How to Monetize Your Blog From Day One: 17 Easy Ways to Make Money Blogging
Did you know that understanding how to monetize your blog from day one can change everything for you or your business?
Yes, it’s true! Because if you can make money blogging, your content marketing can not only increase your potential leads, but also your monthly income.
When you begin to understand all the different ways to make money with your blog, your recurring revenue can bring in some serious cash.
I’ll spill all the beans on how you can make money blogging and attract new and loyal readers.
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How to Make Money Blogging
I bet you’re excited to learn how to make some bucks with your blog, right?
Well, I’ve got your back!
Bramework is here to guide you through the ins and outs of monetizing your blog.
We’re all about helping you blog smarter and faster, and we’re pros at helping you turn your content into cash.
Ready to find out in detail how to start making money with your blog?
Well, keep reading for 17 easy ways to make money blogging.
Your blog is the biggest money magnet if you know how to monetize it! Check out these 15 ways to start making money off your blog, right NOW!☝️via @Bramework #blogginghelp #monetizeyourblog Click To Tweet1. Affiliate Marketing
Can you imagine your blog becoming the superstar of your business strategy?
Bramework knows how to help you make the most of your content when it comes to learning how to monetize your blog from day one.
One of the ways we recommend you start is by implementing affiliate marketing, which is a brilliant way to make money blogging.
If you haven’t tried affiliate marketing yet, now’s the time to learn more about it.
What is affiliate marketing?
According to BigCommerce, affiliate marketing is the process by which an affiliate earns a commission for marketing another person’s or company’s products.
I like to search for a product I enjoy, then promote that product on my blog so I can earn a commission from each sale that my readers make.
Sales are tracked through my affiliate links from my blog to the company’s site.
Want to try affiliate marketing for your blog?
Affiliate marketing can more than double your monthly recurring revenue if you incorporate it into your blog.
In fact, you can start to make money blogging with affiliate marketing in three steps:
- Sign up to be affiliate partners with all the tools you use, recommend or refer out.
- Encourage reciprocal affiliate partnerships with others, introducing yourself or including them in your content.
- Include your unique affiliate links in your content whenever, or wherever you can! Encourage your partners to do the same.
If you are a large company looking to outsource affiliate marketing to an awesome team, check out A is for Affiliate.
They have a killer program to make you money without you lifting a finger!
Join Bramework’s Affiliate Program and start earning money TODAY!
2 . Add Advertisements
Embedding ads to your blog might not be your favorite idea, but it can actually be quite lucrative.
When you add paid advertisements (or even unpaid!) to your blog, it may increase your monthly recurring revenue.
Just be sure to choose partners you trust and recommend.
Here are a few ways you can add advertisements to your blog without turning your visitors away:
- Ensure the ads fit seamlessly into your content so your readers have a good user experience.
- Place ads in places on your blog that you know your readers will get value out of them, such as the sidebar and in-between content on your posts and pages.
- Add footer ads to the bottom of your blogs where the reader can scroll to get additional information.
Using these tips will make your ads stand out and convert your readers into buyers.
3. Email Marketing
You might be thinking, “Wait, how does email marketing help me make money blogging?”
Email marketing has a LOT to do with your blog.
Once you’ve got even a small number of email subscribers, you can start building brand awareness with your audience.
Here’s a breakdown of how it all works:
- Provide value to your subscribers with your blog content.
- Include a crucial CTA (call to action) in every blog post.
- Offer something valuable to obtain email addresses.
- Fill subscribers’ inboxes with helpful resources.
By obtaining email addresses from my own blog post, I’ve seen the value in building a loyal fanbase — and I don’t want to let them down!
If you are anything like me, I learn best by seeing an example.
To help you better understand how email marketing works, take a look at Bramework’s CTA.
We are offering a free blog writing checklist, along with obtaining an email address.
Now, how do we monetize this? It’s simple:
- Provide ongoing value through valuable blogging resources.
- Gauge reader interest using click and open rates.
