How Make Money Online with Blog: More than Just Contents

Have you ever wondered how make money online with blog? Most people think that blogging is just….well, blogging. For them, blogging is a pastime activity to channel their passion in writing as well as to share information with the world. However, you can actually monetize your blog and get a passive income along the way. Wouldn’t it be great if you can channel out your passion in writing and sharing out information with the world, while getting paid in the end? If you can do it right, you should be able to enjoy the promising outcome for the longer run.

Do Affiliate Marketing

This is one way of how make money online with blog. Instead of making money with the ads, you can actually monetize the content. Do you know what affiliate marketing is? It’s when you recommend or suggest a service or a product to your audience or reader by using a special (tracking) link. After someone clicks the link and buys something, then you will get a referral commission. That’s how you can monetize your blog, creating a win-win solution for everyone without using any scam.

The easiest real example (of the affiliate marketing) is when you help your friend opens up a bank account (within the branch of your bank). They would usually give you a bonus or a gift card, or such thing alike. Well, there are many services and products have the same affiliate programs – in which you can join. In fact, there are (affiliate) programs offered for each industry in the market.

In the event you are interested in the affiliate marketing, you should think about products that your readers may be attracted to; most likely the ones that you have already used. Once you have found out the service or the product, you can find out whether that brand has affiliate program that you can join. If you are still confused, there are tons of products lists that you can promote from websites or services like ShareASale, Commission Junction, or Amazon.

When you have narrowed down your pick of a certain product, use a special plugin dedicated for such a purpose, so you can manage the affiliate links. PrettyLinks is an example of a plugin to use. With it, you can insert links quickly, auto replace the keywords to links, create branded links, and you can even check how every link is doing on the site. Affiliate marketing is definitely one of the most effective ways on how make money online with blog. There are tons of products to promote or introduce.

Utilize Google AdSense on WordPress

Another way on how make money online with blog is to use Google AdSense. You simply add Google’s script to the website and then start showing off ads. You will be rewarded whenever users click the ads, which are called CPC (Cost per Click) ads. When you display the PCP ads with the AdSense, you will get a fee for each time the visitor clicks on that ad. How much can you get? Well, that depends on the advertiser. The cost of each click is determined by them. CPC is different to CPM (Cost per Thousand Impression, where the M represents 1000 in Roman numeral system) ads where you will be paid every time users view the ads – not clicks.

If this is your time starting out, then Google AdSense can be a good alternative to get money online. You don’t have to join classes to learn about AdSense. All the information and sources are available for free. Feel free to practice while learning; it would give you a better sense and understanding on how to use it. However, you should realize that this method doesn’t work overnight. It takes time, and it definitely takes a lot of patience. If you like learning something, this is definitely worth to try.

Create Members-only Content

It’s a part of paid membership website where you can learn about how make money online with blog NOT from selling sponsored posts or selling ads. A paid membership site means that your reader needs to pay if they can to access certain areas or contents within your website. On the contrary to what people believe, there are actually many ways to pull this off.

It’s about targeting your loyal readers. They may be big fans of yours and they love your work. They are willing to pay to get information from you. You are able to share almost anything, including audio contents, videos, downloads, blog posts, and others. This kind of membership site can be a huge investment opportunity, but you need to continuously provide premium contents so your paying members won’t be disappointed. It also means dedication and determination, so if you aren’t ready for it, then you shouldn’t have it.

Create Private Forums

One way to make your website ‘useful’ is to create a private (but useful) forum. Users need to pay if they want to gain access to the forum. On the contrary to the general belief, forums are basically great if you want to interact one by one (or face to face) with your audience. You can also set the forum as a place where users can get advices from you. Another perk of the private forum is the fact that other members (of the community) is able to interact to one another, including helping each others.

Although making a private forum is an alternative on how make money online with blog, you need to remember that moderating a forum isn’t exactly easy. It takes a lot of work, but you have to admit that a paid forum would be an amazing way to generate money from your blog. Of course, you need to set a forum up within the site, and there are plugins to help you with it.

Create a Community for Questions and Answers

If you are familiar with Quora or Stack Exchange, then you know what this website is all about. Someone can post a question, and then other members can freely answer it. You can end up having a community that is highly engaged, motivated, and driven. This is one of the most potential and promising ways on how make money online with blog, but there’s a catch to it.

Just like other blogging method with forums, you need some time to build it. During this period, you won’t be able to generate anything. After it grows into a sizable community, then you should be able to monetize it by using affiliate ads, ads, and others. Websites like this (question and answer) can be popular, and when they are, they can get sponsorship deals and direct ads. This will help in negotiating extra perks and higher rate, which would work in your favor, of course.

Make Paid Business Directory

A lot of people think that web directories are old school and lame because those directories remind them of the web’s early days, especially before bots’ automatic index started. However, they’re not completely lame or obsolete. Some popular (site) directories still exist, and they are pretty helpful. Some of them are Angie’s List, Yelp, and Yellow Pages.

Although generic directories may not be crucial or necessary, niche or local directories are still needed. For instance, why not creating a real estate directory or a home improvement one for the local community? Directories can be about sharing podcasts on a certain topic, gathering local businesses reviews, or listing the best services or products within certain niche. Creating one doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult, because there are plugins or tools that you can use to make one. It’s also possible to get payments (with submission) once you are able to figure it out.

Sell Ads Directly

One of the best ways on how make money online with blog is to sell ads by using an ad plugin. Although AdSense is easy to use or set, its money can be limited. You can’t really predict how many people would click on the ads. Plus, each click’s earning is different from one another. That’s why many bloggers decide on selling banner (ad) space directly on their sites because it is more lucrative and profitable. Whereas in AdSense you use an intermediary who also gets some profits from the money, in direct ads sales, you are able to negotiate the terms and price freely. You are free to manage things your way, and you are able to determine everything based on your preferences. The idea of being free from the intermediary party is the main perk of this method.

But again, nothing is completely easy. Selling ads directly is quite a handful. It’s not as simple (or as automatic) as the AdSense. You will have to do more work. Aside from having to add codes, you need to have your own terms and agreement, negotiate the price, and take care of managerial and also administrative work, such as invoicing. If you want to make it easier, there are plugins to help you. Browse around; there are plenty of them out there.

Write Reviews (and Get Paid)

If you like writing, then why not writing reviews and being paid for it? The reviews can be displayed on your website, which means that you can get the traffic as well as the opportunity to expand your network. In affiliate links, you buy something and then ‘advises’ your readers to buy the same product by providing them the link. However, in writing the reviews, it’s the company or the business that send products to you – they are typically related to your niche. You are then asked to review it. Not only you get the stuff for free, but you can also get the payment.

It’s like an endorsement program. You are able to approach businesses and companies whose products are related to the niche. Another possible way is to let popularity sweeps in. The more popular you are, the more products would come flooding in. If popularity isn’t in your favor, why not joining platforms? PayPerPost is a website that helps you connect and interact with companies that may be interested in your service or niche. It doesn’t hurt to try and reach out.

Flip Websites

This is basically a cool skill because you need to be able to build a site. In most cases, businesses like to buy (already) established sites so they can use those websites for their own purposes and businesses. If you are able to build a blog and drive traffic to it, you are free to do anything to it: including selling it and making money. However, you need to know the popular sites that are highly in demand, including how to price them and sell them. If this is your business, you should know services like Flippa. This kind of site functions as brokers and auction sites for sites sales and buy.

As you can see, there are many ways on how make money online with blog without making the entire activity boring or dull.

FAQ: How Make Money Online with Blog