What are the best ways to monetize a blog?
If you’re wondering about this, you’re not alone. Most bloggers have asked themselves this question in their blogging careers. After all, what’s the point of putting all the time and effort into creating content if it doesn’t produce any meaningful revenue?
Here’s the good news, though: there are plenty of different ways to monetize your blog, so you can choose the best method.
So, in this post, we’ll explore some of the most popular blog ideas that make money so that you can assess which one is right for you.
But first.
When Should You Start Monetizing Your Blog?
Nowadays, you have a lot of different choices when it comes to monetizing your blog. For example, you can sell advertising, create and expand an eCommerce store, or even offer affiliate links to products sold on Amazon and other e-commerce sites.
But before you start doing any of those things, you need to know whether or not you should start monetizing your blog.
Here are some great questions you need to ask yourself.
1. You Already Have a Blog
If you’re looking to monetize your blog, you need to understand how to write a blog post first.
A blog is where you share your thoughts, experiences, and ideas with readers. It’s a platform where you can build credibility, authority, and credibility in your niche.
There are many ways to start a blog, but WordPress is the best way. It’s easy to use, and it’s free.
If you’re unsure how to start with WordPress, check out my tutorial on starting a blog in 5 minutes or less.
2. You Know Your Topic Well
Before you monetize your blog, you need to make sure that you know your topic well. This means that you should have done your research and written about it for a while before deciding to monetize it.
You should also be able to write well and organize your thoughts. If someone comes to your website and can’t understand what they’re reading, they’ll probably leave.
3. When Your Blog Has Significant Traffic
Of course, several factors go into getting your blog ready for monetization. But one of the most important is traffic.
You’re well on your way to monetizing your blog when you have significant traffic. Traffic is what we’d consider the lifeblood of an online business, and in this case, we’re talking about people who have found your site through search engines, social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, or links from other sites. For example, you can get traffic data from paid campaigns on Facebook by leveraging the best Facebook ads reporting tools.
You can measure traffic with a tool like Google Analytics, which shows how many visitors visit your site daily.
If you see at least 1,000-3,000 visitors per day (depending on the size of your niche), then it is time you should think about how you can make money from them.
4. Monetize your blog when you have enough content to support advertising
As a blogger, you want people to return to your blog and read page after page of great content.
So what does this mean for monetizing? First, writing a post every week might take six months of blogging before you have enough content to support advertising.
So don’t rush into monetization. Do be sure that your blog is up and running first, then think about how you’d like to monetize it.
So how should you be able to tell it’s time? Here are some signs that your blog has enough content:
- You’ve published at least 30 posts
- You have no less than 1,000 followers on your social media pages (Twitter/Instagram/Facebook)
- You’ve been blogging for at least six months
5. Your Content is a Cut Above the Rest
In the early days, your blog should be about creating great content.
If that’s all you’re focused on, you’ll build a valuable asset and eventually make money. But if you start thinking about monetization too soon, you may end up with a site that doesn’t reflect your passion (or perhaps even a blog).
Ensuring that your content is indeed a cut above the rest requires that you utilize online tools to brush up on its quality. One of the most effective tools that can do this is known as a paraphraser.
Paraphrasing tools can rewrite any text using different words, phrases, and sentences. The best tools are bundled with plenty of modes that provide different kinds of paraphrasing. Utilize these modes to paraphrase online your content effectively and improve its quality.
The content quality is improved by paraphrasers in multiple ways. The most common method is to increase the readability so the readers can engage with the content. They also improve vocabulary diversity so the content is not monotonous to read.
The best time to start thinking about monetizing your blog is when you reach a point where it’s clear that people are reading and enjoying your content.
Now that you know when to start monetizing your blog let’s look at some ways.
8 Best Way to Monetize Your Blog
1. Make Money with Display Advertising
Perhaps the easiest method to monetize your blog is with display advertising.
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Display ads are the most common form of online advertising, and they’re specifically designed to be eye-catching, like lovely images or explainer video ads.
Visual ads come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. They can take up as much space as you need — a whole page or just a small corner.
Display ads are straightforward to implement. Anybody can create a video, and any website can run it.
Primarily, there are a couple of ways to make money through display advertising: CPM and CPC.
What is CPM?
CPM stands for cost per thousand impressions. In other words, a publisher will get paid a certain amount every time their ad is shown a thousand times.
If a publisher has an ad that gets shown 100 times, they will get paid $10 by the advertiser. If the same ad gets shown 500 times, they will get paid $50.
What is CPC?
CPC stands for cost per click. In other words, a publisher will get paid a certain amount every time someone clicks on one of their ads.
If there is no one to click on the ad after it’s displayed 1,000 times, the publisher will not get paid anything. But if one person does click on it during that period, then they’ll be paid for that click.
But if you are new to monetizing your blog with display advertising, here are some ad networks we recommend joining.
1. Google AdSense
Google AdSense is, arguably, the most popular display ad network in the world, allowing publishers to monetize their sites with relevant and engaging ads.
