Chapter 5. Selling Products or Services on Your Blog

In This Chapter

  • Selling products and services on a blog

  • Integrating your sales authentically

  • Measuring your results

  • Becoming a thought leader to support a business, brand, or book

You can use your blog to sell just about anything you could sell on a traditional Web site. The difference is that on your blog, you lead with your passion for your topic. Your posts share your expertise and opinions; any products you sell are a small part of the overall experience. At a typical e-commerce site, on the other hand, the products are the focus, and the experiences of customers, such as reviews and ratings, are secondary. Important, but secondary.

Keep in mind, however, that using your blog to sell products or services is more than simply tacking on a store. In this chapter, I cover the most common ways to sell products on your blog, the key considerations for each, how to integrate sales authentically, and how your thought leadership and expertise contribute to success.

Selling Products and Services

You've decided to sell products on your blog as part of your monetization strategy. Your next step is to answer these questions:

  • What are you selling? Are you selling your own product or service or someone else's? How many different products do you plan to sell?

  • Are you selling physical products that require inventory and shipping, electronic products like e-books or software, or professional services?

  • Where are you selling? Will you sell on your own store, ...

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