11 Blog Monetization Strategies You Should Try in 2023
Why might blog monetization strategies interest you?
Well, there are over 570 million active blogs nowadays. And their number keeps growing. Thus, not all of them bring profit.
So, if you’ve started a blog to quit your current job, you should be thinking about blog monetization. In another case, this endeavor is pointless.
Nevertheless, we need to admit if you are running a business, you can use your company’s blog for additional profit.
Gladly, it’s not that hard to get started with your blog and earn money thanks to it.
The point is to have constant traffic and email subscribers. After this, you have to pick monetization strategies that fit you the best way.
We want to help you make your blog profitable. That’s why we’ve gathered 11 working blog monetization tactics for your site.
Contents
- 1. Guest posting
- 2. Affiliate marketing
- 3. Email marketing
- 4. Ebooks selling
- 5. Courses selling
- 6. Consulting
- 7. Sponsored posts
- 8. Paid membership
- 9. Display advertising
- 10. Freelance blogging
- 11. Donations
- Conclusion
1. Guest posting
Many people consider guest blogging for getting backlinks only. Well, it’s a worthy use of this tactic. Yet, it can offer much more than this.
This way, you can allow guest posting on your site and get paid for providing it for publishing third-party content. How do you make this clear to other bloggers or companies?
Perhaps, you’ve noticed those “Write for us” or “Submission Guidelines” pages on other sites. You can create the same page on your blog. So, when others search for guest posting opportunities, they will come across your site.
Nevertheless, the competition is tough. And there are a lot of online publications. How can you ensure that your blog is not lost among millions of sites?
Well, you can benefit from registering at the guest posting service as a publisher. What does this mean? Basically, you automate the whole process and ensure you get a constant flow of guest content.
How to accept guest posts on your blog:
- register as a publisher,
- add your site to inventory,
- wait until it’s checked, approved, and gets the “Active” status,
- get content via “Open offer” and “Tasks,”
- place content on your blog,
- get paid.
And what’s essential, you can state how much the content placement on your site will cost. Thanks to the guest posting service assistance, you ensure you earn money guaranteedly. Also, you receive timely support and consultations.
So, here’s the first blog monetization option. And it’s working great!
2. Affiliate marketing
Statistics say that 15% of the total digital media advertising profit belongs to affiliate marketing.
You may respond that it’s not that much. Yet, this marketing direction is growing fast. And it’s a perfect time for you to jump in.
Why do we recommend affiliate marketing among the blog monetization tactics? Because it’s truly diverse. You can earn money on almost all digital or physical goods. Moreover, affiliate marketing allows worldwide coverage.
How does affiliate marketing work?
- register as an affiliate on the preferred network,
- find affiliated links from the companies or brands you like,
- place links within your articles,
- once a user clicks on your link and makes a purchase, you get a commission.
Affiliate marketing offers various monetization models. Some of them are CPS, CPA, CPC, and so on. The commission may be different depending on the number of sales you make.
What’s amazing is that you can pick the network based on your geography. That ensures you can partner with brands or companies popular in your region. For instance, ShareASale, Awin, CJ are global (with the main emphasis on the US). Rakuten, Viglink, Admitad are a fit for SEA region.
This monetization tactic is a perfect one to combine with others. Smartly choose brands and the way you place links in your content. And you’ll see your profit soon.
3. Email marketing
As soon as you launch your blog, start creating an email list. That allows you to build a strong bond with your audience.
How can you fill your email list?
- by offering a subscription to your blog,
- by using lead magnets.
Both options will supply you with subscribers. Once you have enough users to send newsletters, think of how you can sell goods.
In case it’s a company’s blog, sell your goods or services. Is it your personal blog? Then sell your consultation or writing services. If you don’t sell anything, you can promote third-party products or use affiliate links.
4. Ebooks selling
You can turn your experience into an eBook and offer it to your readers. It’s a widespread monetization tactic many bloggers use.
Of course, writing a book and its promotion requires time and effort. But the outcome can be amusing. So, what did some bloggers who generated profit from their eBooks? They:
- allowed a preview to their eBooks as they were writing it,
- gave free tips, and then pointed to their books,
- were cold-selling their books,
- promoted their books on social media,
- gave pieces of advice on Q&A platforms with a link to their books,
- offered bonuses for the eBook buyers.
Do you have a couple of eBooks and plan to create more content like this? Then create a separate page for this goal on your blog.
Also, create banners that redirect to your books within your articles. Of course, the article is better to be related to the eBook content.
Don’t forget you can sell your book on Amazon, Podia, and other platforms.
5. Courses selling
Similar to selling eBooks, you can share your knowledge via courses.
