Many bloggers have been struggling to make profits from their blogs. But, it is quite a sad news that this struggles usually becomes vanity. Sometimes many undetermined newbies dropped the idea of owing a blog because of difficulty associated with monetization of the blog. Being a successful blogger entails protocols or processes or stages you have to pass through.
There are many ways of monetizing your blog. But, I will tell you the TRUTH that nothing is easy on earth, even '419ing' or picking pocket has unpronounced it's own difficulties. Sorry if I used annoying examples' but I am only trying to tell you that it take perseverance, steadfastness and determination for you to get your aim accomplished or successful.
However, if you intended starting a blog and monetizing it. You must gather funds for growth and development of the blog as it to continue to follow the dynamic trends of modern convention in blogspere.
Firstly you must start a blog by choosing a blogging platform like WordPress, blogger, joomla etc. Then buy or search for a good ad-ready template. Customize it to your desire but avoid clustering or excessive widgets as it slows down the performance of your webpages and when your website/blog is encumbered with many widgets, spider sent by googlebot to index webpages for SEPR (search engine page ranking) will find it difficult to craw your pages within 1-2 seconds. However, if your webpages loads beyond 1-3 seconds, it indicates that you will find it difficult ranking on search engines.
After normalizing your template in your blog, then,next step is to put necessary pages (like privacy policy, disclaimer, about us, contact us and advertise with us).
Then start building your blog by writing and publishing articles (original articles). The articles should not be copy and paste. If you want to kill your blog, start copy and paste, then googlebot and other search engine agents will stop indexing your blog and this happens because they have received the same article from another blog (before your blog) so the bot will assumed that you have copied the article from the initial blog that it has received.
Creating content is not good enough. Anybody can do that. Now, creating content which solves problems, this is a real secret to online success, for people who become problem solvers make money with their blog.
However, listen on social networks, niche specific forums and tune into popular blog posts from authorities within your niche. What are people discussing about or complaining about? What do people from your niche need help with?
Be the person to provide the help via your timely, relevant content, and you will get more clicks on your ads as your traffic increases. You will attract more customers. You will partner up with more team members. All these neat things happen because you created content which solved problems.
The listening part is beyond critical, and it makes the difference between people who are successful in making money online and those who fail. Why? How can you know which problems to solve unless you are listening carefully for these problems?
You would be amazed how much better your content becomes when you merely decide to listen in to the problems of your target market.
I want to let you know this secret that a blog is not a blog without useful content so once you’ve set your blog up you need to focus your attention upon creating useful content. What you choose to create will depend a little on the topic that you choose to write about (on that note, most successful bloggers have some focus to their blogging whether that be a niche or a demographic that they write for).
The main key with creating content is to make it as useful as possible. Focus upon creating content that changes people’s lives in some way will be the type of content that people will value the most and it will help people to feel like they know, like and trust your blog which is really important if you later want to make money from your blog.
Another guideline is that you should publish at least not more than four times per week until you must have published atleast 50 or near 50 articles, then apply for google adsence for approval but if your blog failed to be approved.
I would advise you to buy adsence from adsence vendors. There are many adsence dealers but you should be extra conscious to avoid fraudsters.
But while waiting for google adsence feedback which could take more than one month.
There are many adsence alternatives which varies depending on the nature or capacity of the advertising company. But before embarking on placing ads on your blog . You should ensure quality and useful content is maintained..
As you create the most useful content that you possibly can. It is easy to get very insular with your focus and spend most of your time looking at building your blog.
Many bloggers have a "build it and they will come mentality" with their blogging but this is a bit of a trap.
If you want to make money from your blog you need to not only focus upon building a great blog but it is also necessary to get off your blog and to start promoting it.
There are many ways to grow your blog’s audience. You can grow your audience or readers from social networking, in forums or other blogs. You must remember that you should not just be looking for ‘traffic’ but ‘readers’.
The key is to build a presence, to add value, to foster relationships – not to engage in spammy practices.
Build engagement with the readers that come
With sustained focus upon creating great content and finding readers for your blog you’ll begin to notice people visiting your blog and engaging with your content.
At this point you need to switch your focus to engaging with those readers and building community.
