If you think the internet is a space for younger people who are more technologically savvy, think again. With the wealth of information available on the web, we think that the ability to blog and create a website transcends age. As long as you’re open to new challenges, it is possible to create mature blogs and earn a handsome income from sharing your wisdom and ideas.
Age is not the issue
When you look through social media and see more content created by and for millennials, it’s easy to mistakenly think that the landscape is dominated by younger generations. This doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s no space for older generations in this realm. Blogging knows no age or gender. If you’re into writing and creating content, it doesn’t matter how old you are. As long as you have great quality content and an awesome idea to share, there’s sure to be an audience for it.
With the internet becoming an indispensable part of our daily lives, it’s common for people to rely on it for information about virtually everything they can think of. Mothers turning to blogs and online communities for parenting advice, senior citizens looking for new hobbies to try in retirement, or middle-aged adults researching investment ideas - these are all potential audiences that you can target for mature content you intend to create. Where there is a blog, there’s sure to be a group of readers looking to consume the content. The trick is in creating the material that they will want to pay attention to.
It’s not as difficult as you think
With over 3 million users all over the world, Strikingly has seen a lot of different types of websites grow and achieve success mostly because of the hard work and sheer dedication of the people behind them. Strikingly's website-building tool is user-friendly and intuitive enough for even baby boomers to understand. We have simplified the website creation process to enable middle-aged and seniors to set up their own mature-blogs and create mature posts in a few minutes.
With Strikingly, you don’t have to learn how to write or read a programming language to build a website. You can now focus on writing mature posts that your target audience will enjoy reading. Read on to find how to make money with a blog.
How to establish a mature blog?
To be a mature blogger, you need to first build a brand around your blog. You need to be the go-to person when people want any information about your niche. Here are a few things to take care of, when you are starting your blog.
- Choose the name of your blog creatively. It has to reflect who you are and what your blog is going to offer. You can be a little quirky while naming your blog. But, don’t go for something that’s too unprofessional since people expect mature blogs to have earnest names.
- Once you have finalized the name of your blog, be sure to secure your domain name. You can buy your domain name from Strikingly at a very nominal rate. Also, make sure you get the right domain extension based on your target audience and niche.
- SSL certificate is a must-have for mature blogs. This will help you to gain your reader's trust, and also give you an edge in search engine ranking. With Strikingly, you can get SSL for free.
- Choose a pleasing design for your blog, that will attract your target audience. Strikingly has hundreds of templates that are suitable for mature blogs.
- Great user-experience is non-negotiable when it comes to mature blogs. Your site should load quickly, and it should be responsive to different devices such as desktop, mobile and tablet.
- SEO is essential for monetizing a blog. Though it's a vast subject, you can start with simple methods such as using the right keywords, featured snippets, and optimizing images.
- Monitor your site’s traffic regularly using Strikingly’s dashboard. Set realistic goals regarding your target traffic and work towards it. Choose a traffic source such as pinterest, quora, facebook etc., build your network, promote your site there and improve your traffic slowly and steadily. Remember, patience is a golden virtue when you want to make money blogging.
- Your readers are your backbone. Constantly connect with them by encouraging them to comment on your mature posts, replying to their comments, conducting polls on your social media page, and the like.
- Mature blogs are all about staying in the memory of your readers. so that next time when they want any information about your niche, they would naturally turn to your website. One way to achieve this is by collecting email addresses of users who visit your webpage and sending them regular emails. Make sure you don’t bombard your visitors with too many emails. One email in a week would be the perfect frequency to stay fresh in your customers’ memories while looking not so desperate. You can collect your audience’s email using the advanced pop up feature offered by Strikingly.
Turn your mature-blog into an income-generating side-hustle
Monetizing your blog allows you to earn an adequate income while doing the things you enjoy. All you need to do is to plan your content carefully and learn more about your target audience. By understanding the information needs of your readers, you will be able to serve them content that they will want to consume. This will translate to an increased potential for your blog to attract traffic and, in turn, generate income in a number of ways. Here are some tips on how to make money blogging.
- Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing continues to be one of the most effective ways to monetize mature blogs. This is particularly applicable to websites that are just starting out and do not have a product or service to sell. All you need to do is to write content according to the guidelines of a particular affiliate program. For instance, if you have a parenting blog, you might want to sell affiliate educational toys, books, or children’s vitamins. There are a lot of affiliate programs that you can participate in but the idea is to choose a product or service that you are particularly confident about in order to create honest content that your audience will appreciate.
- Paid ads
Google Adwords is another way to earn passive income while blogging. By adding Adsense into your Strikingly website, you are allowing Google to post targeted ads on your site for visitors to see. This is basically like selling billboard space or ad space on your site and earning a profit from clicks.
With that being said, your mature blog should attract a significant amount of traffic to be able to earn a profit from Google Adsense. To display paid ads on your site, you need to sign up for a Google Adsense account, add the script to your website and wait for the ads to show up. You don’t have much control over the ads that will be displayed on your pages but they are most likely related to the content that you are making.
- Product reviews
Once you have built a significant follower base, you can also earn money from doing product reviews or sponsored posts. Just like affiliate marketing, it is highly recommended that you agree to sponsorships from products and brands that you trust and that which you can also recommend to your audience. You are at risk of losing credibility if you do product reviews for the sole purpose of earning a profit out of your readers.
- Create an ebook or teach a course
Another way to monetize your mature blog is to create gated content such as an ebook or an online course. For example, if your blog targets parents with young children, you might want to create an ebook that is relevant to them - a parenting book or a book on Montessori activities for toddlers. You might also want to create member’s only content through Strikingly’s membership feature. Add exclusive video tutorials on raising plants, potty training, cooking, stocks trading or any other subject that might interest your audience.
How to attract brands to your mature blog?
To successfully make money blogging, you need to be visible to brands. Establishing a mature blog takes a lot of hard work. But, your blog will be ready for monetization only when brands start recognizing your influence on the audience. There are a few easy tricks to make yourself familiar with brands who might be looking for mature blogs like yours.
- Be active on social media
Share your mature blogs on a variety of social media platforms like facebook, twitter, instagram, quora and linkedin. When you share your mature posts, don’t forget to tag related brands. For example, if you are writing about biking, you can tag a few popular bike brands.
- Respond to posts put out by brands
As much as it is important to share your blog with the world, it is equally important to interact with other posts. Don’t be passive by just liking. You need to actively share and comment and interact with brands to make your presence known. When you approach a brand for collaboration, you are more likely to win a deal when they are already familiar with you on social media.
- Add a ‘work with me’ page in your blog
Once you have made your value known to brands, they may want to approach you. Give them a proper channel to contact you, by adding a ‘work with me’ page to your blogging website. This page should list all types of services and collaborations that you offer to do.
- Don’t be shy to approach brands
Sometimes, it is possible that even after establishing the presence of your mature blog in all possible channels, brands are not approaching you. This is more likely to happen when you are just starting your blogging journey. Don’t lose hope! You can always make the first move and send out pitches to brands who you think may be interested in working with you. Keep a media kit handy, that will list out all your important works. Send it to brands who are already working with other bloggers like you, rather than someone who hasn’t worked with bloggers in the past. This will improve your chances of striking a deal.
It’s never too late to make money blogging. Create a mature blog with Strikingly today.
