Back in 2018 when I first started my blog, I didn’t have any idea how to make money from a blog. After proper keyword research and building authority, I made around ₹50,000 last year. Here are the Top 20 Proven Legit ways to make money blogging.
Top 20 “Legit Proven” ways to make money blogging
Many bloggers claim to have thousands of traffic, but they cannot earn a penny from their website. The traffic is nothing if you don’t know how to convert the traffic into earning and make money. Here we will discuss 20 ways to make money from your blog. I am making money resorting to these techniques with a monthly page view of 40k only.
Option #1. Google Adsense
It is the most popular cost per click advertisement. After creating 10-12 articles you may apply for Google Adsense. They can approve if your website has got decent traffic of 1000 or more per month. When your articles rank on Google search engine, then usually you can get some traffic. After that, if any user clicks on the ad which is displayed in your blog you will receive some money.
If your traffic is from tier 1 countries like the USA, UK, Australia then you will get more money than from the other countries. If you have thousands of visitors, but no one clicks on ads then you will get nothing. It is because Google Adsense operates on a pay per click theory.
Option #2. Make use of display network ads apart from Google Adsense
Apart from Google Adsense, there are various alternative advertising programs which allow a blogger to create an additional source of income from his blog. Here are the best alternatives of Google Adsense,
- Media.net,
- Propeller Ads,
- Infolinks,
- Amazon Display Ads,
- VigLink,
- SkimLinks,
And counting……..
Option #3. Sell your Advertisement space directly to the advertisers
Needless to say that various Advertising networks i.e. Google Adsense keeps a sweet 35% of the income generated from your blog. This is the most important reason why you should sell your advertising space to the advertisers directly. I don’t recommend BuySellAds because they eat 25% as the commission of your income. Suppose you sell advertising space to any advertisers via their platform for $1000 annually, then BuySellAds keep $250 as a commission.
Option #4. Write Sponsored content/post
Do you know that there are tons of companies looking for publishers who will write a post about any product or service? If your blog has got decent search engine traffic and a huge fan base then companies will pay you for writing a blog post. Before writing sponsored content you should consider the following points,
- The features and characteristics of the product.
- The pros and cons of the product.
- Who will be benefitted from using this product?
- Where and when to use the product?
- How to use the product?
- Why the reader should purchase the product?
You should create a advertise with us page or a media kit which cover the following points,
- Blogging stats,
- Advertisement options,
- Pricing.
In this way, you can make money from sponsorships via your blog.
Option #5. Sell your blog’s newsletter space
If you have built a huge community of at least 10k e-mail subscribers then you can charge companies/brands for putting a logo in your newsletter header.
Option #6. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is nothing but promoting a product or a service or a company or anything through your articles or contents. Suppose, you are writing an article, here you may quote a particular product or company.
Suppose, you are writing an article about how to make money blogging. There you may recommend Bluehost as the web host. Now, if anyone buys the Bluehost by clicking the link embedded, you will get some commission without any extra cost to the buyer.
In other words, affiliate marketing can be simply defined as you help any company to sell its service or product. You recommend some products or services before the viewers. If any viewer buys something by clicking on ads shown on your blog, then you will get a commission on every sale.
Do you know how many people search about the ‘best smartphone under 15000’ every month in India alone? The search volume is more than 75,000 people.
If you search through ‘UberSuggest’ then you will find the search volume of a different combination of various keywords like ‘best smartphone under 10000’ or ‘best smartphone under 5000’ etc.
In order to make money, you need to choose a category that you are passionate about and must have deep knowledge of it. In order to make money by running an affiliate website, you need to consider the following points,
- Do I have deep knowledge and passion about the product niche?
- What is the search volume of various keywords in that specific micro-niche?
- Are there profitable affiliate programs that I should join to make money?
If the answer is ‘yes’ then start writing review articles that will enable a passive income source via affiliate marketing.
Option #7. Selling e-Books
You can write an e-book containing at least 100 pages. The pages do not matter if the material in the book can solve someone’s problem or fulfill the query of information. We have knowledge about the stock market, mutual fund, tax-saving strategy, investment strategies, etc.
Now a day, people are in search of knowledge like investment strategies, stock market investment, mutual fund guide, etc. So, we created an e-book about those topics and enlisted them on Amazon and on our website. Now, people whenever visit our website notice these kinds of books and buy them online. Then obviously we make money by selling this e-book. By writing useful engaging content, you can publish your own e-book by making use of Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing free of cost.
Option #8. Offer Courses or services
You can offer the visitors of your website online courses and various services. Let’s make it clear with an example. Our website offers different services namely Stock Recommendations, Income tax return filing, GST filing, etc. So if anyone pays to get access to any of the services we offer, we make money. You can visit various websites of your niche and analyze their revenue model i.e. how they make money. In this way, you can make money online by offering various services to your niche.
