Do you like blogging and want to make some extra money? Blogging is an inexpensive business idea with the potential to make thousands of dollars a month. In this guide, you’ll learn how to make money blogging with 11 revenue streams used by professional bloggers who earn a full-time income through their website.
How to Make Money Blogging
- Choose a profitable niche
- Build an email list
- Write sponsored product reviews
- Sell ad placements
- Participate in an affiliate marketing program
- Offer services
- Sell digital products
- Sell physical products
- Create a community of members
- Monetize YouTube videos
- Produce a podcast and get a sponsor
How much money can bloggers make?
The potential for blogging is practically unlimited. Established bloggers like Ryan Robinson, who runs a blog about blogging, can make up to $30,000 a month. Adam Enfroy, who started blogging as a side hustle in 2019, made $1.5 million from his blog just two years later.
Reading: How to create income from a blog
Bloggers can’t just count on monthly earnings. Marketplaces like Flippa offer blogs for sale, many of which come with hefty six-figure price tags. Bloggers cash in when their creative project is acquired.
Unfortunately, not every blogger can earn millions with their website. The income potential of your blog depends on two factors:
- Your niche. Do people spend large sums of money on products in your industry? The software industry, for example, can be lucrative as many companies pay recurring commissions. Bloggers can make small amounts each month long after the customer has made the purchase. (More on that later.)
- Your monetization strategies. Some blog monetization methods are off the table for new bloggers who want to stick to their core values — like: B. Not being paid Post content that you do not agree with. This can affect earning potential in the short term.
How long does it take to make money blogging?
Blogging is usually a side hustle that people take up with hope that one day they will be able to quit their jobs. However, how long it takes to earn a substantial income varies from blogger to blogger.
Some with an entrepreneurial mindset make their first $100 online in a matter of months — like Brittany Berger, founder of Work Brighter, who started making money almost immediately. Berger created a simple $20 digital download that she promoted in her weekly newsletter and on her newsletter sign-up page. “By starting so early in the blog’s life, I’ve been able to gain a large chunk of the audience,” she says.
“I think waiting to release anything until you have a bigger one Having an audience can end up putting more pressure on yourself so I’m glad I experimented with a small product when my audience was small.”
Mushfiq Sarkar is another blogger who started in 2008 alongside started blogging at his full-time job. Though Mushfiq had no prior marketing experience, he says, “I quit my job in April 2021 to focus on The Website Flip because it’s grown a lot and I had more passion for growing this website and blogging.”
Now the blog is making substantial revenue despite being only a few years old: “I started at the height of the pandemic in April 2020. A lot of people knew me by name, but not that I was a was an active blogger or someone covering the industry. I started making money pretty quickly – within a month or two.”
11 Ideas to Make Money Blogging
Look for a creative side hustle that generate additional income? Whether you’re starting a new blog or expanding an existing one, here are 11 ways to make money blogging.
1. Pick a lucrative niche
A niche is a specific topic within a broader topic, such as vegan recipes. By choosing one for your blog, readers build an association with your site. You’ll know exactly what to expect when they visit and improve your chances of being their first port of call when they seek advice.
“Before monetization, it’s all about quality and expertise when you move away from the want to stand out. says Mushfiq, founder of The Website Flip. “First find out what your niche is and why you should be writing about it, and come up with a persona that represents you in that topic. Once that happens, you’ll build a following over time. Monetization follows later.”
You’ll find bloggers making money in a variety of niches, from business software to pet accessories. However, not all niches are good.
A profitable blogging niche meets three criteria:
- It’s something you know about and/or are interested in. Blogs need a lot of quality content to build an audience and be monetized. Not only will it be more enjoyable to blog about something you have a genuine interest in, but you also increase the likelihood of making money. It’s easier to stick to a hobby we enjoy.
- Low competition. A popular blog, brand, or forum in your niche indicates that others are making money from it . Similarly, do a Google search to gauge keyword ranking difficulty. It gets harder to drive organic traffic when well-known brands (with even bigger marketing budgets) dominate the first page of search results.
- Monetization Potential. Check out monetization opportunities for every niche on your shortlist. Do companies in this niche pay to promote their products on other blogs? Are there many affiliate programs selling products in this industry? Both are telltale signs of a profitable blog niche.
2. Build an Email List
To make money from your blog, you need loyal readers who value your recommendations.
