Have you ever wondered how to make money blogging? If you aren’t a blogger do you ever wonder how bloggers make money?  Is it possible to make a full time income off of blogging and if so how do they do it?

Making a full time income through blogging is vey realistic. I recently quit my day job as a preschool assistant to pursue my  online career and have doubled my income.  Now keep in mind making a full time income does not typically happen overnight. It often takes a few years! This year I’m going on my 4 year blogging. Like any other business it takes time and energy to get a full time income  but it can happen and fairly quickly!

With all that being said making money online is very real and can be achieved. But how? Let’s look at the  various ways bloggers can make money, keep in mind there are more than just 5 but today we are going to look at 5 ways bloggers make money.

How to Make Money Blogging

1. Sponsored Posts- 

   A brand or company pays a blogger either through product or money to promote their product. The company typically gives the blogger an outline of requirements that the blogger must comply with. This agreement usually involves the details of the campaign like how many times the post needs to be shared on social media, what links need to be included, and other stipulations. The  sponsored post may come in the form of a blogger creating a project, recipe, or review of a given product. Most bloggers try to only blog about companies and products they use themselves and would stand behind. Sponsored posts aren’t always based on how many followers or pageviews a blog has. Sometimes what matters is how connected you are with your audience. A blogger that has a small audience of trusted readers can be just as successful at influencing sales as a blog with a huge audience that isn’t necessarily engaged. Remember the company cares about how many of your readers actually make a purchase and if you can convert all 100 of your readers but a bigger blog can only convert 10 then you are much more valuable to that company. It’s all about the numbers and that means SALES and $$$$. If you are interested in seeing examples of our sponsored posts click here and here and here  all sponsored by Sauder Furniture. I like writing sponsored post if I really, really love a product or company. Bloggers have to be careful about sponsored post because readers could start feeling like all you care about is pitching the next new thing. Remaining balanced is always a great way to insure your blog isn’t a daily commercial.

2. Ads- 

   Sidebar ads, banner and footer ads provide revenue for many bloggers. Some say they are the necessary evil.  To be honest sidebar ads only bother me if they are videos or if they pop up and disturb my ability to read a blog especially on mobile. But keep in mind these ads are like commercials you hear on the radio or see on TV. They are allowing bloggers so income so that they can pay for things like hosting, domains, and more. Ads are based on clicks and sometimes pay out based just by a reader viewing them on our site. The higher the traffic a blog has the more they will get paid through ads. There are downsides of ads too, for instance they tend to slow a site down, they can also annoy your readers causing them to leave.

3. Selling a Product- 

   products can come in the form of a physical product like when we created and sold Fix A  Bra. The issue we experienced with a physical product is that it takes a lot of money and a lot of time. We have taken our product of the market indefinitely to re-evaluate. Although Fix A Bra made about $500 a month with no advertising or marketing plan it did take a bit of work to physically fill orders. Also without the budget to market our growth has been very little.  Selling a digital product is another way to make money and here’s the great part once you create it there’s not a lot of labor that goes in to it. In other words if you have an automated delivery system that is set up well then you are physically having to work on getting your digital product out to your customers. You can sit back and relax.. ok not relax because you do have to promote and market that product.  This type of product creates a residual income and although you put a lot of work upfront the payoff can be great. Have I mentioned I’m writing an ebook? It’s so close to being done so if you are interested in blogging and technology sign up for our newsletter here  so you don’t miss the big release date!  COMING VERY SOON!!!

4. Selling a Service-

   Bloggers often make money by selling their services. For instance I sell the service of web design and tech support. Other bloggers may offer design services, consulting, social media management, coaching and public speaking. There are so many services you can offer it’s up to you to figure out what service you can offer that has a need and is marketable.

5. Affiliate Ads- 

   affiliate ads are basically like commissioned sales. A blogger can become an affiliate of a product or a company. Once approved they use an affiliate link to suggest the product to their readers. If the reader buys the product the blogger makes a commission. Some affiliate programs have cookies which means that the purchase doesn’t have to be made immediately but within  a set amount of time in order for the blogger to make money. For instance if I am consulting a client on how to start a website I ask them to purchase a domain using my Godaddy affiliate here . I earn an incentive and my client is getting the confidence knowing that I give this company my stamp of approval. Because I don’t promote affiliates I don’t use myself. If you are thinking of buying a specific domain I would advise you to do it now, they go really fast and the more sites that are built the fewer choices you have. I have purchased several myself.

How to Pick Monetization that Works for You

Now that we’ve broken down the top 5 ways to make money blogging I want to tell you where my focus is. My three main focuses of revenue in my business plan as of now are selling my services, selling an electronic ebook and affiliate sales. I honestly believe that these are the top three streams of revenue that will make me the most money. Now this may not be the same for everyone. Let’s take a quick look why I am focusing on these three.

• Selling my services- I love working with people one on one. I actually adore it. I will continue to build websites and offer tech support because it creates a stream of revenue and I love the people connection. It is such a passion of mine to help people and to help see their dreams come true. That being said there are only so many hours in the day which limits the amount of clients I can take which in turn limits my ability to make more money. Sure I could take just one client and charge and outrageous amount but that’s not the way I do things. I want to help as many individuals as I can.
• Selling an electronic product- I have worked tirelessly for months on my upcoming ebook “What the Tech?” A Guide to take the Frustrations and Fear out of Blogging  I feel like this book will not only help all of my clients but anyone who has experienced frustrations with the technical side of blogging. This will be a great form of passive income that will help me keep my website service pricing down. If I can continue to make a passive income I won’t have to raise prices in my services. Does that make sense?
• Affiliate ads- I think affiliate ads are awesome when done right! It’s like being in retail without having to work in a store.  If I  find something I love and I want you to hear about it and use it too and I get a commission. I don’t have to write a whole blog post about the product it can be worked in to any post and I can use several products.  The other great thing about affiliates is that they typically don’t slow your site down like all those sidebar and banner ads. My goal is to go completely ad free. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Can you earn money if you don’t have tons of traffic? The answer is yes! Again affiliate ads would create a passive income and they can be used in electronic products like emails and ebooks. (except for Amazon links those are only ok in blog posts not emails or electronic products) Right now affiliates are something I am really excited about using more and I’ve been using an amazing ebook and video course to learn all about earning through affiliates.

My friend Tasha from Designer Trapped in a Lawyer’s Body has created this extremely comprehensive program that will teach you how to use affiliates. As far as we can tell it’s the ONLY book dedicated to Affiliate Marketing!!! Learn her techniques and start earning today! Yes start earning TODAY!

She’s only been blogging a little over 2 years and makes thousands…. yes thousands a month off of affiliates. After using her systems I have taken my affiliate sales from about $50 a month to $500 and that’s just in one month. And again I don’t have a ton of traffic but I’m still earning!

If you are ready to make money NOW! Then I highly suggest purchasing Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers and of course I would love you to use my affiliate link here to purchase it.   (remember I only suggest products I have used and put my stamp of approval on.) I have already had several friends and clients purchase Tasha’s book and they are loving it! Now it’s your turn to start making money!

What are you waiting for?

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