Have you ever wondered how to make money blogging? Once upon a time I did too. Now that I’m almost into my 6th year of blogging I’ve learned a thing or two and I’m excited to be able to share it with you!
There are many ways to make money blogging but I’m going to share with you MY tips on how to make money blogging. There are 3 main ways that I currently earn income with this blog but I’ll be sharing 4 with you in this post.
#1 Ad Networks
Back when I first started blogging, ads scared me. I had no idea how to set them up. Google Adsense was the only ad network I knew of and I really wasn’t getting enough traffic to warrant putting ads from outside sources on my site. I did however sell some ad space privately to other bloggers and small (mostly handmade) businesses and that was the initial start of making money blogging for me.
Over the last few years my blog has grown and I realized that there was some real money to be made blogging so I started running ads on my site. I signed up with companies like Rivit Media, Lijit (now Sovrn) and Google Adsense and I put their ads on my site via a code that they provided to me. I really had no idea what I was doing and wasn’t making a whole lot of money. But, it was better than making no money.
Since then, wonderful companies like The Blogger Network and AdThrive have popped up and they manage your ads FOR YOU! They are experts in their field and know what they are doing. Yes! There is certain criteria to join for both companies and there is an application process but sooooo well worth it. You can find out more about them HERE and HERE.
#2 Sponsored Content
Ever read a blog and wonder how on earth that blogger got the opportunity to work with that brand? Well, thanks to wonderful companies like Tap Influence, Izea, Pollinate Media and Massive Sway (to name just a few) who are the bridge between bloggers and brands, those opportunities can come knocking on your door too! All it takes is signing up with each of these companies to become influencers and you are well on your way.
Let’s stop and talk about Tap Influence for a minute. There’s a bit of a process when joining and to help you understand it, here’s some detailed information explaining how it all works.
- Personal Profile Information: Your TapInfluence profile allows you to provide demographic information about yourself that brands will want to have on hand when considering you for a campaign. This eliminates the time-consuming back-and-forth emails where you discuss how old you are, whether you live in a certain region, if you have children or pets, etc. Brands can know, at a glance, whether you fit with their demographic.
- Media Kit: Your TapInfluence media kit will help you to showcase your work and provide all the information a brand would need to evaluate it. This includes:
a. Rate Information: Set your rate at whatever you think is appropriate, and it will be visible to all brands who are looking to work with you. No more back-and-forth over pricing.
b. Reach Information: Once you link your social media accounts and blog to your TapInfluence account, our software will be able to pull followership numbers from all of your sites and report them in your TapInfluence profile. These numbers will update automatically as your influence grows, so you won’t need to worry about manually maintaining them. Brands will be able to see how many followers you have, on which channels, at any time.
c. Follower Demographics: You’ll be asked to enter any information you have about visitors to your sites, so brands can access them easily, without having to ask you.
d. Examples of Work: Have some posts you’re particularly proud of? You can link them into your TapInfluence media kit, so they’ll be showcased for brands to see.
- Easy Communication with Brand Clients: Every campaign you receive will include contact information for a dedicated Program Lead, who will be your resource to turn to for questions and clarification.
- Simplified Assignment Details: When a brand selects you for a campaign, you’ll receive an invitation via email and you’ll also get an alert in your TapInfluence profile. The invitation will include a detailed description of the assignment so you will understand right away exactly what they’re asking of you and how much you’ll be paid, and you can decide whether or not you’d like to accept.
- Support Staff: As a member of TapInfluence, you’ll have access to our dedicated team of Influencer Development Specialists. These folks are always on hand to answer your questions and provide suggestions to help you improve.
- No Exclusivity Agreement: Our goal is to provide our influencers with an additional means of earning money doing what they love. We don’t “own” you, we won’t claim to represent you, and we will never prevent you from working with other brands, influencer networks, agencies, or influencer marketing companies. You are, and will always be, in charge.
#3 Contributing for Another Blog or Site
Becoming a contributor for a blog is another way to make money blogging. If there is a blog that you love and follow chances are they have a team of contributors that help create content for them. And they usually start putting out contributor calls around this time of year. Follow them on their social media channels and apply when you see them post their call for contributors.
I had applied to many, many, many blogs before I was chosen to contribute. Don’t get discouraged if you aren’t picked right away. Keep working on your own content and photography and keep at it. Sometimes the monetary compensation is not a whole lot but being able to work under and for a rock star blogger has so many other perks that far out-weight the money. So, while I know this post is about tips on how to make money blogging, I wanted to throw that tidbit in there.
#4 Become an Affiliate
Did you know that Amazon has an affiliate program? I’m sure most of you knew this already but for those of you who didn’t, there you go. Errrybody loves Amazon, right? You can sign up with Amazon Associates and start including links in your blog posts to products you already use and love. Do you blog a lot about paper crafts and there are certain paper punches you love? Include an Amazon affiliate link to that product when you mention it naturally in your post and that link could potentially earn you some moola.
Don’t stop there though. Is there a brand that you totally adore and believe in? Check out the small writing at the bottom of their website. You may just find a link to apply to their affiliate program. Do you use vinyl in a lot of your projects? Sign up for the Expressions Vinyl affiliate program and include an affiliate link every time you mention “vinyl” in your posts. Those little links may lead to click throughs to your affiliate sites which may lead to a purchase, which may lead to money (commission) for you.
Important Tip: ALWAYS remember to disclose that your post contains affiliate links.
There are so many ways to make money blogging so you have to do what works best for you. If you had asked me a month or 2 ago what my number one money maker was with blogging it would have been with ads. More recently though it’s been sponsored content. Now, I’m not a fan of bombarding my readers with ALL sponsored content. I really enjoy working on projects and creating just for the sake of doing it because I love it. But sometimes a really great sponsored opportunity comes my way and I just have to jump on it. Tap Influence has definitely been a great source of brand opportunities for me. I love that they are so easy to work with. I love that you can negotiate your fee a bit. And I love that they pay on time.
Brands are searching for voices like yours. A TapInfluence profile is a great way to attract attention from top brands who are eager to work with influencers on sponsored content. To get started, create your free profile here.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of TapInfluence, the leader in connecting influencers with opportunties to collaborate with brands.
I hope you found this article helpful. I’m more than happy to answer any other questions you have about tips on how to make money blogging. I’m not expert but these ways have afforded me the opportunity to stay home with my kids and still help out with the household budget. Can’t get any better than that!
