Bloggers everywhere are finding new ways to make money each day. If you’re wondering how much money a blogger actually makes the answer may surprise you. Many blog owners earn a modest $200 to $2,500 a month in their first year of blogging. More experienced bloggers who implement solid monetization strategies earn anywhere between $3,500 to $15,000 monthly. Top bloggers can easily earn seven-figure incomes from their blogs.
There are different avenues and streams of income for bloggers. Let’s explore some of them together so that you can begin monetizing your blog! I’ll also talk about how I make money blogging and more about my experience as a blogger.
Different Types of Bloggers
When you think of a blogger who comes to mind? For most people it’s someone who has created their own blog from scratch and is now monetizing their content, however, that’s not the only type of blogger out there. There are actually several ways bloggers can make money nowadays.
- Freelance bloggers that offer blogging as a service.
- Bloggers who work part-time or full-time for companies or individuals where they blog.
- Those that blog independently via their own blogs.
There’s no set track to success in the blogging community and what works for you may not work for the next person. In a field that is constantly evolving many bloggers, like myself, find themselves dipping into multiple types of blogging to generate income. For example, I own and operate my own blog, but I also work as a freelance blogger for several agencies.
How bloggers make money
How you generate income from blogging will largely depend on what type of blogger you categorize yourself as from the list above. There are several ways to make money as a blogger including:
- PPC Ads (pay per click ads) – ads that are usually banners that you place can place on a sidebar. Each time a reader visits your site and clicks on the ad, you are paid for that click.
- CPM Ads (cost per impression ads) – ads that are paid on a fixed amount based on the amount of people view your ad.
- Private Ads – instead of working through an advertiser you can cold sell ad space to businesses. These ads are usually in the form of banners, buttons, or links.
- Sell digital products – instead advertising other people’s content, create your own. Good digital products to sell are ebooks, journals, images/videos, online courses, apps, and plugins.
- Take on sponsorships – sponsored content is premium content that a sponsor pays a publisher to create and distribute. This can come in the form of a blog post, email campaign, social media post, or ad space on your website.
- Affiliate marketing – this allows you to promote products you love to your readers. If a purchase is made from your affiliate link you earn a commission of the sale.
- Sell your services – as a blogger your writing speaks for itself, so why not offer it as a service to someone who could benefit from it? You can set your hours, rates, and have the freedom to choose who you collaborate with.
These are just a few of the many ways bloggers are able to monetize their content. The great thing is that these things can be done at any stage of your blogging career. You don’t need a ton of experience to begin monetizing your content, and that’s what most people don’t realize. I’ll admit I was there at one point too. I thought I needed to be a “professional” to earn money as a blogger, but that’s SO far from the truth.
How I make money blogging
It’s time for me to share how I make money as a blogger and I’m so excited! I want to start by saying that I’ve been blogging since 2018 and it took me a whole year before I earned any money. I come from humble beginnings. By that I mean as a freelancer I was only making $5/post for 600-700 words, which looking back on it was not enough. But I took what I could get starting out.
Now, three years later, I’m more experienced and can set my own rates for my services. If you’re a beginner blogger, you too may start out small, so don’t get discouraged if that’s you. It gets better!
I’m going to be open here and share what I charge clients now to bring in close to $1,000 a month in side income. As a freelance writer the hourly rate I quote clients is $30/hour. I also work with one client that has a set rate per blog post, which I appreciate because it gives me a steady amount to count on each month. Personally, I think this is the best route to go. Having a set amount each month to count on plus the income you make from hourly work adds up quickly.
This is what works for me, so i’m sticking to it!
You can make money as a blogger too
If you want to make money blogging as well I’ve got you covered! There’s tons of ways to get started. Here are a few to get the ball rolling:
Job boards – a simple search through Indeed, Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Upwork, etc. will give you hundreds of positions to apply to.
Word of mouth – tell friends, family, and your social media followers what your area of expertise is and ask them to spread the word about your services.
Volunteer work – this method won’t make you money right away, but can open the door for future opportunities.
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