How Do You Make Money With A Blog? – Proven Tactics to Succeed!

You may have heard that blogging is one of the easiest ways to make money online. Without thinking too much about it, you jumped right on the opportunity and decided that you want to start your own blog. However, there is one tiny problem: you have no clue how to do it. Or perhaps you already have a blog, but you have no idea how to actually start making money off it. If any of this describes you, you should know that you are not alone. A lot of people are in the same boat as you are.

 

Yes, it is true. You can make money blogging. It won’t be quick and easy, but if you do it right, you could actually make good money. So how do you make money with a blog? Well, read on to find out.

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THE FACTS

 

 

There are two types of professional bloggers: employed bloggers and freelance bloggers. Employed bloggers work for already established sites. Freelance bloggers are individual business owners that work for many blogs.

 

Professional employed bloggers start earning right away. Those who choose to start their own blogs from scratch start to earn after some time. A lot of times, they do not make any money at all.

 

Setting up your own blog and monetizing it takes a lot of work. It is just like starting a business from scratch. You will be required to put in a lot of time, energy, and resources if you want to see it flourish. There is no given trajectory upon which one can base their expectations. What you make from your blog depends on several factors. Some people make thousands of dollars while others make nothing at all.

 

 

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In all honesty, blogging isn’t as easy as it may seem. It is definitely not a get-rich-quick scheme. Getting your name or your brand out there doesn’t happen easily. It takes time to build an audience to the point of having a successful blog and actually earning decent money from it. If you do your research, you’ll find that the most successful blogs (those that earn millions of dollars) started way back in 2004 when blogging was still new. Back then, almost anyone could make it big.

 

Things are different now. So if you want to blog and earn money from it, be prepared to put in the work and be patient because success won’t happen overnight. The good news is that is you work hard and exercise patience you have a good chance of success. Add some good training and your chances improve even further.

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HOW MUCH YOU CAN EARN FROM BLOGGING

 

 

The amount of money bloggers earn varies widely. Different surveys quote different amounts, especially for salaried bloggers. Glassdoor for examples shows that salaried bloggers earn somewhere between $20K to 80K a year. Others sources state that corporate bloggers earn around 33K a year. Yet other sites say bloggers pocket around 24K a year.

 

Freelance bloggers usually get paid from $10 to $150 or more for a post. This usually depends on the length of the post.

 

The story is a little bit different for those running their own blogs. Blogging.com conducted a survey in 2012 and found that only about 17% of those who start their own blogs earn a decent amount of money. A “decent” amount here means one that is able to comfortably support their lifestyles and that of their families. 81% of them find it hard to reach the $100 mark while the remaining 2% are able to make over $150K without having to spend more than 2 hours a day blogging.

 

Another survey was conducted on 1500 ProBlogger readers to establish how much bloggers earn from their blogs. It was determined that 9% of bloggers earn somewhere between $1,000-$10,000 a month from their blogs. 4% are able to exceed the $10,000 mark while a huge majority make less than $4 a day. Interestingly, those that make this were found to have blogs that were less than a year old.

 

So how much can you earn from blogging? The real answer is that it totally depends on a number of factors. You can’t expect to put in zero effort and earn millions from your blog, right? Some of these factors include the quality of your content, how often you post on your blog, how you are generating traffic to your blog and the competitiveness of your topics.

 

Blogging isn’t just all about content, even though content is a huge part of it. You can no longer rely on content to make money. You have to find other ways of earning from your blog. These include adverts, selling services, affiliate marketing, selling products like eBooks, and more.

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DO NOT EXPECT OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

 

 

If you are looking for quick and easy success through blogging, then chances are that you will be very disappointed. A majority of bloggers start realizing success after months of blogging. Many don’t see a dime until well after the 6-month mark Of course, there’s the lucky few who hit the jackpot really early, but to be on the safe side, try to lower your expectations and just work hard and smart.

 

Do not, however, let this discourage you. Just keep reminding yourself that it takes time. It could be months or even years before you start earning a decent amount of money from your blog regularly. If I were you, I would give myself at least 6-8 months before expecting to earn any money. Even then, it will most likely not be much.

 

Another important point worth noting is the fact that you will need to produce a lot of quality content in order to generate a decent income. You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘Content is King’ a million times before. It couldn’t be more true when it comes to blogging. You will have to produce really high-quality content and on a regular basis. You can’t expect to write one post every few months and expect to earn from your blog.