- Create offerings based on readers’ interests.
One email obtained could be a customer for life and all of that came from your blog!
Let me tell you, it’s a game-changer!
You may need to rethink your blog monetization strategy if you haven’t started email marketing yet.
If you offer a valuable CTA, you gain a loyal fan! You can then offer them a lifetime of value. Your blog is the circle of life.
4. Offer Free E-Books
Did you know you can monetize your blog from day one with freebies?
Yes, free stuff can be money-makers too!
This is one of my favorite ways to make money blogging because I like to offer valuable and actionable resources —it’s a win-win and the key to success in monetizing my blog.
It works like this…
- Provide a free download, such as an e-book on your blog.
- Your readers consume the valuable content in the e-book.
- Build trust, authority, and respect with your audience through your content.
- You can expect to see that increased trust leads to higher conversion rates.
If it’s done right, the hope is you will gain a loyal customer.
Bramework put together a free ebook on Boosting Your Website Ranking and Traffic.
We offer it as part of our blog, our newsletter, and on the sidebars of our content. We also include it in various areas of our website.
Give it a download and let us know what you think!
5. Sell Online Courses
Teaching others what you know is a fantastic way to make money through your blog.
I have found that teaching positions you as a guru in your niche, while helping others along the way.
So, here’s the scoop…
Once you’ve done the groundwork, such as defining, analyzing, and implementing your keywords, you can figure out what your audience is eager to learn.
From my own personal experience, I can gauge interest and make money blogging by selling an online course that’s embedded in any blog post.
Sounds easy right? That part definitely is!
You then just have to actually create the course by:
- Outline your course topic into modules or lessons
- Create ways to engage various learning styles (i.e., visual or auditory)
- Pre-record your videos and prepare written content based on your outline
- Find a learning management system (LMS) that can integrate a payment system so your audience can purchase the course.
We aren’t the experts here and don’t pretend to be!
Check out this in-depth guide to create and sell online courses in 2020 by Thinkific for help with that.
6. Sell Digital Products
Do you enjoy creating digital goodies or have an interest in learning how?
If so, you have the ability to sell digital products on your blog by creating content and selling related digital products that bring value to your audience.
What is the definition of a digital product?
A digital product is a type of product that is created and distributed in a digital format, which means it’s available electronically rather than in a physical form.
Some common digital products I’ve seen on blogs include:
- E-books
- Software
- Printables
- Stock photos
- Memberships
- Virtual courses
- Premium content
- Website templates
- WordPress themes
- WordPress plugins
- Music or audio files
- Graphic design files
- Other digital assets
Let’s break down some of the reasons you should make money blogging with digital products:
- Reason #1: Selling digital products has a high-income potential, small start-up costs and the ability to reach customers worldwide — which I would call a winning trifecta!
- Reason #2: Digital products are relatively low maintenance as there is no inventory to maintain.
- Reason #3: Offering these digital products in your content is a quick and easy way to learn how to monetize your blog from day one.
Now you just have to create them or partner with the right people to offer them.
Join the Bramework Facebook Community TODAY!
7. Offer Coaching Services
Calling all coaches!
If you’re an expert in your field, you can begin offering coaching to your blog readers.
How does this work? Well, if you feel you have what it takes to …
- Provide expert advice
- Help your audience learn
- Teach your audience a skill you know
… can begin selling coaching services on your blog!
I got started offering coaching services on my blog by writing posts about the value potential clients can expect when working with me.
By sharing your own knowledge and making a commitment to help others in a 1-to-1 or group coaching program, you can significantly boost your income.
The important thing to remember is that you need to start somewhere, and that could happen right on your blog.
Pretty soon your coaching client sports will be filling up, as well as your bank account!
For more information, check out the Work at Home Woman for help on selling courses the right way.
8. Secure Sponsorships
Sponsorships can make or break a business at times! Without sponsorships, events wouldn’t even happen.
But, what is a sponsorship?
