Tips to Make Money With a Blog

Elliot Silver
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11

I’ve been writing this blog since 2007. For the first couple of years, I blogged because I enjoyed sharing insight rather than to make money. Over the last few years, it’s turned into a relatively decent business as a result of having advertisers. If it wasn’t for the advertising revenue, I would be doing other things to generate an income since time=money. In this post, I want to share information about how you can make money with a blog.

I am sure something like this has been shared many times before, but I wanted to offer some personal insight into how to earn money from a blog. Some of these tips seem pretty simple, but like almost everything else, they require work. Perhaps you can make money with a blog and earn a living doing something you love.

I don’t think I would start a blog today with the hopes of making a living from it, and perhaps that is the key to making money from blogging. However, if you are passionate about a topic, perhaps you can turn a hobby into a living by monetizing a blog.

Some tips to make money with a blog:

Step 1:

  • Choose a topic you are passionate and knowledgable about (expert level if possible)
  • Write articles about various topics related to the main topic of the blog
  • Don’t simply post news or press releases – actually write interesting articles
  • Get to know other people in that field and discuss the topic with them so they get to know you better
  • Do business with potential advertisers
  • Link to other sources in the field with your articles and comment on other blogs, sites, forums…etc so people get to know you.
  • If necessary, advertise your website on other websites to grow your readership
  • Build a measurable audience (get traffic)
  • Encourage feedback from readers and interact with audience when they comment
  • Use social media to grow your audience
  • Be honest and open with readers so they get to know you and respect your opinion on topics, whether they agree with you or not

Step 2:

  • See who is advertising in the field and get to know them personally if possible
  • Open up ad space on your site and offer competitive rates
  • Meet industry leaders who sell products or services in your field and offer your ad space (discount it if necessary)
  • Continue writing good content while interacting with people who have an interest in the topic

Step 3:

  • Sell all of your ad space, even if it means it’s discounted
  • Create a waiting list of advertisers
  • Increase prices to a point where there is value for advertisers and demand for space
  • Continue writing good content regularly

Finally, I wanted to offer some resources that may help you make money with a blog:

Be Persistent to Get Your Domain Name

Elliot Silver
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20

There are a number of domain names that I would love to own. I would even be willing to pay full retail value for some of these domain names. The problem is that the owners have no interest in selling them for whatever reason. Being persistent is one way to get your deal done.

I want to share a non-domain name related story that could easily be a story about buying a domain name. It’s about a “tiny car” collector named  Bruce Weiner and how he was able to purchase a rare  1955 Kroboth Allwetter-Roller. Here’s how he was able to get the deal done according to NBCNews.com:

“Weiner heard that a prized example of the car was owned by an older man in Bavaria. Weiner traveled to the man’s house every three months for three years, but the seller adamantly refused.

‘He chased me off the property every time,’ he said. ‘He either met me with a shot gun or German shepherds.’

Eventually, the owner died and Weiner befriended the man’s sister and brother, and convinced them to sell.”

Now I don’t recommend chasing people down to try and purchase a domain name. However, if you email them on occasion to remind them of your interest and willingness to pay a fair price, you might get lucky and be given an opportunity to purchase the domain name.

There are a couple of factors to consider. First, you need to be willing to pay a fair price. Many people would sell their domain name if given a good offer. Just because someone is blowing off your $2,000 offer on their 3 letter .com domain name doesn’t mean they don’t want to sell. Perhaps they know it’s worth more and your continued emails are annoying. Second, you should be friendly in your email and let the person know your interest won’t wane. Ask them to kindly be in touch if they want to sell.

I have done a few deals after being in contact with a domain owner multiple times over a period of time. People’s finances and/or lifestyles change, and their desire to sell a domain name may change as well. As a domain owner, I don’t mind someone’s persistence, as long as the offer is fair.

Dear “Valued Customer”

Elliot Silver
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3

This morning, I was cleaning out my email spam filter when I noticed an email from a domain registrar I use. The email started out “Dear Valued Customer.”

Although I appreciate the fact that this company values my business :-), I think it would have been better if they identified me either by name, company name, or by the Whois registrant name to make it more clear that it’s a legitimate email and not spam. I don’t click links in emails as a safety precaution, but I think they could make it more clear that it’s an official communication and not a theft attempt.

In this company’s defense, the subject of the message included my account number, but many people probably don’t know their registrar account numbers so this could easily be faked. I suppose someone could also easily send personalized phishing emails with my name included in the copy, but that would take more time and effort.

