Author. Millie Loralie

Publisher: Millie Loralie

ISBN: B074MZ1ZVM

                                        Monetizing your Blog

Making money from your blog was never explained so clearly and with so much attention to detail as in this little ebook. Starting from zero, it takes the twenty or so year old art of blogging and discusses how one can hone one’s passion for a certain subject into a very comfortable source of income, all from the comfort of your own home. It also mentions clearly the discipline required to achieve financial viability, the pitfalls on the way and how to avoid them, and most of all, the kind of mindset required to sustain the above over a prolonged period of time.

The material in this book is arranged as follows. In the first chapter, the author begins by emphasizing the importance of choosing a subject which one is passionate about, so that the blog can reflect that passion in the quality of the same. She also mentions the importance of other factors, e.g. customizing the material to the desired clientele by using an eye-catching design, solid text content expressed in good language (correct grammar, spelling and punctuation) and of course, how to select a catchy blog title to attract traffic. Technical issues such as finding an appropriate platform are taken up, as also the ups and downs of employing ghostwriters and the provision for an email list. The author also discusses the importance of choosing the right keywords for the chosen niche, and SEO optimization in order to attract more visitors to the blog.

In the next chapter, the author takes on the subject of  monetization of your blog. She suggests several alternatives, viz, selling ebooks, selling consultancy services, affiliate marketing and ecourses. Next, she suggests advertising techniques in order to put out the word about the blog and the services it provides, some of these are pay per click marketing, affiliate marketing and google adsense among others. She also provides valuable tips on some do’s and don’ts to keep in mind, e.g. a sales pitch is something to be strictly avoided as it can put off even genuinely interested customers.

The third chapter of the book is devoted to “growing your blog”, i.e. how to make it pay even more and get the content out to even more people. Here, the author recommends reaching out to others on social media, join a like- minded group there, guest posting on other people’s sites and participating on online forums, among others.

The fourth chapter contains even more tips to help the advanced blogger to go even further.  Some tips that the author shares with her readers include inviting a well known expert (Influencer) from the chosen niche to promote your blog. Contact with the Influencer can be initiated through social media sites like LinkedIn. In this section also the author provides some do’s and don’ts. Since this stage involves a larger outreach, the author re-emphasizes the need for high quality content, free of grammatical errors and with high quality images..Plagiarism is a strict no-no, the language should be parliamentary, free of expletives and not derogatory of others. She also explains how to get and use google ads. Throughout the ebook, the author emphasizes the need to be regarded as honest and sincere, palpably so.

The final chapter puts all the above strategies together. Here, the author also encourages us to establish a good rapport with competitors and even exchange posts with them, among other recommended practices that could yield dividends.

The nice thing about this book is its readability  It tells the truth about blogging by not making the process easier than it is by glossing over the pitfalls and difficulties. Besides, it strongly advocates quality over quantity, honesty and sincerity over a display of erudition. Quite simply, it advocates being a well grounded sensible human being in the process of developing your blogging skills.

I recommend this book very warmly.