Ever since we start a blog we start musing over how it’s going to pay our bills so we can continue it as a full-time passion. If you are just starting out blogging, this post will open up 8 avenues to generate a decent income from your blog in the long run. You can take any road towards your financial target. You can even take multiple roads all at once. With blogging the stakes are high. There is a lot to win and a lot to lose.
All you need is persistence and faith in yourself. You need to have the capability to look beyond the current situation and craft a favorable future. And then you have to work your butts off for it.
How to make money with your blog?
Making money with blogging is real. You can do it because so many others already have. All you need to remember is there are no magic pills. You have to work hard and work persistently to achieve your goals. Nothing comes easy here. But the fruits of hard work, when they finally pay off, are worth every effort you make for it.
So, what are the various avenues you can plan to take on as a blogger to generate income from your website?
Before we delve into the details please note that we are talking about self-hosted blogs. The ones that have their own individual blog-name.com type addresses. If you are hosted somewhere on a wordpress.com blog do think about making a switch to WordPress.org blog if you are serious about generating income from your blog.
Not sure how to do that? Contact me via my contact page and I can hopefully guide you through.
8 ways you can make money blogging
1. Earn via Ad Networks
This was pretty much a standard before people discovered new creative ways of earning from a blog. Once you have a self-hosted blog set up and running, you have a few good quality posts up and you have decent traffic coming to your blog you can apply for an Ad Network to qualify you for their services.
While it may not be necessary to have all this to get into an ad network but what’s the point of getting acceptance when you have no traffic to generate money. There are two major ways these ad networks pay you.
CPC – This is the Cost Per Click method which means you earn a specific amount for every time one of your audience clicks on the ad on your website.
CPM – Cost Per Impression means you get paid a certain amount when around 1000 people see that ad on your site. You need these impressions to qualify for the money.
Some Popular Ad Networks and their Basic Requirements
Google AdSense – 20 to 30 quality posts published on the website. You need to show you are consistent and that your website complies with their standards.
Infolinks – You don’t need anything specific to get into this ad network. They use links on your text as ads, as well as, show various other visual advertisements on your site.
Mediavine – You need at least 25,000 to 50,000 views monthly to qualify for this network but they pay you better than the aforementioned two networks.
AdThrive – It’s an ad network for elite sites, you can say. You need at least 100,000 plus monthly page views to qualify for this network. This one is the best-paying ad network on the list.
2. Sell Services
If you want to generate money with your blog as soon as you start out the best way is to offer your services. If you are a freelancer already then this should not be really hard for you but if you are a total beginner in the online realm and don’t know where to start here are a few services you can consider offering to your audience:
Graphic Design – Design logos, brochures, flyers, eBooks, social media graphics and so much more. All you need to do is learn some design basics and some current tools. This is a skill you can develop as you learn.
Web Design or Development – If you have a tech background you have a world full of opportunities to offer as your services on your website. Web design and web developments are two of the most in-demand services out there.
VA Services – If you’ve been into the blogging field for a while you must have developed a few good skills. You know how to manage a blog, upload content, manage social media, update posts, manage website backend, and much more. You can offer these services to your prospective clients. These are generally termed Virtual Assistant services.
Social Media Manager – If you can craft strategies for social media or previously have a marketing background consider going for social media management and offer that as a service on your website.
20 Creative Small Business Ideas You Can Start Today
3. Digital Products
Another popular way people are making decent incomes via their blogs is through digital products. If you are good at something you can make any of the following digital products on it and start selling them to your audience on your blog. Digital products can include a variety of items. Some of them are:
- eBooks (information products)
- Graphic Templates
- Website Themes
- Printables
- Workbooks
- Organizers
- Online Courses
- Workshops and Webinars
4. Affiliate Marketing
Bloggers love this.
Affiliate marketing means you are promoting someone else’s product or service on your website. For every product and service, they give you a unique link. If anyone buys through that link you get a commission for that sale.
This commission can be anything from 4% to 40% and sometimes even more. There are also some services that pay you a recurring commission if they are selling something the buyer needs to pay for on a monthly basis.
This is one of the best ways to earn from your blog. All you have to do is build trust with your audience and then bring a product in front of them that they will absolutely love. Be sure to bring them immense value. Only then will they come back to you for more recommendations.
The best way to go about it is to promote products and services you have personally tried and loved. If you are promoting just about anything with no prior research, chances are you will lose trust and that is going to be super awful for your blog or website.
