So many people want to make money blogging, but many people feel held back by fear or uncertainty. I have often been asked, “Is the market already saturated with bloggers?”
My response is always this: absolutely not! I believe there is always plenty of room for those who bring their own unique voice and experience to the table. Those who are really interested in putting themselves out there and sharing with the world have so much potential to make money through blogging. (New to blogging? Sign up for my 3 Steps to Start That Blog You’ve Been Dreaming Of webinar. It’s FREE — just sign up here.)
Here are 2 ways you can get started making money through your content:
1. Sign Up For Adsense.
Adsense is an advertising network that offers sidebar ads you can place on the side of your blog and in your posts. Once you sign up for an account, you choose the size and color and details of how you want your ads to look, and then you get a piece of HTML code that you can put on your blog’s sidebar and the ads will start running automatically.
You are then paid based off of the number of people who visit your website and click on different pages. For every 1,000 pageviews your website receives, you will be paid anywhere between $2 to $8.
This might not seem like much, but it can really add up over time. And, best of all, you just install the code once and then you don’t ever have to mess with it again and you’ll earn money for as long as people continue to visit your site! (Read more about Google Adsense here.)
Go here to get started with Google Adsense.
A few things to note:
- I wouldn’t recommend signing up for Adsense when you are just beginning to blog because there’s a good chance you won’t be accepted because you are a newer blogger and don’t have much content on your site.
- Adsense serves ads based upon your blog content. If you blog on topics such as politics, religion, or hot button issues, the ads served up could directly contradict your message. I recommend Adsense for blogs that are on more practical topics such as food, organizing, homeschooling, DIY, saving money, etc.
- You can block offensive ads or sites. For instance, we have sites like Victoria’s Secret blocked on MoneySavingMom.com.
If you like Adsense, I’d also recommend signing up with Media.net. They offer related text link ads you can show on your sidebar or at the bottom of blog posts. We have them at the bottom of our most-viewed posts on MoneySavingMom.com.
2. Use Affiliate Links.
Affiliate marketing is one of the simplest and easiest ways to make money blogging and it’s something you can start doing from the beginning! when you are paid to promote another person’s product, coupon, deal, or website.
It’s typically CPA (cost-per-action) advertising — which means that you only get paid per action. In other words, a reader must take some form of action (purchase something, click through your link and sign up for something, download a coupon or ebook, etc.)
You sign up for an affiliate program, such as: Commission Junction, ShareASale, CenterPoint Media, Amazon, etc.), you promote your unique affiliate link for a product that the company gives you, and then you are paid if your readers buy the item or signs up for the item.
You can promote these links through posts, through email newsletters, on your sidebar, and more. I think one of the best ways to promote affiliate links is through posts or emails where you talk about a product.
A few years ago, I wrote a really honest review about Stitch Fix and used my affiliate links in it. Even though I talked about how the service wasn’t for me, I still make between $25-$75 a day from that post because the post gets a lot of traffic through people searching on Google for “Stitch Fix reviews”.
The one time action of writing that post and promoting it on social media has resulted in literally thousands of dollars of revenue over the months since — and I’ve done nothing more to promote it except occasionally re-posting it on Facebook and Pinterest.
If you’re serious about making money with affiliate marketing, I would HIGHLY recommend Kayla Aimee’s Affiliate Acceleration course. It walks you step-by-step through the process of how to really effectively use affiliate links in a way that your readers will love.
You can find a list of my favorite and most-effective affiliate programs here (scroll down to the bottom of the post).
A few things to note:
- Per the Federal Trade Commission, you are required to clearly disclose on any post where you use affiliate links. This way, people know that you are profiting if they click through and sign up or make a purchase.
- I don’t recommend putting affiliate links only on your sidebar. I’ve found it to be much more effective to write a detailed post on your blog talking about the product/site and how it has benefited or impacted you.
