When GROWING means your blog {baby steps into blog monetization}

It was a few months ago when I was walking home from taking Ezra to school, listening to a Voxer message from my friend, Kathryn, and she mentioned, in passing, that she was close to making $30,000 with her blog in the past year.

I was shocked honestly. This girl, already heroic in so many ways, manages to pull in an income from her blog while managing two special needs children and military life.

Fast forward to the beginning of December. My blog’s Facebook page was sitting just over 900 likes and something about that number was bugging me. Our other friend, Katie, had upped content on her blog’s Facebook page and come to find out, it was Kathryn who was helping her do so!

The three of us started talking about a lot of different blogging and Facebook strategies, and I set a goal for myself to make it to 1000 likes by the end of 2015. And, with my friends’ help and advice and some extra time and work, I hit it.

It was a pretty big deal! I am proud of how I’ve changed the way I use Facebook and how my interactions with my readers have increased in good ways. It’s not just “the place I share my posts” but it’s an extension of my blog – sort of a mini-blog, on the side. My Instagram photos turned into microblogs seem to engage my readers well, and it’s yet another way I have found to encourage others.

Now it’s 2016. I moved my blog from WordPress.com to self-hosted WordPress.org back in 2014 for the express purpose of slowly pursuing monetization (making money from my blog). Then I went and got pregnant, and I was barely blogging let alone thinking about monetization.

Now I want to move forward and grow in this area. When I heard that Kathryn had made nearly $30,000 in one year I asked myself one question:

Why can’t I do that? 

No, I don’t have her page views, or contacts but here’s what I do have:

• Seven years of consistent blogging.
• A decent social media following.
• Trust with an audience base who knows me and my content well. 
• An awesome friend with monetization experience in my corner.

I’ve spent the last few weeks talking back and forth with her about some BABY STEPS I can take towards monetization as well as strategies to continue to grow my platform.

{If you are a blogger, I highly recommend Kathryn’s VA and social media management services!!!}

For a long time I was against it. I felt that my writing needed to stay writing. If I started trying to make money I was selling out, and it was going to turn into this monster where all I cared about was the money and no longer cared about the content.

I also wanted to make sure that I didn’t lose my authenticity as a blogger and thus my reader’s trust. This, by far, is my biggest concern with monetization.

But, after some internet reading and talking with Kathryn, I feel that, not only is this some thing that I CAN do, but something that I would be dumb to not try.

Blogging and encouraging others through social media is something that I LOVE to do. It is my heart, my passion, and a HUGE part of my life. To forego doing something that I LOVE while getting some compensation for it just because I’m scared? I don’t think that’s how God wants me to live. That doesn’t sound like growth to me.

So, here’s the nitty gritty of some of what’s been going on behind the scenes:

I’ve signed up with TapInfluence, Linqia, Socialix, and CleverGirls in hopes of POSSIBLY getting some sponsored post opportunities. I think this is the scariest. I’ve been adamantly against sponsored posts for a very long time, but there are some brands I wouldn’t mind promoting because I love them. I’m going to be taking this one very very cautiously. 

I’ve logged into my Izea account for the first time in a year and signed up with AdvoWire for sponsored Twitter opportunities.

I’ve signed up with iTunes Affiliates to receive compensation for promoting apps. (This is a no-brainer because I already have multiple posts in which I do so!)

And my personal favorite, I’m throwing my heart into my Amazon Affiliate Program. I’ve actually been an affiliate for a year and a half and made a whopping $0.52 in 2015. I’ve been working hard at it for the last week and am already up to $2.02. You may have noticed my sharing affiliate links if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter. I’m going to try to keep those links relevant, tasteful, timely, and not overbearing to you.

The biggest change is that I have decided to try Amazon Affiliate Native Ads on my blog. The ad section below my blog posts is supposed to share relevant content (based on post content). In the absence of relevant content, it falls back to a search that I can customize. (I’m changing this first thing every morning to promote authors, books, and products I can feel comfortable recommending.) I’ve been fairly pleased with the results so far. If you ever see ANYTHING not tasteful popping up there, please contact me and I will try to tweak the coding to avoid those things.  

My long term goal is still book publication, and I want to look into starting a podcast as well to reach my target readers better.

Phew – are you tired reading that? I know I am.

It’s a lot. But blog monetization is one of those things where you have to cast a wide net and hope something sticks. Hopefully, the changes to you as my readers will be slow and easy to digest. 

So here’s why I’m telling you this:

First of all, because you guys trust me. I know this because you read my stuff. You show up here (or on social media, Bloglovin, or email) and you invite me into your life through your computer. You come here because you expect certain things from my writing. So when things change, you deserve to know.

Also, because it’s very important to me that you understand that my top goal will continue to be encouragement through the written word. Encouragement that whatever mess you find yourself in, beauty CAN be found.

{See also: Everything…Beautiful In His Time and The WHY of blogging: my not-so-mission-y mission statement}

Lastly, because I want to ask, in advance, for grace. Grace for the changes. Grace for growth (because growth is always awkward, isn’t it?) Grace for the mistakes I know I will probably make – the opportunities I take that maybe I shouldn’t and the times my priorities get off.

It’s time to grow.