Want to learn how to make money from your blog? Yesterday, I answered that question for people who subscribe to our e-newsletter. It got such a positive response, I thought I’d re-post the answer here on the 60 Second Marketer blog.
Enjoy!
“A few weeks ago, one of the members of the 60 Second Marketer community asked me to write about how to monetize a blog. It’s a great question. And rather than answer it with hypotheticals and theory, I thought I’d give you a real-life example by sharing information on how I generate revenue from my blog.
For starters, let’s get one thing out of the way. It’s not easy to make money from a blog. Despite what you may have heard, blogging isn’t a sure-fire way to become a millionaire. Blogging is sort of like acting — there are a handful of people who make a lot of money at it, but the vast majority do it because they want to share their ideas and concepts with a larger audience.
In my case, I run the 60 Second Marketer because I want to share my thoughts on marketing and because it’s a great way to generate revenue for my consulting business.
You’ll see from the chart below that the majority of my revenue comes from consulting with companies interested in using social and/or mobile media to grow their sales and revenues.
I also make money by doing workshops and keynote speeches. Sometimes, as in the case of the Go Mobile Workshop I ran last year, I’ll handle the whole shebang — set-up, speaking, logistics, etc. In other cases, people hire me to come in and do a social media and/or mobile marketing workshop on their behalf.
It might surprise some people that I don’t generate a lot of revenue from book sales. The publisher keeps about 85% of any book sold, so the real reason for writing a book is so you can 1) get on TV and, as a result 2) charge more for speaking gigs.
If you’ve been hanging out with us for any length of time, you know that occasionally I’ll send out an email that provides a link to a free white paper download. Those are called sponsored emails and are another way we generate revenue.
What is The ROI on the 60 Second Marketer Blog? By most people’s standards, I make a very good living, which has been a blessing. But I also work very, very hard. In the end, any sane person would crunch the number of hours I put into my job and say, “Not for me. I’d rather work normal hours and receive a regular paycheck.”
But that brings us full circle to the whole acting comparison. Like many actors, I’m not doing this only for the money (even though the money is pretty good). I’m doing it because I love teaching, I love sharing and I love speaking.
The money is an added bonus.
Where Does This Leave You? The answer to the question, “How do you monetize a blog?” isn’t a simple thing. As you can see, the only way I’ve been able to monetize the 60 Second Marketer is by having multiple revenue streams from different sources. By doing so, I’m able to spread my risk across many places — when one stream goes down, another goes up.
The end result is that I get to do what I love and, thankfully, make a pretty good living at it.
Let me know if you have any other questions (or if you want to work with me). As corny as this sounds, you’re the fuel that keeps me going.”
Other Items of Interest on the 60 Second Marketer Blog:
Posted by Jamie Turner, Founder of the 60 Second Marketer and co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” and “Go Mobile.” He is also a popular marketing speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe.
