7 Ways to Make Money from Blogging

Blogging can be an awesome way of expressing your creativity, documenting your day-to-day life and meeting like-minded people.

But did you know it can also be an extremely lucrative business model?

Whether you’re looking to build your blog as a brand or simply use blogging as a promotional tool for your online business, there are a ton of ways to monetize a blog once you’re generating consistent traffic.

In this article, we’re going to break down our 7 favorite ways to make money from blogging, outlining the benefits and drawbacks of each one.

In fact, you may be able to make blogging itself the center of your online business.

Ready? Let’s dive in!

Display Ads

Display ads are one of the easiest and most passive methods of making money from your blog.

In a nutshell, display ads are small banner-style ads that are embedded within the content of a webpage:

Source: WebFX

The easiest way to get started with display ads is to sign up for Google Adsense, which pays an RPM of around $6-10 and doesn’t have a minimum traffic level requirement.

However, as you’ve probably guessed, it’s pretty tough to generate a significant income from display ads until you’re generating a significant number of monthly pageviews.

Once you reach over 50,000 pageviews a month, you’ll be able to sign up for a more lucrative display ads network such as Mediavine, who typically pay an RPM of around $11-15. Therefore, at 50,000 pageviews, you can expect to earn up to $750 in completely passive income from display ads.

Benefits:

• Monetize every page of your website
• Entirely passive method of monetization
• Lucrative if your blog has a high number of pageviews

Drawbacks:

• Requires a high number of pageviews to generate a substantial income
• May hinder user experience
• Limited control over the products and services you promote via the site

Most suitable for:

• Blogs in a niche that’s otherwise difficult to monetize (e.g. celebrity gossip, news etc.)
• Blogs with substantial traffic (at least 50,000 pageviews per month)

Become A Freelance Writer

Many businesses are investing in high-quality blog posts for the following reasons:

• To position themselves as experts in their field
• To promote their business via helpful content (through their online newsletter, social media channels or through organic search traffic)
• To gain traction and credibility with search engines

If you’ve seen some success in creating engaging content for your own blog, a great way to start making money right away is to set yourself up as a freelancer and write for other people’s blogs.

Source: Pexels

The quickest way to get started with freelance writing is to sign up for a content writing agency such as iWriter, which can pay up to $100 for a 1,500 word article. Alternatively, you can pitch your own blog to SMBs in your industry and ask if they’re looking for freelance writers.

If you really want to maximize your rate as a freelance writer, it’s well worth learning how to produce SEO content, which is content that’s specifically written and optimized to perform well in search engines. It’s not uncommon for freelance writers to earn over $1,000 per month by creating SEO content for SMBs on a part-time basis.

Benefits:

• Large volume of freelance writing jobs available
• Upfront payment
• Lucrative when combined with SEO skills

Drawbacks:

• Difficult to scale (you’re capped by the amount of time you’re able to dedicate to writing)
• May draw away from building your own blog

Most suitable for:

• Bloggers who are passionate about writing large volumes of content
• Bloggers who are able to produce high-quality content in a reasonably short space of time

Affiliate Marketing

Much like display ads, affiliate marketing is an easy and passive method of making money from your blog.

Affiliate marketing is the process of promoting other people’s products on your blog. Whenever someone purchases an affiliate product through your blog, you’ll earn a commission.

When promoting an affiliate product, you’ll be given a tracking link known as a UTM code, which places a cookie on the user’s browser and tracks their purchase history.

Source: Pexels

The commission amount will vary widely from program to program; some products will pay around 5% commission, whereas others might pay up to 500% commission. If you’re looking to maximize your affiliate income, here’s a list of some of the highest-paying affiliate programs.

One of the main entry points for affiliate marketing is Amazon Associates. It’s easy to get set up and converts insanely well, meaning you can get started with earning an income straight away.

Once you’ve figured out what converts best on your blog using Amazon, you can consider stepping things up to a higher-ticket program and earning some serious money.

If you’re interested in making money from your blog by promoting affiliate products, it’s well-worth checking out our list of tips to get started with affiliate marketing.

Benefits:

• No upfront cost or inventory required
• Entirely passive method of monetization
• Ability to make significant income from a low number of pageviews

Drawbacks:

• Limited control over products you endorse (changes in commission structure etc.)
• High competition; high-ticket products often have large numbers of other bloggers promoting them

Most suitable for:

• Bloggers seeking to earn passive income
• Blogs based in niches that require specialist equipment (sports, cooking etc).

Sponsored/Guest Posts

If you own an established blog that’s already receiving significant traffic, sponsored posts (also known as guest posts) are an excellent way of monetizing your blog. You also get the added bonus of free content, making it a win/win scenario!

A sponsored post is essentially a blog post that’s been written by another business who wants access to your audience. It’s often educational or informative in nature, although the underlying purpose is usually to promote a product or service.

The price of a guest post will very much depend on the size of your blog; however, most sponsored posts will fall in the $50-150 range. The best way to attract sponsored posts is to simply have a sponsored posts application page on your blog, which businesses will inevitably find as they research relevant blogs in their industry.

