Making money online has become the focus for many people, especially with the decline of brick-and-mortar jobs.
However, if you start out with unrealistic expectations, you may give up too soon or not follow through with the required steps it takes.
In order to define what you need to do, you should understand how long it typically takes to start making money with a blog.
1. Using ads to earn money
Most often, the first way people attempt to monetize their posts is with ads. Google offers a quick solution to this and they don’t even have to monitor it.
As long as they follow the rules of Google, they will continue to receive related ads in every post. This gives their readers a chance to see not only related material, but also information on items they have clicked through in the past.
If you are going to use ads to make money, remember that this adds up over time. It’s not a get-rich-overnight method that will produce financial magic.
The numbers game applies and you need to increase site visitors to increase the number of clicks you actually see.
2. Advertising as an affiliate
Affiliate products tend to show a larger amount of profit in a shorter amount of time.
Depending on how much the product creator is giving away, you could make as much as 75% through Clickbank.
It’s very easy to sign up and you can choose a product that is closely related to the main topic of your blog.
Of course, this is not a get-rich-overnight method either. You need to put the work in sharing your site, getting traffic there and giving your readers consistent value.
If you don’t do these things, then none of your readers are going to stick around long enough to make you even one cent.
3. Selling an ebook
Have you written an ebook?
If you don’t have any idea, you can turn your website archive into profitable ebook.
This is an excellent way to draw attention to your blog with included links in the text. It makes it very easy for readers to simply click over and read your related material.
However, the sales of your ebook tend to rely on reader testimonials and supporters.
Once it starts to gain popularity and increase in rank on the selling lists, it will naturally sell more copies.
The more effort you put into advertising your ebook, the more success you’ll have over time.
4. Becoming an online store
Even as a blog, you can become a small online shop of sorts. By partnering with a variety of companies, you’ll find a catalog of items to share with your readers.
When you do this, you need to maintain quality customer service and support or your following will decrease quickly.
This is where becoming an online retailer of sorts requires the same commitment that a brick-and-mortar store requires.
Monetizing your blog is entirely possible with the right amount of dedication and expectation. It takes consistent work and time, but it can be done.
As long as you realize that this takes time, you can build it up to a profitable business that creates reliable residual income.
Lisha @ blogandretire
I really like the idea of an ebook. You can also give your ebook in exchange for people’s email address and then you can also email blog updates to your list. This will get more people to keep coming back to your blog, so you can get more pageviews, and therefore, more money (like through adsense for example).
~Lisha
Dragan Palla
I also agree that ebook is the great way for getting more subscribers and visitors.
Something I should really think for my blog ;).
Thanks Lisha appreciate your comment.
Valerie Strawmier
Lisha, You are so right! List building goes a long way towards creating other money-making opportunities and trades with other bloggers in your niche. It also gives you another way to interact with your readers in terms of additional blog topics based off the book. So glad you’re reading!