Bloggin' For Dollas
There is money on them there Internets, and you want a piece of it.
MainStreet.com delves into five ways to make money with your blog (that don’t include advertising or sponsorships). Some of these are fairly creative, but they do require having a big reader base:
1. Offer in-person consultations. (If you’re a fitness blogger, host a marathon training class; photographers can hold shooting lessons for groups on weekends.)
2. One-on-one telephone coaching. (MainStreet.com helpfully says, “just six $30 consultations a week equal $720 a month!”)
3. Host virtual classes. (Or, we say, asynchronous classes-by-email.)
4. Create Ebooks. (We love this suggestion, since MainStreet suggests using readers’ content to fill the pages of the book. “If you’re writing a baking blog, ask readers to submit their favorite cookie recipe. Compile the top 10 or 20, package them in a PDF and sell a downloadable version.” Will that fly with readers? Who knows until you try?)
5. One-off sales. (“If you’ve got a tangible product for sale, say art, pottery or vintage clothing, populate the blog with your take on the latest trends, then sell your merchandise.”)
These are all well and good and a great way to bring in some side income, but man, some of these things sound like a lot of work. We guess the assumption is that if you’re already spending enough time, unpaid, on keeping your blog running because you love it so much, you’re probably willing to take on clients to consult by phone or create an e-book or whatever. But seriously, these are a lot of work and should not be taken as a get-rich-quick scheme.
