Welcome to part four in my Blogging 101 series, how to monetize your blog. I’ve loved sharing my blogging tips with you, and I’ve had a lot of people tell me how helpful they have been! So I can’t wait to share this final part in my series and tell you how to make money blogging.
If you haven’t seen my other posts, I have also written How to Start a Blog, How to Grow Your Blog, and Using Pinterest to Grow Your Blog. They are most helpful in order, so go check those out before you read this one!
Right now I make around $1,000 per month. Some months are better than others, and some months are worse. It depends on lots of different factors like season, pageviews, and how well you work things into your posts.
As far as monetizing goes, there are a few different ways to go. You can write sponsored posts, you can place ads on your site, or you can use affiliate links in your posts. I am going to talk about where I started and where I am now so you can see sort of how I have worked to monetize my blog. Then I want to talk more specifically about the different ways I monetize my blog.
Some tips when monetizing your blog.
1. Work with companies you like and actually endorse so that you can be honest and real when you promote them. One of my favorite companies that I use a lot is Shutterfly, so if you look on the right of my site in my sidebar you will see a few Shutterfly/TinyPrints ads. I also am able to work them into my posts because I know how new moms can use them since I have used them myself. See what I mean? If a company reaches out to you that you have never heard of or that you don’t use, it’s going to be harder to promote them. I have had a few companies reach out to me that sell pregnancy things, but since I am not pregnant right now, I’m not going to promote them because I want a chance to try them out first.
2. Make sure you promote companies that are going to be relevant to your readers. If you write a parenting blog, it might not be relevant to promote a company that sells men’s clothing. But it would be relevant to promote a kids’ clothing company or a mom and baby deal site like Zulily. Think about what your readers are coming to your site for and then figure out what kinds of companies fit that.
3. Reach out to companies. It took me a long time to build up the courage to ask a company if I could write a sponsored post for them. But they had something I wanted and I knew it would be something my readers would be interested in, so I asked. Sometimes companies will say no (or not even respond at all, which is super annoying), but sometimes they will say yes, and it’s awesome!
4. Be patient. It’s going to take time before companies start reaching out to you. But they will if you are good at blogging and if you keep working hard to write amazing content. So don’t give up, and if they aren’t contacting you, contact them!
5. Be cautious when someone contacts you. When someone contacts me I always look up the actual product on Amazon or some legit source. If their website seems sketchy or the product seems fake, then politely tell them you are not interested, and thank them for contacting you. I’ve had companies contact me who essentially sell magic pregnancy pills. One look at the email and I know I’m not going to write for them. So be cautious, and pick products that you trust.
6. Include a privacy policy/disclosure page on your blog. And also make sure you put a disclaimer before any posts with affiliate links. It’s the law, so make sure you do it. This is what my disclosure page looks like.
Okay, so now I want to share with you some of the companies I have worked with in monetizing my blog. I work with different companies (mostly) now than I did when I started, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good companies. And if you are looking for a place to start, these are super helpful.
1. AdSense. When I started my blog in August 2013, I first put a few AdSense banners on my site. The first month I made $4.71, the second month $15.54, the third month $27.85, and the fourth month jumped to $66.91. You get money when people click on the ad banners with AdSense, so the more pageviews you get, ideally the more clicks you will get. I do not use AdSense any more, but it was a great place for me to start, and I would recommend it.
2. Shareasale. I learned about Shareasale from when I was working as an administrative assistant for a popular apron company. When I started my blog, I decided I would check it out and see what kinds of things I could do with it. And let me tell you, I love Shareasale. You apply for programs that you are interested in, and then once you are approved, you can put coupons, affiliate links, and ad banners on your site for those companies. You get a commission when someone clicks on your link and then buys something. This is how I work with Shutterfly and Zulily. You have to manage your own stuff, but if you are good at working links in, it can really pay off. I have made over $3,000 with just Shutterfly alone since I started blogging. You can see how I work links with them in my post 25 Things to Do Before Your Baby is Born.
3. Collective Bias/Social Fabric. I just started working with them in November of last year, and it has been a lot of fun. Essentially you apply to work on campaigns for different companies in order to promote their product. I love it because it gives me a chance to figure out ways to be creative and tie the products into something that I want to write about. One example is my New Dad Kit where I wrote about Irish Spring Signature soap and body wash. You get reimbursed for the products, and then you also get paid on top of that for your post/social media promotion. I really love Social Fabric, and I would definitely recommend checking them out.
4. Amazon Affiliate Program. I just started using this recently, but I am loving it so far. The idea is you link to products on Amazon, and you get a commission when someone buys something after clicking your link. The thing I love about it is that if you are already recommending a product (like I do in my Best Baby Purchases post), you can link to it so people can buy it themselves if they want. This works great if you are already talking about a certain product. You can use links, pictures, or text and pictures.
5. Private ad companies. Currently I use The Blogger Network, and I love them. You get an account manager who works to help you optimize your ads so you can make the most money. Before that I was using a different company that was super inconsistent and really tough to contact and get answers from. I would recommend asking other bloggers who they work with before signing up with someone, because I’m sure if I had done that with the first company, I would’ve have signed up. But I love using The Blogger Network and I am making really good money with them so far.
Okay, so that’s a lot of information, but if you are here because you want to monetize your blog (which, if you are still reading, is why you are here), then those are my not-so-secret tips to help you out. I hope they help. You can make money blogging, even if it does take some time. I am so glad that I’ve been able to monetize my blog because it has been such a huge help to our family while the Mister has been in med school. I hope that you are able to use these tips and make some money, too! Good luck!
Do you have any other tips on how to make money blogging? Let me know!
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