Respond to comments, reach out to those readers personally and do everything that you can to keep them coming back again and again by building a ‘sticky blog’ .
This will also increase the trust and confidence of your readers on your blog, thus, when their confidence increased, they will always come back to your blog.
Look after the readers you already have well and you’ll find they spread the word of your blog for you and help make your blog even more widely read.
Having an engaged reader is also much easier to make money from.
Now that you have made the readership or loyal audience. Start making money from the readership you have through one or more of a variety of income streams
The steps of monetizing your blog involves, starting a blog, creating content, finding readers and building engagement with those readers are important foundations that you really do need to get in place before you’ll be able to build long term income for your blog. And achieving these important foundation might take you quite long time if you don't have enough fund.
Because the higher you invest in your blog, the higher you accomplish your aim at a minimum time. But the lower the investing on your blog due to financial constraints, the more longer it will take you to achieve your aim. That is just the fact.
There’s no avoiding that what we’ve covered is a lot of work but if you do it well you’ll be setting yourself up well and giving yourself every chance of being able to make money from your blog.
With these foundations in place you’re now ready to start attempting to make money from your blog but you do need to be aware that just because you have set up your blog, have content and have engaged readers that the money won’t just automatically flow.
It takes continued work and experimentation to make money from your blog. Like I told you on the first paragraph, that the journey isn't easy as you may think but I believe determination will lead you through.
You must be determined and persisting because persistence separates all money making bloggers from those who earn pennies or nothing. The persistent blogger finds out all they need to know, and more, by keeping at it for a sustained period of time.
It will not always be easy, as the going will seem so hard in the beginning. You will need to acquire information and act immediately, and when you act, you will find yourself in uncomfortable situations.
There are Many Ways to Make Money Blogging - let us, without wasting time look at those many ways you can profitable from your blog and they includes -
ADVERTISING INCOME
I will not lie, this is where many bloggers start. In many ways this model of making money from blogs is not dissimilar to how a magazine or newspaper sells ads. As your traffic and brand grows you’ll find advertisers will be willing to pay to get exposure to your audience.
While you need decent traffic to do a direct deal with an advertisers there are ad networks (like Google AdSense) that act as a middleman and enable smaller publishers to run ads on their blogs. This is where many bloggers start.
a)Google Adsense
Some people create a self-hosted blog solely for ads and Google AdSense is one of the most popular ad networks around. Simply put, you make money by displaying ads on your site. There are two ways to start earning cash from Google AdSense:
i). Based on impressions: This depends on page views. For instance, for every 1,000 page views you get, you earn a set dollar amount.
ii). Based on clicks: Regardless of page views, if a visitor clicks on the ad from your site, you’ll earn a certain cut of the ad revenue. This can range anywhere from $0.01 to a couple of dollars depending on the ad.
AdSense is compatible with free Blogger blogs and self-hosted WordPress blogs, but keep in mind that it won’t work with a free WordPress blog (although you can monetize with WordAds if you have a custom domain).
How much can you make money with AdSense? Well, that all depends on your traffic and how many people are willing to click on your ads. (Remember that you should never click on your own ads since Google can penalize you for it.) Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income has reported earning upwards of $3,000 per month on AdSense revenue alone, but other bloggers like Spencer Haws of Niche Pursuits have reported earnings well over $10,000 per month.
Some important terminologies associated with adsence/ads are :-
CPC/PPC Ads: Cost per click (also called pay per click) ads are usually banners that you place in your content or sidebar. Each time a reader clicks on the ad, you are paid for that click.
CPM Ads: CPM Ads, or “cost per 1,000 impressions,” are ads that pay you a fixed amount of money based on how many people view your ad.
But adsence sometimes disappoint bloggers due to their strict policy and they don't give second chance to any violation of their policy. Nowadays, adsence don't joke, they don't approve blogs easily and this has lead to disappointments to many. But there are still good news to bloggers because there are many adsence alternatives which can earn you something (though you can't compare adsence with many of these alternatives like I said earlier). The adsence alternatives includes below
b). Media.net
Media.net is one of the best AdSense Alternative and is managed by Yahoo and Bing. Media.net offers contextual advertisement so their publisher can make a good junk of money by showing their ads on their sites.
