The Business of Blogging Part 4: Start Making Money on Your Blog

If you're ready to start making money on your blog, we can help you! Our list of money-making ideas can help you increase your blog's income.

If you’re creating engaging content on your blog, employing proven SEO strategies, and using great images on your posts, you’re ready to start making money on your blog! Most bloggers know what catches a reader’s eye because they’ve been consumers of great blogs long before they started their own. But behind all the beautiful images and interesting, witty copy, there is a money-making business.

Here are a few ways to start making money on your blog:

Advertising: Companies will pay you to advertise their products on your website. Sounds easy enough, right? Ads should be relevant to your readers, but not overwhelm your content. The most popular ad network is Google Adsense, which is relatively easy to get into and set up. You can also use other ad networks such as BlogHer, Beacon Ads, Federated Media, Sovrn, Media.net, Rivit and Sway. Advertising doesn’t create the revenue that it did a few years ago, but many bloggers still find success with it. Hosting ads on your blog is a great way for you as a novice blogger to start making money on your blog.
Sponsored Posts: If you have a decent following on your blog, then you can contact companies and see if they’re interested in sponsoring one of your posts. It’s usually best to start with companies whose products you already use. They’ll likely want to know your monthly page views and how far-reaching their potential sponsorship will be. Hint: Contact their media relations person directly. A quick way to find out who that is to contact at that company is to send them a quick tweet on Twitter–”yoo-hoo! Who do I contact about xyz.” This might result in a quicker response than an email.
Affiliate Links: An affiliate link is a hyperlink on your blog or post that contains the ID of a product another company is trying to sell. Advertisers track how much traffic comes from the hyperlink on your blog. If a visitor from your site buys the product you advertised, you receive a portion of sales.
Digital Products: Why not use your blog to sell your own products instead of someone else’s? When you sell your own products you don’t have to share the profits with anyone else. Popular digital products for bloggers to sell include printables, digital courses, E-books, photos (stock photography is great,) the options are endless. Just make sure your products align with your blog’s purpose and mission.
Services: Are you an SEO master? How about a graphic designer, web designer, social media manager? You can offer your services to fellow bloggers by creating branding for their business, building a custom WordPress template or helping them monetize their Pinterest account.
Physical Products: In addition to selling digital products, you can start making money on your blog by selling physical products. If you run a craft blog, sell your crafts on Etsy. If you’re cooking up something in the kitchen, create a cookbook to sell. Consider selling clothing with your branding on it, or any other physical item associated with your blog that your readers might be interested in.