To make money as a blogger, you need to create a blog, make it your hub, and build a number of income streams from there. The first step is to create a blog then fill it with content that is relatable and up to date. If you want to build and maintain an excellent blog, you will have to dedicate a lot of time to it.
However, if you want to add side income with a blog, you should be willing to put in the work. Here are the ways in which you can make money as a blogger:
Advertising
Most companies want to place their products in front of prospective customers. If you end up with a large readership on your blog, companies will approach you if your readers are their target customers.
Here are a few ways that you can add advertising to your blog:
Giveaways and reviews – some companies will give you a free product as well as some monetary compensation if you agree to advertise their products on your blog.
Display ads – you can display some graphics on your footer, sidebar, or header.
Podcast or video sponsorship – these are ads in video mini commercials, video emails, or podcast episodes.
Sponsored or underwritten posts – companies will also pay you to write about them or their products.
For many bloggers, ads offer an easy way of making money. However, advertising is not nearly as profitable as it was once. If you want to make a stable income from ads, your blog should have plenty of traffic.
Affiliate Marketing
When you become an affiliate marketer, you will be promoting somebody else’s product to your readership. You just have to add a link to that product using the affiliate link that you have been given. If one of your readers clicks on the link and buys something, you will earn a commission.
You can join thousands of affiliate programs, as there are plenty from which you can choose, including:
Amazon Associates – when you join this program, you will receive payment every time a reader buys something from Amazon through your link.
Amazon Influencer Program –a different program by Amazon that gives you your own shop where you can sell merchandise
Affiliate marketing is a good way to make an extra income and if you have many readers, it can be the most profitable source of income. You only have to highlight services and products that you love without the added pressure of maintaining the product yourself.
Digital Products
As a blogger, you can start creating and selling your own products. Digital products are the best way to go because you can distribute them quickly without creating an inventory. Moreover, you will not have any overhead and digital products are low risk.
The types of products that you can sell include:
Membership sites – this is a mixture of community and teaching.
E-courses – you can teach other people what you know after they sign up for your online course at a fee.
E-books – writing and publishing books is very profitable for some bloggers.
Online workshops and classes – you will impart knowledge in a live setting and people who want to learn something will pay for the classes.
Premium content – you should have pages that are only accessible to people who have paid.
Video or audio – you can create voice overs, jingles, or video clips and sell them to your readers.
Photos – if you are a photographer, you can take pictures and sell them online
Physical Products
Some bloggers prefer to sell physical products, such as:
Books – once you sell some eBooks, your customers will start asking for hard copies, which you can publish and sell.
Retail arbitrage – if you can find great deals for products, you should sell them at a profit on online stores like Amazon.
Handmade products – do you like to make things with your hands? You can sell your handmade items online.
Manufactured products – you can find a manufacturer who is willing to turn your dream into a reality.
In-person classes – you can charge people to attend real-life classes if they want to meet you.
In the last few years, many bloggers have started selling physical products. This job can be profitable but it can be complicated by inventories, shipping, and manufacturing.
Services
You can use expertise that is related to your blog content to earn money. For instance, you can make money by doing the following:
Cooking, decorating, and organizing – you can provide these services to your readers at a small fee
Speaking – if you build a good platform on your blog, you might end up scoring speaking gigs, which can be very lucrative.
Offering services is the best way to start making money quickly because it has low startup costs and you do not need an inventory. You will just be paid for the skills that you currently possess.
However, the disadvantage of offering services is that they are not scalable.
Build Your Credibility
You should use your blog to build your credibility if you want more money making opportunities. For example, if your blog focuses on finance topics, you will become a recognized figure in that industry. Once you gain authority, people might approach you to co author books with them or speak at events.
Although this is not a direct way of making money through blogging, it is a good way to earn money. If you want to make money faster, you should consider selling your blog content and branding for anywhere between 4 and 6 figures.
To maintain a good blog, you need to:
Create quality content – you need to keep people hooked by providing great content on your blog
Build relationships – instead of spending all your time on the blog, you need to focus on building relationships with affiliate partners, sponsors, and other bloggers.
Not all of these techniques are going to work for you; you should experiment with different ways of making money to see what will work and what will not. Remember that blogging takes persistence and hard work.
