How to Make Money with a Blog: Easily Get Your First Paycheck

Do you know how to make money with a blog?

As I explained in my post 18 Ways You Can Have One of the Most Popular Blogs, I use to believe it was a mystery.

So do many others. Since I frequently answer this question at Quora.com, I know first-hand how (pick an adjective: confusing, mysterious, impossible) monetizing your blog can be.

Mystery solved.

Be confused no more.

Let the impossible become all-too-real.

Full-time pro blogger and SEO expert Amin Ghale is here to tell you how to make money with a blog.

How to Make Money with a Blog

I still remember the day when I first built my site – SEO Nerdy (I don’t own it now).

For me, this blog was more about sharing my experience as a digital marketer and WordPress enthusiast.

This was where I could dabble with strategies without having to care about “What Will My Boss Say?”

..and I guess most bloggers start their blogging journey with the same passion!

But here is what happens to your blogging love after a few months or years:

You don’t see anything happening on your blog.

Your job gets most of your time so you can’t concentrate on your love!

Suddenly the hobby becomes a nightmare

..and just like that you give up.

Don’t worry; you aren’t alone. More than 80% bloggers give up on their journey within the first year.

But what about the 20%?

Guess what?

They are doing pretty well. And making a living out of it.

Now, this post isn’t about making you Richie rich instantly.

For that, you have to buy a few e-books and courses worth thousands of dollars.

…Well, I can make a good joke, can’t I?

Here is the deal:

All you need for blogging success is to execute the 4C’s.

Content

Commitment

Consideration

And consistency.

Here I will show you how to make money with a blog: 3 tips to get your first check by blogging with the 4Cs. Whether you have just started to blog or are a veteran who hasn’t monetized your blog, these 3 tips should help you hit the second gear.

1. Blogging to build writing credentials

Blogging for fun is good.

But blogging for fun plus money is much better!

There are a ton of magazines and publications out there who want to pay writers for contents.

It’s similar to what I’m doing on Mostly Blogging. But sadly Janice doesn’t pay me. 😀

Just, Kidding, she is an awesome person!

So here is what you can do:

Use Google search to find publications who want to desperately pay you for your knowledge.

A simple search string like this can give you a good chunk of opportunities.

“Health + contributors guidelines + $”

Now replace health with your parent category. It can be lifestyles, insurance, or anything. You can also replace contributors guidelines with words like “write for us” “contribute to us” and other similar guest post taglines.

There will be sites like these:

Alternatively, here is an awesome site that offers you with a collection of a ton of sites that pay you for your content.

Just know one thing:

For this to work, you must have good knowledge of the field. And your personal blog is your resume!

Learn the principle, Traffic = Money

If you are a veteran blogger, you might have heard this quite a bit in your career.

Well, that’s true.

If you don’t have traffic, then you might as well rethink your earning potential.

You can be lucky here and there and get a few bucks!

But I’m not talking about seasonal traffic. Traffic that is consistent is the meat you want to chew.

How do you get traffic?

I’m the guy of SEO and marketing. So you know what my answer would be, right?

But if you don’t know about SEO, you better try alternative weapons like social media or guest posts itself.

Social media sites like Pinterest can be the Holy Grail of traffic if done right. And guest posts will always be classic. Not only does it bring you traffic, it adds value to your backlink profile as well.

But if you want to see results for the long term, I suggest you take both SEO and social media together. Try to build a brand and people will have more reasons to visit you. I had a small site that focused on celebrity biography.

It used to get somewhere around 30k traffic per month and made at least 30k from Adsense, Infolinks, and sponsored posts.

Not much to be proud of but for a test out this was a great success.

[Read: 3 Ways to Boost Your Success with Online Writing Jobs]

2. Use Fiverr

Earning $4 from Fiverr sounds dumb.

I felt the same.

But Fiverr can be a great addition to your revenue sources.

The best part?

You have free content to work with.

I have used Fiverr mostly for buying purposes. But it can be really efficient for sellers too.

If you run a blog that has decent metrics, you can offer a guest post gig.

Whether you have a tech blog or auto blog, there is always room for guest posts gigs.

Although the quality of content may not be really compelling, the output is decent to keep you happy.

Here is one hat tip I can give you:

Put more focus on getting to Level 2. Because that’s where things start to happen organically.

Getting to Level Two from One isn’t too hard at all.

All you need to do is ask your friends to buy your gigs and review them.

If you need to jump from level 2 to 3, you need to spend more.

Or if you want to do things manually, spend time on buyers’ requests.

And hope the buyers take your gig.

There are guest posts gigs who have over 5k reviews so you can assume how much you can earn as well.

3. Bonus alternative: Flip the blog

Well, I know it’s horrendous.

But it’s one way to grab quick bucks to focus on a different niche.

I have owned sites in niches like entertainment, lifestyle, and online marketing.

And, I have flipped it every time, I felt like it was time!

However, you should know the worth of your site.

It depends on three variables:

Traffic

Revenue

Niche

So, if these things are going for you, expect a good price for your site.

The entertainment blog that made $300 went through a price of $4000.

So, that was a good ROI.

For small sites, you can go with Flippa to take care of the business.

Whether you are a regular blogger or a seasoned one, these tips can certainly generate you a healthy stream of a paycheck.

If you have any questions, drop it in the comments below.

Writer’s Bio

Amin is an online marketer who likes to wear different hats from freelance writer to WordPress Development. He builds websites and flips them for a living. One of Amin’s blogs is Spockandchristine.com. You can contact Amin at seonerdy@gmail.com if you have any queries. If you want him to write for you, the above email is how you can reach to him.

Author: Amin Ghale

Host Blogger’s Comments:

I hope you are as excited by Amin’s money-making strategies as I am. Now that you know how to make money with a blog, which strategy will you try first?

Do you already know how to make money with a blog? Which methods would you recommend to bloggers trying to monetize?

Readers, please share so other bloggers read Amin’s tips and learn how to make money with a blog.

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