How To Make Money From Your Blog

5.1 How blogging can be used to generate income

In this module, you will learn how to make money from your blog. If you have selected a topic that has sufficiently broad appeal and have produced high-quality content, it may be possible to monetize your website. We will look at the ways in which bloggers can make money by advertising products and services on their blogs and how a blog can be used to launch a web-based business. It is important to note that even in the best case scenario, making a lot of money in a short space of time is not a reasonable goal. It is best to view blogging as a potential side business and means of making some extra income, rather than a full-time profession.

5.2 Making money via advertising

One of the most common ways of monetizing a blog - or any kind of website - is via advertising. The basic idea is simple - you set aside some space on your blog for an advert and then join a network or scheme that connects you with people who wish to pay for advertising space online. There are three main types of adverts that bloggers can use to generate income - Cost Per Click (CPC) adverts, Cost Per Impression (CPI/CPM) adverts and private adverts.

Cost Per Click (CPC)/Pay Per Click (PPC) adverts

When you agree to host this kind of advertisement on your website, you are paid by the advertisement network, every time a visitor to your blog clicks on it. These adverts are usually presented as banners, which you can position on your blog pages. If you would like to use this method of generating revenue, start by signing up with a popular programme such as Google AdSense , media.net, infolinks. When you use one of these programmes, you do not have to deal with the advertisers yourself.

Instead, the adverts that get placed on your website will be chosen by the company you sign up with and they will also oversee your payments. These companies host ongoing online “auctions”, in which advertisers compete to buy the chance to place their adverts on webpages (including blogs) that are relevant to their products or services.

As a general rule, the higher the site quality and the more relevant it is to an advertiser's product or service, the more money they will be willing to pay the advertisement network (and by extension, the website owner) for the chance to publish their advertisements. When you join a network, you will be given exact instructions as to how you can post adverts to your blog. Typically, this involves copying and pasting a piece of code into the software you use, to create blog posts or make changes to your blog's appearance, but each company has their unique step by step guide.

The amount of money you can make by hosting CPC or PPC adverts will depend on several factors and could be as little as a few pennies per click or up to several pounds, or more. If your blog is in a popular niche in which advertisers try and sell high-end products such as luxury  items or expensive diet and exercise solutions, you can expect to earn more on average than if you are creating content centred on a less popular or profitable niche.

Another vital factor is the quality and longevity of your website. Advertisers will happily pay more to advertise on a well-established blog with long form content, compared with a new blog or one with only light content. You also need to bear in mind if you are taking part in a CPC programme that your profits will depend in no small part upon your ability to attract people to your blog who will actually click on the adverts. In other words, you need to write content that consistently attracts people who are sufficiently hungry for information or a solution to their problems, that they will want to know more about the product or service promoted. If your content shows up in search engine results, you will enjoy better results if it hooks in readers keen for a solution.

For example, if you write a blog about personal finance and publish several good quality posts on personal loans, you may be able to draw in readers who arrive at your site after typing “getting a personal loan” into Google. Once they are on the relevant webpage, they may well be interested in clicking on an advert supplied by a loan provider, who will then pay you every time the advert is clicked.

Cost Per Impression (CPM, also known as “Cost Per 1000 Impressions”) adverts

When you host a CPM advertisement, you are paid based on how many readers view the advert, rather than how many click it. For every 1,000 people who view the advert, you will receive a fixed amount of money. The amount of money paid per 1,000 impressions can vary from a few pence to over £10. CPM adverts can take the form of banners, buttons, popups and even videos. One of the most popular CPM networks is propellerads.com. There is little point in trying to make money with CPM advertisements, unless you have a steady stream of traffic to your site. Unless you have thousands of visitors per day, this avenue will not be profitable, even though some CPM will accept sites that do not yet have much traffic. It is best to think of CPM as a potential money making avenue to explore once your site is established and you are seeing a reliable number of visitors on a daily basis.

Private adverts

You can also sell advertising space directly to interested parties. If your blog becomes successful, you may find that retailers get in contact with you and ask whether you would consider hosting an advert for their product on your blog. You can also research companies that seem to be a good fit with your blog's message and offer them the chance to promote their products and services on your website. The advantage of selling advertising space in this way is that you can set your own rates and keep all of the money paid by the advertiser, neither of which are possible when working with the advertising networks described above.

However, you need to ensure that all parties understand the terms and conditions of the transaction, as you will not be able to fall back on a third party to mediate in the event of any disputes. Private adverts can take the form of banners, buttons, links within written content, or even sponsored posts in which you promote an advertiser's product. You may decide to charge a one-off fee to post a link or to publish a sponsored blog post, or you can offer the advertiser the opportunity of paying for a banner or button on a weekly or monthly basis. Typically, an advertiser will supply their own advertisements and branding for you to use.

