First of all…I want to say THANK YOU to each and every one of you guys for rockin’ with me. I launched my lil baby blog a year ago today. This year has been full of ups and downs learning the ins and outs of how to turn blogging into an online profitable business. In the beginning, I made $0. After I made a few changes to my site, everything changed. 

Your website is your online storefront and if it’s set up properly, you can make a profit online. I’ve used what I’ve learned to book clients from countries ALL OVER THE WORLD. 

The number one thing I’ve learned throughout this journey is that while it’s important to have an aesthetically appealing website, it’s also important to have a design + branding strategy that converts!

Here are the 5 things that helped make money online through my blog: 

1. Having a service

When I first launched my blog, I was literally just blogging and creating content. I had no idea what my signature service would be or what I would “sell” on my blog to start making money online, which is ok when you’re starting out. But if you’re planning to turn your blog into a business and you want to start making money blogging I would highly suggest thinking about services or digital products you could add to your site to start earning money online. Personally, I always recommend starting out offering a service. You’d be surprised at the number of business owners who are looking for people that have your skillset to bring onto their team, even if it’s freelance or contract work. 

2. Clear copy

This is probably one of the most important things on the list. In order to have clear copy, you first need to know who your target market is. Once you’ve established this, it becomes way easier to decide how you want to show up online and how you want to add value to your audience. I’ve seen website copy where people will describe things in a unique way as to stand out. However, this will sometimes hurt you. When you’re creating copy for your website whether it’s for a blog post or something on another page on your site, you have to think about what keywords your target market is searching for online and that’s how your posts will show up and rank higher on Google organically. If your copy isn’t clear and it’s not something that your target market will search for, it may be harder for them to find you. So clearly describing what you do and who you are on your website will help you out tremendously. 

3. Professional photos

I can’t tell you how many times people compliment the photos on my website. I am so grateful to the photographers I’ve worked with, Sandy and Pablo. Sandy was the first photographer I worked with. She’s based in Richmond, VA. Pablo is the second photographer I booked. He’s based in the DC area. Both are amazing and did a great job and bringing my vision to life! I’ve had clients, whom I’ve never met, tell me that one of the reasons they decided to work with me was because I looked trustworthy in my photos. When I heard this, it made me realize not only how important it was to have nice photos but also how important it was to establish a certain brand tone when you’re working with clients 1:1. They want to get to know you and the best way to showcase you and your personality is by having good professional photos on your website. 

4. Content

Content is KING! Let me say that again…CONTENT IS KING! This statement is true for two reasons: 

1. Just like the professional photos, it showcases your personality and allows your audience to get to know you. 
2. It also allows you to show your expertise around whatever products or services you’re selling on your website. 

5. Email list + email list opt-in

I opt-in to a ton of things all the time and I read a lot of blogs. Most of the blogs that I’ve read have said they wish they had started their lists a lot sooner than they did. Once I learned the importance of having a list, I was so happy that it was one of the first things I added to my website. The best thing about having an email list is that you get to control the content and when it goes out to your subscribers, unlike on social media where you have no control over who sees your content. 

Even though my list is small, I’ve generated sales from my list. Getting people onto your list can be tricky and you’ll probably have to test different opt-ins to decide what your audience responds to best. My audience is interested in working online and traveling. I recently changed my opt-in to teach everyone what they need in order to build a blog so that they can work online and travel. After I created this opt-in and promoted it online, I gained more subscribers. 

What I love about creating a business is that you get to make up the rules and decide what works best for you. Does your website have these things? It’s never too late to implement some of these strategies to your current site. I’m always testing things to see what works best and this is something you’ll do too when you start your online business or if you currently have one.