If you have a burning desire to learn how to make money blogging in 2023, then I bet it’s time to learn what works and what doesn’t.
Sometimes it can be disappointing to hear “expert bloggers” say it will take you about 2 years to start making a full-time income from blogging, especially if you’re a beginner.
The truth of the matter is that blogging is not for the faint-hearted and neither is it a “get rich quick” scheme.
With the right niche selection, quality content, and effective marketing skills, you can start earning a good income in less than a year.
Just make sure to avoid these common blogging mistakes when launching your blog to at least make your blogging journey more rewarding.
That being said, these are some of the ways you can make money with your blog in 2023, and how each one works.
You can use Bluehost to start a blog and get a free domain plus a free SSL certificate for just $2.95/mo.
If you’re planning to launch a blog, you can consider one or a few of these monetization options, which highly depend on your blogging niche.
1. Monetize with Google AdSense
The most basic but less lucrative way to make money with your blog is to use Google AdSense.
To use this strategy, your blog has to be approved to show Google Ads, which requires you to apply for an AdSense account.
After approval, you’ll display ads on your site and get paid when your blog’s visitors click on them.
AdSense is a Cost Per Click (CPC) network where you get paid when people click on the ads, although some advertisers place CPM bids that can still earn you revenue.
An alternative to AdSense would be a CPM ad network where you earn a certain amount of revenue per thousand impressions (how many visitors saw the ad).
In case you would like to increase your Google AdSense earnings, then I recommend you work with Google Certified Publishing partners such as AdThrive, Mediavine, or Ezoic.
They do ad placement and optimization for maximum revenue. Here’s a list of all Google Certified Publishing partners.
My Opinion: AdSense isn’t a great way to make money online unless you have massive traffic, especially from Tier 1 countries such as the United States, Canada, UK, Australia, and Germany. Additionally, more people are now using AdBlockers, which means you will be losing 25% to 30% of revenue as a result.
According to research published in the Juniper Research journal, publishers are likely to lose $27bn in 2020 due to adblockers. Currently, there are more than 763 million devices worldwide using adblockers, including desktop and mobile browsers.
2. Promote affiliate products
Affiliate Marketing is probably one of the most lucrative ways to make money blogging.
It involves recommending a product or service to your readers/audience using a unique link (an affiliate link) and you get a referral commission for qualifying purchases or subscriptions through your link.
There are thousands of affiliate programs you can sign up for in almost every industry or niche.
For example, you can sign up for Amazon Affiliates and write reviews of the products they sell.
When a customer makes a purchase from Amazon through your link you get a referral commission.
Alternatively, you can join affiliate networks where you have access to thousands of affiliate products or services to promote.
Some notable affiliate networks include:
- CJ Affiliates
- Clickbank
- Shareasale
- Rakuten
- Affiliate Window
- Refersion
If you decide to start an affiliate niche site, it’s ideal to use a WordPress plugin such as PrettyLinks to help you easily manage your affiliate links.
It can be hard to manage more than 50 different affiliate programs, but your tasks will be made easier with the help of PrettyLinks.
It allows you to insert links into posts, create branded links, auto-replace links with just one single edit, as well as monitor how each affiliate link is performing.
My Opinion: Affiliate Marketing is one of the best ways to make money blogging. It’s passive, more rewarding, and easy to scale up without the need to write hundreds of blog posts.
3. Sell ad space
Rather than using CPC and CPM ad networks, which typically act as “middlemen” and end up paying you less, you can decide to sell Ad Spaces on your blog.
This only happens when you’re generating good traffic month after month. Advertisers will be willing to pay for ads such as banners, buttons, or links.
You get paid directly by the advertisers, which means you can make more money. You also get to decide how much to charge for different ad slots such as:
- Header banner
- Sidebar banner
- In-content banner
- Link ads (within a post)
Banner ads are often charged on a monthly basis, while a link ad is a one-time payment ad type.
My Opinion: This is a good option only when you have enough traffic. Advertisers will often reach out to you, but you can also reach out to potential advertisers and let them know your blog’s monthly page views, users, sessions, and other important analytics.
4. Publish sponsored blog posts
In case you are not interested in using display ad networks, publishing sponsored blog posts can be an ideal option.
