How do I earn money blogging? It’s a question that many people ask, and we’re here to provide an answer. Blogging can be lucrative, but it’s not an easy way to make money. Whether it’s a full-time career or a part-time business, you need to invest considerable time and effort. This guide will introduce you to blogging, dispel common misconceptions, and reveal the best strategies to make money from blogging.
Misconceptions about blogs
People have many misconceptions about blogging to make money. Some of these misunderstandings were true in the industry’s early days, but blogging has come a long way. Let’s explore and dispel them.
Blogging is expensive
Blogging is as affordable as ever. You can host a blog with a custom domain for as low as $3 monthly. Building a blog has become easier, with platforms like Wordpress.com and Blogger providing the hosting infrastructure and an interface to manage your blog.
The costs of hosting a blog are nominal compared to the revenue you can generate from one. Blogging being expensive may have been true in the early internet era, but it’s false now.
To Contents ↑Blogging is a dying medium
Blogging isn’t a dead industry. It’s here to stay in the long term, and people now read more blogs than ever before. According to HubSpot, blogging is the third-most common content marketing strategy after video and e-books.
However, what’s true is that the blogging industry has become very saturated, with over 600 million blogs on the web. It now takes more effort to stand above the fray and earn income from blogging, but it’s still doable.
Every blog post needs to be perfect
“Perfect is the enemy of good” applies to the blogging industry. Some bloggers try too hard to write the perfect post and end up creating nothing. Don’t be like this cohort.
You shouldn’t be afraid of publishing something imperfect. One of the best things about blogging is that you can always edit published posts. You might not be the best writer in the early stages, but you can hone your skills when you keep publishing consistently.
When they look back, the best writers are often not pleased with their early works. But what sets them apart is their relentless pursuit of improvement.
To Contents ↑You need an existing following to start a blog
You need not be a celebrity or social media influencer to start a blog for money. You can start small and build an audience as you post consistently. The key is creating relevant content for your audience and promoting it on social media. Search engine optimization (SEO) also helps increase your traffic and earn money from a blog.
Blogging is a fast way to earn money
Blogging can be lucrative, but it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. You need considerable time and effort to build a profit-generating audience. Blogging may seem easy in theory: write words and publish. In reality, you’ll spend significant time researching and creating detailed posts. Nonetheless, your efforts help build search engine and social media traffic that you can then leverage to make money from Adsterra ads.
Adsterra links bloggers to 15,000+ high-quality advertisers. With $87 million and counting in annual publisher payouts, here’s your opportunity to make money from a blog.
To Contents ↑How much money can you make blogging?
There’s no limit to how much money you can make from blogging. It depends on various factors, including traffic level, audience, and monetization strategy. Most blogs average $3 to $25 per 1,000 views, but you don’t have to stick to the average. You can make much more with the right balance of traffic and monetization methods: we’ll explain the best ways to make money blogging.
What are the best ways to make money blogging?
There are endless methods of monetizing a blog. Advertising is the most common one that almost every blogger uses.
Though placing ads is a reliable method, there are many more that can generate higher revenue if you play your cards right. For example, charging brands for sponsored posts, getting paid for product reviews, writing an e-book, creating a paid membership, etc.
Note that earning money from a blog is hard work. You first have to start a blog and grow the traffic to a point where you can get considerable income. Increasing the traffic is the hardest part, but revenue tends to come easier after that. For more information on this, you can read our guide on how to start a blog and make it successful.
Adsterra lets you earn money from your blog traffic easily. With over 13,000 reputable advertisers on our network, you can be sure of getting constant advertisements on your blog and earning a steady income.
To Contents ↑Step 1: build your online presence
Online presence refers to your existence and findability across the web. To create a successful blog (for example, at Blogger), it is important to first establish an online following before you focus on monetization.
Blogs with unstable traffic flow will hardly earn big money. You can start getting a stable income by sending certain amounts of traffic on a regular basis. That demands a strategic approach like the one Adsterra publisher, Favorable Uwitonze, has developed.
