Blogging For Profit - Make Money With the Personal Touch

If you got into blogging for profit purposes it didn't take you very long to realize this is a long term proposition did it? Well think about it for a moment. Amazon, Ask.com and most of the other monster sites (except Monster.com) went several years before they turned a buck. In fact most businesses, online or offline, don't immediately turn a profit.

On the plus side, unlike those monster sites or a brick and mortar store, you don't have ongoing expenses while you're trying to generate revenue. Blogging online is perhaps the cheapest business that you can enter that has a real potential for income growth.

But it would be nice if you could kick start the dollars wouldn't it?

Well here's a few ideas and principals that will help you in pursuit of online sales.

Be A Giver

While you might be in this for the money, remember that your audience doesn't care about your personal financial gain. The reason they have visited is they want to be informed or entertained. You have to provide real, helpful content to satisfy what they are looking for.

Check your Google analytics and see how long your visitors are on site, how many pages they go to and what the bounce rate is. This will give you a good idea as to how interesting your audience found your content. In fact you can take it a step further and check those same stats for each post. If you have an outstanding post, try to replicate it. If you have a dog, try to figure out why so you don't repeat the same mistakes.

Remember Your Visitors Are Potential Customers

Blogging is much more personal than most forms of internet marketing. People are first attracted because they are looking for specific information but if they like what they find they will at least be curious about you. Make sure you have a picture of yourself somewhere in a prominent position. People like to see who they are dealing with.

If you can get the visitors engaged to the point that they leave comments, be sure to respond to those comments in a timely fashion. If they email you, make double sure that you respond and answer their question or concern. Develop a relationship with the audience because at some point you are going to ask them to buy something from you.

Give Something Away For Free

This is where you start to make money. Your site is where your visitors come to window shop and develop information. If they are impressed with what they see and you offer FREE additional information by submitting their email then you have taken the first important step in the buying cycle.

And the free information doesn't have to be elaborate; in fact it doesn't even have to be yours. For example if you have a blog about barbequing you can offer up your Uncle's Secret Recipes for Mouth Watering Barbeque plus 5 Great Barbeque Tips Videos.

Now hopefully you actually have some favorite recipes but if not do some research and get some. The videos can come off of YouTube. Just create a page on your site for the information and make sure it is not included in your navigation tabs. When you get the email request for the offer, send the link.

On that bonus page you can start to introduce links to products. Perhaps this is a good place to link to Weber Grills via your Amazon account. Don't over do it. You've got their email and that is golden for developing a relationship and marketing as a trusted friend.

So that's why blogging for profit is an investment in time. People are making thousands per month with effective blogs but they didn't do it until they built relationships and established credibility. Just remember you have to give before you get.