Nowadays, you don’t need to hold a Ph.D. to teach others. You can be an expert in your sphere, know some industry tips or insights, or have some tested strategies.
Accordingly, you can share this information by creating a course. The point is, if you can write a well-structured article, you can compose content for your future course.
How do you come up with course ideas?
Firstly, as we’ve mentioned, you can share your professional knowledge related to your blog’s topic. Also, you can run a survey among your readers to learn more about what they’d like to know. Another option is going through the Q&A platforms to see what themes need more coverage.
6. Consulting
Another way you can monetize your blog is by offering your consultations and promoting them on it. Once again, if you have enough expertise and experience in your niche, you can pitch your services.
Sometimes, in addition to valuable information you share via your blog, people may need more insights. This way, personal consultation or coaching is how you get revenue.
Sure thing, to establish yourself as an authority source, your blog should be flawless. It’s essential what and how you write, how fresh and informative your content is.
If you notice people eagerly buying your courses and eBooks, personal consultations may be the next step.
7. Sponsored posts
Unlike guest posts that may look like your native content, sponsored posts outline a visible partnership with brands.
Yet, this is a worthy blog monetization tactic you can utilize. Anyway, to effectively use this option, your blog should have constant traffic and a loyal readership.
If you decide to make money by publishing sponsored content, stick to some rules:
- put your readers first,
- don’t overstaff an article with sponsored links,
- balance own and sponsored content.
Try to promote goods and services that you genuinely like. Don’t be too pushy. After all, you don’t want to lose your readers’ trust. And without readership, the whole sponsored monetization is pointless.
8. Paid membership
You can use paid membership as your blog monetization model. You have a few options here.
Firstly, you can use a paywall on your blog. The system works the following way. You allow users to read the article in full after paid subscription.
There are two paywall types: a hard and a soft one. In the case of a hard paywall, users can see only the title and the description of an article. If you choose a soft one, readers will be able to check a short part of an article or a limited number of articles.
Another paid membership approach is allowing access to some sections of your blog after subscribing and paying.
If you choose this blog monetization tactic, ensure that your content is top-quality. You should provide in-depth, valuable, and outstanding articles. You should establish yourself as a trustworthy author and niche expert.
9. Display advertising
Some may name this method quite contradictory. Yet, you can kick-start your blog’s monetization with it.
Perhaps, the most popular option here is using Google AdSense. Thanks to it, you access the online advertisers’ network and can start working with them. AdSense can also show you the approximate income you can get from placing ads on your blog.
Besides, if you run your blog on WordPress, you can use the Ad Inserter plugin to optimize the ads’ placement.
This way, when you are working with display ads, you don’t have to sell your products. You promote third-party goods or services. The point is to cooperate with companies relevant to your niche and be interesting to your audience.
Despite its effectiveness, this method has one disadvantage. Have you guessed it? Well, that’s adblocking. So, if your potential reader uses an ad blocker, you won’t get any income.
That’s why we recommend using this tactic with other blog monetization strategies.
10. Freelance blogging
You may wonder what does this method has to do with your blog monetization?
First of all, you’ve started your blog because you are an expert in some topic or, at least, are super enthusiastic about it. That’s why you can monetize your talent.
You can use your blog as a platform that showcases your writing services. Mention what content you write and state the price per word.
Additionally, you can search for freelance blogging opportunities on Google. You can start with keywords related to your industry. Then you can look through the blogs and see if they accept guest posts. Or you can pitch your content. If the topic is engaging, you can get published.
Another option is to use a search operator like “write for us.” Then you get the list of sites that guaranteedly accept articles from freelance writers.
Thanks to this approach, you can earn money, send traffic to your blog, and establish yourself as an expert.
11. Donations
You may connect this method with some non-profit organizations. Yet, this tactic is also well-worth for blog monetization.
Of course, you have to understand that this approach requires time. You need to have a loyal audience that is willing to donate to support your activity.
Anyway, even 300 supporters may ensure a side-income for you.
If you are looking for monetization options, you can link to services like Patreon, Fundly, Podia, and so on. Or you can add WordPress plugins like PayPal Donations, Smart Donations, Give, etc.
Conclusion
It’s great when your passion becomes your job. But it’s even more awesome when it can pay your bills (and more)!
To ensure your blogging activities are profitable enough, apply blog monetization strategies. It’ll help you develop your blog, create more outstanding content, and gladden your readers.
Of course, working on blog monetization requires effort. Yet, numerous sources state that bloggers may achieve impressive results. And you can be among them!
Do you use any tactics to get paid to your blog? If yes, are they on the list? If not, are you planning to use one? Share your answers in the comments.
