No one ever said that making money with your blog was easy. It is true that there are blogs on the Internet generating thousands of dollars per month and hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, however, that kind of income is generated by an incredibly small number of very successful blogs.
There are different expectations among people who start blogging in order to make money. On one side of the spectrum, there are those who start blogging simply looking for a way to make a little extra money. On the other side, there are those who begin blogging inspired by dreams of creating a blog that will make them rich. While the former approach is definitely more realistic, the fact is, there is legitimate money to be made by blogging, and if you go about it in smart way, take the right steps, and post informative, interesting, and popular content, blogging can prove to be a fun and simple way to make money. Here are 5 ways that you can make money with your blog.
1. Ads with Google AdSense
Renting out ad space on your blog page is one of the most popular ways to make money blogging. The more popular your blog is, the more money its ads will pull in. There are many ways to put ads on your blog. Google AdSense is by far one of the most easy and user-friendly options. After signing up to AdSense, they will review your blog and decide whether or not they would like to advertise with you. If they like your blog, they will allow you to place their ads on it, and you will earn money every time someone clicks on an ad. The more popular your blog is, the more people will click on your ads and the more money you’ll make.
2. Choose Your Own Ads
As the writer of your blog, you know best what kind of people are reading your posts and what kind of ads they are likely to click on. While popular advertising platforms such as AdSense and AdBrite are simple and hassle-free, their ads are not always as relevant to your blog as you might like them to be. Choosing what kind of ads you would like on your blog means contacting website and product owners individually and working with them to put their ads on your blog. The best way to go about this is to offer the advertiser a “trial run,” where they can put their ads on your blog for free for a certain amount of time in order to see if the traffic generated by the ad is worth the money that they will be paying for it. Choosing your ads can result in more clicks by your readers and more money for you. If you are working as an affiliate for a website like Amazon, every time someone buys a product after clicking on its link on your blog, the seller will give you a percentage of the product’s price.
3. Guest Write to Gain Popularity
There are many ways to make money with your blog, but none of them will be successful without your blog being popular in the first place. There are billions of blogs on the Internet, and no matter how informative or interesting your posts are, gaining followers is never easy. Instead of waiting for people to stumble onto your blog and fall in love with your content, guest writing on somebody else’s already-popular blog will put your name out there and bring people to your blog without them having to find it by themselves.
4. Sell Your Own Products
Once your blog has gained popularity and you have accumulated enough committed followers, you can take your work to the next level by selling books, eBooks, or software related to your blog. If your blog is about exercising, for example, you can create an eBook about something along the lines of “The Most Effective Exercises,” and sell it on your blog. Many of your readers will be glad to pay money to get some of your “premium” content.
5. Charge for Membership
Charging a membership fee is a smart and easy way to earn money from your blog. With memberships, you are in control of everything: how much and how frequently your readers are paying and what they are paying to see. You can charge a one-time entrance fee to your blog, after which one can read your content to their hearts content, or you can charge a recurring fee that must be paid every month or year in order to continue viewing your content. When considering requiring a membership, remember that not all of your content has to be paid-only. For example, ESPN’s website offers thousands upon thousands of free articles, videos, and other services to their users, but also charges a monthly membership fee for those who would like access to their exclusive “Insider” content.
No matter how you go about doing it, there is certainly money to be made by blogging. Not everyone will end up with a successful blog that makes thousands of dollars per month, but as long as you go in with the right attitude and are smart about monetizing your blog, being at least semi-successful at making money with your blog is a distinct and very realistic possibility. It definitely doesn’t hurt to try, but don’t quit your job expecting to feed your family with the money generated from your blog.
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