My monthly online income reports that I publish (where I show everyone how I make over $30,000 a month blogging) each month are some of my most popular posts. I love reading income reports on websites so that I can learn more about making money from blogging and it seems like all of you do as well!
Side note: If you are looking to start your own blog, please check out my tutorial How To Start Your Own WordPress Blog. Please keep in mind that it is usually much harder to make money on a free Blogger blog or a free WordPress blog than a paid WordPress blog, so I HIGHLY recommend that you switch to WordPress if you want to start making money from blogging.
Almost 100% of my income each month comes from blogging or services related to blogging. Due to this, many of the questions from readers that I receive are all about how I make money blogging.
That only makes sense, of course.
When I first found out that you can actually make money from blogging, I emailed a few bloggers who posted income reports as well. I knew I loved blogging, so if I could make some money from it without annoying my readers and still getting the same enjoyment out of blogging, then why not?
Blogging is something that I still love doing, and luckily it pays my bills now. I don’t know how my life would be right now if I never would have started blogging. As a reminder, I started my blog as a way to keep track of my finances and improve my life, and everything happened form there.
Like I always say…
Blogging is not an easy way to make money. There is a reason why most bloggers quit after 6 months and that is because most people do not realize how much work goes into blogging. Also, many people do not make a single cent from blogging, and those who do make money usually pour their heart and souls into being able to do so.
There is a reason why I named this article Ways To Make Pennies, Hundreds or Thousands A Month By Blogging, and that’s because some will only ever make pennies. That is the honest truth, and I’m not here to sugarcoat things. I made a very small amount when I first started out, but luckily I didn’t give up and it grew from there.
I will say that I love blogging. It’s something that you won’t know if you love or hate until you actually start. If you want to learn how to make money from blogging, you first need to start a blog.
Read these other blogging related articles here on Making Sense of Cents as well.
- How To Start a WordPress Blog on Bluehost – This article is more of a technical article about blogging. It shows you how to get started with your hosting, picking a domain and starting your blog. If you are interested in starting a blog, you MUST read this 🙂
- Blogger or WordPress – Tips on How to Move – I started out on Blogger, and around one year after that I made the switch to WordPress. I highly recommend that EVERYONE switch to WordPress. Don’t believe me? Read this article to find out about the many reasons.
- Tips for Beginner Bloggers Part 1 – The Basics – Everyone makes mistakes when blogging. Read this article to learn from my mistakes and improve your blogging skills ASAP.
- 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.
Below are different ways for you to make pennies, hundreds or thousands of dollars each month by blogging:
Affiliate income is great for those who want to learn how to make money with a blog.
Affiliate income is something that I mention in my income report each and every month. It is an area where I really wish I was more successful in each month.
How do you make money through affiliates? Affiliate income is where you place an affiliate link in a blog post and try to make money from people buying the product through your link. This can be a good way to make money because if there is a product out there that you love, all you have to do is review the product and hopefully others will be interested in the product as well.
This income can feel passive as well because all you need is a review article and hopefully people will read that article for years to come.
There are many different affiliate programs out there that you can check. These include Flex Offers, Commission Junction, EJunkie, Amazon, and so on. If you enjoy a product, there is probably some sort of affiliate out there for it.
OfferJuice – This is the affiliate program I use for a lot of the survey companies that I promote. Highly recommend them!
Avant Link – This is an affiliate company that I highly recommend. They have many different companies that you can sign up for.
EDIT: I recommend checking out my online course for bloggers, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. I earn over $50,000 a month through affiliate marketing and I share my exact strategy and tips in this very informative online course. If you’re a blogger (even if you’re a new blogger!), then you NEED this course. If you don’t have a blog yet but you are interested, then please check out my free blogging course first.
Paid posts/advertisements/sponsorships for making money from blogging.
Paid posts and advertisements are where you place an ad on your blog in exchange for money. This might be in the form of a sponsored review, a guest blog post, a sidebar link, an advertisement within a newsletter, and so on. There are many different forms of paid advertisements on websites.
