3 ways to monetise your blog
Right now I am really glad I am a blogger. The reason for this is that it is has been my only source of income since we went into lockdown. Although I haven’t reached the point where I can usually rely solely on income from my blog it has been a lifeline recently when my other digital marketing work has stopped.
There are many ways that a blog can make money and as someone that works in digital marketing, I know that I should really take advantage of my knowledge and apply it for myself and not just my clients. However, after a long day of working for other people, I prefer to chill out rather than doing the same again for myself!
However, during lockdown, I have had plenty of time to consider how I can produce more income from my blog through paid blogger jobs. Developing a successful blog has a lot to do with building relationships with potential income sources, such as sponsors, affiliate partners, or simply other bloggers who will direct traffic to your blog. Today I am going to share 3 of these methods with you.
Affiliate Marketing
Putting it simply, affiliate marketing is where you link to a product on a website and if someone clicks through to that site from yours and buys the product you get a percentage of the product’s value – like a commission!
It works by adding a tracking code onto the links in your blog, to get this code you have two options; first, you can sign up to an affiliate ad network or scheme of which there are many, or secondly you can create private partnerships with advertisers and businesses and work with them directly.
I myself am a member of the Amazon Associates scheme, so when I put a link to a product that I like on the Amazon website I use the special link they provide and if a reader then goes on to buy the product I get a small fee as a thank you.
Although most ad networks will let you sign up as soon as you start your blog it’s worth remembering that in order to make money via affiliate you will need a good amount of traffic (people visiting your site) in order to get a good number of clicks on your affiliate links. I recommend working on increasing your traffic at the same time as working on your affiliate scheme so that your work pays off.
Banner Adverts
Seen as one of the more traditional forms of making money from a website, banner ads are a more visual way of advertising. In fact, a good proportion of website layouts and themes even come with banner ad space built in so it can be quick and easy to get started.
You can sell banner advertising space on your blog page to brands who relate to your readers. The most common placements are around the border of your blog’s layout such as in the sidebar, header or footer.
So how do you make money from banner ads? There are two ways to make money from banner adverts; CPC (cost per click) this means you will be paid a set amount for every reader who clicks the advert or CPM (cost per thousand) which means you will get paid a set amount for every 1,000 ‘impressions’ the ad gets.
Again, like affiliate links, to make the most of our banner ads you will need to work on the traffic going to your site. More traffic equals more potential clicks on your banner ads equals more income. This means that you will need to work on your blog’s popularity before you will see a good level of income from banner adverts.
Sponsored Posts
Unlike affiliate marketing and banner ads, sponsored posts do not just rely on good levels of traffic in order to bring in money. Although some companies looking to place sponsored posts will be looking for the links in the post to be clicked on, a majority of brands seeking sponsored posts will care more about the authority of your site and how a link from your site will help their website rank better in search engine result pages.
You can sign up to blogger networks which work as a middle man connecting brands with bloggers, or some networks offer the chance to work directly with brands such as the Get Blogged Marketplace. Othertimes brands or agencies working for brands will contact you directly, so make sure your contact details can be found easily!
Sponsored content is one of the best ways to get paid to blog. There are two common ways to complete a sponsored post. The first method is to be provided with a full, pre-written piece of content which the company has written for you. This post will contain the link they wish to place on your site, all you have to do is copy and paste the content onto your blog and publish it. This method is quick and easy but keep in mind that sometimes you might need to edit the post to make it more in keeping with your natural tone, as it has been written by someone else, and there are sometimes spelling and grammatical issues that will need fixing.
The second method will include you being given a brief from the company who will require you to write the post yourself and include one or two links to the web pages they want to boost or promote. The brief usually gives guidance as to the topic or product and they will ask for you to write about. Although this method can take more time than the first pre-written option, it does allow you to create the content yourself and remain within your normal tone and prevents spelling and other issues from other writers causing problems.
Other Ideas
Affiliate marketing, banner ads and sponsored posts are only the basic income streams which are possible. There are other options including sponsored social media posts and sell digital products which can also help bring in more money from your online presence.
When it comes to making money from a blog it’s worth remembering that the quality of your blog will help determine the amount of money you can make. The harder you work to build your readership and website authority the more options you will have so the goal is to always produce excellent content and engagement, ultimately the income options will come from this.
