It is widely known that blogging is currently one of the most popular methods to earn money online. Specifically, there is a staggering number of 31 million bloggers solely in the United States.
If you are considering starting a blog, you might be questioning the ways in which you can participate in this popular trend and generate a revenue from your blog.
Making money through blogging is not as difficult as it might seem, and with some guidance, anyone can learn how to do it. In this blog post, we will provide effective strategies for monetizing your blog and getting started on your path to financial success using the top blogging sites available.
How do bloggers really make money?
There are several methods that bloggers can use to monetize a blog. In general, bloggers earn money through two different ways.
One way of collaborating with businesses is by using their website as advertising space for brands to promote their products or services. Another approach could be writing a sponsored post that highlights the company’s items or campaigns.
To successfully sell a product or service to readers, bloggers should concentrate on providing unique value that cannot be found elsewhere. Examples of such products or services include eBooks, merchandise, coaching services, or exclusive membership content.
The amount of money a blogger earns is typically determined by their methods of generating income and the level of traffic their website attracts. Generally, having a greater range of ways to make money and a larger number of visitors will lead to higher earnings.
Adam Enfroy’s blog generates $101,814 from a combination of ad views, affiliate link clicks, and digital product purchases, thanks to its monthly pageview count of approximately 332,854.
Before you can earn money online, it is important to prioritize the development of a loyal audience. Businesses typically seek content creators who have consistent traffic in order to maximize their exposure and conversions through collaborations.
If you have your own products or services to sell, it becomes simpler to make a sale if the blog already has a pre-established audience.
HOW TO START YOUR OWN BLOG
Before learning how to make money with your blog, it is crucial for beginner bloggers to understand the process of starting a successful blog. This tutorial will guide you through the necessary steps of launching a website, creating blog content, and optimizing it for search engines.
1. Pick a hosting provider
The initial step in starting a blog involves the acquisition of web hosting. Web hosting is a service that stores the files of a website and allows public access to them.
With many web hosts available, it is important to select a dependable provider that ensures your blog is continuously accessible for readers’ enjoyment around the clock. Moreover, ensure the chosen service possesses a control panel suitable for beginners and a support team that is prompt in their responses.
If you are in need of suggestions, take a look at our compilation of the finest web hosting services. Below are a few options that we highly recommend.
- Hostinger – This hosting company offers shared hosting plans perfect for new bloggers. The features include a 99.9% uptime guarantee, 24/7 live chat support, and an intuitive built-in control panel.
- Bluehost -. A feature-rich hosting provider with speedy performance. The plans include custom website themes, free domain name registration for a year, and a free SSL certificate to secure the site connection.
- HostGator – This web host provides unmetered bandwidth and unlimited storage in all plans, which are necessary to support the blog’s growth. The shared hosting plans come with a 45-day money-back guarantee included.
Once you have acquired a web hosting account, it will be necessary for you to procure a domain name, which serves as the web address that users will input into their browser to access your website.
When selecting a name for the blog, it is important to choose one that succinctly captures the blog’s essence and is memorable. Additionally, acquiring a .com top-level domain (TLD) is highly recommended due to its familiarity among users. The typical cost for a .com domain is $8 per year.
2. Pick a website platform
Once we have bought a hosting service and a domain name, the next step involves selecting a platform for building the blog.
Self-hosted WordPress is the favored choice, functioning as a content management system (CMS) that allows individuals to construct and launch websites without requiring extensive technical expertise.
Additionally, it includes robust blogging functionalities such as a post editor, a system for categorizing and tagging content, and features for enabling comments.
When considering step by step, rephrase the following passage without altering the meaning. Avoid adding new information and do not exclude any information. One more advantage of utilizing WordPress is its extensive collection of themes. With over 8 thousand free options solely in the official directory, there is an abundance of styles to experiment with.
If you want a pick that is both fast and highly customizable, take a look at our compilation of top WordPress themes.
