The Newsletter: An Essential Step In Monetizing Your Blog

This is a guest post by Steven Papas is the owner of the VeryBestSoftware.net.

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You probably don’t realize it, but we’re at war!  It’s an online struggle for readers. In this fight for survival, it’s only their clicks that save you.  So, the goal is to grab these clicks before the other guy does.  You’ve got to get their mouse-clicking fingers itching, and this is exactly what internet marketers know all about.  But bloggers are missing the point and the battle’s not playing out well.

Internet marketing is nothing more than monetization.  The key to monetizing – whether you’ve got a landing page, a mini-site or a blog – is fostering loyalty with your readers.  Not only that, you’ve got to have different techniques for doing it.  Why don’t bloggers get this? Because most of us aren’t really money-minded.

Why do we start blogs? To connect with friends, family or people with a similar interest, or as a hobby for spreading our ideas.  This is what blogs were originally intended for, but now they’ve morphed into something else entirely.

Once a blogger realizes that the other guys are making money off their blogs, they realize they can do it too.  They launch into it full-on, intent on turning from a recreational blogger into a professional blogger.  But it’s not as easy as just continuing what you’re doing already and the money will roll right in.  It can only be done by channeling a guru of marketing.

Teach Me, O Great One

Now, before you race off to the nearest guru’s landing page and hit the PAY NOW button on whatever product they’re selling you (undoubtedly telling you how THEY did it), think about it for a second.  What you should be doing is employing simple strategies that they used to make their money.  One of these key strategies is the newsletter.

The Reasons Why Newsletters Are Essential

Newsletters get you what you need – loyalty, and tons of it.  Instead of waiting for each individual reader to find you, you simply go to them.  Newsletters drive traffic to your blog and also give you opportunities to monetize.

The purpose of your newsletter is to keep your readers in-the-know and also keep contact with them.  But it’s got one more huge purpose – to keep them from clicking away.  Most of the people who hit your blog don’t ever return.  They may like it a lot, but everybody gets busy and your blog (along with many others) gets lost in the shuffle.  A newsletter keeps them in the loop.

How To Get Subscribers

To have a newsletter, you need subscribers.  How do you get people to subscribe?  The main way is to have killer content on your blog that they love.  People who enjoy your writing are your fans, and they’ll sign up to get more.  But one thing that helps is when you remind them here and there to sign up.  They may not do that if you don’t mention it.  Remind them also that the newsletter includes stuff the blog doesn’t, so they’ll be getting exclusive content.

Work Those Newsletters, Baby!

How many emails does an average person get in their inbox each day?  A mind-boggling amount.  So, in order to get them to open your newsletter messages, you need a great subject that entices them to open it.  You’ve got a great advantage over the other junk because they’re already familiar with your great work.  Your messages don’t have to change anybody’s life; they just have to have a good lead in to hook the reader, and provide something cool or interesting.

You’ll also want to use your newsletter to get them to return to your blog.  Remind them that you’ve updated your blog and maybe give them a taste of what cool new stuff they can expect there.  Send them a message on a routine schedule (once or twice a week is good) and give them a teaser about what’s posted on your blog.

Last but not least, use your newsletter to offer them sizzling deals that they can’t get anywhere else. This is how you monetize. Offer them products that are in your niche or would be of interest to them. Sign up with Clickbank, Amazon, Commission Junction or another affiliate group, and you’ll get a cut of what they buy.

The point is that if you want to make money on a blog, you should think like a marketer. If marketers are the generals and colonels, bloggers are the ‘infrantry’ on the ground. And you know what happens to them when the shooting starts! Start growing your mailing list now!

Steven Papas is the owner of the VeryBestSoftware.net where he gives blogging tips for online businesses, software reviews and technology news.