7 Strategies to Make $1000's with a Blog in 2021

This article originally appeared on The Financially Independent Millennial and was republished with permission.

Not so long ago, starting a blog required investing thousands of dollars because creating a website was a very expensive task. Today, starting a blog and monetizing it is easier than ever. There are many online tools that enable you to design a website and get started in just a few hours, and there are also dozens of financial tools like Stripe and PayPal that can solve a lot of issues associated with monetization.

For instance, you can create, monetize, and maintain your blog on the WordPress platform with a budget of just a few hundred dollars. Blogging is a great tool for self-expression, and you can always find an audience, no matter how specific your niche is. However, the main reason why people enjoy blogging is that it also offers a great opportunity to earn money. If you do everything right and find a profitable niche, you can earn $20,000 a month within your first year of blogging.

Where to Start?

Although blogging can become your business, it’s also self-expression, and it’s all about sharing value. Therefore, you should determine what value you can deliver and choose the right niche. Don’t start a blog about some subject just because it’s popular while actually knowing little to nothing about it. You should only choose a familiar subject that enables you to establish yourself as an expert in the niche.

If you’re going to write articles for your blog, the writing part will be very time-consuming but it won’t be the most difficult thing about blogging. For example, you can check out custom writing review platforms like Best Writers Online and choose a professional writer who will help you with grammar and style. However, if you lack knowledge on your topic, you can’t deliver value.

Some niches are more profitable than others. For instance, blog owners often find that monetizing marketing and personal finance blogs make the most money. However, any niche can give you opportunities for blog monetization. You can write about virtually anything. The main thing is to sell something related to your niche that is actually interesting and valuable for your audience.

The Basics of Blog Monetization

You can choose different blog monetization strategies based on the specifics of your niche. For example, if you have a marketing blog, you can sell ebooks and online courses. If your blog is dedicated to fishing, you can use affiliate marketing to sell equipment from your favorite brands. You should also choose effective marketing strategies and know how to use them in practice. For instance, you should put some effort into growing your email list and driving traffic to your website.

First of all, there is no universal rule that would determine how much traffic you should drive and how many contacts you should have in your email list. Everything depends on your niche, and you should always stick with the most effective strategies to make sure that your numbers correspond to your income goals. Your traffic should be steady. Not everyone can achieve tens of thousands of monthly visitors, but having a thousand visitors is definitely good for you. As for the email list, it shouldn’t necessarily be long, but your contacts should be highly engaged.

Crunch the numbers

Numbers are crucial if you want to come up with an effective blog monetization strategy. You should define clear income goals so that you can plan all of your blogging activities accordingly. For example, if you want to make $10,000 a month, you may sell a $100 product to 100 people, or you may also sell a $500 product to 20 people. Besides, you may give two $5,000 consultations. Blog monetization is all about thorough calculations.

You shouldn’t simply increase your prices in order to increase your income. Instead, you should choose a blog monetization approach that corresponds to the specifics of your niche and aligns with your financial goals. In this guide, we will consider different monetization strategies so that you can choose the right approach, no matter how many monthly views your blog gets.

7 Steps to Monetize Your Blog

Sell Ad Space

First of all, you can sell ad space. We will also consider using Google AdSense, but this option involves certain limitations regarding the amount of money you can earn. When you sell your ad space directly, you can establish your own price. In this case, you won’t depend on the clicks and charge your customers a fixed rate. Such an approach is easier than managing clicks and it also enables you to maximize your profits.

To sell your ad space directly to companies interested in your audience, you should create a specific page on your website where your potential customers will be able to learn all the necessary details. You can also use platforms like BuySellAds that will connect you with potential customers. On the downside, selling ad space directly isn’t an easy task because you should put a lot of effort into negotiations, manage invoices, etc.

Use Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a must if you want to monetize your blog. This is one of the most popular and profitable blog monetization strategies. You don’t need to have your own product to make sales. By participating in affiliate programs, you can promote products from other brands and earn a commission whenever someone makes a purchase by clicking on your link or using your promo code.

Affiliate marketing is a great solution for bloggers from different niches. For example, fashion bloggers can sell clothes and accessories. Industry bloggers can promote their favorite software. Tech bloggers can promote gadgets, and finance bloggers may offer investment opportunities or credit cards.

