Is it possible to make £500 a month

Bonzowaite

laurenpurdy123 wrote: »

Starting a blog to try and earn money is totally the wrong way to go about it. It can be really difficult to get any paid work, especially now Google have clamped down and not many paid ops are being offered anymore. Really, the only way to earn money now is through advertising on your blog but unless your big and have, say, over a thousand followers, you don't have much of a chance. I have been blogging for just over a year, it look at least 6 months to get any interest from PR companies. I have had paid work, earned around 400 one month but last time I was paid for anything was around Christmas/NY time. I still blog because I enjoy it but no longer look in to paid work as its too stressful. PR companies demand far too much now and I could spend all afternoon emailing every single one of my contacts and I probably won't hear from most of them.

Your post was very interesting. I have never tried the "lifestyle" blogging angle since I couldn't imagine anyone being that interested in my latest batch of cupcakes or trip to the zoo with my 3 little monkeys! Getting and maintaining a cult following sounds like a lot of hard work.

Have you tried adding affiliate links to your blogs / setting up an affiliate site?

I know that everyone thinks that Google has killed off Affiliate Marketing, but I actually think that they are making it easier for those that create good quality content rather than just cutting and pasting Amazon snippets. For example, one of my sites benefited enormously from the latest Panda 4 update, since many of the "thin" sites that had been hogging the first few pages of Google suddenly dropped like a stone:T

I always look to the Google Webmaster YouTube Channel for information direct from Matt Cutts - here is what he says about Affiliate sites >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3-obcXkyA4

So, Google hates thin sites of all kinds (including affiliates), but quality affiliate sites are just fine and add value.

System

I haven't tried affiliates no, its something I haven't particuarly looked in to properly. A few of my friends do it though.

I have recently started a new blog, completely different to my first so at the mo, I don't have all that many followers or page views. I'd imagine that was quite important to get anything from affiliates. I guess I could consider it once my numbers are up... I'll look in to it properly tonight

You'd be surprised at how many people would be interested in reading about your day to the zoo and your cupcakes lol. I originally wrote in that area but I got bored. Now I mainly write about growing fruit and veg :O)

Bonzowaite

Ah, the "good life" niche! You're making me feel hungry.

Depending upon your niche, affiliate marketing is more about attracting organic traffic from search engines. If you target "buyer" keywords the conversion rates are much higher since the visitors are often ready to press the "buy" button.

I get very few repeat visitors to my sites (apart from my mum!) and so social media engagement is more about exposing yourself to more traffic sources rather than building a following.

I'm no expert yet, but I think that the posts targeting affiliate sales need to precede the visitor numbers, since it is those posts that generate the traffic in the first place. So, for example, you need to write the review of the latest juicing machine first to attract the organic traffic rather than building a following and then writing the review. It does require a bit more precision and technique in terms of keyword selection and SEO, but it's not rocket science.

Anyway, I've rambled on long enough.

System

Thanks.

I looked in to it last night and signed myself up to Amazon Affiliates. No harm in trying right? I have managed to put links in to books I have reviewed so fingers crossed I get some clickies!

That made me laugh about your mum reading, my mum has only recently seen mine due to a competition of theirs I was running for them. I try and keep family away from it! x

Bonzowaite

laurenpurdy123 wrote: »

Thanks.

I looked in to it last night and signed myself up to Amazon Affiliates. No harm in trying right? I have managed to put links in to books I have reviewed so fingers crossed I get some clickies!

That made me laugh about your mum reading, my mum has only recently seen mine due to a competition of theirs I was running for them. I try and keep family away from it! x

Have you just signed up with UK Amazon or US too? I get many more sales from US than UK. You need to have a separate associates account for each store - exactly the same process for each one. Presumably these books are available in US too? Shame not to target such a big market.

I just stick with UK and US.

Did you go for plain text links or use the Amazon image box widget thingy? I add aff links to plain text and the product images rather than the widgets - text link are supposed to convert much better and look less desperate than the boxes.

System

I am signed up to both... but as of yet, don't have any links in for US. I only have two links in atm, I don't have anything else to link to - and I don't want them to stand out. So I'll wait until I have some products to talk about then add the links in there..

Do you have any seperate adverts in your side bars? Or do you keep it to your main posts/text only?

Only using text, the picture boxes with text are a little tacky aren't they? Image or text alone is much better. The two links I currently have are both within text so are hidden away. x

Bonzowaite

laurenpurdy123 wrote: »

I am signed up to both... but as of yet, don't have any links in for US. I only have two links in atm, I don't have anything else to link to - and I don't want them to stand out. So I'll wait until I have some products to talk about then add the links in there..

Do you have any seperate adverts in your side bars? Or do you keep it to your main posts/text only?

Only using text, the picture boxes with text are a little tacky aren't they? Image or text alone is much better. The two links I currently have are both within text so are hidden away. x

Sounds like you have it all covered.

The boxes are very tacky and I would never click one.
I always use text links - much more subtle.

I am experimenting with having the links underlined instead of just being a different colour, just to make them a little more obvious.

I don't have any Amazon widgets in my sidebar - I don't think they convert very well and give the site a slightly less attractive look. On a couple of my sites I have some banners in the sidebar but they are in niches where people would be less judgmental. I certainly don't have any on my child safety site - I am starting to put banners in the sidebar that help people to navigate to other parts of my site rather than affiliate ones.