Secrets of How Top Bloggers Make Money Online

Have you ever wondered how bloggers make money online with their blogs? Did you ever think you can make money online at all? Crazy as it may sound to some of you, there are bloggers who do this on a daily basis mostly on auto-pilot. I’m not talking about $100 a month but millions a year. Although I haven’t been blogging to make a living full time, I have been in the background of the game. How? Glad you asked. I come from a web design and development background. So I had the opportunity to help out lot of bloggers including my wife and companies get their blogs running. This led me to learn quite a lot of tips & tricks of the trade, which I’m going to share with you. That’s not all; I’m going to implement these on this blog too. So it’s going to be a journey and I’m glad to have your company.

There are several (yes, several) ways to making money from a blog. Blogs may or may not use all of these methods on their blogs. However, these are the most common ways to make money from a blog. If you are thinking of using these on your own blog, it’s best to try each and see what works best for you. It’s a trial and error but you can learn from others’ mistakes too.

There are few things that determine which methods will work for blogs:

• Niche – This is the main topic of the blog. Depending on the niche, bloggers may attract different audiences who prefer one method over the other.
• Blog Design – The design of the blog can lead a reader to take an action on one of the methods.
• Content – The article content can direct a reader to take an action such as purchasing a product. If the reader makes a purchase, the blogger may earn a commission from the seller.

I’m sure there’s a science behind what method will work best but that is a whole different topic. So for now, I will show you the top secrets as to how do bloggers make money online.

How Do Bloggers Make Money Online

Make Money Blogging With Display Ads

This is one of the most commonly used approaches to making money from a blog. I bet you have seen these ads on the blogs you read or on some of the mainstream sites like Forbes. Displaying ads on websites is like showing commercials during a TV show. Except when you click on an advertisement, the blogger or the site may get paid a certain amount for the referral. Readers may not always have to click an ad. The number of times an ad is displayed too may earn the blogger a certain amount.

There are quite a few ad networks out there for publishers. Some of the most popular ones are Google Ads, MediaVine and ShareASale. The amount the blogger earn can range from anywhere from couple bucks a month to 1,000’s of dollars. There are few factors affecting how much a blogger can earn from display ads. Some of them are the number of visitors to the blog, relevance of the ad to the audience and how competitive the niche is. Only way the blogger can make money from display ads is if the readers find the ad relevant to them. Otherwise there is no reason for the reader to click on an ad. This is why display ads may not work well for every blog.

Only way the blogger can make money from display ads is if the readers find the ad relevant to them. Otherwise there is no reason for the reader to click on an ad. This is why display ads may not work well for every blog.

How To Make Money Blogging With Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the top ways bloggers make money online. What is affiliate marketing anyway? Simply put, just like any other marketing, it is the process of promoting a product or service to the audience. If someone buys the product or service from the promo link, the blogger will earn a commission. It is like a referral program. MaxBounty is a popular affiliate network that provide affiliates with offers.

There are lot of products and services out there. Not everybody knows about every product out there. Bloggers usually review lot of these and find the best ones. Then they promote what they think will help their readers. A lot of the reviews you read about a product will help you buy something you’ve been looking for. So it is a win-win.

How can a blogger actually use this?

When the writer is already familiar with a product or think their audience will find it useful, they simply add a link to that product. It’s not a direct link however, but a special link that identifies each blogger. This is so the product owner or the affiliate management network knows who to pay the commission for. This special link is called an affiliate link. When someone follows the affiliate link and buy that product or service, the blogger gets paid a commission.

Commission percentage can vary from product to product. Sometime it can be as low as 5% to as high as 80%. Of course selling just one product per month won’t make the blogger rich unless they sell a Lamborghini every month. But when multiple people buy the product via their affiliate link, commissions add up. Although I’m quite familiar with affiliate marketing, I’m following Michelle Schroeder-Gardners’s Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing online course. Did you see what I did there? That was an affiliate link. I promote it because I use it myself and think it will be useful for make money blogging for beginners. Michelle earns over $100,000 a month. That’s a lot! This is one of the best examples as to how do bloggers make money online.

Sell E-Books

Blogging is not something taught in school. So it’s something you do out of passion; mostly; I think. That was so vague, I know. What I’m trying to say is bloggers have other skills too. They come from various walks of life. For example I come from a web development, SEO, social media and programming background. I also have a Master’s Degree. So I know a fair bit of stuff other than blogging. OK who am I kidding? I’m great at my other stuff. I bet you too have skills that someone can benefit from be it photography, arts & crafts, pet grooming, child care and much more.

How can one actually use their skills online?

One of the best ways to share ones knowledge it is through a book. In this day and age – an ebook. I love reading ebooks on my phone. When I’m waiting for something or during lunch hour at work, I open up an ebook and read it. Amazon Kindle – a dedicated device for reading is proof how many people love reading. Quite a lot of bloggers create ebooks to teach a skill they know. Creating an ebook is a one-time thing but can earn the blogger money for years to come on auto-pilot.

Teach A Course

Ebooks are not the only way to share ones knowledge with others. Online courses are another popular method. There is handful of sites that has made a name for selling online courses. StackSocial, Udemy, Linda.com are some of the popular ones. People go to these sites to find courses that help them achieve something. Be it a new skill required for career improvement or something to help with their business or hobby. For example I’m following Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing to learn some more on that topic.

But what is involved? Picking a topic to create the course is the first step. It should be easy as it most probably is a topic you are familiar with. Then teach the course step by step. These courses can be sold at above mentioned educational networks for on the blog itself. Whenever a student signs up for the course, the blogger earns money. Best thing about teaching a course it, the blogger has to make it once. Whatever the blogger earns after is on auto-pilot.

Provide A Service

When you’re blogging and/or self employed, you are not limited to one thing. Other than making money through the blog, the blogger can sell services.

What exactly can a blogger sell?

If you’re good at writing, you can be a freelance writer. There are lot of companies and individuals who pays a lot for good content writers. One of my friends charges a minimum $200 per article for couple hours of work. It’s around $100 per hour. Not bad, eh?

If you have good organization skills, knack for social media, email etc., you can become a Virtual Assistant. People are busy with what they love doing but there are still things they must do but rather not do themselves. This is where the role of Virtual Assistants comes in to play.

Since I’m pretty good at web design, mobile optimization, WordPress, search engine optimization, page load speed etc., I sell these services in my spare time. Right now I’m not taking any large projects but if you need help with something, hit me up with your requirements.

These are only few examples but bloggers make money by providing services like this.

Sell Stock Photos

The number of websites keeps growing at an exponential rate. For instance every passing minute a whopping 571 websites are created. That’s hundreds of thousands of websites per year! All these websites require all sorts of photos. Not everyone will take their own photos for the website. This is why stock photo sites like iStock and Shutterstock exist. With a constant demand for fresh stock photos these sites are an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of photography.

If a blogger is also good at taking photos (iPhone photography doesn’t count. I know, I tried too), this is an opportunity to earn a residual income online. How this works is, you submit your photos to a category requested. Once approved, it will be available for others to purchase. Every time someone purchases your photos, you earn a royalty fee. So a photo you submit today will earn you money even after 10 years without you doing anything. Pretty sweet, right?

There you have it. Some secrets of how bloggers make a decent living online. Seems easy but like with anything that pays, you have to provide a value. Just like you wouldn’t buy anything that doesn’t provide a value – be it knowledge, income potential, career advancement or pure joy, others may not too. So it’s important to provide something valuable others can really make use of. If you can do that, you too can earn money blogging online.