Are you blogging as a hobby but want to turn this hobby into something more long-term? Do you want to actually make money through blogging? Do you want to quit your full-time job and be a digital nomad, blogging full-time and be your own boss instead? Yes, it’s possible!
Nowadays, the term ‘blogging’ isn’t so ill-conceived anymore unlike in the early 2000s and before. As long as you can write, you can create blogs. If you have a laptop, a stable internet connection and a story to tell, you can start your own blogs.
While that’s the case, not everyone can keep up with blogging full-time because either a) you grow out of this hobby; or b) you don’t know how to monetize this “hobby”.
A lot of people earn actual money from their blog posts, and there are also other ways to make money other than blogging solely.
A poll I did earlier showed how bloggers can be earning anywhere from a few hundred dollars per month to thousands of dollars per month.
If you’re looking to take blogging seriously and earn some sweet cash, check out these 12 tips on how to make money blogging and turn it from a hobby into a full-time (or even part-time) business!
How to make money blogging
1. Ads
Once your blog has hit a certain amount of viewers, you may now qualify for ads. A bunch of bloggers don’t really like having ads littering their blogs, so they opt out of it, but majority of blogs that you see do have some form of advertising in their pages.
The most entry level way to earn money through ads is via Google Adsense. Other ad networks that have a higher minimum viewership are Ezoic, Ad Thrive and Mediavine. It’s one sure way to make money passively i.e. while you’re sleeping.
Expected earnings: A few dollars a month to thousands of dollars a month, depending on your traffic volume and audience demographic.
2. Affiliate
Depending on what type of blogger you are (i.e. travel, fashion, lifestyle, etc.), you may qualify to be an affiliate with different brands or companies.
For travel bloggers, you might want to check out companies like Booking.com, Hostel World, Skyscanner, or even brands of travel gears who are participating in affiliate marketing.
You can apply with them directly or through affiliate network platforms such as CJ, Awin or Avantlink.
For fashion bloggers, this can be cosmetic brands, beauty brands, or fashion brands that participate in affiliate marketing. A popular affiliate platform in this field is rewardStyle’s LIKEtoKNOWit.
The limit is endless; you don’t need to only promote items that you’ve used or bought. Sometimes all you have to do is apply for a brand you trust and is relevant to you or your audience.
If the brand thinks you’re a good fit, then it’s a win-win where you can show them off to your audience through your blog and social media, while earning commissions from every sale.
Expected earnings: A few cents to thousands of dollars a month
3. Sponsored Blog Posts
Sponsored blog posts are mostly for bloggers who have established a certain authority and website ranking. This is something that’s very attainable if bloggers have been blogging for some time, work really hard and stick to their traffic goals.
Generally, websites with DA of 20 and above can expect to start doing sponsored blog posts.
Sometimes brands will reach out to certain bloggers via email or social media to do a sponsored blog post mentioning their product or service when they think that this particular blogger is a good fit for their brands.
These sponsored posts can come in the form of a dedicated review, a brand mention, or a link to an anchor text relevant to their brand.
Of course, sponsored posts are something that you have to put an effort in doing because bloggers will get freebies and payment in exchange for the work that they put in.
If bloggers feel like the work they can do is great, then they can work on a price point depending on the deliverables. The key is to know the general market rate based on your blog’s authority and balance it out with the amount of work you have to put in.
Examples of posts:
- YouTrip Review 2020
- Travel Insurance That Covers COVID-19?
- Air New Zealand Business Premier or Premium Economy? Flight Review
- San Francisco Helicopter Tour Review
Expected earnings: Tens to hundreds of dollars per post and/or barter trade[activecampaign form=22 css=1]
4. Sponsored Social Media Posts
Getting a sponsored social media post is also one of the main incomes that bloggers can get if you have substantial social media following.
This is different from doing a full blog post, because posting on social media usually creates more brand awareness than educating readers about a brand. (Learn more about search intent here.)
