How to Make Money With A Brand New Blog: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide

Instead of asking, ‘How can I make the most amount of money?’ you ask ‘How can I help the most amount of people?’. The money you make online is directly proportional to the people you help. 

Quick note: I recently launched a new blog on how to make money with your email list. Check it out.

Did you recently launch a new blog and wondering how you are going to make money with it?

There’s little to no information on Google about making money from a new blog.

When I searched the phrase “how to make money with a new blog”, I literally came up with just 1 or 2 decent articles. All the other links are either pointing to how to start a WordPress blog or some junk.

That means, most bloggers either don’t know how to make money with a brand new blog or they simply didn’t like the complexity of the topic. Anyway, I decided to write an ultimate guide about the topic so it can be especially helpful for the beginner bloggers.

In this detailed guide, you’re not going to find mediocre points like make money with affiliate marketing, sell banner ads, publish paid reviews etc as new blogs don’t generate money that way! You’ll only discover the PRACTICAL ways to make money with a brand NEW blog.

Are you curious? Let’s jump in.

How I made money with a new blog?

Before diving into the details, let’s quickly talk about how this blog made money when it’s new. The blog that you’re currently reading now was launched in 2012. It’s been over 5 years.

Here’s how I made money with it when it’s new.

• Within 2 months of starting my blog, I offered services (ranging from SEO to content marketing to blog management) by creating a dedicated landing page. Initially I worked only with a couple of clients, later focused on working with 1 or 2 big clients at any given time (to make more money by giving more value).
• You might ask “how did you get the initial traction to get first clients?”. I left 30 to 50 thoughtful comments on other sites that are relevant to my blog topics. This helped me bring new visitors from other sites. Regular blog commenting helped me build connections with other bloggers. That lead me to write guest posts for them and build my email list. Then, I used a combination of my blog posts + email sequence to land my first few clients.

I know it sounds really simple. But it’s not.

So why am I sharing those details?

To give you an idea about how it works. You don’t make money from a new blog without bringing new visitors to your sites. Blog commenting and guest posting worked well for me to get initial traction and first few customers. Then, I used email marketing, SEO, content marketing etc to attract high paying clients.

Quick note: Over the past 5 years of my full-time blogging experience, I’ve experimented with a lot of new blogs run by others. Sometimes we failed. Sometimes we made money. But there are a few PROVEN money making strategies I learned. You’re going to find exactly those strategies in this guide.

The conventional way to make money blogging

Here’s how 99% of the bloggers make money from their sites.

• Create content
• Increase traffic
• Make money (AdSense, affiliate marketing, product reviews, ads etc)
• Brag about it on Facebook

There’s a problem with the traditional way of making money blogging.

It takes HUGE time.

• Creating content is not easy. It takes time.
• Driving visitors from Google to your sites takes time.
• Finding the RIGHT ways to monetize your blog takes trial and error.

In the best case scenario, it takes at least 6 months to really start getting traffic to your sites. And you can’t monetize until then if you follow the conventional way.

Even then, no one can guarantee that you will make money from your blog.

5 Tried And Tested Ways to Make Money With A New Blog In 2017

Did you know that 81% of bloggers never make $100 from blogging?

Then, what’s the best approach to make money with a brand new blog?

There’s no “one size fits all” approach in blogging. There are NO rules. There are people who NEVER make money even after an year of blogging and there are some smart nerds who make money even before they launch their sites.

If you are a beginner, I suggest you to monetize your blog from day 1. I’m saying it from my 5 years of full-time blogging experience. If you don’t have a clue about how to make money from a new blog when you are starting out, you’ll go through difficult times later.

That being said, here are few PRACTICAL ways to make money from a new blog or website.

#1. Collect emails even before the launch

Most people start a WordPress site with ZERO audience.

In fact, when I launched this blog back in 2012, I too did the same mistake. But I didn’t know that launching a WordPress blog with no audience can take a lot of time (several months) to make it profitable.

If you’ve recently started a blog, make sure to focus on building your email list. If you’re planning to launch a new blog, it’s better to collect emails even before the launch.

Here are few benefits of building an email list even before the launch.

• When you publish your first blog post, you will have audience to read, share and comment on it.
• Other than your cat, grandma – there will be a few people to give you some feedback about your blog. Trust me, getting initial feedback helps A LOT.
• You can find out your target audience. That means, you can create the RIGHT content strategy right off the bat.

Blogs like Smart Blogger and Neil Patel didn’t get big because they posted a lot of content. They got bigger because they collected a TON of email subscribers even before the launch.

Jon Morrow’s Smart Blogger has gotten over 13,000 email subscribers before even writing the first post.

It’s no wonder that his blog now makes over $100K per month. Jon had a strategy. Jon Knew what he was doing. He deliberately collected a TON of emails before the launch.

How to collect emails before the launch?

Simply put up a “coming soon” page with an email opt-in box and an incentive offer.

