[Beginner – 105] How to Monetize Your Blog with Nine Common Monetizing Strategies
These days blogging has reached an all time high and every minute some new blogger is jumping into the ever expanding pool. Chances are if you’ve entered the world of blogging you’re looking to communicate something about a passion you have, whether it’s travel, food, video games, or cats, you are looking to jump on the bandwagon of those making bank in the blogosphere, or it may be a healthy combination of both. Figuring out how to monetize your blog after months of posting or even just starting out can be an overwhelming task. While there’s no set recipe for monetizing a blog there’s certainly a list of methods that bloggers pick and choose from. Using these techniques can help you do the same.
Direct Advertising
The first way and most obvious way to monetize a blog is through direct advertising. Selling ads yourself rather than letting a network do the work will make you more money. Use your advertising space strategically by promoting things that are related to your content since a reader is much likelier to click on an advertisement related to the topic. Ads with images are overwhelmingly more effective than just text ads as are ads the scroll with your content. Bloggers usually charge a fixed fee, called a CPM (cost per impressions) when selling to advertisers. Whether you choose to promote your own products or another service this is a great way to make money.
Advertising Networks
For those who don’t feel comfortable selling their space on their own, there are plenty of advertising networks willing to step in, though they charge a commission for the service. Normally payment is based on per-click or CPM. You’ve probably heard of Google AdSense which is the most prolific in the blogosphere, but there are some other alternatives worth checking out including Chitika, Kontera, and BurstMedia. It’s best to try a couple different options out and see what works, which many times means selling the space you can directly and letting networks fill in the rest.
Affiliate Programs
Another of the most common techniques for monetizing blogs is through affiliation which means offering products to your audience from other websites like Amazon. When someone buys a product you get paid. If you ever recommend a product or service you should check if they have an affiliate program and sign up if they do. Be careful when setting up affiliations as many programs are poorly managed.
Product Sales
Depending on what you are blogging about, you may be able to monetize your blog by selling your own products. For artists, blogs can be a powerful way to build up an audience and way to sell their art pieces. Even if you’re not an artist and you develop a steady audience and a certain level of expertise you can sell any myriad of items including books, courses, software, clothing, accessories, and so on. Taking a look similar blogs in the same market as yours can help you get a clearer idea of what is profitable in your niche.
Services & Speaking Gigs
Interestingly, one of the ways to monetize your blog is through outside ventures. If you can build an audience and level of expertise in a specific niche market you can then use this to land yourself outside gigs or offer readers outside services. Many bloggers who have managed to turn even small profits on their blogs offer can offer to consult or coaching on their subject or even on running the blog itself. By using your blog as a promotional tool, an extensive resume of sorts, you can grab extra freelance work and further solidify your expertise in the area.
Sponsored Reviews and Paid Posts
Another way to get advertisers to pay you is by doing sponsored reviews and paid posts, though you should add a disclaimer when you make a post like this and keep your integrity by only given recommendations you think your readers would truly benefit from. If your blog gains a lot of traffic advertisers may even start approaching you to make these type of posts.
Membership and Premium Content
While much of the content you generate is offered for free, if you build a considerable and loyal audience you can begin offering memberships and premium content available only to those who pay. This can be done in a variety of ways, one of which is to offer your best articles to members only.
Email Marketing
Building up an email list from day one of your blogging can give you a head start in one of the most effective marketing tools available to bloggers. Directly emailing your contacts products and services you offer or are affiliated with, you truly set yourself apart in the marketing world. If you are sending out a newsletter, confirmation, or other auto responses in email form you can easily incorporate ads into these spaces. This is one of the ways that pro-bloggers set themselves apart from the hobbyists.
Selling Your Blog
While this isn’t a popular method, it also isn’t unheard of, and it may work if you become a master of the blog monetizing methods. You can make money selling your (or someone else’s) blog if you’ve built up enough good content or a large audience base. There are even instances of people buying dead blogs and using monetizing tools and SEO backlinks to revamp the website and start turning a profit by rebuilding readership and eventually selling the site.
Chances are you will find some of these strategies more useful than others, though all have worked before. The effectiveness of each will certainly depend on what kind of blog you are working on and how you tailor advertisements, products, and affiliations to your readers. If you incorporate and combine even a few of these techniques with a steady stream of quality content, your blog will start bringing you back a return for your efforts in no time.