How to Sell Products on Your Blog and Make More Money?

Having a subject you love to share with others is one of the most awesome things in life. It helps you connect, share and find a lot of value. If you have been running or aim to run a blog with a loyal readership, than you’ll be able to leverage one of the best money making methods in the world. You can turn your loyal audience into a reliable revenue stream. If you haven’t started your blog yet but you’re considering it, you too will find a lot of value in this post. This is especially true since a lot of people are looking to start their blog for the purpose of selling a product or service.

A lot of people are worried about whether this is cool or not and rightly so. Readers don’t really like when products are pushed on them. They don’t like to be confronted with too many pop-up windows and the idea that you’re trying to sell something gets people frustrated. But if you do it the right way, have a loyal audience and high-quality content that provides a lot of information value, than you can make some good money.

Actually, blogging or content marketing is one of the best things you can do to combine something you love with a great money making opportunity. In this post I’ll go into how exactly you can sell products on your blog, what products or services are best to offer and how you can scale things down the road. So, without further ado, let’s get down to it!

The Best Products To Sell on Your Blog

Selling products on your blog is pretty simple. In fact, keeping everything simple and streamlined is how you can sell a great range of products. But before we can dive into the how of selling products on your site, it’s important that we first establish what kinds of products are best to sell.

A “Product” can be just about anything from a digital product (like eBooks, software, courses) or physical (a paperback book, T-shirt). Make sure you don’t limit yourself to just one product type. Also, sell services too as it can generate even more income for your blog. Keep in mind that digital products can be sold over and over again, and don’t require any hassle and shipping fees as digital products do. But physical products also have the potential to take your blog out to the physical world which will make it a lot more popular. Here are some of the best products and services you should sell on your blog!

1. eBooks

eBooks are one of the easiest products you can create and it’s also the easiest to start with. It’s one of the starting points for a lot of people who are looking to monetize their website. Though there are plenty of eBooks out there, if it’s well placed, in front of the eyes of a devoted audience, than anything is possible. It will be even better if you sell it through a well-established retailer like Amazon or ClickBank.

This is an especially good option if you have a strong audience that isn’t likely to pay more than 10$ for an eBook and if they aren’t used to buying things online.

If you don’t have an idea for an eBook yet, you can compile all your previous posts into a book that helps your reader accomplish something. Like „31 Days For Losing Weight” for example.

2. Online Courses

People have made millions by selling online courses, because it is one of the most useful digital materials you can get from the web. It basically contains the same material as an eBook but people are much more likely to buy it. Everyone loves online courses because they are simple, transparent and media rich. Everything that there is to learn from them is compiled into „lessons” or „modules”.

Courses offer plenty of different media that make them a lot better source of knowledge. They contain Video content, Quizzes, Audio interviews, Interactive elements and you can also get certification once you’ve finished it. Many courses also have closed Facebook groups that you can visit for feedback whether you’re a customer or the owner of the course.

3. Subscriptions To Premium Content

Many blogs offer premium content or a closed community for a monthly registration fee. It can be an email that you send out to your subscribers on a regular basis, an online community that they can engage with or a closed section of your blog. All of which are great for you because it will earn you a consistent monthly fee. It doesn’t even require you to create all the content upfront, but you have to make sure that you always provide your users with the content they need on time. You can also provide your users with weekly seminars or workshops, a closed Facebook group and more. The more value you provide, the more money you will make from it.

If your content solves a particular problem or is especially entertaining, than you’ll have plenty of subscribers.

4. An App or Software

It’s highly likely that you’re not a developer, so you’ll have to hire one to create an app for you. If you have a piece of software to sell, it can be very lucrative. Depending on what your blog’s niche is, you have a lot of options. You can provide a business tool or an app that helps users with pursuing their hobby. It can be either purchased one time or paid on a monthly basis, if it’s software. You can even use it to get your course materials or premium content to your users every time they come out.

5. Hard Copies and Printables

Printables are a popular option for bloggers, simply because they are physical products and can be used or displayed. They don’t contain too much text most of the time either. Printables can be anything from calendars, gift tags, paintings, board games, planner pages, party invites and more. This too depends on what your niche is of course.

6. Physical Products

Life in blogging revolves around the internet, but that doesn’t stop you from providing physical products to your audience. This can be just about anything you want like t-shirts, artworks, books, clothes, merchandise, board games and so much more. It solely depends on what would your audience like the most.

If you write about makeup and cosmetics than you can provide cream, nail polish and just about any product that your readers would make use of in cosmetics. Depending on what your budget is and where you get your products from, you can make some really good business this way.

7. Your Own Services

If you are a writer, developer, online marketer, graphic artist, designer, coach, project manager or have any other marketable skill, by all means sell it. It’s one of the highest values you can get from your blog, as your writing has already established you as an expert. Also, adding a services page will also let your audience know more about who you are and what you do, which is important if you want to have credibility.

