
If you have a blog, then I have good news and bad news. Let’s start with the bad news: there are hundreds of millions of blogs in the world today. Having a blog is no longer unique or extraordinary. The good news is most blogs aren’t that good. With a vibrant personality, specific knowledge and some persistence, you have many options to make a living this way.
According to Glassdoor, the average blogger’s pay amounts to $32,6k per year while content writers make on average $48,7k per year. While it’s not exceptionally high pay, it’s still a decent one – especially taking into account the flexibility that this job offers. Earning in dollars while living in Bali makes up for a lifestyle many people dream of.
Basic rules
Monetizing a blog is a big challenge. Many people can write – and some people write really well – but earning money from a blog isn’t only about the quality of content, but also about having a specific strategy and persistence.
Basic rules of monetizing a blog:
- Your blog presents your extensive knowledge on a particular topic.
It will be easier for you to earn money on your blog if you know precisely what it is about. Writing your memoirs, or texts just about anything, might be interesting for others – but it can be tough to monetize such content. Not impossible, but hard.
By revolving your blog around a specific topic, you create a space for brands to identify with your content and cooperate on a long-term basis. If you have a blog about dogs, you may attract companies that make pet products. If you write a backpacker’s diary, you could cooperate with producers of trekking gear. Whenever you operate within a bigger or smaller niche, you can work with companies that operate in exactly the same branch.
Of course, some bloggers work with large companies like Audi or Coca-Cola. But your audience would probably have to be huge to make you a viable business partner for them.
- The content provides practical tips or entertainment.
If you write a blog about anything and everything, you’ll need an incredibly vibrant personality to stand out from the crowd. Monetizing this type of blog (a memoir/diary, etc.) would be extremely difficult.
To make your task easier, make your blog distinctive somehow. There are many ways to do that, but basically, your blog may be about:
- Practical tips – make someone’s life easier by providing content of practical use, such as DIY, money advice, personal style, etc.
- Entertainment – writing about travel, fashion and events is very competitive, but presenting it well (beautiful photos & graphics) can do miracles!
Both of the above rules come down to two things: uniqueness and authority. Choosing a distinctive topic of your blog and showing yourself as an expert in any field enhance your chances of success.
Now, let’s browse through the ways of monetizing a blog.
Sponsored articles
OK, so this is an obvious one. Sponsored articles are still doing well, and there’s a lot of demand for them.
In this case, you can:
- Review a company’s product or service (a phone, a hotel, a meal in a restaurant, etc.)
- Take part in a broad marketing campaign promoting a country or an idea (skiing in Austria, anti-plastic NGO, etc.)
There’s nothing wrong in writing sponsored texts, as long as you believe in what you write about and don’t deceive your readers. If you actually think that skiing in Austria is a great way to spend the winter holidays, then why not earn on promoting this activity? If you enjoy eating in one of the local restaurants, why not recommend it to others?
Getting involved in all the partnerships that are offered to you may be tempting, especially if you’re a beginning blogger, and you need money. But resist any offers that could harm your credibility – it will pay off in the long term.
Ads on your blog
This is another obvious tip, although I personally don’t recommend putting too many ads on a blog. When you do it, you need to do it wisely. Nobody likes to enter a blog with ad banners stinging their eyes.
Google Adsense is the most popular program enabling content creators to monetize their blogs using ads, but there are also numerous alternatives. You often earn on a cost-per-click basis, so the more visitors you have, the biggest your earning potential is.
Of course, there are much more ways to put ads on your blog, including banners and pop-ups (yes, they still work!). The most important rule of using ads is not letting them overshadow your content and style of your blog.
An educational project
This was the most effective way of monetizing my first website on education in finance. I was a beginner in the media world, and I wasn’t good at selling at all.
But after a while, I realized that when you believe in something, you become a great seller. I’ve been a passionate money educator – so, instead of asking companies to pay for an ad on my website, I tried a different approach: I thought of educational projects that could be sponsored by specific companies.