According to EventsandSponsors.com sponsors can be …
- Companies
- Corporations
- Individuals
- Or brands
… that fund your event with money or resources.
What does sponsorship requesting look like?
Whether you are looking to sponsor an event or more, you can write up the value of this in a blog.
Your blog could include a testimonial on how valuable the sponsor is, what they do and how appreciative you are to have them.
You can offer quotes, images and backlinks to these sponsors in each article. What a great way to show your appreciation!
Bramework can help you write faster so you can make more money blogging.
9. Offer a Paid Membership Plan
When it comes to monetizing your blog, offering a paid membership plan is a smart move.
Here’s how you can do it:
- Charge a monthly or yearly fee for access to exclusive premium content.
- Provide the option to unlock content within a course with a one-time fee.
- Create a members-only area to host all your valuable premium content.
What I love about membership sites is that they allow you to leverage your content by offering it as a reusable asset.
Let me give an example…
Within a membership site, you can create content once and sell it to hundreds or even thousands of students for years to come.
Membership sites can also be totally automated.
Again, this all ties back to your blog because you would create articles about the value of these memberships that are open to your audience regularly.
10. Launch a Virtual Summit
Want a fun way to make money blogging? Host a virtual summit!
If you’ve never heard of a virtual summit, the experts at AdEspresso describe a virtual summit as a collaborative online event in which speakers are interviewed by a host.
It’s like an online conference with a collection of digital presentations from 6 to 30+ experts on a topic.
Launching a virtual summit can be a lot of work but has a huge payout!
For example, if you …
- Create content around educating your audience
- Provide a service or skill set that your audience can purchase
- And have a lot of partnerships, collaborations, or sponsorships
… a virtual summit could be a great way to make a splash.
If you can rally the troops and create premium content around this virtual summit, go for it!
Hosting a virtual event like this takes time and dedication, so be sure you have both if you want to launch your own.
11. Accept Donations
Are you afraid to ask for donations on your website? Don’t worry, you aren’t alone.
Accepting donations is an effective strategy for bloggers to generate additional income and support their ongoing content creation efforts.
Be sure to explore various methods and best practices for accepting donations on your blog ensuring that you can seamlessly and effectively receive monetary support from your readers.
Not sure where to start? Here are some ideas:
- Consider which platform you should use to receive donations, with popular options being PayPal, BuyMeACoffee, and Patreon.
- Clearly communicate how the funds will be used to support your blog or the specific cause you’re advocating for.
- Highlight the positive impact of donations by sharing testimonials or stories from previous donors.
- Express gratitude to your donors by sending personalized thank-you messages or featuring donor acknowledgments on your blog or social media channels.
- Regularly track and analyze your donation performance to identify areas for improvement.
12. Start a Podcast
This is a fun one!
Start a podcast to help make money through your blog — because who doesn’t love a good podcast? I do!
But, let’s be honest, starting a podcast and blogging is a big job!
If you are ready for the challenge, you will need the right …
- Tools
- Network
- And time
… to learn how to monetize your blog from day one.
Once you have the building blocks in place, you can promote your podcast through your content over and over.
Not sure where to start?
You should definitely consult the experts on this one.
Pat Flynn is a podcaster that has been around for years teaching people the basics of how to start.
Here is a great video on “How to Start a Podcast” by Pat Flynn that has all the details.
The wonderful thing about podcasts is you can write about your podcasts weekly, monthly or quarterly and add that into your content calendar.
You can also build partnerships through podcasting consistently.
13. Offer a Paid Link Exchange
Link exchanges can be lucrative if you do them correctly.
If you have never heard of a link exchange, you’re in good company. I just learned about this way of monetizing a blog recently.
So, what is a paid link exchange anyway?
Let’s dive deeper into what a paid link exchange involves:
- Definition: A paid link exchange involves trading links with another website for mutual benefit.
- Benefits: Linking to high-ranking websites adds value and improves your search engine rankings.
- Establish Trust and Authority: When your blog gains trust and authority, you can offer paid link exchanges.
