When I think about all the behind-the-scenes tasks that go into running a successful, monetizing blog, it feels overwhelming to me.  You have to optimize for SEO (Search Engine Optimization), research keywords, research your competition, figure out how to get traffic to your blog, share information on social media (Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), apply to affiliate marketing programs and abide by their rules…

The list goes on and on!

Do you feel overwhelmed by all of this too?  I’ve found that the trick to defeating this overwhelm is to just take one task at a time (Trust me, I know that is easier said than done). My hope is to break up the many tasks of blogging into blog posts on this site, to make them more manageable for you.

This blog post answers the question, “Can you make money with a blog?”, and provides monetization methods to reveal the true potential of blogging as a lucrative income source.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Please see my full disclosures page for more information.

First of all, don’t let the to-do list mentioned above overwhelm you to the point that you freeze and don’t do anything.  The first step to monetizing your blog is to get it started and create your blog!

If you come off as sales-y right off the bat, no one is going to trust you. They are going to feel used just so you can make a buck.

You can avoid this by offering valuable and free content first.  For example, here is an ebook that I made in Canva, with step-by-step instructions on “How to create a digital planner”, with PLR (Private License Rights), meaning you can resell the product as your own and it’s free!  So you can make money selling a product that I spent the time making, that you got for free.  Now that is valuable content!

You can give a PLR digital product away as a freebie to grow your audience and email list.   Listen here, people aren’t going to just give you their email address for no reason. 

You need to provide them something of value for their email address. And that something of value just might be a PLR product!

Hey, speaking of which, I have a PLR Digital Planner Design Ebook that I would love for you to have.  It is a step-by-step tutorial on creating your own digital planner in Apple Keynote, that includes tutorials on Etsy SEO, PDF annotation apps, and PLR. 

Have the PLR Digital Planner Design Ebook sent straight to your inbox (check the spam folder if you don’t see it) by filling out the information above.

• • You can also establish trust with your audience by being genuine in your content and blog posts.  I try to insert a little bit of ME in every post that I write, so my readers feel like they are getting to know me.

I want to be your blogging bestie.  The one you come to when you have blogging questions you need answered, or when you are discouraged with your own blog and need some advice. 

• • Along those same lines, you can establish trust with your audience by creating genuine connections with your readers.  How do you do this?  Well you have to interact with them!  Reply to your emails, respond to your comments, and tailor your content to the needs of your readers.

Now that you have set the groundwork for your readers, now let’s discuss possible ways you can monetize your blog.

What is affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketing is when you promote someone else’s product or service, in exchange for earning commission off of sales of that product or service. Clear as mud? Essentially, affiliate marketing allows you to earn a commission off sales of someone else’s product.

NOTE:  It is important that you include an affiliate disclosure   Here are some examples of affiliate marketing:

I feel like this is a great one for beginner bloggers, no matter their niche, because you can find everything on Amazon.  If you are a food blogger, you can link to cookware that you use.

If you are a fashion blogger, you can link to outfit combinations that you created.  If you are a blogging blogger like I am, you can link to a stylus pen you use or any products that you use to create your blog posts (computer, tablet, phone, etc.)

My first blog was a beauty blog, and I frequently recommended beauty products that I used through my Amazon affiliate marketing links.  Amazon is strict about how and where you can share your affiliate link and how you disclose your affiliation with them.

Read up on Amazon’s Affiliate Program Policies here.

You can become an affiliate for the web host of your blog, the theme that you use, programs that you use regularly, or courses that you have taken online that helped you in your business.  I’ve made these things easily accessible on my home page.

This helps my readers know what has personally helped me, and keeps several of my affiliate links in one place.  I became affiliates for these programs/courses because they are what helped me and I feel like they can help you too.

Related: Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course: An Honest Review

You can also monetize your blog by including advertisements on your website.  As of June 2023, this blog does not have advertisements.

However, it is something I am working towards adding to this blog.  It is my opinion though, that ads should not take away from the user experience.

Have you ever visited someone’s blog before, or any website for that matter, and all of these pop-up ads come up?  If that works for you, great, but personally, pop-up ads really irritate me.

You wrote your blog post because you want people to read it, so let them read it!

Clean Media promises to connect you with “clean” advertisers so that you don’t ruin your trust with your audience with irrelevant ads.

In order to qualify for Mediavine ads on your blog, you have to have 50K sessions in the last 30 days per Google Analytics.  But heck shoot, it is worth it.

According to Mediavine’s website, revenue share begins at 75% to the publisher, and can be as high as 90%.

This is Google’s criteria for getting approved for Google AdSense.  They don’t mention a certain number of posts that you have to have, but it has to be enough for them to determine that you have original content.

The payout for Google AdSense depends on the amount of traffic you get, where ads are displayed on your website, etc.  There is a payment model based on per-click commissions at the cost-per-click rate, depending on how many people click on an ad on your site.

There is also a payment model based on per-impression commissions for how many times users see an ad on your site.  This explanation is getting long-winded.

Just know there are several factors that go into how much money you can earn from Google AdSense, so I am not able to calculate it for you.

You can also earn money selling products that you created.  I love creating digital products (digital planners, digital journals, digital templates), printables, ecourses, and ebooks.

Canva is where I go to create most of my digital products, but I also use Apple Keynote.

You can also use Pinterest to link directly to your sales avenue.  For example, you can link a Pinterest pin to link directly to your affiliate marketing link, or directly to a product that you have created yourself.  That’s genius.

Related: Pinterest Marketing Tips for Bloggers

When push comes to shove, the best thing you can do to monetize your blog is to BEGIN.  If you have already pushed past that big step and started your blog, implementing these tips can help you begin to monetize your blog.

Thank you for hanging out with me and reading this blog post.  Have something specific you want to know?  Drop me a comment!

Don’t forget to sign up to have the free PLR Digital Planner Design Ebook sent to your inbox.