Keep Busy & Earn Money At The Same Time! – You have the knowledge, you have the time to spare – blogging for seniors can convert this into more money for retirement.
1 – Introduction
How much money can seniors make blogging?
Would you believe you can make a full-time income, possibly more than you’ve ever made from a regular job? You have a lifetime of stories, information, funny anecdotes, and the ability to research and learn new things… you’re far more advanced in knowledge than the typical 20 year old… yet there are 20 year old’s earning full-time incomes by simply marketing affiliate products online.
The one thing you must have however, is patience – as earning money blogging will take at least a year of typing and posting, before you ever see a dime. Familiar with the famous climate hockey stick? Blogging income has much in common with that graph… flat for a long time, then suddenly takes a sharp upward climb.
As long as you can understand that your blogging efforts will seem to go no-where for approximately 8-12 months, then your expectations won’t let you fail.
What are some ways to monetize a blog?
Amazon Associate Program
The easiest way by far is to refer people to Amazon for products you like and use. People often need little more than the knowledge that someone else was happy with a product to buy it themselves. No-one likes to buy a lemon – and when someone else is explaining why they like a product, the possiblity that others will also buy is greatly increased.
Amazon makes it easy to join their Associate program, and all you need to do on your website is to explain why YOU liked the product, and give your reader a link to click. Amazon actually has a 24 hour “cookie” – so if someone clicks through to Amazon from your website, you’ll get commissions on ANYTHING they purchase during the next 24 hours.
Keep in mind that it’s just as easy to sell a $5.99 book as it is to sell a $1,000 big screen TV, the work you do is the same… the post you write will be just as long and detailed… but the commission you earn is clearly much better with the big screen TV.
Amazon commissions range from 0-20% – with most items ranging around 2%-4%
Google Adsense
Google will happily pay you for the traffic that comes to your site – this is a way of earning money once your website is getting hundreds or thousands of people coming to it. They will place ads on your site, then pay you a percentage of what those ads earn. Rare indeed is the website with no ads at all!
Ebooks, Reports, Software…
Downloadable products are the best way to earn money – as commissions can range up to 100%. The most famous location for downloadable products is Clickbank, but there are many others online as well. The quality can range from absolutely scammy to tremendously valuable – so it pays to look around and find good reviews. By far the best, of course, is to buy a product you’re considering selling – this allows you to make the most compelling case to your readers that they need this product!
What are the challenges of blogging for seniors?
This would largely depend on your age – if you’re in your 60’s, as I am, you’ve largely grown up with computers & the Internet – and shouldn’t have too much of a problem putting together your own website blog. My own parents have never owned a computer – and wouldn’t have the foggiest notion of how to use it.
So the range of challenges for seniors who’d like to earn extra money blogging varies quite widely. Only you can decide whether or not this is for you.
2 – How To Start A Blog That Makes Money
Choose a profitable niche.
I recommend only two – the Health/Fitness niche, and the Finance/Make Money Online niche. Both are ‘evergreen’ (a niche that will always be in demand), and have an extremely huge customer base of potential buyers.
“Evergreen” is important – you can write the worlds most authoritative blog on the World Series, and next year, no-one cares… The news niche is one of the best examples of a niche that is NOT evergreen.
But people make money writing about nearly everything under the sun. If you’re creative, and love to write things that others will enjoy reading, then you have the basis for earning a side income online.
Write high-quality content.
Writing high quality content is becoming far easier for seniors for two important reasons:
- We’ve lived a long life, and learned a lot. We have a lot to say, and we know how to say it!
- Artificial Intelligence. AI has recently been making the news, and is easily accessible now. Indeed, THIS VERY POST was written with the help of Google Bard – I asked Bard to “write the outline of a post about seniors blogging for extra income” – and then I merely started filling it in. Any topic I don’t know about – I can quickly research with the help of Google or AI engines. I also use AI to create the graphics that I use on this website.
High quality content is something you instinctively spot – I’m sure you’ve gone to websites that appear “fluffy” – not giving you the detailed information you were looking for… people aren’t going to stick around and see your affiliate products if your content is boring & lightweight.
Promote your blog effectively.
Social media is an effective tool for promoting your blog. It allows you to share your posts on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Additionally social media can help you connect with other bloggers in your niche and promote each others’ work.
Email marketing is another valuable strategy to stay connected with your readers and promote new blog posts. Building an email list can be accomplished through your blogs signup form or by offering incentives like a free ebook or newsletter.
Guest blogging is a fantastic way to gain exposure for your blog and build backlinks to your site. By writing a post for another blog in your niche. You can include a link to your own blog in the author bio.
Promoting your blog on other websites such as forums, directories, and social bookmarking sites is also recommended. Be sure to include links to both your homepage and latest blog posts for increased visibility.
Running contests and giveaways is an effective method of attracting new readers. By asking participants to subscribe to your email list or share your blog posts on social media you can increase engagement.
