In a survey, it was found out that about 77% of internet users read content on the internet regularly. So if you think blogs are dead and your online publishing venture does not have a scope, think again. As many as 3 billion blog posts are published in a year worldwide. These figures are indicative of how enormous the ‘blogosphere’ or the online publishing market is.
The pandemic forced people to take their activities online, and the publishing sector wasn’t any less different. Those publishing houses that did not have an online presence too had to add another stream to preserve audience and support business funding. With a growing competition—which comprises of big publishers and those with bigger budgets and resources—the smaller, independent bloggers fell behind.
Therefore, to catch up with others and establish their presence, independent bloggers find ways to leverage content and augment revenue.
Ever wondered how do publishers, bloggers and website owners monetize content and make income? Below are five proven income accelerators for publishers.
But before we get into the article, make a note of these three things…
There are three basic elements to keep in mind for effective monetization of websites:
A trending topic (any problem/conflict to resolve)
“True fans” (followers that will pay for your content)
Channels to streamline sales and execution (content monetization platform, content management software, etc.)
Once you know the three basic elements, learn how you can channelize them:
• Research your niche (take a deeper understanding of the market)
• Create quality content regularly to boost engagement rate
• Use the right content monetization tools for publishers
How to Monetize Website Content like a Pro
With over 600 million blogs worldwide as of 2022, learn the different tricks to monetize website content like a pro. Here are five ways how you can do it:
1. Go for a WordPress Blog
Income flows in from two sources—your page’s traffic and the returning viewers. For successful content monetization, a publisher must gain complete control over these two. WordPress is a powerhouse for bloggers and publishers—no wonder there are about 70 million blog posts published every month on WordPress alone. It’s an extensive tool that allows you to publish, sell and grow.
Bloggers who are comparatively new in this business, choose a website builder that doesn’t cost much. And although it requires minimum efforts to build a site, these website builders limit your functionality and are pricier.
2. Create Helpful Guides & Digital Products
Next, how can you go beyond WordPress or your blog/website? It’s by creating instructive guides, articles, and courses that will help your audience magnificently. One good way to create guides and sell them is by signing up on content monetization platforms such as Retrieve that facilitate easy selling of your content. The experts at Retrieve take your old content and draft them into compelling guides. You can further monetize your readers by adding a paywall to your content and the direct access to your inbox.
A positive point about this content monetization scope for publishers is that you do not need to create content again and again, as even the old content can allow you to mint money. If you have a follower base that is ready to pay for your content, you will always have a revenue stream incoming. A majority of publishers and bloggers use this methodology to augment their revenue.
3. Focus on Generating New Traffic & Retaining the Existing One
What do you think can be the actual reason for building a loyal reader base? Apart from the design elements, the quality of your content, the information you provide, the easy solutions you give out, and your consistency form the crux of retaining the existing readers.
How can you gain more traffic? It’s by strengthening your SEO skills. Implement SEO techniques to your blog to boost the traffic flow. Here are a few tricks you can implement:
• Use relevant keywords throughout your articles
• Add a meta title and description
• Add infographics to your articles and pin them to Pinterest boards
• Add an alt text to your pictures and name image files appropriately
• Market on social media and market again after a few weeks, few months
• Carry out other activities on social media to ensure readers are engaged
• Implement inter-linking throughout your articles
• Provide as many key details in your articles as possible
• Embolden the important parts, use paragraphs and not a chunk of texts
• Add pictures and videos
When you incorporate these tricks into your website, you shall be able to build strong traffic and retain the existing one.
4. Sponsored Content & Guest Posts
Many agencies provide sponsored posts, especially if your website’s DA and PA are decent. Approach them or have them approach you and accept sponsored posts. Depending on your website credential, charge fees and never accept a guest post that doesn’t benefit you.
Remember, before accepting backlinks to someone else’s website, check their DA, PA, and spam score. A website with a lower DA or PA than yours should ideally be avoided. Further, you can put forth a deal that says you will provide a backlink only for a year and so on.
However, sponsored posts are a good way to earn income simply by publishing content that is not even written by you.
5. Include Affiliate Links & Ads
How do you ensure a continuous income flow by doing nothing but just inserting HTML codes and links to your blog/articles? A super effective way to earn passive income for years and years is by adding ad units to your blog posts. Services like Google AdSense provide you with HTML codes that you can add to your blog. You earn by the number of page views and ad clicks. Another way is by signing up to an affiliate program like Amazon Affiliates and adding specific links to products. Here, you earn when a person clicks on the links and buys products using them.
Inserting ads ensures an income flow even though you are not doing anything. If an old blog post still is amongst the top read blog posts, insert ad units into it. This way, as new traffic lands on that page, you generate revenue. Although you have to wait for a certain threshold (usually it is 100 dollars) for the platform to release your money, it is the best form of passive income there is!
Affiliate links might not generate that much revenue but if your audiences are your crazy fans who believe in your suggestions and the products you use, you never know! You might just make 500 dollars a year!
Conclusion
With over 31 million active bloggers that post a minimum of once every month in the US alone, you as a publisher should be aware of the enormous market it holds. Find ways of content monetization that are outside your mainstream ideas and sign up to platforms such as content monetization platforms like Retrieve to add more revenue streams. For monetizing your website like a pro, you must think like a pro and act like a pro. By incorporating the above ways of augmenting your revenue, you shall soon start seeing the figures go high!