We all see the income numbers. Blogs showing how they earned $100, $500, or even $31,271 in a single month. While those number are pretty enticing, it can be hard to know how to make money blogging. In this post, we outline how you can use Pinterest to help generate a bit more money from your blog.
You probably know the most obvious way to make money with a blog is to put external ads on your site. It’s easy, can be targeted and will generate income. However, in recent months ad income has dropped significantly, leaving bloggers with fewer options to monetize their business. Some have added more ads (making sites incredibly slow!) and others are giving up on monetization altogether.
Instead of adding more ads, thereby giving people more opportunities to leave, why not offer them useful tools that keep them clicking on your content, growing your email list and making money on your products? Seems like a no-brainer.
First step: create an email freebie.
Give Away The Goods
Why not capture Pinterest traffic with an offer so good they want to give you their email in exchange for the awesome freebie? This can be a one page PDF, ebook, printable, etc. Something your particular niche would find valuable. If you don’t know, consider doing a quick reader survey to find out what they are looking for. Create a pinnable graphic for your email landing page and upload the graphic to Pinterest, then link to the email landing page in the source portion of the pin. Schedule this pin to go out weekly to various boards. Change up the graphic every few months. Don’t forget to use your sidebar space for an email sign up box! It’s okay to ditch an external ad for this.
Next step: start selling.
Sell Digital Products
Now that your email list is growing, it’s time to start selling digital products. If your email freebie was successful, consider expanding on that. For example, if you gave away a 5-day meal plan as your freebie, why not sell a monthly meal plan? Or if you have an expanded ebook on a specific topic, educational materials, a bigger pack of printables, etc. Think of taking your email freebie one step bigger and be as helpful as possible. Pinterest users are always looking for useful tools that help with everyday life. Why not be the one that provides them? Pinterest users are always looking for useful tools that help with everyday life. Why not be the one that provides them?
Next, create pinnable graphics you can schedule weekly to promote sales. Be sure to track how each pin does to find out which image users like best. Use the interval scheduling tool that Tailwind offers to space out the pin evenly over a select period of time. On your website, link to this product in every applicable post.
Last step: promote!
Spend Money To Make Money
Last, test out promoted pins for both the email freebie and the digital product. Use keywords and target Pinterest users that would be interested in following you or purchasing your products. Again, test different images to see if one performs better than the rest. Then pin that image more often.
One extra tip: don’t forget to use your sidebar! Remove some of the external ads and make some for your own products. This keeps the traffic on your site and promotes your platform over taking them somewhere else.
Creating products is hard work but don’t let that stop you. Start small with a simple email freebie and work from there. Just take that first step! It will be worth it once you see your email list grow and Pinterest traffic sticking around to see what other awesome content or products you create.
How have you had success making money blogging? Let us know in the comments!
