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So. The big question… How do bloggers make money?
Let’s get one thing out of the way before we start…
I’m not going to feed you a line about how “you shouldn’t be in this for the only purpose of making money” or “making money shouldn’t be your only reason for starting a blog” because, well frankly, 99.9% of us (me included) ARE in this for the money…
… and then reading that money shouldn’t be my priority everywhere I looked when I was starting out just me in a shame spiral.
… and it did not help me find some “greater purpose”… so let’s stop the shame spiral right here, right now…
Because it is OK
You are allowed to want money, and good things, and everything the universe has to offer WITHOUT feeling guilty about it.
And guess what?
I’m going to show you a few ways to get started making money with your blog.
But first…
If you haven’t started your blog yet I highly recommend getting it launched and live on the web before you start diving into the money-making … if you don’t, it’s kinda like trying to run before you walk, or the cart before the horse and whatnot.
Plus, with my vow to make starting a blog as easy as possible for as many people as I can… I’ve got ya covered:
Anywho, back to the subject at hand… Money!
And how YOU can start making it with your blog.
Here is the video to go along with this post if you would rather watch than read 😉
How DO Bloggers Make Money With Their Blogs Anyway?
Well, there are quite a few ways you can make money online, and we will discuss some of them here today, the 3 most popular being:
1. Adsense or Selling Adspace
Adsense has a loooooooottttt of people advertising on it; about 2 million people to be exact… And you better bet they include your competitors.
Which means… There’s a chance that your competitor’s ads can show up on your blog?!?!? Which is for sure not good for business.
Strike one… well for me anyway.
Not only that, the ads aren’t all that ecstatically pleasing with my blog design… strike two.
Plus, for myself, I find it incredibly annoying when I head to a blog post and am trying to X out of a million ad boxes so I can actually read the article I went there to read in the first place.
I didn’t want to do that to my audience.
So strike three for me.
But then there’s selling ad space…
This means you just create the ad boxes on your blog, and then you find your advertisers.
I decided against that too.
Why?
Well, because I didn’t want the hassle of having to find the advertisers myself, get them to sign contracts, and then hunt them down for payments… All the while creating more work for myself, which is not what I was looking for.
Lastly, it would send people away from my site
Sure you can make a substantial amount of money from these advertisers or with Adsense, but still, the volume that has to go through in order for you to make a substantial income is quite high.
And speaking of sending people away from your website…
2. Affiliate Marketing Falls Into That Category As Well
Affiliate marketing is where you promote other products for a commission. But if you do this correctly, and only promote products you use and have tested yourself, you get a two-for-one.
Let me explain…
Not only are you sharing valuable information with your audience about how you run your business, but you are also building trust and a relationship with them…
I guess it is actually a three-for-one because you’re also gonna get the commission if they purchase through your referral link.
A lot of companies take new bloggers, especially if you have a preexisting relationship with them including:
- ClickFunnels
- Amazon (CA/US)
- Share-a-sale
- Clickbank
- And more…
On top of all of that, over time you can build a passive income stream and wake up to money in the bank.
Now you may be thinking “but you told me that I shouldn’t send people away” …
True, but the key difference here is that you’re building a trusted relationship with your audience.
3. Onto eCommerce
Did you know, the eCommerce industry is projected to reach $6.54 trillion dollars by 2022?
With videos and online courses are the most profitable coming in at an estimated 243 billion.
How nuts is that?
Plus blogging gets you up 3x as many leads as outbound marketing… Annnnnd it costs 62% less!
Still, There Are A Few Other Ways To Make Money Online…
- writing sponsored posts for companies
- freelance blog posting for other bloggers
- product collaborations & joint ventures
- And getting your own affiliates
Sidenote: if you’re a ClickFunnels user you can set up your own affiliates right in the backpack workspace
So what will you choose? Let me know how you plan to make money blogging in the comments.
Check back soon because every so often I’m going to add a new section to this blog post talking about blogging income.
Ta ta for now 😉