Are you a new blogger? Are you wondering how do bloggers make money?
Don’t know where to start? You’re in the right place where you’ll discover a few of the proven ways to make money from blogging as a beginner.
Let me tell you one thing honestly about making money from blogging: it’s NOT easy. Yes, just like any other business that makes profits, blogging also requires time and efforts. Unfortunately, most beginners don’t understand it and always treat as blogging as a get rich quick scheme and they fail miserably.
If you’re someone who’s serious about making money blogging, stop treating your blog as a blog. Instead, treat it as a REAL business. That’s when you start investing money and time in making it profitable.
Without much ado, let’s talk about how YOU as a beginner can make money blogging.
Wanna check out the free training workshop that’ll show you how you can make money with your blog? Just click here!
How Can a Beginner Make Money From a Blog?
#1. The more traffic your site receives, the more revenue you’ll make
Attract more visitors from Google through keyword research.
Search engine traffic is the KEY to building a successful blog that makes money. Without website traffic, you can’t generate sales. Without sales, your blog will fail to make any profits.
If you’re getting a decent amount of traffic from the search engines, you can use a ton of monetization strategies to make profits from your blog, you can use:
- Affiliate marketing
- Writing product reviews
- Building an email list and so on
So start with SEO. Learn the basics of SEO such as keyword research to attract more visitors from search engines like Google. That being said, here are few simple yet effective tips for you to find highly profitable keywords to increase your search traffic and sales.
Find a list of seed keywords
Your keyword research starts with finding a list of seed keywords that you can use within your content. Once you have a list of seed keywords, you can easily find relevant keywords around them to use within your content.
Here are how seed keywords look like;
- Apple (you can find relevant keywords like iPhone, MacBook Air, iPad etc)
- Microsoft (you can talk about MS office, MS Word, Microsoft operating system etc)
- Men’s cologne (you can talk about David off, Park Avenue and so on)
So how can you find seed keywords?
The simple tip is to find out your target audience and figure out their wants and needs. That way, you can come up with a ton of potential seed keywords you can later use to expand.
Find related keywords to your seed keywords
Once you’re done with the above step, you need to expand your seed keywords list by finding relevant keywords that you can use within your content to drive more search engine traffic to your sites.
Here’s an excellent illustration of Moz that you can use while doing keyword research.
So how to find relevant keywords for your seed keywords list?
Here are few simple yet highly effective tips you can use to find relevant keywords for your website.
Start using the LSI Graph
LSI Graph is one of the widely used free keyword research tools for finding LSI (also relevant) keywords in any industry. Just enter your seed keywords to create a list of all the relevant keywords you can use to increase your website’s organic traffic.
And if LSI Graph is not enough for you, make use of other keyword research tools (free or paid – your choice) too. This way you will always have a list of potential keywords to include in your content.
Use Google
Google automatically shows you relevant keywords as you type. That’s a great place to find a ton of highly relevant keywords around your seed keywords.
Also, you can use “Searches related to” feature from Google that you normally find at the bottom of the search engine results page. It looks something like this:
As you can see from the above screenshot, you’ll notice that Google is showing a ton of relevant keywords for the example keyword “SEO tools”. You can use all those keyword variations which are relevant to your blog post or topic.
#2. Start selling affiliate products
Hands down, affiliate marketing is one of the most proven and effective ways to earn passive income online. There are successful affiliate marketers like Pat Flynn who earns over 100,000 dollars through affiliate product selling every single month. Yes, you heard it right.
If you’re looking for passive income sources to monetize your blog or website, selling affiliate products that are highly relevant to your blog audience is the best way.
That being said, making money from affiliate marketing is NOT at all easy and the majority of the people who jump into affiliate marketing never make even one sale. If you want to make money from affiliate marketing as a beginner, follow these tips.
Choose your niche first
Since you’re promoting affiliate products, it’s always better to define your niche first. That way you can target the right audience and customers to increase your affiliate sales.
Instead of targeting a big market, it’s a smart idea to narrow down your blog topics and stick to 2 to 3 topics so you can serve your audience better and promote highly relevant affiliate products to earn more commission.
