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How to make Sales from your Blog

If you are not an online marketer, but instead your blog is a business tool, how do you make money from your blog?  It’s a great question BECAUSE you have to be careful – if you try to use techniques that work for online marketers, you are at a very real risk of alienating potential clients.

I guest presented tonight at a “Blogging for Business” Webinar and the question that was hot on everyone’s lips was “how do I get sales from my blog”!?!  Now there are many Blogging experts out there to offer you advice to convert sales or monetise if you’re a professional blogger.  Here are some that I personally like: Darren Rowse-ProBlogger, Yaro Starak-Entrepreneurs Journey and Eric Goldstein-Create with Eric).  You can utilise solutions such as affiliate marketing, selling information products and sponsorship.

But what if your blog is not your whole business?  What if your blog is something that supports your business?  You need a different strategy if you want to make money from a business blog!

So to help you with some Stellar Strategies, here are my simple tips for making money from your Business Blog, firstly:

  • Become an expert – share your knowledge and become a source people look to,
  • comment on blogs of businesses that are similar or complimentary to yours, get your name out there!
  • don’t directly go for the sale, the hard sell on a blog is more often than not bucked against,
  • create a relationship with people (People buy from people they know like and trust), so take the time to genuinely connect with people, and
  • when you know about that person, when you have had some interaction with them and know created a solid foundation – THEN YOU CAN START THE SALES PROCESS!!

So, once you have a following, a connection with people, a Tribe developing, then secondly you can use some sales techniques!

  1. Have a call to action (perhaps a monthly special, a referral reward, an expiry date),
  2. have a giveaway,
  3. ask for word of mouth referrals

But remember, none of these actions will work if you don’t have a following – so make sure your blog is creating a following and then the sales will start to flow!

Here are a couple of great articles that go into detail with some helpful techniques (if you want to get even more serious!):

  1. How to get your blog traffic to convert in 5 easy steps
  2. 5 easy ways to get Sales and Leads from a Business Log without annoying your audience

If you have any questions, other tips I may have missed, or want some information on how you can improve sales in your business – please don’t hesitate to get in contact!  I love people asking for blog posts on certain topics that are important to them, so don’t be shy!  and if you are struggling with how to implement or utilise any of the above strategies, drop me a line info@stellarstrategies.com.au.

Happy blogging – enjoy yourself, know your target market and what you can do for them and watch the business start to flow in!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 at 2:10 am and is filed under Sales Tips & Advice, Small Business Success. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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27 Responses to “How to make Sales from your Blog”

  1. Ali Starbright says:
    June 3, 2010 at 2:46 am

    Knowing just how our blogs fit in our business model… how we are helping our readers and how our readers are helping us… these are things I really need to get on top of.

  2. Yolande Pritchard says:
    June 3, 2010 at 1:07 pm

    Hi Stephanie, fantastic tips! I totally agree, any hard sell and they are on my blocked list. I love reading posts about what businesses have to offer, getting tips and in a nutshell – down to earth, building relationships. I’d definately pick a trusted person on twitter over a flyer in the mail box. And of course the expert tips come in the blogging, it’s good to get honest feedback and ideas from other bloggers – keeping it real! I have a blog myself and I love helping people with there query’s.

  3. Colin Wee says:
    June 3, 2010 at 2:06 pm

    I’ve been trying to look at the roll out of a range of products on a blog, and I’m not sure I like the inching along process. Meaning to look at an end point which ultimately uses the blog as a sales tool for your client base. What I’m saying is that I’m not convinced that the blog should be a direct selling mechanism for the website. Of course I’m not above featuring some sales or promotional information at the foot of blog posts or obsequiously on a side pane, but going for a sale is still going for a sale. Do you have any thoughts on how to feature real time promotions or product announcements through all blog posts at any one time? Colin

  4. Steph - admin says:
    June 3, 2010 at 2:26 pm

    yes Colin – very valid points and that is a different strategy that will also work! Do you use WordPress? You can create a template so that each blog post has the same promotions on each page – best person to speak with is Ali from http://www.wonderful-wordpress-websites.com – he can do amazing things for your blog!! (PS: did I answer the question :) there was a fair bit of info in your response!!)

  5. Gina Lofaro aka the wordmistress says:
    June 3, 2010 at 3:12 pm

    This is Stephanie’s most important statement here: “if you try to use techniques that work for online marketers, you are at a very real risk of alienating potential clients.”

