Ever wondered if it’s possible to make money blogging? Well, it is and there are multiple, profitable ways to monetize a blog!
It’s not exactly the blogging alone that makes the money, but instead the monetization strategies that bloggers implement onto their blogs.
Most bloggers monetize their blogs in several different ways so they can diversify and increase their income. This is one of the main reasons why you may have come across bloggers posting income reports that show the crazy amounts of money they make while working from home.
If a blogger works smart, they can earn a significant income through each individual monetization method they use. All of that money can potentially add up to a pretty big paycheck.
So, are you curious about how bloggers make money? Here are 6 ways to monetize a blog:
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is when you link to products or services on your website using a personalized affiliate link. If someone makes a purchase through your affiliate link, you get paid a commission! It’s a very effective way to monetize a blog.
You can find affiliate programs for just about any niche. Plus, it’s easy for new bloggers to get into since many affiliate programs don’t require you to meet any criteria such as a specific amount of monthly traffic.
So, why does affiliate marketing work so well? When people visit blogs, they’re generally looking for useful information and tools that will help them. If you can promote products that you love and know will help your readers, they might consider purchasing what you’re promoting!
Here are a few popular affiliate programs:
…And much more!
I personally love affiliate marketing and have used it as my main source of income on my past blogs. It’s definitely worth trying if you haven’t yet.
If you’d like to learn more about affiliate marketing, check out my blog posts on how to make money with affiliate marketing and how to join the Amazon Affiliate program.
Display Advertisements
Display advertisements are ads that are placed on your blog to generate revenue. The ads are usually shown as graphics or text and are placed on certain parts of your website such as the sidebar, within blog posts, at the bottom of your blog, etc.
Here are a few popular Ad networks that you can send an application to:
Most Ad networks require a minimum amount of monthly traffic in order to be accepted into their program.
For example, AdThrive requires 100,000 monthly pageviews and Mediavine requires 25,000 monthly sessions (both based on Google Analytics). Both AdSense and Ezoic do not have a minimum traffic requirement, but not every application is accepted.
If your blog is new and you’re not getting very much traffic, I’d recommend waiting a while and increasing your traffic before signing up for an Ad network. A blog with little traffic is unlikely to generate substantial income from ads.
Sponsored Posts
Sponsored posts are when brands pay you to write about their products/services on your blog. If you have a blog with a good amount of traffic, a brand may think you’re fit to bring awareness to their product or service by having you tell your readers about it.
There are a multiple ways you can get sponsored post opportunities. Here are a few:
Create a “Work With Me” page on your blog: Brands that want to work with you can contact you through a “work with me” page. You can provide information about your blog on that page, or simply mention that you are open to working with brands. Be sure to have a contact form and/or email address listed on the page!
Sign up for Influencer websites: Influencer websites are websites where you can create a profile and get connected to brands for sponsorship opportunities. There are TONS of influencer websites out there. They typically work with a multitude of different brands, so you’ll likely be able to find brands that fit your niche. However, there’s also influencer websites that are meant for specific niches.
Contact brands you want to work with: If there’s a particular product or service you really love, you can email the brand and pitch the idea of a sponsored post to them. Be sure to explain why you’d like to write a blog post for them, what your blog is about and how much monthly traffic you get.
Email Marketing
Pretty much any seasoned blogger will talk about the importance of building an email list.
Email newsletters aren’t just about letting your readers know you have a new blog post up. They’re also a very powerful way to earn more income from your blogging business.
Besides redirecting subscribers to your blog posts, you can monetize your actual emails by including affiliate links, ads or sponsored content.
So, why worry about dealing with an email list when you already have a monetized blog? Here are a few reasons:
1. Your email list belongs to YOU: The emails you send out are going directly to your email subscribers. It’s not like social media where you have no control over whether or not people pay attention to your tweets or facebook posts.
2. Your subscribers are probably more dedicated to your content: If someone subscribes to your email list, it’s safe to say they’re quite interested in what you have to say. These are loyal readers who probably WANT to know what products and tools you recommend.
3. Emails can be personalized: This is a great aspect of email marketing. Emails can be personalized to include the subscriber’s name. This helps to build relationships and engage the person receiving the email.