As earlier noted, you’re likely to earn less when using ad networks for two main reasons:
- The rise in ad-blocker usage leads to reduced revenue
- Ad networks act as “middlemen” and pay you only a portion of the money actual advertisers pay them
The best way to bypass these hurdles and increase your revenue significantly is by focusing on sponsored posts.
This involves an advertiser paying you to write a feature blog post about their product or service and market it to your readers.
To get the best out of sponsored posts, have an outreach kit that details your blog’s monthly traffic, social media following, audience demographics, traffic sources, and other important data advertisers might be interested in.
You can then approach potential advertisers and pitch to them. Advertisers can also contact you once they notice your blog’s rankings and organic traffic are ideal.
One thing worth noting is that some countries require publishers who do “sponsored posts” to disclose that the content is sponsored.
In the United States, you have to comply with FTC’s Endorsement Guides, which include disclosing whenever a post is sponsored.
My Opinion: You can make a good income monetizing your blog with sponsored blog posts. I recommend you mix things up with other ways of making money such as selling ad space and affiliate marketing.
5. Sell digital products
Another way to monetize your blog is by selling digital products such as eBooks, Digital Courses, and Images.
After working online for some time, you will learn a lot and you can sell your skills in the form of digital products. Some digital courses cost more than $500, and they are worth it.
Most experienced bloggers have value to offer beginners, and often create their own digital products that end up making them more money than any other form of blog monetization.
If you choose to sell your digital products, these tools and platforms can come in handy;
- Learning Management System – Helps you to deliver your course
- Easy Digital Downloads – For digital downloads
- LearnDash and MemberPress
I would recommend creating a digital product based on the needs of your audience rather than what you think your audience needs.
You can get awesome ideas in your blog’s comment section and through emails you receive. Creating a product based on common questions, requests, and problems is more likely to convert well.
My Opinion: Only create a digital product your audience needs. If they often struggle with generating traffic then a course on how to generate massive traffic will do well. In contrast, those struggling with building email lists are more likely to purchase an email list building course.
6. Offer freelance services
If you have been working on freelance platforms such as Freelancer and Upwork, then launching your blog can make you more money.
Some of the freelance services you can offer include:
- Copywriting
- Graphic design
- Web design
- Translation
- Video editing
- Photography
- Content marketing
- Software development, etc.
Although getting your first clients will be a challenge, you can be your own boss and stop depending on freelancing sites and platforms that take a share for every project you work on.
With the right strategy, you will receive lots of offers to the point where you’ll have to hire professionals to complete some of the projects.
My Opinion: Freelancing as your own boss will eventually earn you more money than working on freelancing platforms. However, it takes time to build a loyal customer base or build a brand, but your effort will pay off eventually.
7. Create a paid membership website
If you’ve already done affiliate marketing, used display ads and sponsored posts, and want to take your game a notch higher, then creating a paid membership site might be your ideal cup of coffee.
This is ideal when you already have loyal readers who are willing to pay to access exclusive content.
Create a premium-only area where only premium readers get access to your best blog posts, podcasts, tutorials, and audio and video downloads.
Membership sites often turn out to be big-time investments and require one to continually create premium content month after month.
The good thing with paid membership sites is that it allows you to earn recurring commissions for as long as you’re creating new, quality premium content.
My Opinion: Paid membership sites happen to be among the most lucrative ways to make money blogging. Make sure to offer value for money or else you’ll lose loyal readers forever.
8. Create a private forum
An alternative to creating a paid membership website would be creating a private forum on your WordPress blog using a plugin such as bbPress.
You can also start a Private Facebook Group where only paying members get added. Be sure to offer value for the money though.
You need to respond to every member’s question, comment, and inquiry. That way you build a good rapport.
If you already have a paid membership website, then you can create a private forum where you can easily communicate with them.
My Opinion: Private forums can work magic for your blog and digital courses. The more value you give in such private forums, the easier it will be to market your digital products.
9. Launch an online store
A good alternative to selling digital products would be to own your own online store where you sell Print-On-Demand items such as t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, pillows, towels, etc.
