3 Ways to Make Money as an Online Business Owner

Do you want some practical tips for making more money for your business? I had the chance to chat with Janssen, owner of Everyday Reading. She is a mastermind when it comes to blogging, business, and growing a tight-knit community on email and Instagram. She gives us the inside scoop on her journey and 3 ways to make money as an online business owner. There’s so much you can learn from her, so let’s jump right in! 

 

 

Janssen first began her business back in 2006. She started with blogging and slowly grew from there. She added Instagram in 2012 and even though it was not clear at first how she would tie Instagram to her business model, she quickly figured out how to combine the two. Now, she has a thriving business and makes her income through blogging, email marketing, and Instagram.

It was not an easy road for Janssen. There were a lot of twists and turns (as business owners know) and a lot of stress and burnout along the way. There were times when she wanted to stop altogether and times when she was barely making any money. But she just kept going and now she’s been able to rely solely on her business income for the last 8 years and she absolutely loves it. Let’s learn a little bit more about how she did this, shall we?

 

 

3 Ways to Make Money as an Online Business Owner

 

Money Maker #1: Ad Revenue

Janssen has ads on her blog and it’s all done through Raptive. Janssen creates the content for the blog every month and Raptive manages the rest. When you get to create content and forget the rest it basically feels like free money. It is the best! One thing that I say over and over again, and Janssen really understands, is automating where you can. Janssen automated this ad revenue process and it’s made her enjoy her content creation for her blog so much more.

 

Money Maker #2: Sponsored Content

Originally, all of Janssen’s sponsored content was on her blog–period. Then she started to add some to Instagram. Currently, she creates a sponsored blog post around 5 times per year. Most people do their sponsored content on Instagram but don’t be afraid to branch out and do it in other places as well. It’s definitely worth your time because Janssen said about four years ago, that 70-80 percent of her income came from sponsored content! 

 

Money Maker #3: Affiliate Revenue

In the last year, about 70 percent of Janssen’s income has come from affiliate revenue. This is really simple to set up and once it is, you start to make more and more money as people use your links to purchase your recommended products. This option is another way to automate your income because once your affiliate programs are set up all that’s left is creating content and promoting the product. You can learn more about setting up your affiliate marketing HERE! 

 

 

Instagram Stories Strategy

Janssen has a sponsored stories set almost every day of the week. This may seem like a lot, but as I’ve been saying lately, your stories are the best place to sell! This is where your true fans show up and they want to be sold to because they trust you and are genuinely interested in your products. And if they aren’t, they can just skip through. They will still love you and your content.

Janssen has trained her audience to know that she does a lot of sponsored content in her stories. She balances this out by sharing tons of content on book recommendations and free content in her reels, blog posts, stories, and in her free Everyday Reading book club. 

Janssen uses people’s engagement as an opportunity to add more content to her stories. One of her favorite things to do is post a question sent in by one of her followers and ask people their opinions. She will then reshare those comments in her stories. This creates a ton of engagement and shows her audience that she is there for them and is listening to what they want to talk about. Plus, it makes it easier on her because she isn’t having to create content from scratch.

 

The Best Systems to Help You Create Content Faster

 

 

Biz Tool #1: Email Marketing System

Janssen first started her email list about six years ago. Before she committed to it, she was on the fence about doing it. It was one of those things where she knew she needed to have an email list, but adding another thing to her to-do list felt too overwhelming. 

She met a friend who is a professional email marketer and was able to set up her system with him. When he helped her realize that she didn’t have to create even more content but recycle the content she had already made, this was the mindset shift she needed to commit. 

Now, her email marketing system has turned into an automated process where her content (and opportunities to generate income) is getting sent out to her 200 thousand+ subscribers without her having to do a thing. She spends the first week of every month writing her emails for the whole month. Then she doesn’t have to even think about it for the rest of the month. It’s working all on its own to help spread her content and generate income. You can learn more about setting up your own email list HERE! 