The available payment methods of Media.net are PayPal and bank wire. There are no any special traffic requirements for signing up for Media.net so you can signup for Media.net even if you don't have good traffic. But their team also checks your site before approving it.
SIGN UP NOW ! The highest paying AdSense Alternative. Pays very good if your most of the audience is from Western countries. The Ads are shown according to the Search terms which users has used to get on your site which increases the CRT and ultimately Revene.
Beautiful, attractive and powerful Control Panel layout.
They also offers refer program which is amazing. However, their policies are very strict and hard to follow.
Media.net is famous for banning publishers without stating reasons. It's hard to get approved for Media.net but not as much as for AdSense.
Payment method - PayPal and Bank wire.
c). Infolinks
Infolinks is just another best AdSense Alternative for those bloggers whose blogs are not approved by Google AdSense or by Media.net
Infolinks was established in the year 2007, and it is a PPC advertisement network which means they pay you for every click on your ads.
Infolinks allows you to add link ad units on your site. The algorithm of the Infolinks scans the whole page and displays the ads according to your site's contents.
Infolinks also pays its publishers via Payoneer, now you can get Free Payoneer MasterCard along with $25 Sign Up Bonus
SIGN UP NOW ! Unlike Media.net Infolinks pays good revenue if your most of the traffic is from Western countries.There is no any specific requirements for signup for Infolinks.
Payment methods - Payoneer, PayPal, Bank Wire, eCheck, Western Union.
They don't have a big number of advertisers that's why mostly the advertisements are for Facebook. You need to approve your all sites one by one if you want to use Infolinks on your other blogs. Infolinks pays about 60% of the ad revenue with their publishers which is less then
d). Propeller Ads
Propeller Ads Network was founded in the year 2011 and is a very popular and one of the Best AdSense Alternatives. Particularly for those sites which receive their most of traffic from UK, USA, and countries like Canada.
Propeller Ads is CPM based and pays for every 1000 impressions. The best thing about Propeller Ads Network is that they have a lot of advertisers which and their advertiser are in all the niches which means your blog will be monetized with the ads that are similar to your niche.
SIGN UP NOW ! Your account will be activated instantly, so you don't need to wait for confirmation emails like AdSense.
They share about 80% of the revenue with their publishers.
Payment methods - Wire Transfer, Payoneer, Webmoney, and Prepaid Cards.
Propeller Ads Network don't supports PayPal which is a big fault. Almost all the Best AdSense Alternatives supports PayPal as a payment method.
The best ads are pop-under ads or full screen ads which creates a poor user experience.
e). VigLink
VigLink is a in-text advertisement company founded in 2009 by Oliver Roup. It has proved itself a very good alternative to Google AdSense.
The working of VigLink is very simple. They convert different words on your blog posts into affiliate links. For example, if you have a tech blog and you wrote about Android Apps then VigLink will automatically convert these words into affiliate links. And when any visitor clicks on these links and buy something you get referral commsion. Sometimes you also get paid even if the visitor didn't buy anthing.
SIGN UP NOW ! High payouts then many other in-text advertisement networks. You get affiliate commission without signing up for many affiliates.
Supports many different platforms.
They give 75% revenue to publishers.
On time Payouts.
Only Payment method is PayPal.
Sometimes it takes a little time to display revenue.
f). Chitika
Chitika is a good AdSense Alternative, it was established in 2003 and it is a PPC (Pay Per Click) network.
The ad displayed of Chitika is very similar to the Google AdSense, but the difference is that AdSense places the ads according to user interest while Chitika shows the ads related to the search which the user has made.
SIGN UP NOW ! The Advertisement is shown according to the search query of users which increased the CRT.
Chitika approves about all kind of sites.
Their policies are not very strict and about all the sites are approved immediately.
Chitika don't pay good revenue like AdSense. Means you need to have a Good CRT ratio or great traffic to earn more revenue.
Payment methods - PyaPal and Bank Wire.
g). Bidvertiser
Bidvertiser is also one of the Best AdSense Alternatives , and it is a pay per click network. The working of Bidvertiser is opposite that of AdSense because Google AdSense shows ads based on the interest of your visits while Bidvertiser shows ads depending up the bids of their advertiser.
