A different way to monetize your blog
If you listen to my monthly Blog Talk Radio show you will be familiar with my friend Steve Roye who usually co-hosts with me to keep me from talking techno geek. Steve has been on line for quite a few years and his main business is in the comedy niche.
Well Steve has been expanding his business to show other artists such as comedians, musicians and the like how to use the internet. One of the things that he spent a lot of time on was how to sell products easily and cheaply for these people.
He was using a paid content system on his one blog to sell individual articles at a small fee but the system cost a bit more than most of his readers would want to invest.
After much trial and error he found a way to do that with WordPress using a free plugin. There was a problem though.
The plugin he found worked quite well but had really poor ratings because the documentation sucked and the settings could only be done in Firefox. Thus the plugin got panned and never became popular despite the fact that it was ideal for selling
- Short reports
- Audios
- Videos
direct from any WordPress blog.
Now there are some downsides like you can’t have an affiliate program but for most people starting out this could be an excellent way to deliver products direct from your blog.
Check out Turn Blog Posts Into Pay For Access
I love when someone puts a new spin on something and this can be a great way to monetize your blog. The report was easy to follow and made adding content with a payment for access very easy.
Definitely has me thinking of ways to apply this to my business so don’t be surprised if you start finding paid access content here once in a while.
Check it out then stop back and let me know what you think of it. You can see it in action right on that post.
Mike Paetzold
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Disclaimer: Some of the links mentioned within this post or posts it may lead to are my affiliate links and in such case I will get compensated for recommending those products. However, I will never recommend something that I don’t personally believe in and I welcome your questions and feedback.
12 comments
Ron Barrett on May 1, 2009 at 7:41 am
Mike, this looks like a great tool I can use on another of my sites.
Thanks for the information.
Ron
[Reply]
Brett McEllhiney on May 1, 2009 at 7:42 am
Looks very interesting Mike.
I am going to have to check this one out. Also like the way that you have to sign in to get the important info. If I remember right he has another blog where he does this as well.
Thanks again for pointing this out. Could be very useful!
[Reply]
Doug Champigny
Twitter: Mentoring4U
on May 1, 2009 at 7:53 am
Another great plugin, Mike – the more ways you can find to sell your products online, the sooner you can focus on driving targeted traffic to those sites and relax to the ka-ching of the cash register!
[Reply]
Steve Roye on May 1, 2009 at 8:25 am
Mike, thanks for the article. I really think this plugin can “level the playing field” for the new blog owner who wants to get into selling digital products of any kind.
[Reply]
Luca
Twitter: rsonline
on May 1, 2009 at 8:42 am
Hey Mike,
Thanks for the free WP Paypal plugin info and for another great blog to read.
One quick question. I noticed that you need to register to the blog. Are there any security issues.
Thanks again,
Luca
[Reply]
Mike Reply:
May 1st, 2009 at 8:48 am
Not sure what you mean by security issues with registering?
[Reply]
Earl Netwal
Twitter: EarlNetwal
on May 1, 2009 at 10:22 am
Wow this looks like a winner. Will add to my to do list for today.
[Reply]
Joel Osborne
Twitter: JoelOsborne
on May 1, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Looks like a great idea. I’ve often thought of this and wondered how it can be used in my business, it is a great added way to make a few more sales.
[Reply]
Andre Arnett on May 2, 2009 at 4:18 am
Looks like a very interesting product Mike. Will have to spend some time taking a look at it Thanks for sharing.
[Reply]
Fred Lotgering on May 2, 2009 at 9:24 am
Interesting Mike.
Is FireFox still required? It wasn’t mentioned on the description page.
Fred
[Reply]
Mike Reply:
May 2nd, 2009 at 9:54 am
I believe Firefox is needed when configuring the plugin. As I used it and did not try IE can’t tell you if it is still a problem but Firefox works on it.
[Reply]
Lonnie Minton on May 5, 2009 at 9:58 am
Mike, Thanks for this info on a different way to monetize your blog. I will definitely be checking this out very soon. It looks like a great plugin.
[Reply]