Source: Pexels

Here are a two quickfire tips for attracting high-quality sponsored content to your website:

• Build your tribe first: Companies won’t be interested in advertising on your blog until it’s bringing in significant traffic on a monthly basis. In the words of Ray Kinsella, "build it, and they will come."
• Focus on a specific niche: While honing down on a particular niche is good advice in general, it’s especially important if you’re looking to monetize your blog with sponsored content. Relevant companies will be much more interested in writing a sponsored post if your audience is highly relevant to their target market.

Benefits:

• The opportunity to scale your content strategy while earning money upfront.
• High-ticket (depending on your industry)

Drawbacks:

• Requires significant blog traffic to attract high-quality sponsored posts
• Risk of your blog becoming overly promotional in nature

Most suitable for:

• Bloggers with significant traffic and authority

Sell Physical Products

Depending on your niche, selling physical products can be a great way of making money from your blog.

Selling physical products is especially relevant if you’re in a niche with low-cost products.

For example, if you have a blog about dog training, it’s likely that affiliate commissions from dog training tools are going to be extremely low. However, you might be better off cutting out the middleman and simply selling the products yourself.

Similarly, this is a great option if you’re interested in selling handmade products. For example, if you run an arts and crafts blog, it might make sense to sell pre-started designs or homeware products.

Source: Pexels

The main downside of selling physical products is that you may have to keep and manage stock, which takes up a significant amount of time.

If you’re not in a position to store your own inventory, you might consider using a service such as Fulfillment By Amazon, to store and manage your inventory for you. Although using a middleman will cut into your profit margin slightly, it’ll save you a ton of time and likely still provide a better margin than you’d get from selling affiliate products. If you don’t have time to manage your storefront, you can also hire someone on a part-time basis to maintain your product listings & customer service inquiries for you.

If you don't even have the starting capital to build up an inventory, you can also look into dropshipping. With a dropshipping business, you take orders on your website and forward them to the supplier for fulfillment, rather than handle any inventory yourself.

If you’re looking to sell physical products through your blog, it’s crucial to build a solid eCommerce store that’s well optimized for not only yourself, but also your customers as well as search engines.

3dcart comes jam-packed with features, including SEO tools, built-in autoresponders and a conversion-optimized checkout process. Check out the full list of eCommerce features.

Benefits:

• Possibility to increase your profit margin over affiliate products
• Ability to turn your blog into a full-fledged brand

Drawbacks:

• Not passive; requires ongoing customer service & inventory management
• May require significant upfront investment

Most suitable for:

• Bloggers with previous eCommerce experience
• Bloggers in niches with low-commission affiliate products

Coaching/Consulting

Blogging is all about becoming an authority figure in your industry.

If you’re blogging about a topic in which you have significant professional experience, personal coaching and consulting sessions can be an extremely lucrative way of monetizing your blog. Getting a few coaching clients can help you solidify your income while your blog grows. 

Your hourly rate will not only depend on your experience but also the industry that you’re in.

For example; a guitar-based blog might be capped at $40 per session for guitar lessons, whereas a blog on financial planning might be able to command as much as $400 per session.

Source: Pexels

One thing to be aware of is that consulting sessions are unlikely to convert from a text-based blog alone; potential customers will often need to have developed some form of personal rapport with you in order to consider a consultation. The best way to do this is to start a YouTube channel, which will showcase not only the breadth of your knowledge, but your personality as well.

There are three main ways of consulting you might consider:

• Live consult: Consulting either in person or over video call in real time
• Pre-recorded consult: This is where you record a short, personalized video for a client rather than consulting with them in real time. This is especially useful if you’re dealing with clients in different timezones.
• Email support: This is where you consult with clients via exclusive email access; email support is usually offered on an ongoing basis (charged via monthly retainer rather than a one-time package).

Benefits:

• Potential to be high-ticket
• Potential for recurring clients

Drawbacks:

• Difficult to scale as you’re trading your time for money
• Not a passive method of income.

Most suitable for:

• Bloggers with significant expertise in their field.

Digital Products

If you’re looking to sell your expertise without selling your time, digital products are the way to go.

A digital product is an intangible product that’s sold in digital form. Some common examples of digital products are:

• eBooks
• Online courses
• Digital tools/software
• Documents
• Web-based applications

Unlike selling a tangible product, you won’t have to invest in and maintain stock. Once you’ve created the product, you’ll be able to sell it time and time again through your blog.

Source: Pexels

The amount you can earn through a digital product for very much depends on your industry as well as the nature of the product itself. For example; a fishing eBook might only sell for around $10, whereas an SMB-oriented project management tool could sell for several hundred dollars.

One thing to note is that while digital products can be a lot less work than traditional physical goods, you’ll still have ongoing customer service issues when selling directly through your blog, meaning it’s not an entirely passive method of monetization.

Similarly, the product will likely need updating every few months following user feedback (especially if you’re selling software or a digital tool).

Benefits:

• No inventory or stock management required
• Ability to turn your blog into a full-fledged brand

Drawbacks:

• Not entirely passive; requires ongoing customer service management
• Slightly lower conversion rates than well-known affiliate products

Most suitable for:

• Bloggers who want to sell their expertise without selling their time

Wrapping Up

Once you’ve built up a decent amount of traffic to your blog, there are a number of ways to monetize your content.

It’s well worth trying out a few different methods of monetization and seeing what works best for your blog. Once you’ve found a monetization method that serves your readers well and fits in with your lifestyle, you’ll be well on your way to making a healthy income from blogging.