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How Do Bloggers Make Money?

by Jonathan on July 18, 2011

make money blogging

Whenever someone is first introduced to the world of blogging, invariably the first question is “How do bloggers make money?” The want to know how writing articles and posting them on a webpage can turn into cash. It is a fair question for sure. After all, if you are not familiar with the concept at all, then you wonder if it is a legitimate way to earn an online income. Before I dive into the types of income streams that bloggers can create, it is important to know that there are basically two types of blogging income.

How Do You Make Money Blogging?

The 2 Types of Blogging Income

1. Low Maintenance Passive Income – This is really the most ideal type of income because it can provide you and your family with freedom. This is most often recurring passive income streams that you can enjoy. This type of money happens without your personal involvement. It is scale-able.  Meaning that you can earn money without exchanging time for money in the moment. Some examples would include Google Adsense (or any paid for clicks campaign), membership sites, selling advertisement space, affiliate marketing sales, and even ebook sales.

If you can get paid for something while you are sleeping and it does not require you to exchange future time for money, then you have a low maintenance passive income stream. The individual transactions are smaller but they happen more often and don’t require your time. Every morning when I wake up I can log into my Google Adsense account and see that I made money while I was sleeping.

2.  Personal Involvement High Income – The idea with this strategy is that if something involves your personal time, it should cost more. After all, your time should be valuable to you, right? If you offer personal consulting for your niche you should charge what your personal time is worth to you. It also matters the type of reach that you are able to get as well. For example, you do not have to charge as much for a webinar with 100 participants as you might with a personal consultation. You would charge even more for live speaking events as well.

The ideal strategy would be to set up low maintenance passive income streams that meet your household budget, so that you can spend your time in higher income events that require personal involvement. To be honest each have their benefits. Passive income streams allow you to enjoy the freedom to use your time how you choose. Personal involvement income ideas allow you to interact with others and make a difference in other people. Bob and I are currently spending each and every Tuesday night walking a small handful of bloggers through the process of how to set up successful blogs through our blog mentoring program. It involves our personal time, but it is something we enjoy and really get a kick out of for sure!

The Blogging Profit Ladder

Here is a short video that explains this idea of a blogging profit ladder. It explains the strategy in a little better detail that I have tried to explain above.

Click Here to watch the video on YouTube: http://youtu.be/CyanuMGzWQM

 

How Do Bloggers Make Money?

Here are some ways that bloggers make money. I won’t be able to go into great detail on how each of these work, nor have I used every one of these to make money. Some bloggers only focus on how to do 2 or 3 of these really well, while others try to add as many of these as possible to their income buckets. I like to try and master one and then move to the next once I get a handle on one. Also, visit our Make Money page as we are constantly adding new income ideas for you. Our goal is to make this page the ultimate resource for bloggers who want to earn income.

1. Pay Per Click Ads

How does this work? Anytime someone clicks on your ads, you earn money. The most popular is Google Adsense. On average clicks earn between .15-.50 cents per click, but I have personally seen as much as $5.00 for a click.

2. Affiliate Marketing
How does this work? There are many, many services and products online that you can partner up with at no cost to you. When people click on your personalized link and buy something, that company credits you with the sale. Average commissions can range from 15-75% of the sale price. There are even recurring affiliate commission programs that you can get involved in that will pay you over and over again for making just one sale.
How Does This Work? You earn income just from the traffic that you receive and the exposure that advertisers receive. In other words, your traffic does not have to click on anything for you to earn money. You earn money by just displaying your ads. You need a lot of traffic to really see the benefit here but you can typically expect to receive between 20 cents to a few dollars for every 1000 pageviews.
4. Job Boards
How does this work? You can earn income a few different ways using job boards on your blog. You can sell your own job advertisements if you want. You can earn between $100-300 a month by listing jobs. You can also earn income per click as people use your job board to apply for jobs that are listed on the world wide web. These jobs come from employer job boards and larger sites like CareerBuilder and Monster.

5. Creating an Email List or Newsletter

How does this work? Capturing traffic and building a mailing list can be very profitable. You can build a captive audience that you can market to on a regular basis. You can not only add value by promoting your products but the products of others that are related to your niche.

