Wondering how to make money blogging for beginners? Or even if making money as a blogger is a real possibility?
Would you like the good news or bad news first? Let’s start with the good…
Making money as a blogger is 100% possible and there are five main ways for monetizing a blog. We will be going through each and, yes, I’ve also came with receipts. You’ll be “wowed” by the five bloggers making a full-time income below.
But before we begin, let’s talk about the not so good of blogging. I hate being the “negative nelly”, but far too many people enter blogging thinking it’ll be a cake walk.
Making money blogging takes time … oftentimes A LOT of time. We’re talking months, sometimes years before a blog generates enough money to live off of. And, more often than not, there are blogs that never reach monetization, at all.
In the beginning, blogging will feel like a full-time job. Between design, content creation and marketing, you’ll be pouring hours upon hours into your blog. It’s nearly 100% guaranteed that at least once in your journey, you’ll feel like throwing in the towel.
I liken blogging to a thankless job. At least at the start of things.
As humans, we expect immediate gratification. But, if you want to make money blogging, you have to let this go. And trust the process.
Building a blog worth reading and garnering trust from your readers, while also making money from your blog takes time.
At a minimum, I give each blog I start six months to one year to see momentum. Whether that be traffic, email subscribers or some other measurement.
Blogging is a long term game, it’s not a get rich quick scheme. But, if you do it right, those long hours spent at your computer could provide you the ultimate freedom: financial and time freedom. Which is something that we all strive for.
How to Make Money Blogging for Beginners
So, I promise that I will get into the five ways bloggers make money, but let’s first touch on this little note. If you want to make money blogging, you have to be in it to help others.
Starting a blog is not about you, but rather what you can do or solve for someone else.
The internet is used for what, exactly? I mean, if you really think about it, what do we use the internet for?
We all search the internet, looking for solutions to our problems. And most of us have become familiarized with terms such as “let me Google that”. Essentially, when we need something answered, the search engines become our friends (most of the time ?).
And that’s where you come in, as a blogger. For example …
Someone starting a garden may read articles from a gardening blog. Another may read a craft blog if they’re getting into crafts. Others look at fashion blogs for fashion advice. You get the point.
And you may be thinking, why would anyone read my blog when all these other great blogs exist?
It’s true. Rarely does anybody have an original idea anymore. Most ideas are usually derived from something somebody has read, heard or seen.
But, what makes you different is how you deliver the message.
You have your own experiences and story. Something that is uniquely yours. And when you interject your posts with these experiences, it differentiates you.
Think about how many pizza joints exist (or whatever food is popular in your region). They can co-exist because each of them brings something different.
So, when you start your blog think about what makes you different. And, remember, there are over 7 billion people in the world. Somebody out there is waiting to hear from you.
Now let’s get into how blogs make money.
1. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is simply “selling” (recommending) someone else’s product, for a cut of the product sale. And the best part is that there is no heavy lifting on your end. So, no packing, shipping, customer service, etc.
When you become an affiliate for a company, you receive your own personalized link. And when someone clicks your link and makes a purchase, you get a percentage of the sale.
As a blogger, there are countless affiliate opportunities. Let’s say, for example, you’re in the home design space. And you love those new Ruggable rugs that everyone is talking about and have a couple yourself.
What you could do is visit the Ruggable website and see if they offer an affiliate or partner program. If they do, you’ll apply to become an affiliate for them. That way, if approved, every time you promote or talk about their product and someone purchases through your link, you get a cut.
Most companies, if they offer an affiliate opportunity, will have this information at the bottom of their website. As you can see from the image below, this company does have an affiliate program.
And, as you can see from the second image, they offer up to 6% of the sale.
I will have a whole separate post diving more into affiliate programs at a later date. Once it’s posted, I will link to the article here.
But for now, let’s take a look at a blogger that is doing affiliate marketing right.
This blogger is Debbie Gartner, over at The Flooring Girl. As you may have guessed from her domain name, she blogs about flooring and other miscellaneous topics.
She does not share her exact income publicly on her blog. But, she does mention here that she earns about $4,000 every month with the Amazon affiliate program. Which means that she recommends Amazon products on her blog and people buy through her links.
She also mentions that it is mostly passive, at this point. And what she is saying is that she is doing very little work on her end now to keep those sales up. She wrote the blog posts, linked to the products, did the proper SEO and now she can let the search engines do their job.
Now, $4,000 in passive income, for a blog, is pretty sweet. However, I know that Debbie makes much MUCH more than this from her blog.
Amazon is just ONE of several companies she is partnered with. She also has several income streams, so she doesn’t just rely on affiliate income.
If you’d like to be inspired on a monthly basis, I definitely recommend signing up for Debbie’s email list. She graciously shares her income AND expenses with her email subscribers every single month.