- Experiment with using affiliate links on social media. I’ve found that talking about products on Facebook Live and Instagram Stories can be highly effective when it comes to affiliate marketing.
Need some more advice and encouragement? Check out my post on How to Make Money Blogging and also sign up for my free blogging webinar where I talk more about how to monetize your blog.
Need some ideas on how to increase your blog traffic? Read some thoughts I shared on what to do when blog traffic is slow.
Have you monetized your blog at all? If so, I’d love to hear what has worked for you!
(Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and we will be compensated when you make a purchase or sign up for a service by clicking through our links. Thank you for helping to support this blog!)
Need More Affiliate Marketing Help?
Psst! If you’re looking for some ideas on affiliate programs to try out, be sure to sign up for our FREE list of 20+ top affiliate programs perfect for beginner bloggers!
So I tried my first post centered on a few affiliate links. The post was on a few things I LOVE (moneysavingmom and Get Your Pretty On Fall Style Challenge) so that felt genuine. I did struggle and fail to get my pictures to be clickable, that were within my post. I was able to get my links in and pictures so that was a win!! And I feel like I at least took a step forward by trying something that was different for me:)
Facebook is not loving me when I share affiliate links. Anyone have advice on that?? It showed some of my funny farm posts to over 2K (Wow, since I only have 73 followers), but then my affiliate ads went to 5 or 10 people! What?:)
Oh and congrats to Crystal for being one of the top sellers at Get Your Pretty On Fall Style Challenge!!!
On Facebook, it will often not show your posts to as many people if you have a link in your teaser text. You can get around this by putting it in your comments. Or asking people, want the link? Ask in the comments and I’ll be happy to share! Or something like that.
I didn’t even know I was one of the top sellers… where did you see that??
Crystal,
I saw that you were a top Get Your Pretty On Style Challenge seller on the GYPO affiliate Facebook group. Alison posted the top five sellers the other day! Hope you win:)
Oh! I didn’t even know I was in the run for something! I’m not on the Facebook Group! Thanks for letting me know!
I’ve had affiliate banners on my sidebar for a couple of months with very limited success. This week I plan to write my first post that contains affiliate links, so we’ll see how it goes! Thanks, Crystal, for these great suggestions.
I’m cheering for you! The other cool thing about posts with affiliate links is that if it’s an ongoing deal or offer, you can re-circulate it on social media on a regular basis!
When you sign up for affiliate programs, don’t forget to make all links “no follow” either by entering it directly into the code or using a plugin. I didnt know this as a new blogger and had to go back and change LOTS of links. Don’t do what I did – do this from the start!
I actually have a ton of follow links on old posts MoneySavingMom.com! I don’t stress too much about it because it would have been crazy to try to go back and fix all of them (literally thousands of posts). It wasn’t even a thing for a long time and has only become something more important in the last few years. But that’s a great tip to mention for newbies! Thanks so much!
Actually, I agree with making sure you do no-follow links! From what I’ve been learning about SEO from several experts, it’s actually quite important anymore and can make it much harder for people to find you through search engines because Google will penalize you.
I’m guessing it hasn’t affected you (at least enough that you’ve noticed) Crystal, because your site is so large and well established….and I can totally see why it wouldn’t be worth your time to worry about changing old links. But for someone new starting out, it could have a big negative impact if they don’t do it (in my opinion). And it really is an easy thing to implement, so why not? 🙂
Yes! I realized I should have said that it was on old posts on MSM. I just fixed my comment lest anyone was confused. I haven’t had any issues with Google penalizing posts, but I’m also blessed to have good SEO established because of traffic numbers. I’m kind of a rebel in that I think you should write for your readers (and those you want to attract) not for the search engines. But I still think it’s good to do what you can (that doesn’t affect writing for your readers) to encourage better SEO, so thanks so much for mentioning that! 🙂
Lydia,
So is it better to use a plugin that makes all external links “no follow” or should I use one that lets me selectively choose which links to make “no follow”? Is there a particular plugin you suggest?