 

If you really want to do it right, then invest your time in producing quality content. If possible, try one post a day. Or at least three a week. Also remember that that one post could take hours and hours of research, writing, and editing. So just prepare to put in the work. Nothing good comes free.

 

For those who are blogging on the side, prepare to invest some money into getting quality content because let’s face it, sometimes it’s hard to juggle between a day job and blogging. There are millions of freelance writers that get paid to produce quality content.

 

Still interested in making money blogging? Good. Read on to find out how to do it right.

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HOW TO DO IT RIGHT

 

1. CHOOSE A PROFITABLE NICHE

 

Choosing a profitable niche is very important if you want to have a shot at making money. It is great to be passionate about what you want to blog about, but you also need to make sure that that particular passion is not so obscure that you are the only one who understands it. If no one else is interested in your niche, they will not be interested enough in your post to stick around and possibly make a purchase based on your recommendations.

 

You will need to have a large enough audience of people who are actually interested in what you are writing about or selling. It’s that simple. Your very first task should be to find the right audience. And how do you do that? By choosing a profitable niche. And be sure to stick to that one niche consistently. Don’t go reviewing comic books for instance, on a site meant for people who enjoy kayaking. You will be tapping into an audience that doesn’t care about comic books (even if there are one or two comic fans), and all your hard work will go down the drain.

 

So you have found a profitable niche? Great! Have you realized that you are not the only one catering to that niche? Of course, you are not alone! Everyone wants to make money too, and they did their research same as you and found out that that is a profitable niche. They are now your competition. So how do you stay ahead of the competition? How do you stay relevant? The answer brings us to the next point.

 

2. TAKE YOUR CONTENT SKILLS A NOTCH HIGHER.

 

Being a passionate writer is not all it takes for a blog to be successful. You need to know how to write the stuff that people want to read. You need to have a content framework that works. And this includes writing the best blog post ever published on that particular topic. You can be a great writer and have a great topic, but that is definitely not enough. Your content must deliver more value to the reader than all the other blog posts on that particular topic. That’s what will set you apart from the rest of the bloggers. And this is how you make money.

 

3. KNOW HOW TO GET THE RIGHT TRAFFIC

 

A blog is nothing without traffic. That’s why most bloggers will go to whatever extents to get traffic. So where exactly do you get traffic? Keywords? Facebook? Guest posting? commenting on other blogs? YouTube videos?

 

Well, all these methods work. But here’s an interesting fact for you. Google and Facebook are the best traffic generators. I know I sound pretty confident, but it’s just because I am absolutely sure about it. All the aforementioned methods of generating traffic work just fine, but they do not come anywhere close to how much traffic Google and Facebook actually generate.

 

So how do you make these two methods work for you? One great option is to pay for it. This is great, but what if you don’t have the money to pay for it? Well, simple. You can use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to rank highly on Google, or you can go viral on Facebook. Both of these methods require a lot of dedication. You’ll have study and master them in order to start getting traffic from them. But the traffic you do get from them is the best kind of traffic: organic traffic.

 

You can choose to focus on both of them, but I find that concentrating on one works much better for me. To know which one of these to focus on, you’ll have to know if the topic you are writing on is one that most people go to search for on Google or if it’s something that most people will go to discuss in Facebook groups. Personally I almost always focus on organic traffic from google

 

Let me give you an example. If you are a fishing enthusiast who wants to buy the best fishing rod, chances are that you will Google ‘best fishing rod’. If you want to know the tips that other fishing enthusiasts use, you’ll run to your fishing enthusiasts Facebook page to find out what other people do. So if you are covering any of these topics, the method you will use will depend on the topic you are writing. If you are writing the ‘best of’ post, focus on SEO. If you are writing the second topic, focus on Facebook. If both methods apply to your post, then focus on both. Although you will notice that one will be dominant.

 

Please note that these first 3 steps are absolutely key to your blogging success. They are foundational. If you don’t master them, the next steps will not be effective. Write amazing content for your readers. Drive traffic to your site. Rinse and repeat. Only when you have reached a level of success should you focus on the following steps.

 

4. GROWING YOUR EMAIL LIST

 

One of the best ways to grow an email list is by using pop-ups. Every blogger says they hate popups and that they never use them. But they do! Granted, pop-ups can be really annoying. Sometimes you just want to get information from a blog really fast and leave but the pop-ups get in the way. They may be annoying, but they are a necessary evil. That’s where you get your money from. The bigger your email list, the greater the revenue. Wondering how this works?

