Blogging is a step by step process. It may take a while, but once you have the blog in place, you can enjoy the benefits for as long as you keep putting forth good content that adds value to your readers’ lives.
First, you will need to set up the blog framework and platform, then build an audience of readers who trust you. From there, building consistency and increasing readership by driving regular new traffic is the name of the game. Before you can start making an income, you will need 30,000 visitors a month.
You can use an established platform like WordPress with super easy CMS for blogging to earn money online by doing what you love. Blogging is great if you want to work from home at your own pace, and best of all, there is no limit to how much money you can make.
First, a word of warning – this is never a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. If you are looking for a way to get rich quickly by making money online, then blogging isn’t one of them. It will take a while, but if you enjoy writing and sharing, then work hard and you will earn income within 6 months to 3 years.
When you consider how to make money blogging, advertising is often the first thought that comes to mind.
Yes, it’s possible to make money with ads on WordPress, but there are also other ways you can monetize your blog content. Here are a few methods that work:
1. Make Money with Affiliate Marketing
If you’d like to create some passive income streams from your blog, one of the best way to do so is affiliate marketing — recommend services, digital products, and physical products from other companies in exchange for a percentage of the sale or set commission.
Affiliate marketing works when you, as a third party, recommend a product or service to your audience using special tracking links. You then receive a referral commission every time someone buys the company’s product after clicking your link.
If you’re interested in getting started with affiliate marketing, you can start by thinking about the products you already use that your readers may be interested in as well. Then you can see if they have an affiliate program that you can sign up for. Amazon even has an “influencer” affiliate program.
2. Display Google AdSense on WordPress
Google AdSense is an easy way to make money from your blog. All you need to do is add a script from Google to your website and start displaying ads. You will get paid for every time a user clicks on the ad. These are called CPC ads.
What is CPC? CPC stands for “cost per click.” By displaying CPC ads with Google AdSense, you receive a set fee every time a visitor clicks on an ad.
The cost per click is set by the advertiser, which is in contrast to CPM ads, where you’re paid for ad views instead of clicks. CPM means “cost per thousand impressions”, M representing the roman numeral for 1,000.
Google AdSense is a good way to start earning money online when you are first starting out.
3. Sell Sponsored Blog Posts
Some bloggers aren’t interested in displaying ads to their audience and wonder how to monetize a blog without ads. An alternative way to monetize a blog is through sponsorships.
A sponsorship works just like it does in sports, TV, events, or other industries. A company will pay you to represent their product, talk about it, and promote it to your readers.
To get started, it’s a good idea to put together a one-page media kit that details your traffic stats, social media following, audience demographics, and be sure to include any other data that will make your site more appealing to advertisers. Then you can approach companies to negotiate sponsorship deals.
When publishing sponsored posts, it’s crucial to know about the laws in your area about disclosure. To be safe it’s best to be clear that your post is sponsored and tell your readers why you chose to work with the company sponsoring your post.
4. Get Paid to Write Reviews
Similar to sponsored posts, you can also make money by writing paid reviews on your site. This is a slightly different monetization method than a review site with affiliate links, as mentioned above. Instead, you get to try out products related to your niche for free, and even get paid for writing a review.
The process for doing this can be similar to getting sponsored posts. You’ll want to review products that are relevant to your niche, that your audience would be interested in. You can approach companies on your own to ask about doing paid reviews.
5. Get Public Speaking Gigs as an Influencer
If you are promoting your own brand along with your blog, then over time you will get a decent following establishing you as an influencer in your space. Many bloggers make a lot of money by speaking at conferences.
Speaking at events, whether you are paid or not, helps you promote your blog and your personal brand. If you are good at networking and public speaking, then you would be able to find lots of new opportunities along the way.
Here are some general tips you need to keep in mind if you want to make money as a paid public speaker:
- Be an expert in your field. If you don’t have enough knowledge/skills at the moment, then start learning right away.
- Be consistent – You need to continuously promote your expertise on the topic through your blogging and social media activities.
- Let people know that you are available. You can announce on social media or privately reach out to event organizers.
6. Create Restricted ‘Members Only’ Content
Your most loyal readers are huge fans and may be willing to pay to read more of your work. You can create a members-only area for them to share more in-depth blog posts, downloads, videos, audio content, and more.
Membership sites can be a big time investment since you must continually create premium content for your paying members. But they can be very lucrative because they are recurring revenue (subscriptions). Patreon is one such site.
7. Sell Digital Products
If you would rather not advertise other people’s products on your site, or if you are looking for another stream of income, consider selling digital products. This can include items like:
- eBooks
- Online courses/workshops (make sure you have time to focus on the users of your courses and workshops – do not ignore them. Once you have the product, you need to have the resources to provide support. You will ruin your brand reputation if you don’t provide customer service along with your product.)
- Images, video, or music people can use in their own content
- Apps, plugins, or themes
Just remember that if you are going to choose one of these avenues that you make it relevant and useful to your readers. A lot of bloggers make the mistake of assuming they are developing a product their readers need; listen to your readers first, then create a digital product that meets their specific needs. You can even survey your fanbase with a free survey from Surveymonkey.com to find out what they’d like to see more of.
Build Your Credibility
Blogging to build credibility can lead to many money-making opportunities. For instance, let’s say you start a blog about the finance industry. People start reading your content, and your blog becomes very popular. You are now a recognized figure in the finance industry.
Once you have that authority, people might approach you to co-author a book on debt management, or you could charge to speak at conferences or to run employee financial training days.
This certainly isn’t a direct form of making money blogging, but it has worked for many well-known bloggers. It can work for you, too.
The biggest thing to keep in mind is that making money blogging is not possible by putting your site up and letting it sit there. The “if you build it, they will come” mentality doesn’t work here, be sure you are willing to put in the time. Most bloggers don’t see income for several months (sometimes years) after starting their blog. Before you dive too deep into blogging, remember these little bits of advice:
Create Quality Content
You are not going to make any money from your blog if people don’t read it. After all, your readers are the ones who are going to make you money, whether they’re clicking on your ads or buying your products. Always put your readers first.
Don’t Spend Your Time Exclusively on Your Blog
Developing a successful blog has a lot to do with building relationships. That can include relationships with sponsors, affiliate partners, or simply other bloggers who will direct traffic to your blog. Be sure some of your time is spent on forums and other blogs (or whatever works for you) to build these relationships and your blog.
Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment
Not all of these tips and avenues of income are going to work for you. Don’t be afraid to tweak your methods to see what works best for you and your readers.
Making money blogging can take a lot of persistence, but it can pay off in the long-run. You don’t have to use all of these money-making avenues at once. Consider what other people in your industry are doing, and start from there, figuring out what works for you as you go.
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