If you are a blogger or trying out blogging for the first time, then you most likely know that blogging is a lifestyle-friendly business. You most likely don’t know how to make money with a blog though, am I right?
Blogging allows you to focus on sharing your topics of interest and creative talents. It is the best option if you are looking to work from home. Keep reading if you want to learn how to make money with a blog and become your own boss today!
Almost everyone wishes they had a job where they could work from home, right or wrong? Well, blogging can give you the personal freedom you have always wanted! Not only does blogging have personal benefits, but if you put in the work, blogging can be very fulfilling!
Some bloggers are making money from their craft. You probably heard of them and you are looking for a way into the blogging world. Or you already have a blog, but you are looking for ways to monetize it. We’ve got you covered! We will explore some of the tips and techniques on best how to make money with a blog.
First things first, if you are here and you don’t have a blog, you need to;
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Start Your Blog
Well, obviously, if you wish to know how to make money with a blog, you need to set up a blog first. That is the first essential step towards making this journey a reality. If you have no technical experience, then visiting some of the ‘How to start a blog’ sites and articles should be the place to start. I also wrote an article called 24 Simple Tips For Writing A Good Blog Post
This site will give you a step by step guide on how to go about setting up your blog. If you think it’s hard, then you’ll be amazed by how simple it actually is.
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Begin Creating Content
After you set up a blog, the next logical step would be to start creating content for your blogging space, not just any content but useful content. People will not be attracted to your blog if you don’t have interesting or useful content on your site.
When you begin creating content always make sure that you focus on content that will actually make a difference in people’s life. Whether you decide to venture into fashion, sports, or even lifestyle tips, whatever it, make sure that when people come across, they will get to learn something unique.
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Branch Out Your Blog and Start Looking for Readers
Once you set up your blog and begin putting content on it, it’s so easy to get consumed in building the blog. Creating the blog is fine, but having a blog with no readers or followers or subscribers will harm your desire to make money from blogging.
If you are looking to actually make money from blogging, then you need to start focusing on promoting your blog. If you have friends or happen to know people, who blog, they probably tell you that you need your blog needs to have traffic for it earn you money. However, focus on finding readers instead of traffic.
Think of the kind of readers you are looking to attract, based on your content. Your primary focus should be building your presence, adding value and fostering relationships with readers.
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Build a Relationship with the Readers That Come
After some time, depending on how active you are, you will begin to have new people visiting your blog site. Once you notice people engaging your content, switch your focus to building your community by engaging with those readers.
One of the ways of engaging with them is y responding to their comments, reaching out to them personally, and making sure you do everything you can to keep those readers coming back. Once you engage them enough to keep them coming back again and again, they will also tell their friends and maybe family about your platform.
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Use your readership you gained to start making money through variety of income streams
So now you have a blog with content, you have readers, and you have engaged with your adience. It is about time you use that foundation to start building long-term income for the blog.
Once you go through the above steps, then you are finally ready to try and make money from your platform. However, just because you have a blog now with some readers, you don’t automatically start making money.
So you want to learn how to make money with a blog?
Let us first establish that it takes experimentation and work for you to start making money from your blog. There are two key things you should know before learning how to make money with a blog.
- Always explore new ways to make money from blogging. Aim at having multiple streams of income. Be aware that even the small tickles of cash flowing from different sources over time might will add up and create a snowball effect.
- Every blogger has various combinations of income streams. The beauty of making money from blogging is the fact that there is no “right” way to go about it. The possibilities are endless. Make sure you find a combination that works for you.
The Income Streams
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Advertising
Most bloggers start here. Making money from advertising on your blog is almost the same as how newspapers and magazines sell their ads. The more readers you gain, the more traffic your blog gets. Once your blog has traffic, advertisers will want to pay to get the exposure of your community.
Just in case your blog hasn’t gotten any traffic yet, there are ad networks that act as a middleman, for example, Google AdSense. Google AdSense will enable you to run ads on your blog, in fact, this is where most bloggers begin. So even if you lack the traffic that will draw advertisers to you, you’re still covered. There are two types of advertising;
- Display Ads
These ads are images or graphics similar to advertisements in a magazine or billboard. In most cases, they will be positioned on your blog in the header, footer, or sidebar. Sometimes they can be referred to as banner ads.
Advertisers hope that by placing them on your blog, your readers or visitors will click on the images and explore, and even purchase the services or products they offer. Ad networks are in charge of providing display ads. Ad networks are companies who help connect advertisers with bloggers or publishers.
They merely act as middlemen between the advertisers and the bloggers by negotiating the partnership details between the two. The ad network will have to take a cut from the profit the partnership makes. Case in point, Google AdSense, as we mentioned earlier. Other ad networks include Federated Media, Beacon Ads, Blogads, BlogHer, Sway, Sovrn, and Media.net. This could be one of the easiest ways to make money by blogging.
- Private Ads
They are similar to display ads in that they also come in the form of graphics or buttons and they also appear in the sidebar of your blog. Unlike display ads, private ads do not have middlemen to negotiate the partnership. The partnership is an arrangement between the company or business and the blogger.
The contact is initially made by the company or the blogger. It’s up to the two parties to be clear on what their expectations are. If this is new ground for you, and you have no idea what to charge, do some investigation and find out what others charge for this kind of thing. You can find that information on the blog’s media kit.
Make an initiative to contact some of these companies on your own because there is a high chance the companies won’t come looking for you especially if you don’t have outstanding traffic. Create a pitch for the businesses and make it a win-win. Make sure you convince them why they should pay you to run their advertisements on your platforms.
