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How to Make Money From Your Blog – Direct Methods

Having thought through whether you should blog for money it is now worth taking a look at some of the different models for doing so.

I tend to break the different models that bloggers are using to make money from blogging into two areas – Direct and Indirect methods.

Direct Income Earning Methods – these methods are where a blogger earns an income directly FROM their blog.

Indirect Income Earning Methods – these methods are where a blogger earns an income BECAUSE of their blog.

Most blogs tend to fall into one or the other of these methods – although there is nothing to stop bloggers experimenting with elements of both ( I’ve seen a few bloggers get into trouble with this (example: Scenario 1 in the previous post).

In this post I’ll look at 7 direct income earning methods and in the next post of this series I’ll explore indirect methods. Please note that on occasion in the following post there will be few affiliate links to services that I use and have had some success with.

Direct Income Earning Methods for Bloggers

1. Advertising

There are many ways of selling advertising space on a blog (this could almost be a series of it’s own) but some of the different advertising options that I see working for bloggers include:

  • Display Ads: Display ads are graphical or text-based ads that appear on your blog. They can be placed in various locations, such as the header, sidebar, or within the content. You can use ad services or networks like Google AdSense, Media.net, or Ezoic to display contextual ads that match your blog’s content and target your audience.
  • Native Ads: Native ads seamlessly blend in with your blog’s content, providing a non-disruptive advertising experience. Platforms like Taboola and Outbrain offer native advertising solutions where you can display recommended content or sponsored posts on your blog.
  • Programmatic Advertising: Programmatic advertising involves using automated systems to buy and sell ad inventory in real-time. Ad networks like Google Ad Manager allow you to manage and serve ads from multiple demand sources, including direct advertisers and ad exchanges.
  • Direct Ad Sales: Selling ad space directly to advertisers gives you more control over pricing and placements. You can create an “Advertise with Us” page on your blog and reach out to potential advertisers in your niche. Alternatively, you can use platforms like BuySellAds, which connect publishers with advertisers looking to buy ad space.
  • Sponsored Content/Advertorials: Sponsored content or advertorials involve creating content that promotes a specific product or service. You can negotiate sponsored content deals directly with advertisers or work through sponsored content marketplaces like IZEA.
  • In-Text Ads: In-text ads appear as hyperlinked keywords within your blog posts. When users hover or click on the keywords, a small ad box or pop-up appears. Platforms like Infolinks and Sovrn offer in-text advertising solutions for publishers.
  • Rich Media Ads: Rich media ads include interactive elements like video, audio, or animations. Platforms like Raptive specialize in serving high-quality, engaging rich media ads on your blog.
  • Contextual Ads: Contextual ads are targeted based on the content of your blog. They analyze the keywords and context of your pages to display relevant ads. Ad networks like Media.net and Adversal offer contextual advertising options for publishers.

When considering ad services or networks, it’s important to evaluate their ad quality, payout rates, user experience, and support. You can explore multiple options and test different networks to find the best fit for your blog’s niche and audience.

2. Sponsorship

Another form of advertising that a smaller number of bloggers are using is to find their own advertisers. All of the above systems have the advantage of finding you advertisers (or at least assisting in the automation of ads to your blog) but as your blog grows in profile and influence you might find other options for private deals come up.

The big blog networks have people dedicated to the task of finding advertisers (often working through ad agencies) but smaller bloggers might find this worthwhile also. I’ve been selling ads on my Digital Photography School blog for years now and as it’s grown in traffic and profile and managed to attract larger companies (who are willing to pay more) to buys space. Currently the blog features programmatic ads as well as periodic sponsorships from companies who can purchase a combination of banner, newsletter and text ads.

The key if you’re going to take this approach is to target advertisers in your niche that have products that closely relate to what you’re writing about. There are a variety of ads that you can offer them including banner ads, buttons, text links, mentions in newsletters and even individual post sponsorships. I would highly recommend that you always make it clear to readers that your post is a sponsored one when you’re writing a sponsored post.

3. Affiliate Programs

Affiliate programs are where you take a commission for referring a reader who purchases a product or service to a company. Probably the most common of these for bloggers is Amazon which has tens of thousands of products that you can link to (I reviewed it here). Other affiliate programs that represent many different companies and products include Linkshare, Commission Junction, Clickbank, Shareasale and Impact.

Affiliate programs take some work if you want to get the most out of them (perhaps more work than advertising) but can be lucrative if you match the right program with the right blog/topic. If you want to explore affiliate programs more you might like to read 10 tips for using affiliate programs on you blog.

