How to Be a Goal Getter: Blogger Edition (Part 2)
Welcome to a new June Diaries series: How to Be a Goal Getter. Another way to look at this? How to set your dreams and crush them to hit your professional and entrepreneurial goals! I plan on breaking this series into a few different types that I’ll hit on over the next few months : the blogger edition, and the business woman edition. You’ll see a bunch of different topics broken up over this series, and I hope you enjoy part one of the blogger edition! Don’t forget: if you like what you see, make sure you subscribe to my email list so you get notified of the future parts! We’ll have a lot of deep dives coming. So let’s get into it!
This post may contain affiliate links, from which I earn a small commission. You can check out my full disclosure here. Thank you for supporting June Diaries!
Monetizing from Day 1
I had a misconception from the beginning that in order to make any sort of money from blogging, you had to have a large following on all your social media platforms, and be getting thousands of views a month. This is totally not true! You can start setting yourself up to monetize your blog from Day 1. There’s a few different ways you can make money blogging:
- Affiliate Links
- Sponsored Posts
Please note, there’s definitely more ways to make money than just these ways: ads, selling goods and services, etc. Since I monetize primarily with affiliate links and sponsorships, that’s what I’m going to focus on today.
I’ll break them both down for you, and most importantly, focus on how you can get the ball rolling when your following is small.
Disclaimer: Don’t take this to mean you’re going to make a ton of money if your blog is new and small! You need to focus on the most important thing : putting out quality blog posts, driving traffic to your website, growing your following, etc. After all, you can do all of these things, but if no one is coming to your website it doesn’t matter. These are just ways to set yourself up from the beginning so that you can have the right foundation!
Affiliate Links
The easiest way to begin setting yourself up is to post affiliate links on your website. This basically means that if you are promoting an item, you use a custom link to share your recommendation and then you get paid a small percentage commission if someone purchases it. There are really no cons to this: it costs your audience NOTHING, and it’s relatively easy to get set up with affiliate links. Below you’ll find some of my favorite programs with their pros and cons.
Keep it Legal: There’s legalities that come with using affiliate links and sponsored posts! You need to disclose to your audience you may be earning a commission, and have a full disclosure page as well. If you begin getting sponsored posts, you will always need to disclose the sponsorship and that you were gifted and/or received compensation in some form. I’m no lawyer and not here to advise you; but do your research and keep things as clean as you can from the beginning!
If you have a blog set up, you’ll most likely get accepted to Amazon Associates. You have 6 months to make 3 sales, and then your website will get reviewed to either be accepted or denied. As long as you follow Amazon’s policies, you should be fine to get accepted. The pros? EVERYONE USES AMAZON! It’s the best impulse purchase platform. The major con is that the commission structure is REALLY low to start off. The “cookie window” is also short – 24 hours. What this means is that when someone uses your link, they have to purchase something within 24 hours of clicking your link in order to get the commission. However, if the person who clicks your link buys *anything* on Amazon within those 24 hours, you’ll get commission on those products – not JUST what you posted your link for. If you post consistently or get a lot of clicks, you’ll definitely see that pay off. Once I had someone buy hundreds of dollars in merchandise from a link I posted – none of which I even recommended – but I still got the credit. It’s rare, but a really nice perk.
Personally, I find Amazon super easy to use. They also have an Amazon Influencer option – the commissions are a bit higher – but you have to have a sizable social media following to qualify, first.
I LOVE Share-A-Sale : it is SO EASY to sign up and use! Share-A-Sale has a ton of different merchants on there – once approved to sign up for the website, you then apply individually to different merchants to be approved. There’s a lot of different sellers on there, and each merchant has their own commission structure and offers as well. The commissions tend to be a LOT more competitive than what Amazon offers.
Currently I’m approved with roughly 6-10 individual merchants on Share-A-Sale. Each merchant is so easy to get links for and use. You also get newsletters with different promotions and codes to offer to your audience. I really just love the ease of the platform.
I’m signed up for Rakuten in order to partner with Nordstrom, but it’s my least favorite of the three sites I use. Rakuten is more difficult to navigate, but they do have a lot of big name retailers on it.
Sponsored Posts
Sponsored posts are a bit more tricky than affiliate links, because you really do need *some* sort of platform or following in order for a brand to want to partner with you: basically, you need something to offer! That being said, even if your following is small, you can still land sponsored posts!
I come from a sales background, so I’m used to cold calling and sending email pitches – and this is what it takes to get your feet off the ground in terms of sponsorships. If you’re waiting around for them to come to you – until you get a very large following, it’s not going to happen. You need to reach out and introduce yourself!
Here’s a VERY brief flowchart on steps to take:
- Find an email address of a PR, Marketing, or Influencer point of contact within a brand you truly believe in and want to work with.
- Have an email ready to go with what you can offer to the brand. Include a media kit with your social platforms, Google Analytics, etc. Tailor this email TO THE BRAND you are pitching to – and be creative with what you are pitching and can bring to the table!
- Expect to not hear back. Give it a few business days, and send a follow up email. Continue to check in periodically and reinforce how much you love the brand and want to work with them. It may take SEVERAL reach outs to get in touch or get answers!
- Don’t get discouraged. Many brands will say no until your following is larger. But don’t give up! There are plenty of brands willing to work creatively.
There’s so much more here that deserves attention to talk about – from the free product offers to getting actual paid sponsorships – I promise to have a full blog posts on how to mix sales pitching and blogging together in the future. Make sure you sign up for my email notifications at the bottom of the pages so you don’t miss it! I’ll share how I’ve managed to land sponsorships with a smaller following, and the steps on how to do it.
Simply can’t wait? Email me and I’ll help sooner!
Closing Thoughts
Making money takes TIME and energy – and the most important thing you can focus on in the beginning is making your blog the BEST it can be. Content is still king in this industry! It’s the one thing you can focus on bringing – quality content is consistent and appeals to your audience.
Most importantly, with monetizing your blog posts, remember you want to use these tips to ENHANCE your content, not to be the focus of your content. No one is going to have interest in reading a blog or following someone on Instagram that is constantly just shilling to shill. Focus on your content first and foremost, and use your monetization methods to enhance the audience experience even more.
I’m no expert on this topic – I’m still growing myself! – but these are all tips that have WORKED for me as I grow my little corner on the internet. I love talking about this – so let’s talk more if you’re interested! Shoot me an email to hello@junediaries.com if you have questions or want to explore these topics more!
Don’t forget to check out Part 1 of the Goal Getter Series if you haven’t already – and make sure to subscribe to my email list below to get notified on Part 3!
