This is a guest post courtesy of Teddy Hunt. I probably could should be monetizing BGB a wee bit more than I currently am, but hey… to each their own right?
I use BGB primarily as a platform to showcase my writing skills and connect with my potential clients as well as build a relationship with my readers.
I also do a bit of affiliate marketing here and there when I come across a product I like, and run a few ads, although they aren’t my biggest focus areas.
How about you?
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below if you have other ideas on earning money with your blog.
Many new bloggers start out with dreams of creating a successful site that allows them to make a great living just writing about the things they love.
While every blogger starting out has the opportunity to achieve these goals, only bloggers who utilize multiple income streams will be likely to actually become a full-time blogger.
Here are a few of the most popular ways bloggers can make money with their blogs.
Sell Ads
This is the most traditional and basic way bloggers can make money on their blog. The idea is that your site has lots of niche traffic, and companies want to gain exposure to that traffic.
For example, your mobile tech related blog attracts 10,000 visitors per month, and T-mobile wants to expose their 2013 new cell phones to your visitors.
They may buy up some display ads on your site, pop-ups, pop-unders, sidebar ads, or any other creative type of ad that will display their products.
You will most likely want to sell these ads through a network, such as Adsense, unless you have some techie skills.
It just makes it easier on you, and you don’t have to worry about payment issues. Also, even if you have a lull and don’t have companies specifically buying ads from you, Adsense will supply your site with ads that generate revenue for you on a per-click basis.
Affiliate Programs
Affiliate programs are similar to selling ads, but the revenues are tied to driving traffic (and hopefully sales) to a site like Amazon.com and others.
These campaigns offer lots of options, and once you set them up, you are basically done.
Just sit back and wait for your visitors to go buy stuff that you have linked with your affiliate code, and the money will magically appear in your account. (OK perhaps not magically, but relatively painlessly.)
Usually your income is either tied to a percentage of the sale (a small percentage) or an action such as a click-through or email sign-up.
You can also partner with other like-minded bloggers and cross promote similar or complimentary products as an affiliate as well.
Basically you are letting other people do the heavy lifting when it comes to product creation, fulfillment of orders, customer service, etc… you are simply helping spread the word and taking a small commission on any sale you generate.
Sell your Content
Lots of writers just want to make money selling their work.
In the past, writers had to overcome the publishing hurdle, which meant you had to get your work in front of a publisher and they had to like it.
Now thanks to a whole horde of ebook publishers, anyone can put their thoughts together, and put them up for sale with minimal effort and cost.
That’s not to say everyone should however. If writing is not your forte, you might considering hiring that aspect out so that you are presented with your best foot forward in whatever you put out.
Also consider that because people can purchase the content you create right from your site, you’re setting up another recurring revenue stream.
Once you’ve written and prepared your ebook, all future sales are just icing on the cake for work already completed.
Sponsored Content on your Site
Guest posting and sponsored content are all the rage right now.
Lots of companies want to get their products or services in front of prospects and customers in a less sales-y way. If your site has a decent amount of niche traffic, you can command significant rates to post sponsored content on your blog.
This may seem to be the most rewarding way to bring in revenue for your blog, because it essentially only requires you to copy and past someone’s article into your blog admin and hit publish.
This is where all that traffic can really start paying off. Just be sure that when you are running a sponsored post on your blog, you are disclosing it as such and make readers aware you are receiving monetary compensation from publishing it.
Consulting
Once you become more established and begin to earn money with your blog, you can always charge others to learn your secrets. Never discount the value of what you know that someone else may not know.
Lots of people are creating blogs every day. Some of those people are willing to pay to learn from someone that has already made the big mistakes and learned from them, so they can fast track their success.
Also consider that many businesses are rapidly incorporating blogging into their marketing strategies. So much so that the Queensland Australia.gov site even thought it deserved a mention.
Lots of these business owners need help with strategies and content. The opportunities to help out in this way are almost endless.
Over to You
Now that we’ve highlighted some key ways that bloggers can begin earning money with their blogs, it’s time to evaluate these options to see if any of them make sense for your site.
Take time to evaluate your long-term goals and look at some of the blogs you consider to be competitors. Emulate some of the more successful sites, and look for ways that you can differentiate your offerings.
Do you know of any other must-use methods that aren’t included on this list?