Blogging is an excellent way to turn your passion into a fully-fledged business.
Yes, that’s possible!
The mighty internet has blessed us with a new dimension where you can earn money online through various methods, including blogging.
According to Forbes, famous sites like HuffPost, Moz, TechCrunch, and others make huge money by posting high-quality content on their website. HuffPost makes $14,000,000 per month on average. This successful blog makes money out of sponsored ads like banners, posts, and other methods. HuffPost was started back in 2005, and they continued being resilient to this day, and the rest is history.
All good things take time, and blogging also requires a great deal of consistency and patience before it brings you great earnings.
That’s why if you want to make your blog a success, you need to establish your blog’s authority and build a strong audience base by publishing high-quality content that can educate and inspire your audience.
Many ask this question, though,
Why blog when you have social media?
The biggest reason – You are not the owner 😎!
You could have an account where you can post things, but you don’t have full control of your account. If a social media site closes for good, your account goes with it, so do your posts. All the efforts and time invested go in vain.
But if you have a blog of your own, you are the owner. It’s like buying a place in the internet world and building a home on it. Blogs also remain visible for a longer time, unlike social media posts where every second your feed changes. Hence, I would always prefer blogging first.
If you have a blog and are wondering how to make money through it, this article can help you.
I’ve mentioned different methods to monetize your blog here.
Let’s look at them!
Ad networks
Ad networks can help you make good money when you display ads on your site.
Have you seen long banner advertisements at the top or bottom of a blog post?
Or, some video commercials in a site’s sidebar?
All these are display ad campaigns. Nowadays, some bloggers partner with a company directly and create display ads for them. Most bloggers choose to partner with ad network companies for these display ad campaigns that are best suited for both parties.
Some of the examples of ad network companies are Google Adsense, Adthrive, etc.
But how do they work?
They match advertisers with your blog content and site visitors.
Here, the brands bid to get a spot on your website based on your demographics or type of site. Ad networks are also responsible for creating and monitoring ads, which change according to visitors, time of the day, and article content.
So, if you want to partner with an ad network, sign up with them, install a few code lines (many of them explain how to do it), and then select the area where you want the ads to display on your site.
However, big ad networks are hard to work with unless you have some excellent site stats to show.
Many factors make a blog advertisable such as website traffic, blog design, type of content or niche, and site stability. If you think you excel in these parameters, you can attract serious advertisers to your blog in the same niche.
Here are some ad networks and how much traffic they require at the minimum:
- Google Adsense: You don’t require much traffic; that’s why many new bloggers chose it. There’s no minimum amount of traffic, but if it’s less, you are going to make less money. It helps you create targeted ads, and you can make money through Cost Per Click (CPC) and CPM (Cost Per Mile or cost per thousand impressions)
- Adthrive: It requires a whopping 100k+ unique visitors per month, but that does not mean the best payout than the rest of the ad networks. Although, it’s great to work with.
- Mediavine: It is one of the best ad networks and requires 50k+ page views per month.
- Ezoic: It requires 10k+ page views a month and offers a better payout than Google Adsense.
Choose any network you want but consider the number of page views and the plus and minus sides of each of the ad networks.
Affiliate marketing
One of the most loved and easiest ways to make money by blogging is affiliate marketing. This monetization method involves selling others’ products or services through your blog posts and getting a commission out of it.
In this method, you add a product link in a blog post and recommend it to your readers. And when anyone clicks that link and purchases the product, the commission is yours to earn.
But how do you get that special link?
For this, join the affiliate program of a company.
You can search for such companies on the internet by using keywords like the company’s name followed by ‘affiliate program’. Some companies have their affiliate programs on their website while others join a network where other companies are also listed.
Examples of some great money-earning affiliate programs:
- Amazon: Getting started with this is very simple, and money is also good. It may not produce the biggest of earnings, but considering the fame of Amazon all across the world, you can expect a decent income out of it.
- GetYourGuide: If your blog serves the travel and hospitality industry, it is a great way to go. They also offer services in many parts of the world so that the earning potential can be pretty good. You can also try Booking.com and Viator.