5.3 Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is another means of making money by promoting someone else's products and services on your blog, but it goes further than conventional advertising. When you act as an affiliate, you promote a product or service on your blog in exchange for a commission on every sale secured via your site. If you choose products that tie in to your blog's niche, this can be an excellent means of making money, as long as you attract enough visitors.

For example, if you run a blog about weight loss, you could choose to promote a weight loss supplement. Every time a reader makes a payment, the vendor will pay you a commission. Depending on the product and vendor, this could be up to 75% or more. Bloggers who work as affiliates often use programmes such as Clickbank (clickbank.com) or JVZoo (jvzoo.com) to find a suitable product or products to promote. Just as with advertising, your success will depend both on the quality of the traffic you get to your blog and on the βit between your blog's content and the products and services you are looking to promote.

Vendors looking for affiliates to promote their products will often be willing to supply promotional material, such as banner advertisements or even articles, which you can publish on your blog. You can also use affiliate links in your articles, giving your readers a quick and easy way to immediately purchase the product or service mentioned.

Successful affiliate

The most successful affiliate marketers are those who have built a loyal following who perceive them to be authority figures within a particular niche. If you have a good looking website and a reputation as a trustworthy individual who knows a lot about your blog topic, your readers will listen when you recommend that they try a certain product. You can then refer them on to the vendor via a special link that they will provide and then you will be paid a pre-agreed amount of commission for every sale.

Setting up an email newsletter is a great way of building an audience of receptive individuals, whom you can sell to over and over again.

Remember, it is easier to keep selling to a loyal customer than to win new business. However, it is important to remember that most people do not like the feeling that they are being “sold to”, so keep blatant sales pitches to a minimum.

In addition, you should only promote products and services that you truly believe in and ideally have used yourself. If you can provide your readers with an honest, comprehensive, yet positive review of a product, they will hold you in higher esteem than if you merely urge them to make a purchase. You should always make it clear, if you are writing a particular post with the intention of promoting someone else's product. Never promote irrelevant products to your audience, in the hope of making a quick profit. This strategy often backfires, when readers choose to spend their time on other blogs instead.

Activity: Find A Potential Product

Time: 10-15 Minutes

Visit Clickbank, JVZoo or any other online affiliate marketplace. Look at the products available (you may have to go through a free joining process, before you can move on to this step).

Is there anything that βits well into your niche and that you believe could offer value to your readers?

Have you used this product or one like it before?

Would you be willing to buy it or at least sign up for a free trial (if offered), so that you can ascertain that it is of good quality?

5.4 Selling your own products via your blog

Along with affiliate marketing, the most potentially profitable way of making money from your blog is to use it as a platform from which to sell your own products. It has never been easier to sell books, eBooks, courses and other resources from a website. You do not need extensive technical knowledge to set up an online store. If you have a self-hosted WordPress blog, you can use a plug-in such as WooCommerce (woocommerce.com) or Easy Digital Downloads (easydigitaldownloads.com).

If you are using a blogging service to host and run your site, such as Squarespace or Wix, you will probably have access to the tools you need to build an online store as part of your account package. These tools allow you to list and describe the products you have for sale, to handle transactions in a secure manner and to keep records of all purchases your customers have made.

The amount of money you make will obviously be dictated by the price of your products and the number of people willing to buy them. In theory, it is possible to make large proβits if the products you are offering are of high quality and offer your target audience a clear solution to their problems. You may need to invest time and money in creating and improving your products, but the effort could pay off in the long term.

5.5 What kinds of products could you create to sell from your blog?

You can sell digital or physical products from your blog, but most bloggers who make money from their own products do so by selling digital products, such as eBooks, information packs and courses. The advantage of creating and selling your own products is that you get to retain complete creative control over the process. You also get to keep all of the profits from each sale and can choose how you advertise each product (some affiliate marketing networks and vendors place restrictions on how you can advertise their products). In addition, you do not have to worry about a third party going out of business and cutting off your earning potential, as can happen when promoting

products as an affiliate.

Activity: Brainstorming Product Ideas

Time: 15 + Minutes

Challenge yourself to come up with at least five potential information based products that you could sell from your blog. Now read the list of ideas below and add five more ideas to your list.

Here are a few questions that can help you think of some ideas for your own products:

Could I create an introductory eBook on this topic?