There are advertisers out there who want to gain new customers and just want no follow links. But there are other advertisers who just want link juice and purely want do follow links. If you are interested in paid posts and advertisements, head on over here to read further.
Use Izea if you want to learn how to make money from blogging.
IZEA is a company I used a lot when I first started blogging. If you already have a blog or social media accounts such as Twitter, then signing up for Izea is a great way to make some extra money. All you have to do is sign up and wait for opportunities to come your way. It’s easy, but if you have any questions just shoot me an email and I can try my best to help you out.
With Izea, you are getting paid for whenever a company wants to advertise themselves through your blog and/or social media accounts (such as your Twitter account). You get paid electronically, and they always pay. They partner with big name companies such as Marriott, Netflix, Walmart, Kraft, Lego, and more. It’s an EASY way to make money through your blog, so I highly recommend you check Izea out.
Click here to sign up for Izea. It is free to join and free to use. To get started, sign up, connect at least one social media account, and validate your email so that you can start earning extra cash.
Use AdSense if you want to learn how to make money with a blog.
AdSense is an ad service that I have always used, but haven’t really seen results until recently. There were several months (over a year) where I only earned pennies each month.
It felt like it took forever it reach my first payout (that happens once you have $100 accrued). However, once I reached my first payout, it was very exciting. I have AdSense ads on many of the websites that I own.
What is AdSense exactly? AdSense is an advertising network within Google that allows website owners to place advertisements on their websites. These ads are picked out by Google, and you just place the size and type of ad widget that you want on your website. You are then paid per-click and per-impression.
Where should I place the ads? This is a question I often receive. I am no expert when it comes to AdSense. However, I do know that each and every blog/website out there is different, and different placements work for different people. I would experiment and see what type of AdSense layout works best for you if you want to learn how to make money from blogging through Adsense.
Write an ebook to start making money from blogging.
I haven’t written an ebook yet, but it is something I am working on.
If you are an expert in an area or have something to share that you know others will read, then an ebook may be something that you are interested in. However, I will say that most people do not profit largely from an ebook because so much time needs to be devoted into creating it. An ebook though can be a good way to expand your audience, offer a free product to your readers, and so on.
There are a few people out there who makes thousands and tens of thousands of dollars each month from writing an ebook though.
Are you interested in learning how to make money from blogging? How are you currently making money from blogging? What tips do you have on how to make money with a blog?
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You have a knack for getting my motivation going. I have blogged on and off since 2006. I finally switched to wordpress and implemented Adsense about a year and a half ago. I was doing okay and really growing. Now I am so busy at my “real” job that my brain is fried when I get home. It is all I can do to stay awake! I have been thinking of taking a few vacation days so I can spend some time cleaning up (I need to do a few design tweaks) and writing about a months worth of posts to schedule (maybe 3 a week?) but I’m afraid I will fall behind at work ha!
Yeah it can be hard to manage both a day job and a blog life. My best tip would try to get as far ahead with your blogging as you can. Scheduling posts ahead of time is a lifesaver!
I don’t make a ton of money through my blog. Most of my money comes from businesses my blog helped me invest in; but I do make a few thousand a month…which works for me. I remember my first adsense check…that was awesome. Now the ad checks just seem to keep rolling. I think you hit the nail on the head. It’s all about determination, sticking with it, and loving what you do!
Sounds like you are doing well Joshua!
Yes I want to make money blogging and I am so encouraged and inspired by those that do. Some make enough to quit their day job, and other enough to private extra income – but either way, a lot of work goes into it so it’s nice to get something out of it.
I had a blog a few years ago that was starting to make money. Due to time, and (insert a million other excuses here) I didn’t keep up with it. I eventually sold it, which, looking back was very short sighted (I’m trying hard not to use the word regret).
Now I’m back with a new name, new blog, and a slightly different focus/niche. So starting over is kind of rough, but at the same time, there where some things I learned from the first go-round that I don’t have to re-learn.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! Good luck blogging this time around. I’m sure you will do great.
