As a blogger, I get questions all the time like can you really make money blogging and how does that work? So. this guide on how to make money by blogging for beginners is my attempt to respond to these queries and fully explain the process.
Blogging gives you a unique opportunity to connect with an audience around the globe, share your knowledge, and help people solve problems. At a high level, every business is about providing value, and in that sense blogging is no different.
Read on to discover why I chose to blog as a path for supplementing my retirement income online. Could this be a good option for creating a supplemental income stream for you also?
What is a Blog?
A blog is a website or component of a larger website that contains information or discussion consisting of separate articles or “posts.” If you spend even minimal time browsing on the Internet, you will quickly observe that there are blogs devoted to any conceivable topic.
Blogs are dynamic with new entries added regularly and displayed on a blog page in reverse chronological order with the most recently published article at the top of the page. Websites without blogs tend to be more static with “evergreen” content pages that rarely change.
The purpose of a blog is to inform and educate a target audience and may contain graphic images, video, or even audio podcasts in addition to text. Frequently, blogs are written in a conversational tone with related articles that are organized in descriptive categories.
A Blogger’s First Decision
What do I write about on my blog? The generic answer to this frequently expressed question is a simple one. Write about things that fascinate or inspire you! Indulge yourself and pick a topic you love. You will want to thoughtfully select a topic or niche that uniquely suits your personality and passions.
Recommended Reading: What is the Definition of a Niche and Why is it Important?
One key is to define your ideal reader carefully and then craft content around the informational requirements of this select group. More than 3 billion people routinely search the Internet. Obviously, they’re not all interested in your message. And yet, it’s a safe bet that regardless of your passions, your soulmates are out there!
Do you have the perfect niche in mind? Are you keen to try the blogging life?
Here are a few ideas to get the wheels churning:
- How To Start A Gardening Blog For Fun And Profit
- How to Make Money with Pet Products and Affiliate Programs
- The Best Golf Affiliate Programs – How to Make Money With Golf
- How to Start a Home Decor Blog and Make Money
Your Next Step – Create a Website
To begin your online journey, you will need to create a website and secure hosting for your new site. You have a variety of options for accomplishing this goal that you can discover quickly by a Google search. But bear in mind, if your goal is to make money, you will need a self-hosted blog.
Free blogging platforms are lovely if you want to express your opinions or socialize. However, a money-making business venture requires your own Internet real estate without the restrictions that limit the effectiveness of a free blog.
I want to introduce you to one possibility; the avenue I chose. I’m a premium member of an online community called Wealthy Affiliate (WA). As I discovered, there is a massive advantage to WA for new bloggers because WA offers an entirely free (no credit card required) Starter Membership.
What? Didn’t you just advise against taking the free blogging route?
Yes, I did, and I promise you I’m not changing my position or being inconsistent. WA’s starter membership is a fabulous opportunity to see what blogging is all about without making any on-going commitments. I don’t know about you, but I don’t buy things sight unseen.
I prefer the label frugal to cheap, but you get the picture. 🙂
You can literally create a free website within the hour by joining as a starter member now. Absorb the free training, get hands-on experience in building a website, and experience the supportive nature of the WA community.
If you recognize the outstanding value of this all-inclusive platform, you can upgrade to premium. Alternatively, if you find that working online from home is not for you, just walk away. To see all of the benefits to you that are included in a Wealthy Affiliate Membership, check out my 2019 WA review.
Draw Traffic to Your Site
Once you’ve created your blog, your mission is to fill your blog with enticing content. Content creation is the fun part where you get to express yourself. To be clear, I’ve also found this step to involve a fair amount of work which is why I advocate careful selection of your niche. The job of creating content will be challenging but enjoyable if you love the topics.
Most blogs get readers from search engines. Your objective is to craft valuable content that provides answers to keyword queries that members of your niche are typing into search engine text boxes. Your content must drive traffic to your blog which requires an understanding of search engine optimization techniques.
Recommended Reading: The How to of Search Engine Optimization – A Beginning Blogger’s Guide
Got traffic? Excellent! You are now ready to monetize your blog.
4 Options for How to Make Money by Blogging for Beginners
Let me be clear at the outset. There are multiple ways to make money blogging. I am focusing on four ways today because they are relatively straightforward options that do not involve physical products and are reasonably easy for a new blogger to implement. So let’s proceed to the main event.
Affiliate Marketing
Simply put, affiliate marketing involves promoting someone else’s goods or services for a commission. There are tens of thousands of affiliate programs to choose from to meet the needs of any niche. Becoming an affiliate is free. You can typically accomplish the affiliate enrollment process in less than ten minutes.
In a nutshell, you place affiliate links on your website for products you believe your readers will benefit from and enjoy. Visitors click those links and are instantly transported to the vendor’s site. If a purchase transaction occurs, you receive a commission. Affiliate marketing is a proven technique that I use on this website.
