This guide was created with ease of use in mind, and I’ll walk you through every step of the way, so that you’re able to learn how to create a blog (very easily) today. Most successful bloggers use a variety of the strategies listed above to monetize their blogs, and you can scale your income by raising your prices for each strategy. Many common blog monetization strategies involve a brand paying you as the blogger to promote their products. You can also make money blogging by charging brands to write a blog post about their product or service. Imagine you’re a writer, consultant, or designer creating a blog based on a particular area of expertise. Your blog will likely show readers aspects of your profession that you have a wealth of knowledge about.
Launch a Virtual Summit in Your Niche
You can choose to work with a range of businesses or specialise in specific industries, offering services such as managing accounts, preparing financial reports, and handling invoices. Developing WordPress plugins can be a lucrative way to earn money online, especially if you have a knack for coding and a desire to solve common challenges users face. You can publish your reviews on a personal blog or contribute to established review platforms. Additionally, some Pots of Pennies companies offer free products or monetary compensation in exchange for thorough and authentic reviews. To get started, choose products within your niche or those you frequently use. Write detailed and honest reviews, highlighting the pros and cons and offering tips based on your experience.
But we have met so many bloggers, including some on our own team, that have used freelancing as a way to supplement their blogging income. For example, if you sell a course on online business, you will likely have to update it more often than a course on learning a language, which is often very conceptual. Using a marketplace platform can create a great stream of very passive income, but it’s also very competitive. Marketplace platforms offer tens of thousands of courses and they have existing user bases in the millions. Your audience will pay for your course because they want to learn from you.
Build and sell your own WordPress plugin
If you’re like the majority of us, you’ll find clarity by taking action and getting started today—rather than spending time trying to come up with the perfect idea. And while you can blog about anything you want, if you’re hoping to make money from your blog one day, choosing a clear focus area will benefit you immensely. You’ll find your groove as you make progress, but if you want some inspiration, check out this list of profitable niches to see if it sparks anything for you. To get started with affiliate marketing, contact some of your favorite brands, which you already use and like, and see if they’d offer you an affiliate link. Once you have your sponsorship plan in place, you can reach out to your chosen brands’ marketing divisions and find out who to speak to about sponsored content. For those who already have an ongoing affiliate marketing campaign, there are several things you can do to boost sales. Some examples are offering coupons, writing product reviews, and adding in-text links to guides.
You could even have a members-only area to sell classes and courses or gated blog posts. Digital products are a low-overhead form of passive income because you don’t have to manufacture or ship physical items or store any inventory. With affiliate marketing, you create a piece of content once and earn money from it for as long as it remains useful to your readers. If you’re a known expert in your field, people will want to read your work. Spread the word about your expertise by building your presence across other online platforms. Guest post on company blogs and other online publications, publish articles on sites such as Medium and LinkedIn and build a strong social media following. These strategies will help you cement your reputation as a thought leader, as well as drive additional traffic to your blog.
I’d say 15K+ monthly traffic is a healthy time to start looking for paying sponsors. That said, down the road when your blog has grown into an affiliate marketing powerhouse, you may find – as we have – that you prefer to partner directly with brands whenever possible. Affiliate marketing is the most effective monetization method bloggers can leverage to generate income. Unlike advertisements where you get a few dollars per thousand impressions, affiliate programs pay you up to 90% of the total sales generated through your referral link. So even if you’ve chosen the perfect niche, it will take a long time for you to build an audience that you can monetize to generate blogging income. If the goal is to create content people want to read, then another method to come up with blog post ideas is to figure out what they’re already searching for.
Don’t let us discourage you from your dreams of content creator stardom, but influencers typically need a sizable following to see big money. There are plenty of online platforms that can connect you with customers, gigs and tasks. The hard part is narrowing the list down to the ones that are worth your time. We can help you focus on real ways to make money online (and offline, for that matter) and explore home business ideas. The work you did in the skills inventory step should help you quickly eliminate the noncontenders. And if you don’t yet have an idea in mind, this list will spark ideas for making money online—no matter your skill level.
You can also start a free blog with Wix, but it is even more limited than the free version of WordPress. As low as $2.75/month but varies depending on which blog host you use to host your WordPress blog. If you want a free WordPress blog, you will not get access to as many themes or plugins and you will also be limited on how you can make money with your blog. You can either host your WordPress site on their server or use a third-party hosting provider, which is what we recommend for ease of use and affordability. Most free blog sites don’t allow you to use your own domain name on your website. Think about how you upload YouTube videos or podcast episodes online. Using a keyword research tool like Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer can allow you to identify relevant, high-volume keywords, understand search intent, and analyze competitors’ keyword strategies.