When I first started blogging in 2006, the internet was the wild, wild west and everyone was talking about making money as a blogger. However, as a business owner with a blog, I found it hard to make money as the other bloggers suggested. Fast-forward to now, and there's a lot more business owners with a blog!
But you don't have to own a business to make money blogging. You can start a blog and turn it into a revenue stream.
Making money with your blog is a long-term income strategy, not a get rich quick scheme. If you've blogged for a while and you're feeling frustrated because you're not making the money you thought you would, then this article is for you.
First of all, I've never made100K a month blogging, transparency is important. That was never my goal. I have won 7-figure contracts and high-end clients through my witty conversational content, but that's another blog post for another day.
Today, I want to share with you different ways to make money as a blogger, so you can quickly make money blogging.
Making money with your blog comes down to a 3 things:
Content is the foundation of your blog. Don’t skimp on this part. Do your research and make sure everything you publish is the best you can make it.
So many people start a blog thinking it’ll be easy to just throw half a dozen blog posts up and call it a day, but that’s not how it works. The reason “content is king” is such a popular saying is because it’s 100% true. Without great content, it’s difficult to make money with your blog.
Pro-Tip!
Creating a content schedule or setting up an editorial calendar in Airtable, Trello or even Excel can save you a lot of time - and headaches!
Traffic is important if you want to make money blogging. You don’t have to have millions of pageviews by any means (I fed a growing family of 5 with 700 viewers a month), but if you don’t have eyeballs on your content, you can’t have sales, right?
If you’re relying on ads, your traffic is going to need to be much higher than if you’re building a your own email list and selling products. Either way, it never hurts to get more traffic.
Pro-Tip!
How can you increase your traffic? Creating more content isn’t always the answer. Log into your Google Analytics and see which posts are in your top 10. Expand on those.
While content and traffic are important, keep in mind that planning also plays a huge role in how successful your blog will be. If you’re writing whatever you feel like for the day with no rhyme or reason and then hitting publish, chances are, your blog will fall flat on it's face. Some bloggers build a brand based around sharing their lives or ranting, but the amount of people who truly care about how your day went and how you’re doing with your German Shepherd's training journey is usually fairly small.
People want to know what’s in it for them. What can you offer them? How can you help them? The key to getting your readers to come back day after day, week after week, is to educate or entertain. If you can do one or both of those things, you’re already ahead of the pack!
Making Money on Your Blog With Ads
Making money with ads takes quite a bit of traffic. You can start out by charging for ad space manually on a new blog. For example, many new bloggers will charge $20 a month for ad space on their sidebar, until they get the traffic for ad networks. This is an easy way to make money with a brand new blog!
It’s much less work to use an ad network, so that’s what most bloggers do. Ad networks like Ezoic are great to start out with because they have a lower traffic threshold. You can get approved with less than 10,000 pageviews per month.
To get approved for an ad network like Mediavine, you need at least 50,000 sessions per month. That’s not always an easy feat, but it can be done, regardless of your niche. AdThrive requires 150,000 sessions.
No matter which ad network you decide to go with, be sure to pay attention to how many ads are on your blog. Do you want video or pop-out ads to play? You have full control over how many ads and what kind of ads are displayed on your blog. Don’t feel like you have to “okay” every single ad placement.
After your ad network has placed ads on your blog, take a look at your blog as a visitor. Are there too many ads? Do they cover your content? Is the video pop-up too obnoxious? Everyone has their own idea of how many ads is the “right” amount. It’s important to play an active role in ad placement because this can make or break your readership.
Affiliate Marketing as a Way to Make Money Blogging
Some bloggers make six figures from affiliate earnings alone, which is so amazing! Getting started with affiliate marketing is something you can do as a new blogger. I recommend getting at least 10-15 solid blog posts published.
With the rise of Instagram influencers, you may be approached directly by brands or you can utilise brand-outreach and ask for sponsorship. While you could do it sooner, many brands only want to work with established bloggers. When they come to your site to see what your blog is about, you’ll want to make sure you put your best foot forward and have your best content in place!
To get started with promoting products as an affiliate, think about products you use on a regular basis and absolutely love. Think about products that will help make your readers’ lives easier. I like to choose products from sites like Shareasale, Awin, and Impact Radius. You can also reach out to companies and brands directly to see if they have an affiliate program you can join.
Remember Amazon! Some niches perform better than others when it comes to promoting Amazon products, and they don’t pay as much per product as other affiliates, so it’s a volume game!
Pro-Tip!
Only promote products you truly believe in. It may be tempting to promote junk products to make a quick buck, but I promise you’ll make more in the long run if you are your authentic self.
Making Money Blogging With Your Own Products
Designing and selling your own digital products is one of my favorite ways to make money through my blog. You can sell ebooks, cheatsheets, a monthly membership, meal plans, or courses like we do. The possibilities with digital products are literally endless, and they’re mostly passive once you get them set up.
Create one time, sell thousands of times, rinse and repeat.
The next steps
No matter which path(s) you decide to take towards making money blogging, remember it comes down to delivering value for your audience. If you write blog posts that are engaging, easy to read, and helpful, your audience will come back for more every single time.
