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Disclaimer: The information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.
Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through these links, at no cost to you.
There are many ways you can earn money with your blog, including:
🌷 1. Display Ads
A good ad network that I recommend for beginners is Google AdSense, where you can earn based on clicks or impressions (when ads are displayed on the screen). You will need to sign up for a Google Analytics account and link it to the AdSense.
🌻 Tip: To improve your changes of getting accepted to AdSense, you’ll want to have an original blog & high quality info. Some people do wait a little before applying so they can build up some traffic first.
Some other good options I recommend for when you’ve built some traffic:
- Monumetric (requires 10,000 monthly views)
- SHE Media (requires 20,000 monthly views)
- Mediavine (requires 50,000 monthly views)
- AdThrive (requires 100,000 monthly views)
🌷 2. Affiliate Marketing
You can apply to be an affiliate with many different companies and if approved, you can place affiliate links in your blog articles and earn a commission when someone clicks on the link and makes a purchase. Remember, you *MUST* disclose an affiliate disclaimer at the top of the article (or pin, post, etc.) as it's an FTC legal requirement (refer back to the Pinterest Affiliate Marketing section). Some popular Affiliate networks are:
- ShareASale
- Awin
- CJ Affiliate
- Impact
- PartnerStack
- Amazon Associates
🌻 Tip: In addition to the affiliate networks above, you can also go directly to a company’s site and see if they have an affiliate program (the link is usually at the bottom of the page on the website) since some companies manage affiliates themselves and do not partner with an affiliate network.
Here is a list of 140+ niche ideas for affiliate programs: https://www.authorityhacker.com/best-niches-affiliate-marketing/
🌷 3. Online Courses
Creating & selling your own courses is an awesome way to help others and earn income. If you’re knowledgeable in a certain topic, such as programming, test prep, skincare, candle, or soap making, musical instrument playing, finance, gardening, sewing, math, DIY, real estate, etc. ... the list goes on - you can create courses to sell. Here are my 2 favorite course platforms:
- Podia: beginner-friendly, you can have everything in one place: a website, blog, store, email marketing, landing pages, unlimited products, and it also comes with email service, also comes with Google Analytics, you can sell things like courses, digital downloads, and more (**Podia is good for having everything - your site and business - in one place.)
- Thinkific: a good platform with more advanced course features where you can create and sell unlimited courses, includes site builder with landing pages, analytics, paid memberships on certain plans, sales tools, etc., steeper learning curve than Podia (**Thinkific is good for creating courses but having your main website elsewhere.)
You can also create and sell courses on a marketplace like Udemy, which has an already built-in audience.
🌷 4. Coaching/Consulting Services
If you have expertise in a certain area, you can offer coaching or consultation. You can use tools like Calendly and Acquity Scheduling so customer can book sessions through your website. You can also use Eventbrite or Zoom for meetings and calls.
🌷 5. Podcast
These are audio or video episodes where you can discuss any topic you want and listeners can subscribe. You can check out Spotify’s guide to starting a podcast here: https://creators.spotify.com/resources/how-to/start-a-podcast
🌷 6. Email Marketing
You can use an email marketing newsletter campaign to advertise your products once you’ve built an email subscriber list (refer to the Strategies for Growing Blog Traffic section).
🌷 7. Subscription Membership
You can offer services or content where your subscribers pay to access. Many YouTubers and other content creators use subscription platforms like Patreon.
🌷 8. Donations
Platforms like ‘Buy Me A Coffee’ and ‘Ko-fi’ allow your audience to show financial support.
🌷 9. E-Commerce
E-commerce is a great way for you to sell digital and/or physical products online. The best option for Wordpress(.org) that I recommend is ‘WooCommerce.’ It's a very powerful plug-in that allows you to have a full online store. There are so many possibilities with Wordpress - you can customize it in many ways. If you choose not to go with Wordpress, there are other e-commerce options available:
🌸 My Recommended Non-Wordpress eCommerce Platforms for Online Businesses:
- Amazon Professional Seller: Amazon is the largest E-commerce platform in the world. If you choose to use FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon), Amazon will handle the fulfillment for you but you'll need to have inventory stored in their warehouse. If you choose FBM (Fulfillment By Merchant), you would handle more tasks. But, if you choose to use Print-on-Demand, then you won't need inventory (we’ll discuss it next). The fee for Professional Seller Account is $39.99/mo. to list unlimited items. There is also an Individual Seller Account with no fee but Amazon takes $0.99 cents per item that you sell.
- Etsy: Like Amazon, Etsy also has a marketplace. It is known for handmade, vintage products, and more. Its platform is very easy to use. There can be a lot of competition, but if you’re a creative person, you may really enjoy Etsy. (I've purchased from Etsy things like handmade soap, paper flowers, bracelets, stationery, and more. I like Etsy a lot!)
- Wix eCommerce: Wix does not have a built-in audience like the ones above so you'll have to promoting your store. Wix is great for beginners! There's multi-channel selling, which means that you can also sell on multiple places like Facebook, Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Wix will handle the operations for you, and unlike Amazon/Etsy/eBay, you'd have your own domain name and website.
- BigCartel: BigCartel doesn't have a marketplace either but but it’s very simple to use and you'd have your own store. It is good for those who want something more simple.
***For many of the options above, you can also connect to and sell on Google Shopping :) Such as with BigCartel, Ecwid etc. You'll just first need to sign up for a Google Merchant Center account. I believe that you'll first need a store with a paid custom domain (such as " MyStoreName[dot]com). You can read more on the official Merchant Center page here.
🌸 E-commerce Product: Digital
Here are some ideas for products and where you can sell them:
- E-books: Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) is one of the easiest ways for beginners to self-publish. Ebooks don’t even have to be very long. For example, you can even publish a 10 page recipe book or a short guide of fitness exercises. In order to earn a 70% royalty on each book, it must be priced at least $2.99.
- Printables: You can create greeting cards, planners, homeschool materials, etc. and sell on marketplaces like Etsy, Gumroad or your own online store. You can use CanvaPro (my favorite) to create them.
- Digital Art: You can create art in a software like ProCreate (for iPad) and sell on places like Etsy, Canva Element Creator library, Creative Market, and/or your own site.
🌸 Drop-shipping
This is when your customer places an order and a 3rd party supplier ships it to your customer. For example, Amazon FBA is considered drop-shipping: in this case you *will* have inventory stored at Amazon's warehouse. But, if you're using Print-on-Demand, there is zero inventory.
🌸 Print-On-Demand
Print-on-Demand (POD) is a type of e-commerce drop-shipping where you upload your designs onto products and a 3rd party fulfiller prints and ships orders for you. You'd likely handle customer service, but it depends on the platform you go with. We'll go over this more in the next article.
Go to next --> E-commerce: Print-on-Demand
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