- Skimlinks: If you don’t like going deep into technicality or are new to blogging, you can go with it. They will provide you with a code that you need to embed on your site, which automatically turns a link inserted in the blog into an affiliate link. It also comes with a Chrome extension.
- Commission Junction: It is also a great affiliate marketing company with thousands of different brands listed here, serving different industries. Some of the similar sites you can try are Avantlink, Pepperjam, and Awin.
Check out this post to explore the 35+ affiliate program to join today.
Pro tip: Consider choosing quality affiliate products or services related to your blog niche. It will save you from annoying your readers with random products with no relation whatsoever to what you are writing in the blog just because it is paying you well.
Product Placement
Have you noticed Coca-Cola and KFC in the movie Superman from 1980 during a fight sequence between Superman and General Zod?
I did 😊
These brand names did not appear in the movie by mistake.
It happened with a specific intent – to engulf the audience.
It is a form of advertising known by the name of product placement, which helps increase a product’s sales by increasing its visibility in front of a broader audience.
Similar to movies and television, you as a blogger can also benefit from product placement. In the blogging context, product placement happens when a brand reaches out to you to feature their products/services in your blog’s content.
It can be a product review, giveaway promotion, suggested item featured in a list, or an element inside a post’s narrative. Whatever be the case, the product/service must fit into the story’s context seamlessly, ensuring it sounds natural.
The psychology behind product placement is that when a visitor reads an engaging, value-adding article in your blog with brand placement, their brain notices that product.
And when your loyal readers actually find your article worth-reading with all the information, including that of the product, it creates a favorable inclination for the product in their minds.
As a result, consumers are likely to buy the products they can associate with something they like, in this case, your blog. This way, the intent behind product placement is fulfilled.
But how can you win product placements?
It happens when you consistently create quality content on your blog that can grab the attention of brands. Show your expertise in the field with in-depth, informative articles focusing on consumer benefits, and sprinkle some product placement on your own.
When you do it regularly, brands in your niche may contact you to feature their products in your articles. This is when you win product placement opportunities and charge them in return.
It’s a win-win situation for you and the associated brand.
Selling products
If you use an ad network or affiliate products, it’s good, but you only get a small commission out of a product.
To maximize your earnings, you can start selling your own products and services. In this section, we are going to talk about how you can make money by selling products.
Yes, it takes time and effort to create, market, and sell products, but the result is worth it. Plus, it establishes a direct bond with your customers, who are your readers as well. Simultaneously, if your products do well among the consumers, then your traffic will also increase, and revenue will follow.
So, what all products can you sell?
The answer is – both digital and physical products.
Digital: Digital products are in huge demand these days, ebooks, online courses, reports, or software.
A 2020 report says that the global ebook industry was valued at US$ 18.13 billion and is estimated to reach US$ 23.12 billion by the year 2026.
Another report highlights the online education market is going to reach around US$ 319 billion by 2025, with a 9.23% increase from 2019’s market of around US$ 187.
Similar trends are expected of software as a service (SaaS) products and online reports.
Hence, these digital products can bring good revenue to you.
First of all, think about how you can prepare any or all of these products, which takes significant time and hard work. Create products based on your niche and research what your readers can be interested in. You can survey your audience to understand their pain points and preferences. And then create ebooks, online courses, and other things.
Once ready, you can sell the products on your website with a good sales page and rich user experience elements. You can also sell them on established marketplaces such as Amazon, Udemy, Envato, etc., to save your time in product promotion. However, it will incur some percentage of your earnings.
Physical products: Physical products will always be on-demand. You can sell merchandise like artworks, t-shirts, printed mugs, and more. Along with time and effort, it will involve some capital investments as well, plus you need to be ready for competition from top brands, including Amazon.
But if the idea is great, your customers would love it, and you can make good revenue out of it. One of the best examples for this is Gary Vaynerchuk with his online store.
If you are a developer, you can build an API and sell on the marketplace.
Article Sponsorship
If you are not interested in displaying ads on your site, let me tell you an interesting method to monetize your blog.