4. Selling/Flipping Blogs

The idea of selling (or flipping) your blog is one that many bloggers have in the back of their minds for ‘one day’ but in reality it is not something that is overly common… yet (I think this is changing). Starting a blog with the main goal of selling it down the track is one that I’ve heard of a number of bloggers doing but few have been successful. Rather than starting with this intention I think if you start with the intention of building a quality site that has a large readership and it’s own good income stream you are more likely to find buyers down the track.

If and when you do establish your blogging business as a saleable entity, you can market it via sites like Flippa, Empire Flippers and FE International.

5. Donations and Tip Jars

Some blogs are making good money with voluntary payment platforms like Ko-fi and Buy Me a Coffee. To be successful with asking for money from readers you’ll want to have a large and loyal readership (and a rich one might help too). Most bloggers just don’t have the critical mass or the cult following to make it work. Many more are providing more value and content behind a paywall with subscriptions (see below). An example from podcast world of someone who asks for and receives lots of donations is Dan Carlin with his Hardcore History podcast.

6. Merchandise

Another method that some blogs use with reasonable effect is to sell T-Shirts, Mugs, Stickers etc with the blog’s name, logo and/or taglines on it. This is another idea that will probably only work if you either have a brilliantly designed merchandise range and/or you have a cult-like status as a blogger with some fanatical readers who are a little obsessive about your blog. Some blog topics lend themselves to this more than others.

7. Selling Subscriptions

The idea of charging your audience readers for content is one that is growing, particularly in the podcasting space. While there are numerous websites around the web that do this successfully (community membership sites) blogs are starting to do this too. The problem that most bloggers who have tried it have run into is that most topics that you could think to start a blog about already have free sites available. To make it succeed you would need to have some sort of premium/exclusive content and/or real expertise on a topic alongside an engaged audience with a real sense of community and attachment to you. Patreon is the top platform for this and a good example I’ve seen (listed to) lately is the Tooth and Claw podcast which alternates between free and paid (Patreon) podcast episodes.

Next in the series we’ll look at indirect ways of making money because of your blog.

If you want to learn more about monetizing your blog, you can take my “Make Money” course to transform your blogging hobby into an income-generating business.How to Make Money From Your Blog - Direct Methods

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Reading these series really enriches! Thanks for that Darren!

    Might be an idea to bundle this in an ebook when finalized… =)

  2. I have an interesting dilemma with one of my sites: http://seenonslash.com. We post the best comments found on Slashdot. Not only are /. readers largely immune to ads, the topics are all over the map. Now I’m not trying to make a fortune with a site like this. But adsense doesn’t work well here. So I’m picking interesting affiliates (like ThinkGeek) and hoping if I get a large steady flow of readers even a low click-through rate will pay off a little. We’ll see.

  3. @ Veridicus
    As can be read on some sites it seems that Adsense is changing their strategies towards articles (like those from slashdot) that are quoted and duplicated over and over on the net… That might explain some of your problem…

  4. I have a concern about “Text Link Ads”: my understanding is that you allow text links on your site, not generated by Javascript (like adsense), but generated server side; this means that these links will improve page rank of advertiser’s site.
    Is this compliant with Google guidelines?, on their webmaster guidelines Google writes “Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank”, can “Text Link Ads” be considered such a scheme?
    Till now I didn’t join the “Text Link Ads” because of this concern, but if there are no concern I would be happy to join.

  5. I’ve had some success with some unofficial-affiliate methods like offering sign-up referrals for well-known online banks. These work well since the person signing up gets paid in addition to you. Also, as a member of an online bank, it’s very easy to send referrals. You just need the person’s email and name. You send out a referral though the bank’s website, and the bank deposits the bonus into your savings account. The only problem is that the banks limit the number of referrals that you can send out. So it won’t make you a lot of money.

    As Darren mentions it’s best to fairly describe the product. In this case, I’m careful to describe the bonus details and give strengths and weaknesses of the online banks. It also helps that online banks have much better rates than what brick-and-mortar banks provide.

  6. Jan – it had occoured to me :-)

    Veridicus – i think you’ll find that a lot of /. readers have ad blockers in their browsers too .

    Valerio – I don’t have that concern personally. The links are not helping me with my PR so I can’t see a problem. I guess time will tell though.

    Ken – good comment. I thin that’s a wise move.

  7. Nice Article , Thanks Darren !

    Take a look.

  8. Maybe I’m behind on things, but I just noticed that the $1 for Firefox link (sponsored by Google) that I had on my podcast site is *missing entirely*. For all that has been going on lately, I might not have noticed if it vanished days ago. Darren, your’s was the first place I thought to check to see if you had it (or even *had* had it). I got no notice from Google that it was going away. I guess I want to know if Google is in the habit of just yanking the rug out without notice… or if I just missed an email somehow. Keeping up with it all can be hard.