WordPress can be highly customized primarily because of its plugins, which are additional components that can be installed to enhance the features of the blog.
Readers can reach out directly to your email by adding a contact form to the blog using the Gravity Forms plugin. Additionally, we suggest checking out our collection of top WordPress plugins to enhance site content, functionality, and performance.
Other popular CMSs like Drupal and Joomla, besides WordPress, are also capable of blogging, but they may require more effort to learn.
- These are the best blogging platforms around
3. Create quality content
After completing the preceding steps, the next step involves the enjoyable aspect of developing content for your blog. The nature of this content creation process may vary depending on the focus of your blog, ranging from crafting articles and capturing photos to filming videos and recording podcasts. Regardless of its form, it is crucial to ensure that your content is not only of high quality but also captivating enough to sustain the interest of your audience, prompting them to return for subsequent visits. Once you have produced some content, the subsequent step entails initiating the promotion of your blog to garner visibility and ensure that it reaches its intended audience.
Once the website is established, the next important task is to generate content for the blog. This step is critical since the quality of the articles will determine visitors’ interest in exploring the blog further.
Here are a few guidelines for generating valuable content for readers:
When considering a niche, select topics that have the potential to attract a significant audience and establish business partnerships, while also aligning with your personal interests to avoid author fatigue.
In order to identify a content gap, if the niche is already popular, select a specific aspect that has not been explored by the main competitors. This will enable the blog to establish itself as the primary source for such subjects.
To effectively reach your target audience, identify their interests and the challenges they need help with. A well-crafted post should provide the solutions they seek, and utilizing keyword research tools can help generate ideas for blog posts.
When selecting topics for a new blog, it is important to choose evergreen subjects that consistently attract interest from readers, for example, “money-saving tips.” By centering the blog’s content around these timeless topics, it will always remain pertinent to readers’ concerns, consequently driving traffic to the blog in the long run.
To ensure productivity, utilize an editorial content calendar to establish a timeline for conducting research, writing, editing, and publishing the blog posts.
In addition to addressing readers’ problems, a well-written article should be easily comprehensible and readable. This can be achieved by using shorter paragraphs, both unordered and ordered lists, and straightforward language.
Use visual aids such as pictures and videos to assist visual learners in comprehending the information provided in the blog post. Follow a systematic thought process while rephrasing the text, ensuring that the same meaning is conveyed without any additional or omitted details.
If you are unsure, search for free articles online as it is a great method to quickly generate content for your blog. Nonetheless, certain posts may not be of high quality, thus editing them before publishing is advisable.
4 ways to make money blogging
If your blog receives a reasonable amount of traffic, contemplate utilizing any of the strategies mentioned below. If your audience is limited in size, the first two options are likely more suitable. Regardless, incorporating multiple methods to generate income will enhance your chances of earning money.
1. Display advertising
I’m sure you have noticed digital advertisements for cell phones, credit cards, and other products on the websites you have visited. Additionally, companies have the opportunity to bid on advertising space on your blog using programs like Google Adsense. You have the freedom to select which types of ads are displayed and their placement on the webpage. Furthermore, you receive compensation based on the number of clicks the ads receive from your readers.
It can be difficult to estimate your potential earnings, but this comprehensive guide to earning money with Google AdSense can provide assistance. The basic concept is as follows: Suppose your website receives 2,800 views in a month, and 1.5% of the viewers click on a display ad, which amounts to 42 clicks. If the advertiser bids 75 cents per click, you can expect to receive a payment of approximately $30.
Joseph Hogue, author of “Make Money Blogging,” states that receiving a $30 or $50 check can provide enough motivation for new bloggers to continue their blog and work towards achieving higher payouts.
How much money can you make from blogging? Here’s what Google says
Google has control over your content and determines if it can be discovered in a search, then compensates you for displaying its ads on your blog.
In addition, Google is aware of your income, which is determined by the blog traffic, and this information is disclosed through a Google content earnings calculator.
