When I first started blogging in 2012 I thought the only way to get paid was to have ads on your blog. Ah I was wrong! There are so many ways that you can make money blogging.
Now, there is one thing I want you to remember. To make money blogging, it does take time. You should not expect to make a full-time income overnight, however, in my experience, it is possible to be profitable within your first few months of launching your blog.
If you are ready to start a blog check out my step-by-step tutorial here.
How Bloggers Make Money Online?
I am going to introduce you to five ways you can monetize your blog.
1. ADS
The first monetization route that many bloggers jump to is ads. They set up their blogs, sign up for Google Adsense and they expect to have the money start rolling in.
Unless you have thousands and thousands of pageviews each month it is more than likely that your ads will only pay for your coffee, not your monthly groceries!
I have chosen to have ads on my site due to large traffic but I keep it to a minimum (1 per post and 1 on the sidebar). However, I know many successful bloggers, who both use ads and not use ads, so don’t rule it out.
There are two primary ways that you are paid for ads.
Pay Per Click
Meaning you get paid each time someone clicks on the advertisement.
Pay Per Impression
These ads are paid based upon the number of times the advertisement is seen.
Pinterest can help you increase your ad income by increasing traffic to pages where you have ads posted.
Ads can be one piece to your monetization puzzle, but be sure to implement them strategically.
2. SPONSORED POSTS
Sponsored posts can be a great way to bring in some money from your blog and get your blog in front of a new audience. Often times, if the brand you work with is a small business you will get lots of social media love after your collaboration.
Before you begin pitching for sponsored posts be sure to create a media kit I use this one from Creative Market. This is like your blogs resume’. You want to include a friendly picture, a bio and relevant statistics to your blog.
I recommend at least including your social media statistics and page views for your blog. Bonus points if you include demographic information about your audience.
To find sponsored opportunities you have a few options you can work with a sponsorship network or you can personally reach out to different brands.
If you are interested in joining a network, here are a few popular options.
• Izea
• Linqia
• Social Fabric (Collective Bias)
Another great way to find brands to work with is through an app called Collabor8. This is an app that helps influencers and brands connect. I personally haven’t used it to get sponsored posts but I see a lot of bloggers recommending it.
3. AFFILIATE MARKETING
I LOVE affiliate marketing! Essentially, affiliate marketing is sharing products you love with your readers and when they make a purchase you earn a commission. What is great is that this is at no extra expense to them and oftentimes they get special discounts if they use your link.
For example, when someone uses my Tailwind link instead of getting just their first 100 pins free they get their first month free
Affiliate marketing is the first way I started making money from my blog. There were so many tools and resources that helped me grow my blog and businesses so it was easy to share with my readers.
In my 5th month of blogging, I purchased the Affiliate Marketing Bundle from Ana of She Approach. I have been a fan of hers for YEARS and she makes over $25,000 a month in affiliate sales, so I was excited to implement her strategies.
Within two days of starting the course, I made my first affiliate sale and by my 7th month of my blog I made over $1,200 in affiliate income!
For most bloggers, I would recommend starting with affiliates to monetize your blog. It is easy to do and can be very lucrative.
The 4 affiliate marketing networks I recommend to start with are:
1. Ultimate Bundles (gives you training and resources)
2. ShareASale
3. CJ Affiliate (Formerly Commission Junction)
For more information on making money with affiliate marketing, you can take this free course.
Bonus Tip: Don’t forget you can use affiliate links on Pinterest!
4. SERVICES
Your blog can be an amazing platform to promote your services. Having your own blog will give potential clients a taste of who you are. Write posts relevant to your service and include your services in your posts.
Having your own site will build rapport with clients. For example, earlier this year I launched my Coaching Services and it has been a great way for me to understand my target audience better and boost my income by 60%.
I was able to attract new clients through Facebook and Pinterest and writing on my blog for topics I’m knowledgable. You can try that too!
5. SELLING YOUR OWN PRODUCT
This is my favorite monetization method of all! On your blog, you can sell digital or physical products. Creating and selling your own products is incredibly rewarding and super fun!
Similarly to the services section, you can use your blog as a platform to gain customers for your products. If you have an Etsy shop for blog templates, for example, consider writing blog posts about web design and branding then funnel your readers over to your shop.
My blog is more of an educational platform to teach women how to build successful blogs and online businesses, so I created an ebook on how to beat self-doubt and limiting beliefs called Better Days. In this ebook, I teach women how to get over the inner chatter on their head and start kicking butt like a girlboss! Right after that, I launch another ebook for blogging called “The Blog Bundle”.
Creating your own product can be a bit of a “what came first the chicken or the egg” scenario.
You can approach it two ways:
1. If you already have a blog but have not created a product yet here are a few tips to help you establish what to sell.
First, analyse your audience. Which of your posts have the most traffic?
This can be indicative of what you readers are most interested in. Which posts have the most comments, repins and shares?
2. You have a product, but have not launched your blog.
Analyse who the target market for your product is and consider what they are interested in. If you sell baby items for example, you may want to blog about prenatal yoga, the best baby shower gifts and sleep strategies for new parents.
Here are a few more ideas to get you started. You can sell,
1. Digital products on Etsy or Creative Market
2. Physical products on Amazon via their service Fulfilled By Amazon
3. Courses hosted on Teachable
4. A membership site
5. Handmade items on Etsy
6. An ebook delivered via SendOwl (this is what I use!)
7. Direct Sales products that you love
YOU REALLY CAN MAKE MONEY BLOGGING!
If you invest the time and treat your blog like a business you will be able to make money from your blog.
One question I am often asked is, “When should I monetize my blog?”
Honestly, I started adding affiliate links to my blog in my 1st month I made about $0.11 in affiliate income using Amazon Associates and my 2nd month I made $20.75 in affiliate income.
Then I hit blogging “overwhelm and hiatus” for 2 months. *GASP*.
When I get back to my senses, I promised myself (and my hubby made me accountable) to work hard on my blog and hit my business goals.
Then I decided to create a free 5 day email series called “Cheer Up” using ConvertKit and pitch a pre-sell of my ebook “Better Days” for $7.99 to over 2,000+ subscribers and made over $1,000 in 1 week!!
Starting a blog is one of the best things I have ever done. If you want to learn how you can start a blog too, check out my step-by-step tutorial on how to start a blog.
When you start monetizing your blog just remember to keep your readers in mind. Only share what would benefit them and avoid plastering ads all over your site. In all of the ways mentioned to make money blogging your reader is your customer.
Want to boost your blog income?
In the Blog To Business Blueprint , we created an entire Chapter dedicated to help you learn how to setup different income streams for your blog and how you can automate them so you have more time to do what you love most.