Monetize with “CPC” or “CPM” Ads
Once you indulge in display or private ads, you can also make money by distinguishing what types of the ad the companies or clients put on your site. There are two types of ads:
- CPC Ads – they are the cost per click or pay per click types of ads. They are banners that you place on your blog’s sidebar or content. Whenever a reader or visitor clicks on the ad, you will be paid for that click.
- CPM Ads – also known as cost per 1000 impressions. For these ads, the company pays a fixed amount of cash based on how many people see the ad on your site.
Pros of advertising –
- They are easy to set up and also maintain
- It is lucrative for most select bloggers
Cons of advertising –
- The ads make the site look cluttered and ‘spammy’
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Affiliate
For some readers, affiliate promotions are the most common type of income they have. When it comes to affiliate income, you have to link to a product up for sale on another site, lets say for example, Amazon. If someone followed that link and decided to buy the product, you will earn a commission for the sale.
It’s one of the greatest places you can consider starting from. Using affiliate programs to monetize your blog are very easy to sign up for and start. If your audience is engaged, they will probably follow the recommendations you make on the products.
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Events
Another popular way how to make money with a blog is by holding events. The events could range from big conferences which host hundreds of bloggers like the ProBlogger Conference each year, or the small blogger’s readers meet-ups where you make money either by finding a sponsor for the event or through charging readers. There are also online summits or events that are getting more popular by the day.
However, don’t underestimate the kind of work you will need to put in to pull off an event. If you are extremely motivated, have a background in event planning, or you are good at networking, then this could really work for you.
Tip: if you want to use events to make money from blogging, try narrowing down the conference topic to make sure you target a more targeted group.
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Selling Your Own Services and Products
Several bloggers offer other services like visual assisting, coaching, writing and graphic design. It is possible to make money from such services if you have devoted readers. Some of the services and products you could sell include:
- Videos and audios
You can use sites like Audio Jungle to sell videos or music that your readers or visitors can use as intros and outros.
- Plugins, Apps, or Themes
If you can write your own plugins or themes, then you can sell them to creative sites.
- Online Workshops or E-courses
If you feel that people like your content or products and they benefiting from it, then another popular way how to make money with a blog is through online workshops and e-courses. You can start small to test the waters, if people accept it, then go big next time.
Just pick something you are good at, or something people have shown interest in, and teach it! Refine your presentation by doing it once or twice then you can start charging a small fee to those willing to take the class.
- Domains
You could sell your domain to sites like Sedo, to collect money from it.
- Ebooks
If you have written books, you could try selling them to your devoted readers; chances are if they really love your content, they will want to purchase your Ebook.
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Sponsored Posts
As a blogger, your goal is to learn how to make money with a blog from every angle possible, right? Writing articles paid for by advertisers looking to promote their services, or products from different companies can generate a lot of income. Bloggers who are already doing this charge hundreds of dollars because it’s a form of the company’s permanent advertising.
However, for your readers to understand that the post was paid for by the company when they see it, you must disclose the posts as sponsored. Otherwise, if you fail to do so it could reflect poorly on you, especially if the company is not that awesome.
However, even though you want to make money from your blog, don’t turn off your readers by adding too many sponsored posts. Keep them to the minimum.
- Recurring Income
It is sometimes called membership programs, or continuity programs and bloggers are leveraging on it to make money. This is where your readers or visitors will pay a regular recurring amount, which could be monthly or annually. If they stop paying, they can no longer access the content.
However, for this to work and even pay off, you need to make sure that what you are offering is truly unique.
- Get Connected to Other Blogger
Blogging doesn’t have to be isolating. Try attending bloggers events in order to get acquainted with other bloggers within your niche. It is important to look for ways to create informal virtual alliances with whom you can exchange or share content, offer support, and cross-promote. It is a nice way to combat the loneliness especially if you are a home-based blogger and you could benefit greatly financially.
Full-Time Versus Part-Time Blogging
When your learning how to make money with a blog, you must realize that ultimately, results come down to how much work you actually put into it. Individuals who blog full-time, part-time, or own non-blogging businesses, make varied income from blogging.
In the blogging world, you’ll find that most people blog about topics they are passionate about and want to earn some extra money from. However, very few people get the motivation to start a blog as a full-time income source.
If you are looking to finally make money from blogging, then you need to understand that blogging is also a business like any other. Like a business, you can’t just expect to start a blog, post content and a few ads and money will start to roll in. You need to commit to blogging on a full-time or part-time basis depending on the extent of your income and needs.
How to Go From Being a Hobby Blogger to Pro Blogger
If you really want to learn how to make money with a blog, you have to be willing to invest in training, and be ready to stick it out for the long haul. You will need to consider advancing your blogging from a hobby to an actual business platform.
The amount of money your blog makes will depend on your market niche, the quality of your content, and how often you blog. It will also depend on how effective you are at monetizing and promoting your site.
If you use your blog as a platform to build brand awareness, you will increase the likelihood of people buying from you. So even if you don’t earn anything from sponsorship revenues or advertising on your blog, you might end up earning a good income because of the blog.
Final Thought
It is crucial to consider that it is not definite that all these avenues will work for you. We recommend that bloggers tweak their methods and seclude what actually works best for them and their readers.
Making money from blogging will require a lot of persistence, but it will pay off eventually. Remember, you don’t have to use all the avenues at once. Keep experimenting on different scales and see what makes you money.
Make a point of considering what other bloggers are doing and start there. With time, you will learn what works and what doesn’t. You will be able to identify which venues are helping you make money from blogging.