Many people begin blogging for fun but running a blog can be a great way to earn extra bucks. If you have a blog you may have been wondering what the best ways to monetize your blog are.
It’s no secret that a lot of effort is required to earn money from blogging. The good news is there are multiple ways to monetize a WordPress blog. You can take an approach that works best for you and master it until money starts rolling in.
Here are 6 simple options that will allow you to earn money.
1. Affiliate Marketing
You’ve more than likely come across blogs that make money by promoting products through content. In most of these cases, bloggers are using affiliate marketing. This means they promote products from third-party companies.
If someone ends up purchasing something after clicking a link in the content, the product owner gives you a cut from the sale. There are currently many affiliate programs that you can sign up for with ease. Amazon, for instance, allows you to market their products on your site.
With that said, it’s crucial that you advertise products that you can vouch for and which your readers can benefit from. Otherwise, recommending products that are not effective may lead to your audience losing trust in you.
2. Ad Space
It’s no secret that the web is full of ads. Marketing through the internet is so easy nowadays. Marketers pay a web owner to showcase their products or services through ads to a specific audience and you wait for traffic to start rolling in. On the other hand, if you have a blog with a huge following then many people might pay you to display ads for them on your site.
The ads are likely to come in the following two forms:
Pay per click (PPC)-Â People will only pay you for the clicks they get from your website.
Pay per impression (PPI)- This type of ad is a bit cheaper as you don’t guarantee anything like clicks on the ads. Your only aim to give the markers as many impressions (views) as possible.
It’s important to note that earning a decent amount through ads requires you to have a lot of traffic. You also need to set a limit on the number of ads you place on your site. Otherwise, it will be overwhelming to the audience.
To monetize WordPress a blog through this method, you’ll need to sign up from a reliable network. Google AdSense is the most popular platform but you can browse other reputable options. Also, there are multiple WordPress plugins that are helpful such as Adrotate banner manager.
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3. Sponsored Posts
Popular blogs can help drive traffic to other websites. Many business owners know this so they’re willing to pay a decent amount to bloggers in their niche to publish a piece of their work.
Just like affiliate marketing, you’ll have to be careful about what you promote on your website. You’ve won the trust of your audience but once you start promoting sketchy products or companies, you could begin receiving negative feedback.
Warnings aside, this method helps you start earning in a shorter time compared to affiliate marketing. The first step of this monetization method is finding sites that can connect you with business people who are looking for this opportunity. Position yourself to be a valuable asset by having good engagement with your audience.
4. Sell a Product
This is one of the most long-term ways to monetize a WordPress blog. One thing you can do is create your own digital product. The product should revolve around your area of expertise or something that interests you.
For example, if you’re a health and fitness coach, you could consider coming up with a workout guide or diet plan. You can also begin a subscription service for meal plans.
Also, with the help of WordPress’s eCommerce options, you can tap into the potential of selling digital content like eBooks directly from your site. If you’ve got a loyal audience, offering these extra products is just one way of benefiting your readers while earning from it.
One of the plugins that come in handy for selling digital content is WordPress Download Manager.
5. Selling Online Courses
This is one of the best ideas for making an income as a blogger. If there is one thing you’re particularly good at, and you’ve got some results to show for it, then you can teach others how to do it.
WordPress has multiple Learning Management System (LMS) plugins that are designed to create educational materials.
6. Track Your Progress
Running a blog can become overwhelming and you might end up trying to implement every method you learn. What’s equally important is that you stop to evaluate the methods that are working out for your blog.
Once your blog starts to grow and you begin making money, you can outsource to help it continue to expand. Be sure to stay on top of expenses like invoices for contractors and employees. It’s possible to miss the dates and ending up issuing late payments.
To avoid these instances, consider checking out payroll services for small businesses to see what suits you best. This will help you have a healthy working relationship with your writers, designer, and marketers.
Now You Know How to Monetize a WordPress Blog
Running a successful blog is like a full-time job. It requires that you publish content frequently so that you retain your audience. That means you need to handle writing, editing, and researching (at minimum). You might even have to work with other guest bloggers and coordinate a few writers to help you out.
In return for your effort, it makes sense that you’d want to monetize a WordPress blog and make a few bucks from it. Although it won’t happen overnight, these tips can help you get the maintenance cost of your WordPress blog at the very least.
For more information on how to make money from blogging, keep reading our posts.