5 Revenue Generating Activities for Your Blog
It can be tough trying to figure out what you should be doing each day with your blog.
At any given time there are a million different tasks that you could complete, but you need to focus your time and energy on revenue-generating activities to grow your blog.
Otherwise, you will get frustrated when you aren’t bringing in enough money to cover your blogging expenses let alone pay yourself.
If your goal is to increase your revenue, then you have to make sure that the majority of your time spent is on tasks that will bring in money for your blog.
To help you getter better results and not waste your time on busywork, I am sharing revenue-generating strategies to bring in more money for your blog.
#1 - Create consistent content (with purpose)
It doesn’t matter what form you prefer to produce content, you need to consistently create new content to attract your target audience to your blog.
Whether you like to do blog posts, YouTube videos, Insta stories, Facebook, podcasts or any other platform, the key is focusing your time on producing content that will solve a problem for your audience.
This is what will bring in a steady stream of traffic and new leads to your business.
I recommend choosing one or two platforms so that you aren’t getting overwhelmed.
For example, you could create one new blog post per week, one new YouTube video per week or even one podcast episode per week.
When you consistently create quality content you will start to see new people finding your blog.
If your content can solve a problem they are experiencing they will begin to trust you and start to engage with your business. The better your content is, the more the better chance you have of turning that lead into a loyal fan.
I always recommend starting off with pillar content. These types of posts are timeless, lengthy, informative and help your reader to accomplish something.
Even if you are just starting your blog, you can create 5-10 pieces of amazing content to start driving traffic to your website. Don’t just write content for the sake of putting something out there.
Be intentional and wow your audience with your knowledge and experience
ACTION STEP: Take the time to create a list of content ideas and then head over to your calendar to mark down when you will be posting them so that you can hold yourself accountable.
#2 - Grow your email list
Trust me, when I tell you how important your email list is to your blog. A lot of people will tell you that email is dead, but it is NOT.
I waited way too long to even create an email list for my blog and I wish I would have started sooner because I now realize it is one of my business’ most important assets. You can click here to read how I increased my list by 45k people in one year.
Growing your email list is a revenue-generating activity because it is the backbone of your blog that allows you to make sales of your products and services.
When you grow your list you grow your revenue.
Email marketing needs to be a top priority for your blog. Your email list is your direct line of communication to your audience and allows you to be able to provide your subscribers with the content and offers they are interested in.
Think of all the different ways that you can generate money with your list: automated sales funnels, product launches, webinars, workshops, etc.
For me, my email list plays a major role in my business because it allows me to automate a lot of what I do. I created a business model that doesn’t require working more than 20 hours per week.
This means I have systems in place to sell my online courses and provide my audience with offers they are interested in without me sitting down at my computer.
It is incredible to get an email saying a new student enrolled in my course when I am sitting at the park with my boys. That’s how powerful your email list can be.
I literally wouldn’t be able to run my business without it.
I personally use Convertkit (<--that’s my affiliate link) and recommend it to everyone. You can read about why I switched to Convertkit here.
Even if you do not have an offer (more on that below!) you still want to focus on building your list so that you can regularly communicate and provide value to your audience.
Once you have an offer, your list will be primed and ready to purchase because you spent the time building a relationship and engaging with them.
ACTION STEP: Think about how you are growing your email list each day? Do you have systems in place to drive new leads to your website? Consider creating a new lead magnet and going back into your most popular content posts/videos and adding a sign-up link to get new people onto your list.
#3 - Create a paid offer (sell it regularly!)
This one seems pretty obvious, but you need to have an offer in order to generate revenue for your blog. This is one of the first things you need to be focusing on if you are just getting started.
A mistake I made with my blog was I waited for years to create any kind of offer.
It doesn’t matter how big or small your blog is, you need to be focusing on generating revenue with products or services. Otherwise, your blog is just a hobby.
I often hear people say that they don’t want to be ‘pushy’ or ‘salesy’ with your audience. Trust me when I say that you are doing a disservice to your audience when you aren’t selling your offers to help them.
