5 Simple Ways To Monetize Your Blog

If you're a blogger, then most likely you began writing because you enjoyed it, and not because you'll be making 6 figures while sipping tea in some remote location in the world. But that's not to say that you can't be a successful blogger that does it full time. There have been many excellent bloggers in past years that made it their full time job to write and that eventually gave rise to many more opportunities for them. For example Jeff Atwood's blog CodingHorror started off as random tech related posts and a good way for a programmer to get his aggression out, but eventually it turned into his full time job, and even more eventually it turned into StackOverflow.

So the following are a few ways in which you can begin to make money off of your writing. Which you should rightfully do, if you feel that your content helps people and you would like to do it more often. Websites don't run for free (normally), so if anything you should at least make your server costs back. But remember that these are only methods, and you will still require the traffic to back it up. So this is mainly for any blogger that has had a decent amount of viewership in the blogs lifespan. And if that's not you, then keep writing until it happens.

1. Ads

Everyone hates them, but you wouldn't have an internet without ads. Well you would, but it would be a different internet. Possibly a much more useful internet. Who knows. Probably on the lower earning end of earning power though due to the large amount of traffic required to monetize them. Ads are a quick way to make a buck or two off your product because they are so simple and quick to set up. Normally you sign up with some ad network, such as Google's AdSense, you copy and paste a few snippets onto your web pages and bingo, you have ads.

I don't personally use ads, as they tend to slow down a website, render "random" content and again because they require 6 figure views in order to generate a small sum of money. But if your page views per session are on the higher end, then you might be able to come out with at least your server fees.

2. Custom Ads

A much cleaner ad approach that many sites make use of. Other people online are actually willing to pay you to add their banners on your site. And the best part here is that normally these ads will be related in some way to your blogs content. Here are a few of the pros with this method:

Pros

• Relevant content
• Higher payout
• Cleaner look

Cons

• More difficult to implement
• Maintaining ads
• No real framework

If you have the traffic to back it up, then custom ads are a great way to grow your business. But it requires a fair amount of work to implement. Much of the time, you'll probably have an excel sheet with your clients ads, costs and time to run in place. And you'll have to track clicks and conversions yourself as well.

3. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate networks are kind of like ad networks. You sign up with them, they provide you with a custom link, and you spread that link like wildfire in order to try to get a conversion. The one benefit to affiliate marketing sites is that they're less "ad-like" and more just random links online. For example, let's say someone writes a review for a new laptop and links it to a website where you can purchase said laptop. They would then in turn get a percentage of the sale price. But it's somewhat of an even trade if you think about it. That persons review was so convincing that you went ahead and clicked on the link and followed a checkout process to the end.

There are many affiliate networks out in the wild and most are free to sign up.

4. Sell Something

There is nothing wrong with creating and sharing, for a fee. There are many excellent programmer's and designers out in the wild that have written their own books and ebooks full of life lessons that they have gathered during the years. And I've read a fair number in my time and many are fascinating tales full of useful information. And sometimes, they are just interesting reads.

So if you're a blogger, take a stab at writing something. A story, a self-help book, or anything that your mind helps you create. If you're an artist, put some work up on your website and someone somewhere will most certainly like it.

5. Sell Your Services

If you're a programmer, then you can indeed program for someone that needs it. If you're a foodie type of person, then you might be able to leverage that into getting paid to review food and restaurants. If you're a writer than, you get the idea. This probably provides the highest opportunity for financial success, as you can pretty much name your own price and it doesn't rely on your metrics in any way. If you have a skill, then nothing says that you can't use it to make yourself financially secure.

This is something that I do implement myself. My consultation services are available year round to anyone that requires a website. It's must more rewarding than just slapping an ad on this website and hoping that a title will catch enough people's attention that I will make a few bucks off of it. For the time being, this blog is free of ads and free of any extra fluff. Everything here is just an expression of the thoughts of a software developer.

Enjoy your work

Before you begin the long journey into financial freedom, enjoy your work first. Money will follow at some point if you really enjoy what you do. Look at any musical group and most started out in some garage playing to 5 people, but enjoying it. And they continued it until the now. Everything you work on is like a seed. You nurture it, water it, protect it. Sure it's going to get some bugs and the weather will be tough sometimes, but eventually it will yield fruit. Then you can sell your fruit for a fair price.