How to Make Money With a Blog For Beginners (Full Guide)
Have you been wondering, how to make money with a blog a for beginners? Well, that my friend is the million dollar question.
I find many bloggers and aspiring bloggers struggle to find an honest answer these days.
It is very easy to get caught up in the “get rich quick” hype that comes along with any entrepreneurial venture, such as profitable blogging.
So, today I will share with you the honest truth about profitable blogging and how in fact, you too, can make money with a blog as a beginner blogger.
We will also cover what to focus on to reach your goals faster and what actionable steps you should be taking to make money blogging.
In addition, I will share with you fantastic blogging resources that have been instrumental in my profitable blogging journey and that of many other successful bloggers.
But first, let’s explore the million dollar question…
Can you really make money with a blog?
Uh, yeah, and quite the pretty penny too!
However, making a full-time income from your blog won’t come fast or easy. I mean, you could potentially make a lot of money blogging in a short period of time, but not without putting in the work first.
Many successful bloggers have excelled at making a full-time profit from blogging.
However, they will all tell you the incredible amount of work, hustle, creativity, dedication, and sacrifice that it took for them to get there.
I know first hand how intimidating that might sound, especially as a beginner blogger. But, don’t fright my friend, as you read on you will have a better understanding about how to make money with a blog as a new blogger and how you too can make it happen.
After a little tough love and some much-needed honesty on this subject, you will hopefully leave here inspired and equipped to start making money from your blog as a total beginner.
Note: If you don’t have a blog yet, here is a step-by-step guide which you can follow to start help you start your own WordPress blog. Or, you can also enroll in this FREE 7-day email course which will help you set the foundation to start and run your own profitable blog.
How much money can you make with a blog as a beginner?
Earning a full-time income with a blog takes time and commitment.
However, once you get started, amount of money you can earn with your blog it is endless.
Some bloggers do it as a side-hustle earning a few extra bucks a month and others earn a full-blown income.
How do $10,000 dollars a month sound? How about a 2 million a year? Yup, that too.
Many successful bloggers have figured out the secret to profitable blogging success.
But, before we get to how they got there let’s first discuss the venues that made it possible.
Next, we’ll cover how to make money with a blog for beginners, and after I will share with you some other important factors that play a role in making the best of the following income streams.
I go into much more details and examples in my Blogcabulary Plus ebook, but for the purpose of this article let’s focus on the basics.
How to make money with a Blog for Beginners
1. Ads
One of the most common ways to make money with a blog is by ad placement.
Different ad companies allow you to insert ads on your website (header, footer, sidebar, within post content, etc.), and then they pay you a certain fee.
You place ads on your website by copying and pasting code snippets provided by the ad company. Most ad companies will choose the type of ads to be displayed on your site based on your site’s niche and content.
That way, it is more likely your reader will click on them.
The amount of money you will make with ads depends greatly on your site’s traffic. Obviously, the higher the traffic, the higher the revenue. More on traffic later.
2. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is on of the best ways to make money with a blog for beginners.
Affiliate marketing is the process by which someone earns a commission by selling someone else’s products or services.
Once you enroll in the affiliate program/network of your choice you will be given a unique affiliate link.
You will then use that affiliate link to promote that product or service. Once someone clicks on that link and makes purchase, you get a commission on that sale.
Commissions could be based on a percentage of that sale or on a preset amount. It all depends on the affiliate program/network specification.
A great affiliate program for beginners is the Amazon Associates Program and Debbie Gardner has a fantastic course where she teaches you all about it. She currently makes $4,000 – $5,000/month just from the Amazon Associate Program.
Despite your blogging experience or audience size, affiliate marketing is a great venue to make money blogging. And if you don’t have a product of your own to sell, affiliate marketing can be a great option for you.
Recommended Resources:
- Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing by Michelle Schroder-Gardener. If you feel you need affiliate marketing guidance and a road map to follow, consider this robust course . This will ensure you cut A LOT of corners, learn successful affiliate marketing strategies from the start, and see profit sooner. This course contains written material only.
- Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers: Everything You Are Missing by Carly Campbell. I love the use of videos and learning material in Carly’s course as well as the affordable pricing. No fluff, straight to the point actionable strategies with video and picture examples. She even includes an email series which is incredibly valuable to get you going with email marketing.
So in summary, if you are new to affiliate marketing, want to learn it all from the very beginning, and learn better with written material, then Michelle’s course is for you.
If you know the basics of affiliate marketing, you are looking for a strategy packed resource from beginning to end, and learn better with video material, then Carly’s Course is what you need.
Related Article: 5 Best Affiliate Marketing Courses for Bloggers (for Beginners)
3. Services
Another great way to make money from a blog as a beginner is to offer a service. A service is something you can provide to your readers in exchange for income.
We all have something we are good at.
Take a look at your niche and what you already write about and offer advice in. Then, think of a way you can offer it as a paid service.
You don't have to come up with something right away. In fact, as you develop better skills and your blog evolves, you will get a better idea of the services you can provide.
Examples of blogging services include (but not limited to):
- virtual assistant
- editing
- coaching
- graphic
- design
- speaker
- social media manager
- auditor
- strategist
- tutoring
- virtual classes
- …etc.
Recommended Resource:
A popular way to make money from a blog, even as a beginner is by becoming a virtual assistant.
A fantastic resource is VA Ninja by Megan Johnson creator of Pinterest Ninja.
She teaches you EVERYTHING you need to know to get your Virtual Assistant Business started from scratch and how to get it off the ground.
Check out VA Ninja here.
4. Working with Sponsors
Writing sponsored posts is another great way to make an income blogging.
Sponsored posts are those you write about a particular product or service but receive compensation for it (material or financial).
The purpose of sponsored posts is to promote the advertiser’s product or service.
Writing a sponsored post means you work with a company and write a post about their product or service.
It is a good idea to have a good balance between sponsored content and personal content, so you don’t turn off readers with too much promotional material.
Recommended Resource:
To learn all there is about making money with sponsored content I highly recommend Sponsored Success by Tracie Fobes.
Tracie has been doing sponsored posts for years and in this course she is pulling back the curtain and sharing ALL of her secrets with you! She shares the exact system she has used to find countless of sponsored opportunities and how to can do so as well.
Check out Sponsored Success here.
5. Electronic Products (eProducts)
More commonly known as eProducts, electronic products are those that can deliver goods to customers electronically such as, eBooks, eCourses, audio books, printables, etc.
This type of income stream has quickly become the primary source of income stream for most successful bloggers.
In fact, a 2018 blogger income study report done by Brandon Gaille revealed that upper income bloggers (those earning $25,000+/ month) made 80% of their income from their own courses.
In addition, a recent article from Medium.com shows that “in 2017 alone, an estimated 1.6 billion people around the world purchased products online. Online retail sales were $2.3 trillion approximately, and this number is slated to more than double by 2021.”
With this kind of information at hand, it would be wise to include eProducts in your list of future blogging income streams.
This form of passive income is one of the best ways to make money with a blog as a beginner.
Creating these kinds of products seems difficult and intimidating at first, but once you get your feet wet in the blogging world, you will soon realize how doable it can be.
Learning how to write an eBook for instance, can unsure you receive passive income for years to come.
Recommended Resources:
Course by Number
The best resource I've come across for creating an online course from scratch is Course by Number by Suzi Whitford from Start a Mom Blog. Suzi has created and launched nine online courses over the past two years and made over $300,000 in revenue.
If anyone knows about successful courses and how to teach others how to create this oil well machine, it's Suzi.
Not only will you learn how to get the perfect course idea, but you'll also master how to create your course, launch it, and the best part of all, build an evergreen funnel to it! Having consistent income daily can change your life! Especially now, with the digital media industry growing by the millions on a daily basis.
If you've ever considered creating a course… If you've ever wondered how to make passive, lasting income from your blog… Check out Course by Number.
