Monetizing Your Blog with Products

by James on June 13, 2012

The following post is from James of Brooks Web Services:

source: Images_of_Money

Having a blog is not just a really fun and easy way to start telling your story to friends and family that you might not have physically close to you or share your interests while you connect with a community that is into the same thing, they can also be a really fun and easy way to make a bit of extra cash. It is not like you have to work very hard to do it, although it does take a bit more work to start up than it does to maintain it.

You can, as most people choose to do, sell adspace, but a profitable and often overlooked way to monetize your blog is by doing it with products. For this to work, you will need to have a certain amount of loyal readers and followers. It needs to be emphasized that even when you start selling products, the quality of your blog and what you bring to your readers should not drop. Instead, your readers should feel more connected with you than ever.

Planning What You Are Going to Sell

There are a million things you could sell and they are all highly dependent on the type of blog you have. If you have a blog dedicated to making arts and crafts with your children and people seem rather impressed by them, you can go one or two ways: compile an e-book with all your arts and crafts with step-by-step pictures and project descriptions, You can add a direct link to on your blog or sell the end product as a standalone novelty item.

You would be surprised at how much money you can end up making when you start putting your blog into products. If your blog is big enough, you might want to start creating your own physical merchandise with your blog’s logo on it. If it is a fashion blog, maybe you can experiment with putting your logo on handbags, and if it is a cooking blog, you might want to give it a go with mugs. Do a little bit of research when it comes to the website you want to launch your products on. Many do not have costs unless someone buys from you, and all you have to do is add a link to your shop on your blog.

Diversifying Isn’t Just Fun – It Is a Must

You need to diversify what you offer on your website. It does not only have to be e-books, you can go a little crazy with it, too. If you have a website dedicated to fashion and dressing well you might want to give a “How to Dress” course for a small fee. People are likely to see how dedicated you are, and if your product is good quality, they are willing to spend money on it.You could also try selling CDs and DVDs, because sometimes people like to have a physical copy of the information you can provide even when they can’t access your website.

Remember that starting up a blog is really simple and monetizing it is surprisingly simple too. All you have to do to ensure that you earn a bit of extra cash every month is keep your blog updated regularly, make sure that you deliver quality content, especially when it comes to your own products and pick the right product. Remember that quality comes first and your blog needs to provide top quality content if you want to earn money from it.

Now I’d love to hear from you. In what ways do you, or would you like to monetize your blog? Let me know in the comments below!

	James Brooks is a professional blogger, web designer and social media consultant based on the South West coast of England. As well as being a co-founder of GPlusTuts, a blog about Google+, James also enjoys blogging about technology, food and tea!

Amanda

Amazing points Shaina… you bring up so many good points!! I was JUST driving home today thinking that I should shop at night when it wont be a pain. Especially with another baby on the way.. its freaks me out! But I think I will stick to things as is… shopping together!

Anonymous

I did this to a point when my kids were being homeschooled and at home, now they are almost all grown! My oldest daughter has 6 kids ages 2-10, and she does this most of the time. Her oldest is now showing a real interest in cooking (like his parents, chef and caterer!) and can cook a whole meal for the family! She actually lets the older 4 plan and cook a meal every so often! It is a great way to keep them from being so picky as well!

Bernice

Life… Your Way Moderator

You can also find me at Living the Balanced Life- What is valuable to you?

http://www.se7en.org.za Se7en

Oh I love everything about this post, it sounds just like home… shopping and growing and sourcing our food with all our kids and all hands very much on deck for meals. As I was reading your post I thought you may like this book: We got really intentional about “where our food came from” with the kids when we started working through the River Cottage Family Cookbook (http://www.se7en.org.za/the-river-cottage-family-cook-book-fun) for school last year. it isn’t a recipe book, more a book about food we have read our way through half of it… and worked through every recipe!!! I thought we would breeze through a chapter a week but it actually has turned out to be so good and always inspires outings – to see the goats and the cheese making before we go home and make our own!!! We found it a brilliant book for learning about food without having to go and live on an actual farm!!!
Marla {family fresh cooking}

Shaina is such a wonderful influencer when it comes to healthy meal planning & food for families. This post is inspiring & a great read for parents everywhere!
http://joyceandnorm.wordpress.com/ Joyce

This is great! Hubby usually has one of the girls in tow when grocery shopping (I hate shopping of any kind), and the girls help water the garden, pick the veggies, and since they’re too little, they don’t do any actual cooking but they do help me peel our veggies or stir/mix things. It is a bit of extra work and waiting but it teaches them so much.
SMITH BITES

