How To Become A Social Media Master Without Going Broke

After three years of blogging, I'm proud to say that my blogs are able to support me but if you are looking to get rich, you may want to look elsewhere. Making money from blogging and other social media channels is extremely difficult on its own. Yes, there are plenty of ways to make money online but if you're trying to figure out how that favorite blog of yours is managing to keep up to date with so much content, don't jump to the conclusion that they're making a lot of money. Five Steps To Becoming A Professional Blogger I use blogging as one of the most basic social media activities. While there are numerous other activities that content creators can participate in, blogging is one of the most popular. In order to generate a living from blogging there are a number of things that you have to do. Most importantly though: don't quit your job anytime soon expecting to make a living from blogging because for most, it just doesn't work out. However if you have the drive and are passionate enough to stay focused for long enough, you can most definitely pull it off. Below are five tips that I suggest for making it happen: Step 1: Pick A Big Niche This is probably the single most important step. While you can adjust your niche overtime, you don't want to jump from topic to topic and eventually make your original readers feel left out. The niche that you select will guide you throughout the future. When I began AllFacebook, I just figured that Facebook for developers, marketers, and small businesses, was a large enough niche. It may in fact be too large of a niche but so far it appears to have done well. Spend some time brainstorming a topic that you'll be willing to cover for years to come. Then head on to the next step! Step 2: Select A Good Domain Your domain is one of the most important components of building a successful company. Not only will it help drive search traffic with a smart domain but it can help your visitors come directly to your site if you pick it right. Picking a good domain is a pretty straight forward process: brainstorm some names, see if their available, and then pick one if it is or make a bid to acquire it if it isn't. Step 3: Regularly Update Your Site Now that you've got your site up and running the most important thing is to have a consistent frequency for your posts. Whether it's multiple times a day, once a week, or once a month (which I don't recommend), you need to update your site regularly. To get visitors returning to your site you need to build a reputation of being consistent. Keep in mind that if you over commit yourself to the amount of content that you'll be pushing out you can get overwhelmed. Commit yourself to a reasonable volume of content and focus on quality. Eventually your subscriber base will begin to grow. Step 4: Monetize From The Beginning It's a good idea to start off with ads on your site if you plan on adding them later. Otherwise you could risk angering your readers once you fill up your site with advertisements. Start off with ads and even if you don't have anyone sponsoring you, help out a friend and place their ad on the site! If you plan on attracting sponsors you need to show that you have other sponsors. As the saying goes ... fake it 'til you make it! Step 5: Pursue New Revenue Channels Once you've built up a sizable audience and you've got sponsorship revenue coming in the door, it's time to look for new opportunities. Whether it's hosting conferences, selling higher end content, or promoting a new product that you develop, you need to have multiple streams of revenue. Brainstorm new ideas while you are continuing to build out your content. It may not be easy but relying on a single stream of income can be dangerous. Build Your Brand And The Money Will Follow Whether it's your blog, your Facebook Page, your Twitter account, or anything else, you need to be building a consistent brand. As you build your personal brand and company's brand, you'll begin getting more inquiries for business. Unless of course you've built you brand around an "unmonetizable" topic (which is pretty difficult to do). If you picked a good niche and have successfully built an audience you have something that can be turned into plenty of money. Expand Into Other Channels Slowly It's smart to be on Facebook, Twitter, all while creating a blog but doing that on its own won't attract a large audience. Instead you need to spend time on each new channel that you enter and invest in building an audience through each channel. If you just set up a page and post links to subscribe there, you aren't doing all you can to maximize the impact of each channel. By interacting with your fans on each site, you will be able to build relationships and mini sub-communities around your brand rather than simply building extensions of your web site. Learn About Traditional Online Marketing The last thing that is critical to success in social media is learning about traditional digital marketing techniques. Whether it's pay per click ads, search engine optimization, landing page optimization, sales copywriting, or any other form of online marketing, you need to understand all aspects. Social media is an amazing channel for promoting a brand and getting customers, but to be a true online marketing ninja, you need to sharpen all swords! Don't get overwhelmed with all the skill that you need to learn. Take your time to learn each one and eventually you will have a great business on your hand. Just don't quit your job before you've started making enough money to support yourself!

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How To Become A Social Media Master Without Going Broke

Nick O'Neill

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