How to Make Money with Your Blog

Blogs sure have come a long way in the last ten years. Originally a unique and innovative way to share thoughts with friends and family, blogging has evolved into a legitimate form of media through which news is broken and analyzed at unprecedented speed.

Some bloggers have managed to monetize their blog, with the most successful earning enough to leave their jobs and work from home full-time as a blogger. A quick review of the web’s most popular and highest earning blogs (Gawker, MacRumors, Huffington Post, Mashable) provides a clear blueprint for people looking to replicate success.

Let’s take a closer look at the best ways to monetize your blog:

1. Merchandise. Establish a desirable brand through consistent, engaging content and an attractive design and sell it to your readers in the form of clothing, posters, stickers and other knick-knacks. Some popular blogs like Smashing Magazine Check out sites like CafePress, Printfection and Goodstorm for merchandising ideas and then start selling.
2. Advertise. The web was built on advertising and although it’s changed dramatically from the invasive, obtrusive forms of the past, it’s still a vital part of most web revenues. Aside from traditional banner and popup ads, bloggers now have plenty of options when it comes to monetizing their blog with advertising. Google ads, rss ads and in-text ads are all excellent ways to make residual income and won’t affect your blog’s content in any way.
3. Charge for premium content. Some blogs, especially those with a history in subscription print media, have found success offering a combination of free and paid content on their site. Be careful though when considering whether or not to do this with your blog. Is your site’s content so valuable that people will pay a fee just to read it? Some of the world’s most successful newspapers and magazines have found the transition tough, especially when there’s so much free content on the web.
4. Ask for donations. There’s no shame in asking your readers for donations, but don’t count on it as a source of regular income. There are ways to increase your chance of reader donations, (appealing directly to readers, dispensing other forms of monetization) but the reality is that only a small percentage of readers, no matter how loyal, will donate money to you. A few bucks here and there is nice, but it’s no way to earn a living.
5. Earn a commission. Since almost anything in life can be associated with a product or service, almost any blog, regardless of content, can be monetized through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is the practice of promoting products or services and receiving a commission on direct sales. Many companies offer lucrative affiliate marketing programs that are worth checking out. Be careful when choosing a program though and be sure to only promote products that you believe in and are in line with the
6. Sell it. So you’ve created a blog with engaging content that generates significant traffic and a loyal readership. You’ve tried making money off it, but it’s not working out the way you hoped it would. Why not try selling your blog? There are thousands of people that can turn a successful blog into a successful business, so why not sell your blog to them and let them take a crack at it. You can either take the money and run or if you’re integral to the success of the blog, they may pay you a salary to provide content.

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