
If you’re wondering how to make a living with blogging than you came to the right place.
In this article we’ll teach you how to turn your blogging hobby into a successful online business.
Before we begin, its important to clarify a few things…
How to Make a Living with Blogging:
Lets face it, blogging is easy and that is why so many people do it. There really are no entry barriers; anyone who can write a few simple sentences can start blogging!
There are plenty of free websites you can get started with like Blogger or WordPress.
So many people dive right in and start blogging about their various topics, such as: food, travel, work, or general thoughts on life.
You can find a blog about pretty much anything nowadays!
On the other hand, even though it’s so easy to start a blog – why aren’t more people full-time bloggers? An incredibly large percentage (around 90%) of bloggers quit after a couple of months and never get back into it.
So there are these grave-yards of expired and dead blogs out.
Why Do People Abandon Their Blogs?
I believe the reason is because they’re not getting anything out of it – or at least – the results aren’t worth the trouble.
I’m here to show you that you can make a living with blogging by following some simple steps.
Lets begin.
Monetize Your Blog From Day 1:
Now I don’t mean that you start throwing affiliate links and banners all over you blog. That’s the last thing you want to do!
The core mistake new bloggers make is they treat their website like a hobby and only focus on creating content. If you want to learn how to make a living with blogging than you need to learn how to monetize correctly.
Here’s the problem: not many people know how to monetize a website.
If you’re blog is not making any cash, chances are its missing one of the things mentioned below!
Find an Solid Affiliate Program to Promote:
There are so many affiliate programs out there. You need to search for a product in your niche, one that’s of high value to your niche audience.
If the product you promote helps people, you’ll have no problem making money online.
One way to promote a product is to write a detailed review about it. Just try out the product and share your thoughts.
If you like it, recommend it, and add your affiliate link. Then, link back to that product review from every other article you write, and watch the commissions come in.
This is called internal linking. Check out this post to learn how to properly link your blog.
There are lots of strategies you can use to promote a product as an affiliate, but the general idea is to start promoting something from day one.
Create Sign-up Offers to Build a List:
Most successful bloggers agree that you should be building a list from day one, but not many bloggers know what that means.
Well, to build a list you need to give someone a good reason to subscribe to your website.
You also need a proper email management tool:
Here’s Our Email Auto-Responder Recommendation >>
One of the easiest incentives to offer is an eBook – it could be something simple and short.
You want to configure your email management service to send out the offer when someone subscribes to your list. When people are on your list you can send out email blasts with affiliate links to make even more cash.
Make it easy for people to sign-up and subscribe!
If you need help with email marketing and improving sales conversions, I highly recommend you read our Thrive Membership review and the use of Thrive Architect.
Offer a Service on Your Blog:
I recommend this to most beginners. If you want to make fast money from your site, it’s always a good idea to list some services you can offer people.
Basically, the idea is to have as many income streams on your site as possible!
So one of the main reasons bloggers fail to make any money online is because they don’t know how to make money from their website.
When you learn how to do that, then you’ll know how to make a living with blogging!
Hopefully now you have a basic idea of what it takes to create a full-time income as a blogger!
But we’re not done yet…
Treat Your Blog Like a Business:
If you treat your blog as a business, its not unusual to see some excellent results.
Some people earn more than $1,000/month from their site after only working on it for a few months!
But those are the people that invest most of their time into their website. Honestly, if you treat your blog as a business, the results will come sooner than you expect.
How do you treat a blog like a business?
Simple; always look for ways to improve revenue! One of the interesting aspects of online business is you can market your site across the planet and scale it to infinity.
In other words, the potential for income is incredible, but you have to build up the traffic.
Getting traffic is one of the core problems of online business and many people struggle with it.
Wondering How I Built This Website from Ground-zero?
Its also the main reason people quite blogging all together because its too hard to get enough traffic to make sales.
But getting traffic is not as hard as you think.
Once you dive in and start working you will see how things start to fall into place.
And you’ll learn as you go!
There are also plenty of Facebook groups dedicated to blogging where you can connect with people who are on the same boat.
Not Sure Where to Start Your Online Journey, This Will Help >>
To Summarize Making a Living From Your Blog:
You can make a living blogging if you follow the tips outlined in this article.
It won’t happen overnight, but if you stick to your project and invest the time it needs to grow – that is when good things happen.
Who knows, maybe you’ll be able to quit your job and live a blogger’s lifestyle sooner than you think.
Hopefully now you know how to making a living with blogging and you’re one step closer to your goal.
Remember, it takes time, but it can be done!
The sooner you start, the sooner you can reach your goals.
Hi Todd, I like your article. I am retiring in 5 years and thought it’ll be a good idea to start blogging now so that I can earn some side income online. I am treating this as a hobby with no real plan for making money.
So I like what you said about treating blogging as a business and making money right from the start. I’ll explore some of the things you mentioned like ‘building a list’. Thanks!
Song
You bet Song, happy to help and I think you’ll find this approach to be the most successful.
It’s all about targeting traffic that’s interested in what you promote.
Best,
Todd
Hey Tim,
Loved your article on blogging and how to get started and most importantly how to monetize it. I am not just starting my 3rd month at Wealthy Affiliate Training Center and while I have been pretty good at building content it’s time to start adding my product links.
I liked your thoughts on the email list, that is something I need to get started on. I am also going to download your book about how to increase visitors from zero to 1,000, looks awesome.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Mat A.
Thanks for your kind feedback Mat A, I think you’re off to a great start with Wealthy Affiliate and our free targeted traffic e-book will only help accelerate your success online.
Cheers, Todd
Great article, I agree 100% that you need to monetize your blog from day 1. It not only only is the reason most of us get into blogging in the first place, but seeing the actual financial results (no matter how small at the beginning) is a great way to keep motivated in your writing.
Thanks again for the good information
David
Awesome feedback David, thanks so much.
Intention is huge, and that’s the tricky thing with blogging. You want an awesome blog that helps people and is authentic.
At the same time, you need to eventually lead the user to products that help them and allows you as the blogger to make a living.
Blogging can be incredible lucrative if you take these intentions and have them in the forefront of your mind as you create your blog.
Thanks again David and best of luck to you.
Todd
While I agree monetizing from day 1 is okay, I don’t think you should be too overt/over the top with it. No one wants to read a blog, especially a brand new one, if all you’re doing is trying to get people to buy some product so you can get a commission.
Great point Fred. I really believe you need to focus on providing something of quality (video or written content typically) that will benefit your niche audience.
As you organically rank to the top, then add a link. Better yet, add a link to a review of your product to provide more education and then to your affiliate link/product.
Thanks
Excellent advice, especially with diversifying your income with many different monetization strategies.
I do also agree that you should treat a blog EXACTLY the same as a business instead of acting like it is a mere hobby – the saying is true, you only get out what you put in.
Thanks for the heads up on affiliate marketing too! It’s great for beginners, but also those who’ve been at this for a long time (like me!).
All the best
Hi Kegan,
Great point of view and thanks for your feedback on how to make a real living through blogging.
So many people fail and so we wanted to create this post to help others make it to that next level.
Good to hear of your success in the blogging world.
Best
This was an amazing article. I thought i knew some stuff about blogging but you sure educated me.
Its nice to find that kind of help online. I am going to sign up and follow you.You make things simple. Thank you for that.
This is great for newbies as well. I can see you doing very well with this.
Thanks Dale,
Just take it one day at a time as you start to build your online business. If you take consistent action daily, you’ll be amazed at what you can build.
Thanks for your feedback on the post and I think if you follow our training, it won’t be long before your making money with your blog too.
Best,
Todd