Choose a “balanced” blogging niche
An essential aspect of blogging for money is selecting a good niche or topic to focus on. Some niches are more profitable than others; for example, fashion and electronics are the first and second-highest-selling online shopping niches worldwide, respectively, according to Statista. Other top-selling products, according to the same source, include furniture, toys, beverages, and beauty items.
But, it doesn’t imply that you should go with the most profitable niche even if you have no passion for it. There should be a healthy balance between your passion and the income you can get.
Note that the most profitable niches have the highest competition, making it harder to break into and build a large following. Choosing them may reduce your chances of success, whereas the topic you are passionate about may have lesser competition.
Check if the niche you are eyeing is profitable. Are there dedicated ad networks or affiliate programs for it? What is the average amount earned per click? You can check various marketing websites or advertising blogs for this information. If the niche you’re considering is very profitable, you might want to avoid it because of intense competition.
An alternative move is to set up several narrow-niche blogs and create super-expert content that you are competent enough to generate. That is what we offered in our earlier article “Are You a Blogopreneur?”
To Contents ↑Types of blogs that make money
- Finance blogs: Finance is one of the highest-paying blogging niches. You can write about personal finance topics like “Best credit cards to use,” “Best stock trading apps,” “Best wealth management platforms,” etc., and insert affiliate links to earn money. Some bloggers write about finance industry news to build and monetize a long-term audience.
- Health blogs: Health is one of the most sought-after blog types with high traffic. People constantly need health information, and you can fulfill this need for them. The key is posting relevant and factual information for your audience. You can monetize health blog traffic with affiliate ads for health and wellness products.
- News sites: You can create a website delivering the latest news about politics, business, technology, or any other field. The key is specializing in something particular and posting consistently to build traffic. Then, you can monetize your traffic with ads.
- Movies: Many people watch movies online, and you can create a website to give them what they want. You can specialize in a movie theme, e.g., horror, fiction, or history. Movie enthusiasts have a higher tolerance for ads, so monetizing your website is easy.
- Sports: Sports fans need websites with up-to-date news, highlights, event schedules, and other relevant information. You can create a website that delivers this information, preferably specializing in a single sport. A highly engaged sports audience can be easily monetized with affiliate links.
How do you choose a good niche to blog about?
- Select something you’re passionate and knowledgeable about. You need the passion to write wholeheartedly and knowledge to ensure you provide factual and interesting content to your readers.
- Balance your passion and knowledge with choosing something people often search for.
- Identify problems that you can solve for others, i.e., what do you know about that others often struggle with and need help?
- You can check research reports or conduct your own research to see if your desired niche has an adequately large market worth targeting.
- Gather feedback to validate your niche, and don’t be afraid to change things if you get overwhelmingly negative feedback.
- Evaluate the competitors in your niche and consider if you can stand out above them.
Who is your audience?
Your audience is the group of readers your content appeals to the most. It’s the cohort that’ll gain a lot from reading your articles and will likely come back for more. Always consider the audience when writing articles. Define your target audience based on demographics such as gender, age, income level, location, and interest: you should have a clear picture of the characteristics of your ideal reader. Google Analytics and analytics from social platforms can also help you define the common traits of your existing audience. Then, put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself what content you want to view on a blog online. Research what keywords and phrases your audience frequently searches for and write detailed articles responding to those queries. Don’t forget to check your competitors’ content to see what’s already defined as suitable for the auditory and what’s not and learn from others’ mistakes. This will help you build credibility for your own blog and gain a substantial audience.
To Contents ↑Build credibility in your niche
Reputation matters to anyone and everyone. Once you have chosen your niche, the next thing to focus on is building your reputation. If you post interesting articles, people will likely flock to read your content. Other blogs may also link back to your articles, which helps you build respect from readers and increases your search engine rankings. Also, post regularly and focus on writing informative content to keep readers attached to your blog: go deep into the details about whatever topic you’re writing on and give illustrations to make your point clearer. Follow the industry’s big names to stay in touch with its progress. Make your posts SEO-friendly to attract valuable organic traffic. What also can help you gain a nice reputation is cooperating with field’s experts: find them to make reviews and give comments or even be your product ambassadors. Any quality opinion will work for you.