 

Here’s how.

 

Studies show that a blogger should expect to make $1 per month per subscriber. And how do you get subscribers? You guessed it. Through email list pop-ups. Just make sure not to overdo it, because if your readers are too annoyed, they won’t want anything to do with you. Always give them an option of quickly opting out of the pop up request if they so choose.

 

5. MONETIZE YOUR BLOG WITH AFFILIATE MARKETING

 

 

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If you already have a niche blog that has traffic and an email list, you may not want to start selling your own products and services first. But eventually you may want to! You already have a community, why not collect evidence of the things your community wants? Once you know exactly what they want, research the best solutions available to them and promote them to your readers.

 

Affiliate networks can help you find solutions to these problems. In fact you may find products or services that you never knew existed. Affiliate offers help you see what your community buys from other people. This will give you an idea of what the will want to buy from you as well.

 

Find one or two products that you think will benefit your niche and promote them to your audience. If one of your affiliate offers sells more than the other, you may try to come up with a product similar to your highest selling offer. That way you will be helping people with products that they actually need. The beauty of this is that you will be collecting market research and at the same time earning from it through affiliate commissions.

 

Want to learn more!  Here is an article I wrote about affiliate marketing

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MAKING THE MONEY

 

 

Now that you know exactly what your audience wants and how to go about monetizing your blog, let us talk specifics. How exactly can you make money from your blog? What products or services can you sell?

 

1. SELL ONLINE COURSES

 

This is a great way to make money through your blog. You can create a course or a workshop and sell it to your audience. Online education is a booming business. Your audience probably wants to know more about things in your field, and the fact that they are in your community means that they trust you. What a better way to educate them than to sell them courses. They’ll be gaining knowledge and you’ll be learning from it. Everybody wins.

 

2. SELL EBOOKS

 

EBooks use the same principle as courses. Selling your knowledge and expertise to your audience. Selling your eBook to your readers is among the best ways to make money through blogging. Chances of them liking your eBook are really high since, you know, they chose to follow you. They probably look up to you and are interested in knowing what you have to say.

 

3. ADVERTISING

 

You can earn some passive income from your blog by putting up ads. You can join networks like Google AdSense, AdThrive and Mediavine and make that supplementary income from your blog. If you have a huge readership, private advertisers can approach you and ask you to place their ads on your site at a fee.

 

4. COACHING/CONSULTING

 

When your blog really grows, people will start recognizing you as an authority figure in that field. You may start getting invitations to speak at conferences and of course. you will get paid for it. You can also do some consulting or coaching online or over the phone and earn a decent income while at it.

 

5. SELLING SERVICES AS A FREELANCER

 

You can get well-paying clients through your blog. Blogs are a great way to showcase your expertise. If people visit your page and end up liking what you do, they might contact you asking for your services as well. If you are a great writer, programmer, designer or any other online service provider, you should always have a ‘contact me’ or ‘hire me’ page where clients can reach out and hopefully hire you. That extra income won’t hurt one bit.

 

6. SELL MEMBERSHIPS

 

You can use your blog to offer premium content to a select portion of your readership. You can charge a certain amount of money per month for people to access this premium or unique content. This premium content can be in the form of a forum, closed Facebook group or any other type of delivery method. Just make sure that your premium content is worth whatever membership fee you charge. It has to be absolutely top-notch and extremely helpful. Let me give you an example. When I was doing Amazon FBA, I paid $80 per month to receive exclusive access to the latest deals at retail stores. The service was amazing and worth every penny. I always got the deals before all my competitors found out about them and it made all the difference in my sourcing success.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

 

 

Here is the bottom line: it is absolutely possible to make money blogging if you do it right. However, it is important to keep in mind that this is not a guarantee. If you are looking for a quick source of cash, this is not it. But if you are willing to put in the time and hard work, then by all means, give blogging a chance. Who knows, your blog could be the next big thing.

 

Affiliate marketing is the way I choose to monetize all my blogs. I believe it is one of the best ways to earn money online. If you want to learn how to do affiliate marketing the right way then you are in luck. I belong to an online community that offers what I believe to be one of the best affiliate marketing training resources.

 

 

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The link above will take you to an amazing set of resources where you can learn Affiliate marketing from scratch, the right way. There is no need for a credit card. Give it a test drive! I am sure you will see the value in it.

 

To your success,

 

Mike A