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Whether you are a full-time blogger or someone who is just doing this for a side hustle, it is entirely possible to start earning $1000 a month from your blog. Even if it’s a small one without a ton of traffic. Yes, it will take a lot of work, but once the money starts rolling in, you’ll see that it can be worthwhile and even enjoyable.
I’m a perfect example of this. After 40 years in the restrictive Corporate world, I was able to build an escape hatch with my two blogs and my side hustle as a Virtual Assistant (VA). When things got to the point where I wasn’t happy any more, I was able to take a very EARLY retirement at 58 to become a full-time blogger and Virtual Assistant. If I can do it, you can too.
Check out my post on starting a profitable VA buiness.
Did you know that a whopping 82% of bloggers never even make $100?? I think that’s just sad, but I think it reflects people who didn’t have the right resources and really weren’t prepared to put in the work. I don’t want YOU to be one of those 82%. The nice thing is that opportunities are VERY plentiful and not all that difficult to implement.
Did you know that a whopping 82% of bloggers never even make $100?? Don’t be one of them!
There are several different streams of income that bloggers can implement to start earning their first $1,000 and then keep earning that month after month. You’d be smart to implement several of them in case one fizzles how – hey, it happens.
Here are the Main Ways Bloggers Start Earning Money from their Blog
- Affiliate Marketing
- Selling Your Services or Coaching
- Sponsored Posts
- Ad Networks
- Selling Courses or Products (your own or others)
There are even more options out there – after all, people have been doing this for decades now, but let’s stick to the simple ones. I’m proud to say that I’ve earned a substantial income from each of these categories over the years. I’m not trying to brag, but I want you to know it definitely IS possible.
Affiliate Marketing
I think affiliate marketing is probably the easiest and most plentiful source of opportunities, and one of the most consistent. You’re probably wondering how it works. Well, I’ll tell you. You find a product, service, or course that you’d like to sell. Then you ask the owner if they have an affiliate program (most do). They provide you with a unique trackable code, and when people click the code and purchase the item, you get paid a commission. This is one of the easiest ways to start earning $1,000 or more per month with your blog.
Commission rates and pricing can vary widely. Courses usually carry about a 40% commission rate on a $200-$700 product, so they are usually one of my favorite options. But not everyone is going to opt into big ticket item, so you might also look into some lower range items as well or even free items. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but I have several free courses I promote and then I let the course owner try upsell the person into a higher-priced item, and I still get credit for it. It depends on how long the cookie length is on the affiliate link. Some are 30 days, some are months or a year. Obviously, longer is better.
Amazon is one of the most popular affiliate programs for bloggers. Some people do well with it, but I’ve never found it to be that great. The benefit is that they have just about EVERYTHING you can imagine, and they’re pretty easy to qualify for. But the commissions are quite low – just 1%-4% in some cases and it’s only a 24 hour cookie. So I don’t really recommend them if you want to start earning money from home. You have to get your first 3 qualifying sales within your first 90 days, I believe and they have a TON of rules, so Amazon is not all it’s cracked up to be.
One of the best monetized blogs I’ve seen was one that specialized in succulents and other plants. They knew all the growers and all the suppliers of different types of pots and soils and stuff. They were making a killing because competition was so low in this area! So, even if your blog is a little bit off the beaten path, there are definitely ways to start earning money in your niche. Actually, I think the more unusual niches tend to do better than the ones with more common themes.
Now to get approved can be a bit challenging. You have a better chance of getting approved if you have a well-established blog with a solid social media following. The affiliate program admins want to make sure that you’re going to have a good chance to sell their course or product before they approve you. But I suggest that you ask and then keep asking again as you grow your blog.
Then once you do get approved, you’ll be able to get into their portal and get your unique affiliate code. Share that code EVERYWHERE. You’ll see some of my affiliates at the bottom of this post, at the bottom of every newsletter, and I share different ones on my social media profiles every day!
I always say if you just fish with one fishing pole, you might catch one fish. But if you fish with 40 different fishing poles, you never know what you might catch. So be generous in sharing your affiliate links FREQUENTLY and EVERYWHERE. It’s up to you – it can be coffee money or enough to pay your house payment! Depends on your audience and how much effort you put into it.
PRO TIP: I keep all my affiliate links in one place – my Trello board. That way, they are always accessible to me on my laptop or my phone, and I access that list multiple time every day. I really do. I also have several pre-written little blurbs for my favorite products so I can pop them in a Facebook post when the moment is right. See my post on the Best Facebook Groups for New Bloggers.
Selling Your Services or Coaching
I put this one second because it’s been my most profitable option by far! I’m not even certain exactly how much over the years. If I had to guess, I’d say in the $100K+ range. So, not exactly chump change. A well-trained VA with a fully booked client roster can earn more than most full-time jobs and since it’s a 100% work from home situation, you have tons more freedom than in a Corporate spot. It’s the best way I can think of to start earning money from home.
The bonus is, these are a lot of the same skills you need to know as a blogger. Social media posting, image creation, SEO, website development, landing pages, Email marketing. These are all skills I’ve needed to learn and have hired out to do for other bloggers for a nice juicy fee. The difference is to be able to be a VA, you have to get really, really GOOD at them. I love the tech stuff, so I’ve been willing to invest the time to learn all the tips and tricks to help my clients be more successful.
Check out my post on how to start a profitable VA business.