There are different deliverables, and different mediums through which to do sponsored posts from: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and even TikTok.
Depending on how the agreement is laid out, you can choose how many times a certain product will appear on your feeds or if the client just wants to post it on Instagram Stories, which is valid for 24 hours.
It really varies, so bloggers have to make sure that the contract is clear and the deliverables are doable.
If you’re a blogger who wants to reach out to a potential brand, then make sure that this brand is what you truly believe in and it’s just not a partnership for the sake of the freebie or payment.
You don’t want to lose the trust you’ve built up with your audience by promoting for the sake of monetary gains. If your audience finds out you’re using your “influence” to make money off them, you’ll lose credibility and eventually, their support.
Expected earnings: Tens to hundreds of dollars per post and/or barter trade
5. Paid Press Trips
Paid press trips are more popular amongst travel and lifestyle bloggers. Sometimes travel brands will fly out travel or lifestyle bloggers to different destinations just so they can take photographs and create content to post on their blogs and social media.
The whole point of it is to create awareness about a certain destination through bloggers’ audience reach, much like advertising.
This is also quite popular for fashion bloggers. Sometimes brands would fly out fashion bloggers into an exclusive event and a lot of different beauty or cosmetic or fashion brands would be there. These bloggers would all just be out there creating content for the brands.
While paid press trips might sound totally fun (and it is!), bloggers have to be mindful that this is still ‘work’ and while they’re there to have fun (that’s a given), they also have to create quality content and meet the deliverables of their sponsors.
Expected earnings: Hundreds of dollars per trip and/or barter trade[activecampaign form=26 css=1]
6. SEO/ Social Media Consulting
Blogging requires being good at digital marketing, such as social media, PR, SEO or SEM. If you’re good at a particular digital marketing skill through blogging, you can use that to your advantage.
Bloggers are usually familiar with the term SEO (search engine optimization). This is the process of optimizing your site content in order to get organic or non-paid traffic from the search engine’s results page.
With digitization being the next big thing, every brand needs an online presence. Thus, the demand for SEO and SEM is high.
More often than not, if you have been blogging a long time, you’d be familiar or even good at SEO and social media.
Bloggers who’ve mastered these skills are now the experts in the field, and they can use this to do social media consulting or SEO consulting for other brands, thus providing another avenue to earn money while blogging!
7. Content Licensing
If you’re a content creator who’s got an eye for creativity and your work is sought after, why not consider licensing your content out? It is another good source of income.
Content licensing is a legal agreement between the licensees (buyers) and the licensors (content creators or productions) for the buyers to purchase the rights or royalties to republish a certain content that a content creator has previously made.
Licensing is pretty universal and this allows brands to repackage your content (which now belongs to them) into different forms and be used by them to post on their different platforms.
This can get a bit tricky, but more often than not, it’s worth it.
8. Video Licensing
Now, video licensing is a subset of content licensing. The only difference is the kind of content that you’re producing.
The license for video licensing is a form of agreement between a video’s copyright owner (the content creator or the production company) and the buyer/user of the video.
Usually this comes in a written consent, and the license is given to the third party by the creator for the buyers to use their videos legally.
Expected earnings: Hundreds to thousands of dollars per video
9. Selling Merchandise
If bloggers think that they have enough following to put out merchandise that will be well-received by their audience, then this is also a great way to earn money while blogging.
The reality is, bloggers really can’t put out merchandise without a stable following because then, who’d buy their stuff?
The key to gaining a stable following is to be consistent. Bloggers have to be consistent when it comes to posting blog posts, consistent when it comes to uploading content on social media and consistent with interacting with their readers or followers.
They can’t expect to put in zero effort and get new followers; that’s just not how it goes.
If you want to get a stable following in order to sell your own products, be prepared to dedicate time to putting your work out there and building your own brand.
Expected earnings: Tens to thousands of dollars depending on your product
10. Selling Pictures
There are bloggers out there who write great narratives but do an even better job at taking and editing pictures.
