First off…let me start by saying that blogging is NOT a get rich quick type of deal. It is very possible to make money from blogging but it takes time and a lot of hard work and dedication. If you are a beginning blogger and don’t make hardly any money yet, don’t let yourself get discouraged! Remember that blogging is a marathon not a sprint! Here are the 3 aspects you need to focus on in order to make money online: know, like, and trust. First, focus on building your brand and great content. Put yourself out there and let people get to know you and like you. Slowly you will gain an audience and then you need to gain their trust. You can do this by staying true to your brand and giving them honest, helpful information. This is the key to making money as a blogger! No one is going to buy your products or click on your affiliate links if they don’t like you or trust you. Focus on building that foundation with your audience first!
Something that is extremely important if you plan on monetizing your blog is that you need to be self-hosted! We use Bluehost as our host and love them! We have actually written a “How to Start a Profitable Blog in 5 Steps” post which covers everything you need to know!
Now let’s dive into 5 ways to make money blogging.
1.Ads
You can place ads on your website and make money based on clicks or impressions depending on which ad network you work with. When you are first starting out, I highly recommend starting with Google Adsense. Once you start growing your traffic, I would recommend moving to an ad network. We are currently with Monumetric (previously The Blogger Network). We love Monumetric and have significantly grown our ad revenue since we have started working with them! They have different programs depending on how many monthly pageviews you have starting at 10,000 per month. You can view the different program options HERE.
2.Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing means that you promote a product and receive a commission if someone purchases it. You receive a specific link to place on your website or social media that tracks people who click on it for a certain amount of days. You should only promote products that you love and that you think would benefit your readers (remember the know, like, and trust factors we discussed earlier). It is important to follow the Federal Trade Commission policies on affiliate marketing which you can read HERE. The possibilities are endless with affiliate marketing! Pretty much every company has an affiliate program. Many bloggers even have their own affiliate programs for their own products like ebooks. If you have a specific company that you would like to work with, I would recommend searching on Google for “Company X Affiliate Program”. Some companies have their own affiliate program (like Amazon and Bluehost). Others are apart of an affiliate network. There are many affiliate programs and networks out there. Here is a list to get you started:
4.Commission Junction’s Content Certified Program
5.Rakuten (previously LinkShare)
10.Offer Juice
11. Bluehost (If you host with Bluehost and love them, I would recommend writing a tutorial on how to start a website with them. You can tell your readers how to set it up, why you love the product, and share your affiliate link. If you want to see an example, you can read our How to Start a Blog in 5 Steps tutorial.)
3.Sponsored Posts
This is a HUGE money maker for bloggers! There are so many brands out there that love working with bloggers because they realize that bloggers are influencers and that their readers appreciate and trust their opinions. Remember to stay true to yourself and your brand. Don’t do a sponsored post that is way off topic because it will just confuse and annoy your readers. There are many ways to find sponsored posts. One way is through email. We have had many companies reach out to us through email. We have to decide if those opportunities align with our brand and goals. We have turned down many offers because they weren’t right for us. There have been a few brands that we have really wanted to work with so we have reached out to them through email. If you reach out to a company, make sure to attach your media kit with your contact information, social media following, monthly pageviews, and pricing. Another great way to find sponsored posts is through influencer agencies. These are companies that exist to bring influencers and brands together. There are many companies out there but we like working with:
4.Contributing to Another Website
When you are a new blogger, you need to start guest posting! Find larger blogs that are in your niche and email them to see if they accept guest posts. This will help you grow your network, gain new followers, and boost your Google ranking when the larger blog links back to your blog. After you have experience guest posting, you can start applying for paid contributor positions. These are pretty hard to find. Normally blogs will do a blog post announcing that they are taking applications for contributors. A great resource is the Beyond Your Blog website. This website is a great way to find paid writing opportunities in any niche. We used to contribute to another blog in 2016 and this is the website we used to find them.
5.Selling Your Own Products
This is a great way to make money on your blog! You can sell a physical product, ebook, ecourse, or anything else that relates to your blog. Like we talked about in #2, you can also set up your own affiliate program for your products! A great way to do this for digital products is by using E-Junkie. When selling your own products, remember the know, like, and trust factors we discussed. Do your readers like you and trust you enough to buy a product that you have made? Remember that you should first focus on creating great content and gaining an audience.
*Update February 2017: We now sell our own digital products including a dinner meal plan and blogging course. Check out our sales page HERE. We use a program called Click Funnels which we highly recommend for people selling ecourses or anything else requiring a membership site.
We hope this post will help you boost your online profits! If you have any questions, email us at Contact@SincerelyJean.com! We love to hear from our readers!
Sincerely,
shari jean
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