How to Make Money Blogging | Beginners Guide
How do beginner blogs make money? How much money can you make from a blog? These are all questions I asked myself at some point! Now I’m here to answer them for you with this updated guide focused on how to make money blogging.
If you want to learn how to make money blogging in 2023, this is definitely the article for you.
If you aren’t already familiar with the idea of a blog, you might be wondering how it’s possible to make money blogging. I get it. A few years ago, I didn’t even know what blogging was.
It blew my mind to find out that people all over the world make full-time income blogging.
That was about two years ago. By now, I’ve had several blogs. I’ve learned so much about the blogging world and I can’t wait to share it with you. Is blogging profitable in 2023? The answer is a definite YES!
(On this last blog I’m making close to $1,000 per month! I wanted to make money blogging while staying accountable for my health, so that’s how this blog come to fruition. Plus, I really enjoy writing, so this allows me to combine a few things I love and get paid for it.)
And blogging for money (or just for fun) is something that you can do, too.
You can blog about anything, anywhere. There are no prerequisites, and the start-up costs are tiny compared to a brick-and-mortar business. It’s a really beautiful thing to do what you want when you want, and make money doing it! Want to learn how? Of course you do!
But is blogging a good way to make money?
The answer is yes – but only if you’re in it for the long haul.
PSST! If you are a fitness blogger, read my fitness blogging 101 post!
If you want to skip all this and you’re ready to start your own blog, this post is just for you! It’ll help you get a blog up and running in just a few minutes.
There are four major ways to make money blogging, with endless possibilities within those categories.
The categories are:
1. AFFILIATE MARKETING
Affiliate marketing is far and wide my favorite way to make money blogging. It’s a proven way to make money (I’m doing it now)! Here’s how it works: I love a product. I tell people (my readers and fans) about that product. They buy it. I make a commission.
It’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it. I link to products I love or review them on my site. Then I promote my blog and people buy stuff. I then get a percentage of the sale!
I love making money this way because it can be super versatile and lucrative, too.
2. PRODUCT SALES
Every blog has a special focus – and each blogger can create products targeted to their market. On my last blog, I sold an ebook that I wrote for $12 a pop. On this blog, I’m selling my home workout program for $15 (without discounts).
I love it! But there was a lot of work that went into making both books. The good news is that you can sell just about anything. Social media work, virtual assistant services, meal plans, recipe books, t-shirts, etc.
It’s up to you!
3. AD REVENUE
See any ads on this site? I didn’t put them there just for fun. Each one earns me anywhere from a few pennies to a few dollars per day.
Yep, brands will pay you just to put them there in order to get their products in front of more eyes. It’s easy and it can be lucrative if you have a lot of people visiting your blog. When I had a blog averaging 30,000 page views per month, I was making about $600/month from ads alone.
That’s pretty cool considering 30,000 page views isn’t really a ton in the blogging world. (Now I’m over 30k.) So when you ask, “How much money can you make from a blog?” it really depends!
4. INFLUENCER WORK
Brands will pay you a few bucks to a couple hundred bucks to tell others about their products. I get paid to post things on social media and my blogs. Sometimes you’re just Tweeting something, other times you might be writing a blog post.
Who knows!
One thing is for sure – the higher your blog traffic and the larger your social media accounts, the more you’ll get paid. My biggest beef with this category? Work can be hit-and-miss until you’re an established blogger.
If you’re looking to be among top money making blogs, it might not be for you. However, working with brands can be really fun.
Does this sound awesome or what?
Related Reading: Ultimate Startup Checklist for New Blogs
I personally loved learning how to make money blogging. Every penny earned was so exciting! As a stay-at-home mom, I can’t tell you how much of a lifesaver learning how to make money blogging has been!
Still confused about how people make money blogging? Let me break it way down.
I just told you the various ways most bloggers make money. But if you’re super new to blogging, it can be a little difficult to understand. Really, it happens in this order:
FIRST, YOU START A BLOG.
It’s easy and anyone can do it. I wrote a post about how to get started (find it here) in just a few minutes. You need a domain name (your site name and URL) and someone to host your site, so it does cost a small amount of money to start up.
Once you get set up, you can make a logo, customize your site, etc. It’s actually pretty fun.
THEN, YOU WRITE BLOG POSTS.
It’s good to have a few main topics to choose from. I’m mostly sticking to health and fitness here, but I still love to teach people about blogging. You write blog posts and people want to read them for advice, inspiration, education, etc.
These blog posts are the most important part of your blog. You’ll do most of your selling in them.
NEXT, YOU SEND TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE.
People need to actually see and interact with your blog in order to buy something or see the ads on your site. There are a lot of ways to send people to your site, but social media and search engine optimization usually do the trick.
Because of that, you’ll want to start growing your blog-related social media accounts as soon as you start your blog. Believe it or not, Pinterest and Flipboard seem to send me the most traffic.
LASTLY, YOU START GETTING PAID.
Once you can prove to brands and ad networks that people actually look at your site, they’ll want to start working with you. The more traffic you receive, the more they’ll be willing to pay you. Diversifying your income is the best way to go.
Got it?
I really hope that helps. Hopefully now you understand some blogging basics and feel better about blogging for beginners. Anyone can make money blogging and I just feel like so many people are missing out!
If you’d like to learn more about starting your own blog, this is a tutorial I made (there’s a video, too!) to help people get started with Siteground. Enjoy!
Other posts you might like:
- 10 Free Blogging Tools To Try Today
- 50+ Fitness Hashtags To Use On Social Media
- January 2018 Blog Income Report
Do you contact the companies that you want to promote their product? How do you ad the link? I’m still not sure how that part works. Thank you for all the great info. I am going to be having the vertical gastric sleeve procedure and would like to blog the journey.
Hi Rachel! You can find tons of companies to choose from at ShareASale, but if there is a specific company that you want to promote, you can often find a link to their affiliate program in the footer (bottom) of their website. It will say “affiliates” or “partners” or something similar. There, you can sign up for their program. Affiliate programs generally provide links and images, but you can sometimes create your own within the program. I hope that helps!