Do Bloggers Make Money Blogging?

I am amazed at the growing opportunity which the Internet can provide so many people; especially bloggers. Whether you are currently blogging or have thought about it, the opportunity to turn your passion into a business is yours for the taking.

Seth Godin captured this sentiment best when he said the following;

“How dare you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?”

You see, the opportunity for you to make a living doing something you are passionate about is more attainable today then at any other point in history. For me, I saw this opportunity in the form of blogging because start-up costs are extremely low, blogs are very search engine friendly and it goes hand-in-hand with social media; a must when it comes to blog promotion. Below are some common ways that blogging novices and professionals alike are making money with their blogs.

5 WAYS TO MAKE MONEY BLOGGING

1. Advertising Programs – Over the past couple of years a variety of viable advertising options for bloggers have created an additional, steady source of revenue. The most common way bloggers can earn money online is through advertising programs such as Google’s ad program Adsense.  In addition, a couple more ad programs that many bloggers are using successfully are Chitika and Kontera.

2. Affiliate Programs – Affiliate programs are essentially setup so bloggers and website owners can advertise other merchants products/services and earn a commission at the time of sale. One of the earliest examples of this came in the form of banners being placed on websites. For example; A ‘surfer’ went website X and clicked on a banner that  sent him/her to website Y. If said surfer makes a purchase at website Y, the owner of website X would get paid a commission for sending said surfer to website Y. Essentially, website Y is willing to pay others to send them business. Makes sense.

There are literally hundereds of affiliate programs to join and most of them are free. Some of the more well known affiliate programs include; Amazon, Linkshare, Clickbank and Commission Junction.

3. Sponsorship – One of fastest growing trends, in addition to the array of advertising programs that have sprouted, involves the opportunity for bloggers to create sponsorships with online merchants in order to allow them to advertise directly on their blogs. These are not isolated cases. Because more and more blogs are retaining large readerships, sponsorship advertising is becoming a more viable option for bloggers to make money. Sponsorship is also happening on a post by post basis with many bloggers being paid good money to write on certain topics for companies. This revenue channel is really only viable for those blogs that garner a large amount of traffic.

4. Email Marketing – Many Internet marketers will tell you “the money is in the list.” They are referring to the importance for building an email list as a means to maintain constant communication with your readers/customers. A common strategy is to use the email list to promote affiliate products or your own products or services.

5. eBooks – An increasing number of bloggers are finding great success with writing eBooks. Two of the most common ways bloggers are using eBooks as an additional revenue channel are:

• Selling eBooks on their blog, eBay or other sites that promote digital products.
• Giving away eBooks for free. The idea behind this is to promote your blog through Goodwill marketing; giving people something of value in order to create a more concrete and long-lasting relationship. This can be a very powerful way to create a large and sustaining audience for your blog.

In fact, most people who blog have already written an eBook; it’s just not in eBook form yet. A common practice is to compile several blog posts and reformat them into an ebook. This is a great way to leverage your already existing content. Additionally, giving away a free ebook as a means to encourage people to sign up for your email list is a very smart strategy. We currently are giving away our Link Building Tutorial to encourage people to sign up for our email list!

In summary, blogging has become more than just an online journal. It has become an avenue for the individual to become an online entrepreneur; turning blogging into a career. If you can create a blog and get hundreds if not thousands of people to follow you, then the opportunity for you to make money blogging is huge. For more information, read:

22 Ways to Make Money by Blogging

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