One option for bloggers who fall in this range is to sell their photos. These can be photos that they’ve taken on previous trips, portraits of themselves or other artistic shots. Really, it can be anything they want it to be. It just has to be really good and sellable photos.
It’s easy to find out what types of pictures are in demand. There are different websites that cater to target audiences who are looking for specific stock photos. There’s Shutterstock, Getty, Shotzr and a whole lot more.
Bloggers can also check out Unsplash. Now, this particular website doesn’t really pay bloggers because it’s a free stock photography website. However, if you’re just starting out in photography and want to get some of your work out there, then Unsplash might be a good fit.
Bloggers can choose which photos to upload and sell; all you have to do is just wait for people to actually download or buy from them.
Since you already have the pictures, all you have to do is upload on these stock photo platforms and wait for money to roll in.
It’s a very passive form of income, so don’t hesitate to jump in there if you think that you’ve got an eye for good photos.
Now there are different websites that cater to different freelancers like Upwork, People Per Hour, or Fiverr.
These are websites that bloggers can sign up for and put out a call saying that they’re looking for jobs as a virtual assistant, or they can send pitches to people looking for virtual assistants.
The key to landing jobs on these job sites is proactiveness. Bloggers just have to pitch and pitch and pitch.
11. Virtual Assistance
Bloggers are naturally organized and sometimes you can use this to your advantage. Being a virtual assistant is a great job to work on your digital marketing skill sets while growing your blog on the side.
This is one of the 50+ jobs I listed that you can do to work and travel full-time.
It’s a popular option for bloggers who aren’t quite yet earning full time on their blog and want to supplement their income and work on their blogging skills by working for other bigger brands.
This is perfect for bloggers who enjoy working remotely because all they need are laptops, a stable WiFi connection and clients (obviously), on top of these other digital nomad tools.
12. Freelance Writing
There are bloggers who started blogging because they just love writing. Other bloggers might go into freelance writing to get their names on bigger publications and build their portfolio. Either way, it’s a good supplemental income if you enjoy writing.
So, freelance writing is one way to earn money if you think you have the potential to be a great content writer. Writing for your own blogs differ vastly from writing for a magazine or a newspaper publication. The tone and style differ greatly. If you like to challenge your writing and experiment with different styles, give freelance writing a shot!
To find freelance writing jobs, bloggers can also look on Upwork, People Per Hour, and Fiverr.
They can also maximize the potential of their social media platforms by using groups on Facebook to find jobs for other digital nomads. Bloggers just really need to join the right groups that cater to digital nomads who are looking for different jobs.
These can be groups like the Digital Nomad Girls Community, Remote Jobs and Digital Nomads, or different expat groups from all over the world.
Expected earnings: Hundreds to thousands of dollars per article
13. Membership
Another way to earn money is for bloggers to set up memberships on platforms like Patreon or OnlyFans. This method usually works if you have a loyal group of readers, or if your content is particularly niche, so much so that there are people who’d want to pay you just to hear from you!
Through the membership platform, bloggers can create more personal and tailored content with their readers/fans. The ideas is that you’ll get to interact with them on a more personal level.
There are a bunch of bloggers who have been doing memberships like Adventurous Kate or Never Ending Footsteps. This is a great way to build a stable fan base whilst also creating something that you’re passionate with.
For these platforms, bloggers can choose the amount they’ll charge their members with, and they can also come up with specific perks that come with the price points that they’ll be charging. Bloggers have to be consistent with creating fresh content because members are paying monthly, so you have to make sure that they’re getting their money’s worth!
In the digital age, everyone can blog. You only need the tools of the trade like a proper laptop, a camera, a domain, and the ideas for the content that you’ll be producing. It doesn’t take a genius to blog, but it does take passion, hard work and dedication.
If blogging is something that you want to do, then do it, and while you’re at it, check out this list on how to make money by blogging to help you jumpstart your career as a full-fledged blogger who can work from wherever you want i.e. remote work!
