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Making money from blogging is a dream for many writers. Even without much experience running a digital platform, it’s possible for hobbyists and enthusiasts to turn a passion for writing into a healthy income stream. Average earnings for professional blog creators can be on a par with the annual median salary for writers in the United States—$69,510 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
So, it’s possible to make money from your blog. It just means committing to a strategic approach, including choosing the right topic and deciding how you want to generate revenue. Read on for our comprehensive guide to choosing your blog niche and getting started with affiliate marketing, sponsored blog posts, and selling ad space and products through your blog.
Choosing a blog niche
One of the most important factors in running a successful blog is choosing the right niche. The aim is to write about something that will appeal to the maximum number of potential readers so that you can build their loyalty and grow your audience.
It can be tricky to find success with a blog that covers a lot of different topics, which tends to divide your audience, or with a blog that covers a topic that’s too broad, which might struggle to find loyal readers. A blog that dives deep into a single niche, on the other hand, attracts a target audience of like-minded people and continually gives them specific, valued information.
Working within a niche can help to grow the popularity of your blog as you become recognized by search engines as a subject matter expert (SME) who authoritatively delivers content that your audience trusts. The more expert content you create, the higher your blog can rank when people search related topics and keywords.
Here are some tips for choosing the right blog niche:
Choose a niche you’re passionate about. If you care about the subject, you’ll want to write about it, so it will feel more like fun than work.
Choose a niche you’re knowledgeable about. Posting articles that aren’t well-researched can hurt your reputation as a writer. The most successful bloggers back up their opinions with credible sources, which signals to search engines that the blogger is credible, too.
Choose a niche that’s potentially profitable. If you choose a niche that a lot of people want to read about, but isn’t already being blogged about, then your blog has a better chance of becoming popular—which maximizes your chance at making money from your work.
Do some research into prospective niches by finding out what’s already online. Also, consider using a keyword research tool to see how many people are searching for keywords related to those niches. It will be easier to start planning and rolling out your blog content once you have a clear understanding of your niche and where it fits into the current content landscape.
Learn more about how to choose a blog niche
Starting an affiliate marketing blog
Writing about products on your blog is a great way to build an audience, because many people search the internet looking for reviews and how-to guides to see how products perform in real life. Writing about products also gives you an opportunity to make money by joining an affiliate marketing program.
Affiliate marketing gives content creators—including bloggers—a chance to share products they enjoy on their own platforms. They do this by sharing custom links to the site where visitors can purchase the products they’re sharing. Whenever a blog visitor clicks through to the brand’s retail site and buys the product, the blogger gets a percentage of the payment.
Today, many large companies run affiliate marketing programs, which give affiliates everything needed to start promoting their favorite brands. For example, Squarespace has its own affiliate marketing program that rewards creators who successfully promote Squarespace products on their digital platforms.
Determine which brands you’d like to promote by deciding whose products you’d write about even if you weren’t doing so professionally. Then reach out to the companies that make those products and see if they run an affiliate marketing program. You might even consider setting up an online store to display your affiliate products for easy browsing.
Selling sponsored blog content
When you have a large and engaged following, it means that many followers trust your opinion, share your content, and continually return to your blog for advice. And when that happens, brands will start to take notice. That’s because they know a good promo from you could influence the popularity of their products. You can reach out to these brands and ask them if they’d like you to write about their products for a fee, or someone from a brand may reach out to you themselves. This process is what’s known as sponsored content.
Sponsored content appears on your blog much in the same way that regular content does—same tone of voice, same style, and so on. The only difference is that you’re being paid to write it, rather than writing it purely for fun or to provide information. Let your audience know that they’re reading sponsored content every time you post it, for legal reasons and to maintain your readers’ trust.
There are a few helpful guidelines to follow if you’re thinking about creating sponsored content on your blog:
Choose sponsors with products you already enjoy and who fit your niche. This will build trust with your audience, so they know you’re endorsing products you genuinely love. Plus, this makes it more likely that readers in your niche will be interested in those products.
Target businesses that are already sponsoring your competitors. Research your competitors’ blogs to find out their sponsors. After all those sponsors have already proven they’re interested in sponsoring great content in your niche.
