Top 9 Ways to Monetize Your Blog

8 min readDec 7, 2020

Originally published at: Monetize Your Blog

Starting a blog may seem like a frustrating and challenging process. There are many content data to gather, introduce, and strategies to dive into. The main goal is to present the content in a readable and attractive way so that it raises the interest of the audience and drives a significant amount of traffic.

However, each of us knows that blogging is not something like “doing Robin Hood”. I mean something altruistic and unselfish. People just prefer that their words be seen and shared by the readers. Accordingly, bloggers boost their authority and become trustworthy sources whose opinion is necessary for the audience in a specific market niche.

Once you are ready with the blog, regularly publish articles, and generate traffic, this blog becomes a kind of source that provides you with passive income. This means it is already time to monetize the blog.

In the following article, I aim to introduce the most effective ways and tactics for blog monetization. This page answers the following questions:

1. How to monetize your blog?

2. When should you start to make money with your blog?
3. What kind of blogs may be useful for monetization?

How to Monetize Your Blog?

Although various ways are available to earn income with a blog, not all of them are considered to process effective and useful. Below I discuss the most essential ways that you should never miss.

#1 Affiliate Marketing

Rely on affiliate marketing. For many representatives in the field, it’s one of the most accepted as well as effective ways for blog monetization. You may make use of such services, particularly if you don’t offer your personal brand, products, or services. You become responsible for creating related content to the affiliate’s offer. Now let me explain it with a real-life example.

Imagine that you run a beauty blog. You present various skin care products and cosmetics in your blog articles. Another way is to discuss the services hairdressers, hairstylists, makeup artists, and other specialists offer. You may even come up with video content if you are interested in vlogging. All these products are chosen according to your cooperation with various producers.

This was just an example. The chosen field may vary depending on the sphere you are experienced in and may introduce in an excellent way. As your audience is already interested in the field, they are considered to be potential customers. Accordingly, business owners do not miss a chance to reach their target market through one more channel.

#2 Advertising Services

Nowadays businesses pay for digital advertisements such as PPC (Pay Per Click) or Display ads. Having a platform that generates an expressive amount of website visitors, you may offer advertising services.

Probably, you will have some free space in your blog article pages. You may make a partnership with businesses related to your blog industry and display their advertising banners in these blank spaces. Such cooperations are usually made for a specific time. In the below-attached photo, you may see Uteach’s banner on one of the articles on the AIST Global blog. This is what I speak about.

There is an alternative. That is to add your blog to Google AdSense. This is a portal that provides platforms where advertising campaigns created through Google Ads are displayed. However, in many cases, direct connection with business owners may offer a higher income.

In case you choose to advertise this or that good or service, make sure you clearly know what you offer. Do not disappoint or “lie” to your visitors.

#3 Sell Ebooks

Once you have made a decision to operate a blog, you have probably thought about creating an ebook lined up with the content data of your blog. This is a quick way to generate revenue. This may be especially effective if you help the audience to master, for instance, this or that marketing skill. In similar cases, ebooks transfer a healthy profit.

As for the promotion, there is no need to worry. You may produce creative content that will attract peoples’ attention and draw them in. This approach is like a step by step sales funnel. You may even make use of affiliate marketing tricks, presenting affiliates in your ebook.

#4 Sell Online Courses

Have you ever thought about selling online courses? Or probably you missed it as it sounds something more official and beyond your strength. I’m happy to tell you the right time has come to start monetizing your blog through online courses.

Creating video courses is never that difficult or complex series of action as it seems. It’s especially effective when you master any technical skill, like web development, graphic design, digital marketing, and even more. You just need to share your knowledge and experience, provide the required material, and present the content in an easy to understand way. There are many tools that will make your duties easier. Accordingly, you’ll get real profits online.

#5 Email Marketing

You may form an email base with the help of your blog. Just display a subscription form. For instance, ask people to fill in their email addresses and get the latest trends about digital marketing directly in their inbox.

Once you have an email list, you may start email marketing campaigns. All you need to do is to send email letters to the audience. This is a proposal to introduce the best of your services, products, online courses, ebooks, or affiliate offers.

It is better to make use of any email marketing platform. That will automate the process and make your responsibilities easier to do, analyze, and report.

#6 Offer Coaching Services

According to the research of Disc Insight, the industry of life coaching reaches $2.5 billion yearly revenue. So, becoming a coach may be a good choice to give a start on earning money in a shorter time.

Once you manage to motivate your readers, coaching becomes a perfect way to make money. People face challenges in daily life. Your audience is not an exception. You may offer coaching services and explain solutions, helping them overcome these challenges.

It doesn’t matter you are considered to be a career, business development, or life coach, selling coaching services becomes a great opportunity for you to earn symbolic revenue.

#7 Sell Digital Products

Today, digital material is preferable for the audience especially if you offer content that is required in the global market. Digital products may be an additional support to your passive income. Such products may be:

PDFs
Software components
Videos
Images
Guides and other downloadable files

These products should help to fill in the gap in the market. However, make sure, these required products cover similar topics and belong to the sphere of your blog industry.

#8 Secure Sponsorships

Sponsored posts are very popular these days. You may accept sponsored articles and charge a specific amount of money for that service. People and businesses make use of these services when they need backlinks. They pay to have an article published on your blog. In turn, you provide a link back to their website. It directs a significant number of visitors to their website and also has an influence on the website rating.

When accepting sponsored posts, make sure they are written in the same speech style as all your blog posts. Also, pay attention to the sponsored links you insert. Search engines may penalize both websites for selling and buying links. And if you link to a site that has bad content, for instance, gambling, casino, or similar pages, then it may also have a bad influence. So, place links that are natural and related to your blog content.

#9 Freelance Blogging

If you are a blogger then writing articles isn’t a problem for you. You have a great chance to become a freelance content writer businesses look for. Professional bloggers make a full-time income, writing articles, website copies emails, landing pages, and so on.
To make money through such services you should cooperate with other companies and provide them content, or market writing through guest posting.

When should you start to make money with your blog?

Some people think the blog should have a great number of visitors to start monetization. There is no such thing. Everything depends on the product or service offered for sale. The most essential points that will help you are:

✓ Steady traffic. Having one thousand monthly visitors means you are on the right way. Yet, you should work to grow this number.

✓ Email list. A growing email list will help you to be in contact with the potential and active clients so that you keep them informed about the current and coming offers.

There is a quote that says “Monetization is math, not magic”.

This means you should choose the best monetization strategy according to the authority and popularity of your blog. Have a clear image of where it is now and what is your expectations for tomorrow.

What kind of blogs may be useful for monetization?

Any kind of blog is good for monetization in its specific business niche. However, there are some industries that provide more effective results. It mainly depends on the amount of audience interested in the chosen market. Hubspot blog made a list of industries that are more likely to be useful for blog monetization. According to the list, these industries are:

✓ Fashion
✓ Food
✓ Sports
✓ Travel
✓ Lifestyle
✓ Parenting
✓ Gaming
✓ B2B/Marketing
✓ Health and Fitness

Especially, if you experience in these fields, do not hesitate. Try your hand at blog monetization.

I hope you enjoyed the reading. If you like, share an opinion, get in touch