Key Takeaways
Prioritize Quality Content: Focus on creating 30-50 high-quality articles and gaining 3-5 thousand monthly views before monetization. Blend informative articles with strategically placed review articles for affiliate marketing.
Monetization Strategies: Diversify income through affiliate marketing, premium ad networks, and selling digital products. Start affiliate marketing with sufficient traffic, and aim for ad networks like Monumetric, Mediavine, or AdThrive based on eligibility criteria.
Leverage Expertise and Email Marketing: Create and sell digital products to establish authority and enhance income. Use email marketing effectively by offering valuable content and occasional promotions, maintaining a healthy informative-to-sales content ratio.
Creating Content Strategically
Before discussing monetization, it’s crucial to focus on content creation.
Discussing monetization first is like putting the carriage before the horse.
Your blog needs high-quality, relevant content before considering monetization.
In fact, don’t contemplate monetization until you have at least 30-50 comprehensive articles.
Early content needs time to reach its full potential in Google search results, which can take up to 10 months.
Moreover, new blogs often require several months to attain sufficient page views for monetization, typically 3-5 thousand monthly views.
Initially, prioritize creating content over monetization.
Now, what does creating content strategically mean?
It involves producing content with monetization in mind, such as review articles.
For example, if you’re a tomato-growing expert, a “Top 5 tomato fertilizers” review article is ideal.
Such content not only aids your audience but also generates income through affiliate links.
However, use review articles judiciously. A good ratio is 1 review article for every 3-5 normal articles.
“Normal articles” should primarily provide value, not focus on monetization.
It’s fine to include affiliate links in non-review articles, but avoid overdoing it to maintain credibility.
Monetizing Your Gardening Blog ‘in Thirds’
Diversify your income sources; don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Blog monetization requires avoiding dependence on a single income stream.
The internet’s dynamic nature means things can quickly change.
Common pitfalls include manipulating Google’s algorithm or misusing Amazon’s product images.
To mitigate risks, prepare for potential setbacks and diversify income sources.
There are several income streams for blogs, but the three most significant are:
- Affiliate marketing
- Ads
- Digital products
I’ll delve into each of these, explaining their value and the optimal time to focus on them.
Monetizing Your Gardening Blog with Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a key component in a blogger’s monetization strategy.
Gardening bloggers are certainly included.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing involves promoting a product to your audience and earning a commission on successful sales.
Promotion should be ethical – only endorse products you genuinely believe in and use.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
The concept of affiliate marketing is straightforward.
First, sign up for an affiliate partnership.
You’ll receive unique affiliate links to integrate into your content.
When someone clicks these links and purchases, you earn a commission.
What Can You Promote Using Affiliate Marketing?
The range of products is vast.
Promote gardening-related books, courses, tools, and plants.
If it’s useful to you, it might benefit your audience too.
Where to Find Gardening-Related Affiliate Programs?
There’s an abundance of gardening-related affiliate programs.
Networks like Clickbank have Home & Garden categories.
Specialized networks like AvantLink cater to outdoor enthusiasts.
They represent companies with gardening products.
Don’t overlook Amazon’s affiliate program, Amazon Associates.
Remember to adhere strictly to their rules to avoid being banned.
Some companies may offer affiliate programs directly on their websites.
When Should You Start Dedicating Time and Effort into Affiliate Marketing?
Start when you have 3 to 5 thousand monthly page views.
Why? Because conversion rates are typically 1-2% or less.
Early on, avoid excessive external links to keep your audience engaged longer.
This is crucial as Google tracks user engagement – bouncing off pages can negatively impact your content’s ranking.
Monetizing Your Gardening Blog with Ads
The second pillar of blog monetization is ads.
However, it’s important to note that ads aren’t significantly profitable until you’re eligible for ‘premium’ ad networks, which pay more than Google AdSense.
Why is this?
Consider this: With an average click-through rate (CTR) of 0.1% and a cost-per-click (CPC) of $0.5, you’d earn just $0.5 for every 1,000 unique visitors to your blog.
That’s hardly a fortune. In fact, you’d need 15,000 unique visitors just to buy a pizza.
And achieving 15,000 visitors is no small feat, even over a month.
Fortunately, there are ad networks that pay significantly more than AdSense.
But remember, each of these networks has specific joining requirements.
Another reason to wait for premium ad networks: ads can detract from your website’s appearance.
A clean, ad-free blog can enhance user experience, something Google values highly.
Now, a bit about Google AdSense.
What is Google AdSense?
AdSense is Google’s ad delivery program.
You apply for an account, get a code, and place it where you want ads to appear on your site.
Ads are typically relevant to your page’s content or the visitor’s profile.
AdSense is free and a common choice for new bloggers.
What about AdSense alternatives?
There are many ad networks, but to avoid overwhelming you, I’ll mention only three premium networks suitable for your growing blog.
These networks offer better pay, stability, fast ad loading, excellent customer service, and a good reputation.
Monumetric Ad Network
Eligibility starts at 10,000 pageviews per month.
Other requirements include a $99 fee for websites with 10,000 to 80,000 pageviews (payable from future earnings), organic traffic, regular content updates, no inappropriate content, and an engaged audience.
Mediavine Ad Network
Eligibility begins at 50,000 sessions per month.
Other criteria include original content, a site design accommodating Mediavine ads, organic traffic, and a Google AdSense account in good standing.
AdThrive Ad Network
Eligibility starts at 100,000 pageviews per month. AdThrive is highly recommended but challenging to join.
Once in, ad revenue often doubles or triples.
Additional requirements include Google Analytics, majority traffic from the USA, good standing with major ad providers, and unique, original content.
Monetizing Your Gardening Blog with Your Own Digital Products
Creating and selling an e-book or a course on a topic you’re knowledgeable about is an excellent way to monetize your passion for gardening.
Do you have expertise in growing tomatoes?
Consider writing a comprehensive course on the subject.
Provide a step-by-step guide for growing juicy tomatoes, offering immense value to your audience while earning income.
Additionally, this is a powerful authority-building tool.
Publishing an e-book on Amazon signals to Google’s algorithm that you’re an authority in your niche, positively impacting your search rankings.
Another advantage is the potential for recommendations from other bloggers.
Links from others to your content are valued by Google’s algorithm, indicating that your content is valuable and worthy of higher rankings.
Monetizing Your Gardening Blog with Email Marketing
Email marketing involves collecting your audience’s emails.
Why? Because email is access – it’s that simple.
There’s immense value in having constant access to your audience, but this power should be used responsibly.
Avoid spamming inboxes with excessive ads.
The best approach for email collection is to provide value first.
Offering one of your digital products exclusively to email subscribers is a strong incentive for people to join your list.
Newsletters are another effective way to encourage subscriptions.
Once subscribed, the goal is to maintain their interest.
This means providing value consistently – about three-quarters of your emails should be informative, with only a quarter dedicated to sales pitches.
While not a strict rule, this is a practical guideline to follow.