How To Make Money Blogging

(secrets of the blog business)

You may have heard of bloggers living the life of their dreams – folks who have cracked the code to freedom by making great passive incomes from their seemingly humble blogs…

Here’s the real deal with what I call the “blog business”.

Whenever people ask me what I do for a living, they find it hard to comprehend how a guy in his mid-20s can run an actual business from pieces of writing.

“Oh, you write words for a living? So you’re a struggling author huh. Must be tough.”

Pardon their ignorance as they scratch their heads in amusement.

Blogging as a business is as real as any brick-and-mortar business – in fact it’s wayyy better. When you hear the term “blog business”, two things should come to your mind immediately: PASSIVE INCOME and DIGITAL REAL ESTATE.

WHY you should start a Blog Business

(and make thousands of dollars while you sleep)

These are the reasons that drove me into the blog business – and why I really wanted to figure out how to make money blogging.

I’m sure it will be the same for you if you’re already reading this.

1) FREEDOM

Freedom is one of the two most important pillars of happiness (the other being Health). Well, at least to me.

Technology has given our generation tremendous opportunities to build the life of our dreams and achieve freedom.

Owning and running online businesses means you are completely location independent. You get to design your own life and work whenever/wherever you want.

Take myself for example – sometimes I work 12-hour days and other times I work 4-hour weeks. Up to you, homie.

The greatest thing is this: whether you’re in Asia, West Africa, or East Coast of the United States, you can succeed as long as you put in the work. Isn’t it empowering?

2) SCALABILITY

If you want to be rich, the most important factor in choosing a business is scalability.

Simply put, can you scale your business up by 2X, 10X, or even 100X… and someday be earning 100X what you’re earning today – with the same amount of work?

You see, the top 1% knows something the 99% don’t. That is: they make their assets work for them (generating income as they play golf), instead of trading their limited time for money.

A blog or website is like digital real estate. In the past, passive income is only reserved for the wealthy who had the means to invest in real estate, and earn rent while doing nothing.

Luckily for you, the internet has democratized things a little and you’re given the chance to invest in “digital real estate”. Think of every web-page as a piece of real estate that can generate passive income for you. Best thing is, the longer it sits there, the more its value increases.

Quick example: Say you’re teaching English to foreign students.

Your time is worth $30 per hour. In order to make 10X your current income, you’d have to increase your teaching hours or number of students by 10X. And if you decide to take a 6-month vacation on the beaches of Cancun, you will lose half a year of income.

What if you packaged your teaching materials into a digital course and put it up online on your own website? You’re not limited by your geographical boundaries as you now have access to foreigners in every corner of the planet. Every single day, your blog works for you by attracting new students who sign up and purchase your course. The process is automated and you will still make money every day even if you accidentally get into trouble in Cancun and locked up in prison for 6 months (lol).

3) VERY LOW OVERHEADS

Thanks to the Internet’s democratization of business, anybody can start a business at home in their pajamas (underwear optional). Well, unless you’re living somewhere without an internet connection, which means you’re a big fucking liar since you’re reading this.

The monetary cost of setting up an online blog business is very, very low (which leads to extremely high profit margins). All you need to get started is your time and energy.

Later on in this article, I will issue my recommendations for cheap and easy services that you can use to set up your first website today.

4) YOU GET TO BE YOURSELF

Some people call this a “lifestyle business”, while others call this “You, Inc.”.

I prefer to just call this a “blog business”.

We are all referring to the same thing – which is the incredible way you can make money just by being yourself. You don’t have to tie a noose around your neck, commute two hours to sit in a 5-by-5-foot cubicle, and pretend to be someone you’re not for 9 hours a day – all in exchange for a paltry paycheck.

In the blog business, you make a living just by being you. How many people in this world can say that they are truly free to do what they want?

While I’m focusing on blog authors and website owners, the same principle applies to YouTube creators or Instagram celebrities.

You only answer to yourself. BUT! You can only rely on yourself.

My favorite part is that there is zero censorship. I can use profanities, and tweet about the most politically incorrect ideas – and nobody can fire my ass.

HOW to go about starting a Blog Business

The first thing is to figure this out: What are you reasonably good at and/or reasonably passionate about?

You can start by thinking: What are the things that people usually come to you for?

Maybe people always come to you to ask for help with learning the guitar.

Perhaps they like to seek your advice on which camera/laptop/IT gadgets they should buy.

Or maybe your expertise lies in formulating cooking recipes or teaching others how to get in shape.

It could be anything. LITERALLY ANYTHING.

THE GIST

Here’s the general outline of profiting from a blog business:

Step A) Provide FREE content (make sure it’s fabulous)

You want to attract readers to your website and establish yourself as an authority or expert in your chosen niche.

E.g. create tutorials for beginners who want to learn how to play the guitar, publish review articles on the newest IT gadgets or industry trends, share basic cooking recipes or workout/nutrition plans

Step B) Sell a PAID product or service (make sure it’s even better and worth paying for)

A percentage of readers who have consumed your free content will be dying to learn more. That’s when it’s time to monetize your website.

E.g. develop a comprehensive guitar course for advanced learners, offer IT-related consultations, put together an in-depth e-Book on cooking or fitness

EVERYONE SHOULD BE A CONSULTANT

It is my belief that everyone should become a consultant. There’s definitely SOMETHING that people will pay you for.

I’m sure you can think of an area where you either have unique knowledge or experience in. Sometimes you might not even know that it is valuable to others.

Ditch the consumer mindset and start adopting the producer mentality.

