Your number one goal as a new blogger is to make passive income blogging while you sit on the beach and spend time with your family, am I right?

However, your current stage probably looking a lot like this:

1. Trying to get your blog off the ground but it’s taking you forever
2. Not having enough time to work on your blog
3. Feeling guilty that your taking time away from your family because blogging takes hours (and you don’t have time as it is)
4. Making $0 blogging or cents in affiliate sales
5. No one is purchasing anything you have to offer

Does either one of those 4 things listed sound like you?

I totally get it!

Believe it or not, I was right where you are when I began blogging.

I didn’t have a whole lot of time to work on my blog and when I did, I felt guilty that I didn’t spend that time with my boyfriend or family.

I tried to make money with affiliate sales but my blog traffic was next to nothing. I was making cents.

I worked on my blog for 2 years before I made my first $200. It was very exhausting.

I was worried that all the time I had invested went to waste. That I had failed.

You’re probably feeling the same way too, right?

That maybe you just aren’t good enough to be a money making blogger because nothing is working for you anyways.

Maybe it just isn’t meant for you.

You feel like giving up.

But here’s the thing, boss lady. It IS possible for you to make passive income. But probably not in the way that you think.

Affiliate marketing is great….But it can take YEARS to finally see a good amount of income from that. And I’m talking 5 years of traffic building to make $1000 a month.

And I don’t know about you, but $1000 a month doesn’t necessarily pay my bills and allow me to go on lavish vacations now does it?

Truth is, the whole blogging world teaches you to focus on making money with affiliate marketing.

And while I do think it’s a good strategy to always try and implement, it won’t make you enough to sit on the beach and pay the bills.

So what’s the fix then? How do you make passive income blogging?

By selling your OWN digital offers and services.

In this blog post, I’m going to share with you the exact strategy that I use to make passive income blogging.

This is my tried and true strategy that has also been tested on many different blog coaching clients of mine.

It really works!

So let’s dive in.

Step One: I create intentional blog post content

The first step when it comes to making passive income is to create intentional blog post content.

A lot of new bloggers don’t realize that owning a blog and writing weekly blog posts is to ONLY do these 4 things:

1. Drive traffic to their site
2. Show that you’re an expert in your niche
3. Get people on your email list to then sell to them
4. And sell them your products and services

Writing blog posts are NOT:

• To tell people your story of how you walked your dog this morning
• To be used as a journal
• To rant on about your life
• To talk about you, you, you
• Or to talk about things no one really gives a crap about

Truth is, you have to create blog post content that will SOLVE problems your ideal reader faces.

And to do this, you need to first know WHO you’re writing for in the first place.

Understanding your audience, their needs, desires, and problems is key to building a relationship. Solving problems is an important component to creating a trusting relationship with your audience.

It all starts with really understanding your audience. Of course, this is vital to the success of your blog overall. You must know who you are writing for, what they want, and how to help them.

One of the first recommended steps to building your blog target audience is to develop a detailed description of your ideal reader. With this description in hand, you can build a blog that suits their needs and generates traffic.

The process was a bit abstract for me, but eventually I realized that someone like ME in the past is my ideal reader!

With that in mind, I always try to tailor my posts, links, and downloads for someone like I was in the past. It has helped focus the direction and cohesion of my blog.

KNOW THE READER WELL

As I mentioned, you want to get to know your ideal reader extremely well.

Understand their daily life, relationships, finances, likes, dislikes, and struggles.

These details will help you develop a list of problems you can help the reader solve.

Jot down a description of your reader and the hurdles they face every week. Start your help list with these challenges.

If you have no idea what they struggle with, then do market research! You HAVE to do market research very often in business and ask your audience what they struggle with on a regular basis. We will talk about how to conduct market research later on.

YOUR PROBLEMS ARE THEIR PROBLEMS

Use your daily struggles and challenges to help your readers.

If you struggle with time management, research solutions and share what you find with your readers.

Perhaps you are going through the “terrible twos” with your toddler.

As you work through the problem yourself, share solutions with your reader.

Example: I was struggling in the blogging field so as I learned, I documented and wrote about it. I wrote on whatever topic I learned that week and this allowed me to communicate my struggles with my readers and know how they felt too.

NO HARM ASKING

Reach out to your readers (more on how to do this in the market research lesson)

• Email a select portion of your mailing list
• Write a post and ask questions
• Create a survey (Google Forms is terrific tool for this)
• Include a comment form in your post and ask for responses
• Share in Facebook groups
• Poll your audience on the poll feature on IG stories

SOLUTIONS MASTER

Now that you have your audiences feedback it is time to solve those problems.

There are many different ways to approach this:

My favorite way: Blog posts, Podcast Episodes, and Video Masterclasses

Its no secret that video is KING these days. Sure your audience will SKIM a blog post but if they listen to the podcast episode then they will get the FULL information.

If you offer a free masterclass within your posts, you position yourself as an authority, you educate them, you gain a email subscriber AND you funnel them into purchasing your product. More on this when we have our funnel week.