With a good reputation, other popular blogs can approach you about commercial partnerships. Brands will be willing to advertise on your blog with sponsored posts and product reviews. It will unlock more streams of income and boost your chances of making money blogging.
Here is a case study of a blogger who chose news reporting as his niche; “I chose a news website because I’m very good at turning celebrities’ social media pictures into fully readable and viral news. And that’s a winning move in the 21st century.” He makes up to $80 daily from advertising powered by Adsterra.
To Contents ↑Choose a traffic source
There are many sources to generate traffic for a blog. According to Statista, Google and Facebook account for the majority of traffic referrals to websites.
It is advisable to pick a few sources and focus on getting the maximum amount of traffic from them. The chart above shows that search engines and social media are the primary referral sources for most topics, so it is wise to focus on them.
For instance, if you run a business news blog, it is wise to focus more on search engine optimization to generate organic traffic. In contrast, if you run an entertainment blog, it is better to focus on traffic from social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
To Contents ↑Create quality content
Quality content is necessary to attract people to your blog. No one wants to read content that does not add value to them or, at worst, is false and misleading. Put yourself in the shoes of your readers based on their demographics (age, gender, income level, location, etc.). Does your content answer their common questions? Use Google Trends to look for the common questions in your niche or check the FAQ sections of similar websites. SEO tools like Surfer can also help you research, audit, and write SEO-optimized articles to increase your traffic.
A smart strategy to attract readers is to create exclusive content, which refers to content that the reader can not access elsewhere. For example, if you run a business blog, you can put together an investigative piece on a company or an early scoop about a business deal that will be announced in the future. This will make readers appreciate your blog and other websites to link back to your content.
You must have heard of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence tool that has taken the world by storm. This tool can help you write high-quality content that drives engagement. You can also use several free AI tools to help you generate content faster:
Write compelling content for readers
You must write blog content that your target audience frequently searches for (you can use Google Trends or other analytics tools to discover high-demand queries). Ensure you provide factual information that’ll be helpful to your defined target audience. Make the articles interesting by using a conversational tone; this way, your readers will feel like you’re talking directly to them. Use catchy headlines to draw their attention because this is the most challenging part of getting traffic for your blog content, e.g., “Better Sales, Made Simple,” “Transform Your Online Store With this Tool,” “A New Approach to Up Your Fashion Game,” “Meet the New ___,” etc.
Catchy headlines appeal to the reader’s emotions and pique their curiosity. Make them feel like they have something to lose by not reading your article, as the above examples illustrate. It’s like showing someone a minor part of something valuable and leaving them hungry for more.
Consider Saif Khan, an Indian blogger who used ChatGPT to create compelling content for his blog, generating high-quality traffic and $3,000 monthly revenue.
Build relationships with readers and bloggers
It is a good thing to build relationships with your readers and fellow bloggers as a beginner. This way, readers will be willing to hear your opinions about things related to your niche. Other bloggers will also be willing to link back to your site and help improve its rankings.
You can set up an official profile on popular websites like Twitter, Quora, Reddit, etc. Participate in discussions related to your niche and respond to other people’s comments. This helps you build long-lasting and profitable relationships in your area of interest.
To Contents ↑Grow your email list
You might have observed that most popular blogs have email newsletters; they do this to remain acquainted with readers, e.g., by sending every new post as a newsletter the subscriber can read in their inbox. You can also announce discounts and seasonal promos, digests, new arrivals, and partnerships with your blog newsletter. You should endeavor to grow your email list as much as you can.
