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Are you looking for ways to make money with your blog?
I started my blog as a passion project, but within 18 months after spending about 20+ hours a week, it became a valid source of “passive” income.
High Five for that!!!
I use “passive” in quotes because the blog isn’t 100% passive; I now put in only about 5-10 hours a week to research, write, and publish frequent quality content, update older posts, take photos, and share my posts on social platforms.
When I decided to monetize my blog I had to do more than just publish high-quality content; I had to identify the specific avenues for making money.
Here are my 4 Ways to Make Money with a Blog for beginners! I cannot wait for you to start monetizing your blog today!
1. Use An Ad Network
The most popular way to make money blogging is through the use of ad networks.
These are platforms that connect advertisers with website owners who would like to host advertisem*nts on their sites. The advertisers pay the ad networks to have their ads placed on websites. When visitors click on or view the ads, the website owner gets paid a certain amount of money.
For beginners, I suggest working with Google Adsense when you first start. Serving more than 2 million publishers globally, the most popular ad network on the web for new bloggers is Google AdSense. Google Adsense is easy to install, has great customer service, and you do not need a specific amount of traffic to apply. I worked with Google AdSense and tracked my blog stats, and page views with Google Analytics for the first year of running House Fur before applying to MediaVine.
Once your blog is getting significant traffic (25-30k visitors a month), I would recommend applying for:
To maximize your income from ad networks, you will have to choose the best platform to work with.
What’s the best ad platform for you?
- You can choose one with a wide pool of advertisers. This way, your site will receive relevant ads, and this increases the chances of your visitors clicking on them.
- You can review the available ad formats & styles the ad network offers; you will want ones that blend seamlessly into your content, for example, Media Vine allows me to choose in-article vs. sidebar ads vs. sticky ads
- I advise choosing one with a high CPC rate
- You can choose one various payment options such as PayPal or a direct check
2. Write Sponsored Posts
Another great way of making money with a blog is by partnering with brands to produce sponsored posts. Sponsored posts refer to content that you’re paid to write. It’s more like influencer marketing, but on your blog.
In this case, you will partner with a brand that sells a certain product or service. The brand pays you to write a promotional blog post that urges readers to buy their products or services.
To attract brands for sponsored content, you need to have high traffic on your site. Thus, another reason to always be creating quality content that helps readers and attracts more visitors so can connect &Âpitch brands for paid partnerships and collaborations.
There are several courses available to learn about pitching brands, but my absolute favorite is by Julie Solomon. Her pitching course is called Pitch Perfect.
3. Sign Up for Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a money-making avenue where you get paid for traffic or sales that result from your marketing efforts.
If you’re wondering how to make money blogging for beginners without substantial traffic to get you noticed by advertisers, affiliate marketing is an excellent option. You can write about products or services you love or have used before and include affiliate links naturally in your content. You don’t need huge traffic to make sales — all you have to do be transparent and honest about what you have purchased, why you love it, and why you are sharing it with others.
For example, you can approach a web hosting company such as Bluehost for affiliate marketing. The company assigns you an affiliate link that you embed in your blog content. Any time someone clicks on the link and signs up for Bluehost web hosting services, you get paid a percentage commission of the total sales.
You can partner with various brands that allow affiliate marketing and gain more opportunities for making money. Just make sure the products and services resonate with your audience and are high-quality. Being honest & “authentic” is 100% necessary whenever you are talking to your readers.
I am currently part of theÂReward Style affiliate program, Amazon Associates, and ShareASale.
Amazon Associates is my favorite – they have strict rules, so make sure you abide by all of them or you will get the boot! I also really love Reward Style, and I’ve grossed over 4k with Reward Style since I started using it mid-2018.
4. Sell Products or Services on Your Blog
You can make money blogging by selling products or services on your blog.
Do you have E-Books you’ve written? Or do you sell DIY crafts? Do you have an e-commerce store? Or an online course? Or are you a specific service provider?
You can promote and/or sell these items on your blog to make money.
You will want to make your blog posts not only promotionally but also helpful to your readers. You can talk about these products, why you love them, and how they will benefit the reader.
For example, you could write a post on DIY for home decor and include a link to your store where readers can purchase your materials. Add value for your readers through quality content and honestly, and they will be more than willing to buy from you.
Ready to Make Money with Your Blog?
When I started this blog, I was sure I’d succeed, out of sheer force of will, despite not knowing “all the things” and stepping into this blogging world pretty clueless.
I pushed past a million rude awakenings hundreds of dollars on online courses. I kept at it for a little over a year, and today, I can tell you I went from clueless blogger to having ALL the clues!
It’s so powerful to stop and take stock. I am so proud of myself.
I am living proof that blogging is “a real job” with a solid income. However, before the dollars start streaming into your account, you have to put in the effort!
Have you started monetizing your blog? What strategies are you using, and how are the returns? Share your experience with me!
