5 Easy Ways to Make Money Blogging

How old is your blog? Whether it’s five days or five years, you’ll likely still have the same questions. Why? Because these are ongoing tasks every blogger pursues forever. They are questions about:

• Building your list of followers.
• Finding timely topics.
• Getting ranked by the search engines.
• And… the big one… how to monetize your blog.

It’s that last one I’ll give you a heads up about today.

When you search for something like “make money blogging,” most posts tell you to:

• Create your own courses (that takes some doing!)
• Insert paid ads on your blog (that takes a lot of traffic to earn much)
• Get public speaking gigs (big commitment of time)
• Offer done-for-you services (you’ll be chained to a computer)

And other very complex ideas.

Allow me to offer five simple suggestions that I use daily. They are proven to work and don’t take nearly as much time as all those other convoluted recommendations.

Easy Way to Make Money Blogging #1 – Create Printables from Your Blog Posts

Creating and selling printables is one of the easiest things you can do. What are they? Digital files that your customers buy and then print out on their own printers (thus the name).

While some can get very detailed and complex, here are a few simple ones to consider:

• Checklists
• To-do lists
• Planner sheets
• Word art

Checklists

You can use some of your blog posts to create checklists of a process you described in an article. For example, if your blog post is about training a puppy, your checklist(s) might cover what people need when getting a new puppy. You might have one for what to buy before you bring your new puppy home. Or the steps for potty training a puppy.

To-Do Lists

A to-do list could include a morning routine for your puppy (what to do before you leave for work). Then another for the evening routine.

Search Etsy for “to-do lists”. They don’t have to be very fancy. The idea is to keep them simple and easy to create. You can use Canva templates to get you started with to-do lists or any of the other printables ideas in this section. Then just changed the design a little to fit your needs and enter your new text.

Planner Pages

Create planner pages to guide the steps of people who want to reach a goal like losing weight, stopping smoking or growing their email lists. The planner pages would offer space to quickly outline steps that need to be taken. Again… Etsy will have lots of examples and Canva will have free templates.

You can also buy private label rights (PLR) products and turn them into printables. Just edit them a little bit and sell them IF they come with a commercial rights license. Or create printables from your own blog posts.

Word Art

And word art? That’s one of the easiest printables to make! It’s art made out of words. No, I’m not kidding. Search Etsy for “printable word art” and you’ll be amazed at how beautiful letters can be.

Sell printables individually or as a pack. You can sell them on your own site, or open an Etsy Shop and add them there. Add the links to your blog (in the design elements or in the text of your posts) and you’re set to roll!

Easy Way to Make Money Blogging #2 – Accept Sponsored Posts

If you’ve ever had the words “guest” on your blog, chances are pretty good that you receive requests to put other company’s posts on your blog. These companies may pay a decent amount of money, too.

But you’ll want to watch out for a few things before you agree to post someone else’s content on your blog. You need quality. Poorly written content that isn’t on topic with your niche and only gives a shallow glancing of the details of the subject matter won’t go over well with your audience. 

Consider:

• Whether the content is well-written. (Ask to see it before you agree to anything.)
• If the content is on topic with your niche.
• The length of the post.
• The depth of the content.
• How long they want the post to be on your blog.
• How much you’re being paid.
• When you will get paid.
• What types of links (if any) are inside the post and what types of sites those links go to.

While there are many upstanding companies who will approach you about adding their content to your blog, some will not be reputable. Make sure you ask the right questions to help ensure a mutually beneficial outcome.

Easy Way to Make Money Blogging #3 – Write Sponsored Posts

On the other hand, there are also companies who want you to do the writing. These businesses will ask that you create a review for their product/service or otherwise write about their offerings.

You usually have to seek these folks out by contacting various companies individually. Make a connection, show them some of your work (maybe other sponsored posts you’ve written) and tell them about the results.

Once you both agree that there should be a partnership, you’ll generally be sent the product for free and also be paid for the post.

Easy Way to Make Money Blogging #4 – Incorporate Affiliate Links

Similar to sponsored posts, affiliate links give you a way to promote other people’s products or services and earn a commission on each sale you make.

When you sign up as an affiliate for a business, you’ll be provided with a tracking link that collects data on how many clicks you’ve gotten, any sales and the commission amount. Then, anywhere from once a week to once a month, you’ll be paid what you’re due.

Here’s what to find out before you promote.

• What is the commission rate?
• How often will you be paid?
• Is there a minimum amount you have to earn before you get paid?
• When will you be paid?
• How will you be paid? (Paypal, bank transfer, etc.)
• Are there any in-cart offers or one-time offers that can add to what you make?
• What is the length of the cookie (tracking) when someone clicks your affiliate link?

Then, you might choose to write posts about topics involving the affiliate product and put those on your blog.

Where can you find affiliate products that are a good fit with your list? This will help.

Easy Way to Make Money Blogging #5 – Offer Paid Workshops

You have knowledge about a topic that no one else can duplicate. Whether it’s your detail, your personality, the tricks you can share or a dozen other things. What’s more, people who connect with you might not be able to find someone else who can explain things quite the way you do.

Instead of creating a full-blown product based on your blog content, take the easy way and host a paid webinar instead.

You’ll need:

• Webinar hosting software such as Zoom.
• A laptop, tablet or computer with a camera.
• Notes about what you want to teach.
• A way for people to sign up (Active Campaign Pages is an easy way to make a registration page).
• A way to accept payments (Paypal is a good choice).

You don’t have to have slides if you don’t want to. You can just be on camera and talk.

Choose a very specific topic. Not “how to start an online business.” That’s way too broad and you’d never be able to cover everything. More like “the top 5 things you need to start an online business.”

If you choose to, record the paid webinar and make it available for purchase as a replay later on.

It’s easy, it’s fast and way less complicated than creating a digital product that requires delivery and support.

So, you see, there are some simple ways to monetize your blog. Choose one from this blog post and try it out. Then add one new way every two to four weeks until you’ve tried them all.