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Home » How to Make Money Online by Writing Blogs: A Simple Guide for Beginners

How to Make Money Online by Writing Blogs: A Simple Guide for Beginners

Blogging is a fantastic way to build a profitable business online. The key to making money from a blog is to create a sizeable audience who are then willing to pay you for the content you’re providing. It’s a bit like being a journalist for hire. Your product is your content — whether it’s informative, humorous or just plain weird. Your audience wants to be informed about what you have to say, so they come back for more. Ideally, you’ll want to create a space where people feel comfortable enough to give you their money to keep creating more content for them.

What’s so great about blogging is that it’s incredibly easy to get started with. You don’t need to have a technical understanding to be able to create a blog. There are lots of free blogging platforms like Blogger that will accept anyone for granted. Plus, there’s a ton of information out there on how to start a blog and what to do once you’ve got one.

So, if you’re looking to make some extra cash, why not consider making money from a blog? It’s a fantastic way to get started and the possibilities are endless.

The Basics

Blogging is essentially just a form of publishing. When you publish content on your blog, you’re essentially giving someone else the opportunity to read and enjoy what you’ve written. The person reading your blog is known as a reader or an audience.

To create a successful blog, you want to find a way to connect with your audience and make them engage with your content. This is where the tricky part comes in. If you want to make money from a blog, you need to learn how to drive traffic to your site. Luckily, there are multiple ways to do this, which we’ll discuss later on in the article.

Monetizing Your Blog

Once you’ve got a successful blog with a following, you can start thinking about monetizing it. This simply means making money from the content you produce. There are several ways to monetize a blog, but the most straightforward and arguably the most effective way is to sell and display ads on the site. To keep things simple, let’s assume that you’re using a free blogging platform like Blogger. You can put Google Adsense on your blog, which will give you an idea of how much money you’re likely to make from adverts.

You may want to consider the pros and cons of this method of monetization before committing. Some people see ads as an unnecessary intrusion while others may even feel a little offended by them. Ultimately, the decision is up to you.

Guest Posting And Content Promotion

One of the oldest and most effective ways to make money online is to write an article and get it published in a high quality magazine or newspaper. The beauty of guest posting is that you’re essentially throwing away some content for free in order to promote a business or website. In exchange, you’ll get a byline and potentially a link back to your site. If you want to make money from a blog, this is a great place to start.

As a beginner, you might not want to go too far down this road. Start smaller by getting involved with microblogs like Medium. These are fantastic for connecting with an audience but won’t necessarily make you cash. If you decide to take this route, you’ll need to be prepared to write for local newspapers and magazines who may not always have the financial backing to pay you. Keep an open mind though and you might just land yourself a steady income stream.

Affiliate Marketing

If you’ve decided that you want to try and make money from a blog, you might want to consider doing so by way of affiliate marketing. This simply means that you’ll be promoting other companies’ products or services and getting a commission whenever someone clicks a monetized link or buys a product that’s promoted through your blog. It’s a great way to make money from a blog and a proven method that’s been around for years.

The tricky part with affiliate marketing is finding products to promote. There are dozens, if not hundreds of ways to make money from a blog, but if you want to succeed, you’ll need to learn how to choose affiliate products that are high in demand and have a good chance of converting. Knowing what audience you’re targeting is also key. If you want to target digital nomads, for example, you may want to focus on affiliate products designed for traveling and digital nomads. This is a lucrative niche and one that you can dominate with a properly targeted blog.

Product Review Blogging

Another great way to make cash from a blog is to write product reviews. When a site like Amazon decides to carry a product review, it means that the product in question has been deemed relevant and important enough for the site’s audience. In return for reviewing a product, you’ll get a small commission whenever someone purchases the item from the company that manufactures it. The product review blogosphere is a massive place and one brimming with opportunity if you know where to look.

The key to being able to review products successfully is to ensure that your audience knows exactly why they should care about what you have to say. You’ll need to read up on the subject matter and ensure that your opinions and insights make sense. For example, if you’re a vegan, you may want to review vegan product blogs or websites so that your audience knows exactly what kind of products they should avoid.

Consulting

Many bigger blogs and news organizations out there don’t rely solely on adverts for revenue. They use freelance journalists to write for them and gain credibility and trust. If you’re good enough, you can potentially get hired as a freelance journalist, write for a blog or magazine and make a healthy living from your skillset. You’ll need to put in the leg work though by applying to sites like Buzzfeed or Upwork who are looking for freelance writers. If you want to make money from a blog, this is one way to do so.

The pros and cons of this route need to be considered. Some people see journalism as a noble profession and feel that they’re doing a public service by informing people of the facts. Others may feel that reviewing products or writing about newsworthy stories is just a way to make money and doesn’t add much value to anything. Ultimately, the decision is up to you, so be sure to consider the facts before committing.

The Options

There are plenty of ways to make money from a blog. We’ve discussed a few above, but you’re going to have to think of others that we’ve missed. Some people love the feeling of freedom that comes with having their own blog. For others, it’s a way to keep track of their thoughts and feelings and be able to look back on their journey as they move forward. Ultimately, it’s all about you and what you want out of the experience. What’s important is that you find a way that suits you.