Do you think bloggers spend enough time on the internet just publishing articles for the fun of it? They don’t. Do you ever think of how bloggers make money doing what they love to do?
If you do not know how bloggers make money, this article will open your eyes to the various ways bloggers make money.
Maybe, after that, you may be interested in blogging. But in this post, we are not going to teach you how to blog.
But if you are interested in blogging, at the end of the post, you will be redirected to where to learn how to blog and start making money.
Please know that blogging is not a quick-rich scheme. Many who ventured into blogging failed and quit. It is because they had the wrong mindset.
More so, they didn’t acquire the best knowledge to help them succeed. In addition, they weren’t consistent and there was no focus.
So when you see bloggers who are making thousands of dollars monthly, it is because they have paid the price which involved investing time and resources.
Without further talk, here is how bloggers make money from their blogs.
Bloggers Make Money From Their Blogs By Monetizing Their Content
1. Display Ads
Display ads, also known as banner ads, are the simplest and most common form of monetizing a blog.
Display ads are advertisements that are placed on a blogger’s site, either by the blog owner or by someone else through an ad network.
Display ads can be placed in the header, footer, and sidebars of the blog or anywhere else that have space allocated for them.
If a blogger wants to use display ads to monetize his blog then all he needs is an ad-serving tool like Google AdSense or Ezoic (you can learn how to use AdSense in this guide) which will deliver relevant advertisements to his site based on the content of his post.
Bloggers don’t need to sell ad space themselves; AdSense does it for bloggers and also automatically serves up the best-paying advertisements.
When visitors click on those advertisements they get paid a commission from the advertiser.
Generally speaking, if display advertising is working well for a particular website then the revenue generated from it will be passive income—it requires no further action from the blogger after the initial setup.
2. Sponsored Posts
One of the best ways bloggers make money is by publishing sponsored posts. A brand or an individual pays a blogger to write a blog post on his website about their product or service.
In exchange, bloggers may receive money, free products, samples, discounts, or other perks.
But before you think that this means they get paid to write about their favourite new brand of high-end yoghurt, remember that this is not how most bloggers do it:
They only accept sponsored posts from brands they actually use and believe in.
This shouldn’t be an issue to any blog reader that all sponsored posts will be the blogger equivalent of a 30-minute infomercial, don’t worry:
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that any sponsored posts be clearly disclosed as such so readers can know what they are reading and why (and rest assured knowing there was no payola involved.)
3. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is something that most bloggers use, and it is super easy. Basically, they add affiliate links or banners on their blog posts, sidebars and any other parts of their blog.
When someone clicks on the links or banner to visit another site and take an action, the bloggers get paid a certain commission.
This is totally different from display ads monetization. The visitor must either purchase a product or a service or sign up for a program before the blogger can earn.
Bloggers can add in some code (this is the “affiliate link” part) so that when people go to the other website through their blog, it lets them (merchant/vendor/advertiser) know that they reached that site via their blog.
There are lots of affiliate programs out there – many big retailers like Amazon and AlieExpress have them, as do online stores like Etsy.
A blogger doesn’t have to have any special computer skills to do this; usually, all he needs to know how to do is copy/paste!
Most affiliate programs do give bloggers instructions on how best to utilize these links or banners and what kind of information and images will be most effective for their readers.
Many bloggers put these links or banners in their sidebar or in blog posts where it makes sense for their readers. They can also create text-only links with this information.
4. Sponsorship
When a blog is popular, it can attract sponsorship. Sponsorships most often come in the form of monetary support for the blog or free products to review in exchange for a promotion.
This funding could come from a brand that wants to work with a blogger or from an advertising network like Google AdSense.
If a blogger has a magazine-style blog, sponsors could also pay to place their ads on his blog.
Popular products include, of course, coffee as well as food and drink items such as beer and wine. There is more diversity than ever when it comes to reaching out to brands that might be interested in sponsoring content.
This is especially true when it comes to the rise of new technology and scientific developments like self-driving cars, smart homes and even artificial intelligence (AI).
Some bloggers attract sponsorship in dollars, by registering with an influencer marketing platform such as TapInfluence where brands can find them based on relevant keywords within their content!
Bloggers Make Money In A Variety of Ways
There are a variety of ways bloggers can make money, including some that may not be obvious. Here are the most common:
- Display ads – advertisers pay a blogger to display their banners on his website
- Sponsored posts – brands pay a blogger to write about them or their products
- Affiliate marketing – when a visitor clicks through from a blogger site and makes a purchase, he earns a commission
- Sponsorship – companies or individuals sponsor a blog for financial gain or for exposure to the blogger’s audience
Some bloggers also use their blogs as an extension of other business models. For example, some popular methods include:
- Selling products
- Selling services (like web design)
- Writing freelance articles/blog posts
If you have ever thought bloggers make money from fraud, you are wrong. If you have ever thought bloggers make money from your internet subscription, you are wrong.
Bloggers make money from the monetization of their content.