Thanks!
I have a question about affiliate ads:
If I send readers to the affiliate company’s site to buy a recommended product, won’t I lose out in the future when the affiliate company has either new promos or new products?
Because, wont the company have my readers’ emails already and send the promo or new product info directly to her?
Possibly and this has happened a few times for us. But it’s very rare. In most cases, when you build up a loyal following, they will be much more apt to make a purchase only when you promote something.
AND, even if you do end up losing sales down the road in the future, you’ll at least get the $$ for the initial sales — which is more than you’d get if you never mention affiliate links at all! 😉
Hi, Crystal. I want to use affiliate links on my blog, but realized I can’t because my blog is hosted free at WordPress. Do you know if I can be an Amazon (or other) Affiliate if I use one of WordPress’s paid plans? Or do I need to move my whole blog to a new host? Thanks!
I would not recommend using WordPress’ paid plans as there’s a good chance you’ll spend more $$ on the plan then you’ll make in the beginning + they really limit your options on what you can and can’t do regarding making money. I’d highly recommend making the switch to a new host. I know it feels daunting, but it doesn’t have to be.
You might consider going with this service and having their help if that’s something you can afford: https://blogelina.com/the-quickest-easiest-cheapest-way-to-set-up-your-blog/?ap_id=moneysavingmom
I snagged this Blogelina deal to set up my blog with your coupon code. It’s through WordPress…so will I be able to use affiliate links in the future? I’m still in the process of getting established, but I hoped to eventually use affiliate links once I have developed a stronger following.
Yes! You will be able to!
When I first started blogging, I found that I simply didn’t have enough pageviews for some affiliate programs. I started with referral links.
A referral link differs from an affiliate link in that pretty much anyone can share and earn from them, you don’t have to have a blog, you just have to be a customer.
You can look for them in the account areas of services you already use- places like Swagbucks, ThredUp, Ibotta and more. You need to look and see if they offer a sharable link that you can use on your blog.
Sometimes they have limits on how much referral credit you can earn, or on how long you can let it build up before you spend it, so you need to read the terms of their referral program first.
I have been blogging for years now and even though I now earn much more from ads and affiliate programs these referral programs still make up 15% of my monthly income on average.
This was such a great piece of advice! Thank you for sharing! And it inspired me to start working on a post with 10 referral programs that new bloggers could consider promoting. Great idea! (Do you have a post that you’ve done on this? If so, I’d love for you to share the link here.)
I don’t see your list of favorite and most-effective Affiliat programs that you mention. Is it the 10 Ways to Make $100?
No, it’s at the bottom of the post.
Some of the Current Top-Earning Affiliates I Use for MoneySavingMom.com:
Panthera Network
Linkshare
CPADNA
Escalate Media
ShopHer Media
Commission Junction
ShareASale
Savings.com
CenterPoint Media
Glitter Network
Coupon-printing (Coupons.com, RedPlum, and SmartSource)
Amazon
TopCashback
Pepperjam Network
Impact Radius
Thank you so much for sharing these!! You are so kind and I love you blog! 🙂
I definitely don’t have enough page views for Adsense. I don’t know whether affiliate links would work for me either, because the times I have used them, I get very few clicks. I’ve been blogging for 8 months, and I wonder when I decide that I should stop. I feel like I should have been doing something else to have gotten more readers by now.
I wouldn’t give up! Instead, I’d focus on what IS working and how can you improve that and slowly increase that? Also, follow my Instagram Stories because I think they will encourage you: http://www.instagram.com/YourBloggingMentor
I don’t know whether affiliate links would work for me either, because the times I have used them, I get very few clicks. I’ve been blogging for 8 months, and I wonder when I decide that I should stop. I feel like I should have been doing something else to have gotten more readers by now.
I always say that you have to consistently stick with blogging for at least two weeks if you want to be successful at it. It’s a lot of work to get started and to figure out what works for you and your audience, but it can really pay off!