Built trust
Let me tell you one thing: people don’t buy from strangers online. If you know this simple rule, you’ll never sell anything to strangers online.
Building trust and strong rapport are so important to boost your website conversions and sales. So how can you build trust? One of the simplest ways to build rapport with your website audience is to build an email list and educate your email subscribers about the products you promote.
Choose your products wisely
Don’t pick too many products when you’re starting out. Don’t promote products that you don’t use as well. The #1 rule of successful affiliate marketing is: promote only those products that you personally use and satisfied with.
That way you can write genuine product reviews along with the pros and cons so that your audience can easily find out whether the products you are promoting are beneficial for them or not.
Be patient
Last but not least: always be patient. Affiliate marketing is not a get rich quick scheme. It takes a lot of time, trial and errors to understand how online selling works. Until then, keep hustling and always be learning from other marketers online.
As a simple rule of thumb, don’t expect anything in the first 6 to 8 months of your affiliate marketing journey. You’ll succeed in affiliate marketing if you’re creating great content and promoting relevant products that your target audience wants.
#3. The fastest way to make money blogging is: offer services
Adding a “Services I offer” page on your website is one of the simplest ways to make money from day 1. Make sure you’re not attracting freebie seekers to your services page and try to collect as many leads (AKA email subscribers) as possible.
When you’re starting out, build a great portfolio to showcase your work so you can attract more people to try your services. Try to get testimonials from other bloggers in your niche so you can easily increase your website conversions.
Here are some of the potential ideas you can try to offer as blog services to make money even if you’re starting as a new blogger.
- Graphic design (logos, website design etc)
- SEO (offering SEO services such as keyword research, link analysis, competitor research etc)
- Content writing (there’s HUGE growth for freelance writers)
- Coaching (if you’re already an expert in your industry, coaching works like a charm)
How Much Money Can You Make Blogging?
Here are 3 important things that every beginner bloggers should know before starting a blog or website to make money from it. Get them right and you’ll be on your way to building a highly profitable blog in the long run.
#1. Create a monetization strategy
It sounds really interesting to start a blog and make money from it but in reality, making money from a new blog is hard especially when you’ve zero online reputation. That’s the reason why you need to create a solid monetization strategy.
Find out what ways you’re going to use to make money from your blog. Are you looking to monetize through affiliate marketing, selling your own products or services? Or do you have any different plans? Carefully analyze your competitor websites to see what works best for you.
#2. Networking is the key
You can’t succeed alone in building a successful blog online. That’s why networking is essential. You need to connect with other bloggers and build a strong rapport with them if you are a successful blogger.
Make sure to use social media sites wisely to connect with other bloggers in your industry by tweeting their stuff, commenting on their posts, linking out to their blog frequently, etc.
#3. Never depend upon one income or traffic source
Never put all your eggs in one basket. Likewise, it’s not a good idea to put all your efforts on one income source or traffic source. Majority of the people depend heavily on Google search traffic. So if you’re just starting out, start focusing on other platforms such as social media, blogging forums, guest posting, etc. to diversify your traffic sources.
Also, diversify your income sources. Instead of focusing just one income source, try to monetize your blog in various ways such as product reviews, affiliate products, blog services, etc, to find the best performing sources for your website.
Conclusion – Making Money As a New Blogger
Starting a blog is easy but you need to work extra hard to make it profitable. If you focus on helping others with your content by attracting more visitors to your site, you’ll find plenty of ways to monetize your blog even if it’s brand new.
So what are your thoughts on making money as a beginner blogger? Share your thoughts in the comments, I would like to discuss with you!
Nirmala is a professional blogger who provides actionable content on her blog wpglossy.com. She writes regularly about blogging, link building and keyword research for the budding bloggers. Apart from blogging & writing, she loves to do Yoga to narrow down her focus. She believes that the helping attitude let her lead a successful life. You may connect with her on Facebook.
I always used to think that it is impossible for a beginner to make money through blogging, but this article changed my mind. Thanks for sharing it.
