How To Make Money Blogging – What Works, What Doesn’t
How To Make Money Blogging – What Works, What Doesn’t
How Much Do Bloggers Typically Earn?
The possibilities of blogging are nearly limitless. Bloggers with a solid reputation, such as Ryan Robinson, who writes a site on blogging, may earn up to $30,000 per month. Adam Enfroy, who began writing as a side business in 2019 on the business of blogging, produced $1.5 million from his site just two years later.
Bloggers may profit from more than simply monthly earnings. Many blogs listed for sale on marketplaces such as Flippa command six-figure prices. Bloggers profit when their creative work is purchased.
Unfortunately, not many bloggers can generate millions of dollars from their websites. Your blog's earning potential hinges on two factors:
Your Market
People spend substantial amounts of money on things in your sector, correct? In the software business, for instance, many firms offer recurring commissions, which may be profitable. Long after the buyer has made a purchase, bloggers might earn tiny sums each month. (More on this to come.)
Your Financial Tactics
Some blog monetization strategies are out of the question for new bloggers who want to adhere to their basic convictions, such as being paid to publish information with which they disagree. This might have a negative effect on earning potential in the near run.
How Long Does It Take To Generate Income From A Blog?
People generally start blogs as a side business in the hopes of one day being able to leave their day employment. However, the time required to produce significant revenue differs from blogger to blogger.
Some individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit earn their first $100 online within a few months, such as Brittany Berger, the creator of Work Brighter, who began making money almost immediately.
Berger developed a simple $20 digital download, which she advertised in her weekly email and on the sign-up website for her newsletter. “Because I began so early in the blog's existence, I was able to convert a substantial chunk of the readership,” she explains.
I believe that waiting to launch a product until you have a larger audience might create additional pressure, therefore I'm pleased I tested a modest product while my following was small.
Mushfiq Sarkar is another blogger who began writing alongside his full-time employment in 2008. Even though Mushfiq had no previous marketing expertise, he states, “I quit my job in April 2021 to concentrate on The Website Flip since it was rapidly expanding and I was more interested in building this website and writing.”
Now, despite just being a few years old, the blog generates considerable revenue: “I debuted during the height of the epidemic in April 2020. Many people recognized my name but were unaware that I was an active blogger or industry reporter. Within a few months, I was able to generate income.
11 Ways To Profit From Blogging
1. Select A Viable Market Niche
Vegan recipes are an example of specialization within the broader issue of food. By selecting one for your blog, viewers will associate your site with it. They are aware of what to expect when they arrive, which increases the likelihood that they will visit your website first when seeking help.
“If you want to stand out before monetization, it's all about quality and skill “Mushfiq, the creator of The Website Flip, adds. “Determine your specialty and why you should be writing about it, and then create a persona to represent yourself inside that area. Once this occurs, you will gradually develop a following. Afterwards, monetization follows.”
There are bloggers generating money on a vast array of topics, ranging from business software to pet supplies. However, not all niches are advantageous.
Profitable Blog Niches Satisfy 3 Conditions
1. Subject You Are Proficient And Interested
It is a subject in which you are proficient and/or interested. To establish an audience and generate revenue, blogs require a large quantity of consistently high-quality material. Not only will blogging about something you are really interested in being more pleasurable, but it will also enhance your chances of making money. It is simpler to maintain an activity that we like.
2. Fewer Competitors
Popular blogs, companies, and forums in your field imply that others are generating income. Similarly, do a Google search to determine the complexity of keyword ranking. It will be more difficult to get organic visitors if well-known firms (with much larger marketing costs) dominate the first page of search results.
3. Monetization Potential
Consider the monetization options for each of your shortlisted niches. Do niche firms pay to promote their goods on other blogs? Exist several affiliate programs selling items in this industry? Both are indicative of a lucrative blog niche.
2. Build An Email List
To generate income from a blog, you need dedicated followers who respect your suggestions.
Creating an email list for your blog is one of the greatest methods to do this. When a reader opts in to receive blog updates, they grant you permission to approach them in the most hallowed location of all: their inbox.
“Email marketing is my most profitable sales channel by a wide margin. I no longer attempt to sell directly via other channels, instead diverting folks through social media, partnerships, and SEO to my email list “According to Brittany Berger, WorkBrighter's founder.
Using a pop-up window, encourage blog readers to join your mailing list. The objective is to persuade first-time visitors to opt-in to receiving communications from you using an incentive, such as:
- Free checklists
- Lists of suggested resources or goods
- Blog material in PDF format (such as printable recipes)
Continue cultivating this connection with instructive or entertaining material after they have joined up. You will cultivate a following eager to purchase things based on your suggestions.
