If you want to learn about how to make money blogging as a beginner, then you are in the right place.
I’ve been living comfortably from online income for the past 10 years doing what I love.
This guide aims to teach you how to monetize your blog in a way that’s right for you, doing what you love.
There’s no best overall way to make money blogging. There’s just the best way for you and your traffic. And by the time you’re done reading this article, you will know it.
A good monetization method should suit your needs and your traffic.
Let’s explore these.
Note: If you don’t already have the proper foundations of a good blog, you might also want to read my very thorough post about how to start a blog.
Suiting your needs
Each individual is unique and so are his needs. Some of you might be attracted to easier options, while some may enjoy a challenge.
I always encourage my readers to focus their work around things that they love.
The same should apply to your blogs monetization method.
You can make money blogging in many different ways, but it doesn’t mean that every way will be good for you.
Some might find it stressful to reach out to businesses, while others might love it. Some might enjoy the challenge of creating their own products and services, while others might be discouraged by the simple thought of it.
People that do what they love are more likely to succeed, because:
- Ideas come easier because of genuine interest in the topic
- It’s easier to push forward even when things get though
- Work doesn’t feel like work when you love it
- They are far less likely to give up
When presented with the monetization options you will see that some are more challenging than others. Some provide passive income, while others require your active implication.
Each have their own benefits and drawbacks.
I will provide you with as many variables as possible and keeping the above in mind, I will let you decide which one is best for your needs.
Suiting your traffic
Another very important part that you want to think about when monetizing your blog is your traffic.
The type of monetization you chose should also be suitable to your traffic.
What do I mean by this?
Let’s say you’ve got a blog that gets hundreds of thousands of views every month, but the traffic isn’t with buyer intent. In this case, you’d probably be much better of placing some ads on your website which pay you for every click or view you drive.
Conversely, let’s say you’ve got a blog that gets only 10.000 views per month, but it’s traffic that has high buyer intent. In such a case you’d surely do better having a great product or service to sell to your readers.
This can either be your own product or service, or it can be through an affiliate marketing scheme.
Many people don’t understand how bloggers make money. Let’s change that in you case and explore the different ways to monetize a blog.
Here are the most popular ways to do it.
1. Ads
Ads are a well-known and straightforward way to monetize a blog.
Some options of ads are easier to implement than others. For example, CPC (Cost per Click) and CPM (Cost per Thousand) ads from an ad network will be easier to implement than private ads.
Each will have their benefits and drawbacks.
Lets explore each of them.
1.1. CPC and CPM Ads
CPC and CPM ads are a very popular choice for many bloggers because of their ease of use.
CPC ads pay the blogger for every click sent through the ad, while CPM ads pay a certain sum for every 1.000 views the ad gets.
CPC and CPM ads are usually offered by ad networks, which already have a huge number of advertisers looking for good places to publish their ads.
With these type of ads you wouldn’t need to be in direct contact with any advertiser, as the ad network already does that for you and places ads automatically on your website.
The ads are displayed according to special algorithms that determine the best ones to be displayed according to your content.
Some of the most popular ad networks include:
CPC and CPM ads will be for those of you that have blogs with little buyer intent, that have a good number of visitors per month and that are looking for an easy, passive solution to monetize their blogs with.
1.2. Private Ads
You’ve also got the option of selling private ads to advertisers in your niche.
Such ads can come in the form of image banners, sponsored posts or other call to actions such as buttons or links.
If your blog is popular enough, you won’t even need to search for advertisers yourself, as they will come to you.
If your blog isn’t popular enough, you will have to contact advertisers yourself. Now you might be asking yourself “Why do that, when I can just go the easy route with CPC or CPM Ads on Ad Networks?”.
Private ads have their own advantages, although they might require a bit more work.
One important advantage is that you cut out the middleman (the ad network) and you could earn more. Furthermore, because you’re in direct contact with the advertiser, more business opportunities can arise along the road.
Another benefit is that you can decide how you want to be paid for the private ads – upfront, one-time fee, monthly installments, etc.
Private ads are a good option for those of you that enjoy forming good connections with other businesses, that want to cut out the middleman and have more control over your money.
2. Products & Services
This is an option for the more daring entrepreneurial types among you that might want to sell their own products and/ or services.
These can include:
Products
- Courses – written, video series, etc
- Books or eBooks
Services
- Speaking Gigs
- Consulting
- Coaching
- Freelancing
Whenever creating a product or service, be sure to listen to your audience first and create it with their needs in mind.
You can actually do a survey and see what would interest your audience the most (Example: A Google Ads Course). Once you know your audience’s needs, you’ve got a sure way to make some money.
Creating your own product or service is not an easy task. It will require a lot of work and dedication. It will also take time away from focusing on your blog and it’s content.
But if you’re a dedicated and organized individual that can multitask, or that has a team to help out, creating a product or service to sell could prove very profitable and satisfying.
Finally, it is also worth noting that this option works better when you’re already established and recognized as an expert in your niche.
3. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a great way to monetize your blog. Actually, it is one of my favorites.
With affiliate marketing, you promote other people’s products or services and earn a commission every time you make a sale.
There are many affiliate networks that make it easy for affiliates to pick the best products and servies to promote to their audiences.
On such networks, affiliates can browse through hundreds, even thousands of products and services that they can promote.
Popular examples of affiliate networks include:
- Amazon Associates – Amazon has got the biggest affiliate network when it comes to consumer products such as household items, books, tools and toys
- Clickbank – One of the leading affiliate networks for online information products
- Affiliaxe – An invitation-only affiliate network that prides itself with accepting only the best marketers
Affiliate marketing is a great option for those of you that want to focus exclusively on your blogs without being distracted by creating your own products or services.
Conclusion
There are many ways to monetize a blog, but there’s no best overall way to do it. You will have to determine which is the best way for your needs and your traffic.
It is also important to note that the monetization methods presented shouldn’t be necessarily seen as adversarial to one another, as they can be complementary.
Myself and many other experts in my network have used many of them together and have seen great results.
So my suggestion is to pick the one that you feel resonates the most with yourself and your audience, test it out and then slowly start adding and testing other methods as well and see if your revenue drops or increases.
Which method did you find to be better suited for you?
