Making an income from blogging...

Hi all,

I've tried to follow my passion in recent years (which lies in cars) and have established 2 businesses in that time.

1. An automotive importing business

This business was established in January 2015 and led to me importing 9 cars on behalf of clients in calendar year 2015. The business has died down this year and I have not imported a car yet (though I did have a potential client but he found a car locally)

2. An automotive blog relating to imported sports/exotic vehicles

I see this as a supplement to the importing business or maybe more. It's easier for people to consume content then it is for them to consume goods, however I feel like I may have restricted myself on just the one topic.

I am currently trying to monetize this blog right now through Google Adsense. Yes it's made me a few $$$ but I don't see myself becoming a millionaire from Adsense.

I am considering going down the e-Book route & creating an e-book for a few dollars in this space.. I am considering a few topics at current and wanted to get insights from those who have published a e-book prior

Thoughts on other forms of monetization for the blog would be greatly appreciated.

 

Youtube?

I recall seeing a youtube video of an Aussie living in Japan who was finding cars and exporting.

 

You should have a Terry_w channel.

 

On top of my head

YouTube (to get ad revenue)
Courses (video courses/ content)
Restricted content (access by membership)
Sell affiliate products (if relevant)

 

Actually I would say that one of the best ways to make money from a blog is to focus on one topic. You essentially want to become an authority site and be "seen" as the go to place for your unique content.

With great unique content, you will start to grow in rankings and traffic. Things like adsense (10 cents a click) add up very quickly.

 

The most important step is to make sure you have something valuable to say - the rest will fall into place

 

Depends if your ebook would have something of value that people will pay for. You may be able to sell a car buying guide of some sort but otherwise the car field is more for entertainment. Correct me if I am wrong.

To make decent money you need an audience though. You can build up a large following on Instagram organically which is an option.

Otherwise the best platform to work with is YouTube. If you have good content you will get known and if you have the time you can collaborate with other influencers in the field to boost your brand as well.
Check out Mr JWW on YouTube. He has only been around for 6 months and has a high view to subscriber ratio as an example of good content and collaboration.

This way you can receive revenue from views and will also open up revenue from sponsors that want to reach your audience if it is big enough.

 

^^^^^^
This
and build an audience

 

Consider also creating a small e-book to give away for free in exchange for an email address. I.e. the person has to subscribe to your blog to get the e-book sent to them. It'd essentially be a marketing tool to drive audience growth. And e-books are quite easy to produce these days.

 

I'm married to a car addict and he does watch a lot of car vids on youtube. Often it is some guys doing a modification to a something and they talk it through as it goes along.
With your clients permission you could do a review of each car that is imported and put it up with a driving video (even if it's the owner driving) and video of the car when it arrives showing EVERYTHING.
You could also consider importing half cuts which is popular with those who want to do up their machine with an imported engine and driveshaft.

 

I've been blogging for around 5 years now about new houses (anewhouse,com.au) and look at it as a hobby that makes me some extra money.

Currently I get around 11,000 visits a month which has grown fairly evenly over the period that I have been running the blog

My experience has been:

• Google Adsense basically covers my running costs; Hosting, security etc around around $500-$600 per year. (because many of the product that link are expensive I get quite a high rate per click)
• Paid Guest Posts earn around $1200 this has probably doubled over the past year as the site gets more visitors it becomes more attractive. I could probably get more guest posts if ai lowered my rates.
• E books. I sell around $1000 E Books at $4. each which makes me approx $3.70.

At the moment I just rely on search and don't advertise although I plan to give facebook advertising a go later this year.

 

Looks very Whitty Brian - scream house, made me laugh.

What is the overall aim of your blogs?

 

I might start a blog on Mt Druitt in a few years time when, hopefully, the next generation of bogans are computer literate.

 

I started the blog to keep my mind active when I went from a high pressure job to a low pressure job.

The initial idea was just to record the many lessons I have learned over my lifelong interest in domestic buildings. (including having three new houses built). . . . I thought someone may find them useful and avoid the same mistakes.

As reader numbers grew I started to see a couple of ways of making a small income.

Selling the books becomes a bit addictive each time I sell a book (average 3 times a day) I get an Email which is a little boost to my day. (It's nice when someone likes your post on a forum, but it's even better when someone likes what you do enough to pay $4 for a book)

The 'What The . . . .' section is a bit of fun as posting a couple of times a week you can't be serious all the time.

 

It's hard to make a living with content online if you're a man. If you're a woman on the other hand...

 

Don't let your gender be a disability.
Yes you can there are lots of bloggers who have a penis and they don't let it get in the way of their creativity.

 

I know nothing about blogging but one of my truly good friends was one of the biggest japanese car importers to aus during 05-10ish, he imported for jspec as well, laws changed and it got very difficult

he now moves "supercars" around the globe, some of the stock ive seen him move, ive never even heard of. eg ferrari, the "la ferrari", F50 (I only knew of an F40)
but if you can get into that market, its ridiculous!

good luck

 

Sounds like your hubby is a fan of MightyCarMods. I've met the guys at a meet a few years ago (just before the meets got huge and sponsored).
Good friendly genuine people.

 

@Truly Exotic please tell me your friend is hiring! I'd love to work with him!