First off, the title may be slightly misleading as I have yet to monetize this blog in any way, shape or form. Not a single cent has touched my bank account, and I know very little about blog monetization, nor have I had much interest in the concept up until this point. However, I want to be very forthcoming with my goals and intentions regarding Location180 because I don’t want anyone to feel as if they have been mislead, duped, or talked into buying something they really didn’t want.
My absolute number one priority is to provide valuable, interesting content and meet a ton of awesome people in the process. I have met more people over the last two months with similar interests as me, than maybe my previous 24 years of life combined. It has been that powerful. Honestly, what makes this even more incredible is how much I have enjoyed doing it. I mentioned to someone yesterday that I have done more writing in the last two months than I did in my entire four years of college, so I wasn’t really sure how I would feel about it. Bottom line, is that I have been very surprised at how much I have both enjoyed the process and learned a lot at the same time.
Ok, by now you are probably wondering what I am babbling on about, and what on Earth this stuff has to do with the title.
Well the time has come for me to start considering how I will make a location independent income.
As much as I would love to just sit back hang out on the beach and write blog posts all day, I am pretty sure the real world doesn’t work like that. Wait a minute, maybe it does (at least for a period of time), but I digress. Either way, I am currently in the midst of creating a plan to support my very basic needs in life: food, shelter, health insurance, and beer. Just kidding about the last part…but not really.
How does one go about supporting themselves when they don’t have a steady paycheck? There are millions of ways to do it, and everyone has found something that has worked for them. I want to take this opportunity to lay out some of my plans ideas and get feedback from the community. The last thing I want to do is have everyone hunt me down and throw tomatoes at me for adding affiliate links or advertisements to the site!
Ebook(s). Over the course of the next few months I will continue doing market research about some ebook ideas I have. I really don’t want to half-ass these, and I only want to provide a premium product if I KNOW I can add significant value to the reader. So as I narrow down my target market and topic of discussion, I will probably be asking some opinions along the way.
Affiliate Marketing. I think in the short term, this is probably the one thing that I will start experimenting with the most. However I am not sure how much, if any, will be featured directly on this site. My goal is to find products that I have used )or at least have valid references for) and can support 100%.
Advertisements. I am reluctant to go this route due to the sheer amount of traffic you need to get in order to make them successful. I may throw a couple banners in or something non-intrusive, but I feel pretty strongly that this is not going to be the most effective way to go.
Music. This one is just kind of random and is more of an excuse for me to accomplish #34 on my list: create an album of 10 songs. I have thought about taking my recorded songs and just putting a page up on the site with them for sale for a buck apiece. Good idea? Bad idea? I figure whether people like the music or not, it might be a good way for someone to show support rather than just giving a donation.
Speaking of donations. Anyone have any objections to me putting up a donation spot on my site? In a lot of ways I feel as though this is just glorified panhandling, but you never know who would be wanting to support my endeavours!
Consulting. As I spend more and more time working on this site, learning about unconventional lifestyles, and brushing up on my web skills, I think consulting work will be a valid way of earning some income. I don’t feel that I am at a point where I can start doing it now, but over the coming months it may be a possibility.
There really is an art to blog monetization. How will people perceive what you are doing if all of a sudden ads start popping up, and items are being put on sale? Do people as a whole respect and even embrace the idea? Or are they so put off by the thought of it that they cease to be a part of the community? Chris Guillebeau is an excellent example of some one who has built a community, provided excellent content for free, and then provided even more excellent content through premium products. The most impressive part about this is how he did it while still rapidly growing his site. That is the kind of place I want to provide to you. That is the end goal.
I just hope you will be patient as I learn the art, and I welcome any feedback positive OR negative.
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Hey Sean. You are definitely right about blog monetization being an art. I’m kind of in the same boat you are in right now. I would like to make money from my blog sometime in the future. What I’m leaning towards are e-books and consulting. Seems like these might be a good fit for you too. Those are income streams that a ton of bloggers use very successfully. Cool post.
And by the way… there is ALWAYS a place for beer in the budget
As long as you don’t just make money online… by telling other people how to make money online!
It’s an interesting dilemma isn’t it? You certainly don’t want to alienate your readers, but you definitely do what eventually monetize all your hard work. I think you’re taking the best approach by being upfront about your intentions, and those of us that read your work are confident you’d put out products of value (or not at all.)
Another thing I’ve encountered is that often our initial readers are likely to be our peers, and thus not necessarily that interested in buying our products (because they’re on our level, or don’t want to best up the dichotomy of the relationship.) What becomes challenging is acquiring enough new traffic (outside of our social circle) that genuinely need the knowledge we’d like to impart via ebooks or otherwise.