6. Membership Sites

How do bloggers make money with these? Well, you can earn a recurring income by providing an online membership site that provides a resource that people in your niche want. This was one of the first ways I earn an income online. Take some time to read my detailed post about setting up a membership sites.

Want More Income Ideas?

Check out our Make Money page that list several ways to earn an income through blogging. We will be adding to this page in the days and weeks to come so be sure to check back with us!

Want to start your own blog?

We offer a free blog setup so you can get started ASAP!

 

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Article by Jonathan

+Jonathan has been blogging since 2009 and is still in awe that the Creator of the Universe desires to have a relationship with him. His passions include spending time with his kids, reading, March Madness, surprise get-a-way trips with his wife, and watching funny YouTube videos.

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  • http://www.threethriftyguys.com/ Aaron

    Would you recommend sponsored posts?

    • Anonymous

      I did a few early on in my blogging career. However, I am personally not a big fan of them. It has the potential to slant the blogger’s opinion because he is being paid to write the post. Unless he has courage to point out the good and the bad.

  • http://www.billeebrady.com/ Billee Brady

    Hey Jonathan,

    What is the favorite way I like to earn an income through my blog? That would have to be driving targeted traffic through my sales funnel where I take my leads through a process of not only teaching but recommending tools and resources that allows me to make multiple income streams on complete auto-pilot.
    Blogging is da BOMB!

    Billee Brady

    • Anonymous

      Thanks Billee. You have a good grasp of the essentials. Keep it up!

  • http://MyFreeSurveys.info/ http://www.MyFreeSurveys.info

    Guys, the easiest way to start making money online is to make marketing research (also called “paid surveys”).There are many companies that need your opinion, and these companies will pay you for your time.You son’t need absolutely any skills.You will make $5 to $25 per survey.One problem with the most surveys is they charge you registration fees.I don’t see any reason to pay.I found one good and legitimate survey site, that is 100% free.

    So all you have to do is to click the link in my profile (at the top of my post) and to register.Believe it or not you can make $30 today.Just do it.It’s 100% risk free.

  • Anonymous

    Great article,

    While I was looking for a way to start making money online, I friend of mine told me that I can start working from home and to make $3,000/mo.I didn’t believe it, but I tried.I couldn’t believe when I saw my first payment …$460 for only one week were into my paypal account.LOL!

    If you want to make money like me, just click on the link in my profile (at the top of this post) and register.Registratinon is 100% free.Work is easy and it does not require any skills…Everyone can do it.You can start making money from home today …

  • http://www.jaysonlinereviews.com/ Jay Orban

    The best way for me to make cash blogging is definitely through affiliate marketing, seo, and listbuilding from my blogs.

    Oh and a lot of 100% unique content.

    • Anonymous

      I completely agree. Unique content is king in my book. Jonathan

  • http://cashadvancesus.com/ cash advance

    Great tips and recommendations on blog monetization. Monetizing my blog I am currently focused on such methods as selling Ad space and affiliate programs. These methods seem to work perfectly for me. I would definitely make use of your advices and will try other methods, which I found in this post. Thank you.

    • Anonymous

      Thanks for stopping by!

  • BloggingYourPassion

    JZ, There are some advertisers that pay just to have their ad shown. It doesn’t have to be clicked on. If they are paying $5.00 per 1,000 views, then you are making a $5.00 CPM.

  • http://harounkola.com/ Haroun Kola

    thanks for this blog post. i’m focussed primarily on sports betting, forex, and i’m starting my own membership site, where i help people one by one set up their own affiliate marketing programs.

    • jmilligan

      Thanks for stopping by.

  • http://www.facebook.com/belton.bass Belton Bass

    Fantastic post, Awesome Site. Big Thanks for sharing! I’m a newbie. Blogging is a whole new world for me. Yesterday I came across a company offering all of the online social media stuff for one price. Should I stay with what I’ve got, or move over. I’ve checked them out they are legit – I bought it but can’t believe the prices.

    I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth, I’d just like a second opinion http://maxout.gogvo.com/ then go to marketing tools.

    What do you think?

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