I did this for two reasons:
I knew that by showcasing myself as a subject matter expert through articles and gaining national recognition for that knowledge, I would be a cut above my competition.
Second, I knew that no one in my real estate market had that particular niche cornered at the time. I knew that content was already positioning itself to become king of the internet and that if I had lots of educational material out there, it would give me plenty of customized marketing material and boatloads of good stuff to promote on social media — a medium that none of my competitors were truly leveraging at the time (and most still aren’t….at least not correctly). I also learned (quickly) that there was an ancillary stream of income that went along with this blogging business, but I hadn’t yet realized that there was a business to blogging.
The operative word being YET.
Day in and day out I forged on, with the business of content production like any good littlesolider with a real estate license and hunger for success, still not realizing how big (or lucrative) this little side project of mine would get, or seeing how it would turn into an opportunity for a standalone company I would found and become CEO of nine years later.
When interviewed about my success in real estate and personal finance blogging, the million-dollar question always seemed to be: “Well, what did you write ABOUT?”
I began writing about questions I heard the most from my clients, the most common pitfalls in real estate transactions (from where I sat as a professional real estate agent), the most common successes in real estate transactions, planning for the experience of home buying and home selling and telling stories about personal experiences in real estate sales ranging from the super serious to the seriously hilarious. Little did I know that I was already doing the one thing that marketing gurus would preach about for years to come: I was being consistent in the area of content production.
I set goals, I set milestones and I crafted a plan for how much I wanted to make just blogging (on the side) at that point, up front. Then? I measured the success that I lucked into, only to find that blogging was far more lucrative than San Antonio real estate could ever be — and still is.
But let me step back for a moment. When I say I “lucked” into success, that is absolutely the truth. I had no idea that what I was doing was exactly the right formula for content marketing, during it’s infancy, nor did I have any idea that my taking the time to master this would position me as a content marketing expert today. My vision back the was short sighted, but it didn’t stay that way for very long.
I let my fingers do the walking for me, and before I knew it, I was making a name for myself as a blogger.
I inadvertently stumbled upon a gold mine. I was paid to write (up front) for each site I contributed to, anywhere from $10 to $150 per post, but was also participating in the site’s revenue share opportunities, earning money around the clock — albeit mere pennies at the time, it was still exciting to watch the virtual pennies in my digital piggy bank add up, and do so without having to produce new content around the clock.
Then, the amazing happened: I found myself on the front page of major websites, literally overnight. I was fortunate enough to be selected several times to be on the front page of Yahoo.com, of Yahoo Shine, financial sites, I was a parenting guru (offering up big pay per assignment and revenue share opportunities, thanks to my consistent contributions of solid content). I had beats for CNN Money and was even on the front page of Realtor.com and MSN Money. And while most of these pieces all had real estate in common, they shared another common thread: These opportunities paid well. In fact, many of them earned me over $4,000 in 48 hours per blog when my content landed on the front page of each venue.
Suddenly, I was earning over $10,000 a month….blogging, in LESS half the time it took me to work in real estate, and I was doing all of this in my pajamas.
Which didn’t hurt my feelings. At all.
After all, a couple of blogs that hit the big time each month not only paid the bills, but also made me hungry to replicate that success.
Suddenly, the blogs I created started gaining me even more notoriety. Whenever I wrote about what I did, or my real estate experiences (and advice) that was deemed worth of front page success, I was also contacted by radio talk shows, television talk shows, journalists and even major publications to be on panels and interviewed about my experiences. I was a subject matter expert. My plan had worked!
I had scads of free publicity, additional readers and blew my social media following up in days — a feat that took people who weren’t doing content marketing then or now years to create and establish.
I knew I hit the proverbial jackpot.
But, then I wanted to go a step further. Why limit myself for writing for other sites when I could have a blog all of my own, create advertisements on it and replicate that same success all while pocketing even more pennies?
In 2011, Falling on my heavy technical and programming background, I created my first few all-by-myself-I-own-them-blogs — as amateurish as they were at the time: Miss Adventures (now a large national presence), Penny Pinchers (a personal take on personal finance) and finally, in 2013, I founded my company, Valkeryie Consulting as a training, coaching and consulting firm geared to teach people how to blog and make money both actively and passively — how to change their lives, quit their jobs and boost their own businesses in the process — all geared toward one objective; the objective so many other “media” companies were missing: using blogs on a national and international level to showcase expertise, craft ancillary streams of income and boost lead generation efforts in a far easier fashion than the “smile and dial” mentality. (Threw a little shade to the old school business ‘gurus’ out there with that one.)
I knew that content marketing: blogs, videos, infographics, custom graphics and podcasts were far more effective in reach and in validity than phone calls, emails and old-school lead generation and prospecting. I knew that phone calls and emails and newsletters and other old-school methods for lead generation and sales didn’t earn the sales professionals money on the back end, by having their own content generation engine, I knew that online content worked for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year; a far more effective and efficient tool than “one on one” coffee shop meetings and hours spent on the phone saying the same thing over and over again.
