How to Monetize Your Blog-3 Reasons Why You Should Wait
Are you constantly confused about how to monetize your blog, thinking that it’s not possible?
Well, despite popular belief in the marketing world, affiliate marketing is far from dead.
The rapid rise of Amazon’s Affiliate Program has given niche bloggers a robust, trusted platform on which to sell a wide variety of products.
While the idea of “making money online” is elusive to most, building a blog that drives traffic and revenue doesn’t have to be rocket science. You can, in fact, certainly learn how to monetize your blog.
The keys to a successful blog include a combination of the following:
- A well-researched niche with relatively low search competition and few existing competitors
- Consistent content creation, including articles and blog posts that include appropriate keywords and that solve the problems of your those within your niche
- Sleek-design that follows the principles and best practices of SEO
Passive blogging income doesn’t have to be a pipe dream, thanks to the modern web.
As Neil Patel would say, “as long as you have people you can monetize your blog. The monetization comes from traffic.”
The “when” and “how” of monetization can be a touchy subject for many bloggers. But there’s no denying that there’s money to be made from affiliate programs, and even platforms such as Google’s AdSense, when it comes to blogging.
However, keep in mind why you may want to wait to monetize your next blog instead of filling it with affiliate links at launch.
You Need to Avoid Rejection from Affiliate Programs
Amazon has tightened their rules regarding their affiliate program, as has Google with AdSense.
Because it was considered relatively easy to get accepted into such affiliate programs a few years ago, rejection is becoming more and more common as bloggers attempt to skirt the quality requirements of each platform.
Common reasons for rejection include, but are not limited to…
- Having a site that’s too “shallow” content-wise. Long gone are the days of slapping three 200-word blurbs on a WordPress site and hoping for the best
- The site being perceived as spam, whether due to keyword stuffing or an abundance of low-quality, poorly written content
- Being too “sales-y” in your approach, as Amazon discourages building sites that have the explicit intent of selling Amazon products
So, are you still wondering how to monetize your blog? And what your site needs in order to get approved for such affiliate programs?
While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, at least 10,000 words of meaningful content (the equivalent of ten 1,000 word blog posts) in addition to a disclaimer and an “About Us” page would be a solid starting point.
You May Push Readers Away
Keep in mind that today’s users can spot spam from a mile away.
If you’re building a blog with the sole intention of monetization without providing relevant content to users, expect your traffic to bounce upon hitting the page.
Also consider the fact that a huge chunk of today’s users rely on AdBlock to avoid spam, meaning that the numbers game of monetizing traffic quickly becomes complicated.
It may be best to try building your following and email lists first rather than simply trying to monetize unsuspecting traffic from the word “go.”
You Need to Find Your Voice
By allowing your site to grow organically without ads, you can figure out what’s driving discussion and traffic organically and without interruptions. Then, you can create more content covering such topics and monetize it later.
Readers will be more privy to interruptions and ads once they trust you; however, you can’t hope to establish trust if your site looks like one giant sales pitch.
Think about it: your spare time is precious. How often do you spend your extra reading time seeking out sales pitches? Probably never.
When we read, it’s because we want to learn or because we want to be entertained. We don’t spend our valued spare time checking out gratuitous sales pitches.
You may be tempted to sell hard, but that’s not the kind of content that attracts and maintains a readership.
How to Monetize Your Blog: Conclusion
So, the question remains: how long should you wait to monetize your blog?
While there’s no “right” answer to the question, it may be a good idea to let your content sit for a few months in the SERPs to gain some traction prior to monetization.
Regardless of your content or niche, the money earned from those initial months will more than likely be insignificant in the long-run.
Patience is the name of the game when it comes to building an initial readership to boost your traffic for additional monetization down the road.
I hope you have gained some insight from my article on how to monetize your blog.
Do you have any suggestions to add?
Please let us all know by adding a comment below. 🙂
About the Author
Susan Melony
Susan is a professional blogger, writer and researcher who is passionate about social media trends, business, and entrepreneurship.
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How to Monetize Your Blog-3 Reasons Why You Should Wait
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