5 Easy Ways to Blog for Profit & Pleasure

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online-business-make-moey-blogging-1This is a guest blog post by Karon Thackson. I’ve known her for a long time through my coach’s membership/workshops. She’s an expert on copywriting and blogging. You can read more about her at the end of the post.

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For many online entrepreneurs, blogging often starts as a hobby or a way to drive traffic to the primary pages on their site. Granted, blogging offers tremendous help with:

  • Expanding your reach
  • Attracting new followers
  • Gaining traction in the search engines
  • Building a community
  • And more

 

But blogging doesn’t have to be remanded to a support role. When you think of blogging this way, it falls into the category of a money pit. Do you realize that your blog can — and should — be a moneymaker?

#1 Amazon Affiliate Links

Becoming an Amazon affiliate is quick and easy. Once you’re in, sharing your links is as simple as finding a product on Amazon, copying your affiliate link (text or image), and adding it to your post.

Because Amazon offers billions of products on their site, you have a gigantic selection to choose from. It takes only a few minutes to find the right item that fits with your topic and insert the affiliate link.

#2 Become an Affiliate for Digital Products

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by Ellen Finkelstein

How to create evergreen content that brings in income for years

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I have a few e-books that I’ve been selling for years. That’s because they’re on topics that are “evergreen.” Here are some of the titles:

On the other hand, my e-book, “101 Tips Every PowerPoint User Should Know,” needs to be updated every couple of years.

Obviously, it’s more work for me to have to update an e-book regularly. Yet “Slide Design for Non-Designers” is my best-selling e-book.

What is evergreen content?

Evergreen content stays fresh for a long time. It’s about principles rather than the latest tools or tactics. Of course, everything changes eventually, but you can certainly lengthen the shelf life of what you write.

If you want your freebie or product to work for a long time, it should be evergreen content.

How do you create evergreen content?online-business-evergreen-content-2

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by Ellen Finkelstein

How to Create an Opt-in Page to Grow Your Subscriber List

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online-business-create-optin-page-1Offering people in your target market a free product in return for their name and email is such a basic concept in online marketing, but many people struggle with the technology.

Yet without this free product, often called a freebie, you won’t be able to grow your subscriber list. And without the list, you won’t have people to sell to via email. Email marketing is the bedrock of online success.

In this post, I’m assuming that you have something to give away and just need to create an opt-in page where people can subscribe to get it.

Here’s a brief overview of the process. Note that the specifics will vary depending on your email service provider, page builder, etc.

Upload the freebie to an online storage location

In order to deliver your freebie, you need to give subscribers a link that lets them download it. Here are some options: Read More

by Ellen Finkelstein

How to take a screenshot, resize an image, and insert an image in Word and WordPress

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online-business-how-to-screenshot-resize-insert-image-wordpress-1

Working with images is essential for an online business. Images are a powerful way to show people what you’re talking about — text isn’t enough. You need to know how to create, edit and publish images.

Two coaching clients recently asked me — both on the same day — how to insert an image on a WordPress page and in a Word document

They had 3 specific needs:

  • Take a screenshot
  • Resize the image
  • Insert an image on a WordPress page (including adding a hyperlink to it) and in a Word document (including wrapping texxt around it)

 

I must admit I was surprised that this wasn’t common knowledge but they were struggling with it, so I put together this blog post.

How to take a screenshot

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by Ellen Finkelstein

How to use guest blogging to get traffic to your website

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stockunlimited-fist-bump-agreement-1862783 You have amazing content. You’re on the right social media platforms. Your clients love your work and you have awesome products. But for some reason, you just can’t get the traction that you want.

If this is happening to you, it might be that you simply need more traffic. After all, if customers don’t know your product exists, then they can’t buy it. That’s where guest blogging can be helpful.

Guest blogging is a simple way to partner with another blogger to get traffic and build backlinks to your website. If you appear on a major blog, you could easily double or triple your traffic. More targeted traffic means more visitors discover your brand, join your mailing list, and buy your products. That’s a win for you!

The bloggers who host your post also benefit. They get unique content for their blogs. This saves them time and helps them fill in their content marketing calendar. Plus, they introduce someone new to the community, which boosts authority status.

With guest blogging, the audience wins, too. They get to read quality content from a trusted source with a slightly different perspective. They also find a new niche leader to follow and favorite.

Now that you understand how guest blogging is a triple win, it’s time to tackle a big question…

How do I get someone to publish my guest post?

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by Ellen Finkelstein