How To Make Money Blogging
Many people have dreamed of making money blogging, but few understand how to go about it successfully.
At first glance, it seems like bloggers are just lucky to be able to get paid to write what they want without having to worry about getting fired or having their work edited by others, but that’s not the whole story.
While blogging can be a great side gig or full-time job, it’s not going to happen overnight and there are quite a few things you should know before you start trying to make money blogging.
Here are essential things, on how to make money blogging.
Earn Money by Joining a Community
If you want to start a business and make money blogging, one of your first moves should be to join an online community.
Start by doing some research and finding a community where you can get some support and advice from other entrepreneurs who have started successful blogs or businesses.
You’ll also be able to share ideas with other people, which can help you learn more about blogging as well as make new connections in your niche. Some popular communities include Warrior Forum, SitePoint Forums, and Digital Point Forums.
How much money can you make blogging?
The short answer is that it depends on your niche and how much time you spend blogging. As with any business, it’s important to know exactly how much time and money you can invest to reach your goals.
Just like any other business, money isn’t simply going to fall into your lap—you have to work for it. But if you’re willing to dedicate yourself completely, there are real opportunities for significant income. For example, some bloggers make over $100,000 per year from their blogs alone.
It all comes down to how hard you want to work and what type of content you provide.
Consider Adding Paid Services
If you’re selling a premium product or service, then it might be worthwhile to accept payments directly through your site. While you could use a third-party platform like PayPal to process payments, these services typically come with transaction fees (e.g., 5%).
It’s not unheard of for companies to pay up to 30% in processing fees for credit card transactions. For example, if you sell an online course that costs $100, you may be able to recoup some of those costs by charging users $120 instead.
But if that course cost $1,000, paying $120 in processing fees would eat up 10% of all sales—which likely isn’t worth it unless your audience is very large and high-value.
Some payment processors offer flat-rate pricing tiers based on monthly revenue or average order size; checkout Stripe, Recurly, Braintree, and PayPal for more information.
Choose a profitable niche
One of the biggest mistakes people make is choosing a niche with no money-making potential. They invest their time and money creating content for a low-value, low-profit area only to realize they’ve wasted valuable resources.
Don’t be that person! The beauty of creating a revenue stream from blogging is that you are your own boss, so it’s up to you to determine what makes financial sense.
You can choose to build your business around affiliate marketing, selling advertising or monetization through ads on social media. Or you can combine different strategies to create a unique income source that fits your lifestyle. Whatever approach you take, make sure it’s one that will continue to generate income over time so you don’t have to start all over again when interest in your niche wanes.
Monetize Your Readership
After you’ve established a solid audience, it’s time to think about how to turn those eyeballs into dollars. There are a number of ways you can monetize your site, including advertising, affiliate marketing and sponsored posts.
We’ll break down some of these methods in-depth later in this post—but for now, remember that blogging isn’t free money. If you want to earn money with your content, it’s going to take hard work and research. It might also require you to take a step back from writing as often as you like.
You may have to start out by making less than what you would at another job, but if you’re passionate about your topic, it will be worth it in the long run. The more value you provide through your writing (and other social media platforms), the more likely readers will be willing to pay for access or products related to what they read on your site.
Use Affiliate Links When Reviewing Products
Instead of writing a review on your own, look at an item you’re interested in purchasing and then look for an affiliate link.
A good place to start is Amazon. Sign up as an associate and you can begin earning a percentage every time someone buys something through one of your links.
You can also use various blogging platforms that offer different options when it comes to monetizing your site. For example, some allow you to install Google AdSense, which allows you to make money from advertising.
Others have an affiliate program where you can earn commission if people click on links or purchase items using their unique code. It may take a little work to set these programs up, but once they are running, they will add another revenue stream to your business—and potentially grow traffic and engagement with your content.
Start A Business Website Offering Paid Services
Creating a website is easy. The hard part? Making money from it. Depending on what your skills are, you can turn your site into an information product business or start offering paid services to customers.
Either way, you’ll need to decide what type of monetization best fits your site and will generate leads and sales for you.
Don’t forget that no matter how good your business website looks, if it doesn’t convert visitors into paying customers it won’t be successful long-term.
Sell Your Own Product or Service
A lot of people start their blogs with a certain idea in mind, but over time their focus changes. If you find that your passion has shifted, consider starting your own product or service to tie into your writing.
Selling a tangible product can add to your passive income and is often seen as more reliable than promoting affiliate products.
Regardless of whether you sell a physical or digital product, once it’s created, setup costs are all yours—meaning there’s no monthly expense for storage or shipping.
Consider what you could create if you put your money-making skills to work: printables, ebooks, apps, tutorials—the possibilities are endless!
Advertise on Other People’s Websites
Most of us have been there. You start a website to document your life, or share a particular hobby, and before you know it, you’re on a mission to make money. If that’s where you are right now—or if you want to get there—consider advertising on other people’s websites.
Check out companies like Google AdSense and Mediavine to see if they have anything available that matches your site. These sites will allow you to place ads on other blogs in their network, driving traffic back to your site.
As long as those blogs are relevant (and well-trafficked) to what you’re writing about, you can easily monetize your content by placing an ad alongside it.
The most important thing is finding a good balance between high-traffic blogs with low ad rates and lower-traffic blogs with higher ad rates.
Write and Sell an Ebook
Selling your own products—including ebooks, courses, or webinars—is a great way to make money blogging. If you’re passionate about something and knowledgeable on the topic, it’s relatively easy to get started.
Check out sites like Fiverr and Elance to see if there are people willing to pay for your services. Another option is to create your own product and sell it directly from your website. You can either create digital products (which can be downloaded immediately) or physical products (which will be shipped to customers). You can also sell your own services as an online freelancer; check out websites like Upwork, Freelancer, and Fiverr.
Be sure to build up your portfolio before trying to get any gigs so that you have work samples ready when potential clients come calling.
Make Sponsored Posts That Fit With Your Brand
One of the best ways to make money blogging is to partner with brands in your niche. Ask if they’ll sponsor a post that ties into something related to their business.
This can include posting about certain products, promoting events or even writing sponsored posts (say, for example, you are a food blogger and your brand partners with Hellman’s mayonnaise.) These types of sponsored posts typically pay a flat fee around $75-$300 but you could also negotiate per views, followers or another metric.
Online Courses and Workshops
Learning a new skill or honing an existing one can not only be a good use of your time, but you could also turn it into some side cash.
With sites like Udemy and Skillshare, you can take online courses on just about anything and earn certificates to show potential employers.
And, with webinars on sites like Skillshare, you can learn how to make money blogging or monetize your personal brand. These are usually free, so they’re definitely worth looking into.
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