Simple ways to monetize blogs

We all know blogging isn't some altruistic pursuit. People want their words to be seen and shared. They want to gain the respect of the masses and boost their authority in their respective industry or niche. However, clearly it isn't quite that simple. Not only is it difficult to drive traffic to a blog, but it's also hard to monetize the traffic that you do receive.

While there are arguably dozens of ways to monetize your blog, there really are five methods that will help you earn a healthy income from your efforts.

1. Advertisements

While most people might think that adding some pay-per-click (PPC) ads will be a great way to make lots of money with their blogs, unless you have massive amounts of traffic -- as in 10,000+ visitors per day or more -- the income will be marginal at best.

Negotiate terms directly with advertisers by utilizing display ads as opposed to PPC ads. As long as the ads are within your specific niche or industry, you can likely negotiate an amount that would be much more competitive than income from standard PPC ads.

2. Affiliate marketing

One of the most popular methods for monetizing a blog is to leverage affiliate marketing. This is especially useful when you're just starting out and you don't have your own products or services to sell. All you have to do is develop content that will ultimately be in harmony with whatever affiliate offers you plan to push out. 

Selling these types of products helps you to create a near-automated stream of passive income.

3. Email marketing

One of the most powerful methods for making money from your blog is directly through email marketing. But to be successful, you need to build your list. Whether you promote blog updates or create a lead magnet, utilize one of the more popular email marketing platforms like ConvertKit, Aweber or InfusionSoft to implement the systems necessary to begin marketing via email. 

By building a strong bond and a connection with your readers, you can effectively generate a sizable amount of money through the course of marketing both your own products and services along with affiliate offers directly through email.

4. Sell digital products

Creating digital products is a great way to profit from your blog. You can effectively sell any type of digital information product on your blog as long as it's in harmony with your content. You can build a webinar to market your product and deliver them through a member's area or through other downloadable means. 

Digital products can be a combination of videos, downloadable guides, resources, PDFs, software components, SaaS and others. Do your best to create something that helps fill a need or a void.

5. Sell courses

Selling digital online courses is another way you can profit from blogging. Develop intuitive and helpful courses that add a tremendous amount of value and the rest will be smooth sailing.

Courses work great when it comes to technical skills like web development, digital marketing, graphic design and so on. But they also work in formats like finances, stocks, currency investing and accounting. Find what you're really great at and do the due diligence before building your course.

Learn more:

8 Ways to Monetize Your Blog and Make Money Online