Writing a million-dollar blog is not an easy quest, even though many SEO services offer courses to this end. The toughest part of all this is getting to the first million dollars. Is it possible?
Every year hundreds of thousands of people break the barrier and become new millionaires. However, of the more than 600 million blogs online, only 1% of them generate more than a million dollars per year. That's 14.5 million bloggers who are millionaires.
Most million-dollar blogs make money using common and well-known strategies that are available to all of us. These projects are well established, administered with careful tactics, and have strong traffic magnets.
Here are the most popular methods used by these blogs.
Affiliate marketing: Most of these blogs do not have their own products or services. They offer established products that everyone buys. They do not invest money, offer no customer services, nor hire a labor force. Everything that comes in is clear profit.
One known example is Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, who started her personal blog with the aim of advising clients. She has since quit her day job and focuses full-time on her blog.
Sponsored posts: Blogs that have good traffic or high authority may choose to offer sponsored posts. Although some blogs offer guest posts, sponsored posts take content marketing to another level. According to Bing,
"Sponsored posts are paid content pieces that appear in users' social media feeds, designed to reach specific target audiences. They are created by brands in collaboration with influencers, content creators, or bloggers. Unlike organic posts, sponsored content is marked as advertising and can be precisely"
Blogger millionaire Pat Flynn makes over $2m per year promoting space on his podcast and website.
Advertisements: Ads are a popular source of income, and most bloggers are already using them. However, most publishing or ad networks do not pay true value for ad space. The key to using these networks is to supplement your true ad sales.
Getting your first ad may take time, but it will eventually pay off and land over 30 times the ad rates paid by ad networks.
One blogger, Chiara Ferragni, started sharing her photos on Flickr before launching her blog in 2009. She garnered sponsorship from popular brands and now makes over $2.5m per year.
Product sales: Another popular way of making money online and becoming a millionaire is by selling a product that is yours. These can range from books to clothing but can be any product that has some sort of demand.
Physical products have long been a staple for many millionaires, especially with huge marketplaces like Amazon and eBay at their disposal. Some bloggers, including Vitaly Friedman, make millions selling ebooks.
According to Smartblogger, "he now has a library of 60+ e-books for sale (which they also sell in packages). He runs high-ticket conferences and workshops. He added a job board where companies can purchase job postings and find skilled employees."
Services: Just like products, services are a source of high income for million-dollar blogs. As the web evolves, new services like SaaS have emerged, making it easier for bloggers to make more money.
Darren Rowe makes millions each year from his blog, selling photography courses, and hosts a photography school.
Becoming the next millionaire blogger is not beyond you. Everyone can do it if they land a successful combination, they write the next million-dollar blog.