Let’s break that down into 3 points. You need 3 things to get an audience before write even a word.

1. A coming soon page
2. An email opt-in form
3. An incentive (eBook, webinar, podcast, Infographic etc)

Let’s now talk about them in detail so you can get hundreds of people reading your site when you launch it.

#1. How to create a stellar coming soon page?

You can use this plugin to create beautiful coming soon pages for your site to collect emails even before the launch. The plugin is free and easy to use.

#2. How to put an email opt-in form?

Use free services like MailChimp (when you’re starting out). If you are really serious about making money from a new blog right off the bat, choose a better service like GetResponse, ConvertKit etc. They make your life easier by giving access to landing pages, email templates, A/B testing etc. Create an opt-in form, grab the code and paste it on your coming soon page by including a free eBook/video/tool for your audience.

#3. How to create an incentive that your audience can’t resist to grab it?

An incentive (freebie) is what attracts normal blog visitors to enter their email to join your email list. So make sure to spend extra time on it to craft a great one. Here’s a useful tutorial on creating a magnetic incentive.

#2. Get your first 3 customers

In my early days of blogging, I was always asking myself one question: “how do I get paying clients?”.

As I said earlier in the article, I monetized this blog by offering services. I didn’t get paying clients from day 1. Honestly, I had no clue how to proceed further.

I started getting more and more clients when I focused on churning out more useful content for my blog. If I had to do it again, I would first focus on getting 3 customers.

You don’t need 100. You don’t need 10. Just focus on getting your first 3 customers and you are all set.

Noah Kagan from AppSumo has an amazing case study blog called “How I Got My First 3 Customers” where you will discover the stories of how entrepreneurs started their own businesses and the steps for you to do the same.

You will find a TON of bloggers from various niches sharing their stories on how they got their first 3 paying customers.

Go through the site, read a couple of stories and you will get a ton of ideas on how to get your first few paying clients. That being said, here are few more practical tips on how to do that.

Implement “Free to Three” approach

This strategy was coined by digital marketer, Rob Pene who used it to get his first few paying clients.

Rob Pene asked 3 of his friends, who he knew had a business but no website. He approached them about creating their website to add to his portfolio, in exchange for a referral.

After completing the first 3 sites, Rob simultaneously launched a promotional effort using these three sites as his showcase portfolio, and asked each of his friends to send their friends to his promotional landing page.

The promotion ran for a few days and along with the referrals from his friends and within his first month of business, he landed he first 30 paying clients.

Work for free in the beginning

This is one of the smart strategies majority of the people use.

Work for free or offer your services at free of charge when you are just starting out.

Why? The reason is simple. When you are new, you don’t need new clients. You need social proof. You need testimonials. You need trust. You need authority.

When you offer free services to others, getting all of them will be really easy. Do exceptional job at free of cost and when the job is done, simply ask for a referral or testimonial. Showcase them in your services page and keep on doing it until you get your first few clients.

#3. Fill this: “How would [your favorite blogger] do it?”

How would Tim Ferriss make money from a brand new blog?

How would Ramit Sethi make money even before the launch?

These are the questions I asked myself many times while launching sites for my clients. And guess what? These questions take your thinking to the NEXT level. By answering them, you will get access to creative thoughts.

This particular question helps you find few more things like;

• What specific monetization models others are using?
• What traffic strategies they are using?
• How they are turning their audience into customers?
• What’s their content length, posting frequency and SEO strategies?
• Who are linking to their sites and what products they are promoting?

By carefully analyzing the competitor’s in your industry, you will get a TON of ideas on how to make money with a new blog in 2017 and beyond.

So what are you waiting for? Just open a notepad and start writing notes by analyzing your competitor’s sites.

#4. Ready. Fire. Aim

If you want to make money blogging quickly, you simply need to take action first and make any necessary adjustments and correct for any mistakes later on.

Use “Ready, fire, aim” concept to make money with a new blog. Here’s the breakdown of it into 3 phases.

Phase 1: Ready

This is the research stage where you need to know your target.

If you bought a SEO course, “Ready” phase means absorbing all the information including the SEO basics. Knowing all the ins and outs of what’s needed to make money with your new blog.

Just don’t focus on 100% understanding the things. Don’t spend too much time researching the stuff.

The key here is knowing your target and failing quickly!

Phase 2: Fire

Remember the 80/20 rule. Just take action.

Even if you don’t hit the bullseye, you still hit the target.

Taking an action and failing at it is way better than not taking any action.

Phase 3: Aim

Now that you’ve taken action, you can gradually fix any mistakes you’ve made in the beginning.

You’re already way ahead of the guy who’s still reading the SEO basics (instead of actually implementing them), so pat yourself on the back.

Now, based on the new information, set new goals. Rinse and repeat the process. That’s how you make money with a new blog.

Set a target. Take immediate action. Learn from mistakes. Make money!

#5. Offer services to money making bloggers

One of the fastest ways to make money from a new blog is to offer services. That’s how I made money when I started this blog. But things have changed now.