Do your readers tend to gravitate towards your explanatory posts? If so, a book addressing the fundamental issues or concepts within your topic could be well received. There is no minimum length that is standard for an eBook, but as a general rule you should aim for at least 100 pages. This is not to say you cannot sell products that are shorter than this, but they would properly be termed “reports” or “resource packs”, rather than eBooks. If possible, include images alongside words in your book. Diagrams may be useful too, if you are trying to break down a complicated concept or process into simple steps.

Could I create an advanced eBook on this topic targeted at those who are already familiar with the basic concepts I cover on my blog?

If you feel as though you have addressed most basic and intermediate topics on your blog already, how about creating an eBook aimed at readers who want to take their knowledge to the next level? You could then begin signposting blog readers to your advanced book at the end of blog posts, for example writing “For even more information on X, download my eBook today!” followed by a link to the product as featured in your online store.

Is there scope for a practical course on this topic?

If you have practical knowledge that you could pass on to your readers, why not put together a course containing videos, images and text that shows them how to achieve a particular objective step by step? You could then bundle text-based documents and videos together, to make a valuable resource. In addition, you could also become an affiliate marketer for companies selling products that your readers will require in order to complete the course successfully. For example, if you run a blog about knitting, you may consider selling easy to follow tutorials that tell a reader exactly how to make a particular piece of clothing. You could include affiliate links to companies selling suitable wool, needles and other supplies, within the tutorial documents or item descriptions in your online store.

Would my readers beneβit from worksheets or study materials relating to my blog topic?

Instead of selling an eBook, you could produce a set of worksheets, or an interactive workbook that encourages your readers to engage with the material and apply it to their own lives. This is an especially good idea if you are writing in a self-help or self-development niche. For example, if you have a blog that focuses on how to become more productive at work, you could produce a 30 day anti-procrastination workbook that encourages the reader to overcome one bad work related habit every day for a month, with the end goal of working in a more effective manner. You could then promote other products that will help them build on their new habits, such as a workbook designed to improve motivation and goal setting.

Could I sell merchandise relating to my blog topic?

Could you sell artwork, greetings cards, posters or other physical products that relate to your blog topic, or would resonate with your target audience in some way? For example, if you have a blog on exercise and strength training, you might consider designing and selling a range of posters and t- shirts with motivational slogans that encourage readers to keep going even when they feel like giving up.

Don't be afraid to outsource some of the work required for product creation

If you have plenty of ideas for products, but lack the time or skills required to make them, consider outsourcing the work to a freelancer using a site such as Upwork (upwork.com), Freelancer (freelancer.com), or Fiverr (fiverr.com). Make sure that the person you hire agrees that you will own all intellectual property rights upon completion. This means that you are free to claim authorship and have no obligation to pay the freelancer any further fees. Look at job advertisements other people are posting on these platforms, in order to gauge approximately how much you should expect to pay to have your project completed to a high standard.

Becoming a vendor and attracting affiliates

If you develop a product that has proven popular with people searching for information in your niche, consider becoming a vendor and launching an affiliate programme. When others promote your products, you will get a cut of the proβits. The exact percentage will vary, depending on how richly you wish to reward the affiliates who are marketing your products for you. If you are ready to start recruiting affiliates, visit Clickbank (clickbank.com) or JVZoo (jvzoo.com) and sign up. Their program automates the payment for you, so you will never have to worry about ensuring your affiliates are paid on time. This is a relatively advanced step and it is generally better to gain

experience selling your products on your own site first.

FACT

Clickbank currently helps product creators to sell over 6 million products.

Source: Clickbank.com

5.6 The importance of listening to feedback from your audience

Some bloggers make the mistake of pushing the needs of their audience to one side in their pursuit of profit. This is a serious error, because without traffic, a blog will not generate a healthy income. If you start advertising on your blog, promoting other peoples' products or selling your own, make sure that you are not doing so at your readers' expense.

For example, some advertisements are far from aesthetically pleasing and may therefore annoy readers if they are large or used on every page in your blog. Pop-up adverts have an especially bad reputation - most people find them highly irritating, so they are best used sparingly. If you are not sure whether a new blog layout or advertising policy is working for your readers, ask them in a blog post to give you their opinions.

If you are selling your own products, take every review seriously. You cannot hope to please everyone, but if the same issues are raised in multiple reviews, then you should consider removing the product from sale and refining it in line with your customers' feedback. Consumers always like to feel as though their opinions have been taken into consideration and if you show that you are willing to put their needs as a priority, then they will be quicker to trust you in the future.

