One of the great things about the blogosphere is innovation, and the fact that there is an almost unlimited number of ways you can make money blogging.
One glance around the web shows such variety in terms of the way bloggers approach their audiences and provide them with value.
Image courtesy of stock.xchng user danzo08
The thing is, all that choice can be overwhelming. Those looking to being monetizing their blogs can be put off by the profusion of choices. Those who are thinking of extending their current monetization strategies can often fall back on tried and tested—but not necessarily optimal—methods simply because it’s so difficult to navigate the information around new ones.
So this week, we’re going to look at some of the more common blogging business models in depth.
The five six blog business models
Starting today, six pro bloggers will explain the ins and outs of the business model they’re successfully using to monetize their blogs.
Their insights will give you valuable ideas about how different business models might work with your own blog, niche, and audience.
Here are the business models we’ll cover—and the individuals who’ll share their experiences with us. Each day I’ll be updating this list with the link to the current days’ post, so you can bookmark this post to access them all:
- Landing public speaking gigs through your blog, with Marcus Sheridan of The Sales Lion
- Selling your print book through your blog, with Kevin Cullis of MacStartup
- Selling electronic products, with me, focusing on dPS
- Affiliate marketing, with Anshul Dayal of Nichesense
- Selling training and courses, with Jules Clancy of The Stone Soup.
Update: we’ve just received a bonus post for the series:
- Selling consulting services, with Ash Ambirge of The Middle Finger Project.
I’ll also be supplementing these articles and interviews with resource lists for further research for those interested in finding out more about that business model.
I hope you’ll find this advice useful, and that it inspires you to look at your blog’s money-making potential in a fresh light.
Before we begin, let us know if you’re already monetizing your blog, and how. Share your strategies with us in the comments.
Affiliate marketing, selling my own products and services is what I do to monetize my online biz through my blog. Looking forward to what the biggies got to say :)
Hello,
I have recently created a blog chronicling my progress and the steps I take to accumulate views and subscribers. The purpose of the blog is to create an actual diary of the events I take to promote the page and the direct results of those actions such that the information can be later interpreted and applied to future endeavors. Any advice and or comments are welcome
Thanks
thebloggstory.blogspot.com
Affiliate Marketign is a good choice for both newbie and pro, with ads model I think it works well with adsense, more effective than private ads
Yes, I am! Through banner advertising, sponsored posts, brand ambassadorships, speaking engagements and freelance writing. I could not have even imagined this for my business plan four years ago.
You’re right Darren. They are many ways to make money blogging, and you can just get lost in that stuff!
Thanks for listing each type of making money and who is the prime example of it.
Take the shackles off of your mind and look for opportunities around you by serving others with your experience. I consulting with a person a few years ago that his “industry” was shrinking and all of his experience was “going to waste.” I suggested speaking into a recorder and hand that recording off to a transcriptionist and then to an editor to produce a book. We don’t want to lose all of that valuable life skills that he accumulated over his career.
He didn’t think it was worth it, so never took it up.
But if he had done it over time in his career, he’d have a book already done.
It’s about the content, not about the book.
I run a lifestyle blog, RT-Now, which covers the latest stories in entertainment, music, pop culture, and sports. To monetize I use a combination of PPC advertisements mixed with affiliate marketing. Since we cover a wide range of content, it is easier to plug in affiliate products or design posts specifically for one product without it seeming like an advertisement.
Hi Darren,
those are some good ways to gain money online. And you are so right about innovation, it is the core element of this blogosphere environment.
Not so much monetising my blog as adding value to my e-commerce store. I am using my blog to target longer tail searches for my products and services through writing content around those subjects. I’ve never blogged until a couple of months ago, but I am already seeing the massive advantages of combining a blog with my e-commerce store(s).
I was hanging on every word… You describe extremely well.
Hi Darren,
Great advices. I would say that the content and style and design of the blog can make money for you. if you have a good design and responsive design then you can easily attract costumers and make money online by various methods.
I think a person can earn while sleeping from website. ;)
Thanks
Saif
Site is “monetized”…selling my book, and some Adsense ads (which have never paid a cent in 18 months of use). Would like to sell my book and get speaking engagements.