Noobie Tech recently posted Flag Day
Anything is possible with the smart work. If you invest quality time to make the blog brandable, then it is more likely to earn from it. Thanks for reading the post.
Hello, Nirmala
I am a newbie blogger and every newbie blogger wants to earn money and I also want to earn money from a blog.
This post gives me awesome ideas to make money blogging. In my opinion, affiliate marketing is the best way to earn money online.
Thanks for this guide.
Hi Subham,
Good to know that you are new to blogging. All the best for your fresh venture. Do keyword research and offer quality content. Network with other bloggers and build quality backlinks. Also, stay authoritative in the eyes of Google. Let me know if you need any help.
Good to see you on Sue's blog Nirmala! Networking is huge. I meet tons of bloggers online daily. And as you know I meet a few offline too during my world travels 😉 If you keep meeting new folks and building strong bonds with old buddies you will lay a foundation for a profitable blog. We are all in the business of meeting and serving people at the end of the day. Rocking post buddy 🙂
Hi Sue,
Glad to be here again after a while.
Good to read Nirmala's wonderful post here.
She very well explained it thru this post the general things a newbie blogger should know and follow. Though I am in the field for some time, some of the aspects she shared are still not known to me. Will check those in the days ahead in my blogging journey
As you concluded it saying starting a blog is easy but maintaining it is the hardest part. One needs to be very consistent in doing the things related to blogging.
Yes, helping each other is one of the keys here and even we can have a good rapport with influencers and that leads to a wonderful position, I experienced this by dropping value-added comments on high DA blogs. That, in fact, made me reach many influencers as well as traffic to your page ultimately that leads to making money from your blog.
Thanks, Sue and Nirmala for this value added post.
Keep sharing
Best
~ Phil
Philip Verghese Arie recently posted Philipscom Comment Authors In May 2018
How long does it take to make money from a blog is a debatable question! As far as my experience it takes around 6 months to a year to start making money, So a newbie should understand that he can't be rich overnight just with a blog or a site unless otherwise he is promoting with paid Ads. Nice article Nirmala, keep up your great work!
Nicky recently posted 9 Experts Share Their Best 3 WordPress plugins for Blogs
Really great Article…………..connecting with your readers is a great thing………thanks for making us remember such an important thing.
Hello Nirmala,
Glad you to see you here on Sue's blog. Affiliate marketing is one of the best and lucrative ways to monetize a blog and make a ton of money using it. It works better than AdSense if anyone implements it with right strategies. I completely agree with you that nobody can buy from a stranger. You have to build up trust and authority online. Choosing a right niche is important factor become successful in blogging. Thanks for sharing these helpful tips.
Vishwajeet
Vishwajeet Kumar recently posted 4 Reasons Why I have changed my Domain Name?
Hi NIRMALA
Nice Blog….its really interesting..thanks for sharing
Thanks for checking the blog, credits to the founder, Sue. You're welcome.
Nice article helps alot…
Thanks for your kind words. Glad I could help you. Yes, engaging and networking with the blog audience is most important to make sales or leads. Stay tuned!
Hi Nicky,
Thanks for getting time to read the post, I feel good with your appreciation. I partially agree with your viewpoint because of the potential of earning money depends on the niche that you choose. I got great earnings from my 2 months old blog and yes, keyword research plays a vital role in selecting the niche. Anyway, thanks for sharing your views, it is highly appreciable.
Hi Ryan,
I totally agree with you that we should keep in touch with the old buddies to move to the next level. You are always awesome in making the friends during your tour.
Thanks for your praising words, means a lot to me. Have a great day ahead 🙂
Awesome, Just want to thank's, author, Nirmala, for this well-researched article.
thanks for this guide.
Regards: Sandeep
Hi Nirmala
This is a nice information. Please share this type of information. I think earn from a blog by doing affiliate marketing
This is such a valuable blog that I will be returning to! I write topics about online marketing to help entrepreneurs specifically in the health wellness and fitness niches. I will definitely be linking to your articles in the future too! 🙂
Being a beginner in blogging I found this post very informative . Thanks for sharing this post
good luck.
