How I Made $250 in 2 Hours
Yes, folks, I did (and you can too). I’m going to tell you how I made $250 in 2 hours. It’s really quite simple and easy. First things first though. You will need a website/blog if you want to do what I did.
Things Needed to get your Website Going
You should always self-host and own your own blog. By that, I mean owning your own servers and URL. Therefore you won’t want to use Blogger or any of those type of hosting companies where part or all of their company name is in your URL name (your domain). I recommend Siteground for hosting.
Why I recommend SiteGround:
- It’s affordable, if not one of the most affordable hosting solutions out there that’s of good quality. It costs about $3.95 a month
- It’s one of the most popular and common hosting provider used by tons of bloggers. Therefore if you need help or have a question about Siteground, more than likely your fellow bloggers can help you out. So you have the extra support of Siteground’s team and bloggers!
- 1-click WordPress Installation makes it simple
- 30-day money back guarantee – no risk!
No service provider is perfect, but I can honestly say I’ve never had one problem with Siteground and they’ve always been fast and very responsive to any questions or issues. They are one of the better providers with a good solid and proven track record.
Sponsorship
Now that we’ve established what’s needed, onto the heart of the matter! Have you heard of Izea? Izea is a site that connects bloggers with brands. It’s a sponsorship marketplace. There are others, but Izea is one of my favorites. You’ll find sponsored post opportunities there, along with chances to get paid for tweeting or using other social media platforms to promote brands. A sponsored post is when an advertiser asks you to write a review about their product or service and post it on your website and pays you for doing so.
Most paid posts will earn you anywhere from $15 to $400 per post. The more traffic you have, the more money you make, so working on your traffic and social media platforms is a must. Findings these opportunities can be challenging if you’re not well-known. That’s why I love platforms like Izea and others. They are looking out for the “little guy” and give opportunities for those not established yet to be heard. Just because your blog hasn’t been around for a long time or isn’t as popular, does not mean you should be punished for it. Most bloggers have wonderful information to share if only given a chance.
What you do is sign up and create your profile, linking to all of your blogs and social media accounts. This allows potential sponsors and advertisers to see what your online presence looks like. By choosing tags and categories for your profiles, you will see opportunities that correspond to your niche. You can bid on opportunities based on the client’s minimum and maximum price, and you can write a short pitch to grab the client’s attention. After you bid an offer you like, you should wait for the advertiser to approve it, if they accept it, you will be notified via email.
IZEA offers website posts, sponsored tweets, branded Instagram, and Facebook posts. They offer three levels of membership. The free plan allows you to bid on 5 opportunities per month. This is more than enough for you to make $250. Just choose a sponsored post that offers at least that much. I’ve seen some sponsors post with an offering of $400. The requirements are not difficult to abide by, and the word count requirements aren’t anything too time-consuming.
For instance, one such opportunity I saw was for 800 words, wanted you to hit 3 keys points, and you had to post it on 2 social media accounts. It paid $395. Not hard at all. If you’re a fairly decent writer you can whip out an 800-word blog post in 2 hours. Even if it takes you a bit longer to write, and say it took you 4 hours to write a post, that’s still about $60 an hour. If you take on 1 gig a week although it won’t make you rich, it’s still a nice chunk of money!
Sponsored posts are definitely something every blogger should look into.
For most bloggers that have various affiliate income streams, the free plan might be enough for you. But if you’re really ambitious and want more opportunities you might consider one of the paid plans which is very reasonable. See below for what I’m talking about.
Tips for Getting Sponsors
Go ahead and bid on the maximum price they offer if you feel you’re worth it! You know what you have to offer. Just keep in mind that you should consider your social media stats and reach when bidding. So for instance, if you’re just starting out and you don’t have a lot of followers yet, you may want to bid a lower amount to test the waters. Making some money is better than no money at all right? Plus, you’ll gain the experience and learn what to expect as well. Once clients see your work and what you’re made of, you’ll start getting more opportunities.
Make sure that your profile is fully set up. There will be a section for your demographics, topics you cover, target audience and asking price. I’d leave the asking price blank until you’re more established. This way you are showing the company that you’re flexible with a pay scale and don’t have a set price. You can also enter your own tags for each of your social profiles. There is no limit to the number of tags you can add, so I suggest adding everything you can think of that pertains to your site. Don’t add topics just to add them though. You want to get opportunities that you actually have knowledge about, enjoy writing about, and that fit your niche. Your readers will get confused and won’t want to read about topics unrelated to what your website is about. It’s ok to periodically write a post on something that may not be totally related, but do not go too far out of your realm. Once your profile is set up you can start bidding. It may take a while to start getting bids or offers sent to you, but be patient and diligent. Your hard work will start paying off.
Some thoughts to keep in mind as you write these gigs are to not lose your voice and to remember your audience. Do not stray from your core values or write fake posts. Your audience will notice and you’ll start losing subscribers. Your priority is always to your audience. Also, be sure to make sure you’re available to actually do post. Sometimes you get a lot of time to do post, and sometimes they ask you to do them quickly. I remember getting asked to write a post in 3 hours! Fortunately, I had the free time. However, normally I don’t take on those types of opportunities. But if you have the time go for it! The company will usually offer you either more money or an instant payment, so it’s well worth it.
If you are interested in working with IZEA, I encourage you to sign up. It can be a great new revenue stream for you.