6 Secrets of Six Figure Bloggers
{That You Can Steal}
Six years ago when I started blogging, I had very small dreams of making just $100/month.
We were just out of college, I was pregnant with my husband and mine's first child, saddled with loads of debt and incredibly scared.
We were so broke that $100/month made a significant difference in our quality of life.
I started my first blog, a personal finance blog then, where I documented our debt, savings, and side hustle journey with the expectation that if I was struggling with something, my story would resonate with someone else out there who was struggling with the same thing.
And it did!
Within 1 year, I was averaging 25,000 page views per month, making about $100 per month. This small income was a huge blessing to our family, but the reality was that I knew very little about blogging. And what I did know I learned from free resources, Pinterest, or other bloggers.
Little did I know that 5 years later I would have 3 websites, a newfound love for Ketogenic Cooking, and a thriving business that now makes me more than $100,00 per year, from the comfort of my home, working 10-20 hours per week.
I now have my own Six Figure Blogging business, and I would love to share 6 Six Figure Blogging Secrets if you have big dreams for your blog too….
Six Figure Bloggers Niche Down
Every six figure blogger has a business model that revolves around their specific strengths. They outsource their weaknesses and they their strengths to build their business.
First, your blog should be about a topic that you could write about for days – and if we're being honest, you should enjoy the writing process. You may be great at writing tutorials, comedy, lifestyle pieces, or even long informational pieces. But whatever you choose should be a topic you're passionate about and you should share it in a way that plays to your strengths.
It doesn't work to pick a niche that is too wide in most cases, so put some thought into what your blog niche will be.
My 5-Day Start a Profitable Blog Course will walk you through exactly how to pick a niche that is neither too narrow nor too broad.
If you're not quite ready to jump into the course, you can start by asking yourself these questions:
- What could I talk about all day?
- What hobbies and interests do my friends associate with me?
- Is there something I’ve been dying to learn?
- What do I have lots of experience with?
- Do I have any goals that I want to accomplish and that I may share with others?
Maybe you love cooking. Baking and creating delicious recipes for your family and friends gives you life. There are many other people out there like you who either want to find recipes for their friends and family, or who want to be inspired by your imagination with cooking.
Or maybe you’re on a journey to get out of debt. A fun idea for a blog would be to document your frugal and extra money making adventures as your pay down your debt! I’m sure there are many other people out there on the same get-out-of-debt journey as your, and who would love to read about your journey.
Maybe you’re really into travel. You love to take pictures during your travels, and documenting each adventures would make a wonderful basis for a blog.
So, what will you blog about?
Six Figure Bloggers Never Give Up
Stumble across a list of blog income reports and you'll notice a trend: the higher the income, the longer that blogger has been working on their blog {generally}.
And those making a significant amount of money have almost all been blogging for 3 years or more.
This should clue you in to one of the biggest secrets of a six-figure blogger: they just keep going no matter what. They keep going when they're discouraged, when they feel like it's not working, when they get negative comments and when they just plain get burnt out.
Staying persistent when it comes to your blog doesn't have to mean you work yourself to the bone, but it does mean that you show up consistently.
Showing up consistently could mean blogging 2 mornings per week before the kids get up.
Showing up could mean blogging on your lunch break at work.
Showing up could mean only blogging on the weekends.
Showing up can mean something different to everyone.
But everyone who shows up makes a consistent effort to work on their blog.
You can learn from this too!
Decide when you're going to show up for your blog and stick to it. Decide how many posts per week you're going to publish and make it happen.
Just keep going, even when it gets hard.
But that doesn't mean you have to put in endless hours. Instead….do the next 3 things:
Six Figure Bloggers Batch Work
Raise your hand if you pride yourself in being able to multitask?
{raises hand}
I am right there with you.
In high school and college I prided myself on being able to work on several different things at once, and get insane amounts of work done.
However, my attitude toward multitasking has changed over the years to allow me to get even more things done every single day using a process called BATCH WORKING.
Our brains weren’t made to multitask. Instead, when we try to focus on more than one thing at once, all we’re doing is switching our attention quickly from on thing to another.
Nothing is getting our full attention.
And that’s not productive.
Studies have even found that multitasking reduces productivity by 40%.
And, it increases errors by 50%.
Finally, multitasking can temporarily lower your IQ by 15 points. (the same effect smoking pot has….)
I am here to tell you that it is totally ok to focus on just one thing at a time.
Not only has it made me more productive, it has taken away so much of my anxiety in my business because I know that the most important things are always done, and that in most areas, I have worked WAY ahead.
I sleep easier at night, my brain is less full of “to-do” clutter, and my business is growing faster than ever.
Batch working, when done correctly, allow me to:
- Plan ahead
- Work efficiently
- Strategize
- Enjoy time off!
Here’s how to enjoy the benefits of Batch Working in your own business (scroll down to the takeaways)
Six Figure Bloggers Compare Progress Year Over Year not Day over Day
Six figure bloggers make sure to keep track of their blog's statistics, but not obsess over them. They will watch statistics like:
- Monthly Pageviews
- Traffic Acquisition
- Social Media Followers
- Social Media Engagement
- Top Posts & Pages
- Email List Size & Engagement
What's more, they don't compare those statistics day-over-day, they compare them year-over-year.
They compare their December numbers, with the December the year before, and look for slow and steady growth. They don't panic over blog stats, and neither should you.
Instead, aim for grow that move slowly but steadily year over year and you'll be setting yourself up for a highly profitable and popular blog.
