At the Food and Wine Bloggers Indaba, Alida Ryder from Simply Delicious gave a really good talk on monetizing your blog, and I am going to list some points here of what I thought was relevant and important.
- real costs exist in blogging
- time = money
- it is your choice to sell advertising space, and what you advertise
- Google AdSense does not pay much and can cheapen the look of your blog
- sell your advertising space directly
- choose how you charge
- paid or sponsored content or affiliate programs are worth looking into
When it comes to statistics:
- hits do not equal page views and it is page views that count!
- load Google analytics
Things to make a note of:
- sponsored content should be relevant and something you would use
- test the product first
- recipe development lets you be creative
- get everything in writing
- know the payment terms
- be clear about your own terms and conditions
- your blog is your product
- treat your blog like a business
- create great content regardless of payment
- be passionate
- post consistently
This is not the first time monetizing your blog has been addressed at the Indaba but Alida phrased it really well, and I hope I have done her some justice here in relaying her message.
What I blogged:
- one year ago – pasta nero
- two years ago – no post
Great and valuable points, thanks for sharing them.
🙂 Mandy
my pleasure Mandy 🙂
Thank you Tandy, very useful information. I’ve not clear idea how to monetizing my blog, so helpful tips are very welcome.
It is my pleasure Rita, and thanks for the visit 🙂
Excellent post Tandy!! I’m now at that point of making some real changes with my blog. But switching from wp.com to wp.org seems to be a huge challenge. Love what you’ve done with your blog and thank you for posting all this fabulous information!!
thank you Karista, please email me if you need any help – maybe the mistakes I made can be avoided when you make the move 🙂
I did get a request the other day from someone who wanted to leave a banner for money on my web page!! I must follow up!!
As long as it is from a legit company, and someone you would align with, then I say ‘go for it’ 🙂
Thanks for the tips!
My pleasure 🙂
It still bends my mind sometimes that the blog world even exists 🙂
mine too!
These are some fantastic tips, Tandy! Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us =D
it is my pleasure Squishy 🙂
Very useful Tandy, thanks for a great post. These are very consistent with your own guidelines I see 🙂
Thank you Erica 🙂