Quickest way to start: 3rd party platforms
- they handle everything, you just write
- Medium
- not going to make you rich
- fewer than 1,000 writers get paid over $1,000/mo
- build your personal brand
- what you will have is a catalog of articles in various topics
- not going to make you rich
- Substack
- personal website, blog, and email newsletter or podcast
- get paid through subscriptions
- Patreon
- Medium
- cons:
- no intellectual ownership
- no control on monetization (can do affiliate marketing but not AdSense)
How to make real money
- make a WordPress site
- one topic only
- needs to be very specific
- need to know SEO!
- be prepared to pay $40-$50/mo for hosting, plugins, etc
- one topic only
- Affiliate marketing
- software is good money
- join big affiliate networks when you have good enough traffic so you don’t apply with different companies one by one
How to get paid with newsletters
- sell a course (members only section)
- keep most of the content free to drive traffic
- 500-1,000 engaged audience = 6- to 7-figure business
- financial product
- hobbies: you don’t get paid as much
- choose something specific
- passion economy, e.g. environmentalism
- people don’t feel represented enough and will pay to be a member to support you
How long does it take to be profitable?
- took the guy 18 months to be able to quit his job and do this full time
- 12-24 months to scale, rank and earn
- lots of work
- hired part-time help
- 2 best performing blogs
- bloggingguide.com
- software related
How much money can be made with a blog
- AdSense
- Native Ads, Display Ads, Text Ads, Rich Media Ads, Link Units, Video Ads
- 15 blogs
- 4-5 making more than $500/month,
- other are experimental
- all in different niches
Selling a blog
- 35x monthly profit
- Who would big a blog
- Competitor
- investor
- you can expect to sell in 3 years
Background
- Casey Botticello