Make $$$ Blogging

One of the biggest questions I get asked is “what can I do to start earning money by blogging?”.

Most people start out with blogging simply to blog about their daily life and end up finding they have a niche in which draws additional readers to their blog.

I say, if you are going to blog, why not make a little extra income while you do it!

You can make money blogging by offering advertising space, reviewing products, creating sponsored posts, and becoming an affiliate for brands you already blog about.

Below are some of the companies I use to make a little extra income on the side. While some include affiliate links, these are companies that I regularly use and recommend. I have tried them out and they are legit!

Sponsored Posts

Sponsored posts are when a company either pays you to write a post about them or provides a pre-written post for you to publish. One of the easiest ways to get started with sponsored posts is to sign up with companies that I like to call “marketplaces”. These companies partner with all different kind of brands and use the profile you create to match you up. It’s like a dating service for publishers and brands. Once you have enough readers, brands will find you directly, but until them, these marketplaces are a great way to get your feet wet.

Cooperatize – You start by creating an account and profile. Once they have matched you up with a brand, they will email you. You then accept or decline the invitation to apply to the brand. Once you have been accepted for that brands sponsored content, you submit a rough draft and then publish it on the date that the brand provides. They also provide a quick payout!

MassiveSway – Easy to sign up, there is not certain page view requirement and your application is accepted right away. Make sure to fill out your profile completely. Once you get to your dashboard, click campaigns to see if there are any you can apply for.

Linqia – Easy to sign up and they will email you when a campaign is ready. Payment amount is based on the amount of clicks you receive. Requirements to join are that your blog must be home & garden or parenting based and must be in the USA. You must also have 2500+ Twitter or Facebook followers.

Influenster – Ok, so I am in LOVE with this company. You won’t get paid for making blog posts, however, they do send you stuff to try out for free (that you get to keep). They will notify you when you are eligible for a campaign. Once you receive the item, you do certain tasks in order to earn a badge. The badge is really nothing more than bragging rights, but the more you complete the more you become eligible for campaigns. I have been with them a year and I love them!

Advertising

Blogs are essentially websites and should be treated as such. Once you have your blog set up and ready to rock, I suggest offering advertising space. As your blog grows you will be able to sell advertising to companies and individuals through your blog itself, but until then I suggest signing up with an advertising platform (such as those listed below). After you sign up, you simply copy and paste the code and forget about it. Make sure the theme you are using (assuming you use wordpress) has advertising spots to make things simpler. I suggest using the genesis framework for wordpress as their themes come with advertising space.

Google Adsense – This is by far the most popular advertising program for websites and also the most strict. Not everyone that applies is accepted but it definitely doesn’t hurt to give it a try. I have been using them since 2003 and get regularly monthly checks deposited into my bank account.

Media.net – I just found these guys and actually prefer them due to their clean ad designs and their ads seems to be more relevant. It’s easy to sign up and get started.

Review Products/Books

Ok, so why you typically won’t make money, you do get free stuff to try out, which to me is pretty much the same. All of these sites cost NOTHING to sign up for and I have used personally so I can vouch for them. Obviously, you should only review products that you would typically use/read and that fit with your niche for your blog.

Blogging For Books – Easy to set up and request a book for review. Has a ton of titles in all genres!

Influenster – I am listing this again because really it fits better in this category.

Tyndale Blog Network – This is another book review company that is Christian based (fiction, bibles, and non-fiction).

BookLook Blogger – Another book review site that is also Christian based as well.

Affiliate Programs

Another great way to earn some extra cash through your blogs is to become an affiliate partner with companies you already blog about. Or the easiest way to become an affiliate is to create an account with shareasale.com as they have 1000’s of companies where you can join their affiliate programs all from one site.

ShareASale – One of the largest and best know affiliate databases. You create an account and then search for companies to advertise all from one website.

LinkShare – This is another popular affiliate database. I will say that I do like LinkShare a little better as it seems easier to use and search for advertisers (at least for me anyway).

Amazon Associates – Amazon makes it super easy to earn a commission off of anything that is on Amazon. I highly suggest joining and also checking out The Selling Family courses to selling on Amazon if you are interested in selling any products or ebooks you create on Amazon.