If you’re new to blogging you may be wondering how you can monetize your blog. Whether you’re just going full-time online or you’re starting a new side hustle, you can absolutely monetize a blog and make money online with these best practices.

I want to preface this with saying that I have not monetized my blog with 1 out of 5 of these different ways we’ll talk about. I’ve just never desired to use sponsorships. In the future perhaps.

You should read this knowing there are options available to you but you don’t need to create all of these income streams at the same time.

Don’t make that mistake. Juggling multiple income streams when you don’t fully have one mastered will cause slower growth. Now that’s not the case 99% of the time. But most of us down here in the trenches aren’t going to succeed creating multiple income streams from scratch at the same time.

So let’s dive into today’s post, shall we?

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Most Common Ways to Monetize A Blog

Display Ads

One of the most common ways to monetize your blog is through display ads. A lot of bloggers only use display ads as their only monetization strategy. Display ads are a great way to make an income, but the income you make can ebb and flow depending on your niche, time of year, and even the content.

It can be frustrating figuring out how to make the most of your ad revenue RPMs. For display ads you need a lot of traffic for page views, a multi-screen strategy & a fast loading website. Plus, it’s high on the list for what annoys viewers so that they don’t wish to return. But, you get paid often per viewer, and they don’t have to purchase anything.

Pro Tip: Optimize your website for mobile, and make sure your site doesn’t have pop-ups and slide-ins that your audience can’t navigate away from. It lessens the experience for your audience and you won’t make money if they don’t stick around.

RELATED: Ultimate Full Funnel Pinterest Ads Strategy That Got 26X Return

Sponsored Posts

Next up are sponsored posts. Now this is a great way to get paid for your content as you create it. However, you usually have to have a very large audience to be considered, and the sponsors can be difficult to find easily.

With sponsored posts you can charge varying rates depending on the agreement with the brand you’re creating content for. But if you create a sponsored YouTube video and social media posts then you can potentially charge for both.

Be aware of sponsors that want you to do things you’re not interested in doing or believe in. Always create sponsored content for things you use and love. Your audience is aware of sponsored content and it can appear as though the company is buying your opinion on their product.

Some of the metrics you will want to track are:

1. Traffic
2. Shares
3. Social audience size
4. Newsletter size
   1. Open rates
   2. Click rates
5. Clicks on CTA inside content
6. Time on page

Pro Tip: Track your metrics so you know how well your sponsored content did because your brand partnerships are going to want to know.

RELATED: The Ultimate Pinterest Traffic Strategy for Bloggers & E-Commerce Shops

My Favorite Ways to Monetize a Blog

Affiliate Marketing

This has to be one of the best ways to make money blogging that a lot of people don’t utilize. There are so many tips out there for affiliate marketing for beginners.

If you want to make money without ads then affiliate marketing will be a quick starting point. Unfortunately it’s not as easy as dropping links. You still need to provide value otherwise who is going to trust you or even buy from your link? It’s important for audience retention that you give them a reason to be there.

My favorite way to use affiliate marketing is through product reviews and how-to posts. These provide a lot of value that people are searching for while giving them the opportunity to purchase through my link. Another way you can create a revenue stream from affiliate marketing is by creating a special offer with your affiliate link.

For example, create an opt-in and make the funnel your affiliate link. So in exchange for using your link they get something special, a bonus of sorts. I do this for Tailwind as part of using my affiliate link to sign up for their service.

Pro Tip: People really don’t mind buying through your affiliate links, but give them good reason. Create lists, how to and review posts, etc.

Services

One of the biggest ways I monetize my website is through services. People find my website and reach out to me directly after consuming my content to work with our team.

We offer a variety of services, including:

• 1:1 content/account management
• consulting calls
• strategy sessions
• graphic design, etc.

If you are interested in offering services through your website, you will want to reach out to your audience and start doing market research. I started this blog only after validating my offers. Do that homework and it will help you with sales calls. Especially with more people being at home it’s a great opportunity to offer services in exchange for your time.

Pro Tip: Use your content to get people onto sales calls with you. If you can’t sell them your service, then ask them how you can help them & use that information in your content & marketing.

RELATED: How to Use Pinterest Marketing for Service Providers

Digital Products

Oh how I love digital products! They are an up and coming income stream in my business and it’s definitely a lucrative way to scale your online business.

Having a digital product that your audience wants is the key to succeeding in this particular income stream. You can’t just make a product and expect it to make millions. Don’t believe all of the ads you see on Facebook claiming to just publish one ebook and become rich overnight.

Listen to your audience and give them what they want, while also providing them with what they really need. The hurdle you have to jump here is to come up with digital products to sell that aren’t based off of your own desires but those of your audience.

For example, most people think they want a Pinterest strategy, but what they really need is a system to carry out the strategy.

I offer a variety of products that do just that:

• Pinterest System
• Perfect Pin Blueprint
• Pinterest Templates for Canva
• Pin Profit Academy (my exclusive membership where you can grab all of my resources in one place)

You can see these range in price and give each person a different starting point. Not everyone needs a full Pinterest course, so they have options to learn from me.

Pro Tip: Create educational content that helps your audience with a problem, then offer them your product as the solution to take their results even further. Free content strategy right here on this site can get you a Pinterest strategy but my courses and services can take you even further.

Wrap Up on How Best to Monetize a Blog

Last thing, just remember to start with one stream and get good at it, then add in another. If I could tell myself anything 7 years ago when I started, it would have been to start with email list building and digital products, as well as affiliate marketing if I were trying to monetize a blog.

Listen to your audience and get them involved! You won’t regret it later when you’re trying to create a landing page and you have plenty of their words to use.

RELATED: How to Sell Digital Products to Your Email List

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