It’s another Expert Briefs, where I ask really smart business owners to answer your burning questions.

If you've missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

This week I asked our panel of experts …

How do you personally make money
with your blog or blogs?

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Lain Ehmann of SuccessPLR.com says:

I have multiple streams of income that I promote or run through my blog. In no particular order, I make money from:

-Affiliate sales
-Information products
-Online courses
-Live events
-Sponsored posts
-Adsense
-CPA campaigns
-Continuity program

I think the key to making money through your blog is to KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. Are you developing a community? Then maybe you don't want to cover your blog with ads and adsense. If you have high traffic but low engagement, then maybe ads are just the thing.

Another key is to start with one thing and maximize it before moving on to another. You can jump around and not really accomplish anything because you don't focus your efforts. Really dig into affiliate marketing, for instance, before trying something else.

Third, keep building! Keep adding products to your product funnel. I started with one 30-day class, and then turned that into an ecourse. Then my audience was asking for a membership program, so I added that. Next came the live events. It kept building and building from there, and will continue to do so!

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Susanne Myers of Daily Affiliate Tasks says:

I mainly use my blog as a way to get lots of content out there for the search engines to find and more importantly to start building a relationship with people who are interested in whatever niche I’m in.

For example on my Affiliate Treasure Chest blog, I talk about all things affiliate marketing and am connecting with people who are either interested in getting started with Affiliate marketing or are working on improving what they are doing already.

That said, I have two objectives, both of them are related to making money with my blogs. They are:

1) Build My List
2) Product Recommendations

My first objective is always to get readers on my list. This allows me to then build a deeper relationship with them (get them to know, like and trust me). Once they are on my list, I can then monetize with various affiliate products and of course mentioning and recommending my own products.

My second objective … and something I do directly on my blog is to make product recommendations. I may do this by reviewing a particular product (Example – Nicole Dean’s Blog World Tour Guide ), or by making a recommendation in my blog post (Example – Low Carb PLR ).

You’ll also see little advertisement buttons (usually 125 x 125 images) for products I recommend along with a little text ad in the sidebar of my blog. While I do make a few sales here and there for those products, it’s not a major source of income from my blogs.

Most of my blog income is a direct result of my lists. New readers find me via my blog, sign up for my list and then end up taking me up on a product recommendation down the road.

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Shannon Cherry of The Business Building Live Intensive says:

Well I have a few blogs, and the goal is that they all have to make a profit or they go away.

Let me break them down and explain:

My traditional blog, with tips, ideas and a bit of snark, always contains links to my products and services in posts. Sometimes I even through in an affiliate link as well.

I also own some niche blogs and make money via affiliate links. These often are review posts.

Finally, I have a blog where I host my press releases. (Bet you hadn't thought a blog could do that!) In the releases, I usually announce a product or service launch, so they often lead to more money too.

The key is to monetize almost all your posts with links and calls to action. It surprises me how many people just don't have them in their blog posts.

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Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Hi! I agree 100% with my friends above.

I love blogging, but it's a time investment, so everything I do on my blog has to serve a greater purpose which is – to help my business to grow in some way, shape or form. While that may not mean that money changes hands, I do want there to be a greater purpose in everything that I do.

For instance, let's look at this blog post. 🙂

There's no big advertisement in the middle of it.However, it's still monetized.

• Lain's link to SuccessPLR.com is a site that we co-own. So, if you go there, and buy something, it will make me money.
• If you click on Susanne's “Daily Affiliate Tasks” above, that's my affiliate link. So, if you purchase that course, then I'll get an affiliate commission. And, Susanne's two examples are linked, because she used reviews of my products as examples. I'd be silly not to make them easy to find.

And, at the end of every Expert Briefs, you'll find a related product recommendation or call-to-action of some sort.

Plus, all of these Expert Briefs are being used in other ways. This one will be included in my new book that will be released in a very short time. So, I'll make money from this blog post again from everyone who purchases either the print version or the Kindle version of my book.

Like the other ladies, I make money from a variety of ways on my blog.

• I sell my own products.
• I promote affiliate products that I recommend.

But, I also look at the long-term views, as well.

• I build my lists – which helps me to sell additional products.
• I make connections with people who I respect, like through my podcast and Expert Briefs.
• I request people comment and/or promote through social media – which helps to bring in new readers.
• I ask people to post my articles on their blogs, or spread around my free reports. This bring me more exposure.
• I'm always trying to recruit affiliates through my blog so that I have all kinds of people telling others about my available products.

The problem that I see very often is that a new blogger will put up a blog, insert a pretty advertisement in their sidebar and then wait for the money to roll in. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. So, maybe they'll include a text link or two. Still doesn't work.

You have to ASK people to do what you want them to do, or they won't. (We aren't mind-readers, you know!) 🙂

See? This is how it works….

If you're struggling with your lifeless blog
and are discouraged and ready to give up on this whole blogging thing,
then check out my new course: www.BlogCPR.com

We'll breathe new life into your blog together!

Have a beautiful day!

Warmly,

Nicole Dean