How to earn money from a blog.
Can I be real honest with you for a sec??? I always feel a little funny handing out blogging advice. It’s true that this little blog is 4 years old, but I still feel like I don’t know what I’m doing half of the time!! So, when I get asked “how do bloggers make money?” (which I am asked quite frequently), I try to answer the best as I can….but in reality I’m still trying to figure that out for myself!
This blog was started four years ago when I was desperately trying to find a way to earn some extra money from home, while still being able to be a stay at home mom to my three kids.
I do earn a small income from blogging each month, which I am so very grateful for! It’s not anywhere close to a full time income, and I am betting that most of the other blogs you read earn much more than I do.
So, I am definitely NOT a blogging expert, I am still trying to figure it all out myself.
However, I do believe I can answer the question, “How do bloggers make money?” And, I hope to answer it in this article.
How Do Bloggers Make Money
There are many different ways to earn money from a blog, but in this article I am going to focus on the four main income streams:
- Ad Revenue
- Affiliate Marketing
- Sponsored Posts
- Sell Products
I have personally earned money from each of these different ways, so I can speak from experience that these are real ways that bloggers earn money. Each of these different income streams will be discussed in more detail below.
1. Ad Revenue
Ad revenue is my biggest income source from my blog. You may have noticed that I have a few ads in this article. There is one over on the side and a few in between the text.
To start earning money from ads you will need to join an ad network. Some of these require a certain number of pageviews before you can be accepted, such as Monumetric and Mediavine.
If your blog is new, and traffic low I recommend using Google Adsense for ads. You won’t bring in a huge income with these ads, but it’s something.
2. Affiliate Marketing
Another great way that bloggers can earn money is through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a partnership between you and an online retailer. When you recommend one of the retailers products using an affiliate link, and someone makes a purchase from your recommendation, you will be given a small commission.
The commission is usually low, but it is still a great way to make money on your blog because it’s so easy! Just share products that you love and feel that others would love too!
All you have to do to get these affiliate links is to sign up through a few affiliate programs. My favorites are:
The best way to find affiliate networks is to google a company or product you like with the words, “affiliate program.” There is an affiliate program out there for almost anything, you just have to do the research to find it!
3. Sponsored Posts
Sponsored posts are another opportunity available for bloggers to earn money. A sponsored post is when a brand or company pays a blogger to write an article about their product or company.
If you look closely at bloggers articles you will see some of them disclose at the top of the article that it was a sponsored post written for the company, here is an article I wrote for Turbo Tax. This disclosure is required when writing sponsored posts and lets us as readers know that the blogger was compensated for the article.
The best way to receive a sponsored post offer is to e-mail brands that you want to work with, asking if they would like to partner with you. For more information about what this e-mail should look like check out this article. It was very helpful to me when I was learning!
4. Sell Products
And lastly, bloggers can earn earn money from a blog by making and selling their own products. A product can be anything from an eBook, a course or class, an app, etc. Really there is no limit to products that a blogger can create to make money. If it’s something that will benefit from your readers, than it is worth creating.
I have created two products that I currently sale. My eCookbook, Mel’s Home Cooking and a course all about helping others be more frugal, Quick Start Guide To Frugal Living.
Grow Your Audience
Here’s the thing though, none of these methods will make you money unless you have an audience reading your blog. So, while you should be implementing some of these methods to earn money on your blog, you should also be working on growing your audience. It really goes hand in hand!
So, how do you grow your audience? Well, that is the question of almost every blogger out there! With three years of experience, I am STILL trying to find the answer, but I can tell you a few things that I have learned a long the way.
1. Be Genuine
Honestly, my biggest piece of advice is to be genuine in your writing. Write from the heart, share your truth, and share things that will be beneficial to your readers.
I ask myself this question when deciding what to write or not, “Would you share this information to your best friend?” If the answer is “no” then I know that it isn’t an article worth sharing, if the answer is “yes” then I write it. My readers have become my “best friend” in a sense, I write to them as if they are a dear friend who I want to help and encourage.
2. Use Social Media
Promote your blog regularly on social media websites. One of the best way to get eyes on your blog is to share it. Share your articles regularly on social media sites such as Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, etc. The more often you share, the more eyes you will get on your articles. In my experience, Pinterest is the best social media platform for increasing blog traffic.
3. Focus On SEO
SEO (search engine optimization) is something I ignored for the first two years of my blog because it just felt to confusing to me. That was a huge mistake! Once I finally focused on SEO, and began to write my articles in a way that would please google, I finally saw my traffic grow.
One of the best recommendations I can give to help you with SEO is Debbie Gartners eBook, Easy On Page SEO, it truly changed my blog for the best. She explains SEO in easy to understand terms, which is exactly what I needed!
4. Grow Your E-Mail List
Another must for bloggers to help them increase their blog traffic is an e-mail list. Having an e-mail list gives you the ability to send your subscribers new blog articles, affiliate links you enjoy and new products you have created.
The best way to grow your e-mail list is to offer free resources to anyone who subscribes to your e-mail list. For example, I offer these Free Budgeting Cheat Sheets, when a reader signs up to receive this freebie they will also be subscribing to my newsletter.
When creating your e-mail list, I suggest doing so with Convert Kit. I have been so happy with them!
In Conclusion
If you have ever asked the question, “How do bloggers make money?” I hope that this article helped you learn a few of the different possibilities out there. It is not an easy job, but it is one that is doable! I am so grateful for the extra spending money I make each month from my blog.
Let me know if you have any questions, I am always happy to help! I love to chat about blogging!
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