Are you a new blogger hoping to make money from your blog?
Have you heard others say it’s impossible to earn money blogging when you first start?
Not true!
Keep reading to learn about the top 4 ways to make money as a new blogger.
Millions of new blogs pop up every week. But not all of them will make money.
Starting a blog is easy and pretty cheap. (With Blue Host you only spend $3.95 a month!)
Most blogs are hobby blogs, which are perfectly fine. Blogging is a great way to meet new people, learn about different cultures, and relieve some stress.
However, most bloggers want to get paid for their hard work. And if you want to earn money blogging, then you have to go about it the right way.
You have to put the required time and effort into your blog to build it into a profitable business.
Blogging is a business and should be treated as such.
*Post contains affiliate links. They are free for you to click on, however, I will be compensated if you make a purchase. This supports my family and I thank you for your support! To learn more, click here.
But it takes time to grow, just like any other business.
With some dedication and the right mindset, you will succeed in your blogging business.
If you’ve already started your blog, then this guide is for you!
If you haven’t started a blog yet, but want to, click here to learn how.
How to Make Money As a New Blogger
Believe it or not, it is possible to make money as a new blogger.
I started blogging as a hobby and I loved it. I enjoyed sharing my crafts and DIYs with others.
As I started to gain more traffic I decided I wanted to start earning money from all my hard work.
So I started researching “how to make money blogging” and quickly became overwhelmed.
There are millions of people out there writing about how to make money blogging!
If you’ve been researching different ways to make money blogging and getting overwhelmed, don’t give up.
I’m here to tell you that it is possible to make money blogging.
And yes, you can make money as a new blogger, too.
Top 4 ways to make money as a new blogger
As an established blogger, there are many ways to monetize your blog. However, new bloggers are limited when it comes to making money.
Here are the top 4 ways to make money as a new blogger:
- Ads
- Affiliate marketing
- Sponsored posts
- Products
1. Monetize your blog with ads
Almost every blog you visit has ads. (Sometimes too many!)
Many bloggers allow ads on their site because they are easy ways to make money.
However, top paying ad networks, such as Mediavine, require you to have a substantial amount of traffic.
New blogs don’t start out with a lot of traffic. But that doesn’t mean you cannot have ads on your site.
Google Adsense and Media.net both allow new bloggers to monetize their site with ads. Pay is decent with both companies.
Media.net uses ads that are keyword links, which generally get more clicks. Most companies pay more for clicks than impressions.
You can have both Google Adsense and Media.net on your site, however, you want to be careful not to have too many ads. This slows down your site and it’s highly annoying to visitors and readers. It will cause you to lose traffic.
Media.net doesn’t overload your site with ads, but Google Adsense will.
To learn more about Media.net and sign up for free, click here.
2. Monetize your blog with affiliate marketing
I’m sure you’ve visited a blog that has recommended some type of products. They include links to the products they are recommending.
These links are called affiliate links.
Every time someone clicks on the link and makes a purchase, the blogger will get paid for it.
The top affiliate links I recommend to make money as a new blogger are:
These affiliate links are all free to join and work best for every niche.
If you choose to include affiliate links on your blog, you must include a disclosure statement somewhere on the post with the links. (I also include my disclosure on my privacy and disclosure page.)
Click here to see how to set up a disclosure page.
An example of a disclosure for sharing affiliate links is:
- Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission if you click through and decide to make a purchase.
Amazon requires that you have a separate disclosure to share links recommending their products. An example would be:
- As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Honesty is the best policy when it comes to affiliate links. Only recommend products that you trust and love. This builds trust with your readers and they’ll be more inclined to make a purchase through your link.
Your readers trust and value your opinion. Recommending products you actually use will have a higher chance of being purchased. And you’ll have a higher chance of readers purchasing more products through your links in the future.
3. Monetize your blog with sponsored posts
A sponsored post is a dedicated post that promotes a certain product or company. A company will pay you to present themselves or their product to your audience.
Some examples of sponsored posts include:
- product reviews
- recommendations
- articles about the company
To get sponsored posts, reach out to a company and pitch your promotion to them. A lot of companies have links to be able to contact them on their website.
Sponsored posts are an excellent way to make money as a new blogger. Some bloggers make all their money from sponsored posts alone.
4. Monetize your blog with products
Another great way to make money as a new blogger is to sell your own products.
Right now, the top selling products for bloggers are digital products.
With digital products, there is no inventory to keep up with and no shipping costs.
The biggest digital product sellers are eBooks and eCourses.
eBooks can be made by simply combining several blog posts together that you’ve already written.
For example, on my other blog, I wrote a series of posts on how to save money at the grocery store. The series included 6 very detailed posts on different ways to save money on groceries.
Now that the series is over, I’m working on turning it into an eBook that I hope to have finished in a few months.
If you choose to write an eBook to sell to your audience, you can design the cover easily with Canva. I love using Canva because it’s so easy to use and they already have templates available for you. Plus it’s free!
PicMonkey is another program to use to design your eBook cover. They’re also free and easy to use.
eCourses allow you to teach others about a skill you’re very knowledgeable about. People love learning new things! And chances are you have something to teach them.
Online learning is in high demand, which is great news for you if you have a skill to teach.
Teachable offers a free plan that allows you to create and host your eCourse. They also offer great tutorials on how to get started and their site is user-friendly.
Learn more about Teachable and sign up here.
Printables are also great products for new bloggers to sell to make money. Printables can be easily created with Canva and PicMonkey.
Top selling digital printables include:
- checklists
- planners and calendars
- templates (cover letters, forms, resumes, etc.)
- budget trackers
- personalized invitations or announcements
Many bloggers create printables as a free incentive to get visitors to sign up for their email list. But, you can also create them to sell on your own site or Etsy.
By the way – having an email following is KEY to making money with your blog. If you haven’t set up your email yet, I recommend using CovertKit. It’s free to sign up, easy to manage, and they have the most user-friendly opt-ins.
Sign up for free with ConvertKit here.
How to gain traffic as a new blogger
Now you have your blog and email opt-ins up and running, you need more traffic.
You cannot make a lot of money as a new blogger without a lot of traffic.
There are many different ways to drive traffic to your blog, but what you really want is for your blog to rank on Google. To do this, you need to learn and master SEO and keywords.
Long Tail Pro is a great tool to use to search for keywords. It shows you exactly which keywords people are searching for.
Conclusion
Don’t let the negativity of others scare you away from blogging. Don’t let them tell you that there is no way to earn money with a blog.
It’s just not true!
There are many established bloggers out there who make a lot of money blogging and it’s their full-time income. They make a living from their blog and the products they create. And some make 7 figures!
And it’s also possible to make money as a new blogger!
Just don’t give up.
Hold yourself accountable and put yourself out there.
I know you can do it!
