How to Turn Your Blog Into a Business With Digital Products and Online Courses

When I started my interior design blog in 2015, I hoped it would eventually create a full-time income for my family.

After a short stint of hobby blogging with little to no profits, I began applying the principles I’m sharing with you today to my own blog. The results were incredible!

I started making more money than I ever thought possible. By 2020, my business was selling over 30k per month. 

Today, I’m going to share the profitable-blogging secrets every entrepreneur needs to know. I’ll show you just what to do to get started, and I’ll walk you through all of the nitty-gritty steps. 

One disclaimer — this post is NOT about creating a blogging income based on ad sales. While ads are one way to make income from a blog, they aren’t usually the quickest and most reliable way. 

WARNING! This is not about making money from ads and sponsored posts. Although that is one way to monetize your blog, it’s not the strategy we’re reviewing today.

Today we’re focusing on selling something different, easier, and more sustainable — digital products and courses. This primary means of turning your blog into a making-money business is something I and many of my clients have used and found great success with. 

Are you ready to quickly earn a full-time income from your blog but not sure where to start?  

Here are a few ideas to get the ball rolling. 

Step 1. Pick the one offer type that fits your current creativity, your audience, and your passion.

Think about your specific goals, and choose the product type that will best help you reach those goals.

• You can sell Digital Products
• Start a Membership Site 
• Launch an Online Course or Coaching Program  
• Provide 1:1 Services
• Start an Online Shop/Sell a Physical Product 

To choose the type that’s right for you

First, ask yourself:

• What product best fits your expertise? 
• What are others doing in your industry? 
• How can you add something unique to the marketplace that will fill a void? 

For example, when I chose to start a membership program, I did so because I wanted a business that would give me the freedom to create my own schedule — this was a huge motivator for me. I knew providing one-on-one services wasn’t for me because I didn’t want to be ruled by another person’s schedule. 

What values are most important to YOU? What type of schedule do you need to keep to feel fulfilled? Use your answers to guide you in choosing what type of product you’ll offer.

Once you’ve narrowed down your offering type, it’s time to get to work! Launching a product or course isn’t easy, but I’ve created this list of five steps that should make the process more manageable. These five steps are the key to creating, promoting, and selling your products so you can start bringing in big money fast. 

Once you’ve chosen your ideal offer type, follow this five-step process to grow a thriving, blog-based online business:

Choose One Ideal Client (IC)

This is the person who is IDEAL for the service you want to create. For example, my IC is someone who works online, is a creative expert, and sees themself as a coach or service provider. I create stock photos for those individuals. 

Create One Signature Offer

Having ONE signature offer and doing it well will serve your audience best and will grow and scale your business faster than offering multiple products or offerings. If you can’t figure out what your one offer should be, ask others what they think you do best. What do people look to you for? What are you an expert in?

Get Active on One Social Media & Content Marketing Platform

Where is your ideal client hanging out online? What content platform do you feel most comfortable using? Whether it’s Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn for example, choose one platform and show up in that space often. Position yourself as an expert on your chosen content platform, and master that platform really well before you move on and add a second one.

Pick One Sales Strategy (conversion method)

Choose a sales method that reaches your audience and brings them into your funnel — one that attracts and converts. It doesn’t have to be fancy, it just needs to work and be easy for YOU.

Allow yourself One Year of Focus on growth and sales of your one signature offer

These things take time, so don’t expect a windfall right away. If you keep it simple, keep working hard and plugging away, and focus on this mission for ONE year, you’ll see amazing growth! 

Ready to start marketing? Focus on these 3 Types of Content:

Let’s talk a little more in-depth about creating the right kind of content for your offering. The content you create should help grow your audience, but also support your new product. There are 3 types of content that will help you do that

Create Content to Attract Your Ideal Audience & Grow your Following

It attracts your ideal audience. This content works like a magnet by drawing your readers in, entertaining them, and creating opportunities for engagement. 

• entertaining/funny memes & quotes
• shareable content
• saveable content

What makes your audience laugh? What type of content will they love so much, they will be willing to share it? How can you use hashtags and other methods to make your content more accessible and shareable? 

Create Content to Build your brand

Your content must build your brand around your zone of genius. The content you create should provide value, tips, and tricks that your ideal audience will gobble up. Your content also needs to sell your brand story and clearly show your audience who you are, where you were, and where you are headed.

Create Content to Sell your offer

It needs to sell your offering. This type of content shows your audience that your product works. It convinces people you get results and explains the features and benefits of the offering to people who are interested. This type of content also isn’t afraid to address doubts that people may have. It takes them head-on, disproving them so your audience can purchase without hesitation.

Need help saving time with your photos, canva templates, and captions? Join the Ivory Mix content membership

These three types of content work together to not only grow your social following but also to grow your email list. (As I’ve said many times before, we don’t own our social platforms, but we DO own our email list). This is why entrepreneurs work so hard to move their audience from social-media-only followers to email subscribers.  

The most effective way to accomplish this is by offering an incentive. When you create a freebie or content upgrade of some sort to entice your social followers onto your email list, you’re giving them something of value in exchange for their email address. This allows them to experience a quick win, makes them appreciate you even more, and will help them look to you as a mentor or influencer. 

If you’d like more in-depth content ideas, Canva templates, and free stock photos to help you get started creating content for your signature offering, snag my FREE Audience Growth Roadmap.

Launch and sell out your new offer using the Kickstarter Approach

 When it’s time to launch your first offer, think like a Kickstarter campaign. Instead of creating all of the content for your signature offering first and then launching, launch before you have completed the product. 

Yes, you heard me right!

Creating everything upfront before you sell wastes valuable time and forces you to spend a lot of energy creating without having any money coming in.  

This launch-before-you-create method can work no matter what type of offering you’re selling. The important thing is to get your audience interested, hooked, and enrolled, so you’re bringing in cash flow quickly. Once you start selling, you can work to finish out your product while offering value to your buyers. 

Now you have the knowledge you need to turn that blog into a money-making machine with products! 

Join the Masterclass

If you are ready to launch your first product or your next product, then I invite you to join a free masterclass called 5 steps for launching a signature offer, getting clients, and putting revenue on repeat with your content. This masterclass aims to give you clarity on how to launch and get clients with your content. Click here to join

What Next?

Looking for more tips and tricks to make money online and start your online business? Here are some helpful articles to check out.

• 6 Profitable Online Income Streams that make me $30k per month
• 6 Steps for signing your first clients and making your first sales
• 8 Ways to get free marketing in your business
• 16 Questions to help you find more clarity