One of the best ways to do this is with building an email list for you own blog. When someone signs up to hear from your blog, you’re granted permission to reach readers in a place holier than any other: their inbox.
“Email marketing is by far the most lucrative distribution channel for me . I’m not even trying to sell directly through other channels anymore, I’m directing people from social media, collaborations and SEO to my email list,” says Brittany Berger, Founder of WorkBrighter
Encourage blog visitors to report Sign up on your mailing list with a pop-up, with the aim of getting everyone who visits you for the first time to opt-in to hearing from you with an incentive such as:
- Free checklists
- Lists of resources or recommended products
- Blog content packaged in a PDF file (e.g. printable recipes)
Once they sign up, continue nurturing that relationship with educational or entertaining content. You’ll build an audience ready to buy products based on your recommendations.
Take it from Lily Ugbaja, who originally started her blog FindingBalance.Mom, “because I wanted to stay at home with my son, do sth hat I love and still make money.”
It took Lily two weeks to start making money from the blog: “I used email to promote my professional channels and relevant affiliate -Products with Tripwires and Facebook groups. You add lead magnets to your website so people sign up after reading your article. Instead of a success page, you’re sharing a one-time offer – a low-end product at a super cheap price, $7 in my case.
Even though the blog is getting less than 1,000 page views per month, Lily says her first month has ended with over $100, and soon $100 grew into “a few thousand” each month.
“Think of your blog as a means to an end, not an end,” says Lily. “Most successful bloggers monetize with products and affiliates, and those streams don’t convert without serious planning. Build funnels, build backwards. Start with a product you want to sell, then create blog content that does that Support the sale of this product.”
3. Write Sponsored Product Reviews
All businesses want social proof to show their customers their products are worth buying. One way for them to collect that is by paying bloggers to post reviews.
Reach out to your favorite brands and ask if they’d be interested in writing a review on your blog sponsor. If you are using the product outside of the verification purpose, this tactic costs essentially nothing. You’re simply being paid to share your opinion on a product you already own.
However, this monetization strategy is getting a little grim. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently fined Fashion Nova $4.2 million for suppressing negative reviews despite — allegedly — asking a third party to do so.
The FTC has a whole new set of guidelines that will impact e-commerce retailers and ultimately the bloggers who pay them to write sponsored reviews.
Prevent your blog from ending up in hot water by:
- Disclose whether you have an incentive to write the review. If you get paid For example, to post a review, include the following disclaimer in the introduction of your article: “I was paid to write this review and may earn a commission if you purchase this product.”
- Be honest. Share the good and bad to help readers make an informed decision about whether to buy the item you’re reviewing.
4. Sell Ad Placements
Companies are willing to pay bloggers to place ads on their websites. Lend them otherwise unused space for a fee.
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There are two ways to build this income stream for your blog:
- Negotiate with companies individually. Find companies in your niche and ask whether they would be interested in advertising on your website. It’s the more time-consuming approach and requires strong negotiation skills, but done well, it can bring in the most sums of money.
- Use an ad network. Do you prefer the hands-on approach? Platforms like Google AdSense, Mediavine, and AdThrive take up space on your blog and handle billing with advertisers. Just embed their code on your website and get paid for running ads.
For Emily Brookes, a blogger at Emily May, display ads are the most lucrative sales channel for my blog . “About 60% of my blog’s revenue comes from display advertising,” she says. “I’m consistently making money from ads every month, even if I haven’t published any new content.”
To make advertising a significant revenue stream for your blog, increasing website traffic should be a priority.
Ad networks like Google AdSense pay per 1,000 impressions (CPM) using the average CPM for display ads falling around the $1.25 mark. The more people see the ads on your blog, the more money you make.
Both Mediavine and AdThrive require bloggers to meet the minimum pageview requirements before applying to join the network. It is an investment that pays off in the long run. Monica Lent, founder of Not a Nomad Blog, generates the highest percentage of revenue from this type of blog promotion.
Afoma Umesi also runs her book blog Reading Middle Grade on the side. “I had no experience and started blogging as a hobby before seriously deciding to monetize the site,” she says.
“I needed something passive, so I turned to ads and affiliate decided on the left. I don’t want to make or sell any digital products or services right now, and I’m not a big fan of sponsored posts, so ads were the perfect solution. All I need is traffic.
Reading Middle Grade currently makes between $800 and $1,000 per month – three quarters of which comes from this type of advertising. Afoma says, “Don’t be afraid or ashamed of using ads. They’re uncomfortable for some users, but if you add value and use them wisely, most users won’t notice the ads.”
