The launch of a new class at Mount Royal University offers Calgarians the possibility of making money while sitting at home in front of their computer.
The course, Make Money Blogging, is a one-day class that gives a ground-up approach to creating a blog, filling a blog, and attracting readership and advertisers. For those unfamiliar with the blogosphere, an introduction will be included and a look afforded into the methods of making money while writing about a variety of topics.
“This is not something that will enable you to quit your day job right away, but given time, blogs can become quite profitable,” said Laurel Robbins, the program’s instructor and program director for business education training in continuing education for Mount Royal.
Robbins first delved into the blogosphere and realized its revenue generating potential when she was laid up with a knee injury.
“As I began to see the mechanism behind it, I realized that it is structured like a business, which requires a large amount of marketing, and I have been working in business and marketing for years,” she said.
Program applicants don’t need to have many pre-requisites, though the ability and desire to write are important, says Robbins.
“The first thing we’ll do is find a niche for the student, something that balances between their interests and something that will generate search engine results, and that is where the money comes in because you’ll make money every time someone clicks on the ads in your blog.”
Robbins said the market is already pretty saturated, but the course she teaches will give students a leg up when it comes to inside knowledge.
“It really boils down to 25 per cent of your time is spent writing the blog and the other 75 per cent is spent driving traffic to your site.”
Robbins offers students strategies on driving traffic to their site and how to get high-paying advertisers. The rate of payment per click on advertisers vaires wildly, she says, ranging from 22 cents to $60 for insurance banners.
Though Robbins warns making money through blogging is hard work.
“This is not passive income. It affords the possibility of working from home for very successful bloggers, but it isn’t as easy as some online courses and websites would have you believe.”