This is about video blogging, covering diseases & their treatment in form of videos, uploading them on YouTube & earning revenue through YouTube partner Prog. I have 5.8 million views generating around 2500 dollars per month…
I use banners,guest posting, social media, etc .. adsense has not paid in 3 years. Willing to try something totally different ! :D
I’m monetizing my blog through paid adverts and affiliate products but mostly through selling my writing services. It would be interesting to read through this new series.
I’ll definitely be waiting for that last one! I’ve seen a lot of people in some forums promoting some tutorials, trainings, courses, and books, and seeing the same thing. They’re sharing a little bit about what they’re trying to sell, an outline of what you’re going to expect, and maybe a little bit of the benefits that the buyer could receive. I hope I’ll be able to learn a lot more from this series!
= Gerald Martin, SEO Reseller =
Hi, I am using affiliate marketing to monetize the blog. However the income is not regular. I look forward to your posts on earning money online. i know there are a lot to learn from you
I use amazon affiliate links and banners. I think that I should offer some type of service. I’m getting certified for coaching in August, so I’ll ad that to the mix. Good to know that adsense doesn’t work anymore because I can’t add it anyway.
I wish you would give a deeper description/charts of the different models, but I guess we can all just follow the links and figure things out.
Thanks!
hello sir i use adsense from last 3 months but my adsense CPC is too low can you please tell me what can i do ?
Commit suicide!
i am doing it through banner advertising,video blogging and freelance writing.the ideas that you shared are very informative .i would like to implement it through this way too.
thanks for sharing.
I’d rather focus on providing services. In my openion it’s more profitable but it’s needs much time for coordination.
Thanks Darren!
Hello Darren
I was wondering what your position is re: another blog post I found on your site stating “As Michael Stelzner said at Blogworld, “You’re not a blogger, you’re a publisher!”…
Call me old fashioned, but if one has a blog, why pretend it is something else? I can understand that ‘marketing’ etc., is a driving factor for that decision…
I have also been reading a few articles around the web with people saying that it is better to ‘not’ call a given site a blog at all (even if it actually is in fact a blog).
This might also be a factor (at the very outset) in a blog’s (aka ‘not’ a blog’s) chosen business model to make money?
I’d love to know what you think Darren? Thank you very much.
“You’re a blogger, you’re a publisher” is correct. That’s the bigger picture here.
These are all great but for each of them you have to grow a presence and an audience first – when you have that, then surely there are these + many more ways to make money online,
I do make money through consulting services which I was already doing offline & having an online presence has certainly helped, though far from the way in which I expected that it would (largely due to the size & shape of the audience being very different offline & online) – so in my case the challenge is much more about getting the positioning & audience right, then the business model bit I’m sure will be easy – then it will just be a choice.
e.g. I’m sure you could implement any of these models with Problogger if you wanted to – you might not choose to as you want to build your brand a certain way, but having the following you have, you have given yourself plenty of options, right?
Here’s to online business… (chink) :-)
Great blog and some good info Darren. I know few bloggers who have gone into or had experience of public speaking as a result of their blog success so I know your talking sense here. Keep it up…
True words..I am using my blog to share wallpapers and getting traffic from google images and earning good, I like your 4th point.Frankly it’s a genius advice.
These are great ideas and you have to be an innovator. I think you have to sell a product catered to your readers as well
These people are having huge followers like you …!!! But I think, in blogging one must not run after money.. Instead they should work for themselves and later on for their readers.. Money will flow to them surely.. :-)
These are some great ways to make money… I have been trying the advertisement model for quite some time now and I need to try something new.
I am planning to give away a free ebook to get some free publicity. Soon will sell powerpoint premium services just for a change from my medical profession ..
Used to generate a great income from a few websites, now it’s died down – moreso due to not focusing. That’s the #1 thing I recommend: focus!
Hi Darren,
There are many ways to make money blogging, direct advertising, sponsered posts, affiliates links and banner, PPC ads.
Thanks for sharing!
