If you have always considered yourself something of a wordsmith, the temptation to start a blog is strong. There are now over 570 million active blogs, with new blog sites being added and deleted every day. When 409 million people read 20 million blogs per month, it is clear that people want to have their voices heard and their opinions validated.
If you already have a blog, or you are starting a new one, you don’t have to write for creative release alone. There are many ways that you can earn money online with a successful blog, whether you just want to write about your niche of expertise or you want to sell something to the masses.
If you have heard that bloggers can make $100,000 per month, you’re not wrong. It is possible, but you likely won’t make that much in your first year, or even in your fifth year. Beginning bloggers can earn up to $2500 per month in their first year, with most blogs earning significantly more after they have become well established.
You can create a blog for just about anything, but there are some niches that are more popular with online readers. These topics include:
- Finance, both business and personal
- Fashion
- Travel
- Marketing
- Health and Fitness
- Motherhood and Parenting
- Lifestyle
If you just want to help others with your experience, you can earn a modest income by adding a button to accept donations from those who enjoy your content. But this really just scratches the surface of what is possible. The following ways to monetize a blog are simple to implement and maintain. First, let’s take a look at how to get started with your new blog site.
How to Get Started Making Money Online with a Blog
Your first order of business is to set up the blog site. There are a lot of options to choose from, but most people choose WordPress. In fact, 40% of online content is published through the platform, far more than any other blog hosting provider. Because of this, we will discuss here how to set up a WordPress site.
Find the idea
Before you set up your site, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to write about. Choose a niche based on your experience, education, and personal knowledge. If you are an expert in your current field, choosing a niche should be easy.
Some people struggle with this important first step, and therefore never really start their blog. If you have several ideas of what you want to write about, write a blog for each of your top choices to see what feels right. If you wish, it is easy enough to create more than one blog site to manage multiple niches. Unless they are closely related, you shouldn’t focus on more than one niche per site.
Decide on a domain
The next thing you need to do is decide on a domain name and set up your WordPress account. Your domain should make it clear what your blog is about. A lot of bloggers use their name, but if you’re not well established that won’t work for you. You need your domain to clearly match the search terms used by your target audience.
WordPress checks that a domain is available and lets you know when you set up your account. It’s a good idea to have several options in mind before you get started. If your domain is already taken, WordPress will make suggestions for alternatives. If you don’t like the options, you might have to make subtle changes, such as Pets4U and Pets4You.
Choose a proper theme
The WordPress wizard will automatically take you into your WordPress site setup. Once you have set up your account and domain, you will be prompted to choose a theme. There are limited themes available with a basic account. A premium account grants you access to more templates, but you will get the best WordPress themes for your site by hiring a freelancer to design them for you.
Customize for your needs
From here, the platform makes it easy to start customizing your WordPress site almost immediately. If you’re not sure how to proceed, they offer a resource center and tutorial to help you get started. Using WordPress after setup is much easier than designing the site from scratch. You might need help to make the site look professional, but once it is up and running you should be able to maintain it on your own.
You should also take a close look at the WordPress plugins available when deciding how to format your blog site. The plugins offered can do anything from SEO to display an RSS feed, and so much more. There are plugins for forms, online checkout, and anything else you might need to monetize your blog.
Start writing
As you start writing your first content, consider these best practices for
- Your blog length should be in the neighborhood of 1200 to 2000 words and provide useful resources for your site visitors. The best content provides value even without conversion.
- Start your longer blog posts with a table of contents that links to each section. This makes it much easier for people to put their hands on the information they need at that moment. People like things to be easy, so once they find a site that makes it easy to find what they are looking for they are likely to use them again and again.
- Don’t forget to share your blogs on social media. Depending on your target audience, you should share blogs on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, and, yes, even Tik Tok.
New bloggers that follow these simple rules will be much more successful than the average. Of course, it is also important to choose the right type of income stream for your niche and type of content.
10 Ways to Monetize Your Blog
Now that you have your niche determined and your site ready to go, it is time to decide how to monetize your blog. There are a lot of options out there, some more popular than others. Some blogs may be able to utilize more than one of these, while others can only reasonably benefit from one.
We are going to cover the 10 simplest ways to start making money online with your blog. Gauge your topic and audience to determine which income streams are best for you.
Sell advertising space
Just as the print publications that came before it, many online content sources include advertising of some type. These ads, after all, are usually how publications earn profit. When monetizing a blog, there are three main ways you could allow companies to advertise.
1. Start a directory or recommendation service, charging for inclusion in the database. HomeAdvisor.com is an extremely successful example.
2. Sell ad space to companies that provide products of interest to your target market. You can do this directly, or you can use Google AdSense or Microsoft Advertising platforms. These services sell your ad space for you, displaying ads that are relevant to your topic. Keywords become very important here because if you display ads that are irrelevant, your blog will fail.
3. Provide sponsored or guest posts. A sponsored post is part of influence marketing, with the blog focusing on recommendations or tips about product usage. Guest posts are blogs written by your advertisers and placed on your more popular site. This is one of the easiest ways to make money from a blog, but it does require that you have a
Affiliate marketing and referral programs
Affiliate marketing is something that isn’t well understood by new bloggers. When you become an affiliate of a company, product, or service, you write content that links to their site. You are then paid for each click or conversion. This differs from sponsored posts only in that sponsored posts are usually a
There are several different options when it comes to affiliate marketing. The most common types of blogs for this are:
4. Promoting products and services. These would be informational blogs that present the reader with options. It is a good idea to disclose that you may earn from their clicks. Transparency is usually appreciated and can help you gain readership.
5. Promoting or reviewing Software as a Service (SaaS). We are moving into an age where almost all software is SaaS based, and many people are behind the times. Blogs that teach people how to use or choose software and technology are in high demand.
6. Using Amazon affiliate links is the easiest way to earn money from a blog. Amazon has over 900,000 affiliates, and for good reason. You will receive a code to place at the front of your links that credits you when readers click within your blog. You can promote almost any product for any niche due to Amazon’s versatility, and it is among the easiest to set up.
Physical or digital products?
Of course, if you have your own products or services to sell, choosing the theme for your blog will be easy. You can link your online store to your blog in many ways, making it easy for your site visitors to purchase. Not only does it increase sales, it also keeps your customers coming back for more.
The most common products sold through blogs include:
7. Ecommerce store featuring homemade or custom items. Setting up an online store with Ecwid is easy, and free for up to 10 items. This is a great alternative to the craft fairs that are only just beginning to resurface.
8. SaaS or other subscriptions. If you have a useful software tool, it is easy to monetize it by selling it on a blog. You can sell other types of subscriptions too. Subscription boxes are very common. You can also make money with your blog by offering premium content to subscribers.
9. Ebooks are a great way to share your knowledge and earn a passive income. Amazon makes it very easy to publish your book on your own, and it’s free to publish. Amazon does take a small percentage of each sale, but it is an easy way to start monetizing your experience.
10. Coaching and training are another way that you can make money from your unique knowledge or methods. Market your experience to others who are struggling by using your blog to impart small nuggets of information, with links to set up coaching consultations.
Closing
As you can see, there are many ways that you can earn money online with a blog. The longer your blog remains active, the more money you will be able to earn. It can be discouraging, but the most successful bloggers are those who post at least 3 times per week consistently for over a year. But you can’t slow down when you reach your initial goals. If you don’t keep your blog active, it will stop receiving traffic and your income will vanish.
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