Today’s post is the one that many of you have been waiting for. I don’t think a single day goes by without me receiving an e-mail regarding how a person can make money blogging online and/or how to make money online.
If you are interested in starting a blog of your own, I created a tutorial that will help you start a blog of your own for cheap, starting at only $3.49 per month (this low price is only through my link) for blog hosting. In addition to the low pricing, you will receive a free blog domain (a $15 value) through my Bluehost link if you purchase at least 12 months of blog hosting. FYI, you want to be self-hosted. This is essential if you want to monetize your blog as you will appear more professional and this will help you monetize your blog tremendously.
Sometimes it’s bloggers who e-mail me, but half the time the e-mails are from readers who do not have a blog but are interested in starting a money making blog.
As most of you have seen, a big bulk of my income every month comes from my blog in some form (I made over $320,000 online in 2015): advertising, affiliate income, consulting and so on. This How To Make Money Blogging post will be all about various ways that you can make money blogging.
When I started my blog in August of 2011, I never thought I’d be where I am at today. Now, I blog full-time, earn a great income, and I travel full-time, as you can see from my monthly online income report updates.
My extra income from my blog started slow, but within the past couple of months it has jumped significantly. I spend all of my extra time on finding extra income methods, and it definitely seems to be working.
Don’t forget these other posts in my blogging series:
- Tips for Beginner Bloggers Part 1 – The Basics – This post is all about tips for beginner bloggers and I talk about mistakes that I made and also how you can get ahead.
- Blogger or WordPress – Tips on How to Move – Are you still on Blogger? There are SO many reasons why you should switch to WordPress now.
- How to Start a Blog – Tips for a Beginner – This post had a very similar title to the first post on this list, but this post is mainly about how to get started with your hosting, picking a domain and actually starting your blog.
- My Monthly Online Income Reports – I show you exactly how I earn a living each month along with valuable tips to help you along the way.
- How To Monetize A Blog: How I Grew A $5 Million Blog – This is a great blog post that shows you how I make money blogging.
How to make money online blogging:
Use advertising networks to make money online.
This includes Adsense, Media.net, and many, many other companies.
You can place Adsense or other ad networks (such as Media.net) ads pretty much anywhere on your blog. Usually, bloggers place them in their sidebars, but you can also place them within posts, only on your homepage, as a banner above your header or within your blog’s footer.
It’s an easy way to make money blogging as all you have to do is insert the code that is provided to you. In general, the more page views you receive, the higher your income from ad networks will be.
Take part in affiliate marketing to make money online.
You can sign up for the waitlist for my affiliate income strategy online course here. I will be sharing tips on how I earn over $50,000 a month through affiliate marketing. By signing up for the waitlist, you will have access to it as soon as possible!
Affiliate income is something I’ve been working on more than ever lately. I am earning around $30,000 a month from it, and I believe it will continue to grow.
Affiliate income is great because you can create a post, review, etc., and then that post may earn you money years down the line with minimal work needed to maintain that article. It can be somewhat passive, which is what I love about it.
I believe recommending products you believe in is best. A lot of my affiliate income is from my How To Start a Blog post and that is because I include everything a person needs to know about blogging in that tutorial.
There are many affiliate programs out there, and you can always check out your favorite products to see if they have an affiliate program.
Affiliate income is where you will have a link (such as with my Bluehost link) and you recommend products in your blog posts. Then, when someone clicks on your link and buys something (according to the requirements of the affiliate program), you then make money. There is usually a 30 or 60-day wait on your funds, but that seems to be normal as Adsense does something similar as well.
Avant Link – This is an affiliate company that I highly recommend. They have many different companies that you can sign up for and they are easy to work with.
Flex Offers – This seems to be one of the top affiliate programs/companies out there. There are a lot of companies on Flex Offers. You just sign up for Flex Offers and then after you are signed up, you can sign up for individual companies to promote. There are numerous companies for which you can get affiliate links for, such as clothing stores, Starbucks and so on. If you like a company, I bet you will find an affiliate program on there for it.
Commission Junction – This is another favorite affiliate program website of mine.
EJunkie – I’ve promoted a couple of ebooks that I love through here. There are tons of books on this site and I’m sure you could find something to promote.
Amazon’s Affiliate Program – I just started using Amazon’s Affiliate program, but I am excited about it. You promote products from Amazon and hopefully readers click on your link. You then get a percentage of the sales.
Swagbucks – I also use Swagbucks as well. I don’t make a ton of money from it, but I do cash all of my referral points for Amazon gift cards.
Related articles:
- 75+ Ways To Make Extra Money
- 10 Ways To Make Money Online From The Comfort of Your Home
- 10 Things I’ve Done To Make Extra Money
- Ways To Make An Extra $1,000 A Month
Direct advertising.
Direct advertising is when a company reaches out to you and asks you to either publish a post on their behalf that they write or you write a post for them. The post may be about a product that they sell, a review of their company or product, a post about something related to their industry, and so on.
If you decide to do direct advertising, please be aware of how much you should be charging. There are numerous websites out there that have guidelines publicly available. The other day on Facebook (I won’t say who it was), I noticed that someone was offering $5 text link ads to her readers who blog as well. There were TONS of people who jumped at this and were commenting saying that they wanted in.
People, your blog is worth much more than $5!
