Why every blogger should diversify into digital products NOW – before it’s too late!
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Recent Google updates have sent shockwaves through the blogging community. There are bloggers left, right and centre who have seen their traffic obliterated. The solution? Diversify into digital products… and do it NOW before things get worse.
Recent Google updates have sent shockwaves through the blogging community.
There are bloggers left, right and centre who have seen their traffic obliterated.
And these aren’t just newbies, bloggers with poor quality sites, or bloggers who have got a bit mad with AI generated content.
These are bloggers who are doing everything ‘right’.
Bloggers who are producing good content.
Bloggers who’ve been successful at this for a long time and really know what they are doing…
Some of them have – until very recently – been earning multiple 6 figures!
What on earth is going on with Google?
I think there are a couple of things going on with Google.
The first is that, reading between the lines, they are really struggling with spam – because AI has made it so easy to publish large amounts of content at scale – content that actually sounds alright, it’s just very ‘vanilla’ and doesn’t add anything new to the internet because it’s written by an AI that just rehashes what is already out there.
And so, to combat that, Google are really doubling down on all the stuff they say they want to prioritize: ‘quality content’, ‘helpful content’, ‘original content’, UX and E-E-A-T…
…but in the process many genuinely ‘good’ websites are being hit really hard.
My personal take on this is that I don’t think Google are trying to do anything particularly sinister… After all, it is in their interests to produce good search results – or they will lose market share. But right now they are struggling against the massive onslaught of AI spam, and sorting the wheat from the chaff is so much harder than it used to be.
Logically, this means that the best long term strategy is to double down on what Google say they are trying hard to prioritize in search, as this is the kind of content that will win out in the end.
Of course, I realise none of this helps you much in the short term if you have lost traffic! It’s very hard to hold your nerve and hope for the best when you’re faced with massive traffic losses and dwindling income.
(And then of course we’ve got the full rollout of AI Overviews coming down the track, which is a whole other curveball!)
So what’s the solution?
Honestly, I think the SEO+Ads model of blogging is getting more and more precarious by the day.
It requires HUGE amounts of traffic to make a decent income – the kind of traffic levels that only Google can deliver.
Which means you are hugely dependent on Google for your entire livelihood… one tiny tweak to their algorithm, and that business you worked so hard to build could collapse around your ears.
(As so many bloggers have found out recently.)
Relying on one third party company for your entire livelihood is hugely risky.
Which is why I am recommending so strongly that every blogger should diversify into digital products… and do it NOW before things get worse.
Why every blogger should diversify into digital products
There are 5 big benefits to diversifying into digital products…
1. Digital product RPMs are more than 10X ad RPMs
Recent research has shown that Digital product RPMs are more than 10X ad RPMs. This means you don’t need huge amounts of Google traffic to earn a really decent full-time income.
2. It makes you A LOT less dependent on Google
If you monetize via ads, your income is very strongly linked to how much Google traffic you get.
But when you sell digital products, QUANTITY of traffic is so much less important. What matters far more is the QUALITY if the traffic you attract and how well you can convert that traffic into subscribers… and ultimately customers.
READ MORE >> Why you should never put all your eggs in one basket – especially not Google’s! (And what to do instead.)
3. Selling digital products also opens up a whole boatload of alternative methods for getting high quality traffic
Word of mouth, running your own affiliate program, collabs and joint ventures, guesting on podcasts, bundles, summits, Facebook groups… even paid ads!
None of these work well if you monetize with ads. But these traffic sources often work BETTER than Google traffic, if you monetize via digital products.
4. It puts YOU back in control of YOUR OWN business
When you monetize via digital products, you have so much more control over your income because you have so many more levers you can pull…
If you want to increase your income, you can make tweaks to your sales funnel, launch a new lead magnet, run a flash sale, create a new tripwire page or even create a whole new product!
So different from ads where your only options are guessing at what Google wants and churning out more content.
READ MORE >> 10 easy ways to boost your digital product sales
5. Your business is not built on rented land
When you sell your own products, your business is so much less precarious because your business does not depend on the whims of some other company… Instead your business is based on the only 3 assets you truly own: your website, your email list and your products.
READ MORE >> Why you should never build your business on rented land (and what to do instead!)
Why you should act now
Something I’m hearing a lot at the moment is “I’m doing OK at the moment – I’ll worry about all that in the future if and when I get hit.”
But here’s the thing…
Building a successful digital product based business is not something you can turn on overnight.
It actually takes quite a long time.
Depending on where you are now (how much traffic you get, how strong your email list is, how engaged your audience is), it can take 6 months to a year.
If you get hit by the next Google algorithm update, do you really want to wait a year before you are earning money from your blog again?
And also, if you move right now, you’ll be moving before most other bloggers and so, if and when there’s some almighty shock in the future (the next Google update, changes to 3rd party cookies, new developments in AI etc.), you’ll be established when others start flooding into the market, which will give you a massive competitive advantage.
But there are a lot of moving parts!
As you can see, diversifying into digital products is the smart move right now. But the problem is running a successful digital product business involves a lot of moving parts…
- Email marketing
- Digital product specific SEO
- Nurturing new leads
- Market research
- Picking the right topic and format for your digital product – something your audience will actually want to buy!
- Lead magnets
- Product creation
- Launch strategies
- Sales pages
- Tripwires
- Building sales funnels
- Getting testimonials
- Word of mouth marketing
- Launching your own affiliate program
- Building authority
- Running flash sales and Black Friday sales
- Running beta launches
- And more…
If that list is making you feel slightly dizzy and somewhat overwhelmed, I hear you! And that is why I have turned all of this into a step-by-step roadmap…
The Digital Product Success Academy
The idea is that you let me worry about all of the moving parts, and you just focus on following the next step on the roadmap, knowing I’ve got everything planned and happening at exactly the right time.
DPSA is for you, if you want to…
👉 Earn more from the traffic you already have: Digital product RPMs are considerably better than RPMs from ads, affiliates and sponsored posts.
👉 Stop worrying about whether you’ll be wiped out in the next Google algorithm update: Because you don’t need those crazy-high pageviews, selling digital products makes you A LOT less dependent on Google.
👉 Be ahead of the curve: If future Google updates are bad for bloggers, guess what every blogger will be doing to try and get back the income they have lost? Get ahead of the curve by starting NOW!
👉 Have a less precarious business: If you get the majority of your traffic from Google and the majority of your income from ads, you don’t need me to tell you that is a very precarious place to be… Diversifying into digital products reduces risk and increases income – so it’s a win-win!
👉 Have a lot of fun along the way: Join a community of like-minded bloggers and online business owners who are all working towards the same goal!
If that sounds like something you’d love to be a part of, head here to find out more >>> Digital Product Success Academy
- 10 reasons why you should start selling digital products
- How to build a successful digital product business: The 7 essential ingredients that will take you to $100K and beyond!
- The 4 key pillars of a successful digital product business
- How to finally stop living in fear of the next Google update
- How selling digital products will boost your SEO
Don’t miss a thing!
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