Ways To Sell Products on Your Blog

Now that you know what you would be selling on your blog, you can make it happen in three different ways.

Add Product Widgets or Buy Buttons

The most straight forward way to sell from your blog is to do it right from its pages. You can embed a buy button or a widget that shows off the product within your blog post. You can do it with a piece of software called Selz which makes it incredibly easy to create and sell products on your blog.

Embed Your Store Into Your Blog

You can also embed your entire store into your blog, or build a website that has both a blog section and a store section. There are plenty of plugins that you can use for WordPress, like WooCommerce. Or you can build your blog with Shopify, which will make things infinitely easier. You can also use Selz for this as well It’s one of the easiest routs you can take because it allows you to set your store up within about half an hour.

Have Users Navigate To Your Store

If you open a separate physical store, your blog can serve as the perfect marketing tool for it. You can just add navigation links to your blog’s texts, talk about your products and do so much more. It is a simple and direct way to sell your products without having to meddle with your blog’s design.

Sell Someone Else’s Products

One of the most popular ways of making money with any blog is through affiliate marketing. Bloggers sell other companies’ products or services in exchange for a commission from every sale they close. It’s very simple because your entire job is to include links and make recommendations. You don’t have to work with any of the products you’re selling.

Install a Payment Processor

You’ll need to install a payment processor when you decide to start selling your products. One of the easiest ones you can install is the Simple PayPal Shopping Cart for WordPress. It’s done in a few clicks and you can start selling products right away. You should also install a credit card payment processor, so that users can pay directly from their bank and credit card accounts.

How To Make The Perfect Sales Offers

Having the option to sell on your blog is one thing, but you still have to improve on your writing and make compelling sales offers. You’ll have a lot to keep in mind when doing this, as you don’t want to come across as „salesy” for your audience. So, follow these tips to ensure that it’s easy to convert your loyal audience into customers.

Be Authentic

Authentic is pretty much a buzzword, but it really is what makes your blog worthwhile to read. Trust is the most important thing in online business and if someone feels tricked on your blog, you can rest assured that you won’t see him again. Always be upfront when presenting your offer. Tie it to a post and let your readers know that the link they see will take them to the product page where they can find more information. Nobody likes to be fooled. Respect that and you’ll be set.

Offer Relevant Products

This pretty much goes without saying. Think about why your readers are on your blog and what they benefit from it. Offer products that are based around their interests and that work well with your niche. If you know what they needs are and provide products accordingly, then you have a much higher chance for making a sale.

Offer Special Deals For Your Readers

A lot of companies offer coupon codes and special deals for bloggers and other content creators. You can give these promotions for your readers only. It will make them feel appreciated and also urge them to jump on the chance and buy the product if they need it.

Apply The Product To Your Post

When you are writing a blog post about a topic or an issue that fits well together with a product or a service, don’t hesitate to include it. If you’re a dietary expert and have a course that helps your reader lose 30 kg of weight in three months, don’t hesitate to include it.

Improve Your Existing Products

If you have a well-written eBook that made you a lot of money in the past, publish it in other formats as well. Make an audio file out of it, a video or expand it into an online course. You can also get it translated to another language and reach out to an entirely different audience as well.

Be Careful With Your Affiliate Link Placement

If you have affiliate products that fit well together with your posts, make sure they are included in a non-intrusive manner. They should never overpower your site and turn it into a massive billboard. It could hurt your authenticity and have you making fewer sales eventually. So be sure that you let your users know that you’re selling them affiliate products and it makes you a buck or two. Nobody is going to be mad about it.

Make Your Offers Easy To Locate

Even though you shouldn’t push your offers on your users, they should be easy to find because nobody will click on it otherwise. A simple graphic on your sidebar that shows your offer or has a call to action, will prove to increase your sales. If you have already established yourself as a credible source, you’ve already built the trust you need with your audience. Provide them with the opportunity to make the next step forward.

Continue Scaling Your Business

Even if you have reached a point where you can monetize an already active audience, never miss out on the opportunity to make said audience larger. You should always be creating „push content” and „pull content”. Push content provides the same value to your audience that they are already used to, while pull content attracts new people.

Also, make sure you’re constantly improving your content as well. Your content should always add real value to the lives of readers so that they keep coming back for more. Write about something you love and are truly passionate about. That’s what will help you connect with your readers on a deeper level.

Conclusion

When you’re straight forward about selling products on your blog, people will be more likely to buy from you, because they trust you. There is nothing hard to it; the products you use just have to match your niche. Do it right, follow the tips here and you’ll be well on your way to make a consistent income from your blog. The most important thing is to provide value to your audience. Once you have that, more value will be given back to you.

I hope you have enjoyed reading through this article and that we’ll see you again in the next one!