Recommended Reading: How to become an Amazon Affiliate Marketer
Advertising with Google AdSense
Google AdSense is a program that allows website owners of any size to earn money by showing Google ads on their site that are relevant to users of the site. Creating an account is free. You can choose different ad sizes and formats.
Adsense automatically matches text or display ads that are appropriate for your site based on the nature of your content and visitors. Depending on the ad, you earn money based on either the number of visitors viewing the ad or the number of actual reader clicks on the advertisement.
Revenue earned per impression or click is tiny (cents), so you need a lot of traffic to earn a significant income. Still, it’s a popular program due to the simplicity of both creation and administration. Google handles all administrative details.
Watch the video below to obtain an overview of the Adsense program.
Sell Digital Products
A third possibility for monetizing your blog is to sell digital products. For example, you might write an e-book on topics related to your blog content. It is not unusual for bloggers to create an e-book by expanding upon several of their pillar articles.
If this is something you are interested in pursuing, Canva is a website where you can create an e-book for free. Canva enables the free creation and download of various designs through a user-friendly interface. E-books are one of many options.
Offer Services
Once you have an established platform where you can be found on the Internet, offering services to readers becomes a genuine possibility. The nature of those services will depend on your niche audience. But certainly, web design or freelance writing services are viable and popular offerings.
In Summary
Blogging is an exceptional opportunity to share ideas and creativity with a like-minded audience. Once you have created a blog, filled the blog with useful information, and built-up traffic, multiple ways exist to monetize your blog. While it will take time and effort, many bloggers can successfully generate multiple streams of income.
I sincerely hope this post helped clarify things and you now have a better understanding of how to make money by blogging for beginners. Perhaps we’ll meet on the Wealthy Affiliate platform where it will be my pleasure to help you build a website as the foundation for a sustainable online business.
To your success!
Over to You
Have you launched your blog yet? If you still have questions on how to make money by blogging for beginners, post your question in the comment section below. I will respond to all inquiries.
Like It? Please Share It!
Hey Linda,
Awesome article to read and a very informative one i might add. I really do think content creation of your website days is so important as it is the core of all things. Once the traffic starts rolling in then you defiantly know your heading in the right direction. Do you think google ad sense is only worth while with high amounts of traffic?
Hi Vinnie,
Thanks for your comments and kind words. Yes, at cents per impression or click, AdSense does require high traffic rates to be profitable. Frankly, I am not a big fan because I find ads to be somewhat intrusive. I much prefer the affiliate marketing approach.
I do not know much about retired life but yes I have pensioner in my family. I liked the way you have written this article it is so good. There are lots of scams when it comes to online earnings; I have been trap through hundreds. The things you have mentioned are a genuine and legit way of earning online. All the best.
Hi Binamra,
You’re quite right. Blogging is a very legitimate opportunity to earn money online. It is not a get rich quick scheme but rather requires work and commitment. Scams abound out there and you do have to be careful. Any program that claims you can make money immediately is not legitimate. You definitely need to stay clear of them. Thanks for visiting my site.
I always wanted to create my own blog site in order to share my knowledge to the community, but now I see I can actually generate a good income from it. Thanks for the great post! I’m sure to start my blog site as soon as possible, implement your advice and see how it goes 🙂
Hi Peter,
I’m very glad to hear you found the article informative. Best of luck with your venture into blogging. I hope you’ll enjoy blogging as much as I do. I appreciate your comments.
Thanks for your article. In an area overrun with information it’s easy to get confused about where to start – yet your article clearly both shows the process and explains the how. I like the fact you have video in there also. I hope the advertising side of it is now starting to pay off for you?
Hi Ian,
I’m so glad to read you found my post both clear and helpful. That’s always my goal! I do not use ads on my site As a reader I tend to find them annoying so I have shied away from using that approach. I much prefer affiliate marketing for 2 reasons. One is that it is far more subtle. The other is that I have total control and only promote products and services that I use myself and believe in I’m pleased with the results of this monetization strategy.
Thank you for your comments!
Hi Linda,
Thanks for sharing your top ways for making money online by blogging.
I have found that my family and friends are all very skeptical when I tell them I am trying to make an earning online. I hope that one day I would be able to prove them all wrong.
Thanks again, Kris
Hi Kris,
Skepticism is very common when dealing with making money online. Unfortunately, there are a lot of scams out there that contribute to this reaction. Fortunately, there are completely legitimate programs available, such as Wealthy Affiliate, that do indeed provide opportunities to earn money online. Make sure you choose a legitimate program, follow the training, and commit to your goal to achieve success. Thanks for your comments and I wish you all the best with your endeavors. I hope you’ll come back and let me know you’ve succeeded.