Monetize Your Domain

          I cannot stress this enough! You Can Monetize your Domain and start making actual cash. Now, don't get me wrong. This takes a lot of hard work and dedication, but you can make things easier by adding things like affiliate marketing, dropping, FBA, Stocks, Crypto currency, or even use other platforms like Amazon and Etsy to start gaining traffic to your site as well as informing your viewers of some really great products.

I know I mention affiliate marketing, and in order to even start making money via affiliate marketing, you need to sign up for some affiliate programs. Now, ideally, you would prefer having high paying affiliate programs. However, there are some that will have smaller paying commissions and that is totally fine too!

For Affiliate Programs (depending on your niche, if you have one), you could check out these websites:

• ShareASale (This site contains a lot of high paying programs)

• Amazon (This site is absolutely ideal for all niches)

• Flexoffers (Another site that has a lot of high paying programs)

• Ebates (This one is good for saving money and shopping niches)

• Swagbucks (This site is also good for saving money and shopping niches)

• Digistore24 (This one is similar to ShareASale)

• Shop Style Collective (This one is good for beauty and fashion)

• Creative Market (This one is good for digital products, themes and graphic design)

• Clickbank (This one is similar to Flex Offers)

• Convertkit (This is a good email list builder)

• Tailwind (This is a good Pin scheduling tool)

• Teachable (This one is good for Course Creation)

• Awin (This is also similar to ShareASale)

• CJ Affiliate (This is similar to flex offers)

• Siteground (This is a good hosting company)

• Style Stock (This is good Stock Photos)

• Ivory Mix (Stock Photos)

• Pixi Stock (Stock Photos)

• Pexels (Stock Photos)

          Something you really need to focus on first though - is building trust with your audience and getting everybody on the same page. Trust is everything is every relationship out there - Whether it's with yourself or with a loved one, or even with a stranger, you have to gain someone's trust in order to develop any sort of relationship with them. Figure out what it is about you that drew them to you, find out what they want to know or want to learn about and go from there. That's how you build a good foundation to any sort of relationship and especially any sort of business. So even with all these different ways of making money and being able to monetize yourself and your work, you also have to realize that nothing will come of it if you don't build trust and build a relationship with your audience. As the saying goes,

“No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship.”

 – James Comer

          That's why you always hear influencers saying they are nothing without you, because in all honesty, they aren't. If we didn't have a good relationship with our audience and didn't understand what they really wanted, there is no way to really be successful as an influencer or as a business owner. You need to recognize the need of your target audience and supply the answer or the options they want. The internet in itself is ever changing, so being able to know what your audience wants, or needs is a very good skill to have.

Google Analytics

          Be sure to Install tags and keeps up with your Google Analytics to make sure you're keeping an eye on your traffic, where it's coming from, and where your main focus should be. Google Analytics allow you to keep track of your audience, what actually works and what doesn't. It helps you notice a lot not only about your demographic, but also about your monetization and overall engagement. You have to remember to stay engaged with your audience. Whether it is through sales and special events or keeping the conversation going by having a comment section, it allows you to communicate and stay connected with your audience.

Things to Notice:

• Keep track of traffic (how many people are actually clicking onto your site, how long they're staying, etc.)

• Your audience (It allows you to notice what your demographic is and where your main audience is located)

• Monetization (If you run ads, this allows you not only to keep track of how much you're paying, but also if your ads are actually working)

          Obviously, there is a lot more you can do with Google Analytics, but this is just a sneak peek. I encourage you to do your own research or be like me and learn by doing.

SEO Marketing

          SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of affecting the visibility of your blog or website within a search engine's unpaid results.

           So basically, what that means is when a reader does a quick google search for something as simple as "pet accessories" or anything really, even a question, that search engine (being Google in this example) will come up with the best results for that reader.

          So, the higher ranked your website is, the more visitors and traffic you will get for your blog or website because of that simple search.

           Remember, More visitors means More traffic and More sales for you!

With SEO, that means optimizing your blog posts and the pages on your website for search engines. That means doing your Research!

• Meta Descriptions
• URL
• Keywords!!
• Subheadings
• Internal Links
• Image Names
• Alternate Tags
• Title Tag

There's so much that goes into SEO Marketing, I will definitely create a blog post for this in itself and create a link for that post here.

Install A Theme

          Now, depending on your hosting platform and the platform you decided to use for your domain, you can either install a theme, or manually keep a theme going throughout your website and your blog especially. Color Palette, overall layout and making sure your posts are easy to read as well. Remaining Consistent, not only in color and layout but also in set up and thumbnails.

You have to keep everything fluid and everything looking nice, or you won't get a lot of attention to your blog.

          So again, keeping everything consistent and neat is the way to go. Having an overall theme and a way to keep your thumbnails consistent as well as eye-catching rather than being all over the place, is something to keep in mind. That means including the same color scheme, font, typeface, etc.

Publish Your First Post

          Now that you've got the setup all done, the only thing left is to work on your blog. That means writing, editing, and publishing your first post! Don't let your anxiety get the best of you, it really as easy as that. You can get a blog post done in less than 30 minutes if you really wanted to!

          All you have to do is figure out what you would like to talk about and good thing for you - there is SO MUCH!

Anything you find interesting and would like to share with your friends would probably be something you could share with your readers (audience) as well! Within reason, of course.

          Remember to remain passionate about whatever it is you decide to share with your audience and remember to have fun! It's Your blog after all, no one can tell you what to do or what to talk about. You have to figure it out yourself, and yes, that is a learning curve in itself, but trust me when I tell you it is so worth it.

Keep at it

          If you walk away from this post with anything, I hope it is with a bit a relief and definitely with this piece of advice:

          If you actually start a blog, keep at it. Don't stop.

Even when you feel unmotivated and feel like nothing is really going to come of all your hard work, keep going.

Not only does time heal all, Time also allows you everything your heart could ever desire as long as you remain passionate, consistent, and motivated. Trust me, time will eventually show you that everything you have been doing that has led you up to this point has been worth it and you are meant for greatness.