How to Make Money Blogging: Your Official Guide

Blogging sounds like such an idyllic job, capturing the imagination of many aspiring writers and content creators. Who wouldn't want to create videos or write and earn money from anywhere, while translating your own experiences into compelling, profitable content for your legions of admiring readers? Achieving this is undeniably an appealing goal - but how do you get started, how exactly do you monetize your blog to build a blogging business, and how does it all work?

In this guide, we'll take you through the steps of why you should blog, how to start your blog, and how to make money blogging from affiliate marketing to sponsorships, subscriptions, and selling merch, so your blogging dreams really can come true.

Great Reasons to Start Blogging

While the promise of revenue is a significant motivator for most content creators, blogging offers plenty of benefits beyond income. Let's look at four compelling reasons other than earning money to embark on your blogging journey:

Building a Personal Brand

Blogging serves as a powerful tool for building a personal brand. Through consistent, authentic content creation, you can both grow your audience and gain their trust; these are valuable gains for both yourself as a creator, and for companies who may want to work with you and your brand. 

It's all about the voice you create with text or video, and about how well you relate that voice to your fans. Blogging lets them get to know you on a more personal level than only through your main content, and the conversations created through your blog can prove rewarding for you both creatively and financially.

Sharing Expertise

Blogging also provides a platform to share your expertise and experiences with the world as you create content. This applies whether you're an expert in a particular niche, or you're learning alongside others in that same niche; it works if you're sharing clips of a well-known project, or if you're just discussing your everyday happenings. 

As long as you're passionate about your hobby, field of study, profession, or simply content creation itself, blogging allows you to share your knowledge, insights, and behind-the-scenes fun, giving your audience intriguing views into a place or situation they may never personally experience themselves. 

Creating a Platform for Self-Expression

For those who revel in self-expression, blogging offers a canvas to articulate thoughts, opinions, experiences, and creativity. It's a medium where your voice - whether in video or written form - can affect others, fostering a sense of connection. The trick here is to write or speak about something you're actually interested in. You can, of course, just hop onto a blogging trend, but if you're not enthused about the topic or niche, that lack of enthusiasm will eventually show to your audience. 

Striving for authenticity and sharing things you're excited about will be your best way to establish a blog that resonates with people, and will also give you the best opportunity to be creative with how you blog and what kind of blogging content you create. 

Connecting with People

The community-building aspect of blogging is profound. Engaging with your audience, fostering discussions, and connecting with like-minded individuals in your niche contributes to a sense of camaraderie that goes beyond the internet. If your blog gets popular, you may even hold meetups for your audience members, or appear as a guest blogger on other sites as you meet new people. 

Your blogging can also inspire other content creators and give you a sense of accomplishment as you see others enjoying your work, commenting on your videos, and sharing your blogs with others.

How Much Money Can You Make with a Blog?

The question of how to make money blogging is a central theme for any aspiring blogger. But it helps to be realistic, especially if you're just getting started. How do bloggers make money? Well, there are a lot of influencing factors regarding your potential success, including your chosen niche/topic, your audience size, and what you're doing to monetize your blogs.

Whether you choose affiliate marketing, sponsored content, selling digital products or physical merch, offering services, or teaming up for brand partnerships, there's no one-size-fits-all answer to monetization, but it all boils down to one thing - blogs make money when your blog content is in demand. And having multiple income streams definitely helps grow your blogging business.

Next up: let's look at exactly how you can make your blog profitable so you're all set up when those rave reviews start pouring in:

8 Ways to Make Money Blogging 

1. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways for many content creators and beginner bloggers to make money blogging, and is fairly easy to get into. Bloggers make money by promoting other companies' products (most often by placing affiliate links to individual items) and earning a commission for selling products via your referral. Affiliate marketing is basically a symbiotic relationship where both parties benefit – companies get exposure in their desired niche when viewers click on those affiliate links, and bloggers make a share of the revenue. Some places where you can pursue affiliate marketing opportunities include Google AdSense or Mediavine. 

