How to earn money blogging? I know this is a question that so many people have! I know I did! When I started my first blog, I was completely puzzled how others were earning money with their blog. After all, I started mine as a hobby and initially didn’t even realise that it was possible. It wasn’t until after taking a trip when I met a full-time blogger that was using it to fund her full-time travel.
My mind was blown really. How was she earning money from her blog? How did she earn enough to be travelling endlessly? I have to say my mind went into overdrive and I realised that it was possible. I decided that was what I ultimately wanted and set about making it happen!
I’ve since come across so many bloggers that are earning an income that most of us only dream about. It is possible and I strongly encourage you to stop thinking about it and start creating a blog and business that lets you live life on your terms.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is now.
‘How to earn money blogging?’ is something that I am asked a lot still! I know you’re itching to know just how they do it!
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So here we are, 7 ways to earn money blogging:
1. Affiliate Marketing:
This is perhaps my favourite way to earn money as a blogger. It’s the easiest to get started with too! If you are already recommending products with your blog, then make sure you check to see if they have an affiliate program. You can do this by searching ‘business + affiliate program’ or looking in the footer of their website. Sign up and add your links to existing posts!
Other ways that you can incorporate affiliate links within your business are including them in social media posts, creating a review post, including them in your email marketing or create ‘how to’ tutorials.
My absolutely favourite resource for affiliate marketers is the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course. It’s amazing value and an absolute must for any blogger or online business owner that wants to include affiliate marketing to their income streams. It’s the course that has given me the best ROI to date – it’s a no brainer really!
For a more in depth blog post about affiliate marketing, then check out this post ‘Affiliate Marketing for Beginners’.
2. Create a downloadable product.
Now, I’m just going to put it out there that you don’t have to get too complicated here!
A downloadable product could be an ebook, a printable diary or something like a PDF sewing pattern. There are products that would suit almost every blogger.
The great thing about this is that they are relatively easy to create (you could also outsource it if you have the capacity to), there’s little work involved after you’ve created it, it’s very easily automated and unlike affiliate marketing, you keep almost 100% of the revenue. You are also 100% in control of the product, meaning that you can change the price, have sales and update it whenever you want to.
You could sell your products in your shop or via another platform like Etsy or Creative Market.
3. Create an eCourse
As you know, I’m a huge lover of ecourses, after all, I’ve created my whole business around them (The Inspired Boss is a marketplace of ecourses to help you start and grow your business, pop over to the shop to have a look around).
Just like digital products, there’s an ecourse idea to suit most bloggers and businesses. To come up with an idea, think about things that you are constantly educating your audience on. What do they need to hear from you? Could you package up your knowledge into a course? Maybe expand on your most popular blog posts?
If you’re unsure what you could create, I have a really simple way of finding out. Are you ready for this groundbreaking tip?
Simply ask your audience!
For real.
Send out an email. Poll your following in Instagram stories. Put it out there to the members of your group. Ask your Facebook audience.
It’s a pretty simple way to get started. Once you have a few ideas, nut them out. Are they viable options?
The beauty with courses, you can actually pre-sell them. Meaning, you don’t have to create the whole course before you start selling it. How amazing is that! This will give you a great idea of how many people might be interested in the concept that you’re thinking of.
Are you wondering which platform is the easiest to host your course? I have to say that I hands down think that Teachable is the best platform to get started with. They have a free option and as a consumer of courses, I love that all my courses that are hosted on Teachable are housed in the one spot. No need to remember a million passwords and sites.
eCourses are a super popular way to earn money blogging.
4. Membership site
A membership site is along the same lines as a course but customers are paying a monthly or yearly fee to access the material. The owner of the membership site usually contributed more content on an ongoing basis and has an associated community, often a private Facebook page.
The beauty of a membership site is that you don’t need endless amounts of content to begin, often owners will start the program with an outline of what they intend on providing, building on it as they go.
You could again create a membership site around anything! I’ve seen them from homesteading to learn the guitar to surface pattern design. The possibilities are endless!
5. Sponsored Posts
This is an option that I haven’t explored much as yet. I do know though that it’s a great way to earn money with your blog.
How they work is that a company will pay you to promote their products through a blog or social media post. Just like affiliate marketing, you need to make sure the products that you promote are aligned with your business. The worst thing you can do is starting promoting products that don’t. You will jeopardise the trust that you’ve works so hard to build with your audience. I know a few bigger influencers that have completely lost me when they decided to promote products that didn’t seem to fit with their brand and business.
Don’t make that mistake.
6. Offer services
Offering services to others is a great way to generate income. It’s one that is a great way to get started with, you can earn income rather quickly compared to other forms of income. The only downside is that they require you to do the work, and it can be quite time-consuming.
Services that you might be able to offer your audience could be social media management, website developments, graphic design, become a virtual assistant or maybe something else that suits your niche. There are so many ways to earn income via services. Get creative and think outside the box.
7. Advertising
Having ads on your blog is a popular way to go. There are a couple of ways you can do this, either directly charging someone to place an ad on your site or sign up with programs like Adsense, Mediavine or AdThrive. They all have different requirements in terms of traffic but all are worth investigating.
I have to say that I don’t love sites that are jammed with ads, so be careful how and where you use them.
So there you have it, 7 ways how to earn money blogging. It is possible to create a decent income from your humble blog, start educating yourself and take it to the next level!
I’d love to hear how you generate income with your blog!