How to Make Money Blogging | Young Adult Money

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Have you considered starting a blog, but aren’t sure how to begin?

Blogging is a popular hobby and business for many people. There is plenty of information out there about how to blog. In fact, there is so much information that it can be overwhelming, which actually prevents many people from starting a blog.

A lot of aspiring bloggers think they don’t know enough, they aren’t a strong enough writer, or that they can’t create their own website. These are all myths – anyone can start a successful and profitable blog with the right information.

If you’re new to the idea of blogging, we thought we would share our tips for how you can start making money as a new blogger.

Start a Website

First thing’s first – you need a website.

You can set up a website easily with our free How to Start a Blog tutorial. We laid out step-by-step directions on exactly how to set up your first website.

As we explain in the guide, you will need both a domain and hosting. Bluehost offers a free domain name – and the best possible price on hosting when you register through our link. Many bloggers who make either a side- or full-time income from blogging use Bluehost. It’s affordable and has an extremely easy WordPress installation process, which you will need as a blogger.

You’ll also want to consider what you will name your blog. Though it isn’t impossible to switch a domain name, it is kind of a hassle to re-brand entirely, so you’ll want to really think about a good blog name right off the bat. Ideally, it’s something relatively short and related to what you are blogging about.

Develop a Brand

After you have your website, you can start with the fun part – branding. If you’ve chosen a website name, you’ve likely considered some aspects of branding already. Branding includes the look and voice of your blog. What makes your blog stand out?

If you’re unsure about how to brand, it’s okay to keep it simple and clean. In fact, most readers are more attracted to a simple brand versus one with a ton of different fonts, logos, and colors.

You’ll want to make sure you can stay consistent with your brand. This means you will want your social media, blog, and any other marketing tools to all look similar. That will help potential readers recognize you.

Create Stellar Content

You have maybe heard of the phrase “content is king,” and it is true. No matter what subject you are blogging about, if you aren’t providing valuable content to your readers, the chances of them coming back is slim. Without consistent readers, your blog is less likely to make money.

So how do you ensure that you are publishing stellar content? Research the posts of similar bloggers. What do they do well? Is their information actually helpful to you in some way? Were they engaging? How do they draw you in and make you want to continue reading?

Keep in mind, while reading from more established bloggers is certainly helpful, the whole purpose of blogging is to be unique. You can look to other bloggers for inspiration and a starting point, but don’t be afraid to be you!

Blog With a Purpose

If your goal is to blog for fun, then a lot of this post may be irrelevant to you. But if you want to make blogging money, you have to be purposeful about that goal.

It’s not enough to just share quality content. You have to consider how you can monetize it. Content is the vessel to earn you money.

It’s never too soon to start implementing monetization strategies on your blog.

There are many ways you can earn money through blogging. We will talk about three in particular:

Advertisements

Sponsorships

Affiliate Income

Let’s start with advertisements.

Advertisements

You are probably pretty familiar with what website advertisements look like. It might be the pop up or the banner on the side or top of the page prompting you to click on something. As a blogger, you can add advertisements to your page and earn money every time someone clicks or makes a purchase.

Advertisements are a pretty easy way to start making money from your blog. You simply have to find and join an ad network, integrate them into your blog, and then you’re done! Many people prefer ads because they don’t require much work past the initial setup. However, while ads can earn a little passive income, they aren’t likely going to get you rich. And too many ads can be obnoxious for the readers, so use them sparingly.

If you are interested in posting ads to your site as a new blogger, Google Adsense is a great network to join. As your blog grows, you can join other ad networks that will offer a higher payout.

Sponsorships

A sponsorship is when you work with an outside company to promote their product or service on your blog or social media. Many bloggers make thousands of dollars a month by promoting different brands.

For example, with a sponsorship, they might send you a product and ask you to write a review about it on your blog. Or they might pay you to write a post about the services they offer and how you have used them.

As a new blogger, sponsorship might be a bit harder, but not impossible, to find. Typically, companies want you to have a specified amount of traffic coming to your blog already. That way, they have more people who will potentially purchase their product or service.

If you are new blogger, I recommend reaching out to a few small companies to see if they would be willing to pay you to write a review about their product. You can let them know your blog stats – like how many unique visitors you receive a month, what your social media following is, etc.

As your blog grows, it is very likely that brands will start reaching out to you to ask you to promote their product. As your readership increases, the rate you charge should also increase.

Affiliate Programs

The last way to make money through blogging that I will highlight is affiliate programs. Different companies will host affiliate programs in efforts to get bloggers to promote their product or service. As a blogger, you can sign up for an affiliate program and they will give you a specific link to use that will credit you anytime someone clicks or makes a purchase through the link you used.

For instance, Amazon has a popular affiliate network. If I was writing a blog post and wanted to share a product I found on Amazon, I could include my affiliate link. If you as a reader went and bought that product using my link, I would earn a small commission from the sale.

The best part about affiliate programs is that 1) they are a fairly passive way to make money and 2) you can start them now, even if you’re new to blogging.

Get Organized

As you can see, a blogger has a lot to keep track of. If you’re trying to make money from blogging, you will need to keep track of what affiliate and ad networks you’re in, your rates, how to invoice clients, how to pay taxes on your income, what your content schedule looks like, your social media schedule, and more.

The best way to be a successful blogger is to get organized.

Decide when you will post new content to your blog and to social media. Using an editorial calendar is a great idea because then you won’t have to scramble last minute for a blog topic.

Schedule a time everyday to work on your blog and to network with your readers and other bloggers.

Market Yourself

Finally, it’s all said and done, you need to find quality readers! How do you find people to read your blog? You market yourself and your content.

There is no shortage of ways to market yourself, but when you are first starting out, it’s a good idea to concentrate on just a few methods. The best way to initially market yourself (in my opinion) is to connect with other bloggers.

Not only is it fun to connect with other bloggers in your niche, but you’ll help them out while you increase awareness of your brand. Comment on other bloggers’ content, email them and start a conversation, and offer to guest post on other bloggers’ websites. These connections are key while starting your own blog.

Another way to increase brand awareness is to utilize social media. Social media is constantly changing, so it can feel like a whole beast of its own. Luckily, you don’t need to be a social media master at this point. Start a few basic social media sites and start sharing your content.

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There is no doubt that a lot of work goes into becoming a successful and profitable blogger. But the key is to just start! If you’ve ever considered starting your own blog, I highly recommend to just go for it. Focus on implementing a few strategies at a time and you’ll soon be on your way to making money through your blog.