Hey ladies! I’m back with another post geared toward helping you learn how to make money blogging by sharing you all of the mistakes I see new bloggers make when monetizing their blog.
Oh! Oh! And if you are new, make sure to go check out the post I published last week on how to make money blogging-the legit way. It dives super deep into all of my TOP secrets that I usually only share with my blog coaching clients.
Bloggers make a lot of mistake in the beginning and believe it or not, I was one of them. I remember when I was a new blogger. I looked at so many articles on Pinterest about how to make money blogging and I thought that affiliate marketing and ads were the way to go. After 2 years of trying to make affiliate and ad sales, I was left defeated and overwhelmed.
Things changed when I decided to invest in a blogging coach and some of the best blogging courses and shortly after, I was making enough money to save and take my boyfriend on an all inclusive vacay to Punta Cana.
If you want blogging results like that^ than keep on reading so you can see some of the mistakes that you might be making that are hindering your blog money makin. Ouch…
1. They have no idea who their ideal reader is
The first mistake I see new bloggers make is that they try to speak to everyone. What you have to understand is…a blog that speaks to everyone, speaks to no one.
You have to really hone in and get clear on who your ideal reader is. You have to create an avatar for your ideal reader and really know her. You want her to feel like you are in her head and that you understand her best. This is what gets readers to become a loyal follower and blog reader.
So how do you create an ideal reader avatar and get to know her?
First, you want to write down what kind of person you would want to read your blogs. Who do you want to be speaking to?
Write down the sex, age, occupation, where she lives and all of the demographics.
Then write down the traits. What is their personality like? etc.
Once you have your ideal reader avatar created, then it’s time to get to know her. You want to go on Instagram and follow all of your ideal blog readers and engage with them. DM them and ask them questions. Build a relationship with them.
2. They don’t think of their blog as a business
Listen up, if you think of your blog as a side hustle, then it’s going to pay like one. You need to start thinking of your blog as a business right from the start and you need to start thinking of yourself as the badass biz owner and blogging CEO you know you are.
If you read the post I published last week on how to make money blogging, then you know how to build a business around your blog.
You need to provide a service, coaching, or create products like courses, eBooks, and digital products. There are lot’s of ways to monetize your blog but you also need to know how to plan them, create them, launch them, and set them on evergreen so you can make passive income.
Don’t worry, if you have no idea how to do this…I have the perfect solution for you. Join the Blogging Ladies Mastermind here!
3.They think that affiliate marketing and ads will make them money
Affiliate marketing and ads can make you money blogging. But will it be enough to go on amazing vacations, pay all of your bills, and live the life you ever so dream of? Sure, but only if you’re getting hundreds of thousands of pageviews to your blog every month (which isn’t realistic).
You can definitely use affiliate marketing and ads as a side way to make a little extra money but it’s not the way you are going to actually monetize your blog and live the life you dream of.
If you want to make money from home, you need to create products for your ideal reader and help them with something that they struggle with. In fact, you won’t sell products, you will sell solutions to their problems.
Don’t believe me? Go and look at every big bloggers website and check to see if they are selling something. That is the only way you will be able to make a lot and scale your blog to high income months.
It hurts my heart to see so many bloggers wasting time with this mantra–“inserting affiliate links, post and pray”. If this is you, I’ve been there. I feel your pain. But girl, I have the strategies and if you want to make money blogging then you better take em.
4. They don’t have a strategic plan and strategy for the entire year ahead
If you don’t have the entire year planned ahead of you, with at least the entire quarter written on the calendar, then how will you ever reach your goals?
The successful bloggers that you see on Pinterest who make money blogging, they have a plan mapped out and you need to too.
Let me explain how…
First, go ahead and read my blog post last week on how to make money blogging. Then come back and read this section of the blog post.
Okay….now that you’re back….did you map out your program suite? You did? Good.
Now you want to print out some calendars or go on a digital calendar like Asana and every quarter your going to launch what’s on your program suite.
So now that you have a product that is going to launch every 3 months, you want to think about content that your audience would need to know and have in order to want to make that purchase.
Example: I’m launching a blogging course + mastermind with blog coaching called The Blogging Ladies Mastermind and I need my audience to know what sorts of mistakes they make when it comes to monetizing their blog.
Another example: I need them to know WHY it’s important to sell products or services, and WHY affiliate marketing just doesn’t work unless you have thousands of pageviews.
Think of one blog post that you can push out per week that goes a long with whatever product or service you will launch. Write a huge list of blog post ideas down.
Then plug it into the calendar by picking one day to write the post and one day to publish it.
Wala! That is how you have a strategic plan for your blog. You now know what you will be selling and the content that goes around it.
There’s obviously so much more that I left out on this topic that you’re going to need to know but I don’t want to overwhelm you (if I haven’t already.
But don’t worry. The Blogging Ladies Mastermind will teach you all about how to create a successful blog and launch products and SO much more.
5. They try to do it alone
Did you know that 95% of blogs will never ever make their first $1? Discouraging? Nope! Here is why. Most people who blog try and go at it alone. They have no idea that in order to be successful, they need a little helping hand.
Honestly, I don’t know ONE successful money making blogger who did it on their own. They hired a blogging coach, they invested in blogging courses, they had a support group, etc.
They also worked on their blog for years! You’re probably thinking, “wow, Gen, you’re saying I have to invest money I don’t have AND work on it for years before I see an income from my blog?”
No way! But what you do need is the right tools, strategies, and frameworks so you can scale fast.
For example: I just started blog coaching with a client of mine and within her first TWO calls with me, she already booked her first client! And another blog coaching student of mine sold 23 eBooks to her audience already!
You may not have the knowledge right now but if you grab someone’s hand who has years in this industry and invested $20,000 in their blogging business, then you will definitely make money fast. If you’re ready to wear my shoes, then take my hand and book a free blog consultation call here.
6. They use strategies that they found from 27 different blog posts and freebies and wonder why it doesn’t work out
Listen, yo girl is ALL about free stuff. However, those blog posts that you read for information are 1.outdated and 2. only give you not even 1/4 of the knowledge you ACTUALLY need to learn to build a successful blog.
Plus, this is HGHLY overwhelming. How do you even remember the what you learn by reading all of those articles? This just isn’t a good strategy.
The blog posts may look like they are from 2021, but that’s just because bloggers update their post dates a lot for SEO and longevity of the post.
I literally have read SO many blog posts this week about blogging and almost every article I read, they all had bad advice. They don’t give you what you truly need.
What you need? Updated strategies, frameworks, and a step-by-step updated learning plan. Like hello! It’s 2021 not 2015 anymore.
Girl, I’ve been in your shoes. Scrolling through Pinterest, downloading freebies, trying out all of the bad outdated strategies in free Pinterest articles, inserting affiliate links, posting and praying I would make money.
I’ve been in your shoes, question is….are you ready to wear mine?
Come along and try them on by booking a free blog coaching consultation call with me here! I promise you will walk in them like a 1980’s diva.
That’s all I have for you today! I gave you 7 mistakes I see new bloggers make when it comes to monetizing their blog. Are you making any of these mistakes? What will you do about it to change it?
