Monetizing Your WordPress Blog

Monetizing your blog actually starts with the theme you use for your WordPress blog in my opinion. Here’s why…

If you are blogging with the intent to make a profit, then you are going to profit from two major income vehicles (outside having your own product or service to sell):

Advertising revenue (like Google Adsense)
Promotion of products or services with affiliate programs

So, common sense would dictate that the platform that you use be suitable for displaying ads in a way that will get the best exposure without overshadowing the content being provided on the blog.

That’s why the theme is important when it comes to monetizing a blog. I recommend that folks use a 3 column theme for their blog—one main column and two sidebar columns.

The theme I used on this blog is the free Flexibility Theme, which is highly configurable and is truly designed for marketing.

But there are plenty of awesome 3 column themes available for WordPress blogs at WordPress.org.

Here’s why I recommend 3 column themes…

[ ** This content is available to IMS Blog Members ONLY. Please Login or Register to review this content. ** ]

One column themes severely limit your “ad space” area on your blog. Two column themes are good, but you sacrifice blog functionality for the visitor if you choose to use the upper sidebar area of your blog for ads.

No matter what theme you go with, always choose a theme that has a white background with black text. Otherwise, your blog will be difficult to read, no matter cool it may look and won’t attract long term visitors.

One of the big mistakes that I think many new people make when they start out is that they try to start a blog like John Chow has now right from the beginning—with so many ads on it you can just barely find the content.

Let me assure you, his blog did NOT start off that way. As his traffic grew, his blog advertising expanded.

I recommend that everyone monetize their blog immediately, right from the beginning using these techniques:

[ ** This content is available to IMS Blog Members ONLY. Please Login or Register to review this content. ** ]

Build some traffic, build a following before you get crazy with the ads on your blog. Establish yourself as a credible resource that people want to hear from first.

If you don’t really understand what affiliate programs are, I would highly recommend the Super Affiliate Handbook. This is the best resource that I ever owned about affiliate programs and how they really work.

If you are building a fan club or an enthusiast type of blog, it won’t be Google Adsense that makes you the most money. It will come from recommending products and services that may appeal to your audience.

Obviously, I will be talking more about monetizing your blog as we move along. There’s a lot to know. But it’s not hard when broken down into small pieces.

Cheers,
Steve Roye
Online Business Consultant

About the Author/Founder of The Stand-up Comedy Tips Blog

Steve Roye is the author of the Killer Stand-up Comedy System and author of the content made available in the Comedy Pro Membership Program.

Over the past decade, Steve has established himself as a leading, globally recognized expert in the field of stand-up comedy material development, delivery and entertainment business strategies for comedy entertainers as well as speaking professionals.

For more information about Steve, please check out the About The Author section on this site.

No tags for this post.

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!