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Want to make money from your blog?
Here’s a quick guide to getting started.
Mums Make Lists has always been a money-making blog.
This is what I’ve learnt along the way…
The two biggest lessons learnt from running a money-making blog
#1 … you are NEVER too small to earn money
#2 … there are lots of DIFFERENT ways to make money … find the right ways for you ..
You Are NEVER Too Small to Make Money!!
I wasn’t sure you could make money with a small blog.
But through trial and error I’ve discovered that it is totally possible.
I have a little post with only 100 odd page views per month that earns me on average $30 each month,
Now $30 isn’t much but 50 little posts earning $30 a month – that’s $1,500 a month!!
There Are Lots of DIFFERENT Ways to Make Money
There is NO single formula that works for everyone.
You have to invest the time in different tactics to find what works best for you and your blog.
Different Ways to Make Money Blogging
- Affiliates
- Sponsorship and partnerships
- Ad Networks – I am very happily with MediaVine. Ad Thrive is another popular ad network
- Sell Your Own Ads
- Sell Products and services – courses, patterns, recipes
- Publish a Book
- Freelance content writing
- Social Media Consultancy
- Blog Design Consultancy
I do hope you find them as helpful as I have … but there’s a LOT to read, so perhaps Pin It and keep coming back as you look at new revenue streams …
…The streams are live lists, I’m constantly updating them, so it’s definitely worth checking back.
For more blogging tips check out my other blogging posts and follow my blogging board on Pinterest … to join the board drop me an e-mail mumsmakelists at gmail.com …
Right, ready, get set…. GO…!
Affiliate Networks
You can make BIG money out of affiliates but it takes time to make money blogging … I’ll share my lessons learnt so far separately. One tip I will give is that you should only promote products you truly believe and that are a great fit for your blog.
These are the affiliate networks bloggers do well with …
- Share a Sale … I think this is easiest affiliate network to get started with, it has great niche brands like Craftsy, and the family organisation App Cozi, which I love. Both these brands are big performers … my biggest earner so far …
- Awin is another affiliate network I love being part of. Etsy is my favourite brand to work with through Awin.
- Link Share … big range of home & family brands … quick approval … highly rated network with UK as well as USA and Australian brands
- Amazon … easy to under estimate but starting to work for me
- CJ Affiliate … was Commission Junction … lots of big brands incl good kids brands
- Click Bank … lots of digital niche products need to invest time researching … also a way of offering your own affiliate scheme for digital products
- Affiliate Window … major UK brands & growing in the US
- Web Gains … strong in the UK includes brands such as Jojo Maman Bebe
- e-Junkie … largely books from other bloggers
- Escalate Network … latest offers and deals for family brands
- Avant … lots of outdoor, sports & apparel brands
- Affiliate Wire … digital products
- eBay Enterprise (was Pepper Jam) … affiliate campaigns for eBay brands
- Link Connector … 500 or so brands … less obvious fit for moms but worth a look
- Peerfly … rapidly growing, not a huge number of family, friend or home brands
Sponsorship / Product Review
I have had mixed feelings about sponsored posts … they can easily take over a blog, but they can be a way to make money blogging.
But if you’re blogging regularly and posting 3 or 4 a month you can be making $200 to $1,000 or more a month without undermining your blogging voice and brand … and of course if great reviews are part of your brand you could be doing a lot more.
I am really excited to be writing my first after one of my totally fave brands contacted me.
There are lots of networks out there. But don’t go crazy and sign up to all of them. Take your time to figure out which are best suited to your blog, then sign up to two or three and really work at making them work for you.
- Sverve … sponsored and affiliate campaigns plus YouTube, Twitter & Pinterest campaigns
- Social Spark … a popular & easy to use networks for sponsored posts
- Mom It Forward … a range of different ways to work with brands
- Collective Bias … build your fave brands into posts & social media (not currently accepting UK based applications)
- Massive Sway … weekly sponsorship opportunities
- NuffNang … social network, sponsorship + more in the UK and Australia
- Clever Girls Collective
- Pollinate Media Group
- Tap Influence … relaunched 2013 … pick up on brands you’re already talking about
- Tots 100 … UK based blog index, can’t apply for campaigns but UK brands use it to find bloggers
- Foodies 100 … for UK & Irish food bloggers from the same team who run Tots 100
- HIBS 100 … for UK & Irish home & decor bloggers – from Tots 100 team
- Pay Per Post … been around for a long time but relaunching
For great tips on sponsorship & reviews check out these posts …
- Ideas for how much to charge for a sponsored post from … Bloggers Bazaar, Babble
- How to write a brilliant sponsored post
- How to make sponsored posts fun
- Getting started with Social Spark
- Creative ways to write a disclosure statement
- Sponsored post requests to totally avoid
- Why you need to use no follow links
CPC/CPA Networks
CPC & CPA networks like Google AdSense pay per click on an ad or for a follow up action.
