How to Monetize Your Blog: Top 10 Options

Blogging may have started as a part of your business, a way to vent, or simply a way to keep family updated. Regardless of the original purpose, you can learn how to monetize your blog and make money.

Many of you own a blog or website related to a business you are running and for some of you, your blog is your business but either way there are several ways you can you use your blog to make money. We will explore in detail how to monetize your blog in future posts but for now we will explore the different options. For blogs related to a business, be sure that any different advertising or links you use to monetize your blog are relevant and consistent with your business message and image.

1. Ad Networks- Easy option to monetize but must have a certain level of traffic established before you are accepted usually.
2. Google AdSense- Also an easy option but pay is based on clicks
3. Affiliate Networks/Links- Find one that fits your blog and this could be a very easy way to monetize your blog
4. Sponsored Posts- This one depends a lot on what your blog/business is about. You don’t want to inundate your readers with sponsored content irrelevant to your blog.Making money off of a sponsored post is not worth losing readers.
5. Sell Ad Space- You can sell ad space on your own without Google and have more control over how much you charge and what ads to run.
6. Ad companies that pay per impression- Some other ad companies pay per impression instead of per click
7. Write an ebook about something you are knowledgeable about and sell it on your blog. You can even start your own affiliate program and let other bloggers help you sell it too.
8. Reach out to brands and businesses relevant to your blog/business. You may be able to work out a relationship working as a brand ambassador for them.
9. Use the writing on your blog to get other freelance writing/blogging jobs that pay well.
10. Paid Reviews-Similar to sponsored posts but you receive payment to review and give your opinion on a product/service/business/etc.

Learning how to monetize your blog also includes learning a lot about keywords and driving traffic to your site. Without traffic running ads will not pay much and you will also not qualify for most of the paid posts, reviews or ad networks. For newbies just starting out, be patient and establish the image and feel you want your blog to have. Work on gaining an audience first and then you can start to use many of these techniques to monetize your blog.