Why You Should Never Rely on One Source of Online Income
What happens when cha-ching turns to kerplunk?
Once upon a time, Pinterest removed all affiliate links from their website. Bloggers were ticked about the sudden drop in income. Some bloggers were making thousands a month just from that alone! I admit that's gotta suck to have income just vanish like that.
Pinterest did end of changing their mind and they DO allow affiliate links from most places, but the bottom line is this:
Pinterest doesn't owe anyone anything.
They never made promises to keep things the way they were. They're a business and will make decisions based on what's best for their business, not for the people who make money via their platform.
The biggest thing you can learn from all this?
Never put all your blogging eggs in one basket, especially if the basket isn't even yours.
It's a similar tale social media consultants told small businesses years ago who insisted they just wanted a Facebook page instead of an actual website. Could you imagine the businesses who didn't listen? Facebook reach is as low as less than 1% for some brands now.
While I haven't relied on another platform before, I have relied on my main source of blogging income: my courses. Even though I'm not relying on another business, it still has risks. That's why I started to diversify more with sponsored posts, some advertising, maybe e-books, and especially affiliate income!
If you've got a great income stream, KEEP DOING IT! But don't assume it'll always make you as much or more as time goes on.
My challenge to you: Make it a goal to grow a source of income other than the one making you the most money.
If most of your income comes from sponsored posts, try optimizing your AdSense or other advertising. Depending on your monthly pageviews, you can also apply to much more profitable ad networks like Mediavine and AdThrive.
If you do great with affiliate income, get a media kit and start pitching brands or joining blogging networks.
If you're rocking it at e-books, maybe it's time to create an online course.
Stuck on ways to monetize? Darren from ProBlogger has a helpful mindmap of blog monetization ideas.
That way, you won't be stuck with something changes. Because it will change. Eventually.
Let's Dish!
What about you? How diverse is your blogging income?
