If you have been toying with the idea of starting a blog, then do it!
What are you waiting for?
You don’t want to realize years down the line that you missed your chance and now have lost time to make up for.
There has never been a better time to start a business online. And make no mistake, a blog can be big business.
How Much Can a Beginner Blogger Make?
As a beginner blogger, you can make anywhere between $0 – $500/per month in your first year of blogging. The first year can be challenging for newbie bloggers but if you’re willing to be consistent and treat your blog like a business, you can reap handsome rewards in the long run.
If you haven’t yet started your blog, check out my guide on how to start a blog and make from it. It’s a step-by-step guide that’s perfect for beginners.
According to Forbes, creating a profitable blog in 2021 takes quality content, some savvy steps, and a business mindset. Yes, even you as a newbie to the blogging world can make money each month with the right strategy.
Adam Enfroy, who has made $1 million dollars in under 2 years from his blog says, “most blogging advice is harmful, not helpful.”
As a beginner blogger wanting to make money from your blog, you have got to treat it like a business. Gone are the days of blogs about your hopes and dreams that you log onto once a month. If monetizing your blog is the goal, be ready to start stretching those strategic muscles.
Before you can start making money, there are a few important steps to take first….
What Do You Need to Succeed?
A Good Hosting Platform
To successfully make money from your blog, you need to choose the right hosting platform and a domain name. The most popular options are Bluehost or Siteground. They offer affordable packages that provide the necessary features for creating and monetizing your blog.
Niche Down
Choosing your niche is critical to making money from your blog. The general advice is to write about something you are passionate about.
But the problem here is that not all passions will generate income. You might love Disney movies but realistically a blog based on animated films is not going to make you thousands of dollars.
It is worth doing some research and finding out what the highest-paying and most popular blogging niches are.
Most blogs fail from a lack of income not a lack of passion, so choose your niche based on what is in demand and who will spend money. If your audience is not one that spends, then your blog will struggle to make money.
Email List
Start an email list!
“If you’re venturing into the realm of Internet Marketing and don’t have an opt-in email list strategy, then you’re no better than wandering around in the dark” – Azzam Sheik, Huffington Post.
Your email list is all the people that have chosen to read your blog, buy your products, and spread the word. These are the people that trust you enough to have you pop up in their inbox each week. Your email list is the best way for you to build a relationship with your audience as well as grow your customer base.
Each time you publish a new blog post, you can email your subscribers providing them with a direct link to your site. Page clicks can generate monthly income so an email list is a great way to direct traffic to your blog.
How Do Beginner Bloggers Make Money?
So, we have covered a few blogging basics you will need to lay the groundwork for success. If you have a strong foundation, then below are some beginner-friendly options for monetizing your blog. Making money as a beginning blogger comes down to numbers and a strong strategy.
1. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is a great way to make money as a beginner blogger.
Particularly if you are still growing your audience and honing your skills. It also doesn’t require you to create extra content to sell, as you’d need to with products, courses, or Ebooks.
Affiliate marketing, in a nutshell, means you:
- Recommend or a review a product/service
- Link to the product/service using an affiliate link
- You get paid a commission percentage if someone buys using your link
This is a great strategy for monetizing your blog as it is easier to promote someone else’s product than your own!
It is important to remember that you need to provide value to your audience. Having affiliate links for products/services that you know your readers want, need or never knew they needed, is the best way to make money.
Your audience trusts you and being honest about the product you are recommending as well as the fact that you make money from the link is vital.
Ryan Robson makes over $50 000 a month from his blog and he says most of that is from his affiliate programs.
Here are his Top 10 Affiliate Programs for Bloggers to Make Money in 2021:
1) Amazon Associates
2) Etsy
3) Ebay
4) Bluehost
5) Dreamhost
6) SiteGround
7) HostGator
8) A2 Hosting
9) Hostinger
10) GreenGeeks
Affiliate Marketing offers beginner bloggers a passive income stream but it can be unreliable, so you need to have a few other options up your sleeve. You also have to meet the minimum requirements of certain affiliate network platforms.
