How to Make Money Off Your Blog

This is a guest post by Sarah Brooks.

Nowadays, it seems like just about everybody has a blog. Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom looking to document your kids’ lives, a crafter creating the latest do-it-yourself projects, or a business owner looking to market and make a name for your brand, blogging could be the answer to doing what you love and making an income from it. That’s right, it’s possible (in fact, very possible) to make money simply by blogging. All you need is a computer, the ability to accept credit cards online, and a few tips, provided below.

Create a blog and stick with it

Most people don’t stick with blogging long enough to make any money from it. Don’t expect results overnight. Blogging takes work, hours upon hours of work, before you’ll ever see a dime. The more work you put in, the more money you can eventually expect to make.

To help you stick with it, blog about things you’re passionate about. If you blog about food but don’t really enjoy cooking, chances are the blog will be forgotten about long before it even has a shot at making money.

Gain followers

Once you start your blog and know the direction you want it to go, it’s time to start gaining readers (or in blog terms, followers). To do this, you must get involved with the blogging community. Find blogs that are similar to your own – as far as their topic, age, and audience – and read what they’re writing about. Leave comments on other blogs, send emails, respond to emails, post your blogs on Facebook and Twitter, and network. The more people that see your blog, the better you’ll be at gaining readers.

Be yourself

Always, always, always be true to yourself. People will continue visiting your blog if they like who you are, so don’t try to be someone you’re not. Eventually, either your true colors will show or you’ll no longer enjoy blogging due to not being true to yourself, and you’ll lose readers.

Advertise

Instead of billboards, people will use your blog to advertise

Start advertising once you’ve generated a decent amount of traffic to your blog. Google Adsense is a great program to start out with, and it’s free! You place Google ads on your blog (you can determine the types of ads you want to display and where they are placed) and get paid when people click those ads.

Say you have a 1% click rate, 1000 page views per day, and you get paid 25 cents per click. That means you’ll make $2.50 per day off of ads. Though it doesn’t seem like much, it does add up, and it doesn’t cost you a thing.

Affiliate advertising

Sign up as an affiliate of a company, such as Amazon, to earn money off your blog. You earn per click (like regular advertising), per sale, or per lead. The huge benefit of this is once you place the ad on your blog, you’re essentially done. As long as your blog’s generating traffic (remember, the more the better), the money will come in.

Sponsors

This is where a company pays you a flat rate to put their ad on your blog. Sometimes, companies will contact you directly for this. Make sure people and businesses know you’re accepting sponsors by putting that information directly on your blog. Advertise the number of followers you have, how many monthly page views your blog gets, and how much you want to charge per ad.

Sell something

If you’re crafty, use your blog to market yourself or business to sell your product. If you have a business on the side, such as selling candles or makeup, put it on your blog. Allowing customers to buy your product directly from your blog will grow your sales, business, and income.

Write reviews

Use your blog to write a review on a product, service, or website and get paid. The company pays you to write a review in hopes of selling their product to your readers. Typically, each review needs to be about 200 words long. If you’re reviewing a product, you will receive the product for free in addition to monetary compensation. ReviewMe.com is a great place to start.

Once your blog is large and has a steady following, the opportunities to make money are endless. You can write an eBook, a regular print book, sell your guest posts, become a professional blogger, and more. The key is being passionate about your blog, consistently posting, and making your mark in the blogging world. It’s not easy, but if you enjoy it, then it’s not really work!

About the author
Sarah Brooks is a freelance writer covering a wide variety of topics from personal finance and how to accept credit cards online to food and nutrition.