**This post contains affiliate links. To learn more, please click HERE.**
If I could go back to August 2017 (my first month blogging), I would tell myself to stop opening a million tabs on Chrome. I mean, seriously! I’d tell my newb self to focus on a few reliable resources at a time.
The reason for this is that I’ve made more progress reading the two ebooks below than I did by scouring articles on Pinterest day after day.
Of course, the first few months were a little slow. But by focusing on the work and consistently implementing the strategies from these guides, I slowly began to see growth in my blog traffic and views on Pinterest. On top of that, I made my first few bucks in affiliate sales! (Only $12 in total, but still, I was over the moon.)
So if you’re completely (or relatively) new to the world of blogging, I highly encourage you to start with the following two ebooks. You’ll save yourself months of confusion and be able to craft a blogging strategy immediately.
Here are the two best blogging resources for the beginner blogger:
“Career in the Making” by Krista Aoki
^The cover alone made me want to buy this book.
“Career in the Making” by Krista Aoki is a comprehensive guide to starting and growing your self-hosted blog. Krista is a lifestyle and travel blogger whose content I’ve been following for the past few months, and I appreciate how transparent she is about her successes and mistakes. She also offers a ton of actionable advice to new bloggers like you and me, so definitely check out her blogs KristaAoki.com and RerouteLifestyle.com.
Anyway, as the subtitle of her book suggests, Krista has made over $2200 in her first 6 months of blogging. If that doesn’t scream hard work, perseverance, and savvy, then I don’t know what does! Even if you’ve blogged for longer than 6 months, you should be able to learn new tips and tricks to grow your blog even further.
Here’s what’s inside “Career in the Making”:
Chapter 1: The Blogger’s Mindset
Chapter 2: Blogging Basics & Preparing for Launch
Chapter 3: How to Have a Successful First Month on Your Blog
Chapter 4: An In-Depth Guide to Monetizing Your Blog
(She’s not kidding when she says “in-depth.”)
Chapter 5: Affiliate Marketing for Beginners
(Here, Krista provides case studies from her own lifestyle affiliates—not blogging affiliates—that can be applied to any niche!)
Chapter 6: A Beginner Blogger’s Guide to Email Marketing
Chapter 7: The Secret to Traffic Growth for New Bloggers
Chapter 8: My 6-Month Blueprint: Income & Traffic Report for Six Months Blogging
Chapter 9: Long-Term Growth Strategy for Lifestyle Bloggers
Chapter 10: Income Reports
Chapter 11: 4 Important Blogging Lessons I’ve Learned in 6 Months
Chapter 12: Resources
Chapter 13: Additional Reading
In the book, Krista answers some of the most commonly asked questions by new bloggers, such as…
“Should I go with free or self-hosted?”
“How many posts do I need to launch my blog?”
“How can I promote products without being salesy?”
“What do I send my mailing list?”
“How do I gain traffic on Pinterest?”
…And a whole lot more, I promise! If you’ve got even more questions on your mind, Krista’s got you covered.
Again, stick to one or two reliable resources, and get down to business. That’s what I’ve been doing with AMM and I’m already making progress by referring continuously to Krista’s handy ebook. Not only is it packed with marketing and monetization strategies, but it’s also a quick read (God Bless) and only $25. Hands down one of the best, most affordable investments I’ve made for my blog this year!
Click HERE for lifetime access to “Career in the Making“ and 100 pages of kickass blogging strategy.
“How to Make Your First Affiliate Sale in 24 Hours” by Elisa McDowell
If you’ve done your basic blogger research, you probably know that Pinterest is THE platform for promoting your blog posts. In fact, the majority of my page views for A Million Musings comes from Pinterest alone. Ask any blogger what social media platform to focus on, and most of them will say Pinterest too.
If you want to make affiliate sales through this powerful social media platform and give your blog more exposure, then “How to Make Your First Affiliate Sale in 24 Hours” by Elisa McDowell will show you how. Here are some of the topics she covers:
-Affiliate marketing
-How to join Pinterest group boards
-Creating perfect pins
-Scheduling campaigns on Boardbooster
Krista’s ebook covers Pinterest strategies too, so you’re already in good hands. But if you want an additional resource to supplement your Pinterest knowledge, consider investing in Elisa’s ebook as well. It’s only 23 pages and she focuses primarily on affiliate marketing, as well as how to leverage Pinterest to make affiliate sales. She’ll show you how to set up your Pinterest profile for success and what to do on Boardbooster to automate your pinning strategy.
I made my first affiliate sale through Elisa’s book and was so amazed that it actually worked. However, I will say that making my first affiliate sale took much longer than 24 hours—only because I didn’t aggressively use her advice in the beginning. But if I had taken action on Elisa’s advice sooner, I’m pretty sure I would have made a sale within a week. So definitely implement the advice she gives you to gain a foundational understanding of how to get started on Pinterest.
You can use THIS LINK to purchase Elisa’s ebook.
Conclusion
If you don’t have a lot of time on your hands right now, then I highly recommend Krista’s and Elisa’s ebooks. You can easily read them in one sitting and—on top of that—only have to pay $25 each (even less if you take advantage of the Black Friday discount). And no, these aren’t the only blogging resources that I’ve paid for this year. I’ve read my fair share of books about blogging but honestly couldn’t recommend two better resources. You’ll be able to make back what you paid in no time and actually get a return on your investment. Furthermore, I’ve learned so many fundamental strategies from both ebooks and continue to use them as we speak.
That said, if you’re a beginner like me, the last thing you want to do is overwhelm yourself with information. Stick to a few resources that will get you where you want to go. And trust me, you won’t regret it! 🙂
2 responses to “The Best Resources to Start Marketing & Monetizing Your Blog”
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Welcome to AMM, a personal blog dedicated to multi-passionate creatives.
Great, great post. Making money overnight is not an attainable goal. It takes time and hard work. Setting up strategies that work for YOU + diversifying your income stream. I invested in both these books. Krista made me realize that it’s important to constantly restrategize. The second ebook I just literally purchased and started using boardbooster. Here’s to hoping these strategies work!
Nichole / thedailypursuit
Amen! One thing I’ve learned in my few months of blogging is that patience is key. You have to be intentional with the goals you set for yourself and work super hard to achieve them. And when you EARN what you worked for, the feeling is that much more rewarding. Thanks for the comment, Nichole! Good luck to both of us! 🙂