How I Earned £250 from my Blog Last Month
One of the London Bloggers Meetup members Catherine Redfern asked if she could write a guest post describing how she makes money from her blog.
Given this is a topic that often gets attention from you all, we’re sharing her detailed post in full. We hope you find it valuable.
Over to you Catherine…
Here’s a ‘behind the scenes’, step-by-step account of how I launched a ‘passive income’ e-product on www.londonhiker.com that earned £250 in its first month.
I should mention I was on holiday for two weeks during that time, in a cottage with no internet access (yes, really!).
I’ve tried to make this as helpful as possible, and share resources I’ve found helpful along the way.
1. The idea
“What topic do you know about, even slightly more than someone else?”
This question, proposed by ‘make a living from what you love’ books like Be a Free Range Human and Screw Work Let’s Play, prompted me to think.
Well (amongst other things), I’m someone who loves hiking who lives in London.
Whilst the walks around London can be nice, I missed the hills, mountains and moorlands; so for many years I’ve been taking weekend trips to the best walking areas in the UK, all by public transport.
I’d head out on a Friday evening after work to a remote country spot that evening, do some hiking on Saturday and Sunday and be back in my own bed on Sunday night.
I set up londonhiker.com in 2011 to talk about this topic and hopefully inspire others to, as I put it, ‘satify your hill walking cravings’.
Slowly my website became the No.1 site on Google for a search of London + hiking.
2. What is the value of your knowledge?
I realised I have tons of knowledge from years of doing these weekends and researching all the details: travel, accommodation, routes, food options, facilities, and so on.
I worked out the value of my knowledge to someone with less experience than me. To research, say, ten hiking weekends from scratch would take about 50 hours. I worked out how much 50 hours of my time is worth (based on my salary) and was stunned. I calculated they’d also have to spend about £50 on various hiking guidebooks.
I thought back to how I felt when the itch to escape the city really started to hit. Maybe someone at that stage would really appreciate some help?
3. Prototype it, and then do it.
So I started.
First I developed two prototype guides and sent them to my mailing list as a freebie.
Then I really knuckled down and three months, 40,000 words and 240 pages later, it was done (did I mention I was looking after a small baby at the time too?).
Years of carefully indexing my photos on Flickr like the nerd I am proved invaluable as I quickly searched for pics to illustrate my guides.
I decided to sell the 10 guides as a package and called it The Escape London Adventure Pack.
4. Set up systems
I’d become familiar with the world of digital products through my own voracious consumption of many in the ‘earn money from your passions’ genre.
In particular, the idea of ‘passive income’ really appealed to my inner systems geek, and reading superb examples from people like Pat Flynn and Leonie Dawson convinced me that this was the way to go.
I’d experimented last year with by making a printable planner on my personal blog. I placed a monthly advert with an arty member site, and left it rolling. Money came in, and the systems worked.
So I did the same with the hiking guides. They are delivered automatically in a zip file via ejunkie.com (you pay a small monthly fee).
This is connected to my paypal account.
It is all automated; I don’t have to be there when a sale goes through; and I think that is freaking awesome.
5. Develop promotional material
The next step was to work out the promotional material. Videos have been really influential in any e-products I have purchased myself, so I spent a long time editing a video together that I hoped would get people excited about the guides.
Next I had to write my ‘sales page‘. Again, I took advice from ‘online business’ gurus like Marie Forleo to write this.
I got testimonials using a system advised by Jenny Shih and put them up too.
6. Launching
I posted a blog about it, offering a launch discount which would expire after a week, and tweeted it out.
I emailed my existing list members, offering them a lower discount, since they’d already received two prototype guides already.
I decided to have an ongoing discount for new list members.
I set up a survey to get feedback from buyers (which if positive, could be used for more testimonials).
And I asked all my friends to share it with their friends.
7. Word of mouth
I also informed Marianne Cantwell, whose course I took, of my new product, thanking her for her help.
The next day she posted a case study about me, and emailed it to all of her list members!
Then I went on holiday for two weeks, to a cottage with no internet access.
As you do.
8. Delight and surprise the buyer
Many online business folks – especially Marie Forleo – say this is key. So whilst I was on holiday, I racked my brains about how I could do this.
I happened to be in Ambleside, home to a hundred outdoor shops. I decided to buy a surprise bonus gift of survival blankets, packs of whistles, and Kendal Mint Cake for my buyers and post it to them with a handwritten note, wrapped up like a present.
I also filmed a short ‘thank you’ video on a hill in the Lake District and updated my thank you page for buyers.
9. Rocking an affiliate scheme
As soon as I got home, my next action was to set up an affiliate scheme.
You’ll probably be familiar with the Amazon affiliate scheme, which generates a few pennies or if you’re very lucky, a few pounds.
In the e-product world, affiliate rates are much more generous. Most I have seen give 50%. For people who have audiences who would genuinely find the product useful, for the buyer and for the creator, it is a win-win-win situation.
I learned about this from Leonie Dawson, who is the queen of how to rock an affiliate scheme. If you want to see how in depth she goes, check out her affiliate centre and be astounded.
I then started to – nervously – approach folks who I thought might have audiences who would genuinely find this interesting and useful.
And that’s where I am today.
It’s been hard work, but a really fun process so far.
Honestly? If I can do it, so can you.
About the author: Catherine Redfern manages http://www.londonhiker.com and lives in Merton.
These are really useful Catherine. Thanks for sharing x
I agree with Karen, a really useful breakdown of how you started to make money from your blog. Thanks for sharing this with us Catherine.
Andy
Thanks it was my pleasure! Hope people find it useful.
I find these tips very useful, even though I am going to run a corporate blog for a cleaning company in London. Of course, we are not about making profit from it, but these guidelines will certainly help. I have so many ideas already. So considering point 2, a representative of a cleaning company should be able to share valuable knowledge on effective cleaning practices, time-saving, and other not-so-popular practices learnt on the go.
Best regards,
Daniel
Star Domestic Cleaners London
Hi Catherine, thanks for sharing, the article lays out the steps very well.
I see you follow Marie, she has some fantastic tips.
I like your post as you make no great claims about making millions. It’s about good old hard work. I admire your candidness and you have inspired me to crack on!
Nina