If you're reading this, there's probably one thing on your mind - who is going to pay me if I set up a blog? As an Internet marketing professional myself, it pains me when people don't know what they want before asking for help. You can always find someone willing to listen (and answer) questions about blogging or starting online businesses in general. The trick is knowing where to look. If you have a specific question, search around first. You'll be surprised at how many other people are having similar problems as you. In fact, some of them may even have asked others exactly the same questions.
So let's take care of business right away. Here we go...
Sure. Blogging pays well -- especially with affiliate programs. Affiliate marketing means promoting products and services provided by companies without any upfront fee. Instead, you earn commissions based upon sales generated through links posted on your website. That said, most advertisers won't give you much credit just because you write something nice about their product/service. It has more to do with quality than quantity. Quality content attracts readers, which translates into traffic, leads, and ultimately profits.
But wait. There's good news and bad news here. First, the bad news. Most affiliate networks offer very limited payout potentials. For example, ClickBank offers 10% commission off all sales made via its network. And then there's the good news part. Even though you only receive 10%, your efforts could lead to thousands of dollars per year in revenue. So keep writing those articles and watch your bank account grow.
The best way to make money with affiliates is to use multiple sites. This strategy allows you to build a bigger audience for each individual product or service you promote while also earning higher percentages from each sale. Plus, joining multiple affiliate networks gives you access to hundreds of different products and services. Not sure what to choose? Check out these popular affiliate websites.
Now how does this relate to getting compensated for blogging? Well, consider this scenario. Say you've got a few really great posts written about golf instruction. Now imagine that you post those articles to several high-traffic sports related forums. Afterward, you send a link to those posts straight back to your own blog. Your goal is to generate enough interest so that someone clicks through to visit your blog. Once they arrive, they read your article, click "buy now", and purchase whatever you were selling. Then again, maybe they didn't buy anything. Maybe they found another forum member who was offering better deals. Either way, you still walk away with an extra $100-$200 from that particular transaction.
This isn't as far fetched as it sounds. Google AdSense doesn't require users to sign up in order to view ads placed within web pages. They simply need to place a little code into every page they create. When visitors come across those advertisements, they see them immediately. What this essentially means is that your earnings depend entirely on whether or not someone else decides to show those adverts to viewers instead of yours.
That being said, it's pretty easy to figure out how to maximize profit using Google Adsense. All you have to do is research keywords relating to your niche market, identify relevant advertising options, and embed those options into your webpage(s). Next, determine what sort of advertisement works best within your chosen field. Finally, decide how often you'd like to run them. With this combination, you should easily hit six figures annually.
Another option involves placing banner ads directly onto your blog. Banner ads work similarly to text-based ads but appear larger than standard text ads. These sorts of banners usually display along the top portion of a user's screen and are visible no matter what browser they happen to be viewing your site in.
While these two methods might seem fairly simple, both involve a lot of technical aspects that beginners would likely ignore until it's too late. A third method combines simplicity with flexibility. This technique requires nothing more than HTML editing skills and a bit of creativity. Basically, you can upload images to your server directly from Photoshop and insert those images into your blog header files. Doing so lets you control precisely where your banner appears within your site.
When choosing an image file name, try to think outside the box. Don't stick to boring names such as Homepage_banner1.jpg. Try naming your pictures differently depending on the day of the week. Monday = TravelBanner.jpg Tuesday = FoodieFriendly.jpg Wednesday= SportsThursday.jpg Friday = GolfFriday.png Saturday = FunTimesSaturday.jpg Sunday = LifestyleSunday.jpg
These days, you can literally design your own custom logos to fit your needs. Simply download a design template and replace the default text with your desired words. Be careful not to overuse certain colours as they tend to distract rather than attract attention.
