Update: Over time, I decided that monetizing the blog was no longer the best option for me. I felt as if I was serving the affiliates and sponsors rather than delivering the content that I wanted. It had become a job rather than a hobby I enjoyed. Monetizing your blog is a very personal decision. Keep in mind that once you add affiliate posts, there may be a lot of time and effort to remove the links and rewrite the posts should you change your mind later. Overall, I am glad that I tried my hand at it. Doing so enabled me to understand that it was not the correct move for me. If you still want to try monetizing your blog, read on for my original tips.
Things have been changing around the My Scrapbook Evolution Website quite a bit over the past few weeks. Most notably, the website got a whole new makeover. I have mentioned before that I still have some tweaks to work on. Some of those tweaks include updating the MSE affiliates page. In fact, you might have noticed a few ads are in the sidebar now. Since the monetization of my blog is becoming a bit more evident, I felt it might be a good idea to explain why I chose to do it. For a long time I wondered if I should Monetize my blog. Perhaps my explanation will help you make the choice as to whether or not monetizing your blog is right for you.
When I started my blog in 2010, it never occurred to me that I could make money from my blog. As I have mentioned before, my goal was purely to share layouts so I could enter them into challenges and contests. I needed a blog to link to and Blogger fulfilled that purpose. Blogger was a nice platform to start out on. It was free and easy to use. I still haven’t had the guts to integrate the original blog into this website and still do enjoy using it as the MSE blog. Once I chose to teach classes, the Blogger platform no longer delivered all of the functionality I needed. It was time for a move to wordpress and to purchase a domain name. I didn’t know a lot about what I was doing. (A LOT of my endeavors start off this way) I asked a few questions about templates and hosting then jumped right into the realm of owning my own website.
Initially, setting up a website involves several things: buying the domain name, paying for hosting, and (optionally) paying for a template. In many cases, you can start off with a beginner’s hosting plan, then upgrade later as the traffic grows. It might have been wise to plan for growth, but really I had no idea what to expect. I figured I would just pay for the upgrades as it became necessary. At this point, my intent was to use any income from my classes to cover the cost of scrapbook supplies and the website. As time went on, the needs of the website began to change. Some things I invested in because they were prudent( like website security and a cloud backup system). Other things came unexpectedly,such as the need to pay for a higher grade of security to protect the website. I had come to a point in which the website content was larger than the current security plan I had in place. And so upgrade I did. As I did this, it also became evident that my income was not going to meet the financial requirements of keeping up with the website. All of my eggs were, proverbially mostly in one basket. If I wanted to keep my website,I had to get extra baskets.
I am most definitely not the first to give this advice. However, I will say that there is difference between hearing it and actually acting on it. IF you think you might need to support the costs associated with running a blog or website anytime in the future, then monetizing it early is a good thing to do(even if you are on a free platform). It wasn’t something I did all at once. I did it in small stages. In fact, I recommend doing little parts at a time. It can be overwhelming to add each little section to your blog or website. Plus, it’s better to have a game plan in place. Though I confess, I didn’t start out with one.
My first forays into monetization were a direct result of being part of design teams and also choosing to teach classes. I can’t remember which one I did first,only that both came around the same time. Both of which also have to do with the fact that I an an enabler. Several of the scrapbook sites to which I belong( both before and after being on the creative teams) have affiliate programs through their memberships. I enjoyed my memberships and was recommending them to others. I also had a reputation on the message boards for recommending products to people or informing them of sales. More than once, friends commented that I might as well become a spokesman for these places. I decided to join several affiliate programs. Once I started teaching, I found that students wanted to know where I got my supplies. This led to me join the affiliate programs through Two Peas and a Bucket and Amazon.
Growth was slow, but it was happening. I made a little money here or there and I liked the progress I was seeing. I read a lot of articles about making money blogging. What really struck me was that, several mentioned how affiliate programs may take several years to grow and take off. If you write a post and it contains an affiliate link, think of it as a building block towards future income.Monetizing early can have benefits.(see these articles from Problogger here and here.)Then I hit a speed bump. Does everyone remember when Two Peas in a Bucket closed their doors? I ended up with a lot of broken links(Over two years worth that I am still fixing) and didn’t get any of my commissions. What did this mean? I still didn’t have enough baskets.
Over time I have been adding additional income streams. I have been joining additional affiliate programs through the stores I shop at. I have found other classes to support. When I use a product for my website( fonts, graphics, templates) I look for opportunities to make additional referrals. I feel confident in these methods because all of these affiliates are products or services that I have used. I am adamant about choosing affiliates that I can stand behind. When you consider scrapbook supplies, this is pretty easy for me for it is very rare for me to find a product I don’t like.( I think there is a 12 step program for stash hoarders.)
