Imagine yourself at a wedding—a bustling event with hundreds of attendees. Despite the number of attendees, your eye would rest on the best dressed among them—the ones wearing bright colors, those with amazing accessories, and quaint hairdos. If you had to put your money on the most popular person, it would certainly be on a well-dressed person.
This formula holds in the virtual world, too; it tells a lot about how to start a blog and make money. A well-designed blog is the first step to making money out of it. So, if you are planning on starting a blog or have already embarked on that journey, this article offers some ideas on how you can make money from it and be more presentable and stylish.
20 “Legit” Ways of Making Money from Blogging
If you have a blog that’s up and running, then here are ways to make some money on it.
1. Affiliate marketing
Think of it as a virtual referral scheme. If you have a product or a service that you already use and believe that your friends and followers can benefit from using it, then consider signing up for an affiliate program. Several online portals like Amazon have affiliate programs that you can sign up for.
2. Paid reviews
If you are comfortable writing product or service reviews, this would be right up your alley! You can approach companies directly and offer to do paid online reviews or look up sites that are looking for reviewers. It’s a win-win deal for you.
3. Become a paid speaker
Whatever your chosen area, it is important to be regular with your blogs to build a following. You can then leverage this influential position by taking paid public speaking gigs.
4. Display Google Ads on your blog
The question, “How to Earn Money By Blogging for Beginners?” has no definite answer, but ads can be a great place to start. This is also perhaps the easiest way to be blogging for money.
Google provides a ready script that you can incorporate into your blog. This works on a cost-per-click model. So, anytime a visitor to your site clicks on the ad, you receive a fixed amount.
5. Write sponsored posts
This works if you blog about something that has mass appeal – for example, a television show or a restaurant. You can approach the prospect with the complete stats of your blog.
Include details like the profile of your visitors, how many visitors you get per day, the topics that you regularly write about, etc. Once you have convinced the client, you can agree on the regular fee and get started.
6. Create exclusive paid content
If you’re not interested in ads or sponsorships, you might want to consider creating unique and exclusive content that you can offer at a premium. Give only paid members access to your content. Do this only if you are confident in creating truly exceptional content regularly.
7. Become a solution provider
Be where a large community of your followers comes to find answers. Create a user-generated Q&A platform – like Quora. Once a sizeable number of people come to your space to get their queries answered, you can start monetizing through ads and sponsorships.
8. Write and sell an ebook
It’s a great idea to put your thoughts down as an ebook and offer it to your visitors for a fee. Remember, your content has to be top-notch for your followers to want to pay and download it. Alternatively, you can offer them a free ebook for signing up for your blog.
9. Start an advisory service
If you are blogging about a niche topic, your expertise would be in demand. Why not monetize this knowledge? Offer phone or online consultancy and charge by the hour.
10. Become a coach
If you are not keen on consulting, you can consider paid one-on-one coaching on your chosen subject. This way, you can ensure that your knowledge gets transferred to someone who is just as passionate about you on the subject.
11. Run sponsored contests
Once you have enough followers, you can find organizations willing to sponsor gifts for your contests. It is a great way to create a buzz on your site, plus the sponsors can get plenty of leads out of it – make it a winning deal for everyone concerned.
12. Sell your produce
If you, for instance, blog about organic farming, you can use your blog to sell your fresh produce. You only need to incorporate ecommerce functionality into your blog. Alternatively, you can create exciting merchandise that reflects your niche topic and sell.
13. Conduct webinars
In addition to being a great blog content writer, if you are also a great speaker, you could consider holding paid webinars in your area of expertise.
14. Build a job board
If you blog about a niche topic, it would be a great idea to build a job board within your blog. If your blog enjoys a great following, prospective employers would be eager to share details of their talent requirements.
15. Sell paid digital resources
Create readily applicable tools, templates, and resources on your chosen topic and offer them for a fee on your blog.
16. Sell products and services
Wondering how to create a blog for free and make money? Create products and services around the theme of your blog and sell them. If you have an impressive following, you will sell well.
17. Offer to write for a fee
Businesses are constantly looking for good writers to get content written. If you think you write well in your niche, offer freelance writing services to interested buyers.
18. Launch a private forum
You can also create a private forum for paid members. Forums allow your audience to receive one-on-one guidance from you, and the members can also help each other through interactions.
Although moderating forums can be time-consuming, a paid forum can help you make recurring income from your site. This is, in fact, one of the best ways to earn money from a blog as an influencer.
19. Accept donation requests
For those who ask, “How to Blog and Make Money?” donations could be an answer. If you offer valuable courses for free on topics such as advanced painting techniques or High School Mathematics, people might be interested in supporting your channel. Ask for donations proactively, or accept donations when followers insist.
20. Build business partnerships
Your audience base expands when your blog grows. The chances of receiving business partnership requests are higher when there is a larger audience. Seek opportunities for collaborations and ensure that your business goals align with your partner’s.
How to Start a Blog and Make Money: Examples of Blog Post Styling
There are many ways in which you can be blogging for money and make it a profitable venture. But, do remember that it does call for a lot of hard work and consistent effort on your part.