Put together a media kit that sells the benefits of sponsoring your content. If you can show potential sponsors that your blog gets lots of traffic, fits their brand goals, and is continually updated with high-quality content, they’ll be more likely to work with you. A one-sheet media kit demonstrating these things is all it should take.
Once you have your sponsorship plan in place, you can reach out to your chosen brands’ marketing divisions and find out who to speak to about sponsored content. Whether they’re a global company or a digital-savvy startup, brands are always keen to explore new opportunities to market their products, so be brave and pitch your content proposal with confidence.
Selling ad space on your blog
Blogs that reach a high number of regular visitors will be attractive to advertisers selling products related to your niche. This is another money-making opportunity for you as a blogger.
Factors that brands may consider before advertising with you include:
How many people visit your site per month
How long they stay on each page before clicking away
How many pages they visit
Whether the design of your blog meets their brand standards
Whether your blog has defined spaces within which to place ads
You can find many of these data points in your website’s analytics panel.
So, if you want to attract potential advertisers:
Keep an eye on your blog analytics.
Write engaging content that keeps visitors reading.
Hyperlink your posts to other relevant pages to get visitors clicking around your site.
Create a polished website to host your blog.
Grow your social media following as further evidence of your popularity.
There are a number of different ways people can advertise on your blog. One of the most popular is known as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. This is when a third-party company bids for ad space on relevant blogs on behalf of its clients. The highest bidder wins the space and the blogger takes a cut of the advertising revenue. You can set up PPC advertising on your Squarespace website if you have a Business or Commerce plan.
PPC is just one way to set up ads on your blog. Another option is to sell your own ad space directly to companies. It’s a bit more work, as you’ll have to reach out directly to businesses’ marketing divisions to sell the benefits of advertising with you.
However, there are two clear benefits of this model:
You can set your own pricing for ad space.
You keep all the money spent on advertising on your blog.
You can sell different types of ad space, such as:
Display ads, which make money based on how many impressions they receive
Banner ads, which give you the chance to increase your pricing based on your blog’s traffic
Popup ads, which also make money based on the number of impressions, but can interrupt your visitors’ browsing experience
Whichever ads you choose to display on your blog, try not to overwhelm your audience, or they may choose to visit a blog with fewer ads instead.
Learn how to sell ad space on your blog
Make money selling products and services on your blog
Selling things using your blog is a direct way to generate income. A blog isn’t an ecommerce platform in and of itself. Rather, it’s like you’re running an online magazine where people can find useful content or get updates on a particular topic. But your blog’s content can inspire people to purchase the products and services you write about. A great way to make money is to sell those products and services yourself—right on the same website where you blog.
Imagine you’re a writer, consultant, or designer creating a blog based on a particular area of expertise. Your blog will likely show readers aspects of your profession that you have a wealth of knowledge about. As a result, some visitors may want you to do some work for them. Encourage your audience to ask about working with you by adding buttons throughout your posts suggesting that they reach out.
You might decide to go even further and sell digital products that encourage your audience to learn from you. After all, if they’re loyal and regularly visit your blog for hints, tips, and advice, they clearly trust your expertise. Digital products include things like whitepapers, exclusive photography, and design templates. You could even have a members-only area to sell classes and courses or gated blog posts. Digital products are a low-overhead form of passive income because you don’t have to manufacture or ship physical items or store any inventory.
Finally, you might want to consider selling physical products on your blog. If you write about certain products, anyone interested in those products will be grateful for the chance to buy them from you. Alternatively, creators with a strong brand and connection to their audience might be able to sell custom merchandise.
Once you set up an online store, you can even drop ship products from a third-party wholesaler so you don’t have to manage the stock yourself. Drop shipping is an order fulfillment model where you purchase inventory only when someone makes a purchase; the third-party handles the shipping on your behalf.
Making money from blogging isn’t a quick win and will take time, commitment, and a knack for creating consistently excellent content. If your blog gains a large audience, however, and if you explore all the different avenues that open up to you, you may find that it turns into a lucrative business.