Good stuff man. Keep us in the loop!
R
@Nate Yeah once again, we find another similarity to our current situations! It really is just a matter of picking a couple key ideas and sticking to it. If you try and do too much, I think you will run into problems. So we’ll see how it evolves over time.
@Neil, Couldn’t agree more…I am obviously the last person that should be doing that!
@Ryan, That is something I have spent a lot of time considering. Are my peers really going to buy what I am selling? Maybe a few, but I doubt they will on a broad scale. Thats where the brand building has to continue on the site. I cant just stop putting out useful content to focus all my time on writing premium products. However, I am confident that if things keep moving in the direction they are that I will be able to both build the readership and find a way to support myself in the process. Thanks for the comment!
I agree with Neil 100%, eBooks telling you that all you need to do is create an eBook telling others all they need to do is create an eBook to make money online drive me crazy!
Seriously though, I thank you Sean for bringing up this topic. It’s the next real hurdle in exploring life design for myself through my project and I really feel it’s not something to be glossed over. I love your beginning here, listing ideas and just generally speaking outloud about it. I’ve gotten a feeling sometimes it’s taboo to dig into. We walk a fine line, and I know that no lifestyle designer wants to be the next squeeze page hustler, me included. I appreciate your commitment to quality whether its affiliate linking, consulting or ads, that’s what will keep us different. Top notch.
I’m right there with you…and looking forward to more open forums about such talk!
@Robert, The scary part is that there are people that actually make money that way! But yes, I agree that the topic can be slightly taboo, and due to this I was reluctant to make the post. However, I realized that the bottom line for me, is that I need to find a way to support myself, and I wanted to be entirely upfront about my goals with the site. So hopefully people recognize and support that. I would be really interested to hear about the kinds of things you are doing over at your site that are along these lines.
@Rasheed I think Chris is one the best examples of mastering The Art of Blog Monetization. And I also appreciate your thoughts on donations, that idea in particular has been difficult for me to get my mind around, so at the very least I think it is worth a try. And it is like so many other businesses, such as your own, where you let the people decide what the true value is to them. An excellent example is the band Radiohead who gave away their album In Rainbows for free (much to the dismay of their record label) and just asked for donations. I heard that the average amount given was $7. This may not seem like much, but when you factor out all of the costs associated with a major label, they actually probably made more money per album sold.
@Neil, Lets just hope none of us ever become one of those people…
Hey Sean,
Good call bringing this up to your audience. I was thinking along the same lines. It just goes to show that the community in general realizes the need for the right balance between respecting the need of the blogger and the blogger being respectful of the community’s support.
You are right in citing Chris Guillebeau as a prime example of how to do this.
I don’t see donations as “glorified panhandling” simply because a panhandler offers nothing of value to the donor, a good blogger like yourself does. Don’t think of it as asking for and receiving a donation, but rather as letting the audience determine the price for the value received.
In my Balloon Animals business, this is exactly what I do. My business model is referred to as “working for tips”, and I had thought about setting up my blog on the same principle.
I know this; whatever you decide, you will be providing a tremendous value to the community and we will be there to support you in our own way. It will be a win-win situation.
Rasheed
Sean you’d be surprised how many people decide their first venture into making money online is precisely that niche. Without any sense of irony or guilt!
I’m in the same place, Sean. WSR started getting popular a lot sooner than I imagined. I’ve actually thrown up some Google ads. I never expected them to do well, but I was just curious about the actual statistics. (Actual statistics: 0 clicks per 1000 views… terrible.)
I’m like you though. I’m primarily thinking about ebooks and information products and affiliate programs. I’d also like to sell music but that wouldn’t exactly be part of my blog monetization. Just my ‘me’ monetization.
Let me know how it goes for you… maybe we can help each other out.
@JD I would have expected the Google ad stats to be bad, but I never would have thought they would be THAT bad. Lets definitely collaborate and see if we can come up with some ebook ideas. I tried to respond to your DM but Twitter won’t let me respond for some reason…
@Elisa Thank you for the honest thoughts. That is the kind of feedback I want as I go through and figure out how to proceed with my site/life. As for peers that are perusing my blog, I totally agree, most probably don’t have much in the way of expendable income, and certainly not enough to want to support me. However, there are those few that have done considerable traveling and have the means to contribute. I think those that understand the virtues of traveling, and enjoy the content would be willing to give me a couple bucks for support.
