Many beginner bloggers think that ads are the best and only way you can monetize a blog.
But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
There are so many different ways you can make money on your blog without ads. And they can earn you a lot more money than ads.
Wanna know the best part?
You don’t need a lot of traffic to be able to make good money.
More traffic doesn’t equal more money (except for the ad money in which case more traffic does equal more money).
What you need to do is create valuable content that will solve problems your readers have and build a relationship with them.
Then you will earn money with your blog.
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This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Please see my full disclosure for further information.
How do I monetize a blog without ads?
Like I mentioned above, there are many different ways you can make money blogging (that DON’T involve placing ads on your website).
And today I will tell you about 4 of them which are the best ones to get started with as a beginner.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is, by far, my favourite way to make money blogging. It’s so easy to get started with affiliate marketing and anyone can do it.
No matter what you write about, you can find affiliate products to promote on your blog.
Many beginner bloggers think that they need to wait to hit x number of pageviews or x subscribers to start adding affiliate links to posts.
But that is not true.
By waiting you are missing out on so many opportunities and a lot of money.
It’s never too early to start adding affiliate links to your blog.
It doesn’t cost you anything to apply to affiliate programs and start adding links to your posts. Most companies don’t have any requirements when it comes to traffic or followers so why wait?
The time for affiliate marketing is now!
Now that you know that you can start doing affiliate marketing from the beginning, you’re probably wondering how to actually do it.
Start with creating a list of some products that you use in your everyday life (that are related to your niche aka what you blog about) or products you mentioned on your blog.
Then go into Google and type “(brand) affiliate program” to see if they have an affiliate program you can apply for.
Once you get approved for those affiliate programs you can go back to your posts and add links for the products you mentioned.
How to find new products to promote
Once you’ve added affiliate links to the obvious products you’ve already talked about on your blog, it’s time to find new products to promote.
An obvious thing would be to find some products to promote and then write blog posts around those products (you can do that if you want to).
But I like doing it the other way around.
I, first, like to find a problem my readers have and then search for a product that will help with that problem.
How do you find problems your readers have?
The best way is by doing a keyword research to see what your readers are searching for on Google.
You can also look on Pinterest, Facebook groups, Quora etc.
The reason why I prefer Google is because Google traffic is very valuable in terms of affiliate sales.
People who come to your blog from Google are more likely to buy something than people who come from Pinterest or Facebook.
So if you write a post that ranks high in Google you can make a lot of money from your affiliate links.
Once you’ve found a problem you want to create a post about, think of some products (or services) that can help them solve that problem.
If you’re struggling to find products to promote I’d highly recommend checking out this masterlist with over 500 different ones to join.
You have your keyword and the products to talk about, now it’s time to write the post.
Types of posts that work really well with affiliate products
- how-to posts
- tutorials (using the products/service you’re an affiliate for)
- reviews
- X vs Y (a post where you compare two popular products that are similar)
When you’re writing your post you want to make it valuable and detailed. You want the post to help your readers with their problem.
Don’t just write something short and basic and slap your affiliate links all over the place. Take your time to create a valuable piece of content that will help or teach your readers something.
Besides providing value with your post, you also need to write it with proper SEO in mind so that your post appears higher in search.
As I already said, Google traffic is a lot more valuable so you want to do as much as you can to help your post appear in search.
Sponsored posts
The next way you can make money with your blog is by writing sponsored posts.
A sponsored post is a post where you are paid by a company to talk about their products or services.
When should I start doing sponsored posts?
Unlike affiliate marketing, which you can do from the beginning, for sponsored posts you should wait a bit.
Wait until you have some traffic and create a relationship with your readers.
You don’t have to have thousands of page views a day and thousands of followers to do sponsored posts. But you do need some traffic and some followers.
How do I find sponsored post opportunities?