5. Join an affiliate marketing program
Affiliate marketing is the process of recommending products to your blog’s audience. They get a commission if they buy the product through your custom link.
It’s a great revenue stream for bloggers because the content you share is already influencing their purchasing decisions. Make your blog a hub for educational content and build the know, like, and trust factors needed to make a sale.
The beauty of affiliate marketing is that you don’t have to create your own products. Join an existing eCommerce store and become a virtual seller for it. You don’t have to worry about creating marketing materials, shipping products, or dealing with customer service.
To make money with this method, join an affiliate marketing network like ShareASale, AWIN or ClickBank. Browse available programs in your industry, apply to join, create custom links and track affiliate earnings from the dashboard.
You can also look for high profile affiliate programs from merchants that sell expensive products such as electronics, jewelry or software. Bloggers get sizable checks for recommending these articles to readers. For example, Shopify Affiliates earn 100% commission on the first two payments of a subscription plan.
6. Offer Services
A natural byproduct of building your audience means more people will associate your name with the blog topics you write about. It’s a great way to build authority – something people look for when hiring to perform a service.
“If you’re in B2B like me, consulting is a big source of income . If you have some expertise and people are actually reading your content, what kind of advice can you do for them? It’s a way to make money blogging, with high earnings and low engagement,” says Mushfiq, founder of The Website Flip.
While running a service-based business is time-consuming, it can be a quick way Be able to make money online Demand a higher hourly rate and find high-paying clients by using your blog content as a way to demonstrate your expertise.
Examples of services you can provide alongside your blog Sell:
- Consulting Services
- Graphic Design
- Freelance Writing
- Virtual Support
- Courses or workshops
Save time scheduling appointments and taking payments with apps like Acuity and Calendly Promote your service through the blog — whether it’s a standalone landing page or an ad in your sidebar — and start booking new clients.
Related: 12 Things to Sell on Shopify (Besides Physical Products)
7. Sell Digital Products
Digital products are a more scalable way to make money by selling things alongside your blog. Unlike service-oriented companies, you don’t trade time for money. And unlike selling physical products, there are no shipping or manufacturing costs.
You can create digital products once and sell an infinite number of them through your blog – hence the phrase “create once, sell twice”.
- “I decided to add prints – and soon other digital products – to diversify my income and put more control in my own hands. So far, I’ve let readers decide how much they want to pay for my prints, so the sales numbers haven’t been crazy. However, I’ve had over 800 downloads, so I’m pretty proud of that.” – Dylan Houlihan, Founder of Swift Salary
Find out which digital products your audience would buy with a reader survey with the question: “What problem do you need help with that the blog isn’t? already solved for you?” Answers may reveal ideas that you can package and sell as:
- e-books
- printed versions
- workbooks
- Online courses
Benjamin Houy has been running the blog French Together full-time for eight years. Part of the blog’s monetization strategy is digital products – specifically the French course, which accounts for 90% of the blog’s revenue.
“Ads and affiliate links can be great monetization strategies depending on the niche, but creating a product is both easier as well as more profitable than most bloggers think,” says Benjamin. “Your product doesn’t have to be the absolute best product ever when you launch it, it just has to be something that your audience will find genuinely useful and willingly pay for.
“Your own selling product is amazing because you can improve it based on people’s feedback and not worry about affiliate programs going down or more and more people using ad blockers.”
8. Do you sell physical products
Is your blog iconic? Loyal readers of a blog quickly turn into devoted fans who want to support their favorite influencer. Help them do this – while generating income for your blog – by selling physical products.
The print-on-demand model works well for small blogging businesses because you only pay the manufacturing cost , when a reader buys a product . There is no excess inventory, storage fees or high upfront costs of mass producing products.
Use a service like Printful or Printify to create custom goods such as:
- Mugs
- T-shirts
- Stickers
- Posters
- Tote bags
- Phone cases
Looking for inspiration? Her First $100,000 sells merchandise with messages supported by the target reader. You’ll see phrases the blog is known for, like “Smash the Patriarchy” and “Financial Feminist,” on branded tote bags and t-shirts.
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Prefer something more practical? Launch your first online store and treat your blog’s audience as your first customer base.
One of the most notorious beauty brands in the world has come to life thanks to the founder’s blog. Emily Weiss shared beauty tips on her blog Into The Gloss and built an audience of loyal fans. She later developed a skin care line that catered to the blog’s readership. That was the starting point for Glossier – a beauty brand now valued at over $1 billion.
