How to Monetize Your Blog

Whether you are writing a blog post because you want to share your passion or you are writing a blog post solely to make money you should benefit from your efforts.

This blog post focuses on ways to make money with a blog.  I will be listing nine ways to monetize a blog.  Some of the ways might resonate well with you and some may not.  You are encouraged to try which ever method you feel will work well for you.

1.       Affiliate Programs

This is a really easy way to monetize your blog.  Many companies offer affiliate programs for free.  This means that there is no cost to sign up with them.  You merely have to display an affiliate link or banner on your blog and you will get paid in accordance with the terms of the company.  Many people make thousands per month with affiliate programs.

2.       Banner Advertising

This method requires you to place a banner ad for an advertiser on your blog.  Banner ads are types of hypertext links.  They are usually in the shape of a rectangle and include graphics.  Banner ads could be a very small rectangle in the margin of a blogs page to large enough to span the width of the page at the top or bottom of the page.  The concept is similar to a traditional ad except whenever someone clicks on the banner ad they are directed to the website of the advertiser.  The result is that a small amount of money would be credited to the blog owner each time someone clicks on the banner ad.

3.       Direct Advertising Sales

You may want to sell ads directly.  Google makes this an easy task with their offering of Adsence Direct.  Other companies that make it easy for smaller publishers to sell ads directly are iSocket and BuySellAds.  It is highly recommended that if you are a small publisher and you are going to go this route that you target endemic advertisers.  It is also recommended that you price your ad space in a way that can easily be justified by the advertiser.  Use your assets, your mailing list or your following on Facebook, as a bargaining chip. 

4.       Sponsored Posts

Yes, there are people who will pay you to write a review about their company.  There are companies online that match the blogger with the company that wants the review.  It is best that you try the product or service before writing about it.  Once you’ve experienced the product or service write about it like you are telling a friend about your experience.  It is part of the rules that you disclose that you are being paid to write the review.  You could say something like “Sponsored Post” at the bottom of the post.  Before you write a sponsored post make sure that you familiarize yourself with the Federal Trade Commission Guidelines in the US and the Internet Advertising Bureau in the UK.

5.       Membership Based Programs

It is true that offering free helpful information through a blog to the consumer gains their trust and ultimately their business.  You don’t have to stop doing this.  You can offer the free information as well as a paid membership that will give your readers access to premium information for a fee.  You could charge a monthly fee or a one-time fee.

6.       Informational Products Online

You could use your blog to promote and sell informational products that you author.  People are hungry for information for everything from gardening to how to monetize a blog site.  You could use your own expertise or do the research to develop a product.  Mp3s are really hot, but you could also put your information into the form of an ebook, video, email course, etc.

7.       Coaching/Consulting

People will pay for coaching and consulting.  Build a blog and develop a blog following.  Then once your blog has a descent following use your blog to offer your services as a coach or a consultant.  Market your abilities to help someone to build a successful blog or to find success in some other task that you have success and an expertise in.

8.       Speaking Engagements

If you become well known in your niche for your expertise you could begin to hire yourself out for speaking engagements.  There are quite a few entrepreneurs who make a living this way.

9.       Product Sales

If you want to sell physical products online you could introduce products to your online readers by discussing your products in your blog.  Give free and helpful information about the ownership of products that you sell.  Offer an opportunity to find out more about the products in a P.S. line at the end of your blog posts.  Put a link in the P.S. line that will take the reader to your squeeze page.

Conclusion

I hope this blog post has been helpful.  If for no other reason than a way to jog your thoughts to finding ways to monetize your blog.  I wish you all the success in the world with your blogging ventures.  Take care and good luck!

If you learned anything new from this article then please leave a comment.