Are you wondering how to make money off of your blog?
If that’s the case, your blog monetization problem is going to be solved once and for all. The blog monetization could be a nightmare for blogging starters, especially with the newbies. You don’t have to jump onto the typical monetization bandwagon – if CPM ads are working for your friend’s website, then Google Adsense might work for your blog. I’ll try to educate you that there could be various options to consider while starting blog monetization.
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I’m going to dig deeper into blog traffic monetization. Since a lot of you might be planning on launching your blog in 2018 and want to know how to monetize the blog, so I thought to share a few nuggets with you that have helped me grow my business.
You’ll learn following things in this blog post:
- Choosing the right monetization method
- Success secrets of money making blogging
- Popular blog monetization methods
See, there are many ways to make money from blogs, but not every method works for everyone – sometimes a niche you’re in classifies the opportunities, or often the very same niche lands you some exclusive deals.
But before getting into the blog monetization methods, let’s take a minute to remind ourselves about the three key essentials of successful blogs. The reason for sharing these important elements is that it will avoid your blog from going off the rails.
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Let’s take a look:
1. Consistent Effort
Blog monetization isn’t a piece of cake. Instead, you might need to test out a lot of strategies and persevere along the way. The consistency will play a huge role in your success. So you’ll be better off if you pay attention to the right kind of monetization strategy. In case, it doesn’t work out, look out for another.
2. Delivery of Value
One of the key elements of a blog’s success is the value it delivers to the audience. If you’re focused on making money from your blog, you might end up frustrated at some point. The reason for why people stick to your blog is the value they receive.
3. Clear Message
The clarity of message is what builds a connection between a blog and the readers. So when you create content, try to keep the message loud and clear. Readers resonate with the content when they truly understand it. So keep the content clear, precise, and to-the-point.
Also Read : 5 Ways To Advertise Your Business Online
Let’s head over to some of the best blog monetization methods to try out in 2018:
Affiliate Marketing
If you haven’t come across affiliate marketing yet, it’s time do some due diligence before jumping to something that’s not a right fit. Affiliate marketing is a monetization strategy in which you promote a product and makes a commission on the successful sales. Unlike PPC or CPM advertising, it doesn’t require loads of traffic to the blog, but rather the right kind of readers who are genuinely interested in your blog content.
To get started with affiliate marketing, you need to find the right product or service that aligns with your blog content. For instance, if you have a dog blog, you could promote dog food, dog accessories, and dog toys through any popular pet store’s affiliate program.
A lot of companies mention their affiliate program links at the bottom of their websites. Always look out for the link somewhere on the top or at the bottom of the website. Look at the affiliate program link of shopify.com, for example:
On the other hand, you can also promote products or services passively. If there are companies that you’re really fond of, you could make a separate page giving them your support. For example, if your blog is about marketing, programming, design or any other digital skill, you could support your favorite eLearning platform. This way, you’ll not only support knowledge but will also make some money through affiliate programs. You could also support hosting provider, online educators or anyone else you love. However, this won’t make you as much money, as products/services that you promote actively on your blog posts.
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If you’re wondering where to begin from in blog monetization in 2018, affiliate marketing could potentially be a good option to start off because it doesn’t require much of traffic and blogging experience. Instead, all you need is a perfect combination of the right product, good content, and the attention of the relevant audience.
If you’re struggling with affiliate marketing, consider taking some online courses from Udemy or any other popular online courses website.
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Direct Ads
One of the best ways to monetize blog traffic is direct ads. It may not work for new blogs but could be effective for comparatively older blogs. The reason is that new blogs don’t have a massive audience that results in low click-through rate.
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Once the blog grows in 6 to 12 months, this blog monetization strategy becomes a reliable option. You may find some bloggers that have been very successful with the direct ads. It comes down to trying it out. For instance, Chris Ducker promotes his products through direct ads on his blog:
…it shows that the sidebar isn’t just for the optin box. He does have the optin box on the blog sidebar along with the direct banner ads.
Similarly, Jeff Bullas uses the direct ads on the blog sidebar, which becomes a huge validation for other bloggers. Take a look:
In case, you need to start monetizing your blog traffic in 2018 and want to go ahead with the direct ads, then consider trying WordPress plugins like WP PRO Ads Advertising System and ADS – Modern WordPress Ad Plugin. If you have an established blog, don’t ignore BuySellAds. It’s one of the most popular direct ad marketplaces.
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Sponsored Post
A sponsored post is rather a simple blog traffic monetization strategy which involves mentioning the sponsor link in the beginning or at the bottom of the blog post. Brands which are interested in a blog’s content and want to put their brand’s name in front of the specific blog’s audience, they go with the sponsored posts.
It does look simple, but it requires some technical aspects to be taken care of to make it happen. Take a look at few of them:
- You must be familiar with the blog niche of the blog you’re looking at to sponsor the blog post
- One must know that the audience would resonate with your brand
- The blog’s content must be relevant to your brand
- The sponsored blog post must be helpful for the audience
Look at this screenshot, for example:
I’d like to clarify that newbies shouldn’t be hoping to get sponsored posts in the beginning – it could happen, though, but they brands tend to sponsor blog posts on the authoritative blogs that have traffic, engagement, and social media following.
Also Read : How to be an excellent blogger
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a growing social media and blog monetization trend. It started off with social media stars that had a huge following, and then it became a thing in the blogosphere – which means bloggers can monetize their blog traffic through influencer marketing.
In influencer marketing, when a social media user or a blogger has a decent amount of followers in particular niche; he or she becomes an opportunity for the relevant kind of brands to promote their products. It does cost less than traditional PPC or CPM campaigns. The biggest upside of the influencer marketing is that influencers do have loyal followers base, which is why they could recommend a product or service to the followers – and it would turn things around for the brand.
It provides brands a smooth pathway to find, connect, and work with the bloggers that have the following on the internet. On the other hand, the bloggers pocket the promotional opportunities and make money off of their blogs. It may not work for everyone, at least, in the beginning. Once you have engagement, traffic, and subscribers on your blog, you can beat the drums about it.
Also Read : Viral Marketing – Things to Know about
Three of the best influencer marketing platforms for bloggers are:
It’s a blogger influencer marketing platform from BlogLovin portal. BlogLovin is a platform that allows users to find, read, and organize favorite blogs. ACTIVATE provides an opportunity for bloggers to monetize their blog traffic.
Jamballa is a bloggers outreach platform that provides bloggers with an opportunity to work with brands and promote the products through campaigns to make money online.
It’s another influencer marketing platform for bloggers that could be used to monetize blog traffic in 2018. It works with some of the biggest brands in the field of technology, retail, and communication.
…influencer marketing, however, isn’t limited to the influencer marketing platforms. A lot of brands reach out to the influencers through their blogs or social media accounts.
If you want to get into influencer marketing to monetize your blog, make sure that you have a good traffic statistics to share with the brands, a growing email list, and the well-ranked blog content.
Also Read : Starting a Blog: 3 Essentials You Must Know
Conclusion
The reason for this is that every strategy doesn’t work for everyone – it comes down to testing, altering, and finding the right one. The purpose of discussing the blog monetization was to educate bloggers on trying out new options that are out there and working for many bloggers.
Add new blog income streams to your blogging and see what works for you.
I tried to share some of the best blog traffic monetization strategies that you could apply in 2018.
Make sure to let me know about your favorite blog monetization strategies in the comments below.