Pin this:
Are you blogging as a hobby but want to turn this hobby into something more long-term? Do you want to actually make money through blogging? Do you want to quit your full-time job and be a digital nomad, blogging full-time and be your own boss instead? Yes, it’s possible!
Nowadays, the term ‘blogging’ isn’t so ill-conceived anymore unlike in the early 2000s and before. As long as you can write, you can create blogs. If you have a laptop, a stable internet connection and a story to tell, you can start your own blogs.
While that’s the case, not everyone can keep up with blogging full-time because either a) you grow out of this hobby; or b) you don’t know how to monetize this “hobby”.
A lot of people earn actual money from their blog posts, and there are also other ways to make money other than blogging solely.
A poll I did earlier showed how bloggers can be earning anywhere from a few hundred dollars per month to thousands of dollars per month.
If you’re looking to take blogging seriously and earn some sweet cash, check out these 12 tips on how to make money blogging and turn it from a hobby into a full-time (or even part-time) business!
How to make money blogging
1. Ads
Once your blog has hit a certain amount of viewers, you may now qualify for ads. A bunch of bloggers don’t really like having ads littering their blogs, so they opt out of it, but majority of blogs that you see do have some form of advertising in their pages.
The most entry level way to earn money through ads is via Google Adsense. Other ad networks that have a higher minimum viewership are Ezoic, Ad Thrive and Mediavine. It’s one sure way to make money passively i.e. while you’re sleeping.
Expected earnings: A few dollars a month to thousands of dollars a month, depending on your traffic volume and audience demographic.
2. Affiliate
Depending on what type of blogger you are (i.e. travel, fashion, lifestyle, etc.), you may qualify to be an affiliate with different brands or companies.
For travel bloggers, you might want to check out companies like Booking.com, Hostel World, Skyscanner, or even brands of travel gears who are participating in affiliate marketing.
You can apply with them directly or through affiliate network platforms such as CJ, Awin or Avantlink.
For fashion bloggers, this can be cosmetic brands, beauty brands, or fashion brands that participate in affiliate marketing. A popular affiliate platform in this field is rewardStyle’s LIKEtoKNOWit.
The limit is endless; you don’t need to only promote items that you’ve used or bought. Sometimes all you have to do is apply for a brand you trust and is relevant to you or your audience.
If the brand thinks you’re a good fit, then it’s a win-win where you can show them off to your audience through your blog and social media, while earning commissions from every sale.
Expected earnings: A few cents to thousands of dollars a month
3. Sponsored Blog Posts
Sponsored blog posts are mostly for bloggers who have established a certain authority and website ranking. This is something that’s very attainable if bloggers have been blogging for some time, work really hard and stick to their traffic goals.
Generally, websites with DA of 20 and above can expect to start doing sponsored blog posts.
Sometimes brands will reach out to certain bloggers via email or social media to do a sponsored blog post mentioning their product or service when they think that this particular blogger is a good fit for their brands.
These sponsored posts can come in the form of a dedicated review, a brand mention, or a link to an anchor text relevant to their brand.
Of course, sponsored posts are something that you have to put an effort in doing because bloggers will get freebies and payment in exchange for the work that they put in.
If bloggers feel like the work they can do is great, then they can work on a price point depending on the deliverables. The key is to know the general market rate based on your blog’s authority and balance it out with the amount of work you have to put in.
Examples of posts:
- YouTrip Review 2020
- Travel Insurance That Covers COVID-19?
- Air New Zealand Business Premier or Premium Economy? Flight Review
- San Francisco Helicopter Tour Review
Expected earnings: Tens to hundreds of dollars per post and/or barter trade[activecampaign form=22 css=1]
4. Sponsored Social Media Posts
Getting a sponsored social media post is also one of the main incomes that bloggers can get if you have substantial social media following.
This is different from doing a full blog post, because posting on social media usually creates more brand awareness than educating readers about a brand. (Learn more about search intent here.)