The items are printed only when a customer makes an order. You don’t have to own a product, run a physical store, do the packaging, or even the delivery.
All is done for you.
You need to start with a Shopify store and then connect with Printful (they do the printing and product delivery). You can get a 14-day free Shopify trial.
This means your task will be to market your store and generate traffic. You also don’t need to worry about fulfilling the orders as you can use a tool that does that with less input from you.
Check out this blog post on the best-selling print-on-demand items if you wish to launch your own online store.
My Opinion: This works best when selling to customers in countries such as the United States, Canada, and the UK.
10. Offer coaching services
If you have expertise in a certain field, offering coaching services would be a great way to make money with your blog.
You can offer one-on-one training to individuals and can charge per hour or session.
Some bloggers manage to make more than $100,000 a month offering financial coaching to their clients, which can include advice on savings, investments, income expenditure, etc.
Keep in mind that you need to be really good for your coaching program to succeed because if someone doesn’t find value in one session then they won’t enroll for the next.
My Opinion: Only offer coaching services if you have the right expertise and experience to do so.
11. Teach an online course
Another great way to make money online is hosting an online course on your blog. You can use WordPress plugins such as Zippy Courses and LearnDash to get started.
There is also an alternative to host your online teaching course through established platforms such as Skillshare and Udemy.
My Opinion: Teaching an online course is ideal for niche experts with unique expertise others are willing to pay for the knowledge and/or skills.
12. Host paid webinars
There are thousands of bloggers out there offering free webinars every week with the aim being generating leads and making sales through their premium webinars.
You can also offer paid webinars, but be sure to offer something worth the price otherwise you’ll tarnish your reputation and scare away future potential clients.
My Opinion: Start with free webinars for a few weeks or even a few months. This allows you to reach as many potential clients as possible. Build a relationship with them as you talk about your upcoming premium webinar or product launch.
13. Sell templates
Another rarely talked about way to make money blogging is selling custom-made templates. This idea is ideal for graphic designers.
You can create templates for platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. There are website owners who aren’t great at graphic design and rely heavily on ready-made templates.
Create awesome templates and set realistic prices and you will be making passive income every day.
My Opinion: This might not make you as much money as selling digital products or managing a paid membership site. However, you get to earn a decent income with your skills.
FAQs about how to make money blogging
Here are a few frequently asked questions about making money with a blog.
a). Is blogging a good way to make money?
Blogging is a great way to make money, with the most successful bloggers earning as high as $1 million a month. However, you need to choose the right blogging niche, do good topic research, apply the right marketing skills, and create quality content that helps solve users’ problems.
b). How can I create a blog and earn money?
To create a blog, you need to choose a domain name, a web hosting service, and a blogging platform, then proceed to set up your blog. You can monetize your blog by promoting affiliate products, using display ads, selling ad spaces, publishing sponsored posts, selling digital products, or offering freelance services.
c). How much money do bloggers make?
Monthly income varies from one blogger to another. However, a ProBlogger Report breaks down blogger earnings as follows:
- 4% earn $10,000 or higher a month
- 9% earn between $1,000 and $9,999 a month
- 7% earn between $500 and $999 a month
- 17% earn between $100 and $499 a month
- 25% earn between $10 and $99 a month
- 28% earn between $1 and $9 a month
- 10% do not earn even a penny from their blogs
d). Which type of blog is the most popular?
According to 2021 data on new blogs, lifestyle and mom blogs were the most popular. Approximately 25% of new blogs are in the lifestyle/mom niche, which ranks top ahead of travel blogs (18.4%), food blogs (13%), beauty/fashion blogs (12%), and health/fitness blogs (8%).
e). Who is the highest-paid blogger?
The highest-paid blogger in the world is Arianna Huffington, the owner of the Huffington Post. She currently makes over $2 million a month and is also the richest blogger in the world. The founder of TechCrunch, Michael Arrington, is also one of the highest-paid bloggers with an approximate monthly income of over $800,000.
Key Takeaways
There are more ways one can make money blogging, but I hope the ones highlighted above can help you decide how you want to make money online. Feel free to add your own ideas and suggestions in the comments section below. You can also leave a comment in case you need help starting your blog.
