Monetizing Your Blog: Exploring 6 Different Revenue Streams
Let's go. You've created a blog (or maybe you're thinking about creating one), and you're looking to see how you can make money from it. You've arrived at the right place. In this post I will give you 6 tips on how to monetize your blog or website, in a way that helps you make money online. So, grab a cup of coffee, and let's get started.
1. Affiliate Marketing
If I were to summarize, it's basically promoting a product or service on your blog and earning a commission for each sale made through your referral link. One way to do this would be something like you partner with a brand that aligns with your blog's niche, write a blog post reviewing their latest product, include your affiliate link and earn a commission every time someone purchases that through from that link.
Can't quite see how to do this? Let's look at an example: you have a blog about evaluating cell phones and power banks. You could make a post comparing 10 different powerbanks and leave your affiliate link for each of these products as an evaluation reference. Let's say each of them costs around 20 dollars and you earn a commission of I don't know, 10% (something common in the Amazon affiliate program), you would have 2 dollars for each sale.
Now let's consider, if you can convert 1% of your views into sales, if your post has 1000 visits per day, that would be 10 sales per day, which multiplied by the 2 dollars in commission, would be 20 dollars per day. Which would be around 600 dollars a month just with this post.
2. Sponsored Posts
Brands often pay bloggers to write posts that feature their products. For example, a company that aligns with your blog niche might pay you to write a post about their latest offering. You can share your personal experience with the product, discuss its features, and provide a review. It's important to share sponsored content with your readers to maintain transparency. This way, your readers will be able to trust your content and brands will be more likely to work with you. And for brands to recognize you, it is important to have credibility and authority, and this is built over time.
Building your blog's credibility is like growing a plant. It requires time, patience and care. It starts with regularly publishing relevant, high-quality content, and it can take months for Google to understand your target audience if you're focusing on organic growth (read more about this in this other post I wrote a few weeks ago). Interact with your readers, respond to comments and be present on social media. Show your experience and share your knowledge.
Seriously, this is great.
Talk about what went right and even about the times that everything went wrong in an experience of yours in your niche (if you write about travel, talk about a trip that went wrong, this will probably be much more interesting than just another trip that everything went well). Be transparent and honest with your readers. Stay up to date with the latest trends in your niche. I want to remind you that trust is earned, not given. So, keep watering that plant (I like bonsai) and watch your credibility blossom, and this will help you receive offers for sponsored posts.
3. Selling Products or Services
If you have a product or service to offer, your blog can be an awesome way to promote it. Let’s say you’re a fitness blogger – you can sell workout programs or offer your own training. Not only does this allow you to share your expertise, but it also gives you another way to make some money.
But remember, depending on what you’re selling, you may need specific training or legal requirements. For example, if you provide your own training, you will need your own training certificate. This not only ensures that you are providing a safe and efficient service but also builds credibility among customers.
In addition, proper training and qualifications can protect you legally. If a client is injured during one of your sessions, you may be covered if you are properly certified and insured.
So, before you start selling products or services on your blog, make sure you have all the required qualifications and certifications. Not only will this save your life, but it will also help you provide better service to your customers.
4. Online Courses and Ebooks
If you’re an expert in a particular area, consider creating an online course or ebook. For example, you could create a detailed tutorial on a topic that matches your blog’s niche, or you could compile your best tips into an ebook. This not only establishes you as an authority in your field, but also provides passive income.
If you are an expert in your field, and have a wealth of knowledge to share. Why not combine that knowledge in an online course or e-book? Consider. Once you’ve developed the skills to explain complex topics in a simple manner, creating an online course can be a game changer. You can create a step-by-step tutorial that takes your readers from novice to expert, all while sitting at home in their pajamas.
And let's not forget e-books. If your readers have favorite blog posts, why not compile them into an ebook? It's a great way to offer valuable knowledge to readers and establish yourself as an authority in your blogging field. Plus, it's a passive income stream that I think could be interesting. After writing and publishing an e-book, you can still make money even without working directly 24 hours a day. In a way, it would be a chance to make money while sleeping.
5. Advertising
Displaying ads on your blog can be a steady source of income. You can sign up for an ad network that will display ads on your blog and pay you based on the number of impressions or clicks. For instance, if you write a blog post about a popular topic, the ad network might display ads related to that topic.
Advertising is one of the oldest and most straightforward ways to monetize a blog. It’s simple: you provide the content and the audience, and advertisers provide the ads and the money. Some popular ad networks include Google AdSense, Media.net, AdsTerra, and Infolinks.
To monetize a website with advertising it is necessary to follow some prerequisites depending on your advertising network, and they vary from one to another. Google AdSense, for example, requires a website that is already well built and that follows some content creation guidelines, necessary pages, among others.
Now talking about how much you would earn, it varies depending on your niche and the companies that are advertising on your blog. The advertising network itself is the one who mediates what is advertised. For example: If you have a website about cars, it is likely that the network will end up advertising cars, insurance, etc.
And earnings vary depending on your niche. I'll cover this in another post later, but generally it's between 1-10 dollars per 1000 views. But this value may be higher or lower.
Let's say you have 500 views per day, if the ads are paying 4 dollars per thousand views, we would have this: 2 dollars per day -> 60 dollars per month. It's not much, but take into account that we put a relatively low amount of payment and traffic on the site.
6. Memberships and Subscriptions
Consider offering premium content to subscribers. This could be exclusive articles, in-depth guides, or video tutorials. You could also offer discounts on your products or services to subscribers. For example, subscribers could get a 10% discount on your online courses or early access to your new products. A survivalism channel in Brazil, for example, offers a 24-hour live video service from the farm they are building.
Conclusion
I brought you these tips individually, but I want to remind you that you can use them all on your website. If you've noticed, sometimes two or three affiliate product sales would cover the financial returns of thousands of views. These are certainly ways that can help you discover some ways to make money online blogging. Therefore, think about using two or more of the monetization methods together. If you are interested in economics, you know that diversifying your sources of income is always a good idea.
I hope this post helped you, and if you liked it (or not) there are more posts below. I hope to see you in the next post!
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