You’ve been blogging for a while. You’ve built quite a substantial readership. There’s only one problem: you’re not making any money.
That’s why you’re here. You need help monetizing your blog. Fortunately, we can provide you with that help.
Without further ado, here’s how to monetize your blog so that it produces consistent income.
Get Involved in Affiliate Marketing
One of the best ways to monetize a blog is to get involved in affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a form of marketing wherein you advertise a company’s products and then get a cut of the sales for every product that you lead the consumer to.
This is facilitated by links that are posted within the content. If a reader clicks on one of these links and buys something through the link, you’ll receive a portion of what he or she spent.
Affiliate marketing is a numbers game. The more links you post and the more content you publish, the more clicks you’ll get and the more sales you’ll facilitate. Over time, this can create a fairly substantial amount of income.
There are all sorts of affiliate programs out there. However, the best one for newbies to participate in is the Amazon Associates affiliate. Due to the popularity of Amazon, it offers a fairly good click-through and sales conversion rate.
There are also niche-specific affiliate marketing programs available. Just type “[your niche] affiliate” into Google and see what pops up. These can be beneficial, as they typically pay higher commission rates; in other words, they have the potential to make you more money.
Sell E-books
Your blog provides free information. It draws people in. Unfortunately, it, in and of itself, doesn’t produce any income.
But do you know what type of content does produce income? E-books!
By writing an E-book and charging, say, $10 for it, you could bring in a fairly substantial amount of income over time. Just advertise it on your blog at the top of each page. Many will pass it by, but if it’s useful, others will hand over their cash.
In any case, make sure that the E-book is relevant to your niche. You don’t want to write a book about playing the guitar if your niche is, say, carpentry. A better idea in this case would be to publish a book about different carpentry projects.
Sell Courses
In addition to selling E-books through your blog, you could also sell courses. If you’re particularly knowledgeable about a specific subject, your readers would likely love to take a course prepared by you. Charge a $10 to $15 fee per course per person and watch the money roll in.
There are a number of ways to set up courses online. However, perhaps the two most popular online course platforms are Coursera and Udemy. Yes, these will take a cut of your sales, but they’ll lend your courses much more exposure. This should result in increased income overall.
If you go this route, be sure to post plenty of advertisements on your blog. The more people who are aware of your courses, the more people that will take them.
Sell Merchandise
If your readership is particularly dedicated, you could also consider selling merchandise. T-shirts, mugs, lanyards, and other such items are all fairly popular among fanbases. Just draw up some designs, have them professionally printed, and start advertising on your blog.
Note, though, that this is going to cost you money before it makes you money. So, before you decide to do it, make sure that the consumer base is there. If it isn’t, you could end up wasting hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Solicit Donations
Perhaps the easiest way to make money from your blog is to solicit donations. Simply post a note asking your readership for money. You’d be surprised at how many people will donate a dollar or two, and sometimes even more.
There are a few different ways to facilitate the payment process, but perhaps the best course of action is to use Patreon. Patreon not only allows you to accept donations directly but also enables you to offer bonus content for a monthly fee. So, if you wanted to, you could offer, say, an additional (and particularly special) blog post for $2 a month.
If you have diehard readers, they will likely pay this paltry amount. It’s small enough for a single person so that it barely tips the scales. However, if 250 readers pay it, for example, you’ll have made $500.
Display Ads
Another way to bring in money through your blog is to display ads. By posting clickable ads to relevant products and services, you can make a portion of every product that is sold. Some programs will pay you for clicks alone.
There are a number of different ways to monetize your blog with ads. That said, the most popular method is to use Google Adsense. This will prepare ads for you, allowing you to sit back and collect.
Now, to be sure, this won’t have you rolling in money. The cut is fairly low. But if you have a particularly large readership, you could make some fairly substantial passive income.
Note, your income from this method will likely be reported through a 1099 tax form. So, if you’re going to pursue it, make sure to read up on the specifics of preparing a 1099. It’s not especially difficult but is definitely different than preparing a standard tax form.
Now You Know How to Monetize Your Blog
Now that you know how to monetize your blog, you might be seeking other such information. If so, you needn’t look much further. Our website has all of the information you need.
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