I read Luke Weil's How To Monetize A Small Blog, in exchange for honest review from Tomoson. When I first started blogging, I never thought about making money from the blog. I just wrote my thoughts down, then eventually I added on book reviews, product reviews, and the occasional giveaway. I have made a little money from affiliate links and sponsored posts, but not enough to make a living from.
When I tell people, I am a blogger, one of the number one questions concerns making money. Some people seem to think blogs are this automatic source of wealth, not knowing the bigger blogs have to put work into generating cash. Not everyone will click on your affiliate link or purchase the book, you been working on about blogging.
And no, just because I got a product for free (and I love free things) doesn't mean the company paid me too.In Weil's book, he discusses methods to generate an income from a small blog. He first discusses how you need to plan on making a profit from the start. You have to think in advance about potential sources of income. Some ways, you can make money, include affiliate links and sponsored content, as I have said. You can post content or post banners and links, which generate cash. Of course, no matter, how you make income, disclose the fact, you are using potential money generating content on your blog.
Another way to generate cash is direct advertising, which can be used in side bar ads, banners, and text links. Tip: Don't overdo it on the banners and text links. I know I don't want to see a heavily linked blog post. Make sure to choose banners and links based on what your audience wants and needs.
Next, sponsored content is when you get paid to post something on your site. Sometimes you may get paid in cash, other times in product. I am a member of US Family Guide Bloggers Program. When I post about their events and products, I am supposed to also receive tickets to the event or the product. Blog Dash is another site I have used. When I posted about Ginger Beer, it was a sponsored post.
Then, you can use an advertising network, such as Adsense. Some of the advertising networks do require you to pay per ad created. You also can include affiliate links in your post. Some affiliate links pay you per click and some pay you per sale. I use Amazon Affiliates program when doing blogs posts for products sold on Amazon. If you are interested in the product, you can click on the link to read the listing, read the reviews, or you may decide to purchase the product. It is always good to link to the product, book, or service, even if it is not an affiliate link.
Finally, the author discussed using mailing lists to generate income, which I didn't know you could do. I read blog mailing lists for reviews, sales, and other interesting content, but I never thought about the bloggers may be making money when I click on a link. Weil discusses how companies can buy ad space on the mailing lists. The author also recommends not using the mailing list just to generate income. Include content as well.
You can purchase the book in paperback, Kindle, and Kindle Unlimited format. The book is prime-eligible.
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