Are you struggling to make money from your blogs? Do you make some money blogging, but wish you could make more? The solution might be easier than you think, and it doesn’t always mean you have to increase your traffic dramatically. You can also find ways to increase revenue with your existing market reach by diversifying your income streams.
Let’s look at what it means to diversify your income streams, why bloggers should consider it, and some examples of income streams you might want to add to your blog.
What Does it Mean to Diversify Your Income Streams?
Diversifying your income streams is a simple concept. It means you should have several sources of income at any given time rather than just one. For example, if you only make money blogging through affiliate sales, you don’t diversify your income streams. If you use affiliate sales, your own product sales, and contextual advertising, then you do have a more diverse set of revenue streams.
Why Diversified Income Streams are a Great Idea for Bloggers
Here’s the problem with relying too heavily on just one revenue stream: when it’s disappears, all of your income disappears with it.
If you get banned from a specific ad network for example, your income is gone. If you only sell one product of your own and it reaches market saturation, your income stops flowing. If your readers get tired of your constant affiliate promotions, that revenue stream might stop bringing in reliable revenue. No single income stream for bloggers is guaranteed to last forever.
When you diversify your blog income, you insulate yourself from this sudden drop-off in earnings. If one revenue stream dries up, you have other income streams bringing in money. Your earnings might decrease temporarily, but they won’t disappear completely.
5 Examples of Additional Blog Revenue Streams
Diversifying your blogging income sounds like a good idea, right? It can help you earn more than you do now, and it can prevent you from losing everything overnight. But how can you diversify your income streams? Here are five examples of blog revenue streams you might be able to add. Note that not all revenue streams are appropriate for blogs in every niche.
- Industry directories with paid inclusion (or paid featured spots)
- Job boards / Classifieds
- Members-only content (advanced private content for paying members)
- Information products (your own e-books, reports, e-courses, and other downloads)
- Ad networks (affiliate, contextual, text links, banners, or whatever works in your niche)
There are countless ways to increase your blog income, with or without dramatic increases in traffic. Think about what members of your audience want and need. Then find a way to give it to them as a premium product, service, or feature to increase site revenue. At the same time, balance that with enough free quality blog content that you keep readers coming back. If you can’t monetize their traffic today, there’s always the chance you will tomorrow. When you put readers first and build trust within your audience, they’re often quite happy to help support your blog.
How do you diversify your blog income streams? What brings in the most money right now? Have some revenue streams failed to work in your niche? Share your own revenue stream ideas and stories about how you make money blogging in the comments below.