Great post Shania and hats off to you for shopping w/the kids which is not an easy task. But you have hit the nail on the head when it comes to what they’ll learn and take w/them into adulthood. We’re friends w/a married couple who, the husband does not eat one single vegetable – everything on his plate is meat or starch; she does not eat one ounce of fat – no butter, no mayo, no sour cream, no cheese, no meat w/any type of fat whatsoever – and they have 5yr old twins . . . but the one thing both parents agree on is sugar: cookies, ice cream, pie . . . egads, can you imagine??? Kudos!
http://www.dineanddish.net Kristen

Such a great idea. I always try to sneak off to the store without my 4 kids, but I think you are onto something here. Great post!
http://www.dineanddish.net Kristen

Such a great idea. I always try to sneak off to the store without my 4 kids, but I think you are onto something here. Great post!
Cheryl

Yes! While we never started shopping with the kids as a conscious thing, rather it was one of necessity, this is true now more than ever. And when our regular weekend market closed over the holidays my 4 year old actually cried at the thought of not being able to go there again.
Susan

I have always taken my children with me. You have a lot of good ideas. Please add my e-mail address to get your blog. Thank you. Susan steveac@bellsouth.net
http://www.feedourfamiliesblog.com/ Gina

I think my children would rather stare at a white wall for an hour than go to the grocery store, but we bring them whenever possible. There’s so many great food and wellness lessons at the store and these are important for young children (plus, who else will teach them?). During the growing months here in the NW, they eagerly go to the farmer’s market, which I love. Kids need to know where their food comes from, and I appreciate that mine often know the farmer who grew it and how they cared for it.
Anonymous

I love all these! I don’t have much need for one anymore, but back when I had 3 kids at home and ran a business and homeschooled, oh boy did I use one! I lived by that calendar! These are really cute though! I would have a hard time picking!
Bernice
8 reasons you may not have enough time

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

I don’t know if I need one or not, but I do love them!

Susan F.

I would be lost without my monthly (or actually two month) dry erase calendar. We keep it posted in the kitchen in the high traffic area of the house and refer to it often. Even though we have electronic calendars we still like the visual of the monthly one on the wall as a constant daily reminder of what is to come.

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

There is something different about a wall calendar. I feel that way about
handwritten to-do lists too!

PhotoBoothFanatic

I started looking for a dry erase calendar a few months ago that I could hang on the wall and see what’s coming up. I’m very visual, so it is a great time management tool for me. Because of my business, I knew that I wanted to be able to see three months at a time but didn’t want to spend the money on three calendar boards. So I bought 3 plain dry erase boards with black frames at Michaels for $25 each, used some electrical tape to make a grid and voila…calendar! I used some cute colored vinyl letters to make the days of the week at the top frame. Now I hang all three boards in my office and when I get through one month, I erase that board and move it to the end and rotate the upcoming boards over. This way I always have three months worth of a running calendar. I also use different color markers for different things, pink for business stuff, purple for my personal stuff, green for the kids etc.
~Tracy

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

I tried to make one of those calendar boards myself, but it didn’t turn out
so great, LOL. It sounds like you’ve got a great system, though!

http://twitter.com/MelindaP Melinda

I like to buy corkboards and chalkboards at thrift stores and decorate the “frames” with different items like lightweight glass beads, seashells, tile pieces, etc… Makes them so much more attractive and MUCH cheaper. The ones listed here are certainly nice, but you can make them much cheaper than buying new ones!
http://www.futureisfiction.com/blog daretoeatapeach

I want! I want!
http://www.futureisfiction.com/blog daretoeatapeach

I should add to my first concise reaction that my problem with these things is putting them in a location where I can access them without getting up. I know it’s lazy, but if a bulletin board isn’t within reach of my desk and isn’t behind my monitor where I can see it regularly I won’t use it.
http://delightinginthedays.com Stacy

I love the dot calender! So cute. I have a paper calender on my fridge. That way I see it all the time. Am just now adding one to my new home management binder too.

I have never had luck with anything dry erase. I seem to bump them all the time and accidentally erase things! Or else the kids do. I like paper and ink best.

IMRandom1

Use Vis a Vis markers…. one must use water to remove them, so no amount of bumping into would erase them.

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

That’s a great tip — thank you!

Jess

Love this idea-Im in the process of creating a kitchen command center and am trying to find a 2 month dry erase calendar-any suggestions?

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

Hmm, I haven’t seen one, but I’m guessing you could email those designers on
Etsy and they might be able to come up with one for you!

Jesstemple

I was able to find a blank calendar dry erase for $4 at five below yesterday and so I bought 2! Yeah!

http://yourway.net Mandi @ Life Your Way

Awesome!!

Lisa

Adorable kids!! Who is supposed to teach them if you don’t? Good post.
http://twitter.com/brownthumbmama Brown Thumb Mama

I’m considering an e-book but am intimidated by the hefty tomes that other bloggers have produced! I need to build up a more robust offering before publishing something.