You can earn even more than AdSense using Bidvertiser that is why Bidvertiser is the best AdSense Alternative . Bidvertiser displays text ads, banner ads, slider ads.
SIGN UP NOW ! Bidvertiser provides 100% ads fill rate which means your blog will be monetized to all the users.
The policies of Bidvertiser are not very strict and about all the sites are approved immediately.
Payment methods - PayPal, Bank Wire, and Payza.
Mostly the Ads are not matched with your contents which results in a low CRT and ultimately low revenue.
Sometimes Bidvertiser ads provides a very poor user experience. Very old and unattractive interface.
h). RevenueHits
RevenueHits was established back in 2008. It is a performance based (CPA) advertisement network with thousand of advertisers and publishers. Their ad serving technology delivers more two billion ad impressions per day.
For joining the RevenueHits, you don't need any particular traffic as this is a CPA network. There is also not any restriction on any content it means you can monetize all kind of contents.
SIGN UP NOW ! They offer many types of ad units which include pop-under, ad banners, display ads, app wall, mobile advertisement, etc.
If your most approach is in entertainment niche then RevenueHits will be amazing for you.
Payment methods - PayPal, Payoneer, and Bank Wire.
i). Adsterra
Adsterra is a leading advertisement company and is also a best AdSense alternative. Adsterra offers the highest CPM rates in the market that is why it is the best. It is not only good for publishers.
Instead, it also works great for advertisers. Adsterra offers display ads, banner ads, Popunders direct link ads, push up ads and slider ads, etc.
Many Payment methods.
Specialized in pop-under ads which are not blocked by ad blockers.
24/7 support in many languages.
Weekly payouts. PROS
Adsterra is not very good for low traffic publishers.
Ad Rates may drop down if your most traffic is not form USA, UK etc.
j). Adcash
AdCash was founded in 2007, and now it has become one of the best AdSense alternatives. AdCash offers many kinds of ad types which include CPM, CPC, CPA, CPL, CPV.
AdCash doesn't require any traffic for sign up, and you can monetize a recently created blog using this advertisement network. If your site falls into entertainment or gaming category, then AdCash will work like fire for you.
SIGN UP NOW ! Works fantastic if your blog is on Entertainment or blogging niche.
No need of traffic for signup.
They offer many type of ads such as CPM, CPC, CPA, CPL, CPV.
The minimum payment threshold is $100 which is too high.
No any WordPress Plugin at the time of writing this post
Payment methods - PayPal, Skrill, Web money, Payoneer, Wire transfer.
k). Vertoz
Vertoz is a relatively new ad network and is not much popular but it is an awesome AdSense Alternative.
Vertoz was founded in the year 2012, and now it is included in the top advertisement networks.
Vertoz ad network provides its publishers with a dedicated account manager who helps the publishers to maximize their revenue.
The best thing I have found for Vertoz is that once you get your site approved they will never ban your account unlike AdSense until you change your contents by those that are not acceptable.
SIGN UP NOW ! Vertoz provides targeted ads which are related to your contents.
They provide a lot of Payment methods.
The revenue bases are mainly CPC and CPM.
Due to targeted ads, CPC is excellent.
Fast approval with a rate of almost 80%.
Vertoz also pays the minimum payout of $100 which is not good.
Payment methods - PayPal and wire transfer
While minimum payout for wire transfer is $1000.
Vertoz also pays the minimum payout of $100 which is not good.
Your site must have a top level domain.
There are only two payment methods while minimum payout for wire transfer is $1000.
Now we are going to look at paid banner ads which is also like the above adsence alternatives.
PAID BANNER ADS
If you’re generating a decent amount of traffic, you might be approached by a business looking to sponsor your site. There are usually two requests you get in these cases:
1. Paid reviews or sponsorship posts
2. Banner ads
Paid reviews are when the business sends you their product and pays you to write a review about it, but you are not obligated to write a positive review.
Alternatively, some businesses will sponsor a specific post in exchange for a link back to their site. It is an ethical practice to disclose the sponsorship to your readers.