You can sign up for an account, provide basic information about your site, and then link your site to Google’s ad network.
The minimum payout threshold is $100, and monthly payments are made via wire transfer.
2. AdPushup
AdPushup is an online advertising platform that specializes in helping publishers monetize their websites with programmatic ads.
It offers many different types of ads, including traditional banner ads, interstitials, pop-unders, and overlays.
To join this ad network, you’ll need to sign up for an account and submit your site’s URL via email or the web. After this, you can start to make money from home by placing ads on your site or selling them directly through their marketplace portal.
3. Setupad
Setupad is an analytics-driven monetization platform for publishers to achieve their maximum ad revenue potential. The platform promises at least a 30% ad revenue increase over Google AdSense.
In addition to best-performing ad formats like native ads, video ads, and rich media ads, the platform has its cloud ad server that allows connecting to an unlimited number of demand partners with a single service call. This helps publishers maintain the highest website speed and generates extra ad revenue.
To join Setupad, you must have at least 100K monthly visits. Sign up through their form and wait for a response. Their Account Manager will contact you shortly and discuss the optimal solution for your website.
2. Become an Affiliate Marketer
Affiliate marketing is a proven way to make money from the posts on your blog. This means you promote products for companies that pay you a commission for every sale.
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To get your affiliate marketing venture started, all you need is a website and some basic knowledge of how to create content for it.
You can choose from many different niches, but it’s important to choose one where you have at least some background knowledge or experience. For example, if you have been using Facebook Ads to sell dog toys on your blog, then maybe becoming an affiliate marketer for dog toy companies would be a good place to start.
Once you’ve decided on the niche, find some companies that offer affiliate programs in that area and sign up with them as an affiliate marketer. You’ll also need to look for companies that offer high commissions so that you can make more money per sale.
In order to gain traction in affiliate marketing, blogs need to prove themselves as an authority in their respective niches. This can be done with extensive informative articles pertaining to the particular niche. For example, if you plan on promoting web hosting affiliate programs, consider educating your audience on topics such as understanding WordPress and web hosting differences, or VPS vs dedicated servers for Minecraft, among others.
How much are you going to make with affiliate marketing? There’s no way to know exactly how much you’ll earn through affiliate marketing until you’re doing it, but we can give you a rough estimate.
How much are you going to make with affiliate marketing?
There’s no way to know exactly how much you’ll earn through affiliate marketing until you’re doing it, but we can give you a rough estimate.
The average affiliate marketer earns around $50 per sale. Of course, some products sell for more, and others sell for less, but it all depends on the product itself.
If you have a niche product with a small audience, you may only see about $10 per sale. But if you have something that appeals to millions of people and is easy to sell, you could see over $200 per sale.
Additionally, accurate financial documentation, like providing a paycheck stub, can help you track your earnings and manage your finances effectively.
3. Generate Revenue with Sponsored Posts and Reviews
You may also monetize your blog with sponsored posts and reviews.
Many companies will pay you to write a review of their product, service, or event. This can work as a great strategy to build your brand and get exposure for your business while earning extra income.
If you’ve never done a sponsored post or review before, it can be intimidating at first. However, the best that you can do in this case is dive right in.
Start small by reaching out to local businesses that you love or think your audience would love.
You should also consider doing sponsored posts for larger brands that have an established following on social media but are looking for more exposure.
Use a single email ID for your all social media accounts. Change email addresses on Instagram, Facebook, and other social platforms to use a single email address for all social accounts.
If you’re interested in working with a company like this, do some research so that when they contact you and ask if they can work together, you’ll have some ideas in mind.
How much will you earn from sponsored posts or reviews?
You can receive anywhere from $50 to $700 per post, depending on your niche and the size of your audience.
That said, if you have a significant number of followers and you consistently post content relevant to their interests, you may be able to charge more.
It’s also important to remember that sponsored posts take time and effort, so if you plan on creating sponsored content regularly, it’s best to have a system in place for keeping track of your progress and ensuring that you hit deadlines.
4. Sell Online Courses
If you’re looking to monetize your blog, one of the quickest and easiest ways is by creating and selling online courses.
You can create many courses – many that are free, but some that require payment.
The best way to start is with a free course and then move into paid ones as soon as you’ve established yourself as an expert in your field.
You can also integrate affiliate marketing into your online course by offering recommendations for products or services in each lesson. This will allow you to make money from those sales as well.
Here are a few online coaching platforms where you can sell your courses.
1. Udemy
Udemy is just one of the most popular sites for selling online courses, and for a good reason. The site has more than 35 million students, including many who want to upskill themselves, allowing easy integration with PayPal and Stripe.
It also offers various payment plans, including monthly subscriptions and lifetime memberships.
2. Teachable
Teachable is another great option for selling your online course. It has a user-friendly interface and offers a wide range of payment options and analytics support that lets you track how many people buy your product or service.
