5 Ways Bloggers Make Money

Updated on: by Miranda Grimm

I see a lot of people asking how bloggers make money. This topic is always interesting because there is such a wide spectrum of ideas about how and how much money bloggers make.

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I am going to reveal my top 5 ways make money blogging.

First, you should read an article I wrote previously about why you should NOT be a blogger.

 

Here are the 5 ways I make bonus money blogging:

1. Google Adsense

Look toward the top of this blog for an advertisement. I have allowed Google to place ads on my site.

Some bloggers make hundreds of dollars a month with Google Adsense, some make pennies. To make real money with Adsense you will want to research where the best places are to place your ads throughout your blog for more clicks. Obviously, the more traffic you receive, the more chances your visitors will click on the ads.

My Experience:

After 19 months of blogging- I generally receive over 1500 page views to my blog a day. I would say a normal day for me is to see 3-5 qualified clicks and I expect to see $3-6 earned a day. Some days I see a lot more, some days I see only pennies.

However, in my early days, I would rarely earn over a dollar in a day. In fact, I remember it took me eight months to reach my first $100.

 

2. Infolinks

Infolinks LogoAnother method I have found to be very rewarding is using in-text advertising with Infolinks. I wrote on this subject several months ago and you can see in that article the progression my earnings made and how closely related to traffic the earnings are.

Infolinks takes words from your posts and turns them into related links. When readers click on those links, the blog owner earns money.

My Experience:

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Currently, I expect to earn around $2.50 a day with Infolinks. Through comparisons I have made with other competing sites, Infolinks soars above all in-text advertising companies.

 

3. Affiliate Marketing

As a blogger you have an audience. An audience that trusts you and turns to you for information on your subject. So, companies offering services or products that relate will pay you to promote them.

The great thing about Affiliate marketing as a blogger is that there are thousands of companies you can sift through to find good matches and products you trust. In fact, if you contact companies you already have passion for, you may find they too offer an affiliate or referral program!

My Experience:

I recently listed the best places I knew of to find affiliate marketing companies. Since that post I have learned of several others.

One recent company focuses on women and deal focused blogs. If you check off to the right, you will see an ad for Escalate Network. Each time someone clicks on the ad on my site and registers to become an affiliate  using Escalate Network, I will earn $3.50.

Affiliate Marketing is not my main way to make money, but I do make large chunks of money from time to time. For example, I work as a blog and graphic designer. When someone is ready to make a blog, I suggest they use the same hosting company I use, which is Hostgator. Every time someone uses my Hostgator referral link, I earn $100!

Now that is easy money and good money!

 

4. Host advertising:

Buy Sell AdsOnce your site is established, you can begin to rent space on your blog! You just may have some valuable online real estate!

Companies like BuySellAds.com will allow you to list your blog’s availability and will match your blog with advertisers!

My Experience:

I have sold a lot of ad space on my site. The higher my traffic moves, the more valuable my spaces have become.

However, my charge stays much lower than the standard average just because that is how I am. I make about $15 a month for small ads on my site and $25 for larger ads. I am really picky about who I let advertise on my site so I turn down more than I accept.

I have researched what others charge and found many sites will charge over $100 for a month of advertising space!

Recently I purchased a program called OIO publishing to manage ads on my site. It allows advertisers to seamlessly submit ads, renew them and even track how successful advertising on my site is by seeing how many clicks and views their ad receives. OIO also allowed me to list my site in their database, increasing my odds of being found by advertisers who are related to my blog.

(Use Code: CRINGLE-WAHA to save $10 through the month of January on the OIO Publishing Program)

 

5. Sponsored Posts

blogsvertiseCompanies like Blogsvertise will pay you to write a post reviewing their products, services, sites etc…  The blogger is expected to give their honest opinion and also to state to the readers that the post is a sponsored post.

There are several companies who match bloggers with sponsors. Signing up for them is easy and you can find out quickly if your blog matches any of their advertisers.

My Experience:

I actually do not have any experience with this one yet. My blog is pretty specific and I have turned down every offer that has come my way because I don’t feel it is a good fit. But I have seen companies ready to pay as much as $50 for sponsored posts!

 

If blogging is something you would like to do to make money, you need to have passion for your subject. Blogging is not an easy way to make money. It takes a lot of time and energy to make a blog function, fill it with content, market it, maintain it and more.

Your passion for your blog will have to be what motivates you because if money is your drive, you may be disappointed. It will most likely take many months to see a return on your invested time.

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You CAN make money blogging and there are many more ways!

 

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Leisa Good

January 2, 2012 at 10:12 am

WooHoo! I am bookmarking this page. Just what I need!

Katie Jones

January 2, 2012 at 11:26 am

I totally agree that you need PASSION to continue blogging! Unless a strange force blesses you, there is no money to be made within the first couple of months of blogging. It take times and effort, but I feel like once you see that time and effort being paid off, it’s even like a stronger push to keep going! Good post 🙂

Angie

January 2, 2012 at 11:35 am

I do love my blogging money. But, I try not to become too reliant on it. It can certainly be profitable, but it can also be inconsistent. No matter what you do.

Diversification is key. Have several income streams. If possible, cover a few different topics. If one is going through a rough spell, hopefully another will pick up the slack.

Miranda Grimm

January 2, 2012 at 9:54 pm

I may just need to use your tip in my upcoming article! 🙂

Anna

January 2, 2012 at 12:29 pm

I use many of these same methods. I recently got accepted by Social Spark and I actually did get an opportunity through there that would fit with my site (although I admit most so far have not).

I think the sponsored posts tend to work best on blogs with lots of product reviews and things like that.

Adsense and Infolinks are, in my opinion, two definite must-haves! I also love the Escalate Network because you only need $25 to cash out there each month, which is a lot easier to accomplish (at least for me) than the $50 minimum most of the affiliate networks require that you have.

Great post, Miranda. It seems you have covered most of the bases!

Kindle

January 2, 2012 at 12:43 pm

I like this post and agree that you need passion to continue posting. Unfortunately, I have lost mine, but not before I used my blog as an advertising piece for my business.

I went to a community college here and offered to teach a redesign class and I thought it would be listed in the recreational category, but the Dean of instruction turned it into a trade class to my surprise… Wow! So now I can list teacher in my credentials… Plus I am getting paid ^_^

Miranda Grimm

January 2, 2012 at 9:51 pm

Interesting how we can turn our blogs into profit through unconventional ways! I have had a lot of business for my web/graphic designing service thanks to this blog!

Lisa Mills

January 2, 2012 at 2:13 pm

Ditto on blogging not being a way to make easy money. It can take years and lots of persistence and experimenting to actually make any money at it. If you don’t have patience, and you’re not willing to stick with it day in and day out for the long haul, it’s not for you.

Megan

January 3, 2012 at 3:46 pm

I love Blogsvertise. I registered a pretty empty blog there about a year ago and got around $50 in paid posts. They were easy, about 300 words, and they paid $25 each. It is definitely a great place for a small amount of (easy) money once in a while.

Traci Bell

January 5, 2012 at 12:59 pm

Great post! I love the new look here.
Blogvertise is pretty good.
I got accepted with Social Spark and a couple of others, but so far Blogvertise is the only one with regular offers.

Krystle

February 21, 2012 at 4:25 pm

Great tips! I need all that I can get. I’m just starting a blog that I will probably launch in March. I was wondering with infolinks is there a certain amount content they like to have on a blog before they will accept you?