Below are a few examples of the projected annual earnings from advertisements for a blog in North America that attracts 50,000 page views per month, according to Google’s assessments on different content categories.
The cost of sports is $2,538.
The amount allocated for arts and entertainment is $3,372.
The cost of automobiles and vehicles is $5,520.
The total cost of beauty and fitness amounts to $7,806.
The cost of shopping was $8,400.
The cost of travel was $8,460.
The total expenditure on food and drink amounts to $8,598.
The finance amount is $19,278.
The more money you make, the bigger your audience, of course.
2. Repurposed blog content
If you are already creating content, why not consider transforming your blog posts into chapters for an e-book that can be sold on Amazon?
According to Hogue, self-publishing is unlikely to result in wealth but rather is regarded as a great way to generate passive income. This implies that once you have compiled and posted your content on Amazon, you can mostly disregard it and simply receive occasional payments.
Furthermore, possessing an ideal marketing platform, containing a suitable audience, is already within your possession – your blog. Hogue showcases his e-books regarding investments and generating passive income on his personal finance blog, PeerFinance101.
If you are able to think in a systematic manner, you can consider rephrasing the given text as follows without changing its meaning: If you possess the ability to think in a logical and sequential manner, you may also explore ways to generate income through YouTube videos.
3. Affiliate marketing
If you frequently talk about products on your blog, consider exploring affiliate marketing. For example, if you have a blog dedicated to smoothies, you can include a link to a particular blender available on Amazon within one of your posts. In the event that a reader clicks on the link and purchases the blender, you will receive a commission.
According to Hogue, your pocket can be filled with a range of money from a few dollars to a significant amount with just one purchase. In order to discover advertisers and products that suit your website, it is recommended to become a member of an affiliate network like CJ Affiliate, ShareASale, Rakuten Marketing, FlexOffers.com, or Amazon Associates.
Affiliate marketing is a lucrative source of income for several bloggers. Hogue made an approximate monthly amount of $2,000 through this method from two of his blogs in 2017. He is aware of individuals who generate tens of thousands of dollars monthly using affiliate marketing.
This approach is most effective for blogs with high levels of traffic. As the number of readers increases, the chances of someone viewing the post, clicking the link, and making a purchase also rise.
4. Sponsored content
By employing this strategy, corporations provide a fixed payment to individuals in exchange for publishing a post promoting their product. For instance, either you or a blender manufacturer could generate a post on your smoothie blog discussing a particular blender, potentially accompanied by a hyperlink directing readers to a website for purchasing it.
If your blog doesn’t have a lot of traffic, it can be difficult to find sponsored content opportunities. However, Hogue advises that even bloggers with low traffic should request a minimum of $100 if they have the chance. If you are responsible for writing the content, ask for a higher amount. Once your blog attracts a larger audience, you can ask for a few hundred dollars for each opportunity.
Opportunities to atulize these can be found through ad networks or by contacting potential sponsors. Additionally, you may receive spontaneous emails offering monetary compensation for a sponsored post.
Not everyone is suited for this tactic. Hogue states that some bloggers are uncomfortable with promoting a product in exchange for money as it gives them a sense of being a mere puppet for a corporate sponsor. He advises only endorsing products that you have personally tested and genuinely endorse. Additionally, the products should be relevant to your content, so unless you frequently spill your drinks, there is no need to excessively praise a carpet cleaner on your smoothie blog.
The key to making money from blogging
No matter the strategy you opt for, earning money through blogging requires patience. It will be impossible to generate substantial earnings until your blog attracts significant traffic and ranks high in Google search results, which requires time. Additionally, it is advisable to acquire knowledge about the blogging industry. Hogue reads “blogs about blogging” and explores websites that focus on search engine optimization.
To maximize your chances of profiting from your blog, it is advisable to select a topic that you have a deep interest in. “You’ll be discussing it extensively, and at times, your passion will be the only driving force behind it,” Hogue suggests.