To sum things up, yes you can certainly make money blogging. However, you must understand that a large percentage of success depends on your skill level, experience, and ability to effectively communicate information. Without proper planning and guidance, setting up shop as a blogger could prove difficult. But with a strong desire and willingness to learn new techniques, you can eventually become successful. Remember that knowledge equals power. Keep learning and growing in your area of expertise. The rest will fall into place naturally.
Once you establish yourself as a reliable writer or expert in your chosen niche, chances are that you'll begin receiving invitations to guest blog on popular web publications. Although this practice typically benefits authors looking to expand their reach, it's actually quite beneficial for regular bloggers as well.
Basically, guest blogging comes down to giving exposure to another person's work and brand. By doing so, you increase visibility, credibility, popularity, and overall income. In addition to boosting your personal reputation, guest blogging opens doors to further collaborations with big corporations. Eventually, you might even end up working full time for one of these organizations.
There are plenty of reasons why blog owners seek out guest writers. One reason is that they provide fresh perspectives and opinions that otherwise wouldn't exist. Another major benefit is that guest blogging helps improve SEO rankings. To illustrate this concept, assume that you run a local restaurant. Naturally, you want to rank highly in search engine results whenever someone types in terms pertaining to food and dining establishments nearby. Would you be happy if a random customer stumbled upon your business after typing in "Italian Restaurant Near Me"? Of course not. Fortunately, by inviting prominent individuals to contribute to your blog, you indirectly invite customers searching for solutions to your company's exact problem.
In summary, once you've established yourself as a credible source of content, future collaborations with brands and media outlets shouldn't pose much difficulty. Just remember that your contributions aren't restricted to written material. Today's consumers expect multimedia entertainment as well. Therefore, establishing social accounts within your respective fields of study is extremely important. Social networking provides a platform for followers to interact with their favourite personalities.
For instance, if you love tennis, check out Serena Williams' official Facebook profile. Or perhaps you prefer basketball? Watch Kobe Bryant on YouTube. Whatever sport interests you, you should definitely follow some notable players on Twitter and Instagram. Likewise, if you're interested in fashion, browse celebrity style sections of magazines and daily newspapers. Also, visit various stores and malls to gain insight into current trends. Lastly, consider taking photos of yourself during sporting events or special occasions. Upload those shots to Flickr and share them with friends.
Yes, they do. But not everyone makes millions of dollars overnight. Depending on your circumstances, it takes anywhere from months to years to achieve financial freedom through blogging alone. While some people can pull this feat off in less than a month, others spend five or ten years building up significant assets. Ultimately, it's completely dependent on your drive and determination. No amount of talent or luck will compensate for lack of hard work.
However, if you enjoy writing, photography, or graphic design, blogging can potentially turn into a lucrative career path. Some experts claim that earning upwards of $50k per year is possible. Obviously, those numbers represent extreme cases. Nevertheless, it shows that anyone can succeed regardless of background.
Some examples include freelance journalists, photographers, designers, editors, copywriters, illustrators, marketers, researchers, and computer programmers. Indeed, almost any profession can translate into a profitable side gig as long as you possess certain traits, including passion, persistence, patience, self discipline, initiative, intelligence, leadership abilities, and communication skills.
Setting up a free blog used to mean sacrificing features and performance. Thankfully, today's WordPress software packages allow you to add additional functionality later on if necessary. Furthermore, you can host your blog for free using WordPress.com. The biggest downside is that you cannot transfer ownership unless you upgrade to premium hosting. Otherwise, you can continue to operate under the WordPress umbrella indefinitely.
Regardless of what type of blog you opt to launch, you should seriously consider monetizing it. Since you chose to publish your thoughts online, it stands to reason that you do intend to derive some kind of return from your efforts. Consider adding an Amazon Associates program widget somewhere prominent on your homepage. Alternatively, you can sell advertising space on your blog.
Blogging is one of those things where you can start with zero experience, no previous knowledge needed, all while creating something incredible. It doesn't cost anything to set up or run a website (though hosting fees may apply) and if done right, it can be extremely profitable.
