Traditionally, for bloggers, Google AdSense was a go-to. However, in recent times, a wide range of revenue streams have emerged for them.
In fact, if you’re starting to blog today, AdSense should be your last avenue. Why? Because the pay is much less. To make enough money from your Google AdSense, you will have to drive thousands of unique visitors to your blog every day. And this is not always possible for niche bloggers. So, you will end up earning much less, which will eventually demotivate you. And you will stop blogging. This is the story for so many new bloggers who committedly started, but thenstopped because they were entirely dependent on Google AdSense.
There’s a reason why the majority of top bloggers don’t use Google AdSense anymore. There’s a reason why all the success stories you read of making big money from this Ad program are usually too many years old.
(AdSense is ideal for large websites, like news, who shell limitless contents every day and can drive lacs of pageviewsevery day.)
Now coming to your question…
There are many ways to generate income from your blog. It largely depends on the topic you’re blogging and your target audience. Here are some of the common ones:
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Affiliate marketing: You promote someone else’s products and help them make sales. In return, you will be given a commission (usually a percent of the total sales amount) for your efforts. There are many renowned networks/programs that can help you find the advertisers/companies who are looking for affiliates like you—someone who can promote their product. Shareasale, Clickbank and CJ Affiliate are some of the renowned names.
• Sell eBooks: Virtually every successful blogger is selling self-authored eBooks. The process is simple. You create/write an eBook related to your niche. And then sell it. If you have a committed audience, they will purchase your eBook. It’s one of the simplest and cost-effective ways to generate income from your blog. You can sell your eBook on your own website, or signup to the distribution platforms like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play and Book Shop.
• Teach/start a course: Do you know something exclusive? Do you have some skill that others will be willing to pay to learn? A course could be one of your high-end products—priced highly, designed for those who are serious in their learning. There are many powerful (and affordable) platforms that can help you create and sell online course incredibly easily. Teachable, Kajabi, Udemy, Skillshare, and Thinking's are some of the most used platforms. You need to consider what you want to teach and what is your budget before choosing any of the platforms to sell online course.
• Guest Blogging: Guest blogging has emerged to be a leading choice to get back-links. Even the top brands are investing extensively in this. So, you can accept guest articles on your blog and charge money for that. Of course, for this, you need to have a well-established base of readers and a good Domain Authority (DA). Also, you need to be considerate of the guest articles you’re accepting; about their quality and topic.
• Sponsored Content- This is one of my favorites and very handy for niche bloggers. With influencer marketing in the mainstream now, brands have come to realize how bloggers and vloggers can influence small segments and heighten their sales. What you do here is simply accept brands/companies and write contents for them that promote their products. And they pay you. Quartz, a news website of Atlantic Media, champions writing Sponsored contents. It is, in fact, their foremost avenue to generate money. They promote luxury brands like Rolex. Check them out for inspiration.
These are 5 basic ways to earn income from your blog. As you proceed and grow, you will find many new avenues come up. Like, you will be asked for interviews. You can speak in events. Companies will come from the front and ask you to promote their products. A lot of these opportunities will be paid.
We’re going through exciting times right now when making a full-time living from your blog has become one of the favorite choices for many.
So, if you’re planning to start a blog, go ahead. Work hard, be consistent, aim to provide real value to your audience and, most importantly, look beyond Google Ad-sense. Good luck!