When doing affiliate marketing, the main thing is to find brands that will want you to promote their products. Besides, you should also consider the commission to make sure that you will make as much money as you planned. The bigger the brand, the more commission you might be able to earn. However, if you want to work with bigger brands, you must have a big audience. When you’re a beginner, you can’t really endorse brands like Nike, Apple, or Tesla. The good news is that there are hundreds of niche brands that have affiliate programs for everyone.

Read more: How To Save $5000 This Year

Accept Sponsored Posts

This is another common blog monetizing strategy that enables you to earn money for writing blog posts. You can write about a certain product if the company is willing to pay for it. Sometimes, you don’t even need to write the content. Some companies already have blog posts that they want to publish so all you should do is just publish them and get paid.

Basically, the same tactic is used by Instagram and YouTube influencers who accept sponsorships. Of course, you won’t get sponsorship offers until you establish authority in your niche. However, even if companies from your niche don’t know you yet but you already have an engaged audience and a consistent blogging schedule, you can look for companies that might want to collaborate.

The best way to find companies for sponsored posting is to join blogging networks, such as Blog Dash, ValuedVoice, or Massive Sway. You can register on these platforms and create a media kit that will provide potential collaborators with information on your page stats, audience demographics, social media activity, etc. This way, advertisers will quickly evaluate whether or not you can give them sufficient exposure.

Keep in mind that U.S. bloggers should comply with the FTC guidelines. Whenever you make sponsored posts, you should clearly indicate that your readers are dealing with sponsored content and provide the name of the company that paid for this post.

Publish Reviews

You can also get paid for writing reviews. This strategy for monetizing a blog has a lot in common with publishing sponsored posts but it relies on a different format of content. You should find a company interested in promotion, try its product, and publish a review on your blog. The main thing is to choose products that are directly related to your niche and the subject of your blog. To find brands interested in paid reviews, you can reach out to companies from your niche directly or register on platforms like PayPerPost.

Create a Membership Blog

If you have an impressive audience of loyal followers, you can introduce a paid membership so that your readers will pay to get access to exclusive materials that deliver unique value. When running a membership site, you can allow your readers to get lifetime access after paying once, or you can also offer a monthly subscription.

The second option is more profitable because it enables you to get recurring revenue. Introducing membership options requires you to change the functionality of your website. Fortunately, there are many WordPress plugins that can help you turn your site into a membership blog in just a few clicks.

Offer Consultations

You may have encountered many poorly designed blogs of financial advisors and lawyers that look terrible and outdated and yet are very profitable for their owners. The reason is that these professionals charge a lot for their services. In this case, a blog is just an opportunity to promote services, and this approach can be especially useful if your blog is relatively new and you don’t get a lot of traffic yet.

First of all, you should turn your website visitors into email subscribers. Create an online form with an attractive offer. For example, you can offer a free webinar or online course. To get access to this exclusive content, readers will need to leave their email addresses. After this, you can send targeted emails. Use email marketing to build strong relationships with your readers and make sure to provide value.

Active subscribers who read your emails and want to hear more from you might be interested in a consultation. Once you’ve proven that you can deliver value, you can give your audience a chance to contact you directly and get answers to their questions.

Sell Online Courses

If you can provide valuable information and educate your audience, you can create online courses and sell them. You don’t need to be the best expert in your niche to sell courses. The main thing is to deliver value and to make sure that people will learn something specific from your course. Good courses have a clear direction and don’t simply focus on general knowledge. Consider the how-to format and make sure that your audience will learn some useful skills or get valuable insights.

Wrapping Up

Starting a blog has never been easier than now, so if you know a lot about anything and want to share your knowledge with others, you can become a blogger. Blogging can not only become a great tool for self-expression but also turn into a good source of income. However, you should be able to choose the right monetization strategy.

Bloggers from different niches can benefit from different monetization approaches. Therefore, it’s important to know your niche and your audience so that you can offer something actually valuable. In this article, we considered some of the most popular and lucrative blog monetizing strategies. We hope that our tips will help you make your blog more profitable and enjoy blogging even more.