Earn money from your blog in 2023 ; You may have already blogged for a while. Have your own share blog, financial blog or a blog about something completely different. The number of visitors is rising slowly but surely. Your blog neighbors already have banners and links to various affiliate networks. Now you’re wondering if maybe you couldn’t make money from your blog too. Why not?!
There are tons of tips “out there” on how to monetize your blog. I will try to make it as simple as possible so you can get started as soon as possible. Here are tips on three ways to make money from a blog.
1. Advertisements
The first thing that comes to mind is probably putting ads on the blog. Ads are everywhere on the Internet now and I think few people are seriously bothered by them. They are, in a way, the price you have to pay for free information. If you have a blog that you want to monetize, ads might be the first thing you should try. The largest network is Google AdSense . It is required that your blog is already running, that there is content on it and that the content is unique.
If for some reason you are not approved by AdSense, there are good alternatives. The top choice for many is Media.net which runs ads for Yahoo and Bing.
How do I insert the ads on the blog?
A big advantage of posting ads through an ad network is that it’s easy to get started. It is probably the easiest way to monetize your blog. The principle is that you create an ad in your control panel at the ad network and then receive a code that you can paste on your blog.
There are several ways to put the ads on the blog and it depends on which platform you use. For blogs hosted by Blogspot, it is quite easy to get started as you can apply for AdSense via the platform and get started quite quickly. If your blog is on WordPress.com, they have their own network called WordAds , which is easy to join.
If you are running a self-hosted WordPress site, there are three ways. The first way is to paste the code for the respective ad at the ad network in the desired place in the WordPress template where you want the ad to appear. It can be e.g. in the blog feed or in individual articles. A bit fiddly if you’re not used to code, but really not that hard.
The other way is to put the ad code in a widget to e.g. displayed in the right or left column. The advantage is that it is light, the disadvantage is that it is not so flexible.
The third way is to use a plugin to be able to more easily place the ads on the page. I have noticed that it is a big advantage to use such a plugin because the ads become clear for you, it saves time and it is easy to move the ads around as needed without having to change any files. The ad plugin I use on StockBlogs is called Advanced Ads and is made by a German programmer who takes every detail very seriously. Professional and easy to use. I bought the Pro package to e.g. get more placement options and to be able to test the placement of different ads against each other.
Not all ads pay the same amount
Keep in mind that you can earn different amounts of money depending on where on the blog your ad is placed and what format it has. Google has published a so-called heat map that gives a hint about how attractive different places on the screen are.
Basically, all ads are a kind of auction between advertisers and publishers (you). How much you receive in compensation depends on the market price. Supply and demand. The ad network receives a share of the profits. It can therefore vary over time how much you get paid for a certain type of advertisement. The size of the ad can determine the compensation level per click and per impression. The dimensions of the ad (width – length) are another parameter. Then there are both text ads and image ads. Put in a few different types of ads and see in the ad network’s control panel how the result will be over time. You can often also run experiments there to automatically measure which type of ad is most effective.
Mobile-friendly ads
Now that people more often use their cell phone to surf rather than the desktop computer, this map is put out of action a bit in those cases. Google has solved it by offering special solutions for mobile phones. For example, with a few clicks in your AdSense control panel, you can set mobile users to see a small strip of ads at the top or bottom of the screen sometimes. It is also possible to arrange for ads to be displayed on an “intermediate screen” when the visitor clicks a link to navigate to the next page on the blog.
One nifty thing that I haven’t had a chance to try myself but I think could be part of your blog monetization strategy is auto ads for AMP. AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages and is a smart open source standard for displaying slim content. Specially designed for mobile devices. If your site is in WordPress, there is a special plugin to convert the content to AMP.
Don’t spam or try to trick you into clicks
Nothing is more annoying than a website or blog that is full of ads. Most people tolerate an ad here and there, but few can stand staying on a site where the ads take up most of the content. Previously, Google had a rule that there could be a maximum of three ads per page. That rule has been removed, but it may still be good to have it as a guideline. Either way, it’s your content that matters most and it’s good if your readers feel that way too.
Do not, for all intents and purposes, encourage your visitors to click on any ads. It can very easily get you disqualified from the ad network. Then you lose the money you have earned and are banned from joining again, probably forever.
Sell advertising space yourself
If you have a well-visited blog, an alternative might be to sell ad space directly to advertisers. In this way, you get full control over what is shown and by being able to offer the advertiser space on your blog and have a dialogue about the whole thing, you can guarantee to get paid better than via the networks. What the advertiser gets in return is security and the opportunity to influence. In addition, you avoid middlemen who take their share of the cake. For WordPress, there is the above-mentioned Advanced Ads , which has an add-on that enables the sale of advertising space on the blog. Through it, you can charge per click, impressions, per day or with your own terms.
Tip: Create a media kit where you talk about things that might interest a potential advertiser. It can be how many visitors the blog has per day, what profile they have (gender, age, interests) and give examples of what the advertiser can gain by advertising with you.
2. Affiliate Marketing
Sometimes it says in some blog posts that they are “sponsored”, have “adlinks” or the like. In those cases, the blog owner has a collaboration with one or more companies to market their products or services. Affiliate marketing means that you get a percentage or a fixed amount for every order that someone makes after clicking through to your affiliate partner from your blog.
It works like you register as an affiliate with a partner and then you get a unique ID that you use in the links. Most often, you log in to the affiliate platform and can either find a custom link there or create one yourself. This link carries your ID and you can paste it on your blog in an appropriate context. When someone clicks on the link, it is registered with your partner and you receive your compensation.
