Book Review: Blogging for Profit by Ruth Soukup

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I discovered Ruth Soukup's book, How to Blog for Profit (Without Selling Your Soul) last year when it was mentioned by Crystal at Money Saving Mom.

I've been blogging for nearly ten years {wow, the years have flown by!}, so I've read a lot about the topic of blogging. But it's taken me a while since quitting my job as a lawyer and becoming a full-time blogger to embrace the fact that blogging is now truly my job.

How to Blog for Profit really helped with that mental shift, because Ruth takes the business of blogging seriously but also with enthusiasm, passion, and conviction. Most of what's contained in the book can actually be found for free all over the internet. But Ruth has pulled all of that information together in one place, and it's all well-written and completely credible.

She covers all of the major topics, from advertising to sponsorships to SEO optimization and strategies for increasing traffic to your site. She even shares income figures for some anonymous blogs, and how those figures divide up in terms of where the income comes from. I have to say, Ruth's explanation of SEO was the easiest to understand that I've ever come across.

The biggest message in How to Blog for Profit is that your blog content needs to be worth reading. It's always been true, of course, but it's so true that it's worth repeating. The addendum to that is one that hasn't been addressed as much, and it's that your content needs to look good, especially in this day and age of Pinterest.

The best message in the book is that if your content is great, you can make money. Ruth covers the various methods, including affiliate links, selling your own products, ads, and more. Her writing is concise and clear, and in my experience, accurate and credible. In fact, because my own personal experience correlates with much of what Ruth says, I find her completely credible on the parts that I didn't know much about, like SEO.

Each chapter ends with an action plan, although most of the tasks on each action plan aren't "do it and forget it" types. Many require an implementation plan of their own, such as designing an aesthetically pleasing and useful site, or joining collaborative Pinterest boards. Basically, you can read the book in one sitting, but you'll have to choose tips to focus on, and then come back to the book when you're ready to take the next step.

All in all, How to Blog for Profit is easily the best advice I've ever read on making money blogging. If you're a blogger, or thinking about becoming a blogger, who wants to make money, I can't recommend this book highly enough. At $4.99, the book is well worth the price. However, Ruth seems to regularly put the book on sale for just $0.99, and I'll let you know the next time I see the book at that price.

Good luck in your money making blogging ventures!

Image via FreeDigitalPhotos.net by ddpavumba.