3 ways to turn your blog into a business

 


There are lots of reasons to love blogging. It gives you a chance to indulge in your passion, improves your writing ability, and can even bring structure to your life. Blogs are widely popular, but some people take their blogging experience one step further and develop it into a profitable business.

#1 Become an affiliate

This is overwhelmingly the most popular way to turn blogging into a full-time job. Affiliate advertising is simple to get to grips with and can be profitable. You’ll start by signing up for an affiliate website. There are plenty available, and even Amazon has its own affiliate program, opening you up to the biggest marketplace in the world. From there, it’s a matter of selecting the product you want to advertise, generating a unique code, and then using that code to link people from your blog to the store.

You’ll earn commission on every product sold, but in reality, affiliate is slightly more difficult than it sounds. This is a crowded field, so it’s important to identify a niche. Readers are less likely to follow through on the advice of a blog that veers erratically from advertising fishing equipment one moment and then pizza ovens the next. Be selective, blog about what you love, and let the leads generate themselves.

#2 Develop a unique idea

If you’re a tech blogger with big ambitions and ideas, then it’s possible to use your blog as a springboard to launch a web application or specialized mobile app. Bloggers the world over generate ideas, but only a select few follow through to bring those ideas to life. Applications can be as simple or as complex as you like, but it’s useful to hire a web app development UK service to help bring your vision to life. Professional developers understand the market, and their coding expertise ensures a quality final product.

In this situation, your blog morphs seamlessly into the perfect marketing platform. You can use it for advertising your new application, generating leads, sales, and ongoing relationships with customers. If affiliate marketing is all about pushing products from other people, in this scenario, you’re selling an even more valuable commodity: your ideas.

#3 Take up dropshipping

Dropshipping has undergone something of a boom over the past few years and, although it isn’t quite as popular as it once was, it remains a viable way to generate income from your blog. Unlike with affiliate advertising, you’ll actually be selling products rather than just encouraging people to buy from a third party. Crucially (and what makes dropshipping so popular) is that you won’t be holding any stock, so you won’t have to worry about delivery or storage facilities.

Dropshippers are essentially intermediaries, leaving a larger warehouse to actually fulfill orders. You’ll still need to identify a niche, and you’ll require an eCommerce storefront, too. Shopify is popular, but there are lots of other alternatives. Dropshipping sounds like the ideal business model, but there are some potential pitfalls. Delivery times can be long and off-putting, and dealing with returns is sometimes problematic.