2. Sponsored Content

Partnering with brands for sponsored content is similar to affiliate marketing, but more substantial. Companies pay you to create and publish specific content that integrates their products or services, and you make money blogging about them in an authentic way. This strategy is also more labor-intensive than affiliate marketing, as it requires an understanding of your audience and a good understanding of the product (and your limits regarding said product) to ensure a seamless fit between the sponsored content and your blog's vibe. Sponsored content can apply to any niche from food to fashion to accommodations or experiences you promote through your travel blog.

3. Selling Digital Products

For those with expertise in a particular niche, creating and selling digital products like e-books, online courses, software, or printable downloads can be a game-changer in monetizing your blog, and can bring in passive income with little extra effort on your part. This strategy not only lets you make money blogging, but also establishes you as an authority in your niche. You can also sell digital products if part of your blogging content shows you creating them. For instance if you blog as you're creating art, you could reproduce some of your art as digital download prints; if your niche is all about coding videogames, you could create a game of your own and sell it on Steam.

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Game developer Eric is using his Fourthwall blog to drum up interest in his PC sim game Snow Plow, which he’ll be releasing on Steam. He also offers additional support options, including a tip link and subscriptions, on his blog.

4. Selling Physical Products

If you're a maker or influencer aspiring to be a blogger, selling items in your niche that you actually create (or curate) can be a successful monetizing endeavor. This could include anything from handmade crafts to curated collections that resonate with your audience. Similar to the digital artwork opportunity mentioned above, bloggers making art could create watercolors on their blog, and sell the actual artworks; or you could blog about your candle making process and then sell the candles. Fashion influencers might implement monetization by curating a capsule collection of vacation clothing, and selling those items on commission. 

5. Subscription Models

Offering subscription models, where your audience pays a recurring fee for premium content, is another rewarding way to make money blogging. This approach is gaining popularity as it encourages the growth of a closer community based around your blog. Locking blog posts behind a paywall can also add a sense of urgency and exclusivity around your content creation; a good way to encourage people to pay for your content is to offer a free blog, so that they get a sample of your work and are left wanting more. Premium blog posts are also great for passive income, as you can indefinitely keep getting new subscribers who wish to unlock your old posts.

6. Offer Services

Leveraging your skills and expertise by offering services like consulting, coaching, or freelance writing also allows you to make money blogging. This strategy capitalizes on your unique talents, and helps establish you as a resource in your niche - your blogs can work well as a welcome source of complimentary information, but it's likely your more devoted audience members will want even more! Keep an eye on your blog comments to see which types of posts you might be able to monetize by converting them into paid content. You can also include your service offerings on an email marketing list that you can source from your blog audience. 

7. Selling Merchandise

Creating and selling branded merchandise related to your blog can be a fun and profitable monetizing venture. From T-shirts to mugs and beyond, your audience gets a tangible connection to your brand while you generate additional income. You can make merch that reflects your blog name and logo, and you could also create individual merch lines for blog series or any other creative connections to your content. Fourthwall makes it simple to create multiple merch lines and collections within your own store, so you can have a wide range of selections across different niches and themes; even beginner bloggers can get a merch shop started easily to start selling products with Fourthwall!

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8. Brand Partnerships

Collaborating with brands for partnerships can open avenues for both monetization and increased visibility. Brands and advertisers may pay you for promoting their products or services to your audience, creating a mutually beneficial relationship; this usually takes the form of reviewing their products or incorporate a product/products into your regular blogging content. Brand partnerships can be one-contract instances, or if both parties are pleased with the results, they can turn into longer-term business relationships, which means more stable revenue for you.

4 Steps to Start Your Blog!

Ready to get started? Check out the following steps for a helpful framework to kickstart your blogging journey: 

1. Choose a Profitable Niche

Unless you've already identified a topic that aligns with your interests, you're probably wondering what to write about. This is your first step - choosing a niche that you're excited about, and that will also be able to attract a sizeable enough group of fans so you can monetize your blog posts and make money blogging. There are endless blog ideas to try - you can start a travel blog, shopping blog, cooking blog, fashion blog, sports blog; just choose one that really resonates with you and has revenue potential. For instance, fashion and cooking are great picks for affiliate marketing, as both allow you to recommend all kinds of products via affiliate links.