Your audience is waiting (and willing to pay) for you to solve a problem they are experiencing.
In order for your blog to be generating revenue, you need to be selling every day.
If you don’t have anything to sell yet, NOW is the time to start.
Don’t rush out and try to create a ton of different offers.
Focus your time and energy on one amazing offer so that you can refine it and then scale it.
Here are a few options to get started:
Digital planner or workbook
Calendars
Art prints
Design templates
Online course
Live workshops
Email courses
Spreadsheets or trackers
Before you just go and choose one from the list, make sure it is something that your audience actually needs.
I don’t want you to waste time creating an offer that no one will buy.
Consider:
What is your audience struggling with most right now?
What is your expertise and how do you help your audience?
What questions are you always answering for your audience?
What results have you helped your audience achieve?
If you already are selling products and services then I recommend taking the time to identify which offers are generating the most money. Doing this will help you to see where you should focus your time when it comes to promotion.
Having an offer and selling it regularly needs to be a top priority for your blog.
ACTION STEP: Create your offer and then figure out how you will consistently promote the offer. This could include launching it, creating an automated email funnel to sell it, hosting a flash sales, etc.
#4 - Create a clear journey
When someone new finds your site is there a clear path for them to purchase your digital product or sign up for your services?
There needs to be a clear journey from your free content to your paid offers.
This is why your content plays a major role.
You aren’t just writing something for the sake of writing it, you are being intentional with your content and lead your audience to your paid offer with it.
To generate more revenue, you need to strategically drive new leads to your offers on a regular basis.
To do this, think about this scenario…
Someone completely new finds your video on YouTube.
They enjoy the video and click over to your website.
They go down a rabbit hole and can’t get enough of your content so they sign up for your email list.
They are loving what you have to offer and want to make a purchase.
If this was your site, would they know the next step they should take with your blog?
Is it obvious that they should invest in your offer?
Can they easily make the purchase?
If not, you need to spend time creating a clear customer journey for your audience. You are the one directing them to what they should do once they are on your site.
This is how you will increase the revenue from your blog.
Maybe your paid offer is presented at the end of an email nurture sequence, or maybe they can sign up for a webinar where you pitch your offer at the end. Whatever you choose for your business, it needs to be clear and easy for your audience.
Having systems and automation in place is what will allow you to earn money from your blog without working more.
If you want to start earning passive income then you need to focus on activities that will automate your marketing and sales processes for your blog. This is why it’s so important to have a clear path.
Once you know where and how your free content is leading your audience you can automate the process. Read more about how you are stunting your blog growth without systems in place.
ACTION STEP: Map out your customer journey to plan how your audience will go from your free content to your paid offers consistently.
#5 - Nurture your current customers and leads
A lot of bloggers spend all of their time and energy growing their blog traffic and their email lists and forget about their past customers and leads.
You know, the people who have joined your email list, are in your Facebook group, enrolled in your online course, signed up for your coaching program and are fans of your blog.
You can’t forget about those people.
Instead of only worrying about targeting new people spend time engaging and helping the people who are already supporting you.
Once they are a part of your community you want to continue to nurture them and provide value so that they stick around.
This will lead to more sales and revenue for your blog.
Your past customers and clients already know you and trust you so they are an amazing source of revenue for your blog.
Take the time to nurture these people.
Do not just get them onto your list or have them enroll in a course and then forget all about them.
There are so many different ways that you can do this:
Weekly newsletter
Personal outreach
Tailoring offers to their needs
Product or service onboarding emails
Focusing time on nurturing the people who have already raised their hand and showed interest with your blog will pay off in the end.
ACTION STEP: Create an email follow-up sequence for new leads or current customers that provide a ton of value.
Don’t forget to sign up for my free training workshop!
Those are my top 5 revenue-generating activities that you can focus on with your blog.
You want to structure your day so that the majority of your time is being spent on the activities that will generate revenue for your blog.