By Melanie Blodgett. Image by Audrey Moore.
You've been posting consistently and your readership has grown, so now you're looking to earn some money. But where do you begin? Here are our five best tips for getting started with monetizing your blog.
Landing Sponsors
The first step in landing sponsors is to recall your school fundraiser days. First, you start with your family. Mom, dad, grandma, cousins - no one is off limits. Once you've exhausted those relationships, start going door to door. And don't forget to send a sign-up sheet with your friend or spouse who works in an office. They can put it in the break room for maximum coverage.
Pay Per View Content
Evaluate what your most popular posts are (check Pinterest to see what's going viral) then only post a teaser of it with a read more link at the bottom. Once readers push the link, have a Paypal window pop-up so they have to pay to view the rest of the content. They'll love it!
Start a Newsletter
A newsletter is a great opportunity to add more exposure to your sponsors. To get a lot of subscribers fast, ask the leader of your church congregation for an email contact list for a service opportunity and add them all to your list. For minimum turnover, make sure to hide the unsubscribe button as best you can.
Text Links
At least once a week, create a post entirely from sponsored text links - Mad Libs style.
Giveaways
Make sure you're not only charging for giveaways but go ahead and rig each one so you're the winner then sell the product on Craigslist.
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This was our April Fool's day post. Please don't do ANY of the things on this list. Thanks for letting us have some fun with you!