How to earn money with your blog?

I have attended many events as a blogger, marketing person or just a plus one. Most event are like brand/product related or some are just purely networking session. I have been to some talks about social media before more mostly they were run by "Social Media Gurus" or CEO/Director of certain companies. For a change, I attended a blogger sharing session powered by OMY and on stage in non other than 4 bloggers. It's a sharing session for bloggers by bloggers. In fact it was hosted by another si bei kuai lan blogger - Alvinology. 

I find this event especially meaningful cause it's one of thse very interesting topic that both bloggers and non-bloggers like to ask us(bloggers).

"Can you really make money by blogging?" 

How do I answer such question?

"The question is not CAN you. The real question is do you WANT to?" (I will explain this in details slowly.)

I like how OMY started the sharing session. The very first question:

"Why did you start to blog?" 

It's basically a very common question we get. Motivation. What is the motivation behind blogging? Fame? Passion? Money? Power? Network? I swear 90% of the people answers you things like passion or passion related but when you look at their blog it is probably regarding press releases, product or monetary related. (P.S: Passion in making money is not passion for writing, really.) Which is why I really like one of the Panelist - Grace. 

One thing I admire her is how she put herself out there and how brave she is in quitting her full time job and became a full time blogger. So basically she not only blog for money but also teach and give talks about blogger for a living. Quote (Sorry if there is slight paraphrasing): "Bloggers should be appreciated for their hard work and they should be paid."

 I think this is one thing many bloggers felt but wouldn't say it out. I mean blogging for money is a decent job after all so why not? You spend time taking pictures, writing, editing and traveling. Those are cost and you should be paid.

Here comes part of my explanation of my big bolded answer above: Yes, you can earn money and should be paid for your effort IF you really did put in the effort. Sorry to say, effort is not quantitative in most job and same thing for blogging. Basic ROI (Return of investment) to your pay master and your KPI (Key Performance Index)still rules. If you wish to be paid, you have to make sure you are worth paying for. And more the bottomline for most client is - sales. We can't quantitate your sales cause you are no sales man so what is your KPI? Reach. Are you ready to work for the reach?

Being a blogger to me is very close to being an actor. You are in "limelight" and you are part of the dirty media industry. It's not about what you do right or following a textbook like in some industries. Chance, luck, opportunity, meeting the right people, right place, right time, dirty tricks, throwing yourself out there, stripping, creating controversy, quitting your job, "whoring yourself", sacrificing your personal life and many more. You are a public figure. Are you ready to do that? Even when you are ready, there is no sure success. I've watched veteran actors who acted for almost 20-30yrs who are really good but with no break-thru but a little girl gets so famous overnight. Merchandise, movies, musics and millions of fans. Can anybody explain it?

In case you have no clue who I am talking about. Justina Bieber

 NO. There is no short cut and no sure win solution. Can you bear the heat? That explains a little about the "Can you" vs "Do you WANT to" answer. If you want it, you try, you sacrifice, you can.

For me, I don't think this is the road I want go. I don't think I wish to invest the time and effort on it and thus I am taking it the easy mode. (Like play game you know? Got hard, Medium and Easy.) Writing articles with little pictures (Lazy to shoot.), little graphics, (Lazy to photoshop) and little pictures of myself. (Not handsome.) So neither would I use some sales technic to earn more money or tricks to get more readership or followers. I will normally earn some extra pocket money when the opportunity knocks on my door.(It's a pretty passive business for me.) I just enjoy the beauty of social media and it's endless possibilities and when people read my blog. My motivation is basically my readers. To me my form of being appreciated is when I know I have readers and my readers clicking "LIKE", "SHARE" or "COMMENT" on my post.

Personal Branding and Earning Indirectly

I think I am one of the biggest beneficial from earning indirectly from blogging. Like I mentioned above, the beauty of social media and it's endless possibilities. The network, the communications, the opportunity. Believe it or not, I started my very own events company because I met my partner on social media platform. More than 80% of my sales are referral because of blogging/tweeting(Micro blogging.) I got my current job as a social media manager because of blogging and twitter. I had more opportunity to be featured on newspaper, being an author at OMY.sg, show hosting, free lance design work and many more all because of social media. And I made hundred and even maybe thousands of friends and even celebrities (and many pretty girls) because of social media. So what went right here? I might not be a brand image consultant or neither am I a social media guru but i believe I did something right here and caused social media to change my life. I guess I did manage to brand myself a little towards being a person who knows about events planning, social media and show hosting, and thus the job opportunities. It's indirect, I did not command a blog post for $500 but indirectly I've gotten a lot of opportunities through blogging. And of course, my very gutterish image of being the sex blogger. So did I make any money through blogging? Yes indeed.

