The title seems somewhat confusing… yeh. Before I go ahead to answer the question of the title, let me explain you the two terms – ‘blog for profit’ and ‘profit from blog’.
You can be confused and think both of these terms to be the same but they are very different in meaning.
Blog for profit – This term means that you are starting a blog solely with an intention of making money with the blog through ads. Whether or not you have the expertise, the sole aim is to make money. That means, you’re blogging just to make some profit by giving them some information and in turn wishing that they click on your ads or you get some direct advertisement. The deep business model doesn’t exist for your blog.
Profit from Blog – This term means that you have started a blog because you have expertise in the niche and want to help people through the blog. It’s not necessary to put advertisement to make money but your blog will act as a business tool where your blog is just a tool to market or promote the business, or educate your potential customers. The main thing about profiting from blog is that your blog will work for you, not the other way round.
What are the Advantages of Blog for Profit Model?
If you’re out to blog for profit, you’ll definitely make some fast money.
For example, you start a blog, write few articles, say 20 to 40 articles on your blog, promote it to people through communities and social media, build some backlinks and you see visitors coming in. You put up AdSense, get some clicks and make some money.
If you’re able to increase your blog statistics a bit more to 10,000 visitors per month and about 500 page views per day, you can contact direct advertisers in your niche to get direct ads on your blog.
If it continues and you’re making money online through ads. Indeed, you’re successful in your goal of blogging for profit.
What are the Disadvantages of Blog for Profit Model?
Stagnancy sets in after few years of blogging for profit. There isn’t any disadvantage as such if you’re blogging for profit but the earning is limited – limited in the term that your only source of income is through ads. The source of income is limited to ads and there is no growth or business model related to the blog.
What are the Advantages of the Model Profit from Blog?
I personally believe and am a follower of this model of blogging. This model of blogging takes longer to make money but the results you get at the end are worth the time spent.
In this model, you can place ads too, but the ad placement is minimal. Most of the income comes from passively or from selling products and services. The earnings are unlimited and there is potential for massive growth.
If you want to profit from blog, you need to be an expert in the niche you’re starting your blog on and have lots of passion to continue writing about the niche.
The frame of mind must be such that you have to keep helping people with lots of informational and valuable stuff without any cost, whereas your main business or income model lies elsewhere.
Here is a list of business models for those who want to profit from blog.
Membership Site
A membership site is a good business model for most bloggers looking for profit from blog. It is about charging a fee for premium content or exclusive stuff. This is an attractive business model because it leads to long-term recurring income.
You may say why will readers pay me for content when they can find everything for free online?
I know everything is available online but if you can prove yourself as an authority and get loyal readers to your site with exclusive and valuable content that really helps them in solving their problems, they won’t really mind paying to get more and more valuable stuff from you. That’s because they believe you and believe you’re really going to help them with the premium content.
Because they trust you, they’ve opted in to your list and are visiting you daily for more information.
However, in the name of premium content, don’t play around with their emotions by giving them the same thing. You’ll lose them in a month and your business in a day.
Let’s look at this example to prove my point.
You set up a membership site and charge $30 as monthly fee. This is a relatively low number, but look below.
In the 1st month, you sell 30 memberships. So that’s $900.
The second month, you sell another 50 memberships. That’s another $$1500 + the previous month’s recurring renewed $900. A total of $2300 and likewise it goes on month after month.
I know not everyone will renew, so there are bound to be some subtractions but most will renew if they find your stuff worthwhile.
Darren Rowse has a membership site where he charges $27 per month. This membership sites contributes to 6% of his total income. Not bad, though! Every penny counts. Don’t people join his community? Of course, people do.
Why?
Because he has proved himself as an expert in his niche and people trust him for what he says. He gives valuable information that is worth paying for.
But to create such a site and build a regular recurring business, you first need loyal readers, that’s an authority on your niche.
Selling an Ebook
This is another business model that sells on its own but again the authority comes into play.
If you have a blog and proven yourself in the field as an authority, you can easily write and sell an ebook charging for it.
People will gladly pay for the book that’s neatly organized and formatted with all information collectively provided.
Again, top bloggers such as Darren Rowse’s ebook “31 Days to Build a Better Blog”, Glen Allsopp’s ebook “Cloud Living” has proved this business model worthwhile by selling ebooks.
Selling ebooks contributes to 38% of Rowse’s income and it is one of the top earning models for him.
Selling courses
This doesn’t always have to be online, you can sell courses both offline and online.
The difference between a membership site and selling courses is that one can be a member of a membership site as long as he or she wants to whereas selling a course can be relatively short-term, for few months or a year. It can increase for taking advanced level courses.
So, this is also a kind of recurring income and once created, it can bring in a continuous flow of profit for years.
But, would you join a course given by some Dick and Harry or join the course of someone who is an expert and has proved himself in the field?