Power Tip: Don’t get caught in a link spam war and be sure to maintain the integrity of your blog.
If you keep creating valuable content, your rank in the search engines will raise as well.
Once you have enough trust and authority in the search engines you can offer paid link exchanges for placement in your blogs. Keep writing!
14. Include Sidebars and Widgets
Depending on the theme of your blog, you can use other areas of the page to monetize.
Whether you’re using Gutenberg, a page builder or a WordPress theme, I’ve found that you can customize your blog by leveraging sidebars and widgets with:
- Affiliate banner ads
- Downloadable content
- Paid advertisements
- Event tickets
- And more
The options are endless!
However, you don’t want to bombard your readers with too many.
Pick and choose the spacing on your blog so it doesn’t distract from your content. Make your sidebar widgets count!
For help with sidebars and widgets, WinningWP put together an epic list of the best uses, plugins and help with installations.
15. Offer Sales via Pop-ups
We all know the power of pop-ups.
I may have a love-hate relationship with them. However, we can’t deny that pop-ups are effective lead generation tools.
Enabling a pop-up on your blog with the right call to action can help monetize your blog too.
Here are some tips to make the most of using pop-ups on your blog:
- Design branded pop-ups that prompt email subscriptions, offer downloadable content, or promote services and products.
- Create visually appealing pop-ups with clear close options for an optimal user experience.
- Test different display options, triggers, and designs to gather data-driven insights and optimize pop-up performance.
There are many different ways you can add pop-ups to your blog, such as using a plugin or use a page builder with a built-in template.
Tools like Canva also help you design pop-ups to stay on brand.
Configure the right display options and the right triggers. And, always, always, always A/B test your pop-ups because data doesn’t lie!
16. Begin Freelancing
Freelancing is a great way to make money blogging and showcase your skills to potential clients.
This is what I did when I wanted to learn how to monetize my blog from day one.
Whether you’re a …
- Writer
- Video Editor
- Web developer
- Graphic designer
- Social media manager
- Or any other type of freelancer
… your blog can serve as a portfolio to demonstrate your expertise.
Here’s how you can get started as a Freelancer:
- Identify your niche to focus on the needs of your audience.
- Create a services page that includes pricing and examples of your work.
- Promote your services by sharing testimonials to build credibility.
- Network with potential clients to establish yourself among potential clients.
- Optimize your blog for SEO to increase your visibility online.
- Offer special deals or packages as you build a client base and establish long-term relationships.
Remember, freelancing requires dedication, excellent communication skills, and a commitment to delivering high-quality work.
With the right approach, you can leverage your blog to generate income through freelancing opportunities.
17. Sell Merchandise
If you have a loyal audience and a strong personal brand, selling merchandise can be a lucrative way to monetize your blog.
If you are ready to take the leap and sell “merch” on your blog, here are a few steps to get you started:
- Create branded merchandise that aligns with your brand and resonates with your audience.
- Set up an online store by using an e-commerce platform or integrating a plugin into your blog to create an online store.
- Promote your merchandise with your blog posts, social media platforms, and email newsletters.
- Offer exclusive deals, such as discounts or limited-time offers, to incentivize your audience to purchase your merchandise
- Engage with your customers through comments, social media, or email to build strong relationships.
- Collaborate with influencers or other bloggers in your niche to promote your merchandise, which can help increase your reach.
The key to successfully selling merchandise is to create products that resonate with your audience and provide value.
Building a strong brand and engaging with your audience will help you establish trust and increase sales.
Bramework Wrap-Up: Monetize your Blog
Ready to monetize your blog from day one? I know you are!
To focus more of your energy to make money blogging, you will need extra help to create content consistently!
Good news for you — Bramework can help you make more money with your blog by shortening the time it takes to create it.
We hope this article has helped you learn new ways to make money with your blog!
Good luck monetizing your blog, friends!
Image credit: unsplash.com, bramework.com
(Original Article Date: November 27, 2020/Updated by Editor on August 20, 2023)
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