    I think how you use your blog depends on how well you can articulate your message. But in general, blogging is not for selling. Think of it this way: your website is your shop or office. It’s where you do business. Your blog is the environment outside your shop or office, where you stand, greet passersby and offer them information if they’re interested. You can show them the way to your shop/office where they can actually buy from you, sign up for something or engage your services, but basically, you can’t do business out in the mall, 50 paces from your actual place of business. Otherwise, councils would let you! Think of your blog as you, standing in the mall, giving people a reason to want to investigate further. They may like the look of you and love to hear what you have to say, but ultimately, you need to get them in the door so they can pay you or buy from you.

  6. Susan Living says:
    June 3, 2010 at 6:23 pm

    Hi Stephanie,

    I intensely dislike being sold to in a blog – I find excellent blog posts with relevant information through Google – organic search results and I am looking for just that – excellent and relevant information that I can use right now in my life – FOR FREE.

    If I like the information and find it helpful, I will then have a closer look at the about page and the rest of the website – no direct selling involved – more me being motivated to look further after already feeling grateful for the information I have been given.

    However, I have seen selling through blogs with affiliates done really well and cleverly – in the form of a product review or 7 best things about so and so… Still excellent information that is highly valuable but not in my face selling – the option to buy is always there though.

    :)

  7. Steph - admin says:
    June 4, 2010 at 12:31 am

    love your response – thanks Gina!! It has inspired me to do another post about giving out a special offer flyer when you are 50 paces from your shop or office!! The gentle sell of persuasion!!

  8. Steph - admin says:
    June 4, 2010 at 12:37 am

    Thanks Susan!! You are so right – a blog gives you that organic traffic, the more you have interesting and helpful information the more you keep people engaged! and if people like what they see and feel like they can trust you, then they will start engaging. A blog therefore becomes another clever avenue of free advertising! My however is that you note there are blogs that use affiliate marketing and product reviews etc. well – it brings me to a completely different point of view – that of “never miss an opportunity to sell!” So that has inspired my next blog post: “how to ask for the sale on your blog”!!

  9. Eric Goldstein says:
    June 5, 2010 at 3:14 am

    Steph,

    Great post… and thanks for the mention:)

    One of the points you made is VERY important,
    “have a call to action”… if you don’t ask people
    to do things… they won’t.

    Ask and you shall receive… thanks for sharing
    great info Steph!

  10. Steph - admin says:
    June 6, 2010 at 12:09 pm

    Thanks Eric! Such an amazing compliment you gave me on FaceBook!! It is very much appreciated from the man who is King of Content!!

  11. Martha Giffen says:
    June 8, 2010 at 8:12 am

    I have been reluctant to sell directly from my blog. Meaning, promoting products within the post. Of course, I have affiliate links in the sidebars. I try to keep my selling targeted to my list of people who opted in.

  12. Steph - admin says:
    June 8, 2010 at 9:10 am

    Thanks Martha!! You’ll like my next post then-how to ask for the sale (without losing followers!)

  13. Kathryn Griffiths says:
    June 8, 2010 at 11:06 am

    I’ll looking forward to your next post on how to ask for the sale. Like Martha, I have kept my blogs pretty informational and have ask for the check in my direct emails. It’s my understanding that banners or ads on the side bar have lost their effectiveness. Putting links in the text produce better results.

  14. Steph - admin says:
    June 8, 2010 at 11:12 am

    Yes Kathryn, like receiving too many emails, we become immune to what we see all the time!

  15. Sally K says:
    June 8, 2010 at 1:17 pm

    Thanks for this!

    Still testing the sidebar ads vs. text link ads. It probably works differently for different markets.

  16. Steph - admin says:
    June 8, 2010 at 1:49 pm

    Thanks Sally – yes you are so right, you need to know your market and what will appeal to them! You might like my post on How to Successfully Convert Sales: Know your target market!

  17. Ali says:
    June 21, 2010 at 11:57 pm

    This morning I posted an article about guest posting that was designed to encourage people to pick up an affiliate product – the first time I’ve every done such a thing on my blog. I thought it was fine, still do, because guest posting is a great strategy and the ebook I was advertising was cheap and good. But someone unsubscribed.

    Affiliate marketing, I’ve heard, is a multi-billion dollars industry. And blogging’s a big part of that. My blog is primarily to attract potential clients and others, but If I know about something good and can make a few dollars on the side by introducing it to people, I think it’s okay. There is a lot of important ground I can’t cover myself!

    Anyway, we’ll see how it goes.

  18. Steph - admin says:
    June 23, 2010 at 12:27 am

    Hi Ali – your post is great! for my followers – please see here: The Power of Guest Posting I think you are so right, as bloggers we give away an awful lot of free information and resources and if we are able to support our income promoting products WE PERSONALLY KNOW AND RECOMMEND, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with it! The other advantage is aligning ourselves with like-minded entrepreneurs and that is a great thing! We become a valuable resource for our followers!

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