Some people start blogs as a simple hobby; to share their thoughts, feelings, opinions, and activities with the world. Many businesses include blogs on their websites to boost their visibility for high volume search terms and engage prospective customers with informational or entertaining content. However, over time, blogging has become more than just a pastime or a digital marketing exercise for companies. If done well, blogging can be a lucrative business which can provide a regular source of income and, in some individual cases, has launched people into high profile media careers. However, a lot of people start blogs for more practical reasons, such as to increase their income.
Earning Money with a Blog
Blogging can be a simple and effective way to earn money for people looking to maximize savings or repay debts to improve credit. If this sounds like you and you’d like to find out more, here are six ways you could earn some extra money by starting a blog.
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Affiliate Links
You may be able to earn money through your blog by merely including a few affiliate links in the text of your blogs. If you add an affiliate link within your blog, you can receive a commission when a reader clicks on the link and spends money on the affiliate website. Ideally, your blog will be about a topic which is relevant to the affiliate website so the link text you include will seem natural.
For example, you could choose to review the best movies you’ve seen recently and include links to Amazon so readers can purchase the DVDs if they wish to. Be as honest as you can and only recommend products if you genuinely believe are high quality. You want to maintain the trust of your readers and don’t want to come across as having an obvious commercial agenda. Also, try to avoid using these links too often as this suggests your blog is primarily intended to make money and not to help readers. Open an account with an expert affiliate company to include affiliate links to other brands and products.
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Include Sponsored Content
If you can establish your blog in a niche, then you may be able to charge other brands for sponsored content to include ‘advertorials’ on your website. An advertorial is an article, but with a commercial agenda; it has been written to promote a product or brand. For example, if your blog is focused on travel, a hotel may pay you for a certain number of words and images dedicated to their hotel. It will probably also include an affiliate link to their website so that you can earn more money when a reader clicks on it and books a stay.
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Sell Advertising Space
You can choose to display adverts on your blog pages so that brands can advertise to your readers on a pay-per-click (PPC) or cost per thousand (CPM) basis. PPC means that you receive a set amount of money every time a reader clicks on the advert. With CPM adverts, you’ll receive a set payment for every 1,000 impressions the advert gets, such as every 1,000 people who see it. You can run adverts as sidebar adverts or banners which are across the top of the page. The individual payments for each click or thousand impressions are often low, but once they’re set up, they take care of themselves and the money will trickle in without any effort on your part. To maximize your income from adverts, it’s essential to build and engage as many readers as possible.
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Sell Space in Your Email Marketing
You can suggest to your visitors that they subscribe to your blog with their email address so that they receive new article alerts straight to their inbox. It will also mean that you’ll build up a list of email addresses of people who are interested in your content. You can capitalize on this by sending a monthly roundup newsletter email with highlights from the blog. The income here comes from selling space in your email newsletters to companies who want exposure to your readers. For a free and easy to use email marketing platform, take a look at MailChimp.
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Be a Guest Blogger
If you can establish yourself as an expert on a particular subject, sometimes the press or brands may contact you (and pay you) to provide a comment or guest blog for their website.
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Sell Your Services or Products
In some cases (although it’s rare), people can charge a fee for access to their blog content. If you are an expert in your niche or can prove you have skills or advice which are of value to your readers, this could be a money-making option for you. For example, you could offer online courses or workshops or create eBooks which must be paid for.
Another way of looking at a blog is as a platform for self-promotion. If you treat your blog as a place to show your skills and knowledge in a specific field, then there’s a chance you could attract the attention of a prospective employer. Managing your blog as a business takes a wide variety of skills and shows that you have a proactive attitude.
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