7 Ways to Monetize a Blog
The best way to monetize your blog depends on a variety of factors. Such as your subject matter, target audience, and financial goals.
It’s smart to experiment with different methods. And create multiple income streams so you’re not reliant on just one.
Here are seven popular ways to monetize a blog:
1. Publish Sponsored Posts
Sponsored posts are promotional articles that another brand pays you to publish.
Here’s an example of a sponsored post. Wherein Walmart paid lifestyle blog For The Home to publish an article:
You or the other brand can create sponsored content.
Either way, you must:
- Ensure the post offers genuine value to your readers
- Clearly label the content as sponsored
Otherwise, you could harm your reputation, break advertising laws, and violate Google’s spam policies. (The latter could lead to a Google penalty that harms your search visibility.)
One of the best ways to get started is to contact brands you love. And propose content ideas that will benefit you both.
Inform the brands about key metrics such as:
- Traffic: How many visits you get per month, on average. This gives the brand an idea of their potential reach through your blog. You can monitor your traffic through Google Analytics 4 or another web analytics tool.
- Audience demographics: Your visitors’ age, gender, location, etc. To show brands who exactly they’ll be reaching by partnering with you. You can learn about your visitors through Google Analytics 4, One2Target, or another web analytics tool.
- Search demand: How many people search for content around your proposed topic. You can discover popular and trending topics with Semrush’s Topic Research tool.
And any other data that will make the sponsorship more appealing.
You can get an idea of potential earnings by looking at competitors’ pricing.
2. Join an Ad Network
Ad networks aggregate ads. And then serve those ads on relevant websites that are a part of the network.
Joining an ad network makes it easy to enable advertisements on your blog. And make money from them. Like this:
Generally, this is how it works:
- You sign up to an ad network and provide information about your blog
- You design or choose ad units (spaces for certain kinds of ads) and add the code for them to your site
- An automated auction determines which ads appear and how much advertisers pay
- You earn a cut of the revenue collected from advertisers
One of the most popular ad networks is Google AdSense. And it has a revenue calculator that lets you estimate your earnings.
According to the tool, an American finance blog getting 50,000 monthly page views could earn around $2,000 per year:
Other popular ad networks include Media.net, Ezoic, and Raptive.
The right platform for you depends on various factors, including:
- Niche and audience fit: Some networks cater better to specific niches or audience demographics
- Ad format variety: Choose a network that offers formats suitable for your content and layout
- Revenue potential: Evaluate potential earnings based on the network’s payment models and rates
- Minimum payout threshold: Ensure the payout threshold is achievable for your earnings level
- Integration ease: Consider how easy it is to integrate the ad network with your site
3. Become an Affiliate
Becoming an affiliate means promoting a brand, service, or product in exchange for a commission on resulting conversions.
Generally, this is how it works:
- You sign up for an affiliate program (offered by a specific brand) or an affiliate network (which connects you with multiple brands) and provide details about your blog
- If you’re approved, the brand provides you with affiliate links that allow them to track your referrals
- You share affiliate links with your readers (making sure to disclose them)
- You receive payment based on the sales or other types of conversions generated
For example, Epic Gardening is a member of Amazon Associates (Amazon’s affiliate program).
This means they can monetize blog posts by adding affiliate links. They earn up to 10% commission when readers click links like these and make a purchase:
In addition to adding affiliate links to their posts (where natural), some affiliate marketers create online stores populated with affiliate products.
Here’s an example from the Pick Up Limes blog:
The amount you can earn from affiliate marketing depends on various factors, including:
- Rates/fees: Brands offer varying percentages or flat fees for each conversion. The amount may differ depending on the product category, your overall performance, customer location, etc.
- Cookie duration: The length of time that your affiliate tracking cookie is stored in the user’s browser. A 30-day cookie duration means you get credit for sales made within 30 days of the click.
- Attribution model: When multiple affiliates are involved in a sale, the attribution model determines who gets paid. Last-click attribution means the affiliate whose link was most recently clicked gets full credit.
It’s important to understand the full payout terms before entering a partnership.
4. Launch a Membership Program
Consider launching a blog membership program that offers perks in exchange for a regular subscription fee.
For example, Stratechery Plus members pay $15/month or $150/year for regular exclusive content:
It’s also common to give subscribers access to ad-free content, virtual events, and private online communities. But you should design plans to suit you and your readers.
There are a few ways to enable memberships on your blog:
- Install a plugin like MemberPress or Restrict Content Pro
- Use a subscription-based publishing platform like Substack or Ghost
- Offer perks through a third-party platform like Patreon or Ko-fi
- Build a custom solution with the help of a web developer
Memberships typically work best if you’re an established blogger with a loyal readership. Because people need to trust you and your content before they part with their money.
5. Sell Digital Content
Consider selling premium content—i.e., high-quality content that users pay to download or access.
Some of the most common formats include:
- Ebooks
- Video courses
- Templates
- Printables
- Webinars
For example, travel blogger Nomadic Matt sells digital guidebooks for $19.99 each:
While Abby Organizes sells useful templates:
To sell digital products directly through your blog, you can use a plugin like SendOwl or Easy Digital Downloads.
The plugin should handle payment processing, digital delivery, etc. And help you track your sales.
6. Offer Consulting Services
Offer consulting, coaching, or other services related to your blog’s niche.
For example, The Nerdy Me offers 60-minute calls to fellow bloggers who want advice:
While the mom behind the Mindful Motherhood Blog offers private parent coaching:
This blog monetization method does require more planning and work than others.
You might look at the blog as a way to support your consulting business. Rather than the other way around.
