If you’re like most people, you probably think that it’s pretty stupid that bloggers can make so much money. After all, it just seems like one of the silliest occupations that the internet has created in the last decade.
But if you’re also like most people, you are very jealous that they started a blog five years ago, and now have an online business that they can run from their computer, anywhere in the world.
Now, don’t hate. Rather than be jealous, you owe it to yourself to figure how bloggers make money, to see if it’s something you’d be interested in trying out for yourself.
However, understand that blogging is a long game. No blog makes money in the first few months. it takes years of consistency to build a decent income.
But whether you want to become a blogger yourself, or you simply want to see behind the scene how the money rolls in, keep reading to learn everything you didn’t need to know about the blogging world.
Referral Marketing
Referral marketing works very similarly to affiliate marketing. The main difference between the two is that referral marketing is more personal, meaning you will probably have to be an active user of the brand you plan on promoting.
Most Bloggers Make Money With These Two Strategies
So how do the majority of bloggers earn an income? One of two ways; display ads and affiliate marketing. Most blogs utilize both of these strategies, but one usually provides much more income than the other, depending on the type of blog.
Also Read: blogger outreach service
Display Ads
So much of the content on the internet today exists to answer people’s questions or to share interesting information. Much of that information is hard to monetize without using advertisements.
And it takes time to create authentic, helpful, insightful content. So the people that create this content deserve to be paid for their hard work, right? In the past, people who created educational content wrote books. And the only way to learn new things was to purchase a book and read it, providing the author with an income.
Today, you don’t have to read books for answers. You can search google for answers, find a blog post that has answered it, and read all about it. As you do, the blog post has advertisements throughout the page, so that as you read, you are exposed to ads.
Whether you pay attention to those ads or not, the site owner will receive a small payment by selling native ads to advertisers through networks such as Google Adsense.
Now, let’s be real; sometimes these ads are super annoying. Especially when they pop up at you, or slow down the web page. Luckily, you can set up an ad blocker on your computer which can combat these on your behalf. Check out setapp.com to learn more about limiting the number of ads you see.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is the process of creating content, linking to products or services related to the content, and referring users to purchase those products or services.
In exchange for sending new customers to another company, they pay the blogger a commission. This is known as affiliate marketing and is one of the most commonly used strategies used by hundreds of thousands of bloggers today. One of the positives is the startup costs are very cheap or at times, you can even build a free affiliate marketing business from the ground up.
A good affiliate network blog will create content so good, and place links so effectively, that it doesn’t feel like a basic, boring, affiliate marketing website. However, many people trying to make fast money will put up basic websites, create basic content full of affiliate links, and hope to make money. And surprisingly, some do.
Other Income Strategies for Bloggers
When people first set out to create a business blog, their first step is often to make a few dollars with ads, or a few dollars with affiliate marketing. But once they get up and running, smart blogging revolves around income diversification.
A good example of this is the passive income app Honeygain, which offers a referral program where you get continuous profits from each person you bring as long as both of you are using the app.
A good blog will have many income streams. Here are some of the others you may encounter.
Sponsored Content
When bloggers exist in a particular niche, related companies may reach out to them to create content about their products. This is known as sponsored content, and it’s a form of advertising.
Say you are reading a blog about mountain biking. If it’s a popular blog, you can bet your biscuits that top mountain bike brands are going to send that blogger new bikes and gear to test out and create blog content talking about how awesome it is. Along with free stuff, bloggers can also get a pretty paycheck out of the deal.
Digital Products
Many blogs focus on creating digital products, such as ebooks, printables, artwork, and other resources that they can create once and sell over and over again.
This is often the best content that the blogger can create. They then create free content (blog posts) and encourage those who want even more information to purchase the digital product. It’s infinitely scalable and is often the ticket to true success for bloggers.
Online Courses
Along with digital products, many bloggers also create online courses. Again, this is a product they create once and can sell a million times without having to do any extra work.
Courses are generally more expensive, with the average being between $100 and $600 dollars, though some can cost much more. These take a long time to create, but a good course can provide a blogger with a healthy income for a long time.
Merchandise
Many blogs will offer physical merchandise for sale. More often than not, they partner with a print-on-demand company to create the products and fulfill orders on their behalf. Therefore, the bloggers don’t actually have to package up products and mail them to you.
This is usually a tiny stream of revenue for bloggers, but it’s a way of engaging with the most loyal audience members.
Mentorship, Coaching, and Community
Lastly, some bloggers will offer personal interactions in the form of mentoring, coaching, or online communities. These offer dedicated individuals to take their learning, education, and growth to the next level, though these opportunities usually come with a high cost.
Thank You Bloggers
This list isn’t even complete. There are still dozens of other ways that bloggers make money. These are some of the most common, and for many bloggers, produce tens of thousands, if not millions of dollars every year.
Now, as you browse around the internet, you’ll start seeing these strategies being used left and right. And you don’t have to be defensive. These are normal people creating value for other people. They are working hard to build a blog.
Do you think you can do it too?
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