There are other networks you can use in addition to AdSense to increase click opportunities but you need to think about how much these could clutter your page ..
- Citika .. primarily CPC & CPA, some CPM … rates seem lower than AdSense
- 7 Search … CPC network that have been around for ages
- Kontera … content based text links within ad units & within text
- InfoLinks … content based text links within ad units & within text
- Cliksor … content based text links
- Max Bounty … wide range of CPA campaigns
- Never Blue … wide range of CPA campaigns
Google Ad Sense is the easiest place to start earning money but unfortunately SIZE counts – you can increase your rate with focused content but to make money you need page views.
If you’re a smaller blog you could make much more money from affiliates.
CPM Networks
- Blog Her … pays a good CPM rate but has restrictions about displaying any other ads above the fold and about reviews from competing networks ..
- Unruly – platform for placing social video content on your blog.
- Matomy … pay basic CPM rate & more if you convert into sales … their ad unit selects advertisers based on content rather than you choosing affiliates
- Technorati Media
- NuffNang … in the UK and Australia … pay per unique visit
- Rivit … for DIY & crafting bloggers
- Advertising.com
- Glam Media – upscale lifestyle, really only for super influential blogs
- Federated Media
- Food Buzz
- Foodie Blogroll … for food bloggers
- My Recipe Magic – pay per view for recipes posted
Sell Your Own Ads
Selling your own ad space can be time consuming but bloggers with very strong niches or local audiences can make money by working directly with other brands and there are a number of platforms to help you manage your ads including …
- Buy Sell Ads … lets you sell space directly but need 50k page views a month
- Passion Fruit … a platform to sell and + track your own ads on your blog, you pay between $25-$100 but they take no commission
If you’re thinking of selling your own ads check out these posts …
- How to sell sidebar ads
- How much to charge for sidebar ads
Sell Products & Patterns
You can obviously make money selling crafts you make through marketplaces like
- Etsy … Six Figures Under has a great series of tips
- Zibbet
- Aftcra
- Artfire
- Big Cartel
- Bonanza
And did you know that you can sell your patterns on the fabulous Craftsy?
Even if you’re not a crafter you can create products … you can sell books, word press themes, widgets + fonts on your website & via digital affiliate networks like …
- E-Junkie
- Click Bank … costs $50 to register as a vendor
Whether you’ve got your own products to sell or not you can create your own store on your blog combining products from a whole range of different brands …
- Amazon
- Shopify
- Datafeedr
- Covert Builder … looks cheesey but Moms Make Money has posted on them
Publishing a Book
As bloggers we all give so much of our great content away for FREE!! But if you really want to make money blogging, why not consider publishing an eBook.
If we’ve got great content on our blog there’s almost certainly a book in us … it’s just a question of creating the time to pull it all together. Easier said than done huh?
But bloggers like Crystal van Tassel, Stephanie Langford, Bec Mansfield make money this way.
I’m trying to write mine at the moment so have been loving these tips from …
- Trina Holden … a step by step guide to publishing a successful e-book
- 5 Minutes for Mom … publish your first e-book
- SITS Girls … 30 days to make and seel a fabulous e-Book
Writing
If you make a name for yourself as a writer you can get paid writing work from all sorts of media outlets … there are mummy bloggers writing for everything from Babble & Baby Center to the Huffington Post and in the UK the Daily Mirror …
But for most bloggers it’s a question of taking freelance work where you can find it … you can find jobs on all of these sites
- ProBlogger
- Blogging Pro
- Freelance Writing Gigs
- Blogger Jobs
- Media Bistro
- People per Hour … some bloggers sceptical about People per Hour and the other mega freelancing sites but some mommy bloggers have had success with them.
- Elance
- Guru
- ODesk
The rates for some work may be very low so it’s always a trade off between building your portfolio and how much you can actually earn.
For tips on professional blog writing check out:
- Be A Freelance Blogger
- Freelance writing jobs from Kludgy mum ..
- How to find first writing assignments
- Progressing from blogger to freelance writer
Social Media Jobs
If you’ve grown your blog, you’ve almost certainly got social media skills you can monetise.
Loads of smaller brands need freelance help growing their presence.
You may only be able to earn $20 to $30 an hour but this may be much more than you are making directly off your own blog and it’s still work you can do in your pyjamas!!
You can find freelance social media on many of the freelance boards listed above.
Write up a resume AND of course network crazy.
Tell everyone you know that you’re available for social media work & contact small brands you love who you think you may be able to help.
Blog & Website Design
If you’ve developed blog design skills creating your own blog, you can sell these onto other bloggers who are struggling to create the look they want … I know I sooo am!!
For examples of bloggers who are doing this check out Seven Thirty Three, Yellow Bliss Road & Blog Maven.
And you don’t need to limit it to blogs … there are loads of small businesses & groups out there who need help creating basic blogs and websites.
Well that’s it for the moment, more information on how to make money blogging coming your way as I discover it.
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