I have been reading a lot of blogs that seemingly writing about how to make money blogging but every article that you end up reading, it comes down to a few things. Courses, ebooks, digital content, youtube, instagram, membership.
I don’t want this to be yet another blog post that repeats whatever every blogger has already written about. If you wonder some of these are actually money from blogging or something else altogether, I don’t blame you, I feel the same. They aren’t directly income from blogging, more appropriately, they are income you can possibly make from online.
But, what about ways to truly make money from blogging? That is the focus and topic of this post. I know a few that really work and I plan to update the list over time as I continue to find more income streams from blogging that work well. Today I am going to share 3 ways that are the best for anyone looking to make money from blogging (including ways for beginners).
First is affiliate marketing. It is one of the more lucrative opportunities and income streams with high potential directly from blogging. Not to make it sound easy, websites or blogs that are able to monetize from affiliate marketing is because they have really good content that continuously attract users and traffic, only with a sizable traffic or pageviews that they are able to eventually make enough commission off of affiliate marketing.
1. Affiliate Marketing: Web Hosting Platforms
I know for sure one source of income streams that you can definitely make from blogging as a beginner is affiliate marketing specifically for web hosting platforms. It is not a secret and if you noticed, every blog has a “how to start a blog” page that gives step by step guide. (I have one too. Ha!) The most popular one is definitely Bluehost. They stated it on their website that for every referred visitor, you can earn $65 for each qualified sign up. Not bad, eh?
But, like I said, without traffic to your blog, there will be no extra income. So, you need great content that attracts an audience and with traffic comes visitors, and if you are able to build trust, visitors will seek your recommendation and with that, you can make some extra income through referral or affiliate. The key is content. Now, go make content that is going to provide value to your readers first and foremost.
In case you haven’t created a blog yet and have been thinking about starting one, I have a tutorial for you on How To Start A Blog In 5 Easy Steps Under $5 ($3.95/month) to help you get started. I simplified the guide so you can get set up quickly, no excuse can hold you back now.
2. Blog Sponsorships
The second real way of making money blogging is blog sponsorships whether through sponsored posts or advertisements.
Sponsored posts can be done in any of the following ways:
- Posts written by the sponsor
- Posts written by the blogger that bring brand awareness
- Product reviews
- Giveaways
A sponsored content or post can be either paid or in exchange for products. For a sponsored post on your blog, as a beginner, I’ve heard blogger charge somewhere between $75 to $275. That is if the blog has less than 5K unique users per month. The more traffic you get for your blog means the more you can charge. But, how much you charge can depends on many factors too. If you are going to be writing the post, consider the time you will have to spend writing, do not undercharge but come up with what you think is a reasonable compensation.
If not sponsored post, brands or sponsors may want to place ads on your blog and that also can be done in a number of different forms:
- Ads on prominent placement
- Exclusive ads
- Links
So, how do you look for sponsorship opportunities? You can try to reach out to advertisers directly for pitching your ideas of how you are going to promote their brands or you can join any of the advertising networks that are available for your industry.
Izea is one of the popular brands & influencers marketing platforms you can join and it’s totally free. Although it would make more sense to sign up when you actually start getting consistent stream of traffic.
3. Display Advertising
Speaking of sponsored ads, that’s a good segue into display advertising. Display ads are simply ads that appear on your web pages, can be presented in different formats and sizes. Banner is one of the well known sizes.
The way you show display ads is by joining and setting up with ad networks such as Google Adsense, Infolinks, Media.net, Monumetric, Mediavine, etc.
For new bloggers with low traffic, display ads is probably the easiest way to start making money at first. However, with low traffic, the ad revenue will be pretty small. But, it’s certainly still a great way to make some passive income.
So, the most common way that display ads pay blogger is by Cost Per Click (CPC), you are paid for each clicks on the ads. The cost depends on how much advertisers are willing to pay or bid.
I recommend that you limit the number of ads placement though, because too many ads especially the ones that pop up right at the front of your page can be annoying to your visitors and will deter them from browsing or returning to your blog.
Do you have a blog? What are some of the strategies you have tried that make you money from blogging? Comment below as I like discovering new blogs and learning from others.
Note: This post is an ongoing work in progress, don’t forget to check back in for more updates!