I’ve seen this type of thing with other domain registrars so I am not going to identify the registrar that sent this, especially because they did have my account number in the subject. I reached out to the registrar to let them know and they’ve passed along my feedback to the appropriate party. It’s possible that because it’s an ICANN required email, they must adhere to set standards.

Banks and other financial institutions do this as a safety precaution, and I think it’s something that domain industry companies should consider adopting.

How Would You Get Your Deal?

Elliot Silver
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43

I have been in negotiations for quite some time on a domain name, and I wanted to solicit your feedback on how to creatively close the gap. I’ll give you an idea of where things stand with the negotiation and want to know what you would do.

The buyer doesn’t want to pay more than $20,000 and I didn’t want to sell for less than $30,000. Both of us have sort of dug our heels in on this, and I offered to meet in the middle at $25,000 to close a deal. They stuck to their original offer, and I haven’t budged.

Assuming neither party really wants to move any further, the deal is likely going to die on the vine and not get done. They have more of a need for the domain name, but I have less desire to sell, so we’re essentially stuck.

Some options I’ve considered to make a deal include:

  • Offering a payment plan like their offer up front and the difference from my bottom line in 6 months.
  • Agreeing to their offer + some of their company’s products.
  • Not replying and hoping they agree to a deal.

What would you do to get your deal?

When I Offer a Lease Deal

Elliot Silver
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8

Leasing seems to be the “new” hot topic in the domain industry these days. There are positive and negative aspects to domain name leases, and I want to give you a bit of insight into when I might offer a lease deal.

There are really just three times I would offer to lease one of my domain names:

1) The potential buyer is a great fit for a domain name, but our valuations are way different. If I don’t think we’ll be able to bridge the gap, but I know the domain name will be built and that it will lead to much greater monthly income than the domain name is generating at present, I would likely propose a lease. This might be intriguing to the buyer since his upfront costs are substantially lower and he may be able to buy the name at a later date.

2) The buyer is a great fit for a domain name, but the company doesn’t have enough funds to purchase the name right away. Similar to the above instance, but I am banking on the leasee to significantly enhance the value of the domain name and want to purchase the name at a later date to secure it for his or her business.

3) I treat a lease offer as a last ditch effort to prevent a qualified buyer from ending negotiations on an acquisition. If it’s gotten to the point where the potential buyer and I value the domain name in the same ballpark but the buyer doesn’t have the funds to make the purchase right away, I might suggest a lease deal, or perhaps a lease to own deal. Assuming a lease deal is made, the leasee will likely want to eventually buy the name (assuming lease terms aren’t too good).

I treat most of my domain names like inventory. I need to have liquidity to continue acquiring great domain names. I don’t want to tie up my names for long periods unless they are going to produce substantial income. As such, I would never advertise a lease opportunity.

I think there are many good reasons why a domain owner should consider leasing some domain names, but for my business, a lease opportunity is more of a backup plan, and the conditions must be right to make it work.

Review Old Newsletters to Find Deals

Elliot Silver
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4

There are a number of top domain brokers that send out daily or sometimes weekly brokerage emails. While there are often good deals to be had, many of the names that are listed aren’t great deals for the buyer. Here’s how you may be able to score a great deal.

Go through your old emails and sort them by newsletter. Have a look at the oldest newsletters first and identify the domain names that would be of interest to you at the right price. Do a Whois search to see the current owner and do a Historical Whois search to see who owned the domain name when it was listed in the newsletter. If it’s the same owner, you know the domain name didn’t sell. You might also want to check to see if the domain name has been developed in the meantime.

Get in touch with the domain broker who emailed you to let him or her know about your interest in the domain name. Remind him when it was listed for sale and at what price. Let the broker know what you’re willing to pay for the domain name and ask that he or she be in touch with the domain owner to try and work out a deal.

From my experience, if someone tried to sell a domain name in the past but didn’t succeed, they might be more inclined to sell it in the future, even if it’s for less than their desired amount. Conversely, they may be in a better financial position now, so the offer might not be of interest at all.

You’re probably wondering why I recommend to go through the broker instead of reaching out on your own. First, it’s the nice thing to do. Second, the broker may know the domain owner and let you know their thoughts on your offer. Finally, the broker has a vested interest to get a deal done, so their pushing it might help close a deal.

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