Banner ads are just what they sound like. They’re ads you place in “banner” style, usually in your sidebar or any other part of your blog that is like to attract clicks.
The business sponsoring the ad will often pay you monthly to keep the ad up on your site.
AFFILIATE INCOME/MARKETING
A recent survey of ultimatetimesTv blog readers found that affiliate promotions was the most common type of income that our readers have.
To put it most simply affiliate income is when you link to a product that is for sale on another site (take Amazon, jumia, konga etc for example) and if someone follows your link and ends up buying that product you earn a commission on that sale.
There’s more to it than that but this is another great place to start with monetising your blog as affiliate programs are easy to sign up for and if you have an engaged audience you will find they follow the recommendations that you make on products.
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular (not to mention quickest) ways to make money from your website or blog.
Start by finding a product you like and would recommend. Then on your website, you endorse the product and promote it to your website visitors and email subscribers. If the product or service resonates with these people, they’ll click on your affiliate link,
purchasing the product (while you get a split of the sale price).
The commission might be anywhere from 30% of the product or service price, up to as high as 70%. So for example, if the split is 50% and you promote an e-book that costs $100, you’ll get $50 for simply referring the buyer.
Let me clearly tell you how affiliate income works as follows
i). An advertiser has a product she wants to sell. She agrees to give you a commission from each sale if the buyer is coming from your site.
ii). She gives you a unique link that tracks your affiliate code. That way, she knows when a buyer used your link to make a purchase.
iii). You include your affiliate link on your site. You can do this directly in the content or through banner ads. If a reader clicks on your unique link and buys the product you have recommended, you earn a percentage of what she purchased.
You can utilize affiliate marketing through ad networks like Amazon Associates, or you can create private partnerships with advertisers and businesses with an affiliate program.
CREATE AND SELL YOUR OWN DIGITAL PRODUCTS
This could be:-
eBooks
Online courses/workshops
Images, video, or music people can use in their own content,
Apps, plugins, or themes
Just remember that if you are going to choose one of these avenues that you make it relevant and useful to your readers.
A lot of bloggers make the mistake of assuming they are developing a product their readers need; listen to your readers first, and then create a digital product that will meet their needs.
You have the potential to make the most money on a per sale basis when you can sell your own products directly.
That’s because there’s no middle-man or person in between you and the buyer that’s taking a ‘cut’ from the money earned.
This approach seems fairly straightforward because you can simply sell these products directly through your website and get paid immediately. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple in reality.
Creating good products that are well made and polished require a ton of time and additional resources (like design, content, etc.). So there’s a lot of ‘hidden costs’ in both time spent or contractors to collaborate with.
Selling your own products on your site also bring up problematic issues like payment gateways (how are you going to collect payment?), shipping (how are you going to mail or distribute the products?) and taxes (oh man, don’t get me started).
And if that doesn’t sound like enough work already, you’ll also need a well designed, persuasive landing page to make sure your product has a strong conversion rate.
Products can of course take many forms and income virtual information products like eBooks or courses but also other virtual products like software, reports etc.
The other type of product some bloggers sell is physical products. This is most common when the blogger has a business but sometimes bloggers also create merchandise (T-shirts etc) or other physical products to sell.
EVENTS
While not something most bloggers do I have noticed an increase in the number of bloggers making money by running events.
These range from big conferences and events like some popular successful bloggers (like Problogger Conference which hosts hundreds of bloggers every year right down to smaller meet-ups for a blogger’s readers where money is made either through charging readers to attend or by finding a sponsor for the event.
Alternatively online events or summits are getting more popular.
PROMOTING A BUSINESS
Many brick and mortar businesses indirectly make money from their blogs by using their blogs to grow their profile and direct readers to their business. Also there many entertainment niche bloggers who approach artists to promote their works (songs, videos and interviews).
Entertainment-niched blogging has varieties of strategic means of popularizing your blog because getting more clients will likely hinged on your reputation and popularity. And entertainment bloggers achieves popularity in many ways like
a). Use of mp3/mp4 tags (voice or text tags)
b). Promoting viral posts
c). Promoting artists
d) high presence in social media
RECURRING INCOME
Another growing category of income that I’m seeing more and more bloggers are experimenting is recurring income streams (sometimes called continuity programs or membership programs).