For example, creating a series of articles on finance certificates and licenses enabled me to cooperate with many companies in this branch – and they provided not only money but also content. When I did a project on investing, some companies from the industry were more than happy to participate. Even when I prepared an educational article on wine, I found a brand that willingly cooperated and offered both money and content.
These ventures go as far as your imagination goes. Be proactive and come up with an idea for a project that fits a particular brand – and ask them to participate. There’s a good chance that they will appreciate your initiative. And if they had already been thinking about cooperating with influencers, they will probably choose you.
Creating a book/ ebook
There are many success stories involving using blog content to create an ebook or a physical paperback and earn money this way. Although you might think it means taking an easy path, it’s not necessarily true.
You may ask: why would people buy a book when they have so much information in my blog posts?
There are many answers to that. First, they want to have a well-organized source of information. Second, they don’t like reading things on a computer screen, so they want a book on paper. Third, they want to buy a book as a thoughtful/useful gift to someone.
Whatever their motivations are, a book may be a great way of getting paid for your knowledge. If you want to read more about the step-by-step process of creating a book, read THIS TEXT.
Creating an online course
This way of making money on your blog is a bit complicated, but many people have done online courses, and so can you.
The essential part is to use your strengths and not try to copy the courses that are already out there. You don’t like doing video? Don’t do it, choose writing or audio instead. You don’t want to create a multi-level, complicated course? Do a mini-course. You feel stressed about going live and launching your product? Go for evergreen content.
There are many possibilities to do a great online course which highlights your skills and knowledge. Read more about online courses here.
Offering consulting/coaching services
This is an excellent way of monetizing a blog that attracts relatively few visitors and/or operates within a niche.
If you’re an expert on a certain topic and you already have regular readers motivated to achieve their goals, go a step further and offer them one-on-one consulting/coaching sessions. Some people benefit from getting individual expertise or guidance – it lets them feel unstuck again. One-on-one sessions are a way to offer your readers the possibility to reach their goals faster and save a lot of time.
I love the way Tarzan Kay sells her one-on-one consultation in the form of 60-minute express sessions. I also like doing 1-hour sessions from time to time – nevertheless, I don’t schedule more than a few sessions a week so that I have time for other commitments.
Affiliate links
When you enter the blog of some online marketers, you’ll find posts or the whole page with affiliate links, recommending the tools they use in their businesses. Sometimes they offer a discount for using their link so that you have an additional incentive to buy an app/program from their website. Whenever you do so, they get paid a certain percentage/amount of money.
Basically, it’s a win-win. Using affiliate links is a great way to have an additional stream of income from your website – which is basically passive income. Be authentic though and recommend only those tools you find useful and that have good quality for the money.
Freelance blogging
If you like writing in general, consider creating content for someone else.
Content marketing is a huge business right now. Companies are willing to pay freelancers to create articles, magazines or even books for them.
Sometimes you get a one-off deal, but other times you may start a long-term cooperation with a specific company. The latter is getting more and more common. Great content creators are sought after. If you fit into a particular company, you’re likely to stay there for months or even years. Whether you want long-term cooperation or not, it’s your choice.
Email marketing
If you build a substantial number of subscribers to your newsletter, you may use it for marketing. You can promote not only your blog and your brand but also the products and services offered by other entrepreneurs and companies.
But be careful with this way of making money. Most people hate emails containing ads. Therefore, promoting some kind of products may discourage them from opening and following emails from you or even make them unsubscribe.
If you want to do email marketing wisely, use it only occasionally, and offer genuinely great products that are in line with the topic of your blog. Some offers may be interesting and useful to your readers, so don’t avoid sending ads at all costs.
Subscription model
This is a huge one, and I’m going to write more about subscription models in the next months. I covered this topic briefly in my post about ideas for profitable digital products.
Steady, predictable income is the biggest advantage of this type of business – but it comes at a price of impeccable consistency.
If you’re not afraid of such a commitment, a subscription model may help you create a business you’ve always dreamed of.
CONCLUSION
There are numerous ways of monetizing a blog. Some of them require a large audience to create significant income. But even if the number of your readers is small, you still have a chance to make a living from your blog.
Do you have other ideas for monetizing a blog? Share them in the comments!
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!