But this by no means is me looking for a handout. That is why I have been so reluctant to do it, and why I wrote this post. I want to get an idea for how it is perceived in the community.
I also see blog posts that are covered in ads, and very much detract from the message. That is the last thing I want to do. If there are ads or banners, I want them to be as unobtrusive as possible, and relevant. That is why I am more inclined to add affiliate banners for products I believe in, rather than something ugly and useless like adsense.
You have to be aware of the effect ads and such have on your brand. If the benefits don’t outweigh the negatives it absolutely is something you shouldn’t pursue. Your brand and reputation are the best things you have going for you, and you can’t jeopardize that.
Thank you for the thoughts!
I loathe sites that ask for donations. I don’t know why, they just do…and I’m not sure that they get much in return for that. I’d be curious from people who ask for donations how many actually get it…a lot of the people perusing your blog are probably others trying to make it and I’m not sure there’s much expendable $$ there.
As for others, the only banner/ad I have on my site is for alice.com, and that was a calculated and careful decision only because I use their site so often that the referral credits end up saving me on their services. I see blogs come through my reader laden with ads and banners, and I feel like they missed an important point of social media interaction.
While we are all looking to make money and in the end a career out of this, I think much like promotion of your brand, promotion of good can go horribly awry online.
Cool. More bloggers that make music. Maybe we should start a PDX bloggers band/recording studio/record label. We could dominate the blogging music scene?
As for relevantly monetizing a blog? I don’t have a lot to offer as I’m in the same boat as you and others here, Sean. I haven’t really begun monetizing besides a book review here and there and am reluctant to do so until I have a solid master plan in place that will actually provide my readers with added value rather than just a distraction to click on.
haha absolutely. Taking the blogging and the music scenes by storm…
Tyler, definitely know what you mean about not wanting to create a bunch of distractions. That is why I also have yet to do anything along those lines. Adding value is really what it comes down to. If I had an affiliate link because I honestly believe it would add value to the reader, I think thats ok. If it is only so I can make a couple extra bucks, not so ok. I need to find the balance between things that benefit the readers, as well as myself. Thanks for the comment, and let me know if you ever want to get together and jam haha
I think we’ve got a similar endgame in mind, Sean. I’m taking the route of providing premium content with Exile Lifestyle, while at the same time providing a whole lot of evergreen content, free eBooks (and such), and as many other useful things as I can for my readers to 1) help people out, 2) build my readership numbers (and the quality of the readership), and 3) give myself an outlet to further develop my personal philosophies.
At the end of the day, having always been a writer, I’d love to get a bestseller published (though hopefully primarily through electronic means…saves paper, you know) and some kind of video/TV show deal (again, likely online…it may just be my exposure to LA that’s made me add this to my list, however
Lots of ideas and lots of methods for earning money from your hard work without annoying people! This kind of thing, despite the many people making money off of it, is still very much a frontier, and it’s up to all of us to blaze as many trails as possible in order to find the best spots to settle (or better yet, establish a city and keep moving!).
Keep the great work coming, Sean!
Hey Sean—
First time visiting….and I am very impressed. Great site with great posts. I am trying to make it as a blogger too. I tried to balance building my site and content with trying to make money with ad’s and quickly realized that was pointless. You have to have content and a great site and worry about the money aspect later. I hope you can find a way to make a little bit of money at least as I know the effort at times can feel ‘unrewarded’.
Anyways, good luck and you have a new faithful follower.
Dave
LifeExcursion
Hey Sean!
It’s good to see someone else in the same boat trying to process the art of monetization! I don’t have the answers yet, but definitely have the same end goal in mind. It is interesting to see how so many people do things differently. I really admire Chris G’s ways, but wonder if it is possible to recreate his amazing content. I mean, he’s just so naturally interesting, educated, and has so much to offer! Not that we don’t… I just think every person’s way is different.
I like your idea of selling your songs, instead of just donating…. although the donate buttons don’t bother me. I agree with you saying that you have met the most interesting people, in which you have the most in common in the past couple months… incredible, isn’t it?
Good luck in the monetization… I look forward to seeing your blog explode with success, and income
Hi Sean,
This is a key topic that is on all of our minds.
Ryan makes a very important point, initially the primary audience is our peers. Just look at how many of us read and comment on each others’ blogs. In many ways, we are preaching to the converted.
Of course, we all would love to make easy passive income for the rest of our lives, but I think that more and more competition will continue to drive profits down. Chris Anderson’s new book Free, can explain this much better than I can.
