Tag Archives: money

next steps

This process post marks the final one in my journey with Publishing 101 and it’s safe to say it has been a story of ups and downs. Blogging and content creation is not an easy task especially when other events in life cloud the mind and stifle creativity. So in an effort to not make this piece completely tear-inspiring, I have decided to leave with a few notes on monetizing your website through various opportunities like SEO and some ways that you can plan to make money on the side by honing in on your passion, in other words, the next steps for your blog.

Making money from a website can be a rewarding and redeeming practice for those that blog as a “passion project” but know that “passion alone does not pay the rent” and with a growing movement in online monetization, there is a multitude of digital supports for such website incorporations (Shwake 2022). One of the primary examples of such support is cost-effective Search Engine Optimization aka SEO. TakeLesson’s by Microsoft defines SEO as, “a digital marketing strategy that targets a website’s presence in search results on search engines” contributing to more clicks and visits to the site and therefore more traffic toward affiliate links or other on-site revenue materials (2021). SEO also offers a competitive edge to your blog as majority of site landings are from organic search engines like Google. This is espescially critical as “Google owns a significantly larger portion of the search market than competitors like Yahoo, Bing, … DuckDuckGo, and many, many others (Hollingsworth 2021). SEO also serves as a primary standpoint on keeping up to date with “major changes” and the “environment” of the cyberverse, understanding what exactly consumers are looking for, and if you wish, how you can tailor your content to those search patterns (Hollingsworth 2021). In application, there are many sites and services that exist to assist with developing SEO in a cost-effective way, from Google’s own Starter Guide to gig-based professionals on Fiverr, there are plenty of options for a range of blog sizes.

Reflecting on my own blog and my personal next steps I can resonate with the quote, “monetization is math, not magic” because as much as I am not a mathematically inclined individual it takes some easy addition to understand that sometimes a growth mindset is all you need to get on top of creating ideas that can lead to making money from your content (Jackson 2022). My blog focuses on my own writing and exploration of poetry that could translate into a physical sale of my own poetry book. I can see a demand for such items with the growth in the wellness sector and the rising popularity of poetry books like ‘milk and honey’ by Rupi Kaur and ‘helium’ by Rudy Francisco, both extensively influential and profitable authors. This ability to “sell the skills you already have directly to people by working on specific projects or by teaching them how to do something” can translate into a range of personal talents that aren’t limited to things like poetry or prose but the whole range of services that people would be interested in purchasing (Georgiou 2023). These sorts of integrations of services can be done in a variety of ways including using sites like Wix and Weebly‘s e-commerce integration subscriptions to easily manage purchases or setting up WordPress e-commerce platforms. One of the most popular avenue’s is Shopify which allows for specialized ‘Shopify Apps’ and social media integration to streamline connectivity for consumers on all platforms.

From SEO to specialized content sales, creating a blog and discovering how you can achieve a monetary edge in the online world can be beneficial in fueling one’s journey with self-publishing. It is important to understand that money is not everything though and if your content, like some sites that I have reviewed in this class, is specifically for non-profit benefits it is important to stay true to your unwritten blog charter and take chart your steps from there.

Stay updated on site with my continuing ‘ink’ content and for any announcements related to a potential print publishing in the future, thank you for all your support so far.

 

 

Works Cited

Ajao, Adedayo. “What Is SEO? and How to Use It in Your Writing.” TakeLessons Blog, TakeLessons, 5 Mar. 2021, https://takelessons.com/blog/2021/03/what-is-seo-and-how-to-use-it-in-your-writing?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=richqna_answer&utm_campaign=richqna&utm_trigger=richqna&utm_query=define+seo&utm_content=blogsqna%2Btitle&muid=3DC663CFCA596F442B4C7151CB266E98&utm_region=CA&utm_position=Default.

Georgiou, Katrina. “How to Sell Your Skills: 10+ Great Ways to Put Yourself out There.” WikiHow, WikiHow, 6 Mar. 2023, https://www.wikihow.com/Sell-Your-Skills.

Hollingsworth, Sam. “15 Reasons Why Your Business Absolutely Needs Seo.” Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Journal, 9 Aug. 2021, https://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-seo-is-important-for-business/248101/#close.

Jackson, Brian. “How to Monetize a Blog in 2023 (13 Profitable Ways).” Kinsta®, Kinsta®, 21 Oct. 2022, https://kinsta.com/blog/how-to-monetize-a-blog/.

Shwake, Emily. “How to Monetize a Blog and Maximize Profits.” Wix Blog, Wix Blog, 12 Mar. 2023, https://www.wix.com/blog/2019/01/how-to-monetize-blog/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ms_us_dsa_Feb20%5Eblog_bl_monetize_dsa&experiment_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wix.com%2Fblog%2F2019%2F01%2Fhow-to-monetize-blog%5Ebb%5E79233688671437%5Ehow+to+monetize+your+blog&msclkid=fdf906c5c68f1f2a5af562ee5beb7225.

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