Six Figure Bloggers Invest In Themselves
The biggest thing I've learned in the last 6 years, though, is that the best investment is always myself. Remember my crazy blogging timeline?
When I first started blogging, it was honestly in hopes that I could make just $100/month from it. I knew that other bloggers were making money – some making six figures per MONTH – and I just wanted a tiny little piece of that pie to help my new family out.
As I started to build an audience, I started to get a taste of a good income from blogging when I was making $5,000/month with my personal finance blog.
But I cannot understate the value of getting good, solid blogging information. This was exactly why I decided to take Elite Blog Academy – I was in the first class to ever enroll. Ruth Sukoup, the author of the course has been making MILLIONS from her blog for years, and the knowledge that she shares in EBA is the gold standard when it comes to blogging.
Taking EBA was the thing that skyrocketed my page views and income:
- My first year blogging I made about $1,200
- My second and third years blogging I made about $60,000
- My 4th year blogging I started making income from 2 blogs (but I was letting one dwindle due to lack of interest) which was about $75,000
- My 5th year blogging I made just shy of $100,000
- And I am currently in my 6th year of blogging, expecting to make $120,000
As you can see, ever time I invested in myself, in learning, and committed myself to applying that knowledge, my income and pageviews skyrocketed.
One of the most valuable things I have learned is the power of education. I've learned to invest in myself, because the results have made me so much more money than courses have cost me. By investing in myself I have been able to make far more money blogging than I would have without investing in myself. That is why I recommend starting very inexpensively, running some ads from Google Adsense, and then using that money to investing in better resources.
Just recently, I took another leap of faith and invested in a Blogging Mastermind. I am still new to how the mastermind works, but joining a quality one was something that had been echoed to me over and over by Six Figure Bloggers and I knew that I needed to take their advice!
Here are the courses I recommend:
- Elite Blog Academy (The A-Z's of not only making your blog popular, but then making sustainable money with it)
- Pinning Perfect (Pinning Strategy)
- Food Blogger Pro (Food Blog Specific strategy and resources)
These courses are all amazing, and if you are ready to start, grow, and make a serious income with your blog, I suggest investing in all 3, starting with Elite Blog Academy.
Almost everything I know about the foundation of blogging I learned from Elite Blog Academy:
- Setting the content foundation
- Structure the blog
- Strategies that stand the test of time
- Social Media Planning and strategy
- Website, SEO, and technical help
- and moe!
Just an FYI: Elite Blog Academy enrollment opens just once a year, for 5 days only. The next enrollment is scheduled for March 4-9, 2019. For your best chance at securing a seat, I encourage you to join the waiting list now, as space is limited. When you join, you'll also get access to the EBA Blog Structure Blueprint, so you can start organizing your blog right away.
After Elite Blog Academy, I enrolled in Food Blogger Pro to learn some of the more advanced tactics behind food blogging, and Pinning Perfect to help me spend less time and be more effective with my pinning strategy.
Side note – here are some of my favorite blogging resources:
Here's are some of my favorite FREE blogging resources:
- 5-Day Start A Profitable Blog Course – my free course that will get you set up with your own blog
- The Essential Blog Promotion Checklist – this is an amazing PDF I devoured in about 10 minutes about making sure you get the most eyes on your blog posts
- 7 Surefire Ways To Boost Your Blog Income Overnight – this download has really easy tips for making more money with your blog ASAP
- 120 Awesome Blog Post Ideas – running out of topics to blog about? This is your go-to.
- The New Blogger’s Guide To Guest Posting – this is a download that shows you how to get started guest posting on other blogs
- Blog Structure Blueprint – this is a template that gives you a visual for how to organize your blog (I used this when I started)
- 10 Steps To Take When A Post Goes Viral – this is a download that gives you specific tips for what to do when a blog post goes viral
Six Figure Bloggers Only Promote Products They Believe In
How many times have you seen a sponsored post for “Detox Tea” on Instagram? You just have to wonder how bad that blogger or Instagrammer had to sell out to take that sponsorship, don't you?
Don't be that person.
Seriously.
Marketing products, whether through an affiliate relationship, a sponsored posts, or ongoing sponsorship can be an amazing source of income but you should only promote products that you not only use, but that you couldn't live without.
They should be on your counters, in your pantry, in your bag, or wherever you use them at, because they're such an integral part of your life!
No matter how much money you're being offered – don't sell out!
The good news is that promoting products to your audience that you love is super easy because they're already a part of your life!
The downside to promoting products or services is that if you DO sell out and promote something just for the money, your audience can tell and they will lose trust in you. Maybe not right away, but lost trust with your audience isn't a path you want to start going down.
Six Figure Bloggers Diversify Their Income
There a lots of ways to make money from a blog:
- Advertisements
- Affiliate Marketing
- Sponsored Blog Posts
- Sponsored Social Media Posts
- Offering Services
- Creating Products
Which method should you use?
If you want to be successful, you should pick 2-3 ways to make money. In order to do this, you need to look at your strengths:
- What do you love to do?
- What are you doing when your friends say you light up?
- Do you like to write to many people or connect with a few?
- Or are you creative?
Not every way of making money is best for everyone, but asking yourself these questions can give you some insight into which money making ideas is right for you.
Turning a blog into a Six Figure Business can be scary, especially when you're just starting out, but don't let fear stop you! Instead, have enough courage to embrace the fear and continue building your dreams anyway.
If you would like to take the first steps in starting your own Six Figure Blog, check out my free 5-Day Start a Profitable Blog Email Course. Start building the business of your dreams right now!
xoxo,
Gretchen
This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosures for more information.
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