Abhinandan bhardwaj recently posted OET Sample Test Helps You To Prepare For The Exam
Creating a blog these days is a much simpler process, literally you can have a domain and your blog setup in a few clicks which is fantastic for non tech-savvy users who want to speak their mind and provide valuable content to the world.
Hi Nirmala,
Great blog, thanks for sharing with us
Mr Game recently posted Fashionista Daring Diva
Hi Nirmala, here again after a while.
I have gone through your post its very informative for new bloggers who wants to generate money from their blogs. Thanks for this post n waiting for more updates…..
Murphy recently posted Best gadgets of the year 2017
Thanks for the information.
thanks for sharing this nice article. It may help bloggers to write blogs in the correct manner. Keep sharing
Hi, I am new to blogging and and it will be helpful for me during u blogging journey.
Hiba Salim recently posted System Integration Services in Dubai
I didn't actually start my blog to make money (I started it to log my journey of making money online and doing various side hustles, with the goal of ditching my 9-5) but a couple of months in, I realised that the best thing about doing this was that I LOVE blogging! I love writing, I love learning new skills and I love the blogging community. So the goal changed 🙂 But it is definitely not a fast track to riches. I haven't made money from my blog yet, but I have already made money from working freelance (Pinterest Management). Without my blog, that wouldn't have been possible. Thanks for your post.
Mel recently posted My Top 10 FREE Blogging Resources (and some great tips!)
And thanks for sharing your story, Mel!
Sue
Amazing post. You explained everything that I was searching about make money from a blog.Really helpful. Thank you for sharing. Cheers!!
Being a beginner in blogging I found this post very informative . Thanks for sharing this post
good luck.
I haven't started a blog of my own yet, but i'm really tempted to start one. I'm just really in doubt of myself, asking myself if i will be able to make it or deliver? That's why i'm reading a lot of articles about beginners in blogging. Though my goal is not about money, the idea of earning while doing what I love is such an attracting idea. Thank you for sharing these info 🙂
You are so welcome, Karen! Let me know if you need help starting your blog.
Sue
Best for beginners but for already in the field, it has to be a bit more detailed. Good job though.
Most of my readers are beginners and I appreciate your comment!
Sue
Is there any article on affiliate marketing? If yes then kindly provide me the link.
Here are 2 for you: https://www.successfulblogging.com/what-is-affili… https://www.successfulblogging.com/reasons-blogge…
Thanks,
Sue
Nirmala,
That was a killer post, you really nailed it.
Quite honestly, I've never heard of the LSI graph – What a powerful tool; I plan on using it for my post research.
I've been researching different ways that a blogger can make money. Darren Rouse made an incredible mind-map of all the ways you can do this, and you can see it here at Problogger – Make Money Blogging
I believe that one point that needs to be emphasized quite a bit is that no matter what route you take, this process will take time. If you're not committing at least 2 to 4 solid hours to blogging a day, you might as well forget it.
It's not hard to find the time if you get up early and bust your buns. I get up every day at 6 Ahem. (Sometimes it's 5 if I have early appointments.) That's 2 to 3 hours before anyone else in the house is awake.
I like writing early because I'll have a sense of moving the ball down the field before the usual day starts.
Anyway, I'm a little off topic here, but that was a great post, Nirmala. Thanks so much for sharing your expertise with us.
God Bless!
Woah! I'm really digging the template/theme of this site. It's simple, yet effective. A lot of times it's tough to get that "perfect balance" between user friendliness and appearance. I must say you have done a superb job with this. Also, the blog loads extremely quick for me on Opera. Superb Blog!
Thanks for reading my guest post. Good to know about you!
LSI graph is an awesome tool, I often use to grab the LSI keywords, Thanks for coming by!
Nirmala recently posted 5 Best WordPress Plugins To Speed Up Your Site
Glad I could help, thanks for coming by!
Yes! Affiliate Marketing is the right way to make money from a blog. Proceed with it!
Thanks for getting the time to check my article. You're welcome!