I always recommend that a person charge at least $150 for a blog advertisement, and once your blog is more established you may be able to charge a few thousand PER post.
Staff writing/consulting in order to make money online.
I don’t know if this should be included in today’s post, but it does fit in. You can write for other websites and there is usually a set fee that either you or the website owner sets. It seems like many websites have staff writers, and I even have one of my own (Jordann). Read my post So You Want to Become a Freelance Writer to learn more.
Blog consulting can be a variety of things. Perhaps you can help other bloggers learn how to blog and are staying on call to pretty much be their “coach.” You can also offer market research opportunities for advertisers and companies and offer them consulting on their new products, companies or websites.
Are you interested in learning how to make money online? Are you interested in making money through blogging?
Please check out my article How To Start Your Own WordPress Blog if you are ready to start blogging.
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That rocks that your blog is doing so well. I think having good things to say and being consistent makes the difference. I'm not sure how you find the time to be everywhere blog wise, but you do and then you share what you know. I'm always looking forward to see how much money you are pulling in. Gives hope to the rest of us.
You go girl! I love that you're becoming so successful with something that your passionate about, but love doing as a hobby 🙂
My recent post currently…
I love your blog and I get a lot of inspiration from how well you're doing! I honestly started a blog because I love to write and my friends kept saying, "If you'd start a blog, I would read it." Guess what…they rarely do. I'm really a little lost on the whole thing. I love to share information and tell stories, but how do you get it out there?? It's a little scary, trying to promote yourself. As far as marketing and advertising, is there a time frame for how long you should wait or how many readers you should have before you start trying to monetize? Thanks for sharing so much!!
My recent post Lawbreaker BBQ and Carolina Hot Slaw…Yum, Yum!!!!
Thanks Beth! I don't think my friends read it too much either (I recently just told them all about it). I comment on other blogs, and I used to guest post, and both of those helped me get my name out there. I would comment, comment comment, network with other bloggers and guest post! And I'm not sure, just do whatever feels right when it comes to monetizing 🙂
This post is beyond helpful! That is eventually where I want to get my blog too. I love writing and wanted to use a blog as a way to fuel that passion as well and try and make some money from it. Thanks for the tips!
My recent post My frugal hair
Thanks. 🙂
My recent post Happy Memorial Day and $1,582 in Extra Income
This is a very transparent and helpful account of how bloggers can make an income. You asked people to tell you why they blog. Well, I'm part of a blogging community (blogbods.com) and it's really…bloggers blogging about blogging! I've shared your post there so more bloggers read it.
Why do I love blogging? It's very sociable…and fun (as you pointed out – it feels like a hobby), creative, accessible, and, like you, many of us like to use it as a source of income. Best career in the world! I love your frank style and I was particularly interested in your pointers on direct advertising as I've not tried it yet. I'll be interested to see what you write about next!
My recent post Exact Match Domains Getting Nuked – ShoeMoney Internet Marketing Blog
I love blogging because it's sociable also. I have met some awesome people 🙂
My recent post Happy Memorial Day and $1,582 in Extra Income
Awesome post.
Many people don't see the full picture when they think blogging is all fun and games. Success doesn't happen overnight.. It takes a long time for it to become a money-making website.
I think consulting is a definite winner for some people because they will already have some expertise from their day job and it can translate into consulting easily in many cases.
Also, affiliate income is a great way to get extra money, but the people who go through your links have to trust your, which also plays a big part.
Thanks Iain! 🙂
My recent post Happy Memorial Day and $1,582 in Extra Income
Thanks for the great advice, as always! I'm lovin' your blog as well as getting to know myself through my own new blog!
My recent post Overspending
Thanks Keren 🙂
My recent post Happy Memorial Day and $1,582 in Extra Income
Thank you for tips about blogging. I love bloging and I believe it might be a good way of earning money.
I agree 🙂
My recent post Happy Memorial Day and $1,582 in Extra Income
Thanks! 🙂 I hope you found it helpful.
My recent post Happy Memorial Day and $1,582 in Extra Income
Hi there! You can advertise on self-hosted WordPress, and that is what I use.
My recent post Happy Memorial Day and $1,582 in Extra Income
I am new to blogging and really hope some of the ideas you’ve shared can help me. I think blogging is a great way to share knowledge with others. The confidence you get from people liking your blogs and commenting is enormous.
I wish I could make 5K a year from blogging but until then I am happy blogging just for the sheer joy of it!
I hope to earn a decent income someday from blogging but I just found out that someone hacked into an old adsense account that I forgot that I had when I set up my new account. It had a balance of about $65.00 in adsense but I dont recall if its from my old websites or if they made that money from my account with the 3 websites that they added to it. Luckily I was able to login and change the password and secure it.
This is a great post. I’ve been blogging for about a year now, and have yet to make any money aside from the pittance I get from adsense. But your post has made me think of some old ideas in a new way. Like the affiliate links. I have affiliate links in my sidebar, but I’ve never actually promoted them…. oops!
Awesome post, and so glad I found your blog. This post was pinned on pinterest by Janine Huldie, one of my favorite bloggers. 😀
Great post! I also just started blogging around the topic of frugal living and personal finances (basically sharing about the mistakes and lessons I’ve learned from) and so far it’s been quite the adventure, and I’m looking forward to much learning to come. I’ll definitely take some of this advice here to heart – keep on blogging!
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