A profitable niche should balance personal interest with market demand to maximize monetization for your blogging business. So first, you should ask yourself what you enjoy talking about or showcasing, because this is what you'll be creating content about. Then, what kind of audience would be drawn to your choice of topic or niche? And lastly, whether or not you think this topic will have a big enough audience for profitable monetization. 

2. Select a Blogging Platform

Choosing the right blogging platform is the next step in positioning your blog for success; the platform is essentially your blog's host, letting you rent blogging space online.

Factors like user friendliness, customization options, and scalability are all important, as are cost and branding; some blogging platforms will host your blog for free, but will require their brand name to be part of your web address. Fourthwall is completely free for creators, including your own free blog, with no monthly fees or fixed costs.

3. Set Up Your Domain

Securing a domain lets you claim your own piece of virtual real estate. It's your blog's address on the internet, so be sure to select a domain name that's either the same as the title of your blog, or an easy to remember spin-off.

For instance, if your blog is called Coffee Talk but coffeetalk.com is already taken, you could use TimsCoffeeTalk.com or CoffeeTalkChicago.com. Most domain registrars, like Domain.com or Spaceship, have a tool to help you find available domains. Then you just need to connect your domain name to your blogging platform, so your audience is directed to the correct place. You can use your custom domain name to easily redirect to your Fourthwall site and blog!

4. Create Quality Content

The heart of any successful blog lies in its content! Consistently producing high quality, engaging content is how you'll attract and keep your viewers, and how you'll make money blogging online. And take special notice of the word "consistent" - while it may seem initially overwhelming, the best way to build your audience and maximize monetization is to give your viewers/readers a reliable source of content on a regular basis.

Even if you only post once a week at first, post your blog on the same day, around the same time, and let them know they can rely on your posts. It might also be helpful for you to use a content calendar, to collate your blog ideas all in one place, and schedule them appropriately.

FAQ 

Let's tackle three frequently asked questions to provide clarity and insight for aspiring bloggers:

How Long Does It Take to Make Money Blogging?

The timeline for monetizing a blog varies, depending on factors like niche, the appeal of your subject matter, and quality of content. Another factor is how you choose to earn money, whether via affiliate marketing, AdSense, display ads, sponsorships, or other forms of generating income, coupled with how many income streams you have. While some bloggers may see results in just a few months of creating content, some bloggers may take a year or more to make money blogging, and there will also be vast differences between how much different bloggers make. Consistency and strategic planning are key, and much like content creation in general, patience is definitely a virtue in the blogging 'verse!

How Long Should My Blog Posts Be?

Blog post length is subjective, and depends on your audience and the type of your content. A good general rule is to aim for a balance between sharing information and including creative content that will encourage reader engagement. Quality should always take precedence over quantity, of course; and a YouTube vlog will have different parameters than a written blog. It may take some trial and error to determine what length of blogs work best for your particular audience/viewers. 

What’s the Difference Between a Blog and a Website?

While the terms "blog" and "website" are often used interchangeably, they have distinct characteristics. A blog is most often headquartered on a platform (website or video sharing site) where content is frequently updated in a chronological format; blogs tend to be more conversational, and lend themselves better to longer-form content.

Websites, on the other hand, are most often a series of connected pages that feature a much broader range of content, including both static and dynamic posts, like an About page, a Contact page, and a merch shop. You can house your blog within a website, but websites are more their own entity. Ambitious bloggers make use of both!

Fourthwall Expands Your Blogging Potential

As we wrap up our blogging guide, we’ll remind you of the unlimited potential within the ecommerce realm for bloggers. Seamlessly integrating Fourthwall into your blogging journey can amplify your monetization strategies even more, giving you a unified and welcoming platform for your blog content, physical and digital products, video clips, memberships, and more.

Fourthwell helps you streamline your audience's experience, and also lets you introduce profitable monetization options like exclusive member content and, of course, your own shop for selling customized merchandise. Unlock your full blogging potential, gain fans, and earn money with Fourthwall!