How to Earn Money With a Blog January 19, 2015

2 Ways to Earn Money With a Blog

Hello friends, most of you know that I teach basic blogging classes for The Money School of Delaware and in these classes students want to know if they can make money with a blog.  No, you can’t “make money” with a blog, the only place to make money around here is at the Franklin Mint, but you can earn money with a blog.

You can’t, however, simply start a blog thinking you’ll earn money right out of  the gate because blogging is not a “quick get rich scheme” nor should you start a blog simply to earn money.

Blogging is not hard work, but maintaining a blog is hard work, it takes time, dedication and passion, but you can do it.  In this post I am going to give you just 2 ways in which to earn money with a blog. These have been the easiest and most basic ways in which I have found to be successful, and by success I mean a few hundred dollars per week which isn’t bad for a side gig as far as I’m concerned:

Affiliate Programs

Once you sign up with an Affiliate Program, such as Panthera, ShareASale, Glitter Network or Escalate, you’ll choose links for products or services which are embeded with your affiliate code.  If a reader takes action such as clicking on the link; completes a survey; prints a coupon or places an order, you’ll receive a small commission.

Each Affiliate Program has is own guidelines, however, it is relatively free money, not totally free, because you are investing time to write and promote the posts. Choose only merchant links that you think your readers would be interested in or are relevant to your niche otherwise it’s a waste of time.  

You can also email the media department of  a company or business that you support, ask if they offer an affiliate program or check the bottom of the website to see if there’s a link, then sign up.

Sponsored Posts/Product Review

Sponsored posts and product reviews are the ones that I have the most fun with and have earned the most money. After signing up with a media company such as Linqia, Vibrant Nation, Social Fabric or Blue Print Social, you can apply for sponsored post campaigns. I actually starting writing my own reviews for products that I purchased because it enabled me to sharpen my writing skills and using hashtags to promote the post on Social Media got the attention of some companies, i.e. Jennie-O Switch Circle.

Speaking of Social Media, stay active to increase your following which helps when applying for campaigns, numbers don’t always count, but they sure do help. 

Influenster, CrowdTap, Tomonson, are others that offer free products to review and Expotv.com helped me break into YouTube.  I am now doing product reviews as well as a weekly “Brunch with Blake” vlog on Sundays, check out my first one.

There are obviously many other ways in which to earn money with a blog, but oftentimes too much information can be overwhelming and frustrating, besides slow and steady wins the race.  

As a wife and mother who works outside of the home with a 3-hour daily commute to work, I don’t have the time nor the energy to take in a lot all at once, so please let me know if you have any questions.  

By the way, clicking on any of these links or banners might buy me a cup of coffee and a donut!