    Hey, look who I’m talking to, huh? Thanks for any insight on this. (BTW, couldn’t find a more relevant place to ask this question. Sorry if it was ill-placed.)

  9. […] On the question of making money from blogs (which is part of the argument) I wonder whether the decision for full or partial feeds might also depend partly upon whether you’re trying to make money directly or indirectly from your blog. If it’s indirectly then perhaps full feeds are better because you want as many people to read your content as possible to help build your profile. If it’s a direct think then maybe partial feeds are better (especially if it’s advertising conversion that y’re after). […]

  10. Regarding the text link ads, start here:

    threadwatch.org/node/5002

    You can also disallow specific adsense advertisers, such as politicians whose views you find untenable.

  11. […] ProBlogger Darren Rowse has made a list of 8 (direct) ways bloggers can earn money. Here’s a summary: […]

  12. […] Janio Sarmento Darren Rowse, do ProBlogger, escreveu 2 artigos muito bons: Making Money from Your Blog – Direct Methods e Making Money Because of Your Blog – Indirect Methods. Recomendo a leitura dos artigos. Mas gostaria de fazer algumas considerações sobre o que pessoalmente acho que funciona ou não. […]

  13. […] Janio Sarmento Darren Rowse, do ProBlogger, escreveu 2 artigos muito bons: Making Money from Your Blog – Direct Methods e Making Money Because of Your Blog – Indirect Methods. Recomendo a leitura dos artigos. Mas gostaria de fazer algumas considerações sobre o que pessoalmente acho que funciona ou não. […]

  14. […] There is a great post over at Problogger.net named Make Money from Your Blog – Direct Methods. This post gives in detail all of the different ways of monetizing a blog including a list of advertisers and affiliates. This will definatley be worth going back to and using as a reference. […]

  15. […] One of the distinctions that I’ve made previously about blogging for money is that there are Direct Methods and Indirect Methods for doing so. Direct methods are where blogger makes money FROM their blog and Indirect methods are where a blogger makes money BECAUSE of their blog. […]

  16. […] My second interest in the story is that Robert’s story is a great example of a blogger with opportunities opening up as a result of his blog. I often draw the distinction between bloggers who make money directly from their blogs and bloggers who make money because of their blogs but have found it much harder to find prominent examples of the second type than the first. This is a prime example of someone who over time has built a profile to the point where he’s an attractive target for an upcoming start up. The publicity that the story of Robert swapping jobs is probably worth what ever PodTech are paying him alone (let alone whatever he’ll do when he actually goes over to them). […]

  17. fantstic post, keep it up darren.

  18. Great post. I saw many blogs use AdBrite text ads. How much they pay compare with Adsense?

    I’m interesting with text-link-ads. It’s look like CJ for text ads. :D

  19. I have just setup my own blog, and with myriads of options to monetize it I have a lot of studying to make and hours to burn.. thanks for the guide. I wish my blog would earn even just .0001% of yours haha

  20. Really great stuff here. Keep up the good work.

  21. […] 1. Traffic Levels: While the above examples show that traffic is not the only factor at play in determining the earning capacity of a blog – it is a significant one. Whether you’re earning money from your blog directly or indirectly you are almost always going to increase your earning potential by increasing your readership. […]

  22. […] Then I realized they have an affiliates program, which I guiltily almost dismissed off-hand. But you know what? I have an obligation to kenspeckle.net readers to undertake important research into income opportunities for low-traffic bloggers. I do. Ad-heavy sites shouldn’t be the only place to get such information. This is like a DIY MeCommerce and inquiring minds want to know if it’ll do…um…anything at all for me. […]

  23. Darren, you have listed several numbers of direct approach here. To tell you the truth, I’ve bought several books on profiting from blogging but those books never told me like you’ve mentioned. Many thanks.

