If you are new to blogging, check out my top ten tips for new bloggers
Once you've got into your stride and got your head around the process of blogging, you may start to think about how to monetise your blog. I know I did. I started my blog to support my jewellery business but over time it changed to a lifestyle and travel blog. After about eighteen months I started getting offered sponsored posts but only started to accept them when I became a full-time blogger.
There are no hard and fast rules these days, things may be different for you and many bloggers now start a blog with the initial idea of making money from it. You can make money from a blog if you are a part-time blogger or a full-time blogger, you can run a blog alongside your full-time job and you can run a blog from anywhere in the world. It's the perfect job to fit in with travelling or family commitments. That's one of the reasons why it's the perfect job for some, and it's certainly the best job I have ever had.
So let's get down to the important part, how to make money from your blog. Many successful bloggers have multiple income streams and in this post, I will cover some of these as below.
1. Sponsored posts
Sponsored posts are where I make the most money.
There are three main types of sponsored posts.
- Where you are paid to write a post about a brand/product/destination on your own website.
- Where you write for a companies website.
- Where a brand writes for your website, often called a guest post.
If you are open to sponsored posts be sure to have your email address clearly visible on your website. Many of my sponsored posts come via email, so this is vitally important.
There are some really good blogging opportunity sites out there too. Sites such as Guest Bloggers Wanted, from Ginger Marketing. This site allows bloggers to register for free, and you pitch for opportunities posted by brands. I've personally worked with them twice now and it was straightforward to set up a profile, easy to pitch for work, communication was simple through your workspace and payment was quick.
2. Affiliate marketing and advertising
Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s or company’s products. In practice, this is usually where a brand or affiliate site such as Adsense, Skimlinks, Amazon Associates or MediaVine places a link into your post or advert on your blog and when someone clicks on or buys from the link the blogger will earn a commission.
Affiliate marketing can be a decent earner for some bloggers. The popularity of gift guides is an easy way for bloggers to get affiliate links into posts. Check out this link on how to get started with Amazon Associates by money-saving blogger Emma Drew.
You can also sell advertising space on your blog. Adverts in the sidebar or the home page are popular and can give you a nice little side income.
Don't forget it's important to be transparent and clear to your readers if affiliate links are being used on a blog.
3. Selling a product
This can be a digital or physical product. A popular thing to sell is an E-Book about something useful such as a travel guide to a destination, how to make money online, travel writing courses, effective SEO tips, a recipe book, Pinterest courses and so on.
You can also sell physical products. I've seen bloggers sell branded t-shirts and clothes, jewellery, books and tours. You can sell on sites such as Etsy or try an integrated solution like Shopify with WordPress, or go old school and get a publishing company to back your book idea. From paper cutting craft to making your own earrings, selling a product can give you extra money.
Some of these bloggers have had best selling books too. Think of Deliciously Ella and Joe Wicks who were both bloggers and influencers and who have written books on healthy eating and cooking and Nomadic Matt who wrote a New York Times best-selling travel book on how to travel the world on a budget. So think about that passion you have for your blog and convert it into a best selling book - it can be done!
4. Selling links
Bloggers can make money by selling links in posts. SEO companies will contact you and ask to place a link in a new post or an old post. They will want a follow link from your site which will give their website a Domain Authority boost.
Google frowns upon this and you can get a Google penalty, meaning your blog will not be able to be found on Google. However, this does happen on a regular basis and is not illegal so I think it's important to mention this. I am not passing any judgements but if you do this, be prepared to take the risk, and ensure your post is marked as sponsored/AD (that's the legal bit).
5. Selling yourself
Once you have been blogging a while, why not consider selling your expertise? You become multi-skilled when blogging, so why not get paid to talk about it? One of my blogging friends has just got a regular column in a women's weekly magazine for example. Blogging events often ask for bloggers to speak at them, you may get paid, a ticket to the event and expenses, it depends on the individual event. It's often a good place to raise your profile to brands involved as well.
The knowledge you have learnt can be of help to those less experienced so you could talk to brands about how to work with bloggers, business groups about using social media and other bloggers about how to take great photos for example.
The important thing, however, is to be sure to declare it to the tax office as soon as you start earning money.
For more ideas on how to monetise your blog check out this post by Rebecca from Keen On Saving - Making Money Blogging - Can It Be Done?
So this post covers 5 main ways on how to monetise your blog and make money from blogging. Do you know any more?
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So this post covers 5 main ways on how to monetise your blog and make money from blogging. Do you know any more?
*AD
I don't have any adverts on my blog and I've yet to make any affiliate money so sponsored posts is pretty much my only avenue of income from my blog x
ReplyDeleteI make most of my income from sponsored posts but it's useful to consider other ways of making money too.
DeleteGood ideas to keep in mind. I've done a few sponsored posts but nothing regular or often really. I didn't even realise/know guest posts can be paid too.. Thanks for the tips! x
ReplyDeleteThese are some great tips, thanks. I have no advertising space on my blog and have made most of my money from sponsored content and brand work.
ReplyDeleteHopefully one day my mummy will start to think about monetising our blog. At the moment it’s just our hobby, but we could be missing a trick x
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started blogging (over 5 years ago now) I used to do sponsored posts, however I never have the time anymore. These are some really useful tips!
ReplyDeleteGlad they are of use.
DeleteI have been blogging for 7 years and have never managed to get to grips with affiliate marketing
ReplyDeleteI think a few people feel like that. Try some different companies I would.
DeleteThis is a great list. Many people can make money with affiliate marketing, if they do it right.
ReplyDeleteI need to get better at this. I have really enjoyed working on my blog the last couple of years but think I can get a bit cleverer about monetisation. Thanks for the tips!
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
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