The only thing standing in between you and making money blogging are your skills, which brings us back to our question... who pays bloggers?
In this article we'll discuss some popular platforms on which people earn money by monetizing their blogs into six figures annually, so keep reading.
If you're looking at starting a blog because you want to become financially independent, you should consider what kind of income stream you'd like to have access to once you've built an audience. We recommend thinking about whether or not you plan to reinvest any profits made back into advertising or paying writers/editors to write content for you. If so, then think about how many posts you intend to create each week/month and estimate reach based off this number. This way you won't end up working forever without ever seeing results.
We found four sites that offer $10-$30/subscriber monthly residuals. According to these numbers, you could potentially receive anywhere from $1-3K per month depending on your popularity level. These amounts don't include other streams of revenue such as sponsorships, affiliate marketing, etc., but they give you an idea of the potential available when building longterm relationships with readers. So now let’s take a look at how these numbers stack up against others.
To put those numbers I mentioned earlier in perspective, here's another interesting factoid. According to HubSpot's "State Of The Industry Report 2016", there were over 1 million active publishers online earning more than $100K per year in 2015. When broken down via industry, the following stats stood out:
Fashion & Style - $202.7M ($131.8M + $71.9M = $222.6M)
Education & Training - $94.4M ($62.5M+ $31.9M= $144.2M)
Health Care Professionals - $90.7M ($59.8M+ $29.9M= $88.8M)
Business Services - $81.0M ($55.2M+ $25.8M= $89.8M)
Non Profit Organizations - $75.3M ($50.0M+ $24.6M= $84.6M)
Marketing Communications - $63.8M ($43.7M+ $19.1M= $72.8M)
Entertainment - $48.1M ($33.8M+ $14.3M= $58.9M)
Sports & Fitness - $41.0M ($28.9M+ $12.1M= $53.0M)
Transportation - $39.1M ($27.3M+ $12.8M= $51.5M)
Government Employees - $35.8M ($26.2M+ $8.6M= $45.4M)
Food & Beverage Retailer - $34.7M ($23.8M+ $11.0M= $46.8M)
So, why would anyone choose a platform that offers less than half of those earnings? Well, most likely because the average publisher on AdSense has fewer than 10,000 daily visitors. In comparison, the top 500 websites according to Alexa had an average of 854,000 unique users every day in August 2017 alone. Obviously, having more traffic means better ad revenues. And since advertisers value highly targeted audiences, being able to show them ads on high-traffic pages provides marketers with a higher return on investment (ROI).
Also, remember that there are plenty of factors beyond just pageviews that affect advertisement placement, including keywords used, ad quality, location, browser type, device type, age group, gender, time spent on site, social media activity, etc. All of this adds up, resulting in lower clickthrough rates. For example, the average clickthrough rate was 3% in Q2 2016 versus 2.56% in Q2 2017. That's because Google changed its algorithms to reward more relevant ads and punish clicks that didn't result in conversions.
Another factor affecting CPM pricing is competition. High demand for particular topics usually drives prices up, especially during periods of hypergrowth. While this might seem counterintuitive, it makes sense considering that the market is already saturated. Once everyone jumps onto a bandwagon, prices tend to rise until new competitors enter the space. Nowadays, however, even though search engines prioritize organic listings, sponsored results still bring in a decent amount of traffic, particularly in competitive niches.
Now let's see how well different types of bloggers fare in terms of annual income. Based on data from Analytics Vidler, below are the averages for various categories of bloggers. Note that the percentages listed above reflect the percentage of total traffic that falls under each category.
For reference, we define “blogger" as someone who gets paid to write online regularly and receives financial compensation for doing so.
YouTube channels with over 5 million views generated almost $15M in ad revenue last year. At least, that's what YouTube claims. Whether true or not, the point remains that big stars can pull in hundreds of thousands of dollars per video viewed. However, this isn't always easy. As discussed before, the biggest challenge facing small creators is getting noticed among millions of videos uploaded every day. But hey, maybe you know how to help. Check out our tips for growing your channel.