Some very popular affiliate networks you can check out are:
Make sure you are promoting products your audience can relate to. If you are in the fitness niche and are promoting eBooks on finance, chances are you won’t be targeting your audience right and ultimately make very little to no sales.
Get to know your audience and then delve into something they can truly benefit from.
5. Open an Online Shop
Opening up a shop has never been so easy. You can now open one without renting any space and from the comfort of your home. If you are good at something sell your work online. If you are blogging about it too, you have decent chances of selling it better.
You can now open up an online shop right on your website. WordPress and all other major CMS systems provide e-commerce facilities with their websites. You can display your products on your website, promote them and then ship the items to your customers.
Conversely, you can open up shops with Etsy or Creative Market and write blog posts to promote your content.
6. Print On Demand
This is another emerging field in the world of blogging. With the dawn of print-on-demand (POD) companies, you can now design and upload your merchandise on your website and get it fulfilled and shipped from third-party companies. No hassle.
With print on demand, you can sell mugs, t-shirts, bags, and other gear without holding onto an inventory. Yes, no warehousing, no expensive printing machines, no shipping. You just have to pay the base price to the POD company you are in contract with and you get to take all the profit for the inventory you sell.
You simply go crazy with your designs, and promote them and the rest is on print-on-demand companies’ shoulders. Some well-known print on demand companies are:
7. Sponsored Posts
Have you ever heard about Instagram Influencers making money?
Bloggers can make some money on the side via sponsored promotions as well.
If you are running a blog and you have developed a substantial following you can prompt other people or businesses to do collaborations with you. These collaborations can be in the form of sponsored posts.
The price you get paid for these posts depends on your traffic, audience reach, audience engagement, and the company you are promoting via the post.
Be mindful of the collaborations you make. They should be in line with your niche and your audience should benefit from it.
8. Offer Coaching Services
If you think you are an expert in some field you can offer your services as a coach or consultant. People are always on a lookout for some professional advice and if you can help them out you can charge fees for it as well.
It is important to note that you must be a field expert to give advice to people. Psychologists, certified trainers, and lawyers or business coaches can benefit from this.
Use your blog to give meaningful advice to people and if someone wants more you can set your fees and give them your services in return.
Common Payment Gateways for Getting Paid as a Blogger
As bloggers, you need to collect payments as well. Some of the most common ways people are doing this are by:
Direct Bank Transfers or eChecks – Many clients or companies would like to send you direct payments or payments via eChecks. This is helpful if you are in the same country as your client/company. Otherwise, for international payments, you can use any of the following services.
PayPal – PayPal is a well-known payment processor. It charges a specific fee for all the transactions being carried out via the platform.
Payoneer – Payoneer is a service like PayPal where you can send payment requests to your clients and collect payments in USD, EUR, AUD, and other available currencies. You can then transfer your funds to your local bank account. Use this link to sign up for Payoneer and get $25 as a bonus when you receive your payment.
Transferwise – It’s also a great way of receiving your business payments from your clients. It also offers local currencies so as to minimize transfer/conversion fees.
Your Take from Making Money Blogging
Blogging is a game you will come to love as soon as you get the gist of it. Some of you might already be in love with it. But don’t worry if you are ever taken over by overwhelm. That’s also a part of the game. You have to surpass this mountain to reach the pinnacles of success as a blogger.
Key factors to keep in mind when you are pacing forward in your blogging journey:
- Everything takes time and effort. You have to be consistent.
- Give more quality content to your readers.
- Drive more traffic to your website. This will drive you more sales.
- Set monthly targets. Once you start going 20k and up in blog views, you have better chances of thriving.
- Keep learning and growing. The online world is ever-evolving and you can’t afford to be left behind.
- Develop a burning desire in yourself to make it happen and it will.
- Network with others and don’t forget word of mouth still works.
Final Thoughts
Blogging can be fruitful. There are more than one ways you can make money blogging. Even if you flunk at one you have a plethora of other options out there for you. Delve deep into your blogging goals and keep working on some of these ways you can use to generate a decent income from your blogs.
Beer in mind making money from blogging takes time and continuous effort. Your efforts might not start giving you your reward right away. It takes time and you might think to yourself where am I going. But keep working hard on your blogs. It’s a great outlet to pour out your words, help others, and become a successful entrepreneur.
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