Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

Introduction
Do you want to make money in the world of profitable blogging? Are
you itching to become one of those 6-figure bloggers that you’ve heard
so much about?

If so, I’ve eliminated the clutter and time-consuming work-around so

that I can take you deep into the heart of successful blogging without
over-complicating the process, or forcing you through a long, drawn out
learning curve.

Because the truth is; it doesn’t have to be so complicated.

Making money with a blog isn’t all that difficult to do. In fact, if you are
looking for a fast and easy way to set up shop so that you can start to
make money online without a great investment, blogging is the way to
go.

Creating high-quality blogs in your niche or industry that generate

traffic and provide valuable content and information to your market is

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

also one of the most effective methods of building a presence of
authority.

And guess what? The best part about this strategy is that it’s also
exceptionally easy to do and is very cost effective. It doesn’t cost a lot
of money to set up a blog. In fact, most of the work will involve your
time – not your dollars.

So, without further delay – let’s jump right in!

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

The Truth About Blogging
Here’s the truth about making money blogging: While blogging can be
automated (eventually), you shouldn’t expect income to be passive
from the get-go. You’ll have to work at it, especially when you are
launching your blog and building a platform that you want to be
recognized in your market.

When I first started blogging, I was spending 30-50 hours a month

creating content, converting visitors into email subscribers, and selling
products and services.

You will want to be directly involved in the initial building phase. This
is your brand, after all. You need to make sure every piece of content
has your voice, carries your message, and represents your business in
the best possible way.

No one will ever be as careful and professional with building your blog
as you will be, right? So, dig your heels in and commit to spending the
first few months building your blog from the ground floor up.

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

Again, in no way is blogging a hands-free method of making money
during the INITIAL stages. You must be prepared to put in some time
and effort if you truly want to succeed.

But the good news? Your hard work will pay off.

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

The 5-Step Formula
While there are countless reports and articles that overcomplicated the
process of making money with blogging, here’s a basic overview of how
it’s done:

1: Create a blog and register a memorable domain. Avoid remotely

hosted options. You need to be in full control of your website, so you
can take advantage of all the different revenue options with no
limitations

2: Write killer content that will generate traffic and drive visitors in. This
content needs to be extremely high-quality, targeted, and informative.
All meat, no veggies.

3: Convert your visitors into email subscribers so you can build your
list. A newsletter is key in building a successful blog online. Scratch
that; a newsletter is essential to be successful in nearly ANY market
online. You will never make as much money without one.

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

4: Communicate with those subscribers. Build rapport and trust.
Nurture relationships. This is where you can build a recognized brand
as an authority in your market and set yourself apart from the
competition (especially those bloggers who aren’t doing this!).

5: Sell products and services to your audience via your blog and
through your newly cultivated newsletter.

Sounds easy enough, right? It is. But it will take time. Let’s dig into each
of these steps a bit deeper so you better understand how it works.

CREATING YOUR BLOG

This report is focused on how to make money with your blog, so I won’t
go into detail about building the platform. Just know that you should
always choose a memorable domain that is targeted to your market
and that you set up a professional hosting account that houses your
blog.

CREATING CONTENT FOR YOUR BLOG

The type of content you create will depend on your target audience,
but every piece of content should always be informative and the
juiciest, most relevant topic you can come up with.

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

Your content will be what drives in traffic and keeps visitors returning
to your blog. It needs to establish your blog as an informative source of
content in your market so make sure you spend extra time crafting
compelling content.

BUILD AND CONVERT CUSTOMERS

You need to always be working towards building your list. This is a
process you can set up on autopilot by using on-site opt in forms that
capture visitor’s information and add them to your mailing list. Plugins
like Optinmonster to make it easy to add visitors to your mailing lists.

Offer an incentive to those who join your lists such as providing them
with a special report not available anywhere else on your blog, or
special offers and discounts on products and services. Always over-
deliver and start off easy. Don’t inundate your subscribers with paid
offers right away – build rapport with them first and let them know you
are looking out for their best interests.

Then, set up autoresponder campaigns that will broadcast different

valuable offers and freebies to your subscribers over time. I personally
set up an introduction/welcome email to go out to my subscribers as
soon as they join my list.

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

Then, 2-3 days later, I have another automated email go out that offers
a free special report on my niche.

It’s not until 7-12 days later before I begin to actively sell, and I do so as
passively as possible. Rather than bold, in-your-face offers, I work WITH
them by providing valuable resources or tools that I believe will help
them or improve their lives in some way.

When subscribers feel that you are a friend who is looking out for them,
rather than a marketer whose only interest is in making money, they
will respond accordingly. So, don’t be a pushy email marketer – be a
professional blogger with a pulse on your market and one who is willing
to go the distance for your visitor’s (and potential customers).

Earn their trust and respect.

And finally, sell products and services like no one’s business! This is
when you’ll start to make money with your blog and as you do, you’ll
see what your visitors are responding to, so you can fine-tune your
system and begin to tailor both your email campaigns and the content
on your blog, around what they are most interested in.

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

Which brings us to the meat of this report: HOW to make money.

What products or services should you sell? How can you turn free
content into profit? How can you use your blog as a lead generation
tool that will make money steadily?

Money Maker
One of the most important aspects to building a profitable blog is
deciding what form of monetization will work best for your market.

There are many different options available to you so figuring out which
one to start with (and ultimately, gauging what format your visitors are
more likely to respond to) is quite often the trickiest part in the
process.

So, let’s break it down for you so that you can create a surefire system
that will have you earning money in no time at all, while avoiding the
under-performing options that so many people fall victim to.

