Is it really possible for a beginner to make money with a blog? Can you make a living out of blogging or is it just another myth? The answer to both questions is ‘Yes’.
Blogging for money is not a theoretical concept but it’s a reality. Anyone with some basic knowledge of blogging, SEO, and a general idea of how the Internet works can start a blogging business and make money.
Think blogging's just a hobby? Think again, it can actually make you quite good money. Here's how to get started, find your niche and turn your blog into a nice little money earner.
We'll be honest: blogging isn't the easiest way to make money. But, the great thing is that anyone can do it, and it looks amazing on your CV.
All you need is something interesting to say and enough patience and dedication to build traffic and a following. But how do successful bloggers make their money? We've interviewed a couple of them to reveal their monetization secrets.
let's get Started !
Table of Content
- Do I Make Money From Blogging ?
- What are the various ways to make money from blogging?
- How Much One Can Earn By Writing Blogs?
- How Much Money Do Bloggers Make?
Can you really make money from blogging?
The answer is yes!
But how much money you can make from blogging is variable. That's the nature of monetizing a blog at the start, however with time bloggers can do very well.
Monetizing a blog takes time and relies on you having some traffic. The more readers you have, the more attractive you are to advertisers.
To make a decent income from blogging, think about having multiple streams of income coming in from different sources and through different means.
What are the various ways to make money from blogging?
Once you've got your blog up and running, you can (finally!) start looking into ways to make a profit from it.
These are the best and easiest ways to make money as a blogger:
There are various methods that you can use to monetize your blog. Depending upon your level of blogging and the kind of blog, you could pick the method that matches your style.
- Add banner adverts to your website (Ad Networks like AdSense, Ezoic)
- Use affiliate marketing on your blog
- Sell Digital products (eBooks, Blueprints)
- Direct Advertisements
- Native Advertising
- Write advertorials and sponsored content
- Launch an Online Course
- Write guest blog posts for media outlets
- Sell your blog's newsletter space
- Work with an agency to build your blog
1. Add banner adverts to your website (Ad Networks like AdSense, Ezoic)
There are ad networks that are the simplest and widely used method for monetizing a blog.
The two Ad networks which are most popular are...
- Google AdSense (Offered by Google)
- Ezoic
- PropellerAds
You need to have a blog to get approval on these ad networks. They show ads automatically based on the context of your article and also based on user interest. Most of the new blogs use these methods to monetize as it gives recurring income. Since the ads shown are of high quality, they don’t affect the user experience.
As a more visual way of advertising, you can sell banner advertising space on your blog page to brands that relate to your readers.
Adverts can be placed anywhere, but they're commonly found across the top of blog pages or in the sidebar.
You can earn income in one of two ways. CPC (cost per click) means you'll get a set payment for every reader who clicks the advert, while CPM (cost per thousand) means you'll negotiate a set payment for every 1,000 ‘impressions’ the ad gets.
With the growth of AdBlocker plugins, the CPC and CPM can be low, but it does depend on your industry, and there's little harm in trying them out.
A quick way to get started is to create an account with Google AdSense.
2. Use affiliate marketing on your blog
Affiliate marketing works by adding tracked affiliate links into the text of your blog. You can make a small commission every time a reader clicks through to a site you recommend and makes a purchase.
The links will lead readers to the website of a brand, and the money you receive is to say 'thanks' for sending some of your lovely readers to their site.
Almost all online eCommerce websites have an affiliate program of some sort, like Amazon, ASOS and Apple.
Sign up to Affiliate Window. This is a huge affiliate network where you can promote thousands of well-known brands and services from around the world.
Here, are some of the popular Affiliate marketing marketplace that you could join:
- Amazon Affiliate program
- ShareASale
- PartnerStack
- ImpactRadius
- Awin
- Commission Junction
Another great thing about Affiliate marketing is, you can use this technique on any blogging platform such as BlogSpot, Wix, Squarespace, Medium, or even LinkedIn. However, I prefer self-hosted WordPress, as it gives better advantages over other blogging platforms.
All you need to do is, share your unique affiliate link of the product you are recommending, and when someone makes a purchase, you will end up earning a huge commission of the sale amount.
Affiliate marketing is the way, how a lot of bloggers are making millions of dollars every year from their blog.
3. Sell Digital products (eBooks, Blueprints)
If you have skills or advice to offer, another option is to charge a fee for access to eBooks, video tutorials, courses or workshops.
In order to make this option work, you need to be able to show you’re extremely good at what you do, or that your content has proven to be incredibly valuable. This isn't easy.
It can be pretty difficult to convince online communities to pay up, as there's a tendency for people to think everything online should be free of charge. Worth a try though, right?
4. Direct Advertisements
There’s no question that AdSense is the best advertisement program for bloggers, but it has some limitations. The biggest limitation is the amount you get paid per click.
If you manage to grab direct advertisements, replace those AdSense units with direct ads instead.
The best way to get started with the direct advertisement is by trying different networks and adding a page on your blog called “Media-kit or Advertise with us” to get new deals.