This is where readers pay a regular recurring amount (usually on a monthly or annual basis) for access to either premium content, a community area, some kind of service, tools, coaching (or some combination of these things).
SERVICES
A common way that many bloggers make money is through offering services to their readers. These might be anything from coaching and consulting, psychological counseling, writing or copywriting, to design, training or other freelance services.
OTHER INCOME STREAMS
There are of course other forms of income that bloggers experiment with. Some include asking for donations, syndicating content to other sites and lastly selling their blogs.
MULTIPLE INCOME SOURCES
Most full time bloggers make money more than one way and end up with multiple income streams.
Diversifying your income in this way not only is smart and helps you spread the risk from having all your eggs in one basket but it also speeds up the journey to going full time.
SELL PRIVATE ADS
Working with advertising networks isn’t your only option when it comes to selling ads.
If you end up with enough traffic, advertisers may come directly to you and ask you to place their ad on your site. You can also contact advertisers yourself.
The biggest difference from the above mentioned option is that there is no middle man, which means you can set your own ad rates.
Selling private ads can come in the form of banners, buttons, or links. You can even make money writing sponsored posts where you write about or give a review of an advertiser’s product or service.
Another option is to write an underwritten post or series, which is where you can write about any topic, but the advertiser pays for a “Brought to you by” mention in the content.
The ways you make money with this can vary. For instance, you might charge a one-time fee for a link within a post. If you are hosting banner ads, you might charge your partner monthly.
Bonus tip: To maximize your income, you can also choose to sell sponsorship space in your email newsletters (here are 5 best email marketing software ), podcasts, and videos.
Include Affiliate Links in Your Content
SELL DIGITAL PRODUCTS OFFLINE
Use it as a Content Marketing Tool for Your Business. It is also possible to sell offline or physical products on your blog and to make money that way.
Instead of thinking of it as making money from your blog, however, think of your blog as a content marketing tool that will drive visitors to your business website.
The possibilities are practically endless when it comes to developing a business blog. You could sell hand-made products, books, manufactured products, and so much more.
Or you might already have a business and decide to start a blog to convert loyal customers.
Lets say, for example, that you refurbish and resell used smartphones out of your home.
You could use a blog to attract visitors to your website where you list your current phones for sale. Your blog might cover topics about DIY refurbishing.
On one level, it seems counterintuitive because you want people to buy your phones, but it also helps you build a brand and gain recognition.
SELL MEMBERSHIPS
Another option to make money is to sell memberships to exclusive corners of your website. For instance, a career blog might charge $10 per month for users to gain access to their job board.
A startup business blog might sell memberships to their forums where people can get personalized advice about their business.
The key here is that your exclusive membership has to be more valuable than something your visitors can find for free somewhere else, so be sure you are developing something of value and worth the price.
USE IT TO BUILD YOUR CREDIBILITY
Blogging to build credibility can lead to many money-making opportunities. For instance, let us say you start a blog in the finance industry.
People start reading your content, and your blog becomes very popular. You are now a recognized figure in the finance industry.
Once you have that authority, people might approach you to co-author a book on debt management, or you could charge to speak at conferences or to run employee financial training days.
This certainly isn’t a direct form of making money blogging, but it has worked for many well-known bloggers, and it can work for you, too.
AFRAID NOT TO EXPERIMENT
Not all of these tips and avenues of income are going to work for you. Don’t be afraid to tweak your methods to see what works best for you and your readers.
Making money blogging can take a lot of persistence, but it can pay off in the long-run if you’re starting out from scratch.
Just remember that you don’t have to use all of these money-making avenues at once. Consider what other people in your industry are doing, and start from there. Over time, you will learn what works for you and what doesn’t.
SPEND NOT YOUR TIME EXCLUSIVELY ON YOUR BLOG
Developing a successful blog has a lot to do with building relationships. That can include relationships with sponsors, affiliate partners, or simply other bloggers who will direct traffic to your blog. Be sure some of your time is spent on forums and other blogs (or whatever works for you) to build these relationships and your blog.
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