Can you make money blogging with a small audience?

Absolutely!!

I am going to tell you how I made 1.6k in one day with a small segment of my audience so that you can have a clearer idea of how to make money blogging for yourself.

This post contains affiliate links.  Please see my disclosure page for more info

First of all let me say that yes, this amount of money was made in one single day,  BUT it took many days, weeks, and months of hard work to get to the point where I am having days like this in my business. 

But it is 100% possible. 

I always want to be very upfront that blogging is a long game.  It takes time to build up your blogging business foundation the right way. It also takes time to create valuable content, monetization strategies, and a sales system before you can expect to start having days like this.

I also want to be very clear that I did not create this post in any way to brag or come across as some blogging guru with all the answers. As I grew my blogging businesses over the years, I always found posts like this inspiring, so hopefully you will be inspired as well!

This number is the amount I made in one day and I made it by selling my online course Blogging Business Blueprint. This is the first day total in my Teachable account which is the platform I use to host all of my courses.  It does not include any income I made that day from affiliate income, & the other courses and digital products that I sell.

It is strictly from the Blogging Business Blueprint program sales from August 28th (Day 1 of a 6 day launch).

So how did I do this? 

Did I just put my course up on my website and all these people came flocking to it and bought it?

No! 

Digital courses and products don’t typically sell themselves.    There are a few things you must know and have in place to get to the point of making over a thousand dollars in one day.  

What you must have in place to make money with blogging

1. You MUST know your target audience’s specific pain point they want help solving. 

I’m talking really knowing their struggles, not just what you THINK they need

You figure this out through market research, taking messy action, testing, and tweaking.

In my case, I know my audience wants to either start and/or grow a profitable blogging business OR they want to take an existing blog and turn it into a profitable blogging business.

Their biggest struggles: They are overwhelmed with where to start, what strategies they need to implement, and the tech involved.

Once you know the main paint point(s) your specific audience is looking to solve, then you need to reverse engineer it when it comes to your blog. Ask yourself what type of freebie you would need to create to get them on your email list so that you can build a relationship with them and help them move forward more quickly towards the result. 

Check out my video:  CREATING YOUR FREEBIE: 20 opt-in ideas to grow your email list for more help with this.

In my business, I have a blog launch checklist for those looking to start their blog. I also have a blog post checklist/content calendar to help those who want to improve their content and grow their business.

Then once you have your freebie idea, you need to consider what type of content you should create to educate your audience along their journey. What do they need to learn in order to be ready to purchase your product/service/course that will help them solve their main, big problem and have a true impact on their life?

2. You MUST build a know, like and trust relationship with your specific target audience 

Your audience needs to know that you are capable and trustworthy of helping them. 

This is done through providing value, emailing your list, and educating them through webinars, workshops, and/or whatever launch vehicle you use. 

A lot of people have started an email list, but are just letting people’s email addresses collect dust on their email platform.   Don’t do this.  You need to get to know them and provide value.  

They are the warmest when they first sign up for your freebie. That is when you want to start building a relationship with them.

I think of everyone on my email list as a friend. I am trying to help them move forward by either helping them start a blogging business or taking their existing blog and turn it into a profitable blogging business. 

Unsure of how to start an email list, why you need one, or the best ones? I got you covered:

How to Grow an Email List for Beginners: 7 Email List Building Steps

How to Build an Email List for Free and Why you Absolutely Need One!

ConvertKit vs. MailChimp: Which one do you need in 2021?

3. You MUST have a sales SYSTEM in place for your product/course/service. 

If you build it, they won’t come. 

There are specific strategies you must have in place and a launch vehicle – whether it be a webinar, workshop, challenge, etc. is needed to effectively launch and sell your product because you are not going to sell many (if any) with just a link to it on your website.

4. You MUST Launch to Make Money with Blogging!  

You have to take action and actually LAUNCH your course, product, service – whatever it is you are offering! 

So many people are afraid to put themselves out there and ask for the sale. They don’t want to come across as pushy or salesy. It’s important to understand though, that if you are providing value and truly helping others, your product/service/course will be the next logical step.

You have the solution for solving the problem they have been wanting to solve, so why wouldn’t you share it with them?  

Once you make your offer, you give your audience a specific amount of time to make their decision.  When they have made the decision to commit and invest in themselves, they can then begin to make progress through your course, your digital product, coaching with you, or whatever your offer may be.  

That is it in a nutshell.  I know that may seem overwhelming if you are not there yet, but you can and you will get there by taking it one small step at a time.   It’s a process that requires messy action, consistency, and dedication.

 

Blogging is definitely a marathon, not a sprint.  

Your speed of success is going to come down to how fast you are willing to take action and get to the heart of what your target audience really needs and wants.

Create content around the problem, beta test, fail, tweak, launch and launch again. 

The first time you launch, it won’t be pretty. 

When I first starting doing launches a few years ago, I had webinars where:

• No one showed up
• I had tech trouble
• I had an audience but no sales

Sometimes you are going to feel like you want to quit, but you have to keep getting back up trying again.  Tweaking, testing, re-launching and learning from my mistakes,  It’s all about failing forward to your goal!

1.6k in one day breakdown

So let’s quickly break down how this particular revenue all came in on this day at the end of August.  

If you have been following me for a while, you may know that I recently held a 5-day live blogging blastoff challenge to help new & growing female entrepreneurs start and/or build upon their blog. 

Each of the 5-days covered foundational topics/strategies for building a profitable blogging business long-term.  There were just over 100 people in the challenge which was a smaller audience than I have had my past few challenges. I am not sure if the time of year contributed to the smaller number, but I will keep testing. 

My goal is to always overdeliver no matter how many people are registered and end up attending.  I always want to build a genuine know, like and trust factor with every group of essential strangers who are just getting to know me through email after signing up for my challenge.  

In the months leading up to this challenge, I created content that helped my target audience and spoke to their needs.  As we got closer to the challenge date, my call to action at the end of my blog posts and YouTube videos was to sign up for my free challenge.  Once they signed up, I gave them more valuable content leading up to the challenge.

Then when my challenge started, I did a live 20-minute training and gave time for Q&A each day M-F.  I provided individual feedback to everyone who asked questions and who submitted their challenge homework tasks each day. 

On the last day, I pitched my course & coaching program for anyone who wanted to continue working with me.  Enrollment was open for 6 days and on the opening day it made 1.6k dollars.  At the time I am writing this, there are still 2 days until the cart closes so I do not have a grand total yet.  Each day after has brought in 1- 2 more sales.

Traditionally, I know from launching in the past that the first and last day right before the course closes brings in the majority of sales.  

5. You MUST Keep Learning

Did I learn things from this challenge that I want to improve for next time? 

Absolutely! 

You must always keep learning if you want to make money with blogging.

After every launch, I do a launch debrief to see what went well, what I want to improve for next time and most importantly I check my numbers.  

How many active participants were there?  What was my conversion rate?

Did I know how to do all this when I first started out?  No!  Not even a little bit.

I took courses, invested in coaching, and was willing to take messy action and fail forward to learn all the strategies and steps to move forward.

There is a lot to learn, but you just have to get started.  It’s so easy to get stuck in your head, overanalyze, and never get started. 

Clarity comes from action and action leads to progress so jump in and get started!

Want help achieving your blogging goals? Schedule a free 15-minute clarity Zoom call with me to see how I can help you move forward.