After all, if you can have a video that works for you year round, watched by more people than what you could even hope to call by partnering blogs, video and email marketing together,while earning ancillary income whilst you do so, why wouldn’t you?
This is why we say that Valkeryie Consulting monetizes your marketing. Knowing that blogs and top-notch content are fantastic marketing vehicles, we created a system to help our clients use several different methods to their advantage. We don’t just design websites and blogs, we design websites and consult with clients on the ever-changing marketing climate, as well as showing and guiding them on the whens, hows and wheres of making passive income streams that allow them to work smarter and not harder…around the clock.
As we grew, we knew we had to scale a lot of our product, and scale a lot of my knowledge; something most small business owners, direct sales professionals or even MLM professionals don’t understand…but we do. We created guides, courses, training materials and more to show people how to do what we do…exactly how we do it.
So why this? Why blogging? Why a company based around training other people to do this when I could just have several successful blogs and keep all of this information to myself?
Because I believe there are people out there, just like I was, who are looking for a solid, proven way to supplement their income without doing MLM’s or Ponzi schemes or trying to pedal fitness products or pills to the public using outdated, out-moded and archaic techniques, people who have a passion for sharing and edifying others in an effort to shine a spotlight on what they know, what they are passionate about and who DESERVE a platform from which to speak.
During the five years it took me, working on perfecting my system, of putting the hustle in my blog (because there is a lot of it), I also saw a lot of hype…a plethora of bullshit. Claims like, “start a blog in five minutes” or “let me show you how easy it is to” or “anyone can do it”….and trust me, it’s not easy and success doesn’t come easily (or cheaply) in the business of blogging. And no, not just “anyone” can do it. Well….at least not well.
Not that I am trying to turn you off on the idea of blogging — or having a blog — , content marketing and creating ancillary streams of revenue, I just want you to approach this opportunity with reasonable expectations.
Is it possible to make money blogging? Absolutely. I’ve done it, and I’ve made a lot of it over the years. I’ve also found myself making pennies for blogs that should have (at least in my mind) been worth a lot more. My journey carried with it a lot of success, but it also carried with it a lot of struggle and blood and sweat and tears….and mistakes….I can’t forget the mistakes.
Yet the market is still flooded with “easy” how to guides, all promising a path to easy riches in the blogging business; each one making me roll my eyes even harder than the last one. So I had enough of that. I noticed that what the market was missing was the most simple element of all: the truth — and a complete guide that covers business basics, the business of blogging, the how to’s the…well….all of it in one place for any hungry entrepreneur with pipe dreams of a startup from front to back, from start to launch.
And that is how the concept for our book, “Blog Hustle” was born.
In researching what was out there and what the market was lacking, I realized where my voice would be the most useful. I can’t promise you rags to riches on the internet. I can’t promise you passive income to a point where you will lay on a beach somewhere, kicking back on a yacht full of beautiful people, sipping mojitos for the rest of your days. What I can promise you in our book is a complete, no nonsense guide to the business of blogging for dollars, for making honest to goodness money on the internet, for coming up with useable, actionable strategies and how to tie all of this together with blogs and social media and more, regardless of the business you’re in — or regardless of the sort of blog you want to have…even if you don’t want to sell anything at all. (Yes, even you freebie bloggers can make money using your blogs when you use our system.)
Our latest release is written as a tough-love song for the tired-of-the-bullshit-hustler. It’s a siren song for the people who understand that nothing fantastic comes without a little sacrifice. We will go over each and every step (and break things down mathematically for you) on how to blog for money, how to evaluate your time spent versus your income earned on blogging and how to budget for tools to make your life easier, leverage yourself (and your blogging efforts) and how to incorporate a voice that is noteworthy and interesting so that you don’t fall prey to drowning in the sea of hopelessly neglected blogs, written by bloggers who didn’t (or don’t) hustle, who didn’t have a plan and who (let’s be honest) probably shouldn’t have been blogging anyway…because they stink at it.
For those of you who stick around, implement the strategies within and succeed, I am already glad I could help guide you — and I hope my words do just that. For those of you who don’t have what it takes, I’m still glad you took the time out of your day to dedicate to self-improvement and education. Blogging isn’t for everyone, but it is a rock solid way to boost sales, business, revenue and create multiple streams of income, when it’s done right.
Now?
Let’s get started in the process!
For the most up to date information on blogging toward a new lifestyle, you can find the most up to date materials on our website,http://www.valkeryie.com
To order a copy of our “How to Make Money Blogging” a nine-page comprehensive guide on what accounts you need, where to sign up and even what to blog about for a $5 investment, check out our gigs on Fiverr.
The post Blog Hustle: An In Depth Primer to the Business of Blogging appeared first on Valkeryie Consulting | Social Media Management.