Making Your Blogging Pay

by Guest Blogger Robbi Hess

You’re a diligent blogger, putting up at least a couple of posts a week, building your audience,right? But now you’re wondering, “is there anything more for me?”

The answer is a definite “maybe!”

Chances are you’ve all heard of Julie and Julia; the blog by the woman who cooked her way through Julia Childs’s cookbook, blogged about it, then sold the movie rights? We all want to be her, don’t we? While there may be no magic formula for success, we know that diligence and persistence pays off and in some cases it’s a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

If you are planning to take your blogging to a new (paid) level, there are a few things to consider:

• Can your blogging lead you to speaking engagements?
  You’ll never know until you have your blogging platform established. Once you do, you can contact various trade associations and see about getting yourself booked as a speaker. As an example, as a writer and a former magazine editor, I contact writing conference organizers and offer to speak (they typically offer a speakers’ fee and entrance to the conference and travel expenses).
• Could you take portions of your blog and turn it into a book or a Top-Ten list to be downloaded from your website for a fee? Ebooks are a successful way to monetize today.
• Can you repurpose some of your blog post information and turn it into a magazine article? Use your topics as a jumping off point for querying magazine editors.
• If you have a unique voice, why not offer to write a column for a local newspaper?
• Look on Craigslist or other job sites for writing gigs and use your blog as your virtual resume.

While blogging may not bring you fame and success, you may be able to find a way to monetize it enough to keep you in coffee and chocolates!