If you didn’t know, yes! Bloggers make money. It’s not quite as easy as it sounds. It does take time, effort, and investment, but it does happen. So, how do we do it? There’s actually quite more than five ways, but that’s takes a little bit longer to explain. To save you from clicking through multiple pages by creating separate posts for this information, here are 5 ways to make money blogging:
Advertising
Advertising is probably the simplest way to bring in revenue to your blog. There are multiple ways that it can be done, so here are some examples of ways to advertise:
Display Ads —— Google Adsense, for example, strategically places advertisements within your website. These advertisements could be displayed in the header, footer, sidebar, or within the text of a blog post. When someone clicks on an ad, you get paid. If someone purchases a product after that click, you may get a commission. Also, a company can also create an ad for you to place somewhere on your blog!
Giveaways and Reviews —— Companies or ‘brands’ give you products aka product exchange, and sometimes monetary compensation to host a giveaway or to write a review. Usually, a giveaway drives traffic back to the blog, and may lead to a click on an ad or purchasing products from your blog.
Sponsored and Collaboration posts —— Sponsored posts are when companies or ‘brands’ pay you to write blog posts that are tailored to them or one of their products. On the other hand, collaboration posts are written by another person, and hosted on your website.
Newsletter, video, podcast and social media post sponsorships —— These are paid advertisements that are published via a newsletter, YouTube video, podcast, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is pretty straight forward- you share a shoppable link that is embedded with information, which traces back to your account.
Many affiliate programs require that you apply, and then, they give you links with this code. For example:
The link above links to an Alexa from Amazon. Shareasale, Amazon, ShopStyle, and Bluehost are some affiliate marketing programs that are highly recommended.
Digital Products
One of the top products that bloggers sell are digital, because they are easy to create and distribute. Some examples of digital products include:
Online courses, Workshops and Webinars —— Online courses or workshops teach people what you know, in a live setting.
Ecourses —— Similar to online courses, ecourses are done online, but they aren’t live. These are set instructions or information, and typically sent via email.
Premium Content —— Content that the public has to pay a premium to access. For example, special content that discusses deals, sales or gives coupons.
Images, videos or music —— Creating images, videos, sound effects, jingles, and selling them online.
Apps, plugins or themes —— Coding and creating features for websites. For example, I purchased my theme from Bella Creative Studio.
Physical Products
While more time consuming, bloggers sell physical products. Rachel Parcell is a great example of a blogger selling physical products. She now has her own clothing line, Rachel Parcell Collection. Here are some other examples of physical products:
Books —— Yes, write a book! Are you in the recipe/cooking niche? Then you can make a cookbook! Bloggers write books, whether about their life story, how they became successful with their blog, recipes, and so on.
Handmade goods —— Jewelry, clothing, bath bombs etc. are some examples. The goods can be sold from the blog or on Etsy.
Services
Bloggers can offer a variety of services, especially if you have a particular skill, niche, or the time to complete tasks. Here are some different services bloggers offer:
Virtual Assistance —— There is a TON of ways to assist someone online, especially if that person is a blogger or business owner. Here are some ways to be a virtual assistant
- Email management
- Calendar management
- Travel arrangement
- Writing
- Ghostwriting
- Graphic design / creation
- Web design / development
- Researching
- Editing
- Tutoring
- Audio / video / photo editing
- Consulting / counseling / coaching
- Bookkeeping
- Copywriting
- Marketing / Promotion
- Social media management
- Project management
- Customer service
- Transcription
- Programming
- App development
- Data entry
Public speaking —— While this is a little more difficult to get in to, bloggers may do public speaking. It may be at their Alma Mater, a specific brand event, or maybe they may create an event.
Niche-Related Skill ——Travel guide, personal shopper, stylist, cook, etc. are all positions that are niche specific services.
Have you made money blogging? What is your biggest source of income from blogging?
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