9 Ways to Make Money Blogging

So you started a blog. You have good content and you have a marketable idea, but how do you make money off it? Like most bloggers, you are stuck trying to make some money and create a passive income, but the information on how to do that just isn’t out there. Believe it or not, the information is there, just not out in the open. If you are looking to make some money from your blog, check into a few of these passive income strategies:

eBay Affiliates

The eBay Affiliate program provides bloggers with the ability to link products sold on eBay that relate directly to their blog content. These posts can be turned into widgets on the blog or embedded right in the post text. For each item purchased from your blog, you get a percentage (typically 4%) of the earnings.

Amazon Affiliates

Amazon works like eBay, in which you post links to Amazon products on your site. In return, if a customer clicks on a link posted on your blog and purchases the product, you get a percentage of the purchase price. Unlike eBay, Amazon rewards affiliates by productivity. So the more you sell, the higher your percentage.

Google Adsense

Adsense by Google is one of the easiest ways to make money blogging. Some blog sites, like Blogger.com, offer the ability to add an Adsense widget and you are done. Nothing to maintain, nothing to code, the ads show up, users click them and you get paid every so many clicks per advertisement.

Pay Per Click Advertising

Pay per click advertising is just that, you get paid each time someone clicks on an advertisement. Google is the most popular pay-per-click or PPC, but there are others like Yahoo and MSN that offer PPC advertising for bloggers.

CPM Advertising

CPM or Cost Per Thousand (M) are advertising companies that pay bloggers per viewing of their advertisement, rather than clicks. That means that for every 1,000 views of an advertisement on your blog, you get a paid percentage.

CPA Advertising

CPA or Cost Per Action pays out more than PPC or CPM methods, but these require the visitor to actually act. Whether it is signing up for a newsletter, requesting a quote, etc. Most CPAs will pay bloggers $25 to $65 per action, whereas CPMs and PPCs only pay $0.50 to $1.00 per click.

Self-Made Products

You can promote your blog and make some money with self-made products. For example, you host a humor blog. Create funny slogans for t-shirts, coffee mugs and even calendars and sell them directly on your blog as well as other sites. This is a two-in-one since you will promote and make money all in the same action.

Surveys and Polls

There are many companies out there, usually CPMs that will pay you to host surveys and polls on your blog. In return, you will get a share of the earnings. Companies such as Vizu Answers, let you sign up and select a type of poll that is similar to your blog’s content.

Donations

Earn cash for your blog just by asking for donations to keep it running. This method usually only works for blogs that have loyal readers, but also a large fan base. Furthermore, you need interesting content that makes readers want to pay to read more. Ask for small donations and you might be surprised at how large they can get.