Last Updated on November 15, 2024 by Gavi
How to monetize your blog from day one
We started earning from Webhostwinner.com since the first month. We made something like $138 in our first month of blogging. Sure, that’s negligible but the most important thing was that we realized that earning money from a blog was definitely possible!
Our advice is to start monetizing your blog from the beginning. Don’t wait for your page views to grow or your email list to explode.
You need to start your blog the right way to make it profitable. In our view monetization is not something to think about later.
Of course, we’re not saying that you will earn thousands in your first month – you might not even earn anything at all… but that’s okay. However, the way you set up your blog at the beginning is really important for future profit.
There is a big difference between how to start a blog as a hobby and how to start one with the goal of earning money from it. The following are some of the reasons why, in our view, it’s paramount that you get your blog ready for monetization right away: Firstly, the most obvious, you will earn some money, probably not much but even earning a little bit will get your motivation going!
You will learn a lot. Making a blog profitable is not an easy job. It takes trial and error. The sooner you make mistakes, the sooner you learn the right way! Your audience gets ready for it, they understand from the beginning that your blog is one that will be monetized. Otherwise, you could end up building up an audience who will just never be receptive to buying anything from you.
Saying to an already established community that suddenly you want to monetize your blog can be detrimental (your readers could even get offended by the idea that you want to sell something to them, even if it is something that they need) but if they know it from the beginning they will be ready for it!
You will actually earn some money! Money that can help you bring your blog to the next level. We indeed suggest you re-invest a big part of your first income directly back into your blog!
That being said, there are different ways to monetize your blog from the beginning. You need to try them out and figure out which one(s) work(s) best for your blog.
Displaying ads
One of the easiest ways to make money blogging is by displaying ads on your blog.
Although earning through ads doesn’t require any effort, it’s not always the best monetization strategy for beginner bloggers.
Yes, it’s true that it’s actually a real passive income producer. Once you copy the HTML code/javascript onto your blog, you’re done.
But the downside of using ads as a way of monetization is that to make a significant income from it,
1) you need to have lots of page views
2) you need to join high-paying premium ad networks
3) you need some strategy.
You don’t really need any experience to be able to use ads. However, you still need to try out what works best for your blog. Usually, ads placed above the fold, e.g. close to the beginning of an article or at the top of your sidebar work better, but again everything depends on the design of your website.
One mistake many new bloggers make is to go overboard with ads. They actually cover their blog posts with ads. This can be really counter-productive as people can easily get turned off by too many ads. So, always remember to put your readers’ experience first.
Most new bloggers start with Google AdSense since it’s probably the most popular ad network around.
However, I often read in this group people complaining about being rejected by them. So, keep in mind that as a new blogger, there are still other ad networks you can apply for. For example, a valid alternative to Google AdSense is Media.net aff which is Bing/Yahoo ad network.
Then, as soon as you reach the required number of page views, you should apply for a premium ad network that pays 10 times better per impression and clicks than Google AdSense.
You will be surprised to find that you are not expected to have millions of page views to be able to apply for premium ad networks but there are some that will accept you even with just 10K page views a month. With the right traffic strategy, this goal is quite achievable within the first few months of blogging!
Affiliate Marketing
The most used channel to generate income from your blog is definitely affiliate marketing.
This is because everyone is used to affiliate marketing. You use it in real life every time you suggest to your friends and family something that you have tried and liked. You can do the same with your blog! But always recommend products or services that you’ve tried, and loved and that can be useful to your audience.
You can help your readers find the solution to their problems without the hassle of creating your own product. It’s the best training for when you will be ready to launch your own product. In fact, through affiliate marketing, you will learn what resonates with your audience and then you can use this knowledge to market your own product the right way.
If used strategically, affiliate marketing can bring you significant income. You can read here how this couple makes $20K+ through affiliate marketing: Blog Income Report
You don’t even need a blog to use affiliate marketing. You can just use your social media accounts.
Selling your own product
Our favorite way to make money blogging is: by selling your own product!
You can create any kind of products: printables, eBooks, templates but what is really big right now is online courses!
Online courses are great because once you have created your course you can help a lot of people without additional effort. They are scalable. There is no ceiling on your income!
If the news that the minimum traffic requirement for Mediavine has been increased to 50,000 sessions, has left you disheartened, please keep in mind:
It may be much easier for an established blog to go from 25K sessions to 50K than for a new blog to reach 25K sessions a month
Other reputable ad networks may accept you with fewer sessions and may actually be great alternatives to apply for (e.g. Monumetric)
Display ads are not necessarily the best monetization strategy. Sure, they’re totally passive which is great but they come with several negatives, including
- They are totally reliant on your traffic and therefore google/Pinterest algorithm or the like
- they may not offer the best user experience if they’re too invasive
- They may drive your readers’ attention away from calls to action that may potentially be way more profitable for you.
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