Consider the advice of Lily Ugbaja, who created the site FindingBalance.
I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom so I could raise my kid, do something I like, and yet earn money.
It took two weeks for Lily to generate revenue from her blog: “I utilized emails to advertise my items and related affiliate products using tripwires and Facebook groups. You put lead magnets on your website so that people would sign up after reading an article. In lieu of a success page, you provide a limited-time offer for a low-priced product, in my instance $7.
Despite the site receiving less than 1,000 monthly page views, Lily's first month concluded with more than $100, which quickly grew to “a few thousand” every month.
Lily advises, “Consider your blog as a means to a goal rather than the end itself.” “The majority of profitable bloggers monetize via goods and affiliates, and these revenue streams do not convert without careful preparation. Construct funnels and work backwards. Start with a product you want to sell, and then generate blog material to promote its selling.”
3. Write Reviews Of Sponsored Products
All companies need social proof to demonstrate to consumers that their items are worthy of purchase. They may obtain this information by paying bloggers to submit reviews.
Ask your preferred companies if they would be interested in sponsoring a review on your blog. If you utilize the product for reasons other than the review, this strategy is virtually free. You are only compensated for sharing your opinion on a product you already own.
However, this monetization approach becomes rather unclear. Recently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined Fashion Nova $4.2 million for allegedly concealing unfavourable evaluations that were solicited by a third-party firm.
The FTC has issued a whole new set of standards that will impact eCommerce merchants and, eventually, the bloggers they pay to post sponsored reviews.
Avoid getting your site into trouble by: – Disclosing if you were compensated for the review. Include the following disclaimer at the opening of your post, for instance, if you're being compensated to write a review: “I was compensated to write this review and may get a commission if you decide to buy this item.”
Being honest. Share the positives and negatives of the product you're reviewing so that readers may make an educated choice about whether or not to buy it.
4. Sell Ad Space Positions
Companies are eager to compensate bloggers for placing advertisements on their blogs. Lend them space that would otherwise be underutilized for a price.
There are 2 ways to develop this kind of money for your blog:
1. Individually Bargain With Businesses
Find firms in your niche and inquire about advertising opportunities on your website. It is more time-consuming and requires excellent negotiation abilities, but if executed well, it may provide the highest profit.
2. Utilize A Marketing Network
Do you like a hands-off approach? Platforms such as Google AdSense, Mediavine, and AdThrive claim advertising space on your site and charge advertisers. Simply insert their code on your website to get compensated for displaying advertisements.
Display advertisements are the most profitable sales channel for my site, according to Emily Brookes, a blogger at Emily May. “About sixty percent of my blog's income comes from display advertisements,” she explains. “Ads routinely provide income for me each month, even when I haven't produced any new material.
To make advertising a big money source for your blog, you should prioritize increasing website traffic.
Ad networks such as Google AdSense charge per thousand impressions (CPM), with the average CPM for display advertising hovering around $1.25. The more individuals who see your blog's advertisements, the more money you will earn.
Before seeking to join their networks, Mediavine and AdThrive need bloggers to achieve minimum page view criteria. It is an investment that will provide long-term returns. Not a Nomad Blog's creator, Monica Lent, produces the greatest proportion of blog advertising income.
Reading Middle Grade is a book blog that Afoma Umesi maintains on the side. She claims, “I had no expertise and began writing as a pastime before trying to commercialize the site.”
“I wanted passive income, so I picked advertisements and affiliate links.” I'm not interested in creating or selling digital items or services at the moment, and I'm not a great fan of sponsored articles, so advertisements were the ideal solution. I just need traffic.
Three-quarters of Reading Middle Grade's current monthly revenue of $800 to $1,000 comes from this form of advertising. Afoma advises, “Don't be embarrassed or hesitant to employ advertisements. Some people find them annoying, but if you give value and employ them appropriately, the vast majority of users won't even notice them.
5. Join A Program For Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is the practice of suggesting items to the audience of your site. You will get a commission if the customer purchases the product via your affiliate link.
It's a fantastic earning prospect for bloggers, given the material they provide already influences their purchasing choices. Make your blog a center for instructive information, and you will develop the necessary knowledge, like, and trust to close a transaction.
Affiliate marketing is advantageous since you do not need to manufacture your own items. Integrate yourself with an established eCommerce firm as a virtual salesman. There is no need to be concerned with creating marketing materials, transporting items, or providing customer service.
Join an affiliate marketing network, such as ShareASale, AWIN, or ClickBank, to earn money by blogging utilizing this strategy. Utilizing the dashboard, you can peruse available programs in your business, apply to join them, create personalized links, and monitor affiliate earnings.