  24. […] Recommended links: Making Money from Your Blog – Direct Methods – general introduction to varios solutions of income for blogs CPC, CPM or flat rate, which is best? – basic explanation of most typical terms and advertising models Google AdSense versus Text Link Ads – -more in depth article about the two most typical ad systems Other Advertising Networks Besides Google AdSense – huge list of all possible advertising solutions […]

  25. […] For many bloggers their income focus is based on direct methods. Most bloggers have at least tried some advertising, particularly Adsense. There is a massive potential though for earning money indirectly from blogging. […]

  26. Thanks for all the info! I needed it.

    http://www.lucianobove.blogspot.com

  27. […] For many bloggers their income focus is based on direct methods. Most bloggers have at least tried some advertising, particularly Adsense. There is a massive potential though for earning money indirectly from blogging. […]

  28. […] From… Indirect Earners  Annotated For many bloggers their income focus is based on direct methods. Most bloggers have at least tried some advertising, particularly Adsense. There is a massive […]

  29. Yes I have one question many people are subscribing my site by myyahoo and google, but it is not showing in my feed burner account(Only showing 2 subscribers), why this is happening?
    my blog is http://techno-craze.blogspot.com/ .

    By the way it is an excellent blog I have ever seen.

  30. Hi Darren, thanks for the informative, and helpful article. This has really open up my choice of making money using blog. I just start blogging recently. So your writing has definitely boost up my confidence in earning an income from blogging. I guess blogging will soon beome the next wave of multiple streams of income (MSI). Thanks man. Cheer and have an nice day.

  31. Thank you for writing this, i’m really inspired by this article.
    I’m running a free advertising blog, i hope i can monetize it, by reading and practicing your advise.

  32. […] making money directly from their blog (where the blog makes money – typically from advertising or affiliate programs) […]

  33. I blog for fun and to make a difference, but it’s nice to earn some google adsense money to buy a beer at the end of the day

    99% of bloggers should NOT count on making any noticeable money. 1/2 of 1% could make enough to eat. the remaining lucky few (kos, drudge, gawker, etc) are getting rich most likely

    blog what you’re passionate about and if some money comes your way, cool. If not, no worries. Blog what bores you because you want to make money and you’ll be a bored blogger not making money.

    cheers

    Keith

    http://housingpanic.blogspot.com

  34. Great article! I have to agree with the last blogger, I have seen some blogger spend lots of money to make alittle?
    I have found that if you have something new to say about a topic then people will read through it. The key is to create the best content in your niche. If you have good content, other websites will gladly link to you and offer your site as a resource to their audience.

    http://johnsartsandcrafts.blogspot.com/

  35. excellent article really helped me alot ….. now i will be working on some of the ways mentioned …. thanks alot

  36. good article your advice will lead my blogging

  37. This is a powerful site. I love the comments and pieces of advice.Please do keep it up.

  38. This tips for making money will really increase my earning. Could you please tell me that how a blog can make huge money.

  39. Hi its really interesting site with lots of knowledge to improve the blog..

    Thanks for so much information.

  40. Another way to earn is to be a blogger for a company. (We’re looking.) Does anyone have any idea how much a company blogger makes these days?

  41. Hi ProBlogger,

    You are Nice Inspiration to all bloggers,I am fan of your posts.I leaned so much and i also making blogs from past 6 moths.Keep it ….

    Cheers,
    Sandra

  42. Hi Darren

    Man, you are really problogger. Thanks for your interesting post. I learn much from your blog.

    At this time I only generating income only from pay per post and sponsorship. From your post, I can add more additional revenue.

    Keep posting…

    Regards
    Edy

  43. about earn money from blog by adsense….would you like to explain how prospec this way and how much we can create money from this way about a month? thanks

  44. I will stick to your blogs Darren, for sure !

  45. Hey nice blog i am a noob at this and this post did help me.

  46. why are you not using google adsense in your blog??
    i have been using adsense and want to use some other servises too could u suggest me some..
    One more thing my blog gets >2500 visitors everyday but I could hardly earn $10 everyday though the clicks on the ads as adsense shows are always nearly 230 .
    I asked them about such low payments but they didnt answered
    it well. Could u suggest something??
    I read ur blog as a subscriber. Can you suggest me something over the placement of the ads on my blog.
    Please take a look at my blog: http://hindimp3sdownload.blogspot.com/

    waiting for ur reply .. i have given my email id or just write it as a comment on my blog..

  47. @sameer: I really like your traffic record and i am gonna reach it soon. Anyway, try redesigning your blog since it is so cluttered and most especially your ad positioning. And also you are welcome to visit my site since you are looking for some good advices.

    This post is very good for newbie bloggers. Sameer have achieved a very good traffic. His next move is to monetize it.

    http://www.resourcesandmoney.blogspot.com

  48. Thank you for submitting a useful article here about methods of making money from blog.Any person who is interested in making money by blogging can learn how he will get help by his/her blog.
    I have learnt direct method here And excited about indirect methods.

  49. A great read! I just stumbled upon this article through Google. I agree, there are many ways to make money online, but it’s easier said than done. You just have to work hard… and the results should come.

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