Everyone needs to make money. From the Queen of England to the Dalai Lama, we’ve all got bills to pay and a life to lead. So, what if you’ve started a blog because you’ve heard it’s a great way to make money? How do you make money blogging?
You started off well. You picked your theme and posted your first articles. You even had a few views and comments. But how do you get from here to earning money from your blog? After all, the other bloggers make it look so easy.
In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into some of the many ways that you can make money blogging.
How Do You Make Money Blogging?
There are plenty of great ways of making money from your blog. Even if you’re just starting out, there is a lot that you can do to start bringing in the dollars.
A few ways that we’re going to talk about in this article include:
- Paid ads on your site
- Through affiliate links in your content
- Selling products through your site
- Through sponsored posts
You may want to focus your attention on one of these areas, or you may want to explore all of them.
Let’s get started…
Stand Out from the Crowd
Did you know that there are over 600 million blogs online out of 1.7 billion websites? That’s some tough competition. You’ll be up against a lot of these when it comes to making money.
If you want to be successful at making money from blogging, you’ll need to make sure you stand out from the crowd.
Firstly, decide on your niche. Pick a topic area that you’re passionate about and that you know like the back of your hand. You’re going to need to come up with a lot of content around this subject. Make sure you’re happy to talk about it for a long time to come.
Next up, set up your website. You’ll need a clean theme that makes your content stand out and easy to read.
Finally, make sure you have a catchy name. Pick something that matches your niche and that’s easy to remember.
Sell Ad Space on Your Site
One of the easiest ways to make money blogging is to sell ads through your site. There are two popular types of ad:
- Cost Per Click (CPC) Ads– These are sometimes called pay-per-click ads. They’re usually banners that you can place above your content or in the sidebar
- CPM Ads- These are “cost per 1,000 impressions.” They’ll pay you a fixed amount of money based on the number of people that see your ads
The most popular network for placing these ads is Google AdSense. With this type of program, you don’t need to deal directly with the advertisers, you just need to place the ads on your page.
Google will select ads that are relevant to your content. This means that visitors to your page will be more likely to click on the ads.
There are several other programs similar to AdSense including Infolinks, and Media.net.
Of course, there are other ways of getting ads onto your site, and you cut out the ad networks, If you end up getting a lot of traffic, advertisers may approach you directly to ask if they can place ads on your site. You can also get in touch with the advertisers directly yourself.
There’s no middleman in this scenario which means you can determine your own rates and get a bigger slice of the pie.
Private ads can be banners, links, or buttons. You could also write a post or series of posts that are sponsored by an advertiser.
Get into Affiliate Marketing
Another great way of making money from your blog is through affiliate marketing. But what exactly is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing works like this: someone has a product that they’re trying to sell. They agree that they’ll pay you a commission from every sale when the customer arrives at their site via your site.
You’ll get given a unique tracking link that will let the seller know that the customer has come from your site. You’ll include this on your site. You could do this directly in your content, or in the form of a banner ad or button.
If a reader clicks through using your unique link and then buys the product that you’ve suggested, you’ll earn a percentage of the sale.
One of the most popular affiliate marketplaces is Amazon Associates. You could also create partnerships with brands and advertisers directly.
Sell Products Through Your Site
If you’d prefer not to advertise other people’s products on your page, you could opt to sell digital products through your site. These could include online courses or workshops, eBooks, photos or videos that other people could use on their own site, apps, themes, plugins, and much more.
Make sure if you’re selling something, that you make it relevant to your visitors. Lots of bloggers mistakenly assume they’re selling something that people need. Carry out some market research first to find out about the needs of your readers.
Selling Sponsored Posts
You may have seen a disclaimer on some blogs that reads ‘this is a sponsored post’, but what does it mean when a blogger says this? Basically, it means that they’ve been paid to create that post.
Usually, a sponsored post will be funded by a company that has a product that they want to sell. They may ask that the whole post be geared towards their brand or products, or they may want a natural link insertion.
There are regulations that surround sponsored posts and you will generally need to state that the post is sponsored.
Letting the Money Roll In
Like anything else in this life, you can’t make money blogging without putting in some effort. While it is possible to earn five figures each month from your blog, it will take you months to build up to this.
You’ll also need to be prepared to pay-out to help build up your site. You’ll need to pay for your domain in the first place, then web hosting, and you may need to pay for plugins.
Don’t see paying for tools that will benefit you as you start out as an expense. Instead, see them as an investment.
What are your tips on making money from blogging? Let us know in the comments section below.
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