Solving problems or challenges for your readers will keep them coming back.

Suddenly you become a real person, with similar problems, and (most importantly) solutions.

Putting yourself in the reader’s place, you understand how much more you enjoy a blog or post that is relatable and helpful.

Your help and guidance can be funny, heartfelt, or serious – each of these makes you approachable.

And readers love that!

Step two: I drive traffic to my blog posts

After I create intentional blog posts that are speaking to my ideal readers problems they face, then I obviously need to bring in the traffic!

I drive traffic to my blog in these 4 ways:

1. pinterest ads
2. podcast
3. Seo
4. Social Media

PINTEREST ADS

Let’s just explain this super quickly.

I run a TRAFFIC campaign.

I spend $5/day for 3 days to test it out first. If the ad is doing seemingly well, I prolong the ad to 30 days and I may increase the price. If the ad does not do well in the first 30 days, then I kill it/stop paying for it.

I do have regular pins that I upload but I strategically only use the ones that I know that will do well for ads.

PODCAST

I think a lot of new bloggers think that podcasting is a huge waste of time, however I beg to disagree.

I receive a ton of traffic from my podcast.

And it really doesn’t take me a lot of time to create an episode.

I spend maybe 30 minutes filming, editing and uploading each week.

This is because I simply just read my blog posts and add in things to make it sound more natural!

Highly recommend you incorporate this into your strategy.

SEO

The number one way that I absolutely love to get blog traffic is by implementing SEO.

This is the MAIN traffic source for my blog because I have worked hard for it, was patient, and ranked my blog pages and posts #1 on Google.

First of all, I want to cover some standard guidelines when it comes to implementing SEO on your blog posts.

-You want to have at least 1000+ words of HELPFUL content.

The reason why I say HELPFUL content is because Google’s new algorithm is really looking for content that educates your ideal blog readers. They want your ideal blog readers to come to your website and leave with a really good understanding and knowledge on the topic that they came to your website for.

-3 + Images with ALT Text

You want to have as many images as you can because the more you have, the longer a user is going to stay on your website and consume your blog content.

97% of people will bounce off of your website if there are no images that help them to understand the blog post, inspire them, etc.

-Inbound and Outbound Links

You want to be inserting these 2 different types of links. Inbound links are links that go to different pages or blog posts on your own website and outbound links are links that lead to pages or posts on different websites.

-Keywords in your Blog Post Title, Introduction paragraph, and a Good Density Throughout the Post

Keywords are the “search terms” that your ideal readers are using when they look up something in search engines. You want to find the keywords that your ideal reader is using to look up things and insert them throughout your entire blog post.

-Use Yoast SEO Throughout the Blog Post

A lot of new bloggers have this misconception that Yoast SEO will magically help them rank their blog post. While this may help guide them to implement SEO on a blog post, it will not rank your blog post if you don’t correctly pick good keywords and use the strategies that I will show you today. Yes, even if your Yoast SEO light is Green.

-Target ONE keyword.

When you do your keyword research (I’ll show you how in a minute) you want to target ONE keyword/keyphrase.

ONE keyword also means different synonyms of the keyword.

SOCIAL MEDIA

I also use Instagram to drive traffic to my blog.

I write weekly blog posts and then advertise them inside of my stories and posts.

The #1 thing with Instagram is that you need to ensure that you solve problems your reader has within your blog posts or else literally NO ONE will click over to read your post.

I use Instagram mostly to get people onto my email list and sell people my programs.

BUT.. I mainly use it to grow a community and serve people in a free way! Which is the main goal.

If you serve people for free, they will want to give back to you and sign up to your programs, courses, products, etc.

Step three: I get people on my email list

It’s so crucially important to have an email list as a blogger, especially if you want to make $.

Within my blog posts, I offer a free masterclass – 6 Figure Blogger Secrets.

I also offer other freebies like, Start a blog free course, blog post checklists, and more!

The main reasons why growing an email list is so crucially important is because its YOURS. You own it and you don’t have any competition trying to tear you down like beating algorithms.

An email list will also have a WAY higher engagement rate than social media will. More people will open your emails and click on your links than they would if you were to post something on Instagram.

Pssstt, Instagram doesn’t even show your posts to half your readers.

You also need to think about your email list like this- Your email list is FULL of people who raised their hand and chose to receive emails from you. They are interested in you and your content.

When you can get someone on your email list, then you can sell easily to them!

Step four: I send out a funnel of emails

When someone signs up to my email list, they then get sent a series of welcome emails. This introduces who I am and gives a TON of free value before selling to them.

A welcome email sequence is an important set of automated emails that are sent to new email subscribers. Your welcome email sequence comes after a new subscriber hands over their precious email address in exchange for your freebie, and then becomes a loyal reader of your weekly emails (and buyers of your products and services, woohoo!).

Think of it like this. You meet a new person at a workout class, and you think to yourself “I think we would be great friends.” But to become friends with that person, you first need to introduce yourself.