Before you start thinking of a way to monetize your blog, ensure that it looks visually appealing to your readers. Below are some basic design touches and flourishes that you can add to your blog.
1. Prominent and attractively presented headlines
It’s the first thing your visitors see, so make it compelling.
2. Header images
In addition to that awesome headline, make sure you use an image that piques the readers’ interest.
3. Discreet breadcrumbs
Get the SEO and site navigation advantage by leaving a discreet breadcrumb trail.
4. Unobtrusive Metadata
It is important to present details like date, time, last edited, etc. subtly.
5. Use Drop Caps
Drop caps are a simple, elegant, and effective way to grab your readers’ attention.
6. Make your introductory text pop
Ensure that the first para states what the blog is about and make it stand out by using a larger font.
7. Use the right fonts
While you need to use web-friendly fonts, it’s a good idea to use a font that conveys the emotion of your headlines, subheads, and content.
8. Social sharing buttons
This is a great way to make your content shareable on social media platforms. It is essential to place social sharing buttons in a prominent position.
9. Use subheadings that stand out
Subheadings help make your content easier to scan through. They should be styled to stand out and break your content for better readability. A good subheading is the same as an image in a post.
10. An inviting comments section
You can interact with your audience and create great relationships through the comments section. With a well-customized comments section, you can also ensure retention and repeat visits. Style it in a visually appealing way and make sure the layout makes it easy to follow the conversation.
11. Entice visitors with related posts
A list of related posts at the bottom of your blog is a great way to get people to stay on your site. You should add the title and the post image of every related post in this area to incite curiosity.
12. Grab attention with block quotes
Blockquotes are ideally used to display quotes from the content or an external source. However, some sites now use this formatting to grab attention and get visitors to scroll down the whole post.
13. Bullets for improved readability
Bullets can help writers organize and highlight information quickly and effectively. Bullets allow readers to quickly identify key areas of information on the site and make it easier to search for relevant sub-topics.
14. Make the call to action area pop
Your call to action (CTA) is a chance to get your audience to make real progress towards becoming a client or customer. Its effectiveness determines whether you will generate leads or conversions. According to some experts, a call to action is the most important aspect of a website or advertising campaign.
15. Uniformity in the color scheme
A consistent color scheme is an important aspect of a well-designed blog site. It is fascinating to see how consistency in color can unify even diverse elements of a design.
16. Use attractive images
Besides making your blog visually appealing, images help grab traffic. However, to use images for SEO, they need to be optimized.
17. Maintain uniformity in image size
Symmetry and uniformity in the arrangement of elements in a blog instantly make visitors want to stick around. It’s important to size your images uniformly to achieve a cleaner look.
18. Incorporate videos if possible
According to 68% of marketers, videos offer a better ROI than ads. So, it’s easy to deduce why they are so vital for your blog.
19. Appropriate use of white space
White space is an empty space between and around elements of a page. It does not have to be white and can be any color. White space is important in blog design as it can be used to draw attention to specific areas.
20. Minimalism is everything
You might be tempted to add a lot of bling to your blog to make it more attractive. But readers like designs that are soothing to the eyes. Keeping things simple is the way to go.
21. Have a “contact us” page
This page provides the most fundamental information about you to your prospective customers.
22. Neatly organized content
No matter how much content your blog has, it should be well-organized to prevent confusion among visitors.
23. A professional-looking post author area
Make this area stand out with a catchy design— this is where your visitors get to learn about you.
Conclusion
Starting a blog is the first step in a long process. To monetize it, you need to put in effort not just in its content but also in various other aspects ranging from design, sponsorship, ads, and more. Use these tips to get your dream blog going now that you know how to make money blogging.
FAQs
A beginner can earn between $300 and $400 per month. For a person with experience, the earnings can go beyond $3000.
The fastest way to make money from blogging is to have multiple income streams. You need diverse monetization techniques for faster income generation. This can be from posting ads and publishing affiliate links on your site to selling merchandise and offering paid consultations.
According to a source, the top 10 subjects you can make money from blogging are personal finance, advice on online money making, health and fitness, food, fashion, lifestyle, news and politics, DIY/craft, and entertainment.
Here is a step-by-step guide to starting a free blog and earning money:
Step 1: Create an account on any free blogging platform
Step 2: Select a unique name for your blog
Step 3: Customize the blog as per need
Step 4: Write and publish content
Step 5: Apply for AdSense. You can start earning once your account gets approved
Step 6: As your audience grows, you can focus on various monetization techniques, including those discussed above.
It is important to choose a flexible blogging platform with room for growth. Even if you are starting a blog just for fun, it’s smart to think about the possibility of making money in the future.
Latest Blogs
Free AI tools for content creation simplify content strategies, streamline operations, and enhance productivity for businesses of all sizes.
Learn how AI content funnels help a lead generation specialist convert visitors into loyal clients with personalized, scalable strategies that drive conversions.
A copy assistant can streamline your writing process by providing insightful suggestions, correcting errors, and generating compelling content.
Get your hands on the latest news!
Similar Posts
Artificial Intelligence
Top AI Blog Writing Tools for Website Monetization
Blogging
How to Start a Successful Food Blog in 2022
Blogging