There are different deliverables, and different mediums through which to do sponsored posts from: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and even TikTok.
Depending on how the agreement is laid out, you can choose how many times a certain product will appear on your feeds or if the client just wants to post it on Instagram Stories, which is valid for 24 hours.
It really varies, so bloggers have to make sure that the contract is clear and the deliverables are doable.
If you’re a blogger who wants to reach out to a potential brand, then make sure that this brand is what you truly believe in and it’s just not a partnership for the sake of the freebie or payment.
You don’t want to lose the trust you’ve built up with your audience by promoting for the sake of monetary gains. If your audience finds out you’re using your “influence” to make money off them, you’ll lose credibility and eventually, their support.
Expected earnings: Tens to hundreds of dollars per post and/or barter trade
5. Paid Press Trips
Paid press trips are more popular amongst travel and lifestyle bloggers. Sometimes travel brands will fly out travel or lifestyle bloggers to different destinations just so they can take photographs and create content to post on their blogs and social media.
The whole point of it is to create awareness about a certain destination through bloggers’ audience reach, much like advertising.
This is also quite popular for fashion bloggers. Sometimes brands would fly out fashion bloggers into an exclusive event and a lot of different beauty or cosmetic or fashion brands would be there. These bloggers would all just be out there creating content for the brands.
While paid press trips might sound totally fun (and it is!), bloggers have to be mindful that this is still ‘work’ and while they’re there to have fun (that’s a given), they also have to create quality content and meet the deliverables of their sponsors.
Expected earnings: Hundreds of dollars per trip and/or barter trade[activecampaign form=26 css=1]
6. SEO/ Social Media Consulting
Blogging requires being good at digital marketing, such as social media, PR, SEO or SEM. If you’re good at a particular digital marketing skill through blogging, you can use that to your advantage.
Bloggers are usually familiar with the term SEO (search engine optimization). This is the process of optimizing your site content in order to get organic or non-paid traffic from the search engine’s results page.
With digitization being the next big thing, every brand needs an online presence. Thus, the demand for SEO and SEM is high.
More often than not, if you have been blogging a long time, you’d be familiar or even good at SEO and social media.
Bloggers who’ve mastered these skills are now the experts in the field, and they can use this to do social media consulting or SEO consulting for other brands, thus providing another avenue to earn money while blogging!
7. Content Licensing
If you’re a content creator who’s got an eye for creativity and your work is sought after, why not consider licensing your content out? It is another good source of income.
Content licensing is a legal agreement between the licensees (buyers) and the licensors (content creators or productions) for the buyers to purchase the rights or royalties to republish a certain content that a content creator has previously made.
Licensing is pretty universal and this allows brands to repackage your content (which now belongs to them) into different forms and be used by them to post on their different platforms.
This can get a bit tricky, but more often than not, it’s worth it.
8. Video Licensing
Now, video licensing is a subset of content licensing. The only difference is the kind of content that you’re producing.
The license for video licensing is a form of agreement between a video’s copyright owner (the content creator or the production company) and the buyer/user of the video.
Usually this comes in a written consent, and the license is given to the third party by the creator for the buyers to use their videos legally.
Expected earnings: Hundreds to thousands of dollars per video
9. Selling Merchandise
If bloggers think that they have enough following to put out merchandise that will be well-received by their audience, then this is also a great way to earn money while blogging.
The reality is, bloggers really can’t put out merchandise without a stable following because then, who’d buy their stuff?
The key to gaining a stable following is to be consistent. Bloggers have to be consistent when it comes to posting blog posts, consistent when it comes to uploading content on social media and consistent with interacting with their readers or followers.
They can’t expect to put in zero effort and get new followers; that’s just not how it goes.
If you want to get a stable following in order to sell your own products, be prepared to dedicate time to putting your work out there and building your own brand.
Expected earnings: Tens to thousands of dollars depending on your product
10. Selling Pictures
There are bloggers out there who write great narratives but do an even better job at taking and editing pictures.