The most common way to do that is to insert PopUps requesting email addresses from visitors. You can even add a perk or a deal to entice the visitor to provide their email. Likewise, you can insert the email registration form in a static position on your website, e.g., the footer.
The higher the number of email subscribers, the better the chances of making money with a blog.
To Contents ↑Build your backlink profile
Backlinks are incoming hyperlinks from another web page to yours. They improve your rankings on search engines like Google and give you a more solid reputation among readers.
To build your backlink profile, you can reach out to blogs with posts related to yours and ask the owners if they are interested in link-building activities. Here is an example of a format to follow:
- “We write ten guest posts per month and would be happy to link to your website in our content. We’d also love to contribute to your blog and can pitch some topic ideas that your audience will enjoy.”
Of course, not everyone would respond. But, the few that respond can be worth it and help you boost your organic search rankings.
Step 2: building your platform
After figuring out your niche and audience, the next step is building the blog. Creating a blog has become as easy as ever. You don’t need technical skills or to hire a programmer for help. Instead, you can use ready-made site builders like WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, and Webflow.
These builders have done the complex work of setting up the infrastructure to host a secure and reliable blog. They provide templates that you can simply edit to create a professional blog. With these platforms, you can design and publish a blog within a few hours.
To Contents ↑Designing your blog
Good design helps attract and retain traffic to your blog. If you want to build a long-term following, the blog should look professional and appealing to the eye, with high-quality images and videos, sufficient white space, easy navigation, legible fonts, and high loading speed. Use a healthy color contrast (e.g., dark text on a light background) and make your site mobile-friendly. Include headers to make the site easy to navigate. The navigation bar should be visible and simple to follow. Display article thumbnails and allow social media sharing to help boost traffic to your posts.
To Contents ↑Harnessing the power of SEO
Search engines are the primary source of organic traffic for a blog, meaning you can’t afford to miss out on this area. Your blog’s content should be optimized to rank high on search engines and attract valuable traffic.
Search engine optimization (SEO) centers on including relevant keywords that your target audience often searches for. It’s not about stuffing keywords into your articles; instead, it’s about providing valuable information incorporating these keywords. You can use SEO Review Tools’ Keyword Density Checker to check if a keyword appears too many times. If so, you can reduce the number and check again, ensuring that no keyword is stuffed.
Use optimized titles and provide meta descriptions for all your blog posts. This way, search engines can easily understand and suggest your content to the right audience.
To Contents ↑Step 3: making money from a blog
The procedures we mentioned above will help you build a significant online following. The next step is to monetize this following and earn income for the hard work you spent in growing your blog’s traffic.
There are many ways to make money blogging. They include everything from display advertising to one-on-one consulting to running special ad campaigns for brands.
To Contents ↑Ad networks
An ad network is a digital platform that serves as a middleman between an advertiser and a blog publisher. The benefit of using an ad network is that you do not need to spend time and effort chasing advertisers; they are already registered on the network, so you only need to connect your site to get ads placed.
There are many popular ad networks out there to choose from. Adsterra is one good example, with over 35,000 advertisers and 15,000 publishers registered. You can choose from different types of ads including Banners, Popunders, Native ads, etc.
Different networks have different traffic requirements to join. For instance, one might demand at least 10,000 monthly page views while another requires 100,000+. Some do not have any minimum traffic requirements. Adsterra doesn’t set any entry barriers to the number of ad impressions you deliver, however, the more abundant and genuine traffic you send, the more chances to get higher payouts. The good news is that Adsterra takes into account how your traffic converts, so even publishers who send non-massive traffic can earn a lot.
You can join Adsterra and begin earning money from your blog in a few steps. We provide a 100% fill rate on all ad slots on your website.
To Contents ↑Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a system where you advertise a product for an online retailer and earn a commission on each sale coming from your referral. The affiliate (publisher) drives traffic to an online merchant’s website. If the traffic converts into a sale, the publisher will earn a fixed percentage of that sale. Let us break it down into simpler steps:
- A retailer has a product they want to sell.