You can also use a plugin like WPAdvancedAds to manage the ads.
The best way to do it is, create a professional email address like hello@domain.com using Google apps.
(Optional) Then use HubSpot free CRM to setup the process.
5. Native Advertising
Native advertising has been one of the forefronts of making money from blogging. Especially, news and jobs kind of blogs can make a really high income with Native advertising.
There are a few native advertising solutions that are worth your time and effort of implementation.
- Taboola
- Outbrain (High-quality native ads)
- Mgid
- AdSense (AdSense also offers native ads)
6. Write advertorials and sponsored content
According to the bloggers we spoke to, one of the best ways of monetizing a blog is through offering sponsored content opportunities (or advertorials). These are essentially adverts in the form of a paid-for article or blog post.
As an example, if Adidas brings out a new swimwear line and you have a blog on women’s sportswear, they might offer to pay you to write an article about their range. You may also be able to add some affiliate links on top.
This monetization method usually works best when you have a strong niche audience. Once you’ve grown your readership, brands will often approach you to discuss sponsored posts.
7. Launch an Online Course
- Can you convert your textbook into a video format?
- Can you add the checklist, downloadable templates?
- Can you create a 1-2 hour video course?
If your answer is yes, then this method is definitely for you. Thanks to technology, now launching an online course are easy for anyone and if you are giving the unique course, your chances of reaching $ 1 million goals are really high.
You can use platforms like.....
- LearnDash (WordPress)
- New Kajabi
- Teachable
To create and sell your online course.
8. Write guest blog posts for media outlets
Occasionally, members of the press (or even brands who have a blog of their own) will reach out to you if you’re an authority on a certain topic, asking you to make a little cameo appearance on their website.
If you’re particularly knowledgeable on cooking on a budget, for example, a newspaper might get in touch and ask you to contribute some budget-friendly recipes to their cooking magazine.
Don't be shy in pitching ideas to publications either. If editors don't know who you are, a quick email intro is a great way of getting your blog's name out there.
9. Sell your blog's newsletter space
It's also an option to charge a brand for either advertising space or a mention in your weekly/monthly newsletter (if you have one!). It'll take very little time to do, and you could get a fair amount for it.
However, you’ll need to build up a decent size mailing list for brands to consider this.
10. Work with an agency to build your blog
Believe it or not, blogging's become so popular in the advertising world that there are now agencies exclusively catered to promoting bloggers to big brands.
Working with an agency can be super lucrative and it offers you security, but you’ll need to have a pretty decent following to be scooped up in the first place.
Agency fees are also incredibly high, meaning only the biggest brands will be able to afford to work with you, and smaller independent ones will be scared off.
Depending on the kind of blogging business you're aiming for, this may or not work to your advantage. To use the example of ethical fashion blogging again, agency fees might prevent you from working with the small independent designers you really want to promote.
Biggest monetization challenges
As your blog becomes more established and your traffic grows, you’ll begin looking for ways to monetizing your website. Though many writers and bloggers are lured into blogging because of the potential to make good money, very few actually reach this goal. The good news is that it doesn’t need to be this way.
- Solution
First of all, blogging is a dedicated process that requires time and energy. As a blogger, you should focus on establishing your blog and brand before you attempt to make money.
Don’t place your focus on making money too early in the process. You blog is a lot like planting a garden. If you begin picking the seedlings, your garden will never have a chance to yield anything of value.
While we don’t recommend that you avoid monetizing until you have plenty of traffic, we do believe that you’re better off providing as much value as possible. The ability to monetize is a result of the value that you provide.
- How Much Money Can You Make Blogging?
Your earning potential as a blogger depends on several important factors. Here are some tips from my personal experience to help you increase the amount of money you can make blogging.
I think blogging is the perfect side hustle because you can do it on your own time, you can work from anywhere, and you can build it into your lifestyle. After posting my blogging income report, I’ve been getting a lot of reader questions asking how much money you can make blogging.
In this post, I will highlight 15 legit ways to make money blogging and provide some insight on how you should think about (and measure) the money that your blog is making.
- How Much Money Do Bloggers Make?
It’s pretty easy to make an extra $500–$2,000 per month blogging in your first year. And then in years 2, 3, 4, and 5,you can significantly increase your monthly blog revenue. Glass door reports that the average blogger salary is over $50,000 per year, based on several anonymously submitted salaries.
Many of the successful full-time bloggers that I know are able to make over $200,000 per year and work about 10-30 hours per week. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve posted my income report where I made over $400,000 with my blogging side hustle.
And while it’s a smaller group, I also know bloggers who make millions every year and work less than 10 hours a week (wouldn’t that be nice!). That’s an absolutely insane ROI for your time.
How much money you can make depends on how much traffic you are getting and how large your email list is.
You can realistically make $25,000-$50,000 your first year blogging, $100,000+ your second year, $250,000+ your third year of blogging, and $500,000+ in your fourth year.