Take the example of John Chow.
He is a guru of make money online niche and has proved himself over the years how to make money online. He makes over $100,000 per month and also teaches people how to do so. He also has a blogging course “Blogging with John Chow” that starts at $37, and a large part of his income comes from the course.
Sell your Service
Creating products or membership sites doesn’t always happen because some niches don’t have much takers for it or some bloggers don’t have the resources to start it.
If that’s the case, you can leverage your expertise to sell your service as a consultant or a service directly.
These aren’t passive income because they are directly related to your services but a viable way to profit from blog because of who you become on your blog.
An example is:
Neil Patel from neilpatel.com (Offers consultation for business growth)
Sell your product
Are you someone who can some product line? Maybe you can make jams and jellies, or you can knit sweaters, there are loads of opportunities to run a business on the backend.
Software developers and designers also have opportunities if you’ve created some software that’s not yet in till now or something better than an existing one.
So, the five business models I discussed above are based on profit from blog. If you’re looking to make profit from blog, a proper and planned business model can lead to unlimited income and opportunities unlike if you start a blog for profit.
Disadvantages of Following Profit from Blog Model
The only disadvantage of this method of profit from blog is that it takes lots of time to establish yourself, get loyal readers, build a list and gain authority over a niche, and then approach the business model.
But time and patience and break the income barrier where sky is the limit.
These are all business models from profiting from your blog.
Whether you’re blogging for profit or looking to profit from blog, both are fine as long as you know what your goal is and isn’t frustrated with the money you’re making.
Which road would you love to go through – blog for profit or profit from blog?
HI Mainak,
I have to agree with you which is the better model for long-term success but I think that those who are in this for a quick buck would rather go the first route.
Like a lot of niche sites are really just there to make the money from their ads and the products they promote. Not all of course but the majority that are out there definitely are.
The problem lies with long-term success. Oh sure, things change and where you might want to take your business can change but I think when you blog to build relationships and then those people are eager to buy from you with whatever service you provide then they’ll be more eager to keep coming back time and time again. It’s just a much smarter business model I believe.
Hopefully your post will help anyone who is still sitting on the fence about this.
Great share and thanks!
~Adrienne
Yes Adrienne, making quick bucks is not a fault and I totally understand that many do not have the patience to wait for that long to build authority.
It’s just a matter of opinion but one should be clear about it from the time they start blogging. Otherwise, a frustration sets in that the blog is not growing. So, it’s very necessary to know your long-term goal and then create short-term goals.
And you sound like me 🙂 – building relationships and then people trusting you as an expert and eager to buy from you is a long term smarter business model.
Thanks for stopping by and have a nice week ahead!
Mainak.
Blog for Profit , Profit from blog
I read this thrice to get the idea as it seemed similar to me
After reading blog I got to know about them.
Yes I also believe that purpose for starting blog should not be just making money as it may not help you for long time…
But if you will take time to have your readers and built a relation with them over the years then it will surely help you for long time.
Thank you for an informative post.
Yeh, the title looks confusing if read the first time and that’s why I mentioned it in the first line Andleeb. 🙂
Glad to know you found it helpful. Let me know how it goes for you if you are following the profit from blog model.
Hi Mainak,
Honestly speaking I’ve never ever thought of making any profit from my blog, so blogging for profit was never my cup of tea – ever 🙂
My blog was created solely to help people in some ways and of course, share my experiences and little knowledge with my readers. It’s helped me build strong relationships with fellow bloggers and most of them are my online friends now, which as you mentioned, only happens with time. But as I mentioned earlier, because I wasn’t blogging for money, I was in no rush.
However, lately people have been suggesting that the amount of time I devote into blogging, I should also think of money, so I just might think of a few ways, though as and when I get time, as being a writer, my writing projects are my source of income.
But as you mentioned those who profit from their blogs, do so when they build a loyal readership, just as the probloggers you mentioned have done in the years gone by, so the trust factor is there with them, which is what people will blindly follow them or buy what they sell, something that we all need to work for.
I liked the various ways you mentioned, and yes, they don’t cost much for those who are keen to learn, and they are a great way to starting profiting from your blog.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice weekend 🙂
Hi Harleena,
I honestly think one should not be starting a blog keeping in mind the profit. Let the money flow in as people trust you.
As you are saying, your primary source of income is writing – people trust you and have gained confidence seeing the blog posts you are writing, only then they are assigning you their writing tasks. So, you did not start a blog for profit but ultimately you are profiting with your blog at a much later stage because you have already won over the trust with your writing skills. 🙂
Many say that money is needed to run a self-hosted blog and there are recurring expenses, which I agree to, and so making a little money to run the recurring expenses is also not bad!
I am so happy that you liked the ways mentioned and hope everyone benefits from these long-term ways to profit from blog.
Have a nice week ahead! 🙂