BLOGGING 101 - How to Make Money Selling Products & Services
All you need to know to start monetizing your blogSo, we already spoke about affiliate marketing and the incredible profit you could earn from it. However, affiliate marketing is not the only way to monetize your blog. Most digital nomads have several income streams, and while affiliate marketing is considered one of the most proficient, it doesn’t mean you should limit yourself to it.
Another great stream of income comes from selling your products/services on your blog (or on your social media page). Keep reading to find out how to successfully sell products or services, and earn money while travelling!
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How To Sell Products On A Blog
The first and most obvious step is to think about what product you want to sell. Remember: You want this to be relevant to your niche and of interest to your audience. Consider WHY your readers should purchase your products and WHAT BENEFITS they could receive.
Most bloggers sell digital products instead of physical ones – so you don’t have to worry about shipping!
“But… do I have to pay to sell products on my blog?”
Absolutely not!
One of the most used plug-ins is WooCommerce, and it’s COMPLETELY FREE. It allows you to sell your products directly from your WordPress site. It’s super easy to use, and it looks very professional!
Digital Products To Sell On A Blog
So, let’s think together about what products you could sell and let’s start making a list.
If you have a travel blog, you could sell Ebooks (guides about specific countries or travel experiences), or you could think about selling city tours. For a business blog, courses could be a great way to monetize. If you have a nutrition blog, you could think about selling training sessions or personalised advice. For an art or fashion blog, you could sell prints on demand. Or maybe you are a social media expert and wish to sell your management abilities to your audience.
As you can see, there are SO MANY things you could sell on you blog, but it really depends on what your niche is.
More and more bloggers are using courses to monetize their pages. In fact, creating a course would set you as an authority in your niche, increase engagement with your followers and create a connection with your students.
I completely agree with those who think that selling a course is one of the best ways to earn money from your blog. You only create it once, and you’ll have a passive income forever!
In case you’re wondering: you don’t need to be an expert and know EVERYTHING about what you are teaching. If this was the case, no one would sell courses, right?! Again, make sure what you are teaching is relevant to your audience, and that it can provide huge value to your students!
You will soon discover that once you’ve created your online course, your students will want more. That’s when you can start to create more specific classes, start coaching people and so on. You’ve just created your loyal community!
Advertise Products You Sell On Another Platform
Just like with affiliate marketing, you don’t necessarily need a blog to start selling your products or services. In fact, you could use other platforms to make the sale (such as Society6, Etsy, or Skillshare if you’re selling a course). Of course, if you choose to do that, you’re only going to earn a percentage of the total profit.
However, depending on what products you decide to sell, it might be easier to use a platform than actually to do everything yourself. For example, if you choose to create prints on demand, Society6 deals with adapting your design to clothing, paintings, frames and other objects, while also managing the shipment of the product – resulting in less problems for you.
Moreover, you can always use your blog or social media page to advertise the products you’re selling on another platform, attracting more customers and clsoing more sales!
Pros & Cons
One of the best aspects of selling your products on your blog is that you can determine the prices and how to advertise what you’re selling. You have total control over what you’re selling, and the revenue you can get from it.
Also, setting prices are minimal: you don’t need to spend money to start selling products on you blog, and the revenue can be very high. I’ve seen people who sell their course for £1200! Imagine the income you could have if you had ten people buying it per month. But the best thing about selling a digital product is that you can simply update it as time goes on: you don’t need to create a new one, you can just improve the one you already have, and earn from it for a long, long time.
Between the cons, there’s the time to create the product. It can take days or months to create something of value for your customers, and if you’re not very committed, you could end giving up. Moreover, there are so many blogs out there giving away the same content for free. So, in order to succeed, it’s extremely important that you create something really worth buying, something that makes you stand out from the crowd.
How To Succeed In Selling Your Products
Just as with affiliate marketing, there are three fundamental things you need to succeed and earn a profit from the products you’re selling:
- Sell extremely valuable things – there are tons of blogs out there selling the exact things you’re selling, for lower or no price. Maybe they have more experience than you, maybe they have done this before, or maybe they have more followers. So what does make you stand out? Why should people choose you? Consider these questions when creating your first product, and don’t let yourself be discouraged. Everyone started from zero. YOU CAN DO IT!
- Increase your audience – if you don’t have an audience, nobody will know what you’re selling. Expose yourself, attract people and start growing your community. Social media are a great way to attract potential customers and bring them to your blog. Make sure to start by giving a lot of FREE VALUE, and their trust in you will inevitably increase. You can’t just expect them to pay for your products if they don’t even know who you are, and how valuable what you’re selling is!
- Understand what your followers want – carefully consider your niche and your audience: their interests, what they like and what they would spend money for. This is extremely important if you want to succeed. Remember: you’re creating something you must sell to your audience. It doesn’t matter you love it if your audience is not interested in it!
Final Thoughts
If your goal is to shift from having a blog as a hobby to finally starting earning from your passion, then you should totally give this a try. I personally know people who make five figures A MONTH just from selling courses on their blog!
So, if you are willing to spend some time to create highly valuable content, sell it, and start seeing a huge passive income, then this is for you!
Have more questions? Contact us at contact@kikkasvoyage.com, or drop us a message on Instagram!
Kikka
EDITOR IN CHIEF