A blog is a great way to grow an income, but it doesn’t happen overnight. Many bloggers start their blog with the expectation that they can make money fast, but although it’s possible, most of the time - it takes time. If you feel as though your blog isn't growing fast enough, you are in the majority! It almost always feels like that at the beginning.

There are some important first steps that you need to accomplish that can jumpstart your blog monetization process.

1. Grow Your Subscriber List

One of the most vital assets to a money-making blog is a subscriber list. You need a growing list of engaged subscribers in order to have the audience to monetize.

You can read more about growing your subscriber list in my post, 5 Must Haves to Grow Your Subscriber List with Engaged Subscribers

You own your subscriber list. These are your people, your tribe and they want what you have to offer. That is why they subscribed.

As you grow your subscriber list, you are growing your opportunity to monetize your blog.

I started with MailChimp, but switched to Convertkit soon after. I love the platform and structure of Convertkit. They have helped me grow my list tremendously since I joined.

2. Grow Your Pinterest

Pinterest has been one of my top sources of traffic for years only recently topped by the SEO I’ve implemented on my site over the past few months.

There are so many amazing resources to grow your Pinterest and I encourage you to go through a course or two.

**I will be creating a free resource on growing your Pinterest in the next few weeks, so be on the lookout for that!

It takes time to grow your Pinterest, but as you do, you’ll notice an increasing stream of traffic. This traffic is essential and can be converted to both subscribers or customers.

3. Increase Your Page Views

To increase your page views, it is important to create consistent content and find places to share that content. You can share your posts in Facebook groups, on Pinterest, in Link-ups and on your social media platforms.

As you grow your social media accounts and work on your SEO and Pinterest accounts, you will notice your page views climbing.

But be careful not to focus more on page views than on quality of content. It’s better to have few views of raving fans than to have tons of views from people who don’t really care what you have to say!

4. Add Consistent Free Resources

You’ve probably heard about creating an opt-in. Whether it’s an ebook, worksheet, workbook, free course or printable, people will want powerful resources and they’ll love when you offer them for free.

The more quality resources that you have to offer, the more subscribers you will gain. You can focus on a specific free resource and continually add quality to it and spread the word, or you can add a growing list of resources for your subscribers.

Often times you can use these resources as lead magnets for your products. In fact, you should create a free resource that builds up to each of your products or offerings.

5. Post Great Content Regularly

This is one of the most important parts of growing a blog that you can monetize.

Your readers and audience are looking for quality content that can help them with their most pressing problems. This is your chance to gain their trust, help them grow and spark a desire for more.

When you consistently post good content, you will have your audience coming back for more.

6. Guest Post As Often As Possible

In order to continue to grow, you need to get your blog out there and you need to increase the authority and trust in your blog.

You can do this by finding places to guest post. This will introduce your blog to another well-developed audience and it will also increase the amount of backlinks to your own site.

Guest posting also allows you the opportunity to network and connect with other bloggers which is always a good thing.

As you work to do each of these 6 steps, you will see your blog grow and the possibility to monetize will grow with it.

Don’t rush too quickly into creating a course or product or throwing out affiliate links, that you skip growing your blog with an engaged and quality audience.

Growing your audience’s trust is one of the most important parts of having a blog that is ready to monetize.

How have you implemented these steps in the beginning of your monetization and blog growth strategy?