can tweak them
for your own needs and market.

Work In Your Keywords in your Attention-Grabbing Blog Titles

Last but not least, don’t forget to work
your keywords into the title. I tend to do this last. Always write for your
readers first and then work in what you need to do to make sure the search
engines recognize what your content is about.

Ranking well for something your readers
don’t want to read or don’t want to click on doesn’t do you much good. Focus on
your audience and then optimize for search as an afterthought and you’ll do
well.

Implement these tips and get a few blog
posts out there. Pay attention to what’s working and what isn’t. Each market,
each blog, and each readership is different. Use these tips as guidelines to
help you find your own style that resonates well with your audience and gets
you the results you want.

Grow your blog

So what could be your goals of a strong blog post?

Make it Interesting and Tell The Truth

Keep It Short and Engaging

Work In Your Keywords in your Attention-Grabbing Blog Titles

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Make
it Interesting and Tell The Truth