But perhaps you feel confident enough to break away from the pack yourself. Maybe you're ready to go pro and produce your own original content. Or maybe you prefer to collaborate with experts instead of trying to compete with amateurs. Either way, here’s a quick breakdown of how much YouTubers make per view.
According to Tubefilter, the average YouTube creator pulls in approximately $0.0065 per video watched. To clarify further, that figure represents the median ad revenue earned across all YouTube channels that meet certain criteria. These criteria include having at least 15,000 lifetime viewers, 50,000 watchtime minutes per month, and generating at least 4,000 hours of watchtime within three months. Other important metrics include the length of the video itself, title optimization, thumbnail image creation, SEO strategy, cross-device tracking, etc.
As you can tell, that's pretty darn low compared to other forms of digital entertainment. Think about Spotify listenership vs. Netflix viewership. A typical Spotify playlist contains around 40 songs whereas a movie typically consists of 90 minutes worth of footage. Not to mention that streaming services provide additional sources of revenue through subscriptions and merchandise sales.
However, if you manage to grow your brand enough, you can eventually build a loyal fanbase that watches multiple videos each day. Then you can charge a premium price for your content as opposed to giving everything away for free.
There are several options available to bloggers seeking monetary assistance. Most notable are Patreon, Amazon Associates, PayPal, Stripe, Revver, and Flattr. Each option comes with pros and cons, so let's compare them side-by-side.
Patreon is a membership service designed exclusively for creative individuals. Creators can connect with fans directly and receive microtransactions through pledges. Users pledge recurring payments ranging from $1 to $150 per month, with tiers offering increased perks. Patreons also support artists via merchandising campaigns, exclusive rewards, live events, artist profiles, and testimonial mentions.
On the downside, Patreon requires both parties to agree upon specific guidelines beforehand. Otherwise, patrons risk receiving nothing in exchange for supporting their favorite personalities. Also, there are technicalities involved in accepting donations — namely taxes. Lastly, payment processing is limited to credit cards.
Amazon Associates allows bloggers to display links and advertisements inside their articles. Bloggers simply need to sign up using their email addresses and passwords. From there, bloggers choose products to promote and share their opinion. They retain full control over how much commission they wish to accept upfront and how to present said product(s). Although commissions vary widely, most fall somewhere between 20%-40%.
PayPal works similarly to Amazon Associates. Simply link customers' bank accounts to your account and send orders to your PayPal address whenever possible. Unfortunately, you must first request permission if you want to use PayPal's merchant services. Furthermore, PayPal charges 5% plus 30 cents per sale unless you qualify for an enhanced fee schedule. On the upside, PayPal supports international transactions.
Stripe is similar to PayPal insofar as requiring user consent prior to charging clients. However, unlike PayPal, Stripe lets businesses process card details manually. Therefore, it reduces PCI compliance risks significantly. Additionally, Stripe's customer acquisition costs are relatively minimal. Finally, Stripe offers global coverage through partnerships with major banks worldwide.
If you've ever started up a blog, then it probably occurred to you at some point that maybe someday people would want to read what you have written and perhaps even be interested in paying you for doing so. If this is something you'd like to pursue further, then below are answers to several questions that may help you decide whether blogging could actually bring in extra income or not...
The first thing you'll need is an audience - if no one knows about your blog, they won't come back often enough to keep reading it, let alone click on ads placed there. In addition to creating content yourself, you'll also need to promote your new website to attract visitors who might find value in your work. There are many different methods of promoting your blog (some more effective than others), but regardless of which strategies you choose, here are a few tips for getting your posts noticed.
