Blogging used to be pretty easy.
It was a case of – write a post, upload it to the site, and wait for people to find it on Google.
Ah, wasn’t that nice?
The way I’m working in 2024 is SO DIFFERENT!
I have hundreds of articles that no longer make money from just sitting there (thanks to the algo updates)
BUT, with this new process, they’re actually making more moolah than ever!
Read on and I’ll show you what I’m doing now…
1. Converting Old Articles from SEO-focussed to social-focussed
These are two very different writing styles.
With an SEO-focussed article, you aim to answer a question that someone is actively searching for the answer to.
With a social-focussed article, you aim to stop the scroll and distract them for 5 minutes with something entertaining and informative.
My editor is currently tasked with converting each article from SEO-focussed to social-focussed.
And this starts with the title…
For example…
Old title: “Easyjet Luggage Restrictions Explained”
There’s no way you can rank for that keyword now unless you are actually Easyjet, or you have an e-commerce site or a DR 90+ newspaper.
Before, a blog could rank number 2. Not any more.
New title: “X Easyjet Luggage Rules That Catch People Out Every Day”
This title is designed to make you wonder what the restrictions are.
Imagine you’re scrolling through Facebook and see this.
You have an Easyjet flight booked this summer.
Your brain thinks ‘If I don’t read this, I’ll get caught out too and it will cost me money or even ruin my holiday!”
So you read it.
After the title is done, other changes are made too…
- Adding a new, eye-catching featured image that will show on social media feeds
- Changing the intro to tease what to expect in the article and keep people hooked
- Changing the headings from keyword-focussed to be more skimmable and easy to read
- Adding real experiences from myself and/or forums
There are actually quite a lot of changes that can be made here, so I won’t list them all (that could be an email in itself!)
The main thing is that the article must deliver on the clickable headline and keep people engaged by being interesting and informative.
2. Post the article on Facebook and make money with display ads
Once the article is spruced up, it will be scheduled to go out on Facebook.
I’ll post the link with a short caption like “They wanted me to pay £12 per kilo”!
Sometimes, I also schedule a text post and add the link in the comments.
For example: “Have you ever been stung by extra luggage charges at the airport? What happened?”
People will head to the comments to add their experiences, and see the link to the article.
What happens next is a lottery.
Some posts get only a handful of clicks.
But some get 10,000 or more.
And you can definitely post each link multiple times to better your odds of a return.
Right now, Facebook is sending me more traffic than Google.
Here are the last 7 days’ clicks 👇
The RPMs are very similar, so the Facebook traffic makes more money with display ads too. Last 7 days 👇
I post about 8 links per day on Facebook, so each one makes about $60 from display ads on average.
My page has 60k followers.
So you could estimate $1 per 1,000 followers per post.
But I wouldn’t. There are too many other variables.
Follower count isn’t that important.
Some pages with 5,000 followers make more money than pages with 5 million.
3. Make money from the Facebook bonus program
My travel brand got accepted into the Facebook bonus program a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been keen to see how much money I would make from it.
In the first half of June, I made $175.
Not bad for free money.
That’s more than I make from YouTube and that takes a LOT more time and effort!
Interestingly, the top-earning posts are all link posts.
These take people off Facebook, so I’m surprised to see that they make so much.
It’s not really a lot though.
The highest-earning post was a link post that made $9.87.
It reached 130,000 people.
It also had 5,000 clicks to my site, so the $335 it generated from display ads was much more than what the bonus program paid for it.
Still, I’ve seen examples of Facebook pages that make $5k/month or more JUST from the bonus program.
You don’t even need a website for that.
Food for thought?
Getting into the bonus program is pretty easy right now, as I demonstrated yesterday.
4. Share via email
Articles that do well on Facebook also do well on email.
People checking emails will often welcome the distraction of an interesting and informative article, just as people scrolling Facebook do.
Each time an old article is updated, it’s basically a new article, so I treat it as such and share it via email.
I don’t just send these recycled articles out via email, I mix it up with news and deals so people don’t get bored.
Make your old articles work for you
If you already have 100 or more articles on your website, but Google just isn’t working for you any more, then don’t waste them by leaving them sitting there
The social-first strategy is a great one to use in 2024 and if you have an existing blog you already have a massive headstart.
I’m loving this new way of working, and I’m excited for my new website to be ready then I can show you some real examples
– NSL
P.S. If you’d like to get into Facebook but aren’t sure where to start, then I recommend this course.
It covers everything you need to know with easy-to-watch step-by-step videos. And it’s ridiculously cheap.
I also love this forum which is the place to go to get your questions answered by experts who make a lot of money from Facebook.
P.P.S. I’m also hiring a Pinterest manager for my vegan brand.
Being vegan isn’t essential to apply for the role, but you would need to have a perfect understanding of British English, particularly when it comes to the names of foods like courgettes, aubergines, rocket, swede, coriander etc!
No experience of Pinterest is needed, just a willingness to learn.
If you’re interested, apply here.