Blogging for money isn't particularly difficult any more. You don't have to be famous or even have huge traffic (although how much money you make from your blog will depend on both of these factors to some extent). If you can come up with valuable or entertaining content you can make money blogging. Start making money from your blog by using one or more of these seven ideas.
1. Using advertising programs.
These are more advertising program options for blogging for money than ever before. Here are just four possibilities for making money from your blog by putting ads on your pages:
Besides placing ads on your blog pages themselves, there are also programs for RSS advertising such as Pheedo.
2. Using affiliate programs.
With affiliate marketing, a company agrees to pay you a commission for helping to sell their products. Visitors see the company's ad on your web pages and, if they click through to the company's website and do a particular thing, you'll get paid.
The particular thing the visitor has to do varies; some affiliate programs pay per click (PPC) while others pay per lead or even per sale. These are four of the biggest (and most established) affiliate programs on the 'Net that you can use for blogging for money:
3. Get company sponsorship.
Blog sponsorship is a growing trend as more businesses realize the popularity of blogging and the potential marketing reach of bloggers. Company sponsorship deals appear to range from obvious "advertising" blogs that are squarely focused on a company's product(s) through adding a company's name, logo and brand to an existing blog ("sponsored by...").
The main problem with making money this way is that you have to be known already (and have enough traffic) to attract sponsorship.
4. Get hired by a company.
Many businesses would love to have blogs, but just don't have anyone currently on staff who has the time and the talent to put a blog together and keep it going. You could be the answer and make money from a blog in the process.
The trick to landing such a gig is finding the businesses that want/need the services and persuading them that you're the blogger they need; diligent research and some cold calling will probably be needed unless you already have a high profile and a track record that will bring the businesses calling.
5. Freelance blogging for money.
Networks of blogs appear to be springing up across the web, some of which are looking for people to write blogs and are willing to pay for it. Payment models vary but a fixed monthly payment in exchange for a specified number of blog posts seems to be most common.
BloggerJobs.biz is one example of a website that specializes in posting blogging for money opportunities.
About.com's Freelance Writing site is a great place to look for freelance writing opportunities of all kinds, including blogging gigs. 10 Things to Know about Content Sites is a good article to read before you start reading through job postings.
6. Create a blog to advertise a specific product/service.
Blogs are fast becoming the trendy alternative to the classic salesletter site. In this case, the format is the only real change; the message is the same. Typically, the pitch is woven into as many blog entries as possible - or even used a tagline to every blog entry.
Jim Kukral's 99 Ways to Blog for Business blog is a good example of a blog designed to move a product (in this case, his strategy guide for creating blogs for businesses).
7. Selling intellectual property such as ebooks, telecourses or consulting services, through your blog.
This idea is closely related to the previous idea for making money through your blog. The difference is that in this case the intellectual property you're selling is just part of or incidental to the blog you're writing; it's not the raison d'etre for the blog. For instance, you might have a blog about beekeeping and be selling an ebook about how to build a mason bee house on your pages.
The Secret to Blogging for Money
No matter which blogging for money model you choose, or even if you choose a combination of ways to make money from your blog, there's still one secret to success; you need to be able to write well and engage your readers. That's how you build an audience, and of course, the bigger your audience, the bigger your chances to make some serious money blogging.
Why Not Just Blog Using Social Media?
Social Media postings using platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are like news bites - they are gone in a flash, whereas a blog post has a much longer shelf life and can remain visible for months.
Can I Make a Living Blogging?
Some people can - but according to the 2015 Women’s Blogging Industry and Business Annual Report survey of thousands of bloggers:
- Only 6% of those surveyed earned over $60,000 annually
- 68% of bloggers earned less than $5000 annually
- 11% of those surveyed earned more than $30,000 annually
- 57% made less than $2500 annually
A small percentage of bloggers earn six-figure incomes. Most bloggers also have full or part-time jobs or businesses. Starting a blog to earn income is like starting any business - it requires hard work, dedication, and patience.
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