Hello dear friends! Are you ready for a long-ish post?! Today I will be sharing with you some of the ways that you can earn money from blogging. It is pretty much the holy grail of blogging in the blogging community and outside of it! I don’t know how many people ask me if I make any money blogging when they find out that I like to blog and make time for it! We all would love to make money doing what we love and blogging does provide a way to do that. It is not easy, but it is possible.
When I started blogging years ago, I never knew any of this. All of this is a result of learning, searching, asking questions, working hard, and dreaming big! Don’t be afraid to dream high, set goals, and reach out. You CAN make money by doing what you love to do if you want to put the effort into it! I am going to highlight the three largest ways to make money on your blog and I’ll even be sharing a lot of things that have worked for me over the years. Are you ready? Let’s go!
AFFILIATE BRANDS
These are companies that you work with to promote their brand. The main idea is that you sign up to work with a company, you place a banner on your side bar and/or link to them in your posts and you get a certain parentage of anyone who uses that link to buy something.
To me these are ONLY profitable if they are companies that you actually love and would talk about even if you were not getting paid. For example, I am an affiliate of Amazon. Affiliate programs can be run by larger programs who represent multiple brands (Share-A-Sale), store specific (Amazon), or a one stop shop for links to just about everything (Reward Style). I use Reward Style and Amazon the most.
The best way to become an affiliate is to go to the website of the brand you love and scroll to the bottom to find “affiliates.” You can also google that company followed by “affiliate program.” That page will show you how they do their affiliate program. Here are some of the larger affiliate marketing programs. I have had the most success with the top two because most of the brands I love use those ones!
1. Share A Sale
2. Amazon
3. RewardStyle
SPONSORED POSTS WITH AD NETWORKS
SPONSORED POSTS WITH AD NETWORKS
Ad Networks are companies that work with bigger brands and connect them with you. If you have seen a sponsored post on my blog, about half of them have come through an ad network. I truly love these type of programs because they present to you the opportunities they have and you can chose which ones you want to apply to! This helps with maintaining authenticity and creating opportunities to work with some of your favorite larger brands! It is a wonderful way to start getting into sponsored posts and the swing of things because you work with a contact who helps you get everything set for the brand!
- Pollinate Media
- Clever
- Linqia
- Collectivly
- Izea
- Activate by Bloglovin’
- Weave Made Media
- Blog Her
- I Sway
- Ahalogy (Send me an email at oakandoats@gmail.com if you would like me to refer you!)
- Obviously
- Mavrck
SPONSORED POSTS WITH MEDIA KIT
Joining Ad Networks is a great way to get into the swing of sponsored posts but do you have to always go through them? The answer is no! What about all those brands who email you wanting you to blog about their product or ask you your rates. It is great to have a media kit to send there way when a brand reaches out to you. What is a media kit? A media kit is a pdf (1-3 pages) that highlights your brand and lays out your prices.
If you are making a media kit for your blog, here are things to include:
1. Bio & Photo (Pick a friendly & engaging photo)
2. Social Media numbers & Blog page views (I would use Goggle Analytics for this)
3. Photos that are examples of your brand photography & photography style
4. Prices laid out for sponsored posts. ( You can do a couple varieties for this like – Instagram post, Product Placement, Fully Syndicated blog post with social shares)
5. Brands you’ve worked with in the past (if you want but I think the pictures speak louder)
I make my media kit in Canva! But let me know if you want help making one. I have attached my media kit and I can make one for you for $75 if you want! haha. I am serious. Send me an email at oakandoats@gmail.com if you are interested in this!
Once you send over your media kit continue following up with them and invoice them (you can send invoices and contracts throughHoneybookif you want) for the price of the post they picked. Be professional, organized, and engaged! I always include a fun pitch (an idea for what the post would look like on my blog) when I reply back with my media kit so that they can imagine and get excited about the post too!
SELL A PRODUCT
Did you know that the limits are truly endless when it comes to monetizing your blog?! You have skills and talents that you can bring into your blog and share with the world. This is the exciting part. Dream away and take time looking at your skills! Many of the “biggest” bloggers who make a full time income off their bloghave other streams of income. Think A Beautiful Mess– they havebooks, apps, e-courses, and even a mail subscription. Others have graphic design business, etsy shops, and conferences or get- togethers.I heard once to always have multiple streams of income. It is good to mix and match just in case one or more streams is slower for a season. Here are some ideas to get you thinking but really, the sky is yours:
1. Write a book (or an e-book)
2. Create an E-Course
3. Sell something on Etsy
4. Set up a graphic design business
5. Host a conference or event
6. Speak at a conference or event
7. Create a membership program
8. Teach a live class
FINAL THOUGHTS
BE PATIENT
Making money does not happen over night and it takes a lot of time and hard work to make a steady income on your blog. I started blogging June2010 and wasn’t able to move to full time until June of 2016. I wasn’t trying to monetize for the first years but I have still been putting a lot of time & effort into this space to get it to where I am today. Just because it is hard does not mean that you shouldn’t try. You should try, you should dream, and you should challenge yourself! (and just because it took me 6 years does not mean it will take you that long 😉 )
TRY NEW THINGS
It is easy to keep doing what you always do but you might find that you have skills you never imagined. Do you want to open an etsy shop? Try your hand at sewing, card making, wooden crafts, or design.Do you dream of designing blogs? Why not take a graphic design class and start practicing on your own blog. Everything that we learn and do helps shape us! One of my all time ever blog posts is from Emma of A Beautiful Mess when she shares about changing dreams. She is very candid about all the “failures” that she experienced before she and Elsie came together and found their sweet spot. It takes time, years, and passion but you will only come out the other end stronger!
OVERCOME
Did you know that it iscrazy doing what you are doing?! It’s true! You are an entrepreneur – working to build a brand & a thriving business! There is a lot working against you and most people think that blogging full time is a joke. Most bloggers never make money(it’s true!)I think there are several reasons for this: 1) They never wanted to make money of their blog – it was more of a journal for them. 2) They were too scared to try to make money or put in the effort. and 3) They didn’t have a strong WHY. They wanted to blog to get rich quick and they gave up when that was not the case. If you have a strong why, if you blog even when you don’t get paid, if you challenge yourself to stretch, grow, learn, and be better, if you strive to create a space you are proud of, and if you are confident about the value that you offer to brands, you’ll make it!You are an overcomer!
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