I figured out a couple of creative ways that you can use to make money by offering services through your sites. Here are 2 highly effective strategies just for you.

Quick note: I’m coining my own terms for these 2 strategies, so if they sound weird don’t blame me.

Strategy 1: The Idea Mix Technique

Step 1: Create a list of bloggers who make money

Create a spreadsheet, make a list of 50 to 100 bloggers from various industries (fitness, travelling, finance, marketing etc) who make money from their sites.

So how do you build such list?

Use the following search strings on Google.

“Niche” + “top blogs”

For instance: you could search;

“Fitness” + “top blogs”

“Marketing” + “money making blogs”

“Finance” + top bloggers

Keep an eye on those links that create massive lists something like “top 50 bloggers in fitness industry” so you can easily create a huge list that can be helpful for you to pitch your services.

Step 2: Come up with 10 ideas to help each blogger

Instead of directly pitching your services, find a way to quickly build a connection with other bloggers so that you can improve the odds of working with them.

How can you quickly build rapport with other bloggers?

I’ve a simple tip for you which I’m borrowing from James Altucher.

Come up with 10 ideas.

Send those 10 ideas to each and every blogger in your list.

You could come up with anything like;

• 10 ideas to improve others site
• 10 ideas to help other bloggers make more money
• 10 ideas to boost others traffic, sales, subscribers etc

The idea here is to focus on them. Focus on how you can offer immense value to others with your ideas. You can find more about it from here.

Step 3: Pitch them up!

Once you get responses from other bloggers (expect at least 3 responses out of 20), pitch them your services. Tell them that you are offering a similar service that either saves their time or money.

Strategy 2: The Bryan Harris Technique

Yea, you guessed it right. This strategy was first introduced to me by Bryan Harris from Videofruit. I especially love this one because it is really simple yet highly effective to make money by offering services.

Step 1: Find an in-depth “how-to” article

Read top blogs in your industry. You will find a TON of how-to guides that are usually in-depth, highly informative and useful.

Either you can look for each blog’s popular posts or use Buzzsumo to find top performing content on any site.

Go and read that post. Now you have more knowledge than 90% of the rest.

For instance, you’re in a fitness industry and you have figured out a case study around increasing rankings of a website on Google in 3 months. Read that case study thoroughly, make some notes and dig into further to get some knowledge.

Now, you can use it a service.

Step 2: Offer it as a service

Enter the URL of the in-depth article either on Buzzsumo or Twitter search and you can find people who shared the post.

Find their email address, pitch them your service. If you don’t get a response, keep on doing it.

As a rule of thumb, make sure to reach out to 10 to 20 people every day. Just don’t wait for their responses. Keep doing it. You will get paying clients with hustle.

How to find email addresses of others?

For all of the above strategies to work, you need an email address to contact and pitch your services. This is the most trickiest part but I’ll make it easy for you.

Here are few proven ways to find email addresses of others.

• Most bloggers use “contact” pages on their sites. Email them through their contact forms. Many of them also include their working email address on their contact or about us pages.
• If you’re failed with the above step, subscribe to their email newsletter. Almost every single top blogger or marketer has an email list. Subscribe and hit reply to their welcome email.
• Use twitter. Contact the person and ask them to DM their email address.
• If nothing works, use hunter.io. It’s a terrific tool (they also have a browser extension) to find working emails of any website in the world. I’m using it and it works like a charm.

Here are few more essential things to spice up your game

Build a portfolio: Your portfolio is where you can flaunt all your best work.

• Include links to your guest posts
• Mention if you have got featured on top sites, brands etc
• Showcase your previous work

Having a portfolio page specially designed for your services attracts more customers. The people who are in a decision stage will buy from you if they are satisfied with your previous work. So give top priority to creating a portfolio for all the services you offer.

Use social proof: People are herd animals. We follow crowds. If 100 people are rushing to buy something, we automatically check what’s happening. That’s called “herd mentality” in short.

If you use testimonials, reviews or expert quotes – they work like a charm and increase your conversion rates.

Write guest posts: Matt Cutts said guest blogging is dead. Yes, it’s dead if you are doing it solely for link building. On the other hand, guest posting is the fastest way for relationship building.

If you focus on building a network using guest posts, getting links, traffic and sales won’t be hard. Land on top blogs with your guest posts until you get a momentum with your blog.

Conclusion on making money with a new blog in 2017

Making money with a new blog isn’t difficult if you think outside of the box.

If you follow the same old fashioned way (“create content, build audience, sell stuff blah blah”), it takes months if not years to make money.

That’s why I gave my best advice for you to quickly make money with a brand new blog in 2017 and beyond. So what do you think about this mega 3000+ word post?

Is it helpful? Do you have a new blog or planning to launch new one? Do you need any advice? Let me know in the comments or mail me at rahul@learnblogtips.com and I’ll try my best to respond to every email.