A popular internet meme going around last week showed people in their hobbies or jobs. The diagram was broken out into six blocks with various interpretations of how people view what is done in the activity. The truth, or what actually happens, is never as glamorous as the way people view it from the outside.
Blogging is kind of like that. People have blogs for lots of different reasons. Some are business, some personal and some of those folks will ultimately want to monetize their blog.
That’s not a bad thing, but if you’re starting a blog to make money solely with Google Ads you’ll be disappointed very quickly. Here are some ways to make money from your blog that you might not have thought about.
Paid Reviews
If you’re starting a blog to only get free stuff so you can review you’ll be disappointed very quickly. However, once your blog is semi established some companies may reach out to you for product reviews that may be compensated. That route takes a bit longer and requires your blog to have an active presence on multiple social media channels.
Gig Coin is a service that connects bloggers, products and brand ambassadors to one another. If a company has a product that they want reviewed they’ll post the gig on the site. The gig could be anything from trying a certain food, health product, take a survey or evaluate a loan service. If the gig has a certain knowledge base that is required for it then they’ll be sure to mention it in the gig.
There is no fee to sign up for Gig Coin and whenever they have new gigs they’ll send out an email. If you want to apply for the gig, then do so, if not no worries. The gigs will vary as to what they pay. Personally, I’ve done a couple gigs for them that have paid around $45 a gig.
Sponsored posts
Marketing companies may contact you about sponsored posts. These are posts that they may write or ask you to write. The content will vary, but hopefully should be somewhere within the topic range that your blog will talk about.
If you create the post they may pay more. If you post the article they send you it may be easier, but it also may not be the style that suits your blog. One option is to tweak their article so that it fits the voice of your blog.
Sponsored posts are easy, but you’re at the mercy of marketing companies to contact you. The social media presence of your blog needs to be active and across many channels in order to be in a position to get these. Regardless of how you make money with your blog it’s important to always let the reader know that they may be reading sponsored text. The opinions always need to by yours and it’s OK to get paid, just do it so the reader knows.
These are just two of the dozens of ways to make money with your blog. Do you have a favorite way to earn cash with your blog that you like?
