How to Make Money Blogging in 2023 (Complete Guide)
Looking for a way to monetize your blog? While beginning a blog can be a lot of fun, I doubt many individuals would turn over the opportunity to make some extra money on the side.
But how do you go about making money off of a blog? Do you simply display numerous pop-up advertisements and then call it a day? You can, in fact. But if you choose that route, you’ll be passing up a tonne of less obtrusive ways to make money.
In this article, I’ll discuss a wide variety of strategies for monetizing a blog. I will discuss the most common approaches (which you may be familiar with) as well as some less common ones that you may not have thought about before.
The best aspect is that you can employ various methods of making money from your blog concurrently, thereby creating a more stable and varied source of income.
Profitable blogging strategies for the year 2023
First, let me briefly outline the order in which I plan to present the ideas. I’ll go broad with the most common ways to make money online then narrow down as I go. To that end, you can probably skip the first few recommendations if you already know the fundamentals of monetizing a blog. If not, let’s go back to square one.
1. Use affiliate marketing to promote your products
To kick things off, let’s talk about one of the most lucrative areas for bloggers…
to which laypeople typically lack exposure:
Associate advertising.
Affiliate marketing allows you to earn a commission on sales made by people who follow your links or otherwise follow your recommendations. You will earn a flat rate or a percentage of each sale made by a customer who came from your site.
A product review blog post is one way to earn money online; you get paid a commission if one of your readers makes a purchase after reading your review. Our analysis of SiteGround is a relevant case in point. We receive a compensation of $5.00 if you join up with SiteGround as a result of reading our review. Alternately, you can do a compilation or make numerous product references simultaneously.
What matters is that the buyer pays the same amount whether they buy something from the vendor directly or through an associate.
Thus the question becomes: where exactly do you go to discover such affiliate opportunities?
One option is to search for an Affiliates link in the site footer. You can learn more about an affiliate programme offered by a substantial number of firms by clicking on the aforementioned links.
Joining an affiliate network is still another option (a collection of affiliate programs). Some Exemplary Networks
Online Marketplace for Being Paid to Offer Your Products and Services
Clickbank
Finally, we have two more suggestions for you WordPress fans:
Specifically, Themeisle has its own affiliate programme. Read on for the fine print.
Here is a compilation of the best affiliate programmes that are relevant to WordPress.
Use advertisements from Google AdSense.
As Google AdSense is one of the most widespread and simple ad networks, I’ve decided to dedicate an entire section to it. There’s a good chance you’ve seen AdSense advertising before. In case you need an illustration, consider this:
how to make money with a blog with Google AdSense
Just signing up for Google AdSense and inserting some code into your site can get you started with these advertisements.
The adverts that Google displays on your site will then be tailored to your content and your audience. As an added bonus, you will receive payment whether or not the viewer clicks on your ad (this is known as cost per view) (known as cost per impression).
Embrace paid advertising on your blog
Did you know that many businesses are willing to pay you for mentioning them in a blog post? Sponsored posts are the name for these kind of content. And if your blog is popular enough, many businesses will pay to have an ad placed on it. If you want to understand how to monetize your blog, this could be a key step.
Using a platform like Tapinfluence can help you find patrons for your social media content. Creating a page on your own site advertising your traffic and pricing for sponsored posts is the most effective approach to attract such chances, though. In this manner, you’ll be discoverable by advertisements. And, believe me when I say that potential sponsors are always on the lookout for new avenues to explore.
Be aware, though, that it’s standard protocol (and in some jurisdictions, the law) to make it obvious when a post has been sponsored.
Expand your advertising reach by utilising alternative display networks
Namely, AdSense operates as a display network. But, I decided to create a separate section for it because of how common it is. Whilst AdSense is one possibility, there are others. The majority of ad networks just require you to insert some code into your site to begin displaying advertisements.
We’ve already covered numerous viable AdSense substitutes, but here are a few more:
Media.net
Criteo \sMonumetric
Don’t know what I’m talking about with this display advertising thing? Consider the following brief illustration of a possible Criteo advertisement:
advertisements using criteo
5. Market to advertisers on their own terms.
Find out how to make money with a blog without lifting a finger by using display ad networks like AdSense. But in exchange, they will deduct a fee from the money you get from ads.
Hence, skipping the intermediary is one strategy for increasing revenue and gaining control over the advertisements displayed on your site. To put it another way, advertiser sales should be handled directly.
To attract such chances, similar to sponsored posts, you should build an Advertise page on your site that offers information about your traffic (including Google Analytics screenshots). Yet, you can also try making contact with niche-specific businesses on your own.
In addition, once you begin receiving advertisements, there are numerous plugins available for WordPress that will facilitate their administration. Some examples of this are:
The AdRotate Ads Pro Plugin 6 Selling a Digital Product like an eBook
And speaking of bypassing intermediaries…
You don’t have to rely entirely on affiliate marketing to monetize your website; you can also sell your own digital goods to your readers. Although there is some preparation involved, this is a common strategy for monetizing a blog.
For instance, the folks over at ProBlogger have written no less than six eBooks that they sell on their site.
How to make money with your blog: promote and sell ebooks
Consider coming up with a physical or digital good related to your blog’s subject matter. Then sell it to your audience of readers!
Try your hand at being a freelance blogger.
