Blogging is about getting your idea on paper and those who have mastered the skill can produce content without a formal outline, etc. Many times, people have a tough time translating a good idea onto paper and they lose focus along the way. A good idea can do more than transform your blog into a resourceful portal because it can lead to a profitable business. However, competition will always be around so you need to do things that are different and relate to your readers. You have to stand out, offering your readers a unique perspective that translates into profits. If you have a good idea for your next blog content, and would like to create something profitable, use these “5†ways to get started.
Let’s go through them in order and start implementing them right away.
Can Your Experience Help
Before you can start generating profits, you need to dissect your idea and find ways to leverage it for profits. For example, the best type of content and services online always help solve a problem. I’ve always recommend people to write content based on passion; however, you can still help solve problems through your content. You need to find out how your passion will help solve problems people are having, then write content that provides a solution.
The ones I’ve seen succeed and make a profit are those who can leverage their expertise. Use what you know and start writing and publishing it. However, put a twist on things by generating content ideas that solve a problem within your niche. I’m more likely to convert my content into sales showing people how my “tool†helps solve a common problem. I’m even more likely to build a huge following when providing a solution to a common problem than if I were to write content that is simply general knowledge.
Before writing content, do some research in your niche and find ways to leverage your content so it’s solution based. If you can provide a solution, then you’re going to definitely build a profitable business.
What People Need Most
You have a blog, experience, and have been publishing content. However, do you know what people need most? It’s one thing writing content that solves a problem, but having a blog in a popular niche can be very profitable. Find markets that have been thriving over the last couple of years and focus on providing solutions within those niches. How can you find a popular niche? Here are some cool strategies I’ve been using for years and they continue to be effective.
Magazines –
Popular niches will always have a huge magazine following because publishers know there’s no shortage of readers. From my experience, health, wealth, and relationships continue to thrive over the years. You have some minor categories that can perform well, however, do research to make sure you have a viable audience.
Forums –
I’ve noticed popular niches have several forums and you can use them to leverage not only content ideas but also marketing opportunities. Skim through relevant forums looking for common questions people have because you can use them as an awesome source for content generation.
Amazon –
Leverage Amazon’s “Best Sellers†filter to find what’s trending and leverage it to create a profitable businesses. Best sellers can provide knowledge into people’s purchasing habits and you can skim through the table of contents to generate content ideas.
Profit Potential
The point of every business is to generate profit and if you can’t, then there is no reason to proceed forward. Here is where things become bit tricky before you need to test out the profit potential to calculate if Time=Money. The good news is you have a few tools you can use to find out the demand. If you can determine the demand, you can pretty much calculate the potential. It’s important to note that demand is not a substitute for effective keyword research. You need to ensure you are targeting the right keywords and have analyzed your competition for ranking potential within the search engines.
Once you’ve narrowed down a niche, you can use the following strategies to quickly check profit potential. If you have money to invest, you can always setup a few campaigns in Adwords and Facebook to check response. However, in most cases, it’s always best to save your money if you can leverage some of the free methods.
# of Websites in Niche or Keyword –
The quickest way to determine profit potential is to find out how many others are marketing the product. If you have a handful of keywords in mind, then do a quick search within Google with quotations (“â€) and pay close attention to the total results generated. The rule of thumb is the higher the number, the better the outlook. Many would argue that a high number indicates more competition, which is absolutely correct. This is where your SEO and high quality content will be used to outrank your competition. Remember, at this point, you’re going to have competition in every niche, but if you can create valuable content with high authority backlinks, you shouldn’t have a problem outranking your competitors in the future.
Adwords CPC –
Browse over the Google Keyword Planner and type in niche related keywords. The higher the CPC, the better the potential because Google’s advertising network is setup as a “bid†platform. When you see a high CPC, it means several people are bidding on that EXACT keyword on their search platform. This will, obviously, mean to someone else that there is potential in the keyword.
The rule of thumb when checking profit potential is to see what the CPC is for “action†keywords like “buyâ€, “reviewâ€, “freeâ€, and “downloadâ€. All these keywords represent a buyer’s search pattern and you know when people use them in search engines, they have 60% made up their mind to purchase the product.
Get Help or Network
Much of the success bloggers have achieved has been through networking with other authority bloggers. If you know a blog is an authority within a niche, then why not try to reach out and utilize their popularity? When blogs become popular, the owners become busy with side projects and often rely on beginners for content. It’s a great way to leverage your knowledge and experience to turn your idea into profits. Write and guest post for a popular blog or reach out to people who have thousands of social followers for a quick mention of your product and/or service.
Many times, you’ll run into an issue because bloggers don’t allow affiliate links within guest posts. However, you can strategically work something out. In the beginning, split your commissions or ask them for a trade in marketing, where you mention the blogger’s products in exchange for them mentioning yours. You need to be strategic in the way you approach this and don’t get greedy. You’re better off getting 25% of product sales than 0%, which will be the case if you don’t create an equal playing field.
Use Resources Available
If you’ve been blogging for years, you know you have many free promotional tools available at your disposable. Obviously, the biggest is the demand in social media marketing and this can be a great funnel for you. Accounts are free to setup and you can target relevant people who you think will find your content useful. You’ve established an idea and would like to convert it into profits, so you need to think like a business. For example,
We’ve discussed how solution based content sells and if you can provide a simple solution to an otherwise complicated problem, you’ll do very well. This is the strategy you should use when marketing your “idea†through online resources. If you are using social networks, then share popular content and add hashtags relevant to your content. Next, leverage classified websites like Craigslist.com and Kijiji.com to generate leads and conversions. A cool strategy to gain outgoing exposure is to create a funnel so you can collect email addresses. These subscribers are captured and can be put through a strategic follow-up sequence. This is especially beneficial if you have invested money into your marketing campaigning.
Here’s a breakdown of what we discussed: