Do you want to make money from your blog?
If you have a blog, there are lots of ways to make money out of it.
Many bloggers earn extra income by running ads or writing blog posts for other websites or selling e-books.
Others might create a paid newsletter, do affiliate marketing, or offer online courses.
You don't have to start all things at once. Just pick one or two that are easy to start and give it a try.
In this post, I will give you an overview of each option so that you can decide what aligns best with your blogging goals.
Ads are the most common and simplest way bloggers make money from their blogs.
Ads are the same thing as commercials you see on TV, except they appear on your blog.
These can be text, image, or video-based, depending on what is available in a particular ad network. Popular ad networks most bloggers go with are Google AdSense, Ad Thrive, and Mediavine.
To get started you generally will have to create an account with ad networks and they provide you with lines of code. Next is to add these codes to your post where you want to show these ads, it can be at the top, bottom, or side of the post.
The way it works is these ad companies that you tie up with will pay you a portion of what they charge advertisers for showing their ads to visitors on your blog.
The benefits of running ads on your blog are obvious – it’s simple to set up and you get paid every time someone sees an ad on your blog! This can be as little as $0.50 per 1,000 views or up to $15-$50+ per 1,000 views.
It all depends on what product is being advertised if it relates to your blogging niche, the number of visitors that views your ads, and how they are interacting with it.
Now like everything else, there comes a downside to running ads on your blog.
Most prominent being bad user experience. Since many of these ads will be in pop-up or floating window format, some people don’t mind but others might find them annoying.
Also if readers are visiting your blog through mobile, these ads will take much space and the reader will have much smaller space to read which can be much more annoying.
Moreover, those codes that you added to display these ads will make your blog speed much slower leaving an overall bad impression for your visitors.
Another thing is there have been cases where harmful malware was installed on the user’s machine via malicious scripts hidden inside these ads. Although most ad networks nowadays vet these ads through multiple security checks to ensure there is no harmful component in them.
Instead of tying up with an ad network, you can directly sell ad space on your blog
BuySellAds is one of the best platforms for selling and buying ad space where advertisers can buy ads from bloggers.
Here’s how it works:
Bloggers post ads on BuySellAds with all the details like blog niche, blog traffic they are getting, and the size of the ad space they want to sell.
Once it’s posted, other advertisers will bid for that particular ad space by posting higher bids. The advertiser who has placed the highest bid gets the chance to place their ads on that blog.
The blogger then gets paid according to how many times ads were seen by visitors (views), clicked (clicks), or for other actions like downloading.
Although it’s rare do you know that similarly, you can sell ad space on your email list as well?
When selling ads on email, the content and design of your email marketing campaign are important, and so is the placement of ads.
Ads can be placed in the header, footer, sidebar, or main content area.
You can also choose whether you want text links or images for your ads.
Selling digital products is a great way to make money because you can do it from anywhere.
There's no need to have your physical location, you can sell from the comfort of your home.
The main benefit of digital products is that they can be sold in any format and delivered immediately once the payment is made.
This means you don't have to worry about printing costs or shipping time and also makes it perfect for your customer since they don’t have to wait for their products!
However, like any product, it can become very challenging, especially during the product ideation and creation phase.
First, your will need to decide which digital format works best for your audience. For example, if you are making a product on fitness and exercise then it’s better to have it in video format instead of text. On the other hand, if you are thinking about healthy recipes then both cookbooks and videos work.
Next is the idea itself.
For that, you could create online courses that teach people how to do something specific, like learn how to bake.
If you have a lot of experience in something, consider putting together an online course about it.
If you’re not an expert on the topic, offer tutorials or guides that teach people how to do something.
It helps if the product aligns with your blog niche. For example, if you write about health and wellness then you could create an e-book on how to eat healthy foods on a budget.
Finding out what your audience wants is key when deciding what type of products/courses will result in sales.
Once you've settled on a product, it's time to determine how much to charge for it.
When making this decision, consider how much similar products cost.
The price of your item should be comparable with other similar items that are currently available on the market.
Check out other websites like yours and see what they're charging for similar products; this will give you an idea of what customers are willing to pay for something like yours.
Once finalized you can start promoting and selling it on your blog as well as on other platforms like Amazon, and Etsy.
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways to make money blogging, especially if you're just starting.
The way it works is you make money through referrals – you earn commissions for sending sales leads from your blog to another company’s product or service
To get started with affiliate marketing, you need to create an account with an affiliate network like Amazon Associates. Then look for products that are related to the blog niche and get an affiliate tracking link.
You promote these products or services and get paid a commission (usually between 5%–50%) when someone purchases those products or services through your link.
The most common place to find affiliate offers is Amazon Associates, Shareasale, and CJ Affiliates.
While you might be tempted to promote anything that pays well, you should only promote products that you genuinely find are of high quality and is most useful for your blogging audience.
This will not only optimize your earnings but also boost audience trust in your blog.
Also, the products that you choose must align with your blogging niche because suppose I run a blog about pets and If let’s say I promote kitchen products then obviously it’s not going to convert well.
Instead, if I promote products related to pets then those products will convert well and boost my sales.
When it comes to finding affiliate offers, the best way is through research and testing out different offers until you find one that works well for your audience and their needs.
Email marketing is a great way to promote affiliate offers.
It’s a well-known fact that email is king. It’s the most used marketing channel and has the highest ROI.
Because It’s a great way to build trust with your readers and when you have a relationship with people, they're more likely to buy from you.
You can use services like MailChimp or Aweber which make managing an email list easy.
The first step to this is to get people to subscribe to your list, this usually involves offering some kind of incentive or exclusive content for signing up.
This could be an eBook, webinar, or even just a freebie like an article or video series on your blog!
Once they subscribe then you can start sending out regular emails with useful information and start building your relationship with them.
As your reader begin to know and trust you, you can then start promoting affiliate offers that you genuinely believe would be useful for them
You can also sell your products directly to your readers through email by sending them special offers and discounts only available through the list.
If someone has purchased a product or service from you and they loved it, then they will be more inclined to buy again in the future because they feel like they know who you are, what you stand for, and how trustworthy and reliable you are.
Instead of blindly promoting affiliate products you could promote only products which you have used by creating something called review posts.
If you’re a blogger, there’s a good chance that you are someone who reviews things before purchasing them. That could mean that as part of your review process, you try out different products and give honest reviews.
Don’t review products if they don’t live up to your expectations or standards.
Make sure that the product is of some worth by giving it an honest test run yourself!
Because it is always important that the product has value for your readers - especially when those readers are paying for it.
A sponsored post is a mix of affiliate marketing and ad but I think of it more as an ad that is disguised as editorial content.
It’s a post written by you, but actually, it has been paid for by the company that wants to promote its product or service.
Once your blog has some traction, companies will start sending you free samples or offer $500-$1000 in return for positive reviews.
As a general rule of affiliate marketing, don't review things just because they make an offer or send you a free sample.
Membership programs are a great way to earn money blogging.
The idea is simple: you give people access to something, and they pay for it!
You can set up a membership site to charge readers for access to content that they otherwise wouldn't be able to see on your blog.
It could be a subscription to your blog, or a membership on your website. Or maybe it's exclusive content they can only access by signing up with you.
You could even offer access to a private forum where members can interact with each other and learn more about your topic of expertise.
If you want you could also set up your self-hosted tip jar system where you can ask readers for voluntary donations in exchange for subscribing via email or RSS feed
This is the best way to make money blogging if you have an active community and want to give them more opportunities to connect.
A newsletter is a great way to build your followership and earn recurring income from the people who already love you.
People are more likely to buy from you when they trust and know you, so building a relationship with your subscribers will make it easier for them to come back for more.
You can charge for a monthly or yearly subscription, and sell one-off or recurring offers (e.g., discounts).
If you want some help with an aspect of managing your newsletter then MailChimp is the best.
It’s a free email marketing tool to manage your newsletter on autopilot.
A webinar is a live presentation that you can offer to your audience, which they can attend by joining the event online.
The content may be a training session, it could be an announcement of a new product or service, you can offer a series of online courses, one-on-one coaching, or a virtual summit, workshop, or mastermind.
It can be anything where your audience will get to learn from you in a fun and interactive way.
You can even offer a virtual retreat where attendees can come together for an intensive weekend of learning with some great speakers on their topic of choice.
This approach works well for bloggers who have developed expertise in certain areas such as social media marketing or sales funnel because it allows them to share what they know with others without having to leave home.
These events are great for building your brand and audience, as well as making money.
Once you've created your event, you can charge admission fees or sell products on the spot.
If you're hosting your webinars then all equipment must be compatible with all platforms (iPad/iPhone/Android devices) so that everyone in attendance can view or listen at their convenience.
Once all preparations have been made for each event then you can start with promotions.
Make sure that people know about what time each session will begin so they don't miss out on any important information being shared during those few hours.
A podcast is similar to a webinar, but rather than broadcasting live via the internet, it's recorded and distributed as an audio file.
You can also choose whether you want to host the event yourself or hire someone else to do this for you.
Podcasts can be a great way to make money from your blog, especially if you have a loyal following of readers.
To get started, think about what type of podcast you want to create and why you’re doing it.
Do you have specific expertise that readers would find valuable? Are there topics that people keep asking questions about?
Next, decide how often the podcast will run.
This is important because once listeners know when they can expect new episodes, they will subscribe and listen in advance so they don’t miss an episode.
For example, many podcasts run weekly or bi-weekly—but some of them do not release new episodes until weeks after the previous one aired!
Once all planning is done, it’s time to get your voice on tape.
You can do this with an old-school microphone, or you can use an audio interface like the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 which connects to your computer via USB and lets you record directly into any audio application.
If you have a Macbook Pro, then there’s no need for an external mic—you already have one built into your laptop!
Once recorded, find a quiet space where there aren't many distractions and edit out anything that doesn't add value.
Finally, figure out how you want to monetize this!
There are many ways you can monetize your podcast.
You can sponsorship deals from businesses who want to advertise their products and services on your podcast!
Or you can sell the ad space through an advertising network like Ad buyer.
Remember that you want to keep your listeners happy as well, they don't have to be bombarded by ads every few minutes while listening to the show!
You can also sell your podcast on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and Stitcher. These are all popular digital stores that allow people to buy online with ease!
You can also sell your products or promote affiliate offers or just have a tip jar.
Blog flipping generally involves buying domains, building them up with content, and then selling them for a profit.
If you’ve grown your blog to a point where it has value and popularity, you can sell it.
Selling a blog is like selling any other business, except that it doesn’t require as much paperwork as traditional businesses do.
The main steps in the process are:
Determine what your blog is worth by looking at similar websites and their prices.
Find a buyer for your blog, and make sure they are legit.
Negotiate the deal with the buyer so both parties feel satisfied with the outcome of the deal.
One of the best ways to make money as a blogger is by writing for other blogs.
This is a great way to get paid to create content, but it also has the added benefit of building your brand and reputation.
If you’re the type of person who enjoys writing, this can be a good option.
You don’t need to limit yourself to only one blog either!
Many bloggers are willing to pay for high-quality content that they can share on their websites or social media accounts.
So, if you have expertise in a certain field or topic then you can start pitching your services as an expert writer for other blogs that target your audience.
This not only generates income for you but will also help expand your audience and reach new people who may not know about your blog yet!
Consulting is a great way to make money blogging, but it's not as simple as finding clients and then starting the work.
It takes time to develop relationships with potential clients, so this isn't something you can do in the initial stages of blogging.
To get started, first you need to figure out what services you want to offer.
Do your research and find out what types of things other bloggers are offering their readership or customers through consulting services.
What kind of problems do they need help solving?
You should build up your brand before offering consulting services.
The more well-known your brand becomes, the easier it will be for you to get a client who needs assistance with certain tasks or projects related to their blog and business.
Also think about how you will offer it, over Skype, email, or in person.
There are many ways you can charge for your services but it depends on what type of service you provide and how much time clients want from you per session or month.
You could charge by the hour or by the project.
There are many ways to make money online, but the one thing they all have in common is that you have to put some work into it. The ones I’ve listed here are the most common and reliable.
If you are starting a blog for fun or just as a hobby, then these ideas will help get you started with earning extra income from your blog.