If you have a passion for blogging and are interested in getting paid to do it, you may utilise your own blog as a marketing tool to find paying clients. Since this is how I make a living, I can say that it’s a respectable profession. And it’s quite well-liked in some subsets of the blogosphere.
Case in point: Careful Cents, a personal finance blog written by Carrie Smith Nicholson, which she uses to promote her freelance writing services.
independent blogger
How should we go about this most effectively? Just like Carrie did, make a “Hire Me” page. Then, if someone enjoys what you’ve written, they may find you easily.
Nevertheless, what exactly do you require to launch your blogging career? If you’re interested in starting a blog on your own, we suggest you check out FirstSiteGuide’s detailed step-by-step instruction.
Make an Online Course #8.
One of the most common ways to make money off of a blog is to create some kind of digital product, such as an eBook, and then sell it online. Think about something you know a lot about and provide a course on that topic to your readers.
As an illustration, Elna Cain promotes her online classes by means of a blog about freelance writing:
Making Money Blogging and Teaching Online Courses
Alternatively, you might use the information on your blog to develop a profitable Udemy course.
9. Introduce a subscription service
Launching a full membership site is the last step for eBooks and online courses. Your subscribers can have unlimited access to the site’s community resources by becoming paying members.
Check out the “Lab” section of Digital Marketer to see an example of this in action. Premium content is available to subscribers of Digital Marketer Lab for a monthly fee.
Tenth Membership Site. Readers will be charged to view your posts.
OK, I get it; this strategy for monetizing a blog sounds completely out there to you. You’re going to charge folks to read all your posts?! They’d never have to pay… right?
You may say that depends on your niche. For the most part, this strategy is not something I would suggest. To be fair, though, this strategy has proven fruitful for certain bloggers. To read all of Mark Manson’s postings each month, for instance, viewers must pay $4 each month.
get paid to blog
There’s a cap on the amount of posts that can be read for free. If they want to keep reading after that, though, they will have to pay. Once again, this is not for everybody. Yet, this strategy could work if you produce the kind of lengthy articles that readers like Mark enjoy.
Sign up for Consumer Affairs
Like other publications, Consumer Reports requires a paid subscription to access their independent reviews and ratings, as well as exclusive offers and more.
Make a podcast. 11.
People enjoy reading your blog entries but they don’t always have the time to focus just on text. But why not use an audio podcast to contact them in a different way? The popularity of podcasts continues to rise, and many bloggers have started producing their own.
Among the better examples is Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income podcast:
podcasting
If you can get your blog’s readers to also subscribe to your podcast, you can start charging for ad space.
Donate what you can
Do you despise advertising and product promotion? Donation requests are always an option. That’s exactly what many bloggers do who operate in crucial but poorly paid fields.
One option is to use a platform like Patreon to accept donations from fans. Alternatively, you might utilise a plugin like PayPal’s Donations to accept payments online.
Promote advisory or coaching services.
Offering consulting or coaching services is an alternative option to monetize your blog if you’re not willing to go the freelancing route. The basic idea is the same, but this time you’re selling your time rather than words.
As an illustration, consider Chris Lema, who utilises his widely-read WordPress blog to promote and market his consulting services to interested parties.
advisory services
Your blog posts will serve as proof of your knowledge, allowing you to charge for consulting services.
14. Resell customer information to other businesses as lead information
If your blog caters to a specific specialised audience, the data you collect from your readers could be of interest to advertisers. If you, say, maintained a blog about insurance, you might… Health insurers will gladly pay for access to your readers’ personal information.
A “lead” is the information provided for each potential customer. As long as you are honest about your intentions, collecting and selling this data is legal. To put it simply, you are charging a charge to make an introduction between a potential customer (the lead) and a business that can meet their requirements.
Construct a job board 15.
Building a specialised employment board requires an engaged community of people who are interested in the same thing as you are. If you do this, you can charge businesses to advertise open positions to your specific group of people.
The Employment Board on ProBlogger is a great illustration of this. Businesses who want to hire freelance bloggers have to pay ProBlogger to do so.
Establish a Job Board.
Online shopping mall sales, number 16.
With a blog plus an online store, you can make a lot of money even if your readers aren’t professionals. For blogs that focus more on humour and amusement, for instance, clothing tends to be a big seller.
The Chive’s The Chivery shop is a great example of this kind of establishment. The success of The Chive’s blog has allowed it to expand into selling a wide variety of clothing.
Promote, monetize your weblog and make money
To conclude, this is the ultimate strategy for monetizing a blog:
You can make money by selling your blog.
If you’ve reached the point where you want to cash out (or anticipate reaching this point in the future), selling your blog is a great way to get compensated for all your efforts in a single transaction.
How much do you think your blog is worth? You can’t generalise about anything other than your traffic, age, revenue, and consistency. The average multiple is around 12x, but it can go as high as 30x what your site makes monthly.
In 2016, the famous WordPress blog WPLift sold for a whopping $205,200.
Your options for selling your blog are limited to either finding direct buyers or using an intermediary market like:
The Flippa Empire’s Most Powerful Flippers
In conclusion
The end! These are 17 proven strategies for monetizing your blog. While it’s true that not every option will work for you, you can still pick and choose to generate a more varied and sustainable revenue stream.
Your financial security is at danger if you count on a single stream of income while working online. But if you do things like run an eCourse, a podcast, and use affiliate marketing, you greatly reduce the likelihood of losing all of your earnings in one fell swoop.