Try posting multiple times per day. It takes time for most sites to go live. Your readers deserve regular updates, especially when you're just starting out. You should aim to post once every couple hours, depending upon your niche. Try to include links to articles elsewhere on the web, as well as social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter. Make sure you share all your relevant information across various channels so potential customers don't miss out.
Don't forget SEO. Search engines love fresh content, so try to update yours regularly too. Use keywords and hashtags in your title tags and description text to grab attention. This goes double if your blog deals with a hot topic. Keep an eye on competition levels and see where else you can improve your rankings.
Finally, consider using Google AdSense. The company has been around since 1998, so you know their policies inside-out already. Simply sign up for an account, select a suitable ad unit, and display them wherever appropriate.
A lot of these things can easily be done without any technical knowledge whatsoever. Don't worry if you aren't familiar with HTML code yet either. A good option for beginners is WYSIWG editor, which allows users to edit pages right within their browser. All you need to start off is a simple domain name and hosting service. However, we recommend finding someone experienced in WordPress development should you wish to learn PHP programming skills later on.
Blogs can certainly provide better advertising options than websites, due to their greater reach and longevity. But does that mean you'll receive payment for each visitor? Not exactly. Blogs are usually monetized through affiliate marketing, where advertisers place banners and buttons on your own page. When clicked, these items generate revenue based on tracking cookies. While this method isn't perfect (and sometimes requires quite a bit of maintenance), it's still worth exploring if you've got a popular audience.
But why stop there? Affiliate programs exist specifically for bloggers. For example, Amazon offers its Amazon Associates program, whereby affiliates can set up shop directly on the ecommerce giant's marketplace platform. Through this platform, publishers can link products listed on their site to specific product listings, increasing sales while generating commissions. These types of services tend to require very little effort beyond setting up a profile, though you shouldn't expect to become rich overnight.
Another avenue is to sell other peoples' stuff instead of your own. Sites such as Etsy allow you to showcase your creative side while selling handmade goods, art prints, clothing, jewelry, etc., among other things. Again, it takes some skill and experience to really succeed, but it's definitely possible. And remember, if nothing else, you can always use your blog to market your own books, courses, or other physical products.
It seems impossible, doesn't it? How could anyone possibly charge for words themselves? Well, with certain exceptions, yes, it's entirely plausible. Just think of newspapers, magazines, television shows, radio stations, and podcast networks as examples of companies that rely heavily on advertising dollars rather than subscriptions fees. They publish stories because advertisers pay for those advertisements to appear alongside them. So basically, their writers write simply because they must; otherwise, they wouldn't survive long enough to take home a paycheck.
This means that although blogging itself cannot guarantee monetary compensation, there are plenty of legitimate online writing jobs available today. Of course, you should check into local laws before applying to any position, and be aware that you won't necessarily enjoy the same job security as journalists. As mentioned above, however, affiliate marketing is another way to earn additional cash. Additionally, you could offer freelance writing services to clients via Fiverr, Upwork, PeoplePerHour, Elance, Guru, Freelancer, etc., or similar websites.
While it's true that you won't be able to support yourself solely through your blog, earning a small amount of money to spend on food, rent, bills, taxes, etc., is never going to hurt. After all, you can only hope to cover expenses anyway.
In 2015, Forbes published an article detailing how digital influencers were making millions from following their passions. One blogger featured had accumulated $4million over three years thanks to her YouTube channel, which currently boasts 7 million subscribers. Another made $1 million after publishing two bestseller novels. Even vloggers can pull in serious dough -- one friend was recently estimated to be pulling down $10 million annually from his videos alone.
So what kind of fame can you achieve? That depends largely on your followers' willingness to engage with your content. With luck, your personal brand will grow steadily stronger and broader until you're recognized everywhere you go. Then again, you ought to treat your fans with respect. Remember that you're trying to build relationships with them, so stay humble and give what you have to offer away whenever possible.
Are you looking forward to creating a career path in the world of blogging? Or do you prefer sticking to your current profession? Tell us in the comments section below!
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.