As a blogger, I get asked this question all the time! How do bloggers actually make money? It’s the same question I fired off when I met a travel blogger during a tour back in 2012. With a curious interest, once I got back home, I dove deep into the world of making money with a blog. Fast forward 12 years, and here I am with multiple blogs and businesses, always eager to share what I’ve learned!
How Do Bloggers Actually Make Money Online?
Ad Revenue
Ad revenue is the most passive way to make money on your blog. There are networks like SheMedia, MediaVine, and AdThrive where you can apply. If you’re in, they place ads on your site. The more folks you pull to your site, the more cash you rake in. And you drum up that traffic by whipping up content that pulls your audience from search engines like Google, Pinterest, and other social media platforms straight to your blog.
You need around 10-20k sessions a month to apply to SheMedia, and a bit more for the others. Sounds like a lot, but with some solid research and planning, you can get there.
Private Advertising
Private advertising is when you rent out space on your site to another business. It’s a sweet deal to make money with primo ad spots on your site. Once again, the more traffic you’re pulling, the more you can charge.
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Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is newbie-friendly! You can start promoting affiliate products from day one. Here’s the lowdown: You promote a product to your audience, they click through, make a purchase, and you earn a commission. Sign up for affiliate programs, grab your unique link, and drop it in your blog posts. It takes time to build your audience, but affiliate marketing can be a goldmine. It’s my biggest income stream and still my fave!
Digital Products
Digital products are your bread and butter. Say you’re running a sewing blog, you can create sewing patterns to sell to your audience. Digital products are fantastic because you make them once and can sell them over and over without much more effort. Check out these digital product ideas you can create and sell on your blog.
Sell a Service
Selling a service is a great way to earn some extra cash. If you’ve got a skill others would pay for, package it up and sell it! Think Pinterest management, creating sewing patterns, graphic design, and coaching, the possibilities are endless.
Sponsored Posts
Crafting content for other brands and placing it on your blog is gold for them. You’d be shocked at how much you can earn for sponsored posts, even with a small blog. As your blog grows, you can raise your rates. Sponsored posts could be blog posts, email marketing, social media posts, you name it. Charge more based on what you bring to the table.
User Generated Content
UGC ties in with sponsored posts like peanut butter and jelly. UGC is when you create content that brands can use in their own marketing. You’re basically selling them the rights to use your images, videos and any other deliverables. It’s different from sponsored posts because the content isn’t just on your blog; they get to use any images or videos you’ve created. It’s a solid upsell to all your sponsored posts! You could even offer it as a standalone service.
That’s a wrap on how bloggers make money
The best thing about blogging is that you can tailor it to fit your lifestyle. It’s all up to you how you build and monetize your blog. And the best part? You can switch things up whenever you want. Add or drop income streams as you please. Blogging is my bread and butter and it’s still going strong! With the right strategy, you can start and build a successful blog in almost any niche.
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