The 5 Best Ways to Monetize Your Blog

Make Money Blogging– It’s Okay, It’s YOUR Job

make money blogging

So blogging in and of itself is hard work with LONG hours and very little pay! I know, your wondering “then why on Earth do it?!”. Well, the answer is simple– I do it for my outlet– my sanity– to remind myself that I’m a person not just “Mommy”– and because I really really enjoy it! I love making something or coming up with a recipe and sharing it with others! When I find a better way of doing something I get an intense sense of satisfaction being able to share that knowledge and help someone else simplify their tasks.

But, just because us bloggers enjoy blogging doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get paid for it! People who teach enjoy teaching and they get paid; people who act enjoy acting and they get paid for it (although I think the salaries should be reversed since teachers are building tomorrow’s future– but that’s another post!), many people all over the world get paid to do jobs that they truly enjoy– so why is it not the same for bloggers?!

Especially Female Bloggers– we tend to feel guilty making money blogging– well I’m here to tell you “You SHOULD get paid to do what you love!” “You deserve to make money blogging!” “You work hard on your blog, your articles, your “brand”, so why not get paid?!” “Let YOUR Blog Be YOUR Dream Job!”

Okay, enough of my rant!

Now, if you’re just starting out you’re not going to make a ton of money BUT if you diversify and have multiple streams of income then you can make a decent amount of money blogging.

UPDATE: I just started Year 3 of blogging. This year I’m averaging 1 million page views a month and earning over $2000 a month! Since so many people have asked I’ve started a new series: How to Start a Successful Blog! Come check it out as I walk you through step by step to building a blog!

The amount of money that you generate will also depend on how much time you have to invest. Right now I don’t have a ton of extra time– most of my free time is spent doing projects, taking photos, and writing posts….I don’t have a ton of time to devote to monetizing my blog BUT there are MANY simple and easy ways to monetize your blog. Today I’m going to share with you my TOP money makers for my blog (disclosure: there are some affiliate links contained in this post- they don’t cost you a thing…it’s the companies’ way of thanking me for referring you to them).

1. IZEA formerly Social Spark

I have made the most money through writing sponsored posts with IZEA. I make anywhere from $15 a post up to $350 a post….a blogging friend of mine just got a $500 post through IZEA– so it looks like they’re getting higher paying gigs! The nice thing about IZEA is that YOU set your rate of pay– you can negotiate on the price of a sponsored post….if they send you an offer to write something for $20 and you think it’s worth $40 you don’t have to turn down the $20 post you can just submit the offer back with a price at $40.

2. Lijit

I make the most ad revenue from Lijit Ad Network. The nice thing about Lijit is that they have multiple ways to monetize your blog– you can run ads, you can use their search box to generate revenue when people search and click outside of your blog, and they have a sister company that will automatically add affiliate links for you!

3. VigLink

VigLink will automatically add affiliate links for you– this is a fantastic, simple, and fast way to monetize your blog! All you have to do is install the VigLink tool onto your blog and it will scan your pages and automatically make an affiliate link for anything that it finds! Don’t worry– it doesn’t scatter your posts full of links– you can set the maximum number of links per post AND you can decide what links you don’t want! Unfortunately, being in NC and the crazy rules they have up here I can’t participate in the automatic affiliate links– but I was making $40-$60 every few weeks when I was in GA and didn’t have to do a thing!!! I literally set it up and never thought about it again until I would see a happy little deposit from VigLink in my Paypal account!

4. Sponsored Tweets NOW IZEA

Yes, Sponsored Tweets is the name of the advertising company! Sponsored Tweets is relatively new– but is associated with Social Spark so they are reliable. I just recently signed up with Sponsored Tweets and so far I REALLY like them! It’s a quick and simple way to monetize your blog following. Although Sponsored Tweets doesn’t go on your blog– it monetizes your twitter following . Basically, with Sponsored Tweets, it is what it sounds like– they pay you to write a tweet– it may only be $2-$3 but it adds up quickly! The more Twitter followers you have the more you can charge! 🙂

5. Sverve

Sverve is not only a site where you can apply for sponsored posts but it’s also a community where you can share your blog posts and network with other bloggers! Instead of sponsored posts being solely based on numbers you’re chosen by advertisers based on your influence and community. A unique aspect that Sverve has is that your fellow bloggers and readers can endorse you in different niches.

These are the main ways that I monetize my blog but there are many other ways to monetize your blog. I also participate in sponsored posts from The Clever Girls Network, The Blueprint Social, The Sits Girls, Social Fabric, and Massive Sway. In addition to Lijit ads I also have Google Adsense and Rivit Media. There are so many ways to monetize your blog it really depends on the amount of time that you have.

I hope this helps you find the ways to monetize your blog and help you make blogging your job if that’s your dream! I know it’s mine!!

How do you monetize your blog?