Printables by Number
Another great resource for making and selling your own eProducts from your blog is Printables by Number, also by Suzi Whitford.
This course will teach you how to grow your blogging income by learning how to make and sell your own Printables.
Thanks to this step by step course I recently added an additional $500+ a month to my Parenting Blog's income.
Check out Printables by Number, here.
6. Physical Products
Just like selling electronic products, you can also sell physical products.
Many bloggers have found their niche and have cleverly merged that with something they have created. Examples include handmade crafts, clothing, custom artwork, jewelry, etc.
Setting up an Etsy store or a Shopify Store alongside your blog is a fantastic way to make an income. Having a blog alongside your shop opens up a great platform to engage with a larger audience and gain a whole lot more clients.
You can also monetize your blog by doing direct sales where you sell products from a company of your choice.
7. Freelance
Another great way to make money with a blog as a beginner is by freelancing.
Freelance writing gives you the ability to write for others in exchange for compensation.
Unlike sponsored posts where you are paid to talk about a specific product, freelancing gives you free range to choose your topic.
As a freelancer, you pitch an article to the source of your choice, for example, the Huffington Post. If they are interested and like your pitch, they might extend you an offer which you can then negotiate on and finalize the deal.
In this case, your blog will serve as a “resume” by showing your potential clients you writing's voice and style.
Recommended Resource:
Write Your Way to Your First 1k is a course created by Elna Cain where she teaches freelance writing from scratch and helps you land your first client.
8. Subscriptions
Another clever way to make money from your blog is to offer subscription plans.
In other words, you can have your readers pay a set amount for access to specific content or areas on your site.
Creating a membership site allows you to charge a fee for premium content. Once you’ve developed a substantial following, it is easier to transition to paid content because your readers know how valuable the information you provide is.
Therefore, they will be willing to pay for access that only a few others will have. Some of that content may include articles, images, videos, tutorials, info-graphics, and so on.
9. Podcasting, Vlogs, and Social Media
As a bloggers audience and reputation grow, so do other venues for financial compensation.
Creating a podcast gives bloggers the ability to:
- attract a bigger audience
- advertise sponsored products or services
- promote their own products
- drive traffic to their blog
All of these factors influence how bloggers get paid.
Vlog (video blogs) or YouTube channels, serve a similar purpose.
And there you have it! These are the most popular ways bloggers make money from blogging.
Ultimately, the goal is to find what works for you and your audience. Once you have a better understanding what converts well for you then you can do more of that.
The key is to explore different income venues that feed your back account. Implementing multiple income streams will ensure that your money pond never dries out.
Important Factors when making money with a blog for beginners
It is important to note that financial success won’t come easy if at all, if you don’t understand all that goes into making money with your blog.
There are many factors that play a role in monetizing your blog. And not unless you are able to implement most of the following key elements successfully, the odds will likely be against you.
Here are some of the most important key factors that will almost certainly ensure that you make money with a blog as a beginner.
Email marketing
Email marketing is one of the most important aspects of profitable blogging. Having a dedicated and engaged audience at your immediate reach is priceless.
Email marketing is the use of email as a means to promote products and services. Emails are usually targeted and sent strategically to potential or current customers and clients.
With a strategic email marketing campaign and targeted sales funnels your ability to make a profit from all of the venues we spoke about earlier significantly increases.
Note: If you don’t know what most of these blogging terminologies are and how to use them to your advantage, I highly recommend you check out Blogcabulary Plus (The Ultimate Blogging Terminology, Reference, and Resource eBook).
Recommended Resource:
List Growth eCourse created and instructed by Tracie Fobes teaches you everything you need to know about staring your email list from scratch all the way to making money with email marketing.
List Growth eCourse you will not only help you set up your email system but you will learn how to make and share forms and ideas to get people to want to sign up. Once all of the systems that Tracie teaches in her course are in place you can turn your email list into a simple way to generate blog income.