- You reach out to them to start an affiliate partnership.
- The retailer agrees to pay you a fixed commission if the buyer comes from your blog.
- The retailer gives you a unique link with tracking parameters.
- You insert the link on your website.
- A user clicks on the link on your website and proceeds to buy the retailer’s product.
- You earn a commission from the sale.
Advertisers are constantly looking out for affiliates they can partner with to spread the word about their products. You can find them on dedicated affiliate ad networks or reach out to retailers directly.
A smart way to earn income this way is to write a product review and include your affiliate links throughout it. When someone reads the review, they might be interested in buying the product and follow your link to do that, then you get a commission.
Ensure you promote products that are relevant to your target audience. Irrelevant promotions will likely not convert into a sale. For example, a gadget review blog should not be promoting makeup products.
To Contents ↑Display ads for blogs to earn money
Display advertising is a common and proven method to make money blogging. You can earn significant amounts by allowing brands to place graphic advertisements on your website. These ads incorporate eye-catching visuals and have a call-to-action button leading to the advertiser’s website. The key is to show ads relevant to your target audience.
Display ads come in many forms, including:
To Contents ↑Banners
Banners are clickable ads that appear in a static position, usually at the top, bottom, or side of the page. They can be image or video ads with a hyperlink to the advertiser’s website. You can charge brands for each ad view or click.
Source: Bloomberg.com
Popunders
A Popunder is a creative ad format that appears behind the user’s browser tab. The user only notices the ad after closing their browser tab, making it less disruptive than other ad formats. Popunders are effective because they don’t distract the viewer while they’re still reading your posts: they only appear after the user is done with the post and wants to close it.
Social Bar
Social Bar ads appear like push notifications on a web page. You can place them in any position on your website and customize their appearance to match your website’s theme. Social Bar ads are effective when they look neat and are optimized for both desktop and mobile displays.
In-Page Push ads
In-Page Push ads also resemble push notifications. The difference is that they’re displayed at a specific position, unlike Social Bars, which you can place anywhere on the page. In-Page Push ads are good at capturing the viewer’s attention, leading to higher conversions and revenue.
Native ads
Native ads are unique for resembling your blog’s content. They blend in very well with your website, such that the viewer might not even notice it is an ad. Native ads are very effective because they resemble your website’s original content, making them effective at generating blogging revenue.
Source: Entrepreneur.com
Interstitial Ads
Interstitial ads are full-screen ads covering the whole webpage. Viewers always notice an Interstitial ad, making them very effective at earning revenue. However, Interstitial ads should only be placed after specific user actions, e.g., clicking a link or scrolling between pages. Randomly placing Interstitial ads can ruin your blog’s user experience, so avoid it.
Selling digital or physical products
You can make money blogging by selling physical or digital products to your audience. The key is selling products related to your niche. For example, a fashion blogger can sell clothing and accessories or fashion-related courses to their audience. A successful case study on this monetization method comes from Into The Gloss, a popular makeup blog. After gaining a large following, it began selling branded makeup products to its readers. That business morphed into Glossier, a popular beauty products retailer with nearly $200 million annual revenue.
If you run a digital marketing blog, you can create and sell courses that teach people how to be effective digital marketers. You can also write an e-book on the same topic and market it to your readers.
Popular blogs regularly host virtual workshops for their readers to come together and learn from industry experts. This is just another example of selling a digital product to earn income, and the amount you can make from this can be considerably higher than what you will make from advertising.
To Contents ↑How to launch your first online course?
The first step of launching online courses is choosing the topic you want to focus on. Some topics within your niche are more popular than others, so beware of the competition you will face. After choosing a topic, the next step is to choose a format for your online courses. It could be a mini-course that takes a few hours to complete, a multi-day course, or a professional masterclass that takes weeks to months.
After choosing the format, you should create the required content for your online courses. Advertise the online courses to your readers before launching so that they can anticipate something from you. You may test the course with a small group of readers before launching it to a wide audience. If done well, it can help you build a profitable blog.
