If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you’re either a blogger or a content creator who sees online sales as a pretty significant portion of your overall content marketing strategy. We’ll use WordPress as our content management system (CMS) and the Google AdSense program as our affiliate network to build a passive income stream that’ll allow us to live the lifestyle of a digital nomad. Keep reading for the steps.
The Basics
Let’s get the basics out of the way first. To begin, you’ll want to sign up for a free WordPress account. While you’re at it, you may as well grab the Pro version as well. I’ll get to the details behind the versions in a bit. Once you have your WordPress account, you’ll want to visit the dashboard and click on the icon that looks like a sun with a plus sign inside of it. This will take you to your dashboard which you can use to customize the appearance of your blog.
Once you’re on the dashboard, you’ll notice that it’s completely different from your default WordPress dashboard. The big difference is all the extra space below the fold. This is where you can put all the widgets and plugins you want to use on your site. If someone thinks that your blog is interesting, then they’ll most likely follow your links and visit your site to see what you’ve got going on. This type of engagement is called a clickthrough and is one of the simplest ways to earn money from a blog. You’ll want to install the Google Adsense program widget so that you can start making money from your blog immediately.
Step 1: Create a Blog
WordPress makes it incredibly easy to get up and running with a blog. Once you have your WordPress account, you can head over to the dashboard and click on the icon that looks like a blogging platform. From here, you’ll want to click on the Choose a Template button to the right of the page. You’ll see a long list of different templates that you can choose from. We’ll go with the popular Classic style for now.
Once you’ve selected a template, you’ll be brought to a new page where you can begin adding content to your blog. To start, you can just write a few paragraphs about anything and then hit publish. This will then bring you back to the dashboard where you can begin adding more content that’ll attract more readers and eventually, make you money online. Alternatively, you can look for guest posts from other writers to help you get started.
Step 2: Choose an Affiliate Program
WordPress makes it incredibly easy to get up and running with a blog. Once you have your WordPress account, you can head over to the dashboard and click on the icon that looks like a shopping cart. From here, you can select an affiliate program to promote. In our case, we’ll go with Amazon as our affiliate program.
The next step is to choose a product to promote. You’ll want to choose a product that you think is worth promoting and has a high profit margin. You can also choose an affiliate program that provides you with a list of high-quality affiliate products that you can promote. You’ll want to research the products you’re promoting before you make a selection. If you’re not familiar with affiliate marketing, it can be a little bit challenging to choose the right products. That’s why I like using affiliate marketing since it makes choosing products very easy. Once you’ve made your selection, you can click on Add to Cart to get the products you’ve chosen.
Step 3: Build a List Of Blogging Friends
WordPress makes it incredibly easy to get up and running with a blog. Once you have your WordPress account, you can head over to the dashboard and click on the icon that looks like a letter ‘x’. From here, you can begin building a list of blogging friends to collaborate with. To do this, you’ll want to enter your email address and click on the Create a free blog button. You’ll then be brought to a confirmation page where you can click on the link that says “Not yet? Join now.” This will then bring you to the dashboard where you can begin adding more blogs to your account. To add a blog, click on the globe icon on the right side of the page.
Once you’ve added a few more blogs, you’ll notice that you can begin to see a list of different blogs and websites you’ve created content for. To see your own blog listed here, simply scroll down the sidebar and you’ll see the word ‘Blog’ followed by a link.
Step 4: Optimize Your Blog For Search Engines
WordPress makes it incredibly easy to get up and running with a blog. Once you have your WordPress account, you can head over to the dashboard and click on the icon that looks like a search engine. From here, you can begin optimizing your blog for the search engines.
The first thing you’ll want to do is to fill out the basic information in the box at the top of the page. This includes entering your blog’s name, short description, and setting the content’s “H1” to be the first thing people see when they search for your blog’s name. For this example, let’s use [blog article]:
How to Make $100,000+ Per Month Online
Next, you’ll want to enter the url of your blog into the box next to the search engine. This is the web address of your blog and it’ll also be the address that people use to find you on the web. If you’ve ever looked for a business or an organization on Google, you’ll most likely have noticed that the first thing people see when they look for that specific brand or company is the google.com/search results. This is because Google owns the google.com domain and all the searches that take place under that domain.
When someone searches for your blog’s name, the search engine will then match that keyword with the content you’ve entered up until this point. In our case, a search engine might look for “How to Make $100,000+” and then see all the content we’ve entered so far followed by “Per Month.”
Step 5: Set The Right Price For Your Product
The previous step was all about getting the word out about your product. Now that you have a few more customers, you can begin setting the price for your product.
This is one of the most important steps because if the price is set too high, then people may not want to buy your product even though they might be interested in it. You don’t want that to happen. For that reason, you’ll want to set the price based on your cost + a reasonable profit margin. It’s always good to have a financial expert give you advice on this matter. If you’re looking for a free accountant or tax expert, you can get in touch with the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) for free. Just make sure that you’re comfortable with what you enter and that it makes sense. Once you’ve set the price, you can click on Update pricing to then see what your price is. For our example, let’s go with $47.
Step 6: Start Making Money With Affiliate Marketing
As a content creator, you’ll usually have an audience and they may very well be interested in your product. To drive traffic to your product and earn money from a blog, you can use the Amazon affiliate program which we selected in the previous step. Once you’ve set your price, you can click on the big green button at the top of the page and begin making money with affiliate marketing. To get started, you can use affiliate marketing software like affiliateWP to create affiliate campaigns for you.
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways to make money online. In fact, over 60% of all online stores are built on the foundation of affiliate marketing. To begin making money with affiliate marketing, you’ll want to create affiliate campaigns for the different products you’ve chosen to promote. Once you have those set up, you can begin making money with little to no effort. It’s as easy as creating content and letting it do the talking. When someone clicks on a product and makes a purchase after reading your content, you’ll earn a commission.
Step 7: Monetise Your Website
WordPress makes it incredibly easy to get up and running with a blog. Once you have your WordPress account, you can head over to the dashboard and click on the icon that looks like a bullseye. From here, you can begin monetising your blog. To do this, you’ll want to use a service like Google Adsense which we selected in the previous step. Once you’ve signed up for Adsense, you can then begin adding ads to your site and begin making money online.