Coaching is also a good way to go and is a very profitable niche, but only if you’ve got something great to offer. I do blog coaching and coaching for new VA’s who are just starting out. I also do clutter coaching over at my lifestyle site. But I have to admit that I haven’t really met my potential in this area, because a lot of marketing is needed and that’s a bit out of my comfort zone. Work in progress…
What you need to be a good coach. A lot of people think you need degrees and certifications and letters after your name, but I’ve worked with several coaches over the years. Some did have high-level qualifications and some didn’t – some were great and some not so much. But what really matters is the results you are able to get for your clients. Coaching requires knowledge of your topic, good organizational skills to keep track of each client’s progress, an accountability mindset, and a genuine liking for people along with a willingness to listen and give solid actionable steps towards their desired goal.
Sponsored Posts
This is another great source of income for many bloggers. And it’s relatively easy, especially if you’ve already got decent traffic to your site. Here’s how it works. A company pays you to create content of some kind featuring their product. For instance, the company that sells XYZ Fancy Mixer hires you to create a new recipe featuring their product. In all the photos and videos for the recipe, you will prominently feature their product and you’ll talk about how easy the Fancy Mixer made it to make the recipe.
The payments for these posts can vary considerably. Sometimes you just get free stuff or a link on their website, but usually you get a cash payment and it can even be a substantial amount if you have a lot of Followers. Sometimes, the companies will put a call out for qualified bloggers, sometimes there are companies that will match up companies and bloggers, or sometimes you can pitch the companies directly. There will be rules you’ll have to follow and you may have to submit your content for approval, but it’s not too difficult.
I’ve done a few of these over the years. I’m pretty small potatoes, so I’d usually get free product like Pledge, Duct tape, a garden tool, sometimes free food or entertainment and maybe $100-$150, but I’ve got friends who’ve gotten furniture, appliances, cruises or nice vacations and even the use of high-end vehicles for a few weeks. You could easily make a regular income of $500-$1,000/month with sponsored posts.
Ad Networks
Ad networks are another popular income source for bloggers. There are about half a dozen popular ones, each one with a different qualifying threshold of regular monthly traffic. They put various ads around your site and they pay you a fee per thousand visitors every month.
Mediavine seems to be the cream of the crop and I believe their requirement is 100K unique visitors per month. But at that level, you can easily make $1,000 per month or more. Some of my mid-level blogger friends make $3,000-$5,000 from their ads and I suspect the big players are in the $10K-$20K range. But even if you have fairly low traffic, you can qualify for a lower entry provider and make a couple hundred per month. I’m with such a provider called Ezoic and they are willing to take microinfluencers and they’ll also help you to build your traffic.
Selling Courses or Products (your own or others)
I’ve saved one of the best for last. Selling courses or products such as printables can be a lucrative income stream for a blogger and yes, you should have several different income streams. You never know when something will go south on you! I haven’t really pursued this one in any big way, but a lot of bloggers do well selling printables, trackers, journals, planners or custom designed wall decor. It’s a competitive field, but it can be an excellent way to start earning money from home.
Other items you might sell are social media images, landing page templates, or written content. I’ve had good luck with some products called PLR content, also known as white label, and private label content. It’s basically content that is created by others, but you are allowed to purchase it for use as your own content. You can use it unaltered, but typically it makes sense to add your own personal twist on it to make it unique to your brand. And – spoiler alert, a ton of it is FREE. PLR content can take the form of:
- Articles
- Planners
- Printables
- Video/audio content
- Graphics
- Ebooks
- Infographics
- 5 to 30 day challenges for your social media
- Workshop/webinar content
- Video scripts
Basically, anything you can imagine needing for your site. And you can repurpose it in endless ways. I’ve got a huge folder of all types of PLR content and I’ve used it to create detailed blog posts, social media content, YouTube videos and all sorts of things. I also am an affiliate for several different PLR organizations, so it’s both for my own use and a great way to start earning money. You could easily earn $1,000/month if you really pursued this avenue.
Here are some links to free PLR products that you might enjoy – these are of course, affiliate links so I’ll get commission on any additional purchases you might make:
Think with Purpose and Clarity
Success Through Self-Discipline
Improve your life with Successful Habits
Get an Abundance of Client Referrals
Creating Productive New Habits
So, as you can see, there are tons of ways for you to start earning at least $1,000 (or more) per month from your blog. They are all going to require some work, but anything worthwhile is going to require a bit of work. I hope this helps you.
Here are some other posts you might enjoy:
7 Investments to Make Your Blog Amazing
Wasting Time And Energy On Tasks You Should Outsource?
5 Ways to Repurpose Your Blog Content for More Traffic
Blogging resources I highly recommend for YOU:
Legal Templates
You are required by law to have a certain package of legalese on your blog. You need to have copyright notices, privacy policies, and various other terms and conditions to protect yourself from being sued. The package I recommend is created by Amira Law - a lawyer who specializes in all aspects of blogging and internet business legalities. Learn more about these Legal Templates HERE.
Pinterest Strategy Planner
My Pinterest Strategy Planner is a terrific tool to help you build a complete Pinterest strategy to grow your traffic. Perfect for beginners, it shows you how to plan out your keywords, set up your boards correctly, choose which pinners to Follow, come up with your brand standards and so much more! It's little a little self-paced course, but it's a lot cheaper than most courses and you can work at your own pace and track your progress in the included spreadsheets. Order your Pinterest Strategy Planner HERE.
Hire Me
I'd like to be Your Fairy Techmother. I can build you a simple website, teach you LinkedIn strategies or SEO basics, coach you on how to make money with your blog - and so much MORE. I'm experienced, reliable, and pretty affordable. I've got 15 years experience as a Blogger and Virtual Assistant (VA). I can also set up Email lists, automations and build pop-ups for your site.Let's talk and see how I can help you. To learn more - go HERE.