To Contents ↑Consulting/сoaching
This may not be conducive for everyone, but another way to earn money blogging is by offering consultation and coaching services to your readers. Let’s say, you run a popular interior design blog. As an expert in the sector, you can charge money for consulting sessions for people who want to design their homes. Depending on your niche, you can make hundreds to thousands of dollars from this.
If you choose this method, it is advisable to advertise your consulting services right on the blog where readers will see them. It takes only a little percentage of them to convert into customers to earn considerable money.
To Contents ↑Sponsored reviews
Almost everyone has read one product review or the other but may not be aware that a review they read was actually sponsored by the product’s manufacturer. Bloggers can charge money to review specific products related to their niche. For instance, if you run a beauty & makeup blog, you are free to charge brands a fee to review their products.
Brands are willing to pay top dollar for this service because it brings exposure to them. On your end, it gives you the chance to demonstrate new products to your audience and keep them engaged. How much you will charge for a sponsored review depends on your level of traffic and the engagement of your audience. But, do not be afraid to demand as much as you think you are worth.
To Contents ↑Run campaigns for brands
If your blog becomes popular, some brands may get in touch with you to run campaigns and get exposed to your audience. Similarly, you can reach out to brands to see if they are interested in advertising campaigns.
The brand can choose the ad formats they want, or you can work together with their staff to see what works best. After all, it is your blog and you are more familiar with your audience than they are.
Some brands may like your website enough and demand to be an exclusive advertiser for a specific period. Either way, it is wise to put in as much effort to ensure the success of the ad campaign. Positive results can make more advertisers knock on the door.
Adsterra supports multiple ad formats that give rich opportunities to monetize your website, including Banners, Native ads, Popunders, In-Page Push, etc. across various niches, such as iGaming, Utilities, VPN, Social & Dating, and more.
To Contents ↑Offer paid subscriptions
Paid subscriptions are a creative way of making money with a blog. Here, you monetize your audience directly by charging readers to access specific content. You can continue to post regular content that anyone can read and have a separate premium section only available to paid subscribers.
The main advantage of this model is that subscription revenue tends to be stable. It also makes it easy to forecast how much revenue you are expecting as the number of paid subscribers grows. However, this model is only suitable if you have built a large following with free content and garnered some loyal readers willing to pay for more. If you adopt this model with a new blog, it will likely be unsuccessful.
To Contents ↑Conclusion
Blogging is one of the best ways to make money online while doing something you enjoy. We have explained how to make money from a blog and maximize your income from each strategy.
Making money from blogging is not a one-day job. You will have to spend considerable time and effort growing your audience before generating worthwhile income. However, if successful, you will look back and smile at your efforts. Adsterra is an excellent ad network to monetize your blog from the start and earn more revenue as you get higher traffic.
To Contents ↑How to generate income from blogging — FAQs
You don’t need a specific amount of views to make money blogging. You can start when your traffic is small and build your revenue alongside your traffic. Adsterra doesn’t have any minimum traffic level before you start monetizing your website. However, the higher the traffic levels, the more money you can make, especially in a high-value niche.
The time it takes to make money blogging depends on several factors, including niche, content quality, and your marketing efforts. However, it generally takes at least 6 to 12 months to start earning significant income from a blog. Blogging is a long-term commitment, not a get-rich-quick route.
It’s not mainly the niche but the ad format that defines whether a blog earns good money. The niche plays a significant role in monetization but what’s more important is targeted work over content and ad formats. Good content paired with high-demand niches like iGaming, Software, and VPN empowers you to earn good revenue via Adsterra.
You don’t need any credentials or experience to be a blogger. You can start it regardless of your age and professional experience, learning the ins and outs of blogging with time. Blogging has few barriers to entry.
You can make money blogging even with small traffic. However, small traffic limits the chances for an average blogger to earn significant income. The goal should be to grow your traffic as much as possible and to monetize your audience effectively.
