7 ways on how to make money blogging
1.Pay per click
The basic idea of Pay Per Click (PPC) is to place banner or text ads somewhere on your blog, and when a visitor clicks on these ads, you get a commission.
That commission is based on the price of the keywords advertisers bid on.
For a better understanding, let’s take Google AdSense for example.
Google is allowing independent publishers (bloggers like you) to apply for their website for Google AdSense so that they can have the opportunity to create a source of income from their blog.
Once approved, you will be given access to your dashboard where you can generate codes that you can embed on your website to display ads, and when your visitors click on that ad, you earn commission.
Surely, there were other alternative PPC ad network managers like Chitika, Infolinks, VigLink etc.
However, in my opinion, so far, Google AdSense is the best pay per click ad manager you can use, as some bloggers here and there say that it is the best ad network out there to monetize any website (provided you meet with the Google AdSense program policy or adhere to the Webmaster Quality Guidelines).
2.Private Advertising
Private advertising allows independent businesses or other bloggers to purchase advertising space on your website.
The price is fixed, fully negotiable and the payment is usually monthly.
However, before you engage your website with this type of advertising, make sure your blog receives a decent amount of traffic. That traffic must also be your genuine followers. When I say genuine followers, those who might have followed you and your blog posts from time to time, those on your list, and the visitors you get from organic traffic.
3. Solo Ads
In case you’re not familiar with this method of advertising, a solo ad is a one-time email blast sold to a buyer who wants to advertise to their subscribers or email list.
I call it – ‘the back door sale’.
Marketers often employ the solo ad technique. Fortunately, it’s not entirely exclusive to B2B (business to business) blogs.
For example, if your blog is about “dog training” and you’ve built an impressive email list of dog lovers, you’re surely eligible to try this approach.
You can sell solo ads to vendors that sell stuff about dog training. Probably ebooks, video courses, or whatever product they sell related to dog training, you can consider using the solo ad technique.
4. Affiliate Marketing
One of the most popular methods to monetize a blog is through affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing partners with an independent business owner or company to promote their products directly on their website.
Unlike PPC, affiliate marketing places banner or text ads (with your affiliate link attached) on your website and when visitors click on those ads and make a purchase, that’s when you earn commissions.
You can also create a testimonial post about a particular company’s products, as long as you are creative, you can basically promote others’ product any way you want.
Well, of course, just don’t break any rules or agreements.
The commission you receive is based on the percentage you agreed with the product owner.
For example, if product X you are promoting is worth $59, and the affiliate commission set by the product owner is 45%, once you make a sale, you get a commission of $26.55; that’s basically the idea.
If you want to use this method to monetize your blog, I suggest that you always promote products that are related to the topic of your blog, products that you have tried, or products that you are very familiar with.
5. Sell your own product
There are two types of products bloggers can sell online, physical (or tangible) and digital (intangible) products.
Physical product samples are t-shirts, glasses, books, etc., which are self-explanatory.
On the other hand, digital products were in the form of e-books, PDFs, video courses. Digital products are usually guides and tutorials.
If your blog is about body fitness, you can create video courses or e-books on how to burn fat, eat healthy, exercise properly, etc.
If you want your product to sell at a faster scale, you can partner with third-party merchants like ClickBank, ShareASale, e-junkie, etc. to involve your product in the affiliate marketing program. In this way, you are building a network of affiliate marketers who are willing to sell your product.
And when your affiliates make a sale, they’ll get their commission, you’ll get yours.
Of course, that depends on the percentage you set. In addition, you must also pay merchants.
Whether your blog is in the B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to customer) niche, it will be a challenge to create your own product as it is not that easy (in my opinion) to create a unique and valuable product from scattered and never tested (but probably effective information) nowhere.
However, in case you have tried a particular strategy that has worked effectively for you, for example, you accidentally discover a way to earn money in the most efficient way (assuming your blog is about business), then you can write a ebook discussing the methods you used, how it worked, your experience, your results, and then selling it to your visitors.
6. Work as a freelance through your blog
One advantage of blogging is that you can actually be a freelance writer.
Did you know that content marketing is by far one of the best strategic business marketing used by large companies to drive traffic to their site?
If you have a knack for writing impressive and well-researched blog posts, you are surely eligible for freelance content writing.
You have the right to name your price.
You can showcase your articles through your blog or through guest blogs.
You can find your ideal clients on Craigslist, ProBlogger, etc.
Or you can post a job as a freelance content writer on Elance, Fiverr, etc.
7. Create a membership site
Do you like the idea of people paying you month after month and having full passive income?
Well, this blog monetization method could be a good option, but I have to warn you that it is not as easy as it seems.
You have to think outside the box.
If you’re serious about trying, ask yourself these questions:
What kind of product can I sell over and over again?
What service can I provide so that people continue to pay for it?
How long can I do this to keep my clients?
Is there room for improvement?
To answer these questions, let’s examine the different membership ideas you can incorporate with your blog so you can decide which one to follow.
1. Access to members-only content
As a general rule, bloggers create articles, podcasts and video courses, right? So what could be the products available here? Well, you guessed it: articles, podcasts, and/or video courses.
You read it right. You can actually charge people to access your content.
The idea is to ban non-members from reading, listening or viewing the valuable content you have created, they must pay for it.
You can give a user the option to pay per month or for the whole year. In addition, the price varies according to the level of access.
2. Exclusive access to the forum for members
You can set up a discussion forum for your blog where like-minded members share great and valuable ideas on the specific topic of your blog.
Similar to content access, members could access the community forum only if they paid for it.
You may want to ask, why would a person pay just to join a forum? My answer would be to resolve the issue of quality and trust. Before using this approach, make sure your blog is credible enough, that your brand receives a reasonable amount of good standing.
3. Live webinars
Why not offer a live webinar to your subscribers or members, connecting with them in real time? In that webinar you can sell your products or you can charge them for all the knowledge you share.
You can also invite someone who is also a reputable blogger in your niche and then allow them to share their ideas and experiences, so your audience can relate. What about that blogger you invited? Exposition.
However, if you have the ability to host a premium business webinar, you can do it yourself.
4. Members-only access to the affiliate program
Didn’t I tell you that there are premium affiliate programs? You read it right. In my opinion, you can charge people, particularly your members, who want to promote your products or services.
The basic idea for this is that your affiliates should be familiar with what they are promoting. They must have experienced or tried at least the products or services before promoting them.
Note: All of these ways to make money blogging only make a lot of sense assuming that your offering is highly valuable, unique, and useful products.
conclusion
While there is nothing wrong with blogging without the intention of monetizing it, I still think it would be more efficient if you tried. After all, it’s not that hard to embed some advertising code in your editor.
However, in case you want to change your mind and want to consider earning additional income from your writing hobby, you can try any of these methods.
And again, keep in mind that I’m not saying this approach always works for everyone. The odds of making money from your blog depend on your actions (or inaction) and level of determination.