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

DEFINE YOUR OBJECTIVE:
You may start a blog simply because you’re interested in writing
content for your niche market. Perhaps you have a lot of information to
share and you enjoy helping others. Great! But you still need to define
your blog’s objective.

Is your blog designed around attracting visitors with useful free content
that you can then turn into a lead?

Are you planning to use your blog to provide a free offer in exchange
for an email address to build targeted mailing lists?

If so, then your blog is a lead generation mechanism and that is your
objective.

So, how should you begin to monetize your blog?

Affiliate Marketing is one great way.

Even if you have a product or service of your own, if you are new to
your niche and aren’t established as a product developer, you can begin
by creating compelling content for your blog and monetizing that

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

content with established products and services from business owners
that offer affiliate marketing options.

You can then siphon credibility from these established professionals,

and better yet, you can let them do most of the work!

With affiliate marketing, you aren’t stuck on a support desk wading

through emails from customers who need help.

You aren’t working on graphic designers, promotional material and

media kits in order to provide tools for promoters to use.

You aren’t working on updating products, chasing down and repairing

issues or bugs in your software.

As an affiliate, you have one job to do: Sell the product and make
money!

Affiliate marketing is a smart strategy.

The only exception to this rule is if you are a service provider. If you
make money offering consulting, coaching, selling real estate or any

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

other type of service, you will want to start offering those services on
your blog from the beginning. But if you are not a service provider,
affiliate marketing is ONE of the best monetization strategies you
should focus on.

Not: Google AdWords, not paid advertising, and not product

development.

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

Sell High, Earn Higher
If you’re thinking, “What kind of affiliate products should I sell?”, we’re
on the same page.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that it’s better to sell a $10 product
because more people will likely buy it. It’s neither true, nor logical. In
fact, you’ll make things harder on you and you’ll have to work that
much more to generate a decent income every month.

Instead, do what the pro bloggers do: start with higher-end affiliate
products ($77 and up) and work your way down. Not only will you make
more money, you won’t have to sell nearly as many to do so!

In affiliate marketing, the only way that selling a low-priced offer makes
sense if you have a series of high-priced back end offers up for grabs.
When just starting out in blogging (and in affiliate marketing), it’s much
easier to go for gold and promote higher priced.

In addition, as you promote affiliate offers and build up your email list,
you’ll be able to easily launch your own product later on at a higher

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

price because you’ve cultivated groups of subscribers that are
comfortable paying higher prices!

And remember, the one metric above all others is the number in your
mailing list. Don’t worry about RSS feed subscribers – that is no longer
worth considering – just focus on building your newsletter because that
will be the true predictor of how much money your blog will make.

Then, create your content. This is how you’ll stand out from other blogs
in your market, capture the attention of your audience and encourage
repeat traffic. If you do nothing else, spend time creating the highest
quality content possible.

Not sure what to write about?

Research the top 10 blogs in your niche. Look at what they are writing
about, what kinds of headlines and titles they are using. Which articles
receive the highest number of likes and comments? Write down
everything you find, creating a swipe file of information that will help
you create the kind of content those in your market are most
interested in.

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

Take your time with this! If you aren’t sure what kind of content your
visitors want most, you really need to spend some time researching
before you begin. It doesn’t take long. Spend an hour or two scanning
popular blogs and you’ll quickly have a list of possible ideas.

Remember, all you really need to start blogging is 2-3 high-quality

articles. Or, flip the script and offer your visitors a combination of
content types including Infographics, articles, or a video.

And always set up your mailing list opt-in box before you start driving
traffic to your blog.

If you want an affordable option that is also user-friendly, check out the
free MailChimp and then integrate an opt-in form application such as
LeadPages to streamline the process.

Recap:
• Create 2-5 pieces of killer content in the form of articles,
Infographics, or videos.

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

• Invest in a mailing list service and set up your
introduction/welcome email. No selling in the first 2-3 emails.

• Offer your readers ONE free thing: a report, a free download, or

something else that’ll appeal to your market.

• Integrate 1-3 affiliate products into your blog content and into
your mailing list newsletter.

• When you can afford to, purchase a mailing list opt-in plugin that
will capture leads.

• Keep a pulse on your market, constantly visiting established blogs

in your niche to stay up to date with the type of content that is
getting a lot of attention as well as the kind of products that are
selling.

• Generate traffic! Engage potential visitors through social media,

utilize forums and communities within your niche to introduce
your blog and maximize exposure.

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

Conclusion
I want you to start selling today. Don’t make the mistake that so
many newcomer bloggers make and believe that you should first
build up your subscriber list to 1,000 before you start selling. Don’t
worry about having “enough” content on your blog.

Begin by posting 2-3 highly informative posts on your blog that will
appeal to your target audience and choose 1-3 affiliate products to
promote. Divide that up and feature one product for every 2-3 articles
on your blog, with the other affiliate offers being sent out to your
newsletter subscribers.

The key is not to be pushy. Provide valuable content that will attract
visitors and integrate an affiliate offer or two within your blogs
structure. That way you aren’t shoving it in their faces but rather
reminding them of a useful tool or service that will help them in some
way.

It’s hard to stay motivated as a blogger if you aren’t making money so

by kick starting your efforts immediately, rather than trying to perfect

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie

everything, you’ll see results that much faster. You’ll also be able to
generate revenue that can go into building your team, hiring writers
and marketers.

Once you have cashed that first check or accepted that first payment
into PayPal for your affiliate sales, trust me; you’ll be hooked.

Happy & Profitable Blogging,

Sue
P.S. I’d love to help you start making money with your blog. Check out
Profitable Blogging Simplified here.

Successful Blogging | Sue Dunlevie