One option for bloggers who fall in this range is to sell their photos. These can be photos that they’ve taken on previous trips, portraits of themselves or other artistic shots. Really, it can be anything they want it to be. It just has to be really good and sellable photos.
It’s easy to find out what types of pictures are in demand. There are different websites that cater to target audiences who are looking for specific stock photos. There’s Shutterstock, Getty, Shotzr and a whole lot more.
Bloggers can also check out Unsplash. Now, this particular website doesn’t really pay bloggers because it’s a free stock photography website. However, if you’re just starting out in photography and want to get some of your work out there, then Unsplash might be a good fit.
Bloggers can choose which photos to upload and sell; all you have to do is just wait for people to actually download or buy from them.
Since you already have the pictures, all you have to do is upload on these stock photo platforms and wait for money to roll in.
It’s a very passive form of income, so don’t hesitate to jump in there if you think that you’ve got an eye for good photos.
Now there are different websites that cater to different freelancers like Upwork, People Per Hour, or Fiverr.
These are websites that bloggers can sign up for and put out a call saying that they’re looking for jobs as a virtual assistant, or they can send pitches to people looking for virtual assistants.
The key to landing jobs on these job sites is proactiveness. Bloggers just have to pitch and pitch and pitch.
11. Virtual Assistance
Bloggers are naturally organized and sometimes you can use this to your advantage. Being a virtual assistant is a great job to work on your digital marketing skill sets while growing your blog on the side.
This is one of the 50+ jobs I listed that you can do to work and travel full-time.
It’s a popular option for bloggers who aren’t quite yet earning full time on their blog and want to supplement their income and work on their blogging skills by working for other bigger brands.
This is perfect for bloggers who enjoy working remotely because all they need are laptops, a stable WiFi connection and clients (obviously), on top of these other digital nomad tools.
12. Freelance Writing
There are bloggers who started blogging because they just love writing. Other bloggers might go into freelance writing to get their names on bigger publications and build their portfolio. Either way, it’s a good supplemental income if you enjoy writing.
So, freelance writing is one way to earn money if you think you have the potential to be a great content writer. Writing for your own blogs differ vastly from writing for a magazine or a newspaper publication. The tone and style differ greatly. If you like to challenge your writing and experiment with different styles, give freelance writing a shot!
To find freelance writing jobs, bloggers can also look on Upwork, People Per Hour, and Fiverr.
They can also maximize the potential of their social media platforms by using groups on Facebook to find jobs for other digital nomads. Bloggers just really need to join the right groups that cater to digital nomads who are looking for different jobs.
These can be groups like the Digital Nomad Girls Community, Remote Jobs and Digital Nomads, or different expat groups from all over the world.
Expected earnings: Hundreds to thousands of dollars per article
13. Membership
Another way to earn money is for bloggers to set up memberships on platforms like Patreon or OnlyFans. This method usually works if you have a loyal group of readers, or if your content is particularly niche, so much so that there are people who’d want to pay you just to hear from you!
Through the membership platform, bloggers can create more personal and tailored content with their readers/fans. The ideas is that you’ll get to interact with them on a more personal level.
There are a bunch of bloggers who have been doing memberships like Adventurous Kate or Never Ending Footsteps. This is a great way to build a stable fan base whilst also creating something that you’re passionate with.
For these platforms, bloggers can choose the amount they’ll charge their members with, and they can also come up with specific perks that come with the price points that they’ll be charging. Bloggers have to be consistent with creating fresh content because members are paying monthly, so you have to make sure that they’re getting their money’s worth!
In the digital age, everyone can blog. You only need the tools of the trade like a proper laptop, a camera, a domain, and the ideas for the content that you’ll be producing. It doesn’t take a genius to blog, but it does take passion, hard work and dedication.
If blogging is something that you want to do, then do it, and while you’re at it, check out this list on how to make money by blogging to help you jumpstart your career as a full-fledged blogger who can work from wherever you want i.e. remote work!
Pin this:
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