Some bloggers have an aversion to advertising so the instant-gratification of Adsense and Chitika are not available to them. If you have an audience and expertise though there are other avenues available.
If you have been following the advice on Performancing you are bound to have a killer successful blog. Ok, maybe not right away, but you will, heh. Keep at it and your audience will grow. Once you have created a blog with a decent level of traffic you have an opportunity to earn income from it. Some bloggers turn away from this topic thinking it is all about advertising but it needn’t be.
There is more to Professional Blogging than advertising
At a certain point in your blogs life one of two things will ordinarily happen. One, you will start getting seen as a bit of an authority on your subject matter and two, you will be asked questions. This is an opportunity for you.
While you are growing your reputation and people are looking to you for advice you might well be presented with opportunities out of the blue. First will be small opportunities but the opportunities tend to snowball.
Two things bloggers need to do are research and write. Both of these things are valuable on their own. Do these things well and your blog will grow and with it your reputation. I fully expect bloggers to become real celebrities before long!
Initially if your writing gets noticed you might be asked to write for other blogs, websites and magazines. You can make a healthy living freelance writing, just remember not to neglect your own blog. This can be a great deal all round as many publications will allow you to have an “about the author” box which obviously would mention your blog!
Leave your desk for a bit and get paid for it
With a popular blog and your writing doing the rounds you might get approached to do speaking. If you are interested in this area try and start out with local user groups before doing the 10,000 seater conferences. It helps for both the nerves and the resume. There are also speaking and after dinner clubs where you can learn the craft if you are really serious. Again you can mention your blog. Say to the audience “I only have so much time so for more info visit www…”.
If your niche is appropriate then you will also get noticed for paid gigs. These could be small jobs which fit in perfectly with a blogging lifestyle or big jobs where the blog becomes the sideline. Designers might start with producing blog templates, programmers might get template scripting contracts. Your own blog is your portfolio and biggest advertising tool.
Think about it …
While I fully expect opportunities to come along to you, if they don’t appear you can go after them yourself and make them happen. Put yourself about and network.
Once you stop thinking of traffic as “hits” and start thinking about the numbers as being real people who are interested in what you have to say a world of opportunity will open up. You just need an open mind.