On the other hand, I have recently introduced google adsense to my site. I also just employed shareaholic which is a tool for your posts. It adds social media sharing buttons and posts related content from your site within an article. It places an ad, on occasion,within the shared content recommendations. I have mixed feelings about this. However, any monetization is an experiment. I will see how it goes and if it doesn’t work for me or the MSE brand, then I can always remove it. I recently signed up for a few sites such as ISway. These sites connect you with companies who are looking to have their products reviewed or who would like to have you join in their social media campaigns. I am not sure those are for me, but I have several colleagues who use them and swear by them. The key for me is to find programs with brands I use already using or am willing to try for an honest review. I am approaching these with the mindset that I won’t know what I think unless I try them.( I will keep you updated)
I do want to make one thing clear though.
My primary goal is to make good content for this website. PLEASE search your supplies and consider your budget first.
Like many of you, I am on a budget. I don’t want you to buy something just for the sake of buying it. If you find you need something or like something you see, then yes please, click the link. As you do so, know that I really do appreciate your support in this way.
I am not trying to spam anyone. It’s all one big experiment and in many ways, I am taking all of you along for the ride. Change comes from experience and from new endeavors. I am continuing to learn more about the world of blogging and owning a website. I promise to continue sharing the journey along the way. Meanwhile, feel free to contact me with any questions, whether they are in regard to blogging or memory keeping.
So now for the hard part: make the website functional,Keep it looking nice in regard to the ads and affiliate links and make sure I am disclosing my relationships properly. (read about following disclosure guidelines here and here) All the while making sure that I am providing good content for the articles and tutorials. Done right, monetizing your blog can be a good thing for you.
Now that you have heard my explanation, you might be interested in exploring monetization for yourself. Here are my recommendations: (The following contains affiliate links when possible. Yes, you can even get referrals for sending people to affiliate sites.)
- Amazon Associates: This is a trusted brand. It’s a large company and not likely to go out of business at any time soon. The tools they have available to you make it super easy to use their program. You do need to make sure you use the exact wording from their disclosure within your website near your links. Note how I have included it in the side bar near the top and in the MSE affiliates page near the Amazon Link. Sometimes I use older supplies and I can’t locate them on Scrapbook.com, but can usually find them here.
- ShareASale can connect you with a range of online businesses including Scrapbook.com. I have also connected with some craft class sites such as Craftsy through them.
If you look at many of my posts, you will notice that the supplies often bear the logos for either amazon or Scrapbook.com. These are examples of the widget tools they provide. You simply search for your products, add the html code and the affiliate service takes care of the rest for you.
- I also use Hang a Tag which connects business like Joann Fabrics, Micheals and Scrapbook.com. This service doesn’t provide banner ads. It allows you to search and make supply lists.
- If you are part of a membership site or subscription club, ask if they have a referral program.
- If you use a product on a website, look to see if they have referral links. For example, I just ordered an Eric Condren Planner for my blog. My account gives me a referral link which, when used, credits my account for future purchases at the site. Not all referrals pay, but if you use a product often, these referrals can help defray your costs.
- Also look for influencer programs like SheSpeaks, ISway and Izea. they may offer you the opportunity to work with companies for product reviews or ad campaigns. These give you a lot of control over the products you choose, though I will warn you that there isn’t always a lot in regard to the crafting industry.
- Google Adsense. This is easy to enable both for blogger and for wordpress. It does give you some flexibility in choosing the right ads for your site. However, it can take time to weed out ad types you don’t desire. Google tends to tailor the ad to your location and web surfing preferences. So for example, when I check on the website, I see ads for photo editing products, Simon Says Stamp and used foreign cars. The car ad is related to my location here in Nassau as many people import their vehicles. It’s a little off brand for me and I am trying to learn to tweak the ad types to get less ads like it. The other con is that I can not see or know what you see. I have to trust that the tweaks I make are for the best interests of my brand. The positive…while there is a bit of a learning curve with Adsense,once it is set up, it can be easy passive income.
- Shareaholic- I am still learning about this one. I chose to try it because it is free to use and enables social media share buttons above and below the posts. Sometimes, you have to pay for widgets like that for your site. In exchange for offering it for free, they give the option of allowing you to post ads within a few spots on your site. You have control over the number and placement. In actuality, you can even have none but just use the widget. I have account set to show just a few below the articles. It is easy to use, but I have no control over the type of ad placed( which makes me a tad bit concerned).
Most of the affiliate and ad programs (but not all) have videos and training guides to help you implement the ads and links. If you choose to monetize, I recommend picking one from the list, working with it and getting it into place before trying another program. Also keep in mind that these programs will most likely yield results over a long stretch of time. If you choose to experiment with monetizing your blog, you want to try the experiment for at least a year to get an idea of what it can mean for you.
I do pin a lot of the articles I read about blogging and website maintenance. You can find them on my Pinterest board.
Follow My Scrapbook Evolution’s board Blog Post and Website Planning on Pinterest.
You can find the rest of the Memoirs of a Design Team Addict posts here.