WHAT to sell or monetize

After giving away tons of free value to your target audience in the form of free articles, mini guides, or anything that is remotely educational/informational/interesting to them…

You have established trust and it’s easy-peasy to get some of them to part with their money.

You can sell:

• Products (e-Books, digital courses etc)
• Services (consulting via Skype, Email etc)

There are other methods to make money from your blog if you don’t feel confident enough yet to create your own product. These are not my preferred methods, but they work for many other online entrepreneurs.

• Affiliate Marketing (Simply put, you include referral links to the guitars/IT gadgets/kitchen equipment/health products that you write about and make a small commission when your readers purchase them. Amazon, eBay, and most major marketplaces have affiliate programs in place. Or you could approach the company that sells the products you wish to promote and arrange something among yourselves.)
• Advertising (You can sell advertising spaces on your blog through Google Adsense or other similar programs. Or you could become famous enough one day that companies would pay you to write sponsored posts about their stuff.)

The main reasons why I don’t rely on affiliate marketing or advertising to make my online dollars are:

1) They usually have very small margins, so in order to make any decent income you need to have VERY HIGH sales volume.

2) You don’t control the terms & conditions as they are dictated by the companies running the affiliate marketing or advertising programs. For instance, they may reduce your commission percentage anytime or ditch their affiliate program altogether. Netflix and PayPal used to run generous affiliate programs when they first started, but once they grew to become dominant players they shut down the programs since they no longer needed you to tell people who they were.

WHERE to set up your blog or website

To set up a simple blog (like this one you’re reading now), I unreservedly recommend HostWithLove.

Over the past years, I have had many websites and thus have first-hand experience with plenty of hosting providers. They include big names like Web Hosting Hub, DreamHost, and Bluehost.

None of them has been as good AND as cheap as HostWithLove.

If you want to know what’s the deal with some of these major hosting companies, just google “EIG hosting” and read about how screwed up the industry is these days.

Or just save your time and go with HostWithLove.

If you would like to set up an online store where you can sell physical products (yes I know eCommerce is not within the scope of this article but I will explain in the next section), the best option is to go with Shopify.

As you can see, it costs almost nothing to start your own website – so nearly all your revenue would be pure profit.

PUTTING EVERYTHING TOGETHER…

Here’s the actual process of how I rake in the bucks 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – whether I’m sleeping, dining, or lounging by a beachfront resort.

I will give you four examples of blog businesses I run.

This is usually how you would make money blogging: Produce clear and well-written articles that are useful or interesting to your target audience. Let Google do its job of directing traffic to your websites, while you let the magic internet money roll in.

All of these scenarios below play out every day – 24/7/365. Your blog business is always open for business and it doesn’t need a rest day.

The general flow you will see is:

Someone finds an article I wrote -> likes my stuff -> hangs around reading more of my stuff-> eventually purchases a product or service I sell.

1 – Soccer betting consulting services

Andy is tired of losing at soccer betting and searches for a way to beat the bookies. He stumbles upon my article about how to make money with soccer betting and finds it interesting. Since Andy likes what he reads, he is drawn in. He continues reading my other posts about how successful our Team Diego members have been since 2016, and is absolutely blown away by my betting systems.

Andy finally decides to give it a shot and signs up directly for my consulting services here.

2- Investment consulting services

Paul has recently been hearing from his friends a lot about bitcoin and blockchain technology. He wonders whether it is really possible to make money from cryptocurrencies, and discovers my article via Google about how to buy bitcoin.

After using my affiliate links to successfully and safely purchase his first bitcoin, Paul knows I am trustworthy and decides to read what I have to say about cryptocurrency trading strategies. He is hooked when he finds out I have a track record of predicting the next big crypto asset.

Paul wants to be a rich son of a gun so he quickly signs up for our Elite Investing Club here.

3 – Erotica e-Book

Rachel is feeling horny after watching the latest installment of the Fifty Shades trilogy with her girlfriends on a girls’ night out. She is in the mood for some erotic literature so she tries to search for some college girls fiction.

She is in luck since I have published a short story for free here.

Rachel loves what she reads so she knows she wouldn’t be disappointed if she purchases my e-Book which contains 3 more original tantalizing stories.

4 – Men’s fashion accessories store

This is an example of an eCommerce store (set up with Shopify) that sells physical products. However, blogging is also a way to direct traffic to such a store.

Justin is searching for men’s necklaces and finds my interesting blog post about celebrities and their necklaces. He gets curious about the necklaces I sell and hangs around, reading another article about the special meanings behind dog tag necklaces.

Justin ends up buying a dog tag necklace as well as a spinner ring after learning about its amazing benefits. He is now a big fan of my men’s fashion accessories store.

Conclusion

A blog business is an excellent way for the entrepreneurial-minded person to build a life of freedom. A life that you can live on your own terms.

Unfortunately not many people are getting into this space despite the tremendous potential that exists here. Everyone seems to think that the only way to make money online is through some fancy app like YouTube or Instagram. WRONG!

Building your business on a social media platform is not ideal as you don’t own the platform. These platforms will not be popular forever. Trends come and go – the fashionable app today will be the Friendster and MySpace of tomorrow, as I’ve learned in life thus far.

Don’t be distracted by the noise.

Your own personal blog, on the other hand, will always live on. The words you pen will be forever immortalized. It’s a little legacy that you create and own. Start building your digital real estate today so you can savor the fruits of your labor down the road and enjoy your life.

Live Free Or Die,
J.K. Diego (JKDGO.COM)