2. Paid Sponsorships
Sponsorships are paid opportunities from companies. As you grow and market your blog, you should also see an uptick in the amount of followers, email subscribers and readers you have.
As you begin to connect and build trust with your following, they will begin to also trust companies and products you recommend. And companies recognize that there is power behind influential people.
Which is why they will pay you to promote their products, in the form of paid sponsorships. As a blogger, this typically involves writing a blog post, sharing information to your social media and/or emailing your list about the company or product.
Being in this type of position does hold a higher responsibility. It takes a lot of time to earn trust from people and it can be quickly lost. Which is why you should work with companies that you love. You want your people taken care of.
Example of Paid Sponsorship in Blogging
Kelan and Brittany Kline are the bloggers behind The Savvy Couple, where they blog about family and finance. As you can see from the screen shot below, in this income report they made over $30,000 in paid sponsorships.
This was not an annual income report, but monthly. And keep in mind, this was not accomplished overnight. It has taken them years to build their blog to this level.
They’ve even mentioned that their blog did not make any income until their 9th … yes NINTH month of blogging. Which, can be totally normal in the blogging world.
But, this just shows that if you put in the sweat equity it could pay off … big time.
3. Ad Networks
We’ve all seen them, most people hate them, but many bloggers rely on them. And what I am referring to are ads placed on websites.
Once you are getting serious traffic or visitors to your website, you can begin looking at ad networks. By participating in an ad network, you allow companies to advertise their business on your blog.
This way you make a little (or a lot of) money when people visit your blog. And the advertisers are able to utilize your audience to get in front of more eyes. It’s designed to be a win-win.
How much you make through an ad network varies. It is also dependent on other factors, such as amount of traffic you get and your niche.
A few of the popular ad networks for bloggers include:
- Google Adsense
- Mediavine: Requires that your website has 50,000 page views along with other stipulations
- Ad Thrive: Requires a website to have 100,000 page views along with other stipulations
For any ad network that you put an application in for, you’ll need to have 30 days worth of analytical data. This means that Google Analytics needs to be set up and running on your website. Which you should do before launching your blog.
Let’s take a look at a blogger, utilizing ads on their blog
Dee Dee runs a blog called Chasing a Better Life, where she blogs on many different topics. Everything from housekeeping to food to pregnancy and everything in between.
In this income report, Dee Dee made $4,083.46 in ads alone. It is also what made up the bulk of her income for this month.
As you’ll notice, it looks like Dee Dee was making a switch from Adsense to Mediavine, in this particular month. She made $3,949.35 in just 2 and half weeks, after she was accepted.
So, you can get an idea of what she may have made had Mediavine been in effect the entire month.
4. Sell Services
If you specialize in something that can be delivered online, you can also offer these as services on your blog. This may include social media marketing, Pinterest management, web design, freelance writing, SEO services, consulting services, etc.
Services can be a great way to bring in some income while you wait for your blog to get monetized, by other means. Or they can even be the primary source of income, while you showcase your knowledge through your blog.
Cherin is the author behind Mamas on Money, where she blogs about online business. Of the $10,110 she made on this income report, $4522 of that came from products and services.
Cherin does not notate how much were of services alone. However, we can see that she offers copywriting, social media management and consulting services.
5. Sell Digital Products
Digital products can be anything that can be delivered through the internet. So think pdf guides, ebooks, templates, artwork, online courses, etc.
Digital products are by far my most favorite way to make money blogging. As the product is created once and can then be sold over and over and over again.
As the creator you are 100% copyright earn 100% of each sale (minus taxes and fees, of course).
The first non-friend sale I ever made with my first blog was through a digital product. Which is why I believe it is a great way on how to make money blogging for beginners.
Let’s take a look at a heavy hitter in the digital product space.
Now, there is something I want you to know before I share this next blogger’s income statement. While there are several bloggers that have hit an annual $1 million with their blog, they really are the exception.
I don’t want you to feel discouraged by the amount that this blogger made. But, rather inspired.
This blogger is Michelle of Making Sense of Cents. She is a finance and lifestyle blogger. And has really been able to build her blog into something special.
In this income report, she made $47,716.00 with her course on affiliate marketing. Yes, she made almost $50,000 in just one month on one course.
It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?
Final Thoughts on How to Make Money Blogging for Beginners
If there is anything I want you to take away from this is that it is 100% possible to make money blogging. It will take time, dedication, consistency and a lot of hard work. But, it is possible.
Blogging is a real way to make money online. More so than people give credit for. However, I just want to stress this one last time, it’s not going to happen overnight.
It’s not a get rich quick scheme. It’s not a race. It’s a marathon.
If you are ready to get started, check out this post on how to start a blog. It’s extensive and gives you the starting points you need to build a blog like a pro.
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