7 Proven Ways To Monetize Your Blog

Last updated on 18 December 2024

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Wanting to monetize your blog?

Have you ever wondered how bloggers make money? You’re in luck! Today I’m going to share 7 proven ways to monetize your blog.

If you have a blog or are thinking about starting one, know that there are many ways you can make money with it. You might even be able to turn it into a full-time business! In this post, I will be sharing the most popular ways that bloggers go about making money.

Before we start, let’s talk about monetization. What exactly is it? Monetization refers to the process of turning something that would not normally generate income, into cash. In the blogging world, this means turning your blog from a hobby, into something that actually makes you a profit.

So, how exactly can you make money with a blog? Let’s jump in!

The best ways to monetize your blog

Coaching

When you’re first starting out with a blog, it can be hard to make a lot of money. This is mainly because you will start off by having a small audience. A great way to be able to make money right away is to offer coaching or consulting in your area of expertise.

This form of monetization is usually done on a 1-1 basis, meaning you and a client. There are a couple of great benefits from doing this. The first is that you can usually charge a premium amount, especially if you have a lot of experience. Think about this- if you go to a lawyer, a financial consultant, or even a nutritionist they charge hundreds of dollars for one session.

Another amazing benefit of coaching is that it gives you the chance to really get to know your audience. Once you know them better, it will help you really focus on your blog business to give your audience exactly what they want. And what happens when you give them what they want? You have more opportunities to monetize!

Affiliate Marketing

One of the most popular, if not the MOST popular forms of monetization is through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is when you earn a commission by promoting a product or service from another company or person.

The reason this form of monetization is so popular is that it’s really easy to include this strategy into what a blogger already does. All you need to do is write your blog posts like you normally would, but include links to the product or service you’re promoting. It’s that simple!

Sell Online Courses

After you have gotten experience with coaching, or you have gained a slightly larger audience, you might want to be able to help more people at once. This is where online courses come in.

Selling your own online courses is a great way to make money because you own 100% of the profits. This could be something small like an e-book, or a few videos, to an all-out course where you teach your audience a brand new skill from start to finish.

Anjali has a GREAT example of this on her blog. She has put together some amazing courses for bloggers! Check them all out here.

Paid Webinar/Class

Maybe you are not ready to put together an entire course for people to purchase. In this case, you could put together a webinar or class and offer it for a one-time fee. This is a great way to introduce your audience to who you are and even be able to promote other parts of your business.

There are many forms of webinars you could do. Some of the most popular kinds are: cooking classes, learning a new language, an introduction to marketing or social media, teaching how to play a musical instrument. There are really an endless amount of webinars you could teach.

A couple of things to keep in mind when creating a class. Keep it very specific, on just one topic. If you have many things to talk about under your niche, pick one for the first webinar and then host others in the future. Also, keep them long enough that your customer feels they got their money’s worth, but not so long that you lose your audience. A good rule of thumb is 60 to 90 minutes.

Digital and Physical Products

Like I stated earlier, it’s great when 100% of what you sell goes directly to you. This is where digital products come in. Not only is this a great way to help out your audience, but there is also little to no cost upfront to make and sell this type of product.

Some examples of digital products you could make are: an e-book, a checklist or calendar, printable signs/posters, or templates.

Physical products are another way to make money but keep in mind there is a much larger cost upfront to get your products designed and made. You may want to start with selling digital products to see how that goes. Then, once you build a larger audience and they want more from you, you could consider an actual physical product.

You have probably seen ads on other blog posts that you read. You can add them as inserts inside of your blog posts, pop-ups, and even have video ads.

Choosing to have ads is a personal decision. They can generate a lot of income if you have high traffic to your website, and just a couple of dollars a month if you’re just starting out. Some people decide they don’t want ads because they can add to a negative user experience. It’s really an individual decision on if they are right for you.

Sponsorships & Guest Posting

Blogging is all about forming a community. Building relationships with other bloggers and companies not only is great for your own network, but it can also help you monetize.

Sponsorships generally happen when you approach a company (or they approach you!), and you promote their product or service in a blog post. You usually get paid a one-time amount for that post.

Guest posting can be done both for free, or you can charge a fee. Either way, guest posting is a great idea because it gets your blog seen to a different audience.

Bonus Tips

There are so many ways to make money off of a blog. Keep in mind that it takes time, patience, and consistency to see results. But, it is so rewarding when you make money doing something you love!

My best piece of advice if you are just getting started with monetization is to start off slow. Don’t try to incorporate all of these ways into your blog at once. Pick one way to make money and see where that takes you. Once you have nailed that way, try to add on a different way.

Before I end, here’s one last BONUS tip if you want to monetize your blog! Having an email list for your blog is a GREAT way to grow your audience and monetize. I recommend starting an email list as soon as you start your blog. This way, once you start trying to monetize you can promote it directly to your audience’s email Inbox.

I hope that this blog post helped you understand proven ways that bloggers make money. If you have any other ideas or questions, make sure to comment below!

Kim | Mrs. Solopreneur

Kim is a business strategy and management expert and self-taught profitable blogger. As part of her blogging business, she works with people to start and grow their blogs, and turn them into businesses. Check out Kim’s website for ways that you can work with her!