In my view, a lot of these monetization efforts are going to decline in effectiveness. If anyone can have a blog and write an ebook, than everyone will. The most valuable products and services are those that can’t be cheaply distributed and copied. Money is going to flow back to real relationships and connections with people. (No one buys music anymore but we are all willing to pay for concert tickets and merchandise.)
I think the future is about giving away amazing content for free, in order to sell real contact in the form of coaching, conferences, etc. Trying to sell too much, too early might just be a barrier in reaching an audience of critical mass. Would you rather have 100 readers of a $50 ebook or 100,000 readers of a free one? I believe Chris Guillebeau proved this with his free 279 days ebook.
Quite a grey area in the blogging business eh? I have battled with this over the last three years of running my blog Sean and I can tell you it’s a constant weighing of options. Risk putting off readers by having too many ads, pushing too many affiliate products, etc. I know a lot of bloggers are very proud to say they don’t use ads, but instead push affiliated products like crazy. Which I personally find more annoying. I think you are smart in asking your readers to bare with you while you work on monetizing your blog and get their honest feedback. I’ve considered posting a poll to see what my readers think as well. I think Jet Set Citizen has an incredible point about the importance of building relationships with fellow bloggers and readers.
At this point in time I think the best way to build a following and make money while providing great content is to launch your own products. Some free and some you charge for. Dabble in a little bit of everything. Push products that touch you and will benefit your readers in a huge way.
I think hands down it’s about creating stellar content. Period. Which you accomplish with flying colors, so keep it up!
@Dave Very glad to have you as a “faithful follower”! On one of my other posts, you asked how I was able to get to 100 RSS followers (which promptly dropped to 64 the next day, but it is currently back in the 100 range). I spent the first two months writing A LOT of posts! I averaged probably one every other day or so. I also tried to mix up my writing to appeal to different types of people. Travel, lifestyle design and entrepreneurship are all things I have a passion for, so I tried to let people know thats what this site is about. Even now, you can tell there are certain people who only read the travel posts, or lifestyle design posts etc.
It all just comes down to putting out good content and networking. Comment on other people’s blogs and genuinely care about what they are doing. They will return the favor! Thanks again and I look forward to seeing more from life excursion!
@Karen, I know you have been tinkering with the monetization as well! I will keep you posted as soon as I have a massive break through and am making millions through Location 180
@John I think you are absolutely right about taking great free content and foraying that into something like coaching or consulting. However, while I think that is a great option and something I will pursue, it would also be nice to set up system where I am not trading time for money specifically. I also agree about Chris’ system. It is much better to have a ton of readers of a free product, than very few of a premium one!
@Amber Well first off thank you for the compliment! It is nice to know people enjoy the reading! But you are right, in the end it all comes down to great content. If you can do that on a consistent basis, while continually trying to connect with your readers, you will be successful.
Andrew Warner over at Mixergy has a few good interviews on how to monetize blogs. One example is the Mixergy interview with Josh Mullineaux.
There’s also a few other interviews with people (Ramit Sethi is one) who explain how they used their blogs to build communities and were able to successfully market to them with their own products and affiliate sales.
Thanks must go to Colin over at Exile Lifestyle for the link directing me to one liked-minded fella such as yourself Sean! We share similar interests, especially in recording the process of attaining our life goals, for me, my interest lies in becoming location independent, not necessarily through monetizing my blog though.
I want to utilise the web to learn and to teach as I go and find resources like your experiences really rewarding, so a big thanks for putting yourself out here and showing us your truths. I will be paying close attention to how you go about monetizing your blog and/ or becoming sustainable.
I wholeheartedly agree with John Bardos; once everyone gets on the bandwagon who’s going to care? I also don’t believe that ad’s or donations work effectively, certainly not as an means-to-an-end income, however, providing a service or being a consultant loans purpose to your mission.
How can you give to the community that supports you, and in doing so, can you create a fair-gain income from that support?
@James I will definitely go check out some of those Mixergy interviews, thanks for the resource and the comment!
@Caron Well I will be sure to thank Colin for sending me over a new reader! I really like how you discuss your location independence goals ALONG with your retirement/investment goals. I think it can be all too easy to head out on an adventure and spend til you have no money left. I am hoping to avoid that trap and work along the way. If I can do that, and continually save I think that not only will I be less overwhelmed about the future, but it will help me enjoy the journey more in the present. Thanks for the comment and good luck with your goals, I look forward to seeing how it evolves!
Is Google Adsense allowed? If not, take a look at textlinkbrokers, after you get at least a Google Page Rank of 1 (PR1), you can add the links as part of your blogroll, and make money by allowing to make comment in your blog.
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