 

Biz Tool #2: Hired Help

Janssen creates quite a bit of content–28 blogs per month, 8 emails per month, and is posting content on Instagram almost every day. How is this possible? She hires help. She has three assistants and each one helps with the busy work of her content. They help with things like correct spelling of illustrator names, getting links and pictures of book recommendations, and graphics for social media. 

Janssen creates the core content, but her hired help builds out the details and puts the finishing touches before it’s posted. This clears up a ton of time for Janssen and knows there’s no way she could post as often as she does without them. 

If you’ve been feeling swamped with creating enough content and covering all of your platforms, maybe it’s time to hire some help. Janssen and I both know that hiring help is an investment that pays itself off in no time! When you can do more you make more money–and you do more by getting more help. You can totally reach out to my amazing team HERE if you want help with creating and/or managing your content! 

 

Biz Tool #3: Mobile Monkey

Mobile Monkey is an automated tool that is similar to ManyChat. This tool bridges the gap between offering new ideas to your audience and getting them to try it out. This tool has a fantastic user experience, makes your Instagram reel engagement last longer, and keeps your links organized that were used on past posts, so you can easily get to them again if needed. 

I personally use ManyChat and it has been an absolute game-changer! It has exploded my email list and has automated engaging with my audience and making money. If this is something you want to try out, you can learn more about ManyChat HERE! 

 

Biz Tool #4: Asana

Janssen uses Asana to calendar all of her blog posts and Instagram posts. She meets with her team at the beginning of every month, so the calendar can be updated with the new content for the month. It’s all in one place, so Janssen’s team can be on the same page and easily work together to meet deadlines. When you work with team members it is super important to establish a system right away. You want to have clear communication and a place where you can house all of your content and deadlines. 

 

 

3 Things to Know if You’re Frustrated With Growing on Instagram

If you feel like you’ve been working so hard for such a long time with little results, this is for you. Janssen and I both recently figured out how to grow fast on Instagram. We were able to make a shift, get the algorithm to work in our favor, and finally find the people who love our content. (You can learn more about how I did that HERE). Otherwise, here are 3 tips from Janssen that will bring you some comfort and also guide you to see if there are any changes you need to make in your Instagram strategy.

 

Instagram Growth Tip #1: Decide if your niche is actually what you want to be creating content about.

Does your topic make you get out of bed in the morning? Could you talk about this niche for hours without getting bored? When people ask you questions about this topic, does it get you excited? If you can find that one thing that really excites you, there is endless content in that niche for you to talk about and create content on. 

The content you post should be really rich and valuable for your audience. If it isn’t, is it because you are not super interested in it? There could be tons of things you are interested in, but find that one thing that you never get tired of thinking and talking about. 

 

Instagram Growth Tip #2: Make your content easier.

So many people are making content creation so much more complicated than it needs to be. Taking an hour and a half to create a 6-second reel is not sustainable. Think of simple ways you can film yourself, use trending audio, and add some text that fits your niche. The more content you create and post, the faster you’ll learn what does and doesn’t work. 

Check out these blog posts HERE that will guide you through how to create content FAST! It’s geared toward reels and content-batching. It’s definitely worth a read–especially if you feel like you’re drowning in reel content creation. (And remember, you can hire help for this!)

 

Instagram Growth Tip #3: Engagement is everything.

You will not grow without engaging with your audience. Your Instagram presence doesn’t end with posting content. You should be showing up in the comments section on your posts, responding to DMs, and creating those relationships with your audience. 

Responding to your audience’s comments and messages makes them feel connected to you. This will keep them invested in you and your content. It will even keep them coming back and buying your products. The more you engage, the more you’ll grow and the more your income will increase.

 

 

3 Ways to Make Money as an Online Business Owner

Isn’t Janssen the best? She has so much knowledge and experience with growing a successful business. I hope you can apply her 3 ways to make money as an online business owner. Plus, we added a lot of bonus content on this post, so soak it all in!

If you want to stay connected with Janssen you can follow her on Instagram @everydayreading. And if you want to keep getting that extra support and tips for growing your business online, follow me on Instagram @iammichellegifford!