In India, there are fewer people who have proper knowledge about how to invest, where to invest, how to save tax, how to make financial planning, wealth management, and retirement planning, etc. The Google Search result leads them to confusion rather than meeting the queries. Google shows results but does not offer the best opinion for all the age groups.
If you have proper knowledge you will offer customized financial advice to people and help them to solve the problem. You can charge a fixed fee from your clients accordingly.
Option #9. Offer Academic Live Classes
By making use of Skype & Zoom you can teach students face-to-face or one-on-one from all over the world from wherever you want. You can teach a subject in accordance with expertise and knowledge.
Option #10. Running a Membership Site
Membership sites help people to simplify their lives, learn and get detailed analysis in order to make a more informed decision. Like a gym membership, people will have to pay a fee to get access to premium content such as articles, reports, video tutorials, webinars’ etc. The contents available on Google Search may not be well researched and may lack detailed insights. You can write a detailed step by step guide for any subject and sell this research report for a small fee. If you get success then you will make million like Jagoinvestor, Capitalmind.
Option #11. Create a Job board
Do you know, in India ‘Government Jobs’, ‘Sarkari Naukri’ has a search volume of 1 million? This is considered to be a very lucrative niche to get started. In this niche, you can make money just like other websites do.
There are various occasions when an employer needs employees at several positions in the case of expansion of business or setting up a new office/manufacturing unit. If you have a huge audience base who are interested in a specific topic then you can charge companies to post a job ad to your website. In this way, you will make a sweet share of the cake at once just like ProBlogger.
Option #12. Content Marketing
The main work of a content marketer is to create and publish useful content online in order to advertise a certain product or service. A content marketer is like a bridge between the consumer and the seller. You can make money through content marketing by writing a product’s/service’s current market value, pros, and cons, etc. to various blog’s/company’s website to boost sales organically.
Option #13. Offer Social Media Marketing Services
The expertise on how to increase the number of users visiting via social media channels and how to boost sales by making use of the content can be a source of earning. As a social media marketer, you will help your clients to get more shares, likes, and comments on their posts to boost conversion rates.
Option #14. Podcast
A podcast can be simply described as a series of audio episodes focused on a particular niche or subject that users need to download in order to listen. A Podcast is useful for those people who are unable to watch videos while driving, working out at the gym and various occasions while performing important activities.
As a podcaster, you can fix a subscription charge in order to download it. Once people subscribe, they can download and listen while performing important tasks or travelling. You can start your own podcast and make money via selling advertisements and sponsorship around your niche.
Option #15. Online Advertising Consultant
If you have a fair idea about how to promote the business via online advertising options, you can offer services to businesses that are interested to promote the business via online ads.
Option #16. Lead Generation Consultant
Most businesses look for ways to increase conversion rates and boost sales funnel. It is a proven fact that first-time visitors seldom buy products or services that they look for. So, companies require a good follow up system. If you have expertise on how to prepare a high converting opt-in page to grab the name, email of site visitors in exchange for a free gift, then you can make money by offering lead generation services to companies.
Option #17. Business Coach
To earn money as a business coach, you should have a fair understanding of how to be engaged with people in order to grow a business. Unlike Business consultants who typically work with companies and government or non-profit organizations, a business coach assists the start-up with identifying long-term goals, skill development, resolving conflicts i.e. legal or insurance.
Option #18. Run a Dropshipping Website
Unlike selling the products physically, Dropshipping business is a kind of e-commerce business without owning a single product. In this kind of e-commerce business, you neither produce any product nor any warehouse to store the product. Once someone buys an item from your website you make an order with the third party and the third party handles everything else.
Option #19. Accept Donations
Do you know what the income source of Wikipedia is? The only income source comes from donations. If you have a large and loyal readership audience then you can make money by adding a PayPal Donation button.
Option #20. Website Flipping
Real estate, Stocks are not the few investment businesses that involve purchasing at low and selling at high. We have Website Flipping ‘online real estate/Stock’. As a business owner you can buy an existing website, and after making necessary modifications flip [sell] the website at a higher price. There are various marketplaces i.e. Flippa & GoDaddy auction where you can buy and sell domains.
Final Thoughts
Finally don’t rely on a single source of income from your blog. You should try to create multiple sources of income from blogging i.e. promoting products or services to boost affiliate earning, run banner ads, offer courses/services. Once you become successful, then it will be difficult for you to ever lose all of your revenue overnight!
- Read also: Top 75+ Blogging Tools and Resources
Let me know if I have missed or overlooked any really awesome blog monetization technique which can enable someone to earn money from blogging. You can make a comment so that I can add your favourite money-making idea that may help millions of enthusiasts to have their chance to earn money from the blog. If you have found this post helpful feel free to share it with your loved ones.