Then you’ll probably share meaningful stories, bond over common interests, tell them about your favorite things, and ask them about theirs in return.

Essentially, your welcome sequence does the same kind of thing. In your emails, you introduce yourself to your stranger subscriber, share a few stories, point to your favorite resources and tips, and invite them to share about themselves by including engaging questions.

But why should you go to the time and effort of creating a welcome email sequence? Take a look at these stats…

• Welcome emails generate 320% more revenue than regular emails/newsletters
• Over 74% of people expect a welcome email immediately after joining your email list
• A study done by Experian indicated welcome emails produce 4X the open rates than bulk emails
• Your email subscribers are a list of people who are interested in the content that YOU have to offer
• Your open rate will be WAY higher than social media.

And, it will enable you to…

• Introduce yourself and your brand
• Building trust with your subscribers
• Beginning connections that’ll help your blog and business in the long-term
• Give them a reason to stay an engaged member of your email list
• Get more results and earn more money
• Bring people back to your blog

Execute it well, and you’ll have people opening your emails SO fast and they’ll remain: engaged and active.

Because a welcome email sequence builds trust, and helps your new subscriber know and like you. Without these three things, you’re not going to be able to sell the services, courses and products that you’ve worked so hard to create.

Just like no-one wants to buy from a random cold-calling salesperson, no one wants to buy from a random business owner who’s popping into their inbox screaming “buy my stuff” without, at the least, a proper introduction…

Now, there’s nothing wrong with selling in email. But the truth, to sell successfully, you need to do it the right way. And that way is to build a relationship with your readers before you try to shove your product/service/course down their throat, ya hear me? 

When people have just handed over their email address in exchange for your valuable freebie, they’re ready to see what more you have to offer them and they are ready and waiting to learn from you.

When they first sign up to your email list, this is when they are paying attention to you the most, which means they are most likely to open your emails, click on the links to your resources, and hit reply and chat with you.

But if you don’t have a welcome email sequence, you’re missing out on an opportunity to connect with a new subscriber when they’re most willing to engage with you!

Think about this: Why bother to create an amazingly long and valuable freebie if you’re not going to follow it up with more valuable free content that serves your ideal reader and brings them back to your blog for more?

If you’re going to take the time to create new content to attract your ideal people, promote it on social media, and create and schedule a million Pins on Pinterest, then you need to have a strategic plan of how you will nurture your subscribers to buying whatever it is you have to offer.

You’re a blogging business owner, after all, and you need well-calculated plans to bring money into the bank as quick as possible. Your welcome email sequence is one of those plans.

After the Welcome Sequence is completed, I then funnel them into a sales sequence. I do this by offering another freebie. Something so GOOD that they fall in love with how much value I’m giving to them.

The sales emails last for 7 days and offer a limited time discount to join my membership.

Step five: People join my membership, I upsell

At this point, people will see the sales emails and then purchase the membership.

At checkout, the are upsold to purchase a strategy session call with me. I find that most all people will book the call since I offer it at a discounted rate.

On the coaching strategy call, I will then upsell my coaching programs. I have 3 programs that are strategically designed for where a blogger is at in their journey.

Blog Off the Ground – Helping bloggers get their blog launched officially

If someone chooses this option, I can then offer them a custom website design for more $.

Blog Growth Lab – Increasing blog traffic and income in 8 weeks

The Blog Monetization Method- Helping you monetize your blog

If someone does not choose a blog coaching program, I then offer the program called Blog Accelerated.

This is a less expensive option which consists of just 3 coaching calls.

Tips to note:

-your funnel won’t sell a bad offer

If you are selling something to your audience that no one will want, I’m sorry to break it to you, but no one will buy no matter how great the funnel is.

-you need to do market research and really know your audience

Market research is key. Before I ever create a program, a new course, etc, I ALWAYS do market research to learn more about my audience.

For example, before I created the Blog Growth Lab, I sent out a survey asking questions to see if people would even be interested in it. Because I had GREAT feedback, I then decided to move forward and create the outline of the program and the sales page.

BUT….I didn’t create the modules or even film the videos UNTIL I sold the program.

Because even though someone could say they would buy it, you don’t know forsure that they truly will until you do, in fact, sell it.

SO basically,

1. Market Research
2. Pre sell the program
3. THEN create it after someone buys it
   

In Conclusion

This is my strategy:

1. Intentional Content that HELPS solve problems my ideal reader has
2. Freebies within blog post content
3. Drive a ton of traffic to my blog using ads, SEO, podcast, and social media.
4. Get someone on my email list
5. Send them welcome sequence
6. Send them sales sequence
7. They join my membership
8. They upsell and book a strategy coaching call
9. They upsell and join one of my programs
10. OR they downsell to book 3 more coaching calls

And that’s it! This is how I make passive income blogging!

If you want to build out a strategic funnel together for your blog that will sell, I recommend that you book a free consultation call here so we can discuss how I can help you do this!

Any questions? Drop them below!

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• PODCAST VIDEO: Why You’re Not Making Money Blogging (5 Reasons)

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