If you have decided to make a blog to earn money and you are just starting out, you may not know just how to actually make money from your blog. There are so many articles and pitches out there, sometimes it can become a little overwhelming.
The reality is, there are 3 key ways that bloggers make their money on the blogs and I am going to walk you through them all for you and explain the concept of how each one works. Before you start making money on your blog, you need to work out just exactly what you want to achieve from your blog. Is it that you just want to have a blog to sell links and make money? Or is your blog a place to share your journey and somewhere you are going to be picky in who you work with?
Either way is absolutely fine and you can do what works for you, this is the magic of having a blog, you can make it work for you in the best way. Yes, you will find people who will tell you how to blog and what you can and can’t do, however, as long as you are following the ASA rules, it is your own blog.
I will walk you through some of the basic do’s and dont’s from the blogging world in another post, for now though, let’s get back to how to make money.
The 3 best ways to make money from your blog
Sponsored posts –
This is the one that most bloggers aim for, simply because it earns the most money usually. Sponsored posts come from working with brands, this could be directly or it could be via their PR agencies.
With these posts though, you will work on a collaboration to promote their brand in usually a blog post and social media posts. Because these campaigns are to promote the brand, the emphasis is less on the link in the post but usually about the content on the posts.
You may find with sponsored posts that there is a series of posts to go with it, or it may be a one-off stand-alone campaign.
Usually, for sponsored posts, the brands will reach out to those who fit their criteria. This is not always those with the largest following, it could be those who have featured something similar or use a product of theirs already. It is also down to interaction with readers and followers on social media.
You will find a varying amount of pay for sponsored posts but take into consideration what they are asking for, set yourself a minimum price for your post and social media posts then work from there.
SEO posts & link inserts –
For many bloggers, this is the bread and butter of their income made from blogging.
Unlike the sponsored posts, although the posts are looking for well-written posts, it is less about the promotion of the brand and more about the follow link back to their site from yours. This sort of post can come in a variety of forms such as a post written by you, a post provided by them and just added to your site (this is called a copy and paste post) or a simple link insert into a post you already have.
The reason this option exists is that companies are trying to boost their authority in Google up the rankings, which is done by various algorithms that include links back to their site.
This option doesn’t tend to pay as much however, they are more regular work and can help boost your blogging income monthly. Again, like the sponsored post option, you need to set your boundaries on what you are prepared to take. There will be people trying their luck offering you $5 a post, just know your worth and the lowest pay you are prepared to take.
If you are looking for posts such as this, you can put your blog forward on lots of sites, some of the sites I use are:
- Intellifluence -They pay in dollars however in the last year alone I have earned $1300 from this site alone, it is usually for posts that have 2 links added and a minimum of 500 words.
- Get Blogged – These are usually £50 posts however if you can get a few blog posts like this a month it will soon start to add up.
It is also handy if you get yourself in some of the blogging groups, other bloggers, and PR’s share potential collaborations for you to bid on.
Affiliate income –
Affiliate income is more of a passive income, one that you put a lot of effort into getting started then you sit back and let it work its magic, with just a little promotion needed.
Unlike the other two forms of income, you do not earn any income from just writing about something. This income comes in the form of someone purchasing an item through your link or signing up to a website using your link. It usually is a smaller amount too, for example with the Intellfluence link above, I will earn £5 when you sign up. It is not going to make me rich overnight, however, imagine if you had 5 or 6 different brands you worked with that earned you £5 a signup and you had 20 sign up’s a week. £100 in the bank.
Another great thing about affiliate income is once the work has been put in to create the post and the social media exposure, you don’t need to really go back through and touch it other than for updates. This means it becomes a passive income for you.
If you are really passionate about a brand, for example, you are a fashion blogger and share your favourite jewellery and clothes, you may find that using affiliate links for those brands you love will start to bring in a little passive income. Over time, as your reach expands and your followers start to love your content more, this may increase. I have always found that the links do better as discreet links, rather than the URL. An example of this is if I was looking to share a link to a bracelet I like, I wouldn’t post the URL, I would hyperlink such as Tennis Bracelet. This way the reader gets a link through based on the products rather than your post being full of URLs.
It is the same if you are a blogger who shares about their family, if you have a child who has skin conditions, you could like to do things that help with their issues such as eczema cream or washing powder than assists with the issue.
These are just the best 3 ways to make money from your blog, in the coming weeks, I will go into a bit more detail on each way and share how I work with brands and SEO agencies to make money. Over time we will be covering more blogging how-to guides too. I just hope that this little insight gives you the chance to understand the potential of your blog and the income you may be able to achieve.