2. Freelancing
Freelancing is a smart way for beginner bloggers to make money.
Freelancing offers a predictable monthly income if you have steady clients. This allows you more time to work on growing your blog as you are not constantly chasing gigs.
Good writing takes practice and stretching your writing muscles will help you create better quality content. You will also start understanding SEO, which is crucial for driving blog traffic.
As a freelance writer, you can write about a wide range of topics in a variety of formats. Developing your writing skills means you can offer your audience more value by creating a variety of content for them.
Guest Posting is a strategic way that beginner bloggers can make money. Some websites will pay for guest posts. Some pay between $75-$100 while some pay up to $700 a post. Other sites will offer an author bio and a backlink rather than money.
Either way, you are winning.
Backlinks will generate blog traffic but also let Google know you are a reliable and reputable source. Don’t underestimate the power of your domain authority.
Top tips for being successful as a freelance blogger are:
- Research: Choose blog topics based on a gap in your preferred niche
- Guest Post: Submit pitches for Guest Post slots on prominent websites
- Charge per project: You never know how long a project will take so a fixed-price works better than an hourly rate
- Don’t set your prices too low: Even if you are new, low rates can make call your ability to deliver into question
- Customer Service: Delivering great content and creating a good relationship with your client will mean repeat business and referrals
3. Sell Ebooks
Selling Ebooks is a quick way for beginner bloggers to make money from their blogs.
With the rise of self-publishing on platforms like Amazon Kindle, publishing is no longer the closed market it always was.
You can now create short-form content for your readers at an affordable rate. This not only helps monetize your blog, it also positions you as an expert in your niche.
To provide extra value, you could include a freebie in their Ebook purchase. I mean, who doesn’t love free stuff?
Ebooks are a strategic way to find out if people want what you are offering but also build your credibility with your audience. They will be more willing to spend money on your other products/services if they have been able to check you out in a low-cost, risk-free way.
If you have done the groundwork and chosen a popular blog platform like WordPress, then you can get a plugin to sell your Ebook directly from your site. This is a bonus as you get 100% of the profits rather than splitting them with Amazon Kindle.
Ana Savuica from TheSheApproach.com is a great example of a beginner who now makes $3500 monthly on Ebook sales. A good idea and strategic marketing are two important factors for a successful Ebook. Ana says that content marketing through blog traffic and email marketing through her subscriber list were her best tools in increasing sales.
4. Create an Online Course
If you have knowledge that can help people just starting out, then an online course can be extremely profitable.
Elna Cain is a perfect example of how successful online courses can be for monetizing your blog. She has developed a variety of courses within the digital marketing niche and makes thousands of dollars from them. They also drive traffic to her blog, which is filled with helpful articles for blogging beginners.
The global E-Learning market is expected to be worth $325-billion by 2025, so online courses are definitely the learning of the future.
If you have a loyal audience that you know well, then you should have great content for an online course.
What problem does your audience have and how can you help?
Top tips for creating an online course:
- Survey your audience and create a course to help them solve a problem
- Have quality content in a simple-to-digest format
- Offer added value with free resources
- Spend some time creating a marketing strategy
5. Offer Coaching Services
If you have found success with Ebooks and courses then Coaching Services can be extremely lucrative.
Many people like the more personal option of a business coach who will tailor their processes to suit a specific individual or business.
If you have consistently been creating quality content that provides value then your audience will be willing to pay for access to you exclusively.
Coaching also doesn’t require you to have a massive following to make money. All you need is a dedicated following that values your content and who has problems you can solve. By creating targeted blog posts, you can drive Ebook and course sales while promoting your coaching offering.
Jasmine Star started her business, Social Curator, and now offers coaching sessions for those who sign up for the monthly membership. She has taken the idea of coaching and online courses and created a subscription service that provides members with value every month.
There are many other ways bloggers can make money but for beginners, these are some of the easiest, quickest, and most value-driven.
You could easily sell ad space or offer sponsored content, but in the competitive world of online content marketing, quality and value are what you need for a successful (and lucrative) career.