When it comes to email service providers, Mailchimp, Mailterlite and ConvertKit are popular options among bloggers. Each of these providers offer free options with upgrades available as you grow your list.
Sell A Digital Product
Selling your own, digital product is an excellent way to monetize a blog.
Think of it this way: You don’t get all the revenue when you monetize with affiliate marketing (though I still highly recommend incorporating it into your blog). Instead, you get a cut of what you earn while the rest goes to the owner of the product/service.
But when you sell your own digital product, all of the revenue goes to you. This adds security to your blogging business because you’ll have your very own income stream in case something goes wrong with one of your other income streams (better to be prepared with multiple streams of income!).
You can sell either physical or digital products, but I would highly recommend selling digital products. Some digital products you can sell are Ebooks, courses, guides, printables, etc.
Why sell digital products? Because digital products can be sold over and over again for as long as you keep them listed for sale! You don’t have to worry about shipping anything out or going out of stock. Digital products can earn you passive income.
Here are some examples of digital products that blogs in different niches can sell:
- A fitness blogger can sell meal plans/exercise plans
- A food blogger can sell recipe Ebooks
- A parenting blogger can sell printable activity books for kids
- A finance blogger can sell a printable budgeting binder
- A Christian blogger can sell bible journal/prompt pages
- A home/organization blogger can sell printable wall art
…And so much more!
So, how can you create digital products to sell? How you make your product will depend on what you’re selling, but if you want to sell something like printables, Ebooks, activity books, journaling pages or even wall art, you can easily create those products on a design website like Canva.
I personally create all of my printables that I give out for free AND sell using Canva. It’s very user-friendly and comes with all the fonts, graphics and options you need to create beautiful digital products. If you’d like to try it out yourself, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial of Canva Pro by clicking here. You can also create a basic account for free, but I highly recommend Canva Pro so you can try out the full-access version!
If you’ve never made a digital product before and all of this sounds overwhelming to you, don’t worry. It’s easy to learn! I used my favorite digital products course, Printables by Number to learn how to create all of the freebies I post and products I sell. Printables by Number gives you a step-by-step process to not only creating your digital products, but selling them as well. If you want to start creating and selling digital products, the Printables by Number course and Canva is all you need.
Of course, physical products are completely fine to sell if that’s what you want to do. I just like to recommend digital products because you won’t have to worry about stock, shipping, etc.
Sell A Service
You can sell a service to your readers on your blog. The service(s) you sell depends on what you think your readers would like and benefit from the most.
Some popular services that bloggers offer include consulting, coaching, virtual assistant services (social media management, content writing, etc.) and more.
Here are some examples of services that blogs in different niches can sell:
- A fitness blogger can sell one-on-one fitness coaching
- A finance blogger can sell personalized budgeting plans
- A lifestyle blogger can sell virtual assistant services
- A fashion blogger can sell a personal stylist service
…And so much more! The types of services you can sell as a blogger are endless. It all depends on your niche and what your readers need help with.
One thing to remember about selling a service vs. selling a digital product is that services are typically more time consuming. Selling a digital product can be pretty much passive once it’s up for sale (you may still need to do some customer service when selling digital products, such as answering questions or helping customers who are having trouble downloading the product).
Services, however, require time commitment to complete. If you decide to sell a service, be sure not to overbook yourself or take on more than you can handle.
BONUS: Freelance Writing
Freelance writing is when you get paid to write content for clients.
Freelance writing isn’t exactly monetizing your blog, per se. You can, however, use your blog as a portfolio of your writing to show to potential clients.
The type of content that freelance writers get hired for varies greatly. Here are a few examples:
- Copywriting
- Emails
- Product Reviews
- Magazine Articles
- Blog Posts
- Ebooks
- Ghostwriting
…And more!
FINAL THOUGHTS
As you can see, bloggers can monetize their blogs and diversify their income streams in many ways! Some bloggers may use every method available, while others pick and choose what suits them best. Regardless, there a way for just about anyone in any niche to make money with their blog.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can easily monetize your own blog, check out my post on how to make money with affiliate marketing. It’s a very beginner-friendly way to make money with a blog!