A few weeks ago I blogged about my experience at the Niche Parent Conference 2014 in Orlando, Florida. If you didn’t catch that post, you can check it out by clicking here. One of my favorite sessions during this conference was called, Innovative Ways to Monetize through Social Media, lead by Stacey Taylor aka @TheSistahChick and Christine St. Vil aka @MomsNCharge . If you want to Monetize your blog, these are wonderful tips to get you on the right path.
Here are some notes from that session that I’m going to be implementing and I hope they help you too.
Remember that your Facebook audience may be different from your Twitter audience. You don’t have to post the same thing on each platform. You can tailor your content to be different for each.
Use Mail chimp and start mail lists. Develop email lists with a free opt in.
Develop a product or a service. What can you offer to your readers that sign up for your newsletters or weekly posts? Think about your skills and come up with something to offer aka sell.
If people sign up for your email they want to know more abut you.
Make sure u have a schedule and are tweeting/posting around the clock.
Questions asked by your followers and readers can then turn into blog posts. Think about that when looking for content inspiration.
If you are blogging professionally you’re going to get asked to do service based activities such as twitter parties, sponsored posts, ads, freelance writing, consulting, teaching, event coverage, etc.
Stand out and be different.
Christine of Moms N charge has done live event blogging, think about how to serve others. You’d be surprised at what people need and what they’ll pay you for.
People are always watching so be aware of that.
Don’t be afraid to tell people what you can do for them.
Know your worth.
Christine of Moms N charge offers a 10 week course online. Evaluate each situation, whats your ROI (Return of Investment). You don’t have to charge everybody, think about your ROI that doesn’t necessarily have to be money.
Remember it is all a gradual process. Don’t be afraid to ask people you have connected with online. Don’t ask how much they get paid but ask questions.
Stop using free sites, domains and cell phone photos. Spend money on professional head-shots, logos and business cards. Spend money on training, seminars etc.
Get a uniformed look on your blog and business cards.
Get a coach and a mentor. Make sure your logos are transferable from t shirt to card.
When you invest in yourself people will know you are serious. It costs money to get started but your return will be great.
Remember to get people from social media TO your blog.
You can prepare an E-book via Fiverr.com.
You can set up an account on elance.com to look for freelance writing jobs.
Check out Public Relation and Marketing sessions that may be free.
Volunteer at different conferences in exchange of a free ticket.
Check out social apps like vine, snapchat, ello.
Don’t always do sponsored. Keep it different. Pick and choose, you can say no if it doesn’t fit your brand/blog.
Use your own voice to talk about a sponsored post. Spread them out. For every sponsored post do 3-5 of your own in your own voice.
Don’t be afraid to pitch companies. Those that you can relate to. Go out to a brand and tell them you’d love to work with them. Get a proposal going.
Do not just post and run. Engage with those who engage with you. Find ways to be part of the conversation.
One of the recurring tips I have heard a few times before is not to use pictures like the ones I am posting below taken with my phone. Not a clear pic but I wanted to share the Top Social Media Tools that they recommend in order to help you increase productivity and decrease feeling overwhelmed:
- SumAll
- JustUnfollow
- HootSuite
- Bit.ly
- Buffer
- Canva
- PicMonkey
- Tweetdeck
- Google Drive
- Google Analytics
- Klout
- Tweepi
- Bloglovin
- TweetReach
- Hashtracking
All of these tips are wonderful, but it’s another thing to put them into action. I’ve started doing a few things and will continue taking these tips into production. Hopefully they will help you as they’ve helped me.