Blog Traffic and SEO
Optimizing your blog’s content and implementing traffic strategies is imperative to a successful profitable blog.
The more visitors your blog gets, the more visible your products become, the more your ads get clicked on, and the more your affiliate links get visited.
In other words, the more traffic your blog generates the higher the chances of making more money from your blog.
In addition, the premium ad companies (the ones that pay the best per click/lead) require you to have a certain amount of visitor a month to get accepted.
Moral of the story: Do not overlook SEO and blog traffic strategies.
Recommended Resource:
Stupid Simple SEO by Mike Pearson.
This robust yet incredibly beginner friendly course takes you from the basics of understating SEO all the way to implementing key strategies that will get your blog thousands of organic page views from search engines.
Ready Set Blog for Traffic eCourse by Elna Cain
If you are anything like me and patience is not your virtue, Ready Set for Blog for Traffic is another great alternative. It is a course for new bloggers or bloggers who are struggling to get more eyes on their blog. The course is based on a proven blog traffic recipe by Elna Cain of Twins Mommy.
This video-based course helps set a strong foundation for your blog, provides a solid promotion strategy for using Pinterest, and teaches you how to write highly engaging and converting posts to earn more income. You'll also get bonus guides including 240+ high quality Pinterest groups in 17 niches, a guest blogging guide, and a swipe file filled with emails and templates.
Related Article: 7 Best SEO Courses for Bloggers (Beginner to Advanced)
Pinterest is one of the biggest traffic drivers to most blogs.
Alongside a good SEO strategy, learning all about Pinterest will ensure nit only higher traffic but higher income.
With more than 400 million active users worldwide and over 200 billion ideas to search, this platform powerhouse is a really important one on my list.
You see, Pinterest isn't a social media platform per say. Instead, Pinterest works like a search engine whose search results are presented as “pins” or images, which then lead to its original destination (a website, blog, store, etc.).
Here's how it works . . .
You are looking for a pumpkin pie recipe. You type pumpkin pie recipe in the search field and BOOM! Hundreds and thousands of pins surface despite the date they were created, and that, my friends, in the power of Pinterest.
In other social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, posts get lost in the daily feeds in just seconds of posting.
In Pinterest, however, pins can resurface at any given time if they fit someone’s search criteria.
Therefore, your pins, which lead to your blog or affiliate links can always resurface. In this article I explain step-by-step my Pinterest strategy on how to make money with Pinterest.
Relates Articles: The Best Pinterest Courses for Bloggers (Beginner to Advanced)
Social Media
Social Media as a whole provides you with an amazing opportunity to make money with a blog.
Whether it be through Instagram stories, Facebook Lives, or Pinterest Pins, your reach to your target audience can be incredible.
The key to social media success and profitable blogging is consistency and engagement.
You build your “tribe” and audience by being present and engaging. That way those who follow you and trust your judgement will be more likely to buy a product or service you sell or recommend.
Networking
The blogging community is a world of its own. Although it might seem daunting and intimidating at first glance, the blogging inner circle is smaller than you can imagine.
All successful bloggers have their mastermind group, which consist of other successful bloggers.
Networking with other like-minded successful individual will enable you to step up your game, learn new strategies, and ultimately make more money blogging.
A great place to do that is in Facebook Blogging Groups.
So, in summary
Yes, you can make money blogging with a blog as a beginner.
No, it doesn’t happen overnight.
Yes, you can also achieve great success and make a lot of money blogging. But not without putting in the work first, connecting the dots, and investing in the right tools and resources that will help propel you towards your goals faster.
Focus on one money-making venue at a time. Master it, and move on to the next. Trial and error sometimes is necessary to help you grow.
Repeat your success and avoid your failures.
Most importantly, be consistent and keep moving forward.
Remember:
“Whether you think you can, or you can’t, you are right.”
-Henry Ford
Happy and profitable blogging my friend.
Did you make money with a blog as a beginner? Have you made any money blogging so far?
Don't forget to pin for later…