Thanks!
I think the difference this time is I can build on the things I’ve already learned and I’ve set milestones. Last time I just started, without and end goal in mind. This time, I’m tracking a 3 year plan — the the plan is for the blog to least AT LEAST that long.
Once that goal is met, I’ll access, create another intermediate goal, and go on from there.
Sounds like you have a good plan then. Goals are important!
I totally understand now how much work goes into blogging. I haven’t seen any return yet and I just don’t have the time to committ to my blog to get affiliate income and my stats aren’t good enough yet to get paid advertisements either. Sigh! One day at a time 🙂
Yes, one day at a time. You will get there!
Thanks for this helpful post Michelle! You know you are my inspiration when it comes to earning extra money! I think you’re spot on with your point about bloggers giving up before they’ve had a chance to make money. I’ve had my blog running for 18 months and it’s only in the last six months that I’ve started earning a little from it. I still need to look at affiliate marketing as I’ve not done much with this. I can see how repeating this formula over several blogs would work well – but it’s just having the time to work on more than one site at once that’s an issue. Because building up a blog does take a lot of work! Like you, I love blogging though. 🙂 P.S. Your new blog design is fabulous!
Thank you Hayley for all of your kind words 🙂
Excellent post. I’ve made money with Adsense. I also got made my 1st affiliate sale 2 months ago. It has motivated me to try different strategies.
Good job!
AdSense took forever to get to the $100 threshold, but after that it seems to build much quicker. We’ve just started to make some affiliate sales, which is awesome. It seems like it takes forever to build up traffic so the penny analogy is correct. I would love to end sponsored posts at some point as well. Blogging had led me to thousands of dollars in writing and editing, so even when it’s slow, it opens doors.
Good job on the affiliate sales Kim!
Nice work Michelle. I actually just started a free service to get people started blogging on WordPress. I want them to have the best chance in succeeding.
Sounds like a great service Grayson. I’m sure you will be successful with that!
Thanks for the inspiration Michelle. I started my blog back on October and was doing well for a while. My day job picked up pace and got extremely busy, so I didn’t have a lot of time to dedicate to my blog and it went quiet for a couple months. I am back on my game and really hope to start it back up the right way and figure out how to increase readership and possibly start making some money (even if it is pennies).
I agree with you that writing posts well ahead of time is a lifesaver! But I’m terrible at it, so I really want to work on that.
I’m terrible at writing posts ahead of time as well. You are not alone!
That’s an awesome write-up. This blog post goes through all the points through which a blogger can make good money. I’ve gone through many write-ups that say about Blogging and making money. But what I liked in this blog post is that it is authentic and genuine. We all find trouble while getting money from Adsense and that’s a reality. Thanks for guiding us the ways of earning money.
Thanks!
Thanks so much for breaking this down, Michelle! I look forward to more posts about this topic 🙂
Thanks Melissa!
Great job! You’re having a great income on June. I understand now how much work it takes to do blogging. These ways have given me the idea about it. I’m thinking of opening up a blog soon and these ways will surely help me. Thanks a lot.
Thanks and good luck! 🙂
I’ve made most of my income through Paid posts/advertisements/sponsorships. I think review-related posts for $ is one of the best ways to make money. I also make a fairly consistent amount from adSense. I don’t make much from affiliate links but ideally down the road that would make up most of the site’s income.
Yes, ideally I would like affiliate links to make up most of my income. I still jump for joy when I make a sale! 🙂
Great post, Michelle! I like how you are so honest about the number of bloggers who won’t make it. The truth is, it takes a ton of time to run a blog and it’s hard to invest that time when you’re not making any money!
Thanks Holly!
I do make a decent amount with my blogs and have really focused on affiliate income to do so these days. Affiliate income is by far the most sustainable way to make extra cash, in my opinion, when it comes to blogging, and one of the safest ways.
Good job with the affiliate income! 🙂