How to Make Money Blogging
Whenever I tell anyone that I blog for a living I always get the response, “How do you make money blogging?!” Although I don’t make enough to support our family, I make enough that I am able to stay home with our kids, and make more blogging than I would with any part-time job. I love that through blogging I am able to have a flexible schedule, and do something that I love. Without the blog I would either have to get a job and utilize childcare for the kids, or we would be living on such a tight budget that there would be no extra room for eating out, traveling, or hobbies like skiing. Because blogging has been able to provide so much freedom for us, I wanted to share how any blogger could do the same thing!
How I Make Enough Money Blogging to Stay Home with My Kids
Sidebar Ads
-Google Adsense- When I first started getting visitors to my blog via Pinterest, I began to realize that maybe I could make some money blogging. I started out by placing three Google Adsense Ads on my header and sidebar. Though these sidebar ads I made anywhere from $50-$170 per month.
–Monumetric– Once I started getting at least 10,000 page views per month, I decided to apply for Monumetric (formerly The Blogger Network) and had them begin managing my ads for me. Once I moved my ads over to them I began earning at least $200 per month.
–AdThrive– During the time I was with Monumetric my page views continued to grow and once I reached 100,000 per month I applied for AdThrive. AdThrive was able to really maximize my adspace and that’s when I began earning anywhere from $500-$2000 per month with sidebar ads.
Sponsored Posts
The second way that I am able to provide an income through blogging is through sponsored posts. Basically, different advertisers work with these companies to connect them with bloggers. Then you write about a product for a set rate. Over the years I’ve written sponsored posts for anywhere from $100-$500. I feel that the most important thing to remember about sponsored posts is to only write about a product that you can genuinely recommend to a friend. I love when I am able to make money by writing about and recommending a product I love. On the other hand, when I was just getting started with writing sponsored posts I accepted a few for products that really didn’t fit my blogging niche. These posts were so difficult to write and did not feel genuine at all. The companies that I have worked with on sponsored posts are:
–Izea
Affiliate Links
My favorite way that I earn money blogging is through affiliate links. Basically, these are links to products where if my readers purchase the product I earn a small percentage of the revenue. This doesn’t cost my reader anything, and I can choose exactly what products I link to. Often I will a roundup of products that I love (like these), which helps my readers, and then if they purchase from the roundup I can earn a small percentage. A lot of the things I know about affiliate marketing I learned through this book. Some of the companies that I work with to insert affiliate links are:
Bartering
Although bartering doesn’t bring in any money, it has provided product that I would have spent money on if it weren’t for the blog. For example in all of my One Room Challenge reveals (Here, Here, and Here) I wasn’t paid to use any of the product, but was given product for use in my reveals.
Conclusion
One thing to understand about making money blogging is that it didn’t happen overnight. I started blogging in 2008 as a hobby blog about our family. It wasn’t until 2013 that I first made any money from the blog. Then in 2014 I put my focus into blogging as a career and began making a part time income from the blog. In 2016 and 2017 blogging provided a good part time income for our family. If you’re considering starting I blog I encourage you to just get started! You’ll learn as you go and with time your income (and readership) will increase! I also want to encourage you to check out these other posts I’ve shared about blogging:
love that wallpaper! look forward to meeting you at haven!
Thank you so much! Absolutely! Can’t wait to meet you as well!