I can recommend Adtraction and Adrecord which I have personal experience with here at StockBlogs and which are both quite large and common. However, there are several options. Different advertisers have different tracking times for cookies, which means how many days can pass between someone clicking on your link and a purchase being made for the purchase to be valid. Often it is about 30 or 45 days.
Remember to only link relevant content!
Don’t just let the idea of monetizing your blog get the better of you. One can easily be lured by all the compensations offered. SEK 100 per purchase, SEK 500 per purchase, 10 percent on all orders forever… However, it is important that you keep your readers’ trust and focus. So don’t shower them with links just to make money. It can easily go wrong.
If you have a stock blog, it might not be that relevant to suddenly start writing about perfume. Or about how to build a porch. Of course, you can always find a unique angle such as “save money by buying perfume online” or “I will get so much extra in dividends by saving money on building the veranda myself”. However, it can easily become long-winded and confusing, so be careful! Think about your readers – they are the most valuable thing you have on the blog!
Different advertisers have different rules
Most advertisers have guidelines that must be followed in order not to risk missing out on the money. This could, for example, mean that you are not allowed to advertise their product via paid ads or that you have to enter their brand as a so-called “negative keyword” so that your ad does not happen to appear in Google or Bing in the event that they search for the advertiser’s name. In addition, there may be restrictions on whether you can use the affiliate link in email marketing, on social media and on discount sites. Often this is clearly stated in your advertiser control panel so you don’t have to worry about breaking any guidelines. Often it is also required that you state somewhere in the article that it contains links from your partner.
3. Sell an entire article on the blog – guest post
If you have started to get quite a few readers, it means that your blog has gained some authority. There are two ways to look at it all. First, you have become an “influencer” who can influence a large readership through your blog. There are many companies that may be interested in having you write something about their products or services and pay you for it. Some companies offer to write an article themselves that you can publish as a “guest post” on your blog.
Second, your blog has achieved a certain status with Google and other search engines (primarily Bing and Yahoo). This means that companies that themselves are trying to get a better ranking may have an interest in you writing about them and linking to them. Not infrequently, these companies are represented by an SEO agency that works to improve their client’s ranking with the search engines.
Don’t forget your readers
Just don’t forget your readers when choosing partners! Your main purpose must not be to make money from your blog. Providing your readers with a constant stream of articles worth reading is your primary purpose. The money will possibly be the positive consequence. Do you think the readers have an interest in reading the article in question, then it’s a win-win. Otherwise, it might not be worth jumping on the offer.
The price is another matter. How much can you charge for a post? It depends on how many visitors you have and what type of visitors they are. Who the advertiser is and how big the company’s budget is, of course, also play a role. Feel for. Try a few different levels with different advertisers and you will notice roughly what your service is worth. Just as with the sale of advertisements, a selling media kit can be used here as well.
A little tip: Use 10 to 20 percent of the revenue from the advertiser to advertise on Google or Facebook yourself. In this way, your article will get many more page views, which you can show to the advertiser, who will then certainly return.
4. A few more tips
It’s really only your creativity that puts an end to how you can make money from your blog. The three ways that I have just gone through are probably the most common. But, well, let’s brainstorm a little in closing.
Write for others
You who write a blog probably have some kind of writing talent or at least you enjoy writing. Offer to write for a magazine – online or in print. In addition to getting paid for your writing, you will get exposure and probably a number of new readers on your blog. Some stock bloggers make extra money, for example, as columnists for banks and financial websites.
Publish a book or e-book
I am thinking here e.g. at Hernhag and Miljonär before 30 who published their own books. You don’t need to be “discovered” to publish a book through a publisher. These days there are so-called book on demand services where you pay a package price to print the book or create an e-book and make it available in the bookstore. I have tried BoD myself on behalf of a family member and was very happy with the results. If you don’t want to publish through a publisher, you might be able to publish an e-book that you promote on the blog. An e-book you can choose to either sell or give away for free, depending on whether you see it as another way to make money from your blog or just as marketing.
Create an e-shop
It might feel more logical to create a web shop if you blog about fashion, perfume or car stuff compared to if you write about e.g. shares. So far, I have not seen that any of the stock blogs have a webshop (apart from book tips, tips on debit cards, etc.), but if you have a special focus, maybe it could be something. In the same way as with collaborations with companies, it is important that the online shop is relevant to the readers.
Lectures
Examples of stock bloggers who lecture are Kavastu and Cornucopia . It is important to think like a company here. You are part of your company and one of the company’s offerings. Use your status as an influencer and share yourself with a larger audience who will surely appreciate seeing you in real life too! I don’t think you need to sit and wait for someone to contact you – take the initiative and register your interest with a suitable company. Perhaps you can warm up by giving free lectures at the beginning in study circles or for associations. Maybe you can lecture how you started making money from your blog!
5. Monetize Your Blog – Summary
I have now gone through the top 3 ways to make money from a blog. The easiest is to join an ad network, such as Google Adsense. You don’t have full control over which ads are displayed, but it’s easy and fast. The compensation can also vary and usually your blog needs to have a fair amount of traffic in order for there to be any money to speak of. However, it’s definitely worth putting in ads, I think, as part of the revenue mix. Keep in mind that you can also sell ad space directly to businesses, which can be more profitable.
An alternative to advertisements can be affiliate marketing. It will require a bit more research on your part and it’s really only if you can seamlessly integrate the products or services into your blog posts and in a way that benefits your readers that you can make a profit from this. Simply pasting banners from partners often gives poor results.
The third way is to monetize your blog is through guest posting. Just make sure you are clear with your message so you don’t lose the trust of your readers.
Make the blog part of your money machine! Good luck!