To get started, research your competitors’ offerings.
Analyzing their service, pricing, and promotion strategies helps you develop your own.
7. Request Donations
Some blogs make money by asking readers for donations.
Here’s an example from The Marginalian:
Asking for donations is a good option if you want to maintain independence. And avoid commercial influence on your content.
But it can be hard to earn money this way. You’ll need to create the highest-quality, unique content and build strong connections with your audience.
To get started, check out a platform like PayPal or Buy Me a Coffee.
How to Maximize Blog Revenue
Whatever blog monetization methods you use, these tips can help you earn more revenue.
Choose a Profitable Blog Niche
If you haven’t launched your blog yet, choose your niche (main subject matter) with profitability in mind.
Some blog niches are easier to monetize than others because they:
- Align with commercial interests. For example, it’s easier to sell products or ads on blogs about fashion than on blogs about mathematics.
- Attract less competition. If your blog fills a gap in the market, you may find it easier to attract loyal readers. But low-competition niches can have smaller audiences.
- Have wide appeal: Blogs with wide appeal (e.g., global blogs related to popular topics) can attract more visitors. However, it can be harder to stand out in these niches.
The right blog niche lies at the intersection between your interests, your expertise, and potential profitability.
Increase Traffic
More blog traffic means more people to view ads, click affiliate links, join membership programs, etc. And ultimately, more revenue.
There are many ways to drive more traffic to your website.
One of the best is blog SEO. It’s a set of tactics that helps your blog rank higher in Google’s unpaid search results.
To get started, find out what type of content your target audience searches for.
Semrush’s Topic Research tool makes it easy.
Enter a topic related to your blog and your target country. Then, the tool will provide relevant subtopics. Which represent content ideas.
For each idea, you can see:
- Subtopic Volume: The average number of monthly Google searches for the subtopic keyword
- Difficulty: How hard it’ll be to earn a high Google ranking, expressed as a percentage
- Topic Efficiency: A measure of volume relative to difficulty (“High” is best)
- Headlines: Top-performing articles related to the subtopic
- Questions: Commonly searched questions related to the subtopic
- Related searches: Related search queries that show on Google’s results page, if applicable
When you find a subtopic you want to write about, click “...” > “Create SEO template.”
This will take you to the SEO Content Template tool.
Adjust the settings if you wish. Then, click “Create content template.”
The tool will provide a list of SEO recommendations for your blog post. Based on best practices and analysis of top-ranking content.
When you’re ready to start writing, go to “Real-time Content Check” > “Open in SEO Writing Assistant.”
Start writing your content in the editor, and the tool will score its readability, SEO, and tone of voice.
The SEO Writing Assistant will also provide recommendations to improve your score.
Once you’re happy with your draft, use the tool to conduct an originality check.
Then, you’re ready to publish your SEO-friendly blog post. And monitor its impact on your traffic.
Create a Media Kit
A media kit is a document or webpage that provides information about your blog to potential advertisers, sponsors, and partners.
The goal is to showcase the opportunities for collaboration—and their benefits. So that you can attract more incoming requests.
Media kits typically include:
- Traffic statistics
- Audience demographics
- Social media reach
- Advertising options and rates
- Testimonials
- Contact information
Here’s a snapshot from Adventurous Kate’s “Work with Kate” page:
Focus on Content Quality
Publishing quality content is how you create a blog that people want to read—and brands want to sponsor.
Quality content demonstrates Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T):
- Experience: Write about things you have first-hand experience with. And demonstrate this experience through your content. That way, readers are more likely to trust your opinions.
- Expertise: Focus on topics within your knowledge and skill sets. And make readers aware of your credentials. This is particularly important for YMYL content that can affect readers’ wellbeing.
- Authoritativeness: This largely refers to your reputation in your niche. It should build naturally over time, but you can use digital PR and link building tactics to boost your authority.
- Trustworthiness: Make sure your blog content is accurate, honest, and reliable. Perform in-depth research and give readers a reason to trust what you say.
You should also tailor your blog to the specific needs, interests, and preferences of a target audience.
This helps maximize engagement. And makes your blog more attractive to advertisers and collaborators looking to reach the same kinds of people.
If you need help identifying and defining your audience, use Semrush’s One2Target tool. It tells you about the users who visit the site(s) of your choice.
For example, let’s analyze five travel blogs:
Through the various reports, we can learn about the audiences’ ages, genders, household size, income level, employment status, education level, favorite social media sites, and more.
This allows you to build in-depth reader personas—and create content with them in mind.
Use Email Marketing
If you haven’t already, enable email subscriptions on your blog. So people can sign up for alerts about your latest posts.
When people subscribe to your emails, they’re more likely to visit your blog in the future. And drive additional revenue.
Wait But Why has over 601K people on its email list:
You can further incentivize signups by offering an email newsletter with additional content.
Like theSkimm does:
To get started, sign up for an email marketing platform like Mailchimp or ConvertKit.
The platform should allow you to:
- Create a signup form to embed on your blog
- Set up an automatic welcome email
- Send automatic blog updates using RSS-to-email
- Manually send custom-designed emails
- Manage your email subscriber list
- Track the performance of your emails
Alternatively, use an integrated newsletter and blogging platform. Like Substack or Ghost.
Make Your Blog More Monetizable
Monetizing a blog is far easier when you create quality content that people want. And get it noticed.
Semrush’s Content Marketing Platform can help you do just that:
- Discover popular and trending topics through Topic Research
- Analyze competing posts with the SEO Content Template
- Optimize content for search engines with the SEO Writing Assistant