5.6 Selling services on your blog

Once you have established yourself as an authority within a particular niche, you may be able to sell your services along with, or instead of, your products.

For example, if you have a blog that centres on relationships and relationship advice, you may initially monetize through advertising and selling eBooks on related topics, but eventually start charging a set amount per hour for private consultations. Taking this step can be extremely lucrative, but it is vital that you understand your limitations and what you can and cannot promise your customers. Never state or imply that you are trained or qualified in a particular area, unless you have the relevant credentials to support your claims.

Always make it clear to your clients that whilst you can advise them to follow a specific course of action, you are not responsible for the final outcome. It is sensible to consult a legal professional, who can help you draw up a contract that the client must sign before receiving your services. This way, you protect yourself from any potential legal trouble that may arise as a result of a client's unrealistic expectations.

You should also take care not to overbook or over-commit yourself early on in your consulting career. It is best to take on only a couple of clients at a time, when you are starting out. As you gain more experience, you will be better placed to understand how much time each client typically requires. You can then make a sensible estimate as to how many clients you can handle in any given time period.

5.7 Membership schemes and subscriptions

Along with one-off products and consultation services, some bloggers make money by charging their readers for the right to access premium content, such as articles, videos, forums and online courses. When executed properly, this can be highly lucrative, because customers pay their subscription on a regular basis. This means that owners of subscription websites do not have to invest so much time and money in advertising their website or attracting a high volume of web traffic.

A set of step by step instructions on how to set up a subscription website is beyond the scope of this module. However, one popular method is to utilise an “add-on” or “plug-in”, in conjunction with a WordPress site. One such plugin is the S2member plugin (available from wordpress.org), which allows a user to create members only content on a website that is hidden behind a paywall.

The plugin makes it relatively simple to set up a page that collects payments from new and existing members and then directs them to members only content. It allows you to present prospective members with different levels of membership or subscriptions. This means that visitors can begin with a cheaper, more basic package, before upgrading to a more expensive option once they have come to trust the site. You can offer member only access to a range of products in various formats, including software, tutorials, articles and time sensitive information.

For example, if you run a blog targeted at people who like to bet on horses, you could offer a subscription service that grants a subscriber access to daily tips and betting advice. The S2member plugin automatically completes the enrolment process for each new member, so there is no need for the owner of the website to continually create new accounts on a manual basis. It will also permit a member to cancel their subscription at any time. This technology makes it possible to run a membership site with little technical knowledge. There is a free version that contains all the essential features, or you can upgrade to two different “pro' versions (approximately £70 and £140 respectively), in order to take advantage of more features such as one-step registration for site members and the opportunity to use the plugin across multiple websites.

Planning

Running a membership site requires extensive planning and a sound strategy for future content generation. Members will not be satisfied if they pay the same amount every month on a recurring basis, only to discover that the content is never updated. Furthermore, it can take time to build up a significant member base. One strategy for encouraging new members to continue subscribing to the site or to upgrade their membership is to offer a one week free trial, which is easily configured using the S2member plugin. You can set up a membership option whereby a member will not be charged for their first month, but will automatically be billed every month thereafter, unless they take steps to cancel their membership.

5.8 Why blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme

It is definitely possible to make money with a blog - and some bloggers have even been able to give up their regular job and use their blog as their sole source of income. However, the majority of people who try to make money online will not be this successful. It takes patience and a great deal of hard work, to build a respected blog that attracts the visitor numbers required to make an ongoing profit. If you want to make money from advertising, you will need to devise a long-term content strategy that builds your blog from a basic website to a popular online authority.

Even if you publish excellent content on a regular basis and reach out to other bloggers (we will look at this in further detail in the next module), it will take time to grow a following. You may need to advertise your blog and your products on social media, a topic to which we will return later on in the course.

Module Summary

If you have chosen a blog topic in a popular niche, there is a chance that you will be able to monetize your content. This can be done in several ways. Selling advertising space on your blog, whether via an advertising network or via a private deal, can provide you with one source of income. Some forms of advertising allow you to be paid a sum of money whenever a reader clicks on an advertisement, whereas others pay you every time 1,000 people view the advertisement. You can also use your blog content to promote other peoples' products and services in exchange for a commission - a practice referred to as affiliate marketing. Finally, producing and selling your own products such as books, reports and courses from an online store hosted on your blog can be a good way of building an income stream.

However you choose to monetize your blog, you will need to produce consistently strong content, as this will increase the chances that readers will find you when searching for related terms using a search engine. Blogging is only profitable when the blog in question is built

around content that adds value to readers' lives and should never be regarded as a get-rich-quick scheme.