3. Skillshare
Skillshare is another great place to sell your course if you want more flexibility in how much you charge per month.
It also offers some fun features like video hosting so students can watch videos without leaving the site.
5. Start a Podcast
Podcasting is a great way to monetize your blog and reach a wider audience. One of the benefits of podcasting is that you don’t need any experience to get started.
The first step is to create a website where people can listen to your podcasts and download episodes. Your website should also have information about how to subscribe and rate your podcast to appear higher on search results.
Then, you must decide how much money you want to make from your podcasting efforts. You can charge for advertising space or ask listeners for donations if they enjoy your show.
Many platforms allow you to host podcasts and sell advertising space on them, including SoundCloud and Podbean; however, some of these platforms will require you to pay a subscription fee to use their services.
6. Sell eBooks to Your Audience
If you are looking for a very easy way to monetize your blog, go for writing and selling eBooks on topics your audience cares about.
If you’re writing about fitness, maybe you could create an eBook on how to eat healthy on a budget or why protein powder is so important for building muscle. The possibilities are endless.
If you have an audience interested in a specific topic, then there’s a good chance they would be willing to pay for an eBook about it.
If you’ve ever tried to sell an eBook on your website, you know it can be challenging.
It’s a big risk for both sides: the buyer and the seller.
The buyer has to put down money upfront without knowing what they will get in return. And if you’ve written the book yourself, you may not even know how successful it will be until after you’ve sold it.
But selling eBooks online is a great way to make some extra cash, and it doesn’t have to be difficult. Here are five tips for selling your eBook on your website:
1. Be sure to have a good cover design.
Many people judge books by their covers, so take some time to find one that looks professional and attractive. It should also catch the eye of potential buyers, so they notice it among all their other options. Also, don’t forget that many people pay close attention to the UX design as well. Make sure UX assessment is as good as it can be.
2. Get some reviews from previous customers.
If you have good reviews from experts or past customers, consider putting them on the back cover of your book. This will help encourage other people to buy from you, which means more sales overall.
3. Make sure the price is right.
You can’t sell eBooks for $0 or $5 and expect people to buy them. If your eBook is $1000, you probably shouldn’t be selling it on your website. The price must be somewhere in the middle and make sense for people buying.
4. Use keywords
Put relevant keywords in your titles and descriptions so people can find the information they’re looking for. This should help drive more traffic into your site, which means more sales.
5. Don’t forget to include an excerpt.
Include an excerpt from the book at the beginning of each one (this can also be good for SEO purposes).
Many people don’t like getting into something without knowing what they’re getting into first, which will give them some insight before they commit to buying it.
7. Offer Expert Coaching and Consulting Services
If you’re a blogger who’s good at what you do, many people will want to know how you got started in the same field.
They may also need help managing their blogs, or they might want to know how they can use social media so they can get more readers.
If this sounds like something your audience would be interested in, consider offering expert coaching and consulting services.
To start, write down a list of everything you know about blogging (or whatever your topic is).
Think about what questions people ask you regularly and write those down too. Then think about which of these questions are most common – the ones that come up most often, and make sure that those are addressed in your marketing materials (like an FAQ page on your website).
Next, try listing out some topics around which you can build an entire course or program for your students: maybe it’s five creative ways to get more traffic on your blog; maybe it’s three simple strategies for finding time for blogging if you’re a stay-at-home mom… the possibilities are endless.
8. Paid Webinars
Webinars have become a popular way for marketers to promote their products and services. It is a great way to reach out to a large audience at the same time.
You can use it for a training session, an educational event, or even as an online conference.
Paid webinars are a great way to get your message out there and make some money in the process.
A paid webinar is an online event that you can sell tickets for. You will offer live training or pre-recorded video, which you will then promote to your audience.
The goal of the event is to get as many people as possible to buy tickets so they can attend and listen in on what you have to say.
You can use any webinar software to host your webinar. You have to make sure following features in the platform:
- It should be easy to use
- It should have an intuitive interface
- It should offer analytics tools
- It should allow you to add slides, presentation backgrounds, videos, images, and animations
- It should offer real-time chat tools
Conclusion
There are many ways to monetize your blog, and we’ve only mentioned a few here. We encourage you to try them out and see what works best.
There’s no shortage of options to monetize your blog; each has its unique benefits and drawbacks.
The most important thing is choosing the method that best supports your goals. For example, if you’re hoping to grow an audience of dedicated readers and contributors, an affiliate program or sponsored posts may be a good fit.
If you want to earn some money without having to spend too much time on it, working with advertisers might be the way to go.
Monetization is just one piece of the puzzle – it’s not everything. The most important thing here is that you are passionate about what you do and that you make something worth reading.
If your content is good enough, the money will follow.
About Author: Jyoti Ray is the founder of WPMyWeb.com, which specializes in social media, marketing, and SEO. He writes and has been featured on JeffBullas, SurveyAnyplace, SearchEngineWatch, and more. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.
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