4 ms·

How to Monetize a Blog: Advice from a Blog That Makes Money

33 points by maldinii 8y ago

dsr_ 8y ago
Way back in the pre-Internet days, magazines often had little classified ads sections in the back. There was nearly always a couple of businesses that almost said they would send you pornography, usually for scientific and educational purposes; an offer to sell you a weather balloon or information on ham radio clubs or telescope kits; and at least one ad like this: Make money at home stuffing envelopes! Send SASE and enclose $2.50 for our guide on how you can make money in your spare time! And if you were foolish enough to send them the money and a SASE -- a self-addressed stamped envelope, the equivalent of an HTTP GET -- you would get a sheet of instructions, which began: "Take out an ad in a magazine telling people to send you a SASE and money. Make copies of this sheet and stuff them in the SASEs..."
- madsohm 8y ago
  This is what I see the most of online with regards to blogs making money as well. Blogs about how to make money on blogs. No actual content anymore. It's a bit sad, that the internet has only gone as far as classified at the back of magazines.
- jstarfish 8y ago
  You might see these around town as well, usually written on cardboard signs with a black marker, soliciting "trainees needed for real estate investor" or some variant of the make-money-from-home-and-get-rich scheme. Step 1 is always the same-- pay me $1K for a "startup kit," then find two other suckers and get them to pay you $1K for their own. Just the same, you can't read a travel blog without finding ads for TravelBlogSuccess on it. "Travel the world, write about it and get paid! Get super secret access to our exclusive message board! Just pay us $400, then we'll give you a small cut for any additional suckers you recruit." There are no end of rubes desperate enough to leave their office job to join a pyramid scheme I suppose.
Giorgi 8y ago
Yeey another blogspam
teddyh 8y ago
I’d suggest this one instead: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/03/16/get-rich-with-blogging/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/03/16/get-rich-with-blog...
- maldinii 8y ago
  good resource, thanks!
hbcondo714 8y ago
In section 4 (Creating an Online Course), the author links to her other article[1] about creating a WordPress membership site using plugins but specifically states these are free registrations that do not handle payments. I wish the author did explore payments more because there are WordPress plugins[2] that do provide subscription payment and reoccurring billing services integrated with payment gateways that truly allow a CMS to be monetized. The issue I see is that WordPress is the only CMS platform that offers such easy membership, payment and content restriction integrations. Have others seen this kind of functionality in other CMS platforms? [1] https://www.codeinwp.com/blog/build-a-membership-site-on-wordpress/ https://www.codeinwp.com/blog/build-a-membership-site-on-wor... [2] https://www.paidmembershipspro.com https://www.paidmembershipspro.com, https://docs.restrictcontentpro.com/article/1593-restricting-post-and-page-content#restricting-portions https://docs.restrictcontentpro.com/article/1593-restricting...
- maldinii 8y ago
  thanks for pointing out.
jscholes 8y ago
I'm sure the blog currently being down wasn't a part of the monetization strategy.

33 points by maldinii 8y ago

dsr_ 8y ago

Way back in the pre-Internet days, magazines often had little classified ads sections in the back. There was nearly always a couple of businesses that almost said they would send you pornography, usually for scientific and educational purposes; an offer to sell you a weather balloon or information on ham radio clubs or telescope kits; and at least one ad like this: Make money at home stuffing envelopes! Send SASE and enclose $2.50 for our guide on how you can make money in your spare time! And if you were foolish enough to send them the money and a SASE -- a self-addressed stamped envelope, the equivalent of an HTTP GET -- you would get a sheet of instructions, which began: "Take out an ad in a magazine telling people to send you a SASE and money. Make copies of this sheet and stuff them in the SASEs..."

madsohm 8y ago
This is what I see the most of online with regards to blogs making money as well. Blogs about how to make money on blogs. No actual content anymore. It's a bit sad, that the internet has only gone as far as classified at the back of magazines.
jstarfish 8y ago
You might see these around town as well, usually written on cardboard signs with a black marker, soliciting "trainees needed for real estate investor" or some variant of the make-money-from-home-and-get-rich scheme. Step 1 is always the same-- pay me $1K for a "startup kit," then find two other suckers and get them to pay you $1K for their own. Just the same, you can't read a travel blog without finding ads for TravelBlogSuccess on it. "Travel the world, write about it and get paid! Get super secret access to our exclusive message board! Just pay us $400, then we'll give you a small cut for any additional suckers you recruit." There are no end of rubes desperate enough to leave their office job to join a pyramid scheme I suppose.

Giorgi 8y ago

Yeey another blogspam

teddyh 8y ago

I’d suggest this one instead: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/03/16/get-rich-with-blogging/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/03/16/get-rich-with-blog...

maldinii 8y ago
good resource, thanks!

hbcondo714 8y ago

In section 4 (Creating an Online Course), the author links to her other article[1] about creating a WordPress membership site using plugins but specifically states these are free registrations that do not handle payments. I wish the author did explore payments more because there are WordPress plugins[2] that do provide subscription payment and reoccurring billing services integrated with payment gateways that truly allow a CMS to be monetized. The issue I see is that WordPress is the only CMS platform that offers such easy membership, payment and content restriction integrations. Have others seen this kind of functionality in other CMS platforms? [1] https://www.codeinwp.com/blog/build-a-membership-site-on-wordpress/ https://www.codeinwp.com/blog/build-a-membership-site-on-wor... [2] https://www.paidmembershipspro.com https://www.paidmembershipspro.com, https://docs.restrictcontentpro.com/article/1593-restricting-post-and-page-content#restricting-portions https://docs.restrictcontentpro.com/article/1593-restricting...

maldinii 8y ago
thanks for pointing out.

jscholes 8y ago

I'm sure the blog currently being down wasn't a part of the monetization strategy.