Full-time blogger and CEO of BargainBabe.com Julia Scott shared her insights on how to earn more from your website and/or blog and how to engage with these key influencers, aka bloggers, at this Newport Interactive Marketers event.
1. Create a foundation for success by establishing a popular, in -demand blog. What is the goal for your blog? Determine the focus of your blog. What is your hobby? What are you passionate about? Your target audience: small, passionate and loyal v. large, broad, mildly interested What is your mission statement? What are readers looking for - survey them. What do you want visitors to do? Buy stuff? Stay on site for 30 mins? Click through to other sites? Blog to the actions you want to see. 2. Entrepreneur online means inserting yourself into community. You are the brand so proselytize. Create a comprehensive blogroll Link, link, link! Provide interactive opportunities-live blogging, contests, polls, videos, forums, reader photos Network online - email, Twitter, FB, YouTube, MySpace, Flickr What can you do while bootstrapping? 3. Let's talk money.
Guess how many ad networks there are? Create ad page on your side: http://curbed.com/advertise/ http://shop.npr.org/ Look at upper left corner - what does it say? Every purchase supports NPR programming! Main referral programs are Amazon.com (amazon store), Commission Junction (cj.com), and LinkShare.com.
Knight Foundation, Arts Councils, think tanks, etc Sponsorship - form close ties with businesses that are have great synergy with your blog. Takes time to develop. Ex. BB and 99CO. Sponsorships have a greater tie into the site than advertisers. More prevalent, persistent, or intertwined. Perks of membership: face time with blog author, T-shirt, lunch, access to special coupons or deals, bumper sticker, etc