You may also look for high-priced affiliate programs offered by retailers offering pricey goods, such as electronics, jewelry, and software. Bloggers are compensated handsomely for endorsing products to readers. For example, Shopify associates get a 100% commission on the first two payments of any subscription plan.
6. Provide Services
As a natural consequence of growing your following, more people will identify your name with the blog themes you cover. That is a fantastic approach to establishing authority, which is something people seek when employing somebody to do a task.
“Consulting is a major income source if you're in the B2B area like I am. What type of consulting can you provide them if you have any knowledge and people are really reading your content? Blogging is a lucrative, low-commitment method to generate money “Mushfiq, the creator of The Website Flip, states:
Although operating a service-based company is time-intensive, it may be a rapid method to earn money online. Demand a higher hourly fee and attract high-paying customers by demonstrating your knowledge via your blog.
The following are examples of services you may offer with your blog:
- Advisory services
- Graphic design
- Independent writing
- Virtual aid
- Seminars or workshops
Apps like Acuity and Calendly help you save time arranging appointments and accepting payments. Start booking new customers by promoting your service via your blog, using a single landing page or a display ad in your sidebar.
7. Sell Digital Items
Digital items are a more scalable means of monetizing your blog via the sale of physical goods. In contrast to service-based firms, there is no exchange of time for money. In addition, unlike the sale of actual goods, there are no transportation or production expenses.
Digital items may be created once and sold indefinitely through a blog, thus the expression “build once, sell twice.”
“I chose to include printables, and subsequently other digital items, to diversify my revenue and give myself more control. So far, I've let readers choose how much they want to pay for my printables, which explains why my income statistics haven't been astronomical. However, I have over 800 downloads, for which I am extremely pleased.” —Dylan Houlihan, the company's creator.
Determine what digital items your audience might purchase utilizing a reader poll that asks, “What issue do you require assistance with that the blog does not currently solve?” Answers may reveal concepts that can be packaged and sold as:
- eBooks
- Printables
Worksheets Online Courses
Benjamin Houy has maintained the blog French Together full-time for the last eight years. The blog's approach to monetization involves digital items, primarily the French course, which generates 90% of the blog's income.
“Depending on the topic, ads and affiliate links may be wonderful monetization tactics, but producing a product is simpler and more successful than most bloggers believe,” Benjamin explains. “When you launch a product, it doesn't have to be the finest product ever; it simply has to be something that your audience finds really valuable and is willing to pay for.
You may enhance your product based on customer input, and you don't have to worry about affiliate programs being stopped or more and more people using ad blockers.
8. Sell Tangible Items
Your site has a cult following, right? The loyal followers of a blog rapidly transform into rabid supporters willing to back their favorite influencer. Assist them in doing so while making revenue for your blog by selling tangible things.
Small blog companies benefit from the print-on-demand approach since they only incur production expenses when a reader orders a product. When things are manufactured in bulk, there are no surplus stocks, storage fees, or excessive initial expenditures.
The founder's blog gave birth to one of the most renowned beauty businesses in the world. Emily Weiss gave beauty advice on her blog, Into The Gloss, and developed a following of devoted readers. Later, she launched a skincare line for the blog's subscribers. That was the beginning of Glossier, a cosmetics business that is today worth over $1 billion.
Richard Belton is another businessman who used this strategy. Since roughly eight years ago, he has been posting about maple syrup on his blog, Kaito Ridge, in order to gain cash via Amazon affiliate commission.
Richard recently changed his blog's monetization approach and seized control of the site's revenue potential by launching his first Shopify shop. “I'm in the process of redirecting my articles, blog entries, and instructive pieces to my own Shopify shop and decreasing my dependency on Amazon,” he adds.
I trust you enjoyed this article about How To Make Money Blogging – What Works, What Doesn’t. Would you please stay tuned for more articles to come? Take care!
JeannetteZ
Want to Learn How to Build Your Own Home-Based Online Business & Start Making Money Online From Your Comfortable Couch?
Try Wealthy Affiliate!
Your Opinion Is Important To Me
Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? I would love to hear from you. Please leave me your questions, experiences, remarks, and suggestions about How To Make Money Blogging – What Works, What Doesn’t in the comments below. You can also contact me by email at Jeannette@WorkFromAnywhereInTheWorld.com.
Disclosure
This post may contain affiliate links. I earn from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate and other affiliate programs. Read my full affiliate disclosure.
You may also enjoy the following articles:
Wealthy Affiliate Review – Scam or Legit? The Truth Exposed