Richard Belton is another entrepreneur who took this approach. He’s been blogging about maple syrup on his blog, Kaito Ridge, for nearly eight years and uses the site to generate revenue through commissions from Amazon associates.
However, Richard recently changed his blog monetization strategy – and took control of the site’s income potential – by launching his first Shopify store. “I’m in the process of directing my articles, blog posts, and informational posts to link to my own Shopify store and reduce my reliance on Amazon,” he says.
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9. Build a community of members
Give your most engaged readers a VIP experience – one for which they have to pay a small fee.
This type of community is an important part of social connection – something especially important in a world that is increasingly online. Not only has communities been shown to improve mental health, but 52% of shoppers are also spending more on brands (or blogs) with shared values.
Pull it from Michael Keenan, who runs a community of members alongside the Peak Freelance blog: “If you want a consistent source of income for your Want to blog Efforts, create a membership program You can offer exclusive content like guides and courses, special offers and even a Slack channel like the one we offer to Peak Freelance members.
“Set your membership fees on a monthly basis or annually. Offer a small discount for those who pay annually. This will give you a nice cash injection that you can use to develop new content and products for members.”
10. Monetize YouTube Videos
Have you joined an affiliate program to monetize your blog?Expand your reach – and therefore your income streams- by diversifying the content you create. Let’s do oneTake a look at the different ways to make money on YouTube as an extension of your blog content.
Add video marketing to your list to maximize affiliate commission 88% of people believed to buy something after watching a branded video. Make this your tutorial, review, or haul and get rewarded when a viewer makes a purchase based on your recommendation.
Increase the dollars you make from your blog by treating every piece of content like the basis of a video script. Record yourself talking about the same topic, then edit the video and upload it to YouTube.
For example, the bloggers behind A Beautiful Mess posted a YouTube video showing how how to create built-in shelves. The video description directs people to the blog post, which contains affiliate links to the products used in the tutorial.
This strategy works for several reasons. First, not everyone enjoys reading online content. Some people prefer to watch videos. You may be scaring off thousands of people by only producing written text.
Second, Google and YouTube are the two most popular search engines in the world. Sharing content on both platforms increases the likelihood that your target reader will find them – and therefore buy products you are an affiliate with.
For some searches, Google’s algorithm pulls YouTube videos onto the results page the search engine (SERP). For example, the first thing you’ll see on the SERPs for “how to groom your dog at home” is a YouTube video on the subject.
The best part? An active YouTube channel expands your revenue opportunities.
The platform has its own monetization features, including the YouTube Affiliate Program, which is available to vloggers with more than 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours. After registration, YouTube will display ads before your video loads. You get paid every time a viewer views it – a nice way to supplement your blog income.
Read more: YouTube Affiliate Marketing: 7 Pro Tips to Earn Extra Income
11. Produce a podcast and find a sponsor
Speaking of alternative formats, podcasts are more popular than ever. More than half of US consumers have heard a podcast – up from 33% in 2015.
But episodes don’t just fill the time on the morning commute. Studies show that 53% of listeners look online for more information after hearing about a product through podcast sponsorship. Another 35% will spark a conversation with a friend about the item in question. Both of these points make them attractive propositions for brands looking to expand their reach.
Capture your audience’s attention by producing your own podcast. Record yourself speaking on a topic in your niche and syndicate each episode to a streaming platform like Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Reach out to brands in your niche for sponsorship opportunities. Sell ad space and give companies a shortcut to reach their target audience for a sponsorship fee.
This podcast revenue calculator shows a blogger with:
- 10,000 episode downloads
- Four new episodes per month
- Two Ads (a pre-roll)
… can add up to $16,000 in revenue per year.
The downside to this podcast approach is that it can be costly – both in relation to the time and money. It takes time to build a relationship with a new audience. You’ll also need equipment, like a quality microphone and editing software, to produce the podcast yourself.
But if you do it right, you have the potential to add another lucrative revenue stream to your blogging business.
Turn your blog into a moneymaker
Building a blog business is not a linear process.The best revenue generator depends on your niche, relationship with your audience, and the content formats you produce. First, focus on building great content and a loyal readership, then experiment with these monetization tactics.
See also: How to Create and Start a WordPress Blog in 15 Minutes or Less (Step by Step)
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