From a hobby popularized during the early 2000s to one of the most desirable careers of the 2010s, blogging has opened up so many opportunities for people to earn money online. Today, a lot of blogs are created as businesses, with making money through blogging being one of the goals from the start. The opportunities depend on the type of blog, the language you write in and the audience you are targeting. However, there are a couple of commonly used tactics to make a living through blogging, which are the ones you should explore first.

 

Blog monetization tactics
Blog monetization tactics enable you to cash in on your blog popularity in multiple ways. When you first start blogging, these might not seem as profitable, but the number of visits is crucial for the success of these tactics. The more visitors you can attract, the more likely you are to earn money from these tactics.

#1 Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a very popular monetization tactic for bloggers who do not have products of their own to sell. Instead, they recommend and link to the products on third-party websites in exchange for a percentage of the sale.

 

In affiliate marketing, there are two roles. Merchants, i.e., those who own the product or service that is promoted and affiliates, who promote those products or services. Bloggers are affiliates. They join an affiliate program, obtain affiliate links and promote them through the blog content. Once the blog visitor clicks on the affiliate link, this is recorded using cookies.

 

This way, the blogger is attributed the conversion, and the merchant then pays out the agreed commission, which is a percentage of the sale price. In this case, the blog visitors do not have any additional cost. The blogger’s income is based on the profit shared by the merchant in exchange for the promotion.

 

When you decide to use affiliate marketing to monetize your blog, these are the aspects you should have in mind:
• Promote the products/services that your audience will be interested in to maximize the number of conversions
• Promote the products/services you can vouch for (i.e., high-quality is a norm)
• Join affiliate programs that offer the best terms (the highest commission, the longest cookie life, etc.)

 

#2 Sponsored posts

The idea with this blog monetization tactic is to create a blog post which will promote a particular business, product, or service. You as a blogger will receive an agreed commission for this post. Bloggers usually choose to include a disclaimer within the post notifying the readers that the content is paid by a specific brand featured in the post. However, this is not obligatory.

 

There are a lot of opportunities when it comes to blog monetization through sponsored posts. Bloggers usually have fixed rates for a sponsored post, and they often prefer writing the content themselves. Still, the blogger and the brand can agree on different terms. For example, the brand might provide content or have a say in the content created by the blogger. Or instead of monetary compensation, the blogger can be given the product or granted free access to the service.

 

This type of post is very popular among travel bloggers who receive free accommodation in exchange for a post on their blog about the accommodation in question.
Each sponsored post has a link back to the website where the product (or service) can be bought. Unlike affiliate marketing, where the clicks on the links are tracked, based on which the commission is paid out, with sponsored post it is irrelevant whether the readers will click the link or not. The blogger is paid for the actual post with the link and the content about the product (or service) that is promoted, regardless of the number of visits and conversions.

 

 

#3 AdSense

Once a commonly used way to earn passive income through blogging, AdSense is not the most profitable strategy at the moment, but still offers a chance to monetize your visits by including ad space on your blog. It is a service offered by Google, which means that companies that want to advertise with Google AdWords program are the advertisers who will bid for the space on your blog. The ads are displayed for both desktop and mobile users.

 

Google uses complex algorithms to determine which ads will appear to your blog visitors and when. Since the system is designed to maximize profit, it will automatically select ads that are most relevant to your visitors, ensuring the highest conversion rate. You do not have a direct say in which ads will be posted on your blog and which will not, however you have the option of selecting and deselecting ads based on categories (more on this later).

Joining the AdSense program allows you a certain level of control. You choose where the ads appear on your blog, and you format the style of the ad to match your blog. You can choose categories of ads you want to allow on your blog. You can even block the ads you do not want your visitors to see. You earn money when the ads are seen or clicked, depending on the type of campaign.
To get started with AdSense, you will need:

 

• A Google account
• Blog with original content that complies with the program policies
• A phone number and a mailing address, so you can get paid
Payments are sent once you reach a minimum amount, which is determined by the reporting currency. You can monitor earnings through an app which includes alerts, performance reports, etc.

 

#4 Banners

Another way to use blog space to earn money is to offer a banner space for sale. In this case, you get contacted by companies interested in having their banner placed on your blog in exchange for payment. This type of advertising is similar to AdSense visually. Both have a banner displayed on your blog.

 

The main difference is that AdSense offers dynamic ads which constantly change. Also, the amount of profit earned this way is cumulative. On the other hand, when you sell banner space on your blog, you will have the same banner displayed all the time during the period the contract between you and the company is active. The same banner will be shown to all the users at any moment they visit the blog. The banner can be featured on the home page, on specific blog pages, or even on all blog pages.

 

In terms of income, you earn a fixed income from the company interested in advertising this way, usually paid in advance.
Another alternative is to have a banner which will also feature an affiliate link. In this case, you would earn through affiliate marketing, but instead of a text link, you will attach the link to the image.

 

With both Google AdSense and banner advertising, it is helpful to place the ad in a position that will attract the most views/clicks. This is why banners are usually placed strategically, often below the main menu and before the blog content. You can always experiment with placing the banner in different locations on your website, to see, which position converts the best.

 

#5 Email marketing

Email marketing as a strategy in online marketing is known to have the highest conversion rate. What this means is that you are more likely to earn income through email marketing than through other types of online promotion. Of course, there are a couple of conditions that need to be met for an email campaign to be successful:

• Have a relevant mailing list
• Segment the mailing list
• Create a good reputation as a sender
• Write an email that is convincing and trustworthy
• Promote high-quality and relevant products
This is how you can earn with email marketing. It all starts with your blog.

 

You will need some original content of high quality that will attract your readers. They will then sign up for your newsletter. Besides a signup button, you can use other lead generation strategies, such as free download, organizing a giveaway, etc. Once you have the email addresses of your blog visitors, this gives you a chance to create a more personalized approach with them through emails. Becoming a respectable sender means that your blog readers are likely to open and read your emails. This means that you can reach them. Have in mind that each person sends and receives more than 200 emails per day (Source). It is difficult to reach email recipients. The more success you have at this, the more profitable your email marketing strategy will be.

 

Two of the most popular strategies you can use to monetize your email marketing campaign:
• Promote a product (and get paid to do so)
• Affiliate links
Email marketing is connected with blogging in the sense that you generate email addresses through your blog. Blogging helps you create a base of subscribers, and this is where the blogging strategy ends, and email marketing begins as another segment of marketing allowing you to reach and convert online users.

 

Action Point
PS: If you would like to have an online course on any of the courses that you found on this blog, I will be glad to do that on an individual and corporate level, I will be very glad to do that because I have trained several individuals and groups and they are doing well in their various fields of endeavour. Some of those that I have trained include the staff of Dangote Refinery, FCMB, Zenith Bank, and New Horizons Nigeria among others. Please come on Whatsapp and let’s talk about your training. You can reach me on Whatsapp HERE. Please note that I will be using Microsoft Team to facilitate the training.

I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you can drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

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