5 tips to make money from your blog
Back when you started your blog, you must have thought that you were going to make some money from it. However, your chances of getting rich actually depend on how your blog is set up – and, of course, the number of visitors it attracts. But even if your main purpose is to share your knowledge through your blog, it is always nice to earn some money from it. Here are a few ways to monetize your blog.
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1. Automated ads through advertising platforms
If you post ads on your blog, advertisers will reward you. This can be per 'view', meaning every time an ad is shown to a visitor, or per 'click', meaning when a visitor actually clicks on the ad.
Looking for an advertiser yourself usually requires a lot of time and effort. It is therefore advisable to have recourse to an advertiser's network. This network will then automatically fill the spaces you provide for advertising on your blog with advertisements and will also process the payment of your earnings.
The most famous and largest advertising network is, of course, Google AdSense, which places ads based on keywords that appear in your texts. It is very easy to use and also provides extensive insight into your number of visitors.
In concrete terms: Join an advertising platform, and create ad spaces on your blog. The advertising platform will then provide you with a piece of code that you have to add to your blog. Once this has been done, visitors who come to your blog will be able to see the ads that your blog will automatically fetch from the advertising platform in order to show them to your visitors.
2. Affiliate programs: commissions for referring visitors
When you recommend a certain brand or product in your blog, you can make a deal with the seller of that brand or product. This way, you will get a commission for each visitor you refer. This commission is sometimes paid per user who visits the website of the seller, and other times it is paid when the visitor actually makes a purchase.
If your blog focuses on a very specific product or service, it is easier for you to make agreements directly with the company that offers the product or service in question. And if your blog covers a very wide range of products or services, it is preferable to work with an affiliate program that offers you a wide choice of companies that are willing to pay commission for referrals. Renowned affiliate programs include Amazon, Shopify and eBay.
In concrete terms: Whether you choose to work through an affiliate program or deal directly with providers, the principle is the same. The provider will give you a unique code that you can e.g. add to the link of a photo of the product. When your visitor visits the website of the seller via this link, the latter will know that the visitor was referred by your blog.
3. Donation platforms are your virtual tip jar
Even if you do not use your blog to sell products and/or services, but rather focus on sharing your knowledge, you can still make some money from your blog. Because your visitors may want to thank you for your efforts. And that can be done using a virtual tip jar – a donation platform. There, your visitors can donate any amount of money to you.
Your visitors are free to decide on the amount they give you – this can be a big one-off donation, but it may be more profitable to encourage your visitors to automatically make a small weekly or monthly financial contribution – as little as 2 or 5 euros. That makes it easier for people to donate, and great oaks from little acorns grow, right? To thank your contributors, you can then create special content that only they can access.
The best-known donation platform is Patreon, which enables you to automatically send e-mails to your contributors, with a link to the extra content you created to reward them. Other platforms include Buy me a Coffee or Memberful.
In concrete terms: Join a donation platform, and specify your financial account to which the contributions should be deposited. You will then receive a code that will add a button to your blog, on which your visitors can click to be redirected to your account on the donation platform. The platform will transfer the money to your account on a regular basis, but will charge a commission, which may vary from 5% to 12% or more depending on the chosen platform. Some platforms also require you to pay a membership fee.
4. Provide additional content such as an e-book
Another way to make money from your blog, without having to lock it behind a payment wall, is to provide extra content, such as an e-book that covers a particular subject in more depth. If you have a blog about health, you can e.g. offer fitness videos for a fee, in addition to your standard tips. On your blog about musical instruments, you can also offer paid lessons for those who want to play a certain instrument, etc. Here are a few platforms that will help you out (and that are very easy to integrate into your WordPress blog): FetchApp and Gumroad.
In concrete terms: Join an e-commerce platform and upload your e-book or any other digital content to the platform. You will then be provided with a button that you will have to add to your blog. When your visitor will pay the agreed amount to the platform via the button, the platform will send a code to your visitor, who will then be able to download the extra content.
5. Merchandising is also an option
If you run a successful blog, your visitors will often form a close community – and will somehow want to show that they belong to that community. You can take advantage of this by selling merchandising – fun stuff like mugs, T-shirts, calendars, and more – with the logo and/or the byline of your blog, or a strong statement that makes your blog famous.
You might think that you will have to design everything yourself and that you will have to constantly go to the post office to drop off the parcels. But services such as Teespring and Merch by Amazon actually take care of the whole process for you: from production of the goods to delivery to your visitor.
In concrete terms: Join a merchandising platform and design your product: choose the type of product (mug, T-shirt, cap, etc.) and personalise it. On your blog, post a link to your page on the platform. When your visitor places an order and pays for it, the platform will personalise the goods and send them to your visitor. And you will receive a commission on those sales.
And finally, a few tips for making your blog a huge success
You got it: the revenue generated through your blog depends mainly on the number of visitors you attract, not forgetting their commitment, i.e. the extent to which they feel involved in your blog. Here are some tips to achieve this:
- Make sure your content is consistent. Always use the same tone – light-hearted or serious, for example.
- Your tone of voice is also key: is it casual or formal when speaking to your visitors? An older audience will always prefer a slightly more polite approach. But whatever your choice, make sure you stick to it throughout your blog!
- Also keep consistency in your publication frequency, i.e. the number of posts you publish per week. Because Google will take this into account. If you usually post 3 messages a day, and then skip a few days, Google will assume that your website has crashed and will rank it lower in search result listings. Fortunately, WordPress, for example, allows you to easily plan your postings a few days in advance.
You can also read: 3 ways to reach more readers with your blog
Are you eager to start your own blog and make money from it as well? Remember this: Combell installs your blog environment for you, so that you can get started right away. And with our Managed WordPress, we even relieve you of all the worries you might have about the technical side of things.
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