Paid advertising is another option if you wish to reach a broader audience. Platforms like Google AdWords or Facebook Ads allow you to target ads specifically towards individuals interested in the topics you write about. This can be useful only if the money you spend is less than the money you make, of course!
Monetize your blog through advertising, affiliate marketing, or selling products or services.
Once you have traffic coming to you from regular posting, it’s time to monetize your traffic with one of the methods listed previously. When you can get people’s attention – you can always turn that attention into money. This is what advertising is all about – get someone’s attention, then convince them to buy something.
Keep in mind that this is not an “I win, you lose” proposition – when you sell a blog reader on the solution to his problem, you both win. Blogging for seniors is particularly easy – as you have a lifetime of experience, knowledge, and skill to bring to the table.
3 – Tips For Seniors Blogging For Extra Income
Be patient. It takes time to build a successful blog that makes money. Don’t give up. If you’re passionate about your blog, keep writing and promoting it, and you’ll eventually start to see results. It’s quite normal for results, i.e. money – not to start coming in until about 8-12 months after you begin. It takes that length of time for Google to index your content high enough in the SERPS (Search Engine Result Pages) to start having a reasonable flow of traffic.
Remember the ‘Hockey Stick’ graph – it seems like nothing is happening on your blog for months, then suddenly you’ll find yourself with plenty of traffic, and ad revenue coming in!
To get started, pick a niche, buy a hosting plan, put together a WordPress website, and start writing. Anything you don’t know is just a Google search away. And if you get into trouble, check with your kids or grandkids – they can probably help you – they certainly grew up in a computerized world!
Don’t worry about monetizing your website when you first start – your only goal in the beginning is to write… write… write… write… It’s not difficult, you’ve probably been doing it in one form or another all your life – teaching and communicating.
Six months from now – when you’re starting to see traffic come to your website – come back here and learn how to monetize your traffic.
Artificial Intelligence – Use it! Simple search for AI tools, and you’ll find many of them. I use AI to ‘outline’ my ideas for posts, and I use another AI tool to create the graphics that you see. It makes life simple for me, and I’m all in favor of all the help I can get! What about you?
Blogging For Seniors Conclusion
Blogging can be a great way for seniors to make extra income, but it’s important to be realistic about your expectations. It takes time and effort to build a successful blog, but it can be a rewarding experience.
If you’re a senior with just your Social Security to retire on – blogging for seniors can be a means to live a more care-free life in retirement – it not only gives you things to do – but rewards you with money to spend.
But be careful – you’re certainly old enough to know that there’s no such thing as a free lunch… if people try to sell you on money making schemes online that promise thousands of dollars next week – it’s a scam.
If earning extra income through blogging were so easy – everyone would be doing it – it DOES take some time and effort – figure to budget at least 8 hours a week to creating and maintaining a blog. Keep in mind that you only have to write a post once – then reap the benefits of that post for years to come.
I generally set aside Saturday as my blog “work day,” and one or two hours during the week when I find some time. (As I write this, it’s 2pm on a Saturday!) Knowing that I won’t see measurable results for months to come, I’m not worried or stressed. I can simply work towards my goal. Currently, I post one article a week, and I’m considering upping that to two articles each week – but who knows? I’m in no hurry – retirement is still a year or two away, and I have time on my hands.
This post right here – isn’t scheduled to be posted for … let’s see, I have three posts ahead of this one, so about two weeks from now this post will see daylight. Only doing serious work on this website one day a week, I’m far ahead of the game – and could take a week or two off anytime I wanted. But I think it might be more fun to always have finished posts – ready to go. That way, there’s no stress – I’m always ready for ‘post’ days…
Don’t make the mistake of posting 5 posts today, then skipping a month before your next post – Google (and other related search engines) – are computers. And they watch what you do… if they see that I post every single Wednesday & Saturday (these are my “post” days) – they begin to understand that this is a serious website.
The only important fact to understand is that merely one post isn’t enough. 30 posts aren’t enough… 50 posts and you’re starting to get there… 100 posts, and you should start to see a good income coming in from your website. And writing just one post a week, you should see those 100 posts in less than two years. Double up, and post twice a week, and it’s even quicker…
And how long should these posts be? I never post anything under 800 words, and don’t really begin to feel comfortable about a post until it’s over 1,200 words. Between 2,000 and 3,000 words – I’m feeling very good indeed! Is it easy to write that many words? Back in college, I cried over assignments of just 10 pages – nowadays – I think I’d laugh at such a small amount.
Remember – you have age working for you. You have thousands of stories to tell, ideas to express, experiences that younger people just can’t match. Blogging for seniors is a natural extension for all the stories you can tell. This is your advantage! Use it!
If creating additional income through blogging interests you – be sure to wander through my website here – you’ll find a treasure trove of information on how to earn extra retirement income through blogging. You should start by understanding why I wrote this blog, then move on to learning how you can do the same thing!
Feel free to leave me a comment below, or contact me for further information. I’m really interested in any questions you may have – as it will point out where I’ve failed – and need to write more content!