Business blogging is a great way to introduce the importance of using the services you have in an indirect way. I explain the benefits of publishing travel press releases to my audience and this is a proven method helping travel businesses. The more they learn about the benefits, the more they will be likely to buy a travel news distribution package form the site.
I create awareness and provide other information, not only about press releases, and they learn about how to promote their businesses online. This introduces useful content and various methods of online marketing to them. I will build way position firmly as an expert in this regard through blogging and I get the business.
Rahman Mehrbay
TraveList Press Release Distribution
I enjoyed your tips, and everyone’s point of view.
thanks for sharing.
Great blog i will most def share this. i had always wanted to sell affiliate products but was not sure which to choose and how to properly market it. Just so much info on how to make more money, multiple ways love it! thanks again i really appreciate the great info.
kevin
Actually this is quite right.I always used the private advertising but it also seems to be more helpfull.I am really looking forward to it and i am really gonna try these tips.
Blogging gives us an extra opportunity to sell our products online. I always prefer direct marketing for selling products but then I came to know about blogging and just checked my luck. Its really working now.
Selling training courses and ebooks is the gift that keeps giving! Create it, post it and just watch sales just happen. You have to do your fair share of marketing to get potential buyers to see your product/s, but nothing earns you more money online than selling one of your very own homemade products. Its always good to be reminded of this. Nice topic!
I am preparing to provide away a no price e-book to get some no price promotion. Soon will offer ms ms powerpoint top excellent solutions just for a modify from my profession of remedies ..
I have had great success with originating my own products…plus affiliate marketing of course.
i always love reading your post Darren. it’s straight forward, useful and NUTRITIOUS :) I started to learn how to make money online this year. I’m recording videos to let my audience get “closer” with me and my tourism blog. Thanks for the great recommendations and advices, it really helps! CARE :)
I am trying out affiliate marketing to monetize, kinda hard at first but we’ll get there for sure. Now to read each and everyone of those big boys in biz, what they have to share.
Blogging is amazing – it’s just interacting with people and getting visitors to your blog that’s the hard part, but so long as you are real and genuine and do things with integrity and provide great value to people, that shines through :-) I look forward to reading the affiliate marketing and some of the other parts to this series, great post – thank you :-)
Its getting harder day by day to monetize the blog. The biggest problem it comes is traffic. Many bloggers are hit by the recent Google effects. We need very solid strategy to make money through blogging. The links you have given really help in this. Thanks.
There are many creative ways to increase traffic to your website, for example : Improve your search engine ranking by focusing your content on keywords related to your topic , offer free, original, and quality content on your site, give freebies ….
Thanks for the insight. I am looking forward to putting some of the suggestions into practice.
Darren, nearly all of the five or six business models you have discussed to make money are applicable for experienced bloggers or people who have been in the online business for a few years. I don’t think any newbie can go for these straightaway, without knowing the dynamics of blogging in and out. However they can certainly try affiliate marketing as according to me it can be done amateur bloggers as well.
Paid ads is one of those methods for monetising which you can’t neglect, sometimes the kind of blog you have (niche) will determine the best means for monetising, while product sales might work well for affiliate marketing blog, ads might be a better option for a technology blog for instance
Thanks Darren for another power packed blog post excellent stuff!! I also really enjoyed just watching your interview @ social media examiner some real life tips about blogging and getting started online and what to expect
I dont know why bloggers target for money inspite of sharing content. This may be the reason why 80% of blogs cant even rank better because they focus more on Making Money.
Does affiliate marketing (Anshul Dayal) still working since google rolled out google panda and penguin?
I monetize my blog with affiliate marketing and selling my own blog set-up plans. It’s fantastic to become full time online blogger :-D
I always monetize my site with google adsense and infolinks. By the time i earn much money from blogging. keep spirit for us!
Hi, I am a single parent at home trying to figure out how to make money on a website or blogger. Even though I would not know where to start. But, I do prefer to write and have people write on my blog. Can anyone assist me with some real advice on how I should begin.
It is great to have a hub, and know what I have to look for. I will be following these links for the information. Thanks!