Blogging has evolved from a mere hobby to a potent revenue-generating platform for many. This guide…
7 Ways To Make Money From Blogging
When you first establish a blog, two of the most important tasks are filling it with high-quality content and then getting people to see it.
Initially, that’s where you should spend the majority of your time.
However, as your blog evolves and your readership grows, you have to put some time into monetizing it correctly.
Otherwise, your efforts may be for naught.
I don’t know of anyone who wants to work hard on building an online business only to get NO return on their Time, Energy, and Money.
Below, I will explain 7 ways in which you can monetize your blog so that it goes from being a drain on your financial and time resources to an asset.
Let’s get started…
1)) Use Google AdSense
For starters, you should consider putting up Google AdSense ads. The advantage of this approach is that it is simple.
Tip: If you’re using Blogger.com, Google AdSense is already built in. After all, it is one of the Google services.
However, there are many plug-ins and themes for WordPress and other platforms, which only need you to insert your Google AdSense code.
All you have to do is create an AdSense account, generate some lines of code, and then place those lines of code on your website.
From there, the script will generate ads that are contextually matched to your site; and will generate revenue whenever they are clicked.
This means that you don’t need to talk to advertisers, and you don’t need to draw up a contract.
All you have to decide on is what type of ads to use. You will have a choice between a half dozen types, including banners, image ads, and text ads of various shapes and sizes.
It’s important to note that there are also downsides to using Google AdSense. For instance, you will probably earn less on banner ads and you will also have less control over what ads are displayed on your site.
Tip: Having said that, Google AdSense allows you to block some kinds of ads, keywords, or domains from showing up on your blog.
NOTE: It’s a lot more difficult to get approved for a Google AdSense account these days. In order to increase your chances of getting approved, I recommend that you hold off on putting Affiliate Links on your site until after you’ve been approved. Also, be certain to populate your blog with at least 20 to 30 high-quality relevant articles that provide value to your readers and keyword focused enough to show up in the search engines for your target audience.
2)) Sell Advertising Space
In general, this won’t work well for low-traffic sites. However, if your blog receives a lot of traffic and you can back this up with documentation, such as traffic records, then selling advertising space may be a lucrative option.
When it comes to selling ad space, you will have a few different options.
You can choose between text ads, banner ads, and image ads. You can also choose whether you want advertisers to pay per click or to pay per view.
The deals that you make are only limited to your creative imagination.
I recommend that you think both inside and outside the box because there are no rules when it comes to deal-making.
3)) Seek Out Sponsorship Opportunities
In addition to (or as an alternative to) selling ad space on your site, you might consider seeking out sponsors.
The sponsors could agree to provide a free prize for your contest in exchange for being mentioned on your blog in the days leading up to the contest.
Alternatively, you could have long-term sponsors for the blog, who make a monthly donation in exchange for you promoting their products periodically and for including a banner on your site that references them as a sponsor.
4)) Sell Your Own Products and Services
Another way to generate revenue through your blog is to create your own products or to sell existing products.
If you don’t already have products, you might consider creating an e-book, a short report, or video or audio content.
If you don’t feel comfortable creating these products yourself, then you can hire a freelancer to create them for you.
Once the product is ready, you can sell it on your blog by accepting payments.
You might want to start by introducing your products through a blog entry; however, at a later point, you may want to relegate it to a permanent position on your blog, such as in a top banner or in the sidebar.
That’s right; you could use Ad Banners on your blog to promote your own products!
5)) Promote Affiliate Products and Services
An alternative to actually creating products to sell or selling existing products that you own is to promote products as an affiliate.
Regardless of what niche you are in, you should be able to find affiliate programs to join with lucrative and timely payments.
In fact, even if you have your own products to sell, it may still be a better idea to sell affiliate products.
For starters, you should visit marketplaces such as ClickBank.com, which has a wide variety of different electronic affiliate products.
Among these, you can look for product offers that have high “gravity” scores and the most “Popular”, as well as high commission percentages.
If you want to promote physical products, you could sign up for Amazon’s associate’s program.
There are thousands of options for promoting affiliate products.
6)) Post Paid Reviews
Another way in which you can monetize your blog is to join a “pay per post” program. These will allow you to post positive reviews about products in exchange for monetary compensation.
At first, you might think this is unethical to pretend a product is good in order to get money in exchange. But, in fact, you don’t need to do this at all.
Instead, what you can do is focus on products that you have already used and would recommend to your blog readers.
You can then recommend them as you would, but you’ll now receive compensation for doing so.
There are many sites that specialize in facilitating pay-per-post exchanges.
Use your favorite search engine to find and research them.
7)) Offer Freemium Content
The term “freemium” refers to a business model where the basic content or service is free, but the advanced features require visitors to pay.
This approach can be successfully extended to blogs in the following way:
First, let your usual posts and content make up the “free” part.
Next, add some “premium” content, such as exclusive posts, graphic design items, cheat sheets, blueprints, coupons, reports, or WordPress themes. Anything that your readers want so badly can be premium.
Only allow paid subscribers to access your premium section.
From there, you should make attempts to promote your paid section to your free members, so that more and more of them move into that group over time.
Additionally, consider making the entry fee very low (perhaps $5/month), so that visitors don’t need to think very hard about the decision.
Seven-day $1 trials also work wonders for getting new members.
Conclusion
No blog can experience true success if it isn’t monetized correctly.
It doesn’t matter how much traffic you’re getting and how good your content is, this will always be the case.
Without monetization, you won’t have profits and without profits, there will be no reason to maintain the blog.
A blog that doesn’t make money is nothing more than a time-consuming hobby, which is okay if that’s what the intended purpose for it is.
Otherwise, take the time to strategically plan out how you’re going to make money blogging.
Applying these 7 tips is a good starting point to make this happen!
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