There are more than 600 million blogs on the internet today, and approximately 32 million bloggers in the United States alone, which shows that blogging is still big business. Many of those blogs are created as pet projects but others are there with the sole aim to make money from creating high-quality content that visitors can’t stop reading. Four main areas can see you earn money from your blog; how many of them do you use on your blog?
There are a few things to know before we get started. First, the amount of money you earn is directly related to your blog’s traffic. It should be obvious that blogs receiving only a handful of hits per day will not have the same earning potential as a popular blog that has thousands of visitors each week. Therefore, it is imperative that you build a high-quality, responsive website using WordPress or similar, and that you frequently update your little corner of the internet with well-written, engaging content.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is the most popular and easiest way to earn money through blogging.
Thousands of companies will pay you a small fee for sending traffic to their website using links that are unique to you. It is best to sign up for an affiliate deal with a company that offers products or services that you write about on your blog. For example, you should join forces with a sports betting company if you discuss how to place a Round Robin bet online, or an online megastore like Amazon if you love writing about different products.
Of course, your website may be a mishmash of various subjects rather than specializing in one niche area. If that is the case, nothing is stopping you from becoming an affiliate for several companies.
You tend to need plenty of traffic if you want to go down the affiliate marketing route because it relies solely on visitors clicking your links. Most people do not click links, so the more eyes on your content, the better.
Advertisements
Advertising is simple these days thanks to products like Google AdSense that take care of everything for you. Once you have signed up for an advertising account, the software places advertisements on various blog pages, adverts that are usually tailored to each visitor.
The biggest downside to advertisement placing is many internet users use third-party software to block ads from appearing on their screens. Furthermore, some adverts can be quite unsightly and detract visitors from reading your content or returning to your blog.
Accepting guest posts for payment is essentially a form of advertising. Some companies will pay you to host an advertisement about a product they sell. Again, the price you can charge depends entirely on the traffic your blog receives.
Subscriptions
You may want to consider going down the subscription route to generate income from your blog. Most major newspapers have a subscription model where you can read several articles per week or month before you must pay a fee to continue enjoying more articles. Your content must be elite-level or specialized to have a successful subscription model because internet users are savvy, and will often look for the best free version of any content.
Merchandise or Product Offerings
A rapidly increasing number of bloggers offer merchandise via their website or a third-party store. Loyal readers may be happy to purchase a hat or T-shirt with your blog’s logo on it. Not only do you receive money when they buy a branded item, but you are essentially getting free advertising, too!
On a similar tangent, your content could be perfect for creating an e-book or similar. People are more likely to pay money for something they can physically or digitally receive.