If you have already set up a blog and want to learn how to make money from a blog then stick around!
However, if you have not set up your blog yet then read this start a blog article first.
Right so we’ve established you’ve already set up a blog and the next step is to monetize your blog to make money.
Whether that is for a little extra cash from your blog.
Or whether you intend to eventually become a full time blogger and give up your day job (but I wouldn’t advise doing this until you have got the hang of this making money lark!).
Let’s look at the options for making money from your blog.
When trying to make money from your blog it is best to use a few different methods. As relying on one method could be very risky. Changes to one method may mean that you can no longer use it. For instance, if you get banned from a program or the program seizes.
The good news is that you can make money blogging using a number of different methods. Here are some of the most popular.
1 – Make Money Blogging with Advertising
Most beginners start with showing adverts on their site to make money.
That’s simply because it’s easy to set up on a WordPress blog.
One such program is Google Adsense. It’s extremely easy to be accepted and you can use a WordPress plugin to easily set it up.
Once it’s set up Google Adsense will automatically show relevant adverts in your content.
When a reader clicks on the ad link you get paid a certain amount by Google (this can be as little as 1p per click!).
Google will show content relevant to what you have on your page.
For example, if your blog is about technology, it would show ads relating to smartphones or computers etc.
If you have a site aimed at healthcare you could find medical products being shown.
The biggest benefit of this method is that it’s easy to set up.
On the downside you will need to have a large amount of traffic to make a decent amount of money.
I have made some money using this method but not very much due to low traffic.
Once you have a good amount of traffic you can apply to other programs such as MediaVine which I believe generates more income.
2 – Make Money Blogging using Affiliate Marketing
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is when you promote products and if someone buys via your link you will receive some kind of compensation for the recommendation.
There are many companies that offer affiliate schemes and you can sign up to promote their products.
The trick here is to find an affiliate that matches up with your blog content.
An example may be a company that provides bedding – they give you a specially coded link and they pay you for every click that converts into a sale.
Another example would be a website all about setting up blogs or websites. For this type of site you could sign up to a good hosting company such as Bluehost. Subsequently, if someone goes on to buy hosting then you will receive some money.
Another affiliate program is run by Amazon. For this you would need to have a site that has a lot of links to Amazon to make decent money. So a website around gifts for kids would be a good example or a tech blog.
Pros of Affiliate Marketing
The upside of Affiliate Marketing is that if you get it right you can make a lot of money.
There are so many great bloggers out there making huge amounts of money from affiliate marketing such as:
Michelle from Making Sense of Cents
Jenn from This Tiny Blue House
Why not write some reviews about products that you use and include links? Make sure they are honest reviews. Also ensure that you disclose the fact that you have affiliate links in the article.
Cons of Affiliate Marketing
You would generally need to have a blog set up already. If you haven’t yet done so check out Bluehost.
The downside is that many affiliate companies will vet you first and won’t take you on if you either don’t meet their brand values or don’t have a popular enough blog site. That’s why many pro bloggers come to affiliate marketing once they have a bit more experience under their belt. You can make a lot of money out of it, if you get it right.
3 – Make Money Blogging by Selling your Services
While you can use your blog to get passive income through affiliate sales or ad marketing, you can also use it to sell services that you provide.
Hence, it can help to build up your reputation and people will trust you more.
For example, if you are a freelance writer, you can use it to promote your blog writing skills.
Elna from TwinsMommy sells her writing services on ElnaCain.com and is highly sought after.
Alternatively, if you are a Virtual Assistant (like me!) you could promote your VA business.
All this can lead to higher levels of revenue.
4 – Make Money Blogging by Selling your Own Products
As well as selling services, you can also use a blog to promote your own products.
Such products could be video training courses, eBooks, printables, forms etc. You could also sell your printables on a site such as Etsy.
Once you’ve created a product it will give you extra passive income.
It is always best to have a number of different ways to make money online.
My Website Failures
As I’ve already mentioned in another post I have set up some websites and abandoned them.
One was hotvasoftware.com which was about software for Virtual Assistants which in the end was too narrow of a niche. In hindsight, I should have set up a site around Virtual Assistants. I have started to move those articles over to this site. This site may be too broad of a subject – time will tell!
Another site I had was around fixed gear bikes which I feel could be worth going back to. I got some good affiliate sales from this site and I only had about 10 articles on it. I also did bike reviews using information from the sites that were selling the bikes. I believe it needed more articles but had potential.
I then tried a theme that was designed to pull in Amazon products to the site. It was all around kids toys that had wheels, bikes, scooter etc. Unfortunately, the theme I used was very buggy and didn’t work. I think I need to investigate if there are any better themes out there that do this. It was a paid theme as well – so it was very disappointing.
The Key to Success
With any blog, the key for success is great content, regularly posted and marketed well.
I met a lady through networking who set up her website as a result of there being a lack of information of activities to do locally when her children were growing up. It has developed into a great website. It has a lot of traffic and she receives revenue through advertising and Google adsense. It is regularly updated and she uses social media effectively.
Keeping your information up-to-date and posting regularly is what brings people to your site, keeps them engaged and also makes them come back.
But, if you want to make money from your blog, it’s actually a numbers game. You need a large amount of traffic coming through on a daily basis. This is especially true if you want to use advertising and affiliate marketing.
Need more traffic to your blog? Then read this on how to attract more readers to your blog.
Farewell Thoughts:
Successful bloggers who make money blogging from their sites generally look at multiple different ways to monetize.
Making money from a blog can include producing eBooks to sell, creating membership sites, selling advertising or affiliate marketing.
If you are a newbie and are looking for a course that will hold you by the hand through your blog adventure check out this blog by numbers course.