It might be possible that you don’t want to annoy your readers with ads because many readers use ad blockers or get offended by them.
You can go for sponsored articles, blog posts, or reviews.
These contents are produced with specific intent due to the partnership between you and a company whose products or services you can talk about or promote in your articles. And in return, they can pay you well.
Please don’t confuse it with affiliate marketing, though.
In affiliates, you earn when someone clicks and/or buys a linked product/service. More conversions equal more earning. But in sponsored articles, you get upfront payment by a company to publish an article featuring their products/services.
I actually love this method, and earning potential can be $100-$1000 or more per article. Generally, companies reach out to an established blogger with a good reader base, so their story picks up sooner, and they can reap benefits out of it.
But you can also pitch to them with your intent or join a sponsored post network like Blog Meets Brand, Clever, TapInfluence, and more. Pitch with your brand statistics and key information valuable to the company, and be prepared to provide value through your post with a motive to provide them with a return on their investment.
Brand Sponsorship
Think of brand sponsorship as a marketing strategy where you, as a blogger, would partner with other companies and agencies to promote their brand on your blog and earn money.
This partnership goes beyond sponsored articles. It will generate a mutually beneficial relationship with brands, companies, and influencers in your industry and niche while opening the door to many opportunities and collaborations.
Brand sponsorship involves a setup where you will publish a specific content piece to promote a company’s product or write a complete review.
Winning brand sponsorship involves pretty much the same process as article sponsorship. You need to have good site traffic and your blog’s authority in the market. It can win you money from $100 to $5,000.
But don’t get overwhelmed!
Keep a few things in mind before considering brand sponsorship to continue achieving good site traffic.
- Learn to say NO to products that do not add value to your blog, type of industry, or your readers
- Work with brands whose products you actually like and can talk about it with transparency because your audience trusts you with this.
Pro tip: Try using a product/service to get a broader idea and develop a natural-sounding post you can confidently talk about and recommend to your readers.
Consulting
Consulting is another good blog monetization method, and people are actually considering it these days. To get started with it, you can blog consistently about your expertise and niche.
When you post-high-quality, value-adding blogs regularly around a topic, you establish yourself as an authority in the eyes of your audience. You will be viewed as an expert, and your audience would start taking your brand seriously.
As a result, many would come to you with their questions and doubts regarding the topic to provide solutions.
This is what consulting is. You can consult others and get paid in return for your time and energy in helping others and addressing their pain-points.
Start offering paid consulting on your blog by creating a page. It must include essential information and a form your audience can fill out and schedule a consultation call with you.
Not to mention, include a clear-cut CTA so they can visit that page and request for consultation.
Pro tip: You can start offering free consultation at first and expose yourself to people with diversified questions and problems. It will help you become more confident, and then you can gradually shift towards paid consulting.
Services
You already have a blog, and you regularly post quality stuff on your website around a niche. This means you have a certain level of expertise in that subject.
How about offering your skills as a service and earn money?
Sounds good, right!
Based on your skills, you can offer freelance services like freelance writing, designing, website or app development, and more.
The best thing is it does not involve any investment necessarily—just a laptop and wifi connection (which I’m assuming you have to run your blog).
That’s it!
You can make a page inside your blog with the range of services you would like to provide with a CTA. Start promoting your services through your blog itself or leverage your social media channels.
More monetization methods
Apart from all the above-mentioned 8 methods, you have a lot of other options as well:
- You can take up public speaking opportunities as an influencer once you have built your brand and get paid for it.
- Paid membership content
- Private forums
- Paid business directory
- Host paid webinars
- Newsletter
- Dropshipping store
- Accept donations
- Sell your blog (which the last thing you would wish, but if you have multiple blogs, you can consider this option)
Conclusion
With the arrival of the internet, opportunities have increased in this new dimension. Creating a blog is a fabulous step you have taken already, but if you wonder how to maximize its earning potential, read this article down to the last full-stop.
You can go for anyone or multiple blog monetization methods you are interested in based on your choice.
I hope this article helps you bring some handsome money 💰 through your blog.
