How To Build a Blog That Makes Money by Eric Allyn: A Book Review

Eric Allyn, author of Howto Build a Blog That Makes Money: The Ultimate Beginners Guide to Starting andProfiting from a Blog, has an impressive repertoire of experience.  Since 2008, he's built and made money from 50 different websites.

While most of us would just like to sit down, write blog posts and attract readers, it's not that easy.  Allyn stresses that research is essential before you decide what type of blog to start.  Then, he walks you through the steps to get a blog up and running.

The portion of the book that explains initial blog set up includes:

·         Creating Your Blog in Under 5 Minutes  (If the information he gives you in the book isn't enough, he recommends his other book, 30Minutes to a Wordpress Website.)

·         The Easiest Way to Design Your Blog, and

·         How to Come Up with Topics for Your Blog  (This section is important to a new blog owner.  Allen recommends four different types of posts:  How To and List Blog Posts, Evergreen Blog Posts, Case Studies, and A Series of Blog Posts.)

After the initial explanation of how to research and set up a blog, Allyn gets into the heart of the book.

Choosing a Method of Making Money with Your Blog

Allyn offers eight ways to make money with your blog.  Some of them are standard such as using Google AdSense and selling banner ads.  However, it's clear that Allyn feels the real money is in creating your own product.

He spends time explaining how to make money selling an eBook, selling a video course, selling physical products, and creating a paid forum.

Very few bloggers actually do these things with good reason.  Creating these types of materials is a lot of work, but the pay off can be significant.  Allyn recommends starting with an eBook first, and if that goes well, branching out to a video course.

4 Ways to Promote Your Blog

Of course, making money with your blog isn't easy if you don't have enough readers.  Allyn shares four ways to promote your blog including the standards--social media and SEO--but he also suggests less common ways such as using YouTube videos and using paid advertising.

In addition to the four methods he explains in depth, he also includes other methods such as commenting on other blogs and leaving comments in forums.

Setting Up Your Email Subscriber List

Allyn recommends that you create and utilize an email subscriber list to stay in contact with your readers and to help them recognize your brand, which builds trust and which also helps you when you try to sell them your own products or affiliate products.

In the last few pages of the book, Allyn briefly recaps everything he's written in the book.

Is This Book Right for You?

If you're are new to the blogging world or are new to trying to make money from your blog, this book will be very helpful to you.  At only $2.99, it's an affordable book, and you'll likely learn enough to make it worth the money spent.

If you've been blogging for some time and making money from your blog for awhile, you may not find this book as useful.  However, there may still be topics, such as how to create your own forum, that may be interesting.