Bloggers can make money by supporting local business! This is a very interesting topic, and I am sure as bloggers you’ve thought about it at some point in time. Some of you might already be working on it. I have.
And trust me, it is taking care of a lot of my expenses since my blog has made me money by supporting local business.
Local business, be it a restaurant or a retail store, usually, don’t have deep pockets to invest in expensive TV commercials that involve some well-known celebrities endorsing it. These local businesses often depend on other forms of advertising.
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How Bloggers Can Make Money by Supporting Local Business
This is where bloggers like you and I come in — Bloggers can make money by supporting local business!
I have approached local business in my state which is within my niche (Food and Food-related businesses) and shot them a brief mail/call/SMS with a link to my blog and a small note requesting them to check it out. I’ve called them back the next day and asked them if they’ve had a chance to check out my blog? About 70% replied that they had checked it out and about 30% promised to do it over the weekend or sometime soon when they had time and access to the internet.
Immediately my focus turned to the 70% who had seen my link because as I see it, they understood the importance of the Internet. The 30% who had not checked out my blog link either did not have much knowledge about the power of the Internet or were happy with what they already had in their advertising tool-kit.
How I’ve Made Money by Supporting Local Business
I approached that 70 % of interested businesses by explaining how I could support them and help them gain more viewers, and in turn more customers. I also explained to them my pricing plans and offered them various options on my Blog for static advertisements and separate pricing for sponsored blog posts.
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I let them sleep on my ideas. I expected to have a good number of calls back from these local businesses who wanted me to write up a product review or other sponsored content, visit their restaurant and write a post about it and so on.
As the calls started coming in, I carefully made notes on my monthly calendar and allocate time to these, keeping in mind that I would put up a post at least once a week to keep my Google and Alexa ranks healthy. Once that was done, I visited these local businesses as per our agreed upon plan, gave them my feedback and wrote a blog post promoting their product or business.
Working With Businesses Beyond Your Niche
Bloggers can make money by supporting local business! I found that once supporting local business became a practice for me, others related to my niche and outside my niche area started approaching me.
This is the time when I had to make an intelligent call whether to stick to my own niche and take up to helping local businesses or move out of your comfort zone and tap into other niches too. All would reward me commercially thus paving the way for newer avenues of revenue earning.
Don’t Forget to Keep a Balanced Blog
Bloggers can make money by supporting local businesses, but you shouldn’t forget to maintain a balanced blog.
To date, 70% of the blog posts which I write are for local businesses around me and are paid. I have used the other 30% of my posts to balance out my blog and keep my identity as a Food Blogger intact. Hence, I keep posting new recipes so as to keep my loyal readers engaged.
Of course, this percentage can vary for you depending on what and how much interaction you are getting from local businesses. I would suggest you keep a minimum of 30% of your blog posts for yourself (not sponsored) so that the reader base you already have, can’t stop reading what they love and keeps coming back. Then when they return you will other great opportunities to introduce them to new local businesses.
After all, we are all here because of our readers, aren’t we? So what are you waiting for? Your readers want to learn about the local business you support!
Till next time! Utpal Khot
Check out my blog — http://fashionablefoodz.com
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