How to make money blogging

Sponsored posts, ad sharing, affiliate marketing and more

How to make money blogging

Are you wondering how to make money blogging? Yes, you certainly can. Whether you're a pro writer or a budding blogger, if you've got great topics and a killer voice, there are people looking to pay you for your skills. But remember, blogging isn't a get-rich-quick scheme — it requires strategy and effort.

How to make money blogging

Write sponsored posts.

Try affiliate marketing.

Become a virtual assistant blogger.

Blog regularly for a bigger company.

Join networks that do ad sharing.

Join Google AdSense.

From sponsored posts to affiliate marketing, here's how to make money blogging. Let's dive in!

Write sponsored posts for your own website

Writing sponsored posts can be a really lucrative deal. Sponsored posts are articles you write, either for your own blog or someone else's site, about some product, service or company. There's a couple ways to get into sponsored posts.

1. Potential sponsors contact you.

Sponsors might contact you, either through outreach programs or of their own volition, to request posts for specific audiences. They'll contact you and work out a rate, but keep in mind that some sponsors offer free items in exchange for work.

2. You create a page for sponsors to request a media kit containing your rates, your traffic stats and what you can offer.

Media kits let interested parties know that you mean business. You look polished and professional, and you don't have to worry about the headache of negotiating a price with sponsors.

Here are a few places for doing sponsored posts and getting paid for it:

And here are some unexpected sources for sponsored blog posts.

3. Become part of a blogger opportunities or outreach program.

There are a lot of different programs available to bloggers to get them exposed to other brands. Here's a list to start:

Try affiliate marketing Try your hand at affiliate marketing with eBay Partner Network.

With affiliate marketing, you sell other people's products and services while enjoying a percentage of the sales. The key here is not to force it — if you have a blog that talks about items, say tech gadgets, you can make suggestions to your readers without coming across as overbearing.

There are a bunch of different affiliate marketing programs for a wide variety of niches.

If you do some research into how to make money blogging, you might be able to find affiliate programs that fit your blog. For those of you new to the concept, here are a few you can join with different affiliate programs available:

Become a virtual assistant blogger for another blog site or sell articles to other websites

Being a virtual assistant blogger gives you the freedom to work for one or several blogs on either a per-article price or per-hour rate. Bloggers are always looking to fuel their blog with more content in order to make sure their site looks active. A virtual blogging assistant is perfect for these scenarios. Often, it's referred to as "ghost blogging" and you don't receive author credit. Here's how to find them:

1. Visit job boards or forums to look for bloggers seeking ghost writers.

You'll likely have to submit work so the blog owner can determine if your voice is congruent with the blog's style. Read this post to learn even more about ghost blogging.

2. Write some articles and sell them. Check out Constant Content if you're in the market for selling articles.

Pre-writing articles for sale can give you a leg up when it comes to securing funds. Talk to bloggers about your posts and determine whether you'll offer re-written versions or sell exclusively. Most of the time, they'll opt for the latter to reduce the chances of duplicate content elsewhere.

Pro tip: Consider creating a page or section on your blog with a list of article titles for sale. If you don't sell them, you can always submit them as a contributor to widen your appeal in the long run.

Check out these options for selling articles when you're researching how to make money blogging:

Read this article to learn more about earning cash from freelance writing gigs.

Get hired to blog regularly for a bigger company

Getting hired to blog for a company can help you bring in a regular paycheck. Some companies will pay top dollar for excellent articles. It can earn you a few hundred dollars depending on the size of the article and whether or not the company asks you to promote the post on your social network handles.

Although some companies invite bloggers into their network, there are others that post job listings. Here's a few places to keep in mind if you'd like to get a job blogging for a company:

Pro tip: Have a specific company in mind? Head over to their website and look for contributor submission guidelines. This is what they look like on the GoDaddy blog.

Join networks that do ad sharing HubPages is a well-known platform where bloggers come together to get creative.

Ad sharing allows networks to host platforms for bloggers to publish their content while making money. When an ad that's tied to your article within their network is clicked on or viewed, you get a small percentage. Payout times vary, so keep your budget in mind.

Here are a few ad sharing networks for bloggers:

Join Google AdSense or other ad networks

If you want to do more than subbing work to other ad sharing platforms, consider hosting ad networks on your site. Ads can be links, banners or even video, and the potential for passive income from clicks is viable. Just remember: it can take time to earn a payout, especially if your blog doesn't receive a lot of traffic.

Ad networks are picky. They like sites with a good amount of content and usually steer clear of brand-new websites. Here are a few to check out:

One word of warning: Avoid making your blog too spammy. No one wants to read a blog that's filled with ads that are unrelated to the content they're interested in.

Hopefully this list of resources will help you learn how to make money blogging. Just keep in mind what I said earlier — this type of work isn't a get-rich-quick deal. All options listed above involve blogging or creating content. Good luck, happy blogging, and I hope you make lot of cash!

Also published on Medium.

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