Did you know that you can make money with your blog? It’s true!!
I have been blogging for three years now and although I am not getting rich anytime soon, I am making a little money. For the past year or so I have been able to make enough money to pay for things like conferences, crafts, home decor and things like that. I love that I don’t have to have my hobby come out of our budget. And it’s nice to have some “me money” that I can spend on myself.
If I can make money, then you definitely can too. Just remember that you might not get rich or you might get $10, but at least that money that you can use for your hobby that doesn’t have to come out of the budget.
I wanted to share with you the ways that I make money.
1)First off, ads. I currently have three different companies that I work for. And then I have sponsors for my blog too. I don’t make a ton off of these, BUT they are very little work. You just put a button or widget on your sidebar and then you get money from clicks or by how many impressions you get. This is something that you will want to look at while you are applying for the networks. There are several out there, but here are the three I use.
a) Google Adsense.
b) Rivit Media
c) Izea Media
These all work about the same way. When I have more traffic, I get more money. When people click on them, I get more money and so forth. There are more out there, these are just the ones that I have choose to use because I don’t want to have too many ads on my sidebar. You can always have more than one button with each company, both Adsense and Rivit allow up to 3.
I also have people’s buttons on my sidebar and have a set price for those. You can find the info here. I try to have a fair price. It’s not much, but at least it’s something. I get $10 for something that takes about 2 minutes to do, so not too bad.
2) Next comes affiliate programs. There are a TON out there. Pretty much you have a special link that has a certain code and if someone clicks on your link and then buy something, then you get a certain percentage of it. Some months I can make around $100 from just one company and other months just $5. Once again, not a ton of work so that’s nice. I have their button on my sidebars but the best way to get more clicks is having the links in posts. Here are just a couple of my favorite:
a) Amazon
3) Product Reviews. Even though it’s not money, doing product reviews is a way to get things that you would normally buy, so saving you money. One of my favorite things about blogging is being able to try out things and share them with my readers. I have discovered things that I wouldn’t have normally bought and just loved them. One thing I will tell you is this, do NOT wait for a company to email you. Chances are they won’t. Also, don’t be afraid to ask a company if they want to do a review with you. The worse that can happen, they can tell you no. Sometimes I just go to the website, find the contact us button and write a little note introducing myself and my blog and asking if they want to do a review with me. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But you won’t know if you don’t try.
4) Sponsored Posts. We have all seen them. Yes they can be annoying at times, but honestly this is where you can make some real money. Companies pay you money to write about their company. I go through companies that help connect bloggers with the different brands. When I do a sponsored post that isn’t a craft or yummy recipe, I try to have another post on the same day. So I’m not just writing sponsored posts. I am currently working with 5 different companies. They are all similar but at the same a little different. They are the same by you get to apply to different campaigns, tell them why it’s a good fit for you blog and then they decide if they pick you. Then are different because each company require different things. Here are the 5 that I use:
a) Social Spark. They send you emails with leads, that have a certain dollar amount that goes off of your traffic. Then you can accept the lead (it’s like you are applying) and if the company likes you, you get an offer. The dollar amount vary. When I first started with them a year ago, I got several offers for about $15. If it fit my blog, I did them. Not the most money but sometimes you need to do things just to get “in” with a company. Now I am getting more from them but I did do 5 posts for just $15. My favorite thing about Social Spark is they are easy to do, they usually only take 30 minutes to type up. Plus they have some really good brands that I really like.
b) Social Fabric. This one is where do you what they call “shops”. You apply for the shops. If you get chosen, you usually have to go to a store and buy the product and take pictures along the way. You make a google+ ablum of your full shopping experience and then you write about the product, review it or create with it. These ones require a lot of work but they pay well. Some shops are worth $200. The good thing about them is that they go off of your work, not just your numbers. So if you have some really good pictures and posts, they look at that and not just your Facebook followers.
These two are very similar. You apply for a campaign that has a set dollar amount and then they if they like you, you get the campaign. Their campaigns range from $50 to $150.
e) Blueprint Social. This is one great for us crafty people. They send you fun craft products (like Plaid, Martha Stewart) and then you create with them. Sometimes they are just for product, sometimes they are compensated.
This is something that you need to know about sponsored posts or reviews, when you have one, you must have a disclosure in your post saying that you got paid or product for the post, to let your readers know that you are getting paid. Also, whenever there is a link in the post, you must use a “no follow” link. On blogger, there is a little box that you can click when you add the link.
Wow, that was a long post… I usually don’t write that much. I hope that this has helped you. There are lots of different ways to make money, these are just the ways that I have found to work for me. One thing you need to remember is, you might not make a ton of money right away. You need to be patient. Especially with the sponsored posts, you might apply to a ton and not get any. It happens to everyone. I have been a member with some of them for longer than 6 months and am now just getting campaigns.
Another thing that I would say to do is be true to your blog. I have very strong beliefs and don’t drink tea, coffee, alcohol and don’t believe in writing about companies that are not family friendly. To me, it’s not worth the money to write about something that I really don’t believe in. I have had to tell several companies no or turn down several good paying posts because they go against my beliefs.
I hope that all of this made sense and it was helpful. Good luck to you! I hope that you all can make some money with your blog!
I would love it if you followed along.