I am sure there are many others blogger who benefitted from it, such as food bloggers selling food and cakes,  beauty blogger selling clothes, photography bloggers becoming photographer and all. I am sure there are more ways but it's all about seizing the opportunity.

If it is only About Profit...

I am definitely not against earning (both direct or indirectly) via writing but what if the "practice" of writing for money gets drilled into blogger's mind, will blogger still blog for passion or will they wait to be paid to blog? And in that case, what will happen to authentic word of mouth?

But he is the Joker after all...

How to Earn Money with Your Blog.

I guess this should be the reason why you really clicked on my post since it's on the title. Sorry, I have no tips and tricks to make you become the next Xiaxue or Mr Brown but I do have a tip or two for those who are already a bloggers. Being on both side of the industry, very often I hear marketers bitching about bloggers being unprofessional as well as bloggers bitching about crazy marketers.

What are some of the common problems:

. Marketing person expect to vet and edit sponsored or review post.
. Marketing person ask for additional "help" on blogpost.
. Bloggers copy and paste press release despite it being a paid post.
. Bloggers not knowing how to say that he or she needs this to be a paid post etc.
. Can you also help me post on twitter?*
. Can you also also help me post on instagram?**
. Can you also also also help me ping on facebook? ***

So the problem here is not just because of miscommunication but more of a difference in expectation. The understanding of a sponsored/advertorial post between a bloggers and a marketing person can be very different. A junior PR person and a senior PR person can make a difference and same goes to new and inexperience bloggers. So below are some very simple tips to keep yourself away from sticky situations.

Always, ALWAYS state very clearly on job scope. How? For example when you are approached by a marketing person via Email in a very vague manner.

- "Dear Smith, I am your fan and you are so awesome. I have to read your blog everyday before I sleep. I think you are so handsome and by the way I have a new Sex Toy facial cream. Do you wish to give it a try?" 

Seriously? "Give it a try?" So if I am not careful I might say yes and 2 weeks down the road I might have someone very angry saying that I did not post and worst still after posting he is saying that he needs to edit and I am not allowed to post it live before letting them approve. So what went wrong? Cause there were no communication of job scope.

Here is an example of how I would reply:

- " HI XXXXXX, thanks for the kind words (And actually you do sound kinda freaky but I do hope you look hot,which I actually already know cause i did a search of you on facebook and you look pretty cute and this is why I replied this Email.). Sounds like a cool product, so how do we go about doing it? Is it just a review? Normally for me if you are going to send me a product, I may write about it if it is really good and if I like it. I am sure you don't want me to write a bad review either right? And normally for reviews it will be my opinion and I will post it live when I am done writing. And if you wish that I do an advertorial which means that I will confirm write a post and includes you vetting through my writing it will come with a small fee. If you need video or original artwork, there will be an additional cost depending on the complexity of it *,**,*** To value add, for an additional $X, I will also include X blurps on my other social media platform on FB, Twitter and instagram which I am actually more active on. To better help you valuate what you are paying for, I have X friends, X followers for Twitter and X for Instagram. Do let me know if you need any clarification. Looking forward to be working with you." 

So basically I am setting an expectation since I am the one being approached and this will actually save a lot of effort for both blogger and marketing person in the future. There will be no pointing of fingers or the *,**,*** (also also also help me to). It's very clear cut that way, if you do not wish to dictate my action you don't pay and if you wish to, you just have to pay as a form as advertisement fee. Nothing to be shy about as it's business.

For me, I am a true believer in organic social media and virality. If you are selling and marketing a certain product, be confident with it, engage the blogger and let the blogger write an authentic review. P.S Bonus tips to new marketing person, having a closer relationship will give you a better chance with the bloggers of writing a better article.

I am not saying that by my standard all is right but I personally felt that by doing this, things can be a lot easier. And here it is, some tips by Mr.Smith and the best part is that all these tips are free! No need to pay for anything! Don't need to earn consultation fee from you hor! :x

Anyway views are my own and does not represent the company, client, other bloggers, all marketing person, my pet cat, my pet dog, my religion nor Superman. Please feel free to leave a comment with regards to this topic.

Hope to see more of such sharing session with OMY.sg!

And I'm happy I get to meet Darren, Chrispytine (who is one of the panelist), Mint and her (1)Minute Man. (Photo from Mint's iPhone.)

Mr.Smith, if you need to give up so much just for money, why not just be a politician?