There are a few different ways you can get sponsored post opportunities:
- a company reaches out to you– this is when a company contacts you for a sponsored post
- you reach out to a company you want to work with– if you have some brands you’d like to work at, you can email them and see if they would be interested in a collaboration (don’t be scared of reaching out, the worst thing that can happen is that they say “no” which, honestly, isn’t that bad)
- networks for bloggers– there are many networks for bloggers you can join (like IZEA or TapInfluence ) and apply for different campaigns
As your blog grows you’ll start getting more and more emails about collaborations.
Getting emails from brands can be so exciting and make you feel special but be careful. There are companies who (unfortunately) just want to take advantage of bloggers.
So when you get an email from a company, first, do some research to see if they are a legit company. And then ask to see what they want from you and how much they are willing to pay you.
Even if you’re a new blogger with very low traffic don’t sell yourself short. Creating a post takes a lot of time and work so accepting a small fee or just a product isn’t worth your time.
I think you shouldn’t accept less than $100 for a sponsored post no matter how small your blog is. When you add up the time it takes to create the post plus promotion plus the fact that the post will stay on your blog for a long time, it’s just not worth taking less than $100.
Tips for getting sponsored posts:
- have your own domain name
- have a simple and clean blog design (that is mobile friendly)
- write good quality and valuable content (use this free grammar tool to check your posts for any mistakes)
- have a contact page where companies can, easily, get in touch with you
- have a media kit where you have all the information about you and your blog (where your traffic comes from, demographics of your readers, how many followers you have on social media, email subscribers, what your blog is about, what you can offer the company, etc.)
- don’t be afraid to contact brands you want to work with!
Sell your own products
The next thing I want to talk about is creating your own products to sell.
Selling your own products is such a great way to make passive income blogging. Once you create a product you can sell it for years and years.
There are so many different products you can sell and platforms you can use for selling them that make it super easy (I’ll talk about them in a minute).
When you’re thinking of a product to sell, the first thing you want to do is think of your readers.
What are some problems and struggles they have? What kind of product can you create to help them with those problems?
You want to create something your readers will want to buy!
Something I’d like to remind you is that people aren’t looking to buy products, they are looking to fulfil their needs. Products are just there to help them do that.
Printables
One of the best products to start selling are printables.
They are easy to make with a free tool like Canva and don’t take long to create.
Printables are usually very affortable which makes them perfect place to start.
I’d recommend starting with a cheaper product like printables and then moving your way up to something more expensive like a course.
It’s easier for people to buy a cheap product than a $100+ course. So start with something cheaper like a printable to build a relationship with your readers and show them that you are worth spending money on. Later introduce more expensive products.
A great place to sell your printables is Sendowl.
Sendowl is a platform that helps you sell digital products like printables and ebooks. You can even use it for things like memberships and subscriptions. Their pricing starts from just $9 a month which makes it a great place to start selling your own products.
Ebooks
The next digital product you can sell are ebooks.
Ebooks take a bit more time and work to create than printables and therefore the price is a bit higher.
Ebooks are usually priced between $20 and $100 but the price vary based on how long and detailed it is, how much information it contains and so much more.
If you are thinking about creating your own ebook I’d highly recommend checking out Ebook Bestseller Bootcamp which is a course created by And of TheSheApproach.com who makes around $3,000 a month just from selling her ebooks.
In the course, Ana takes you through every step of creating a successful ebook. From writing it to launching it to earning a passive income from your ebook. If you are serious about making money through selling ebooks I would highly recommend getting her course.
>> Check out Easy Bestseller Bootcamp here! <<
ps you can use my discount code TSA5OFF to get $5 off your purchase!
Courses
Now let’s talk about courses.
Courses can get pretty expensive (there are some that are over $1,000). The reason for that is because courses are a lot more detailed than an ebook and contain a lot more…of, well, everything.
You can add text, you can add videos, quizzes and so many other things.
I recently created my first course, a free course on How to start a money-making blog and I’m so happy with it. I love how it turned out and the feedback I received so far.
I used Thinkific which is an amazing platform for creating courses that has lots of different features and options. The best part about it is the fact that you can get started for free and can have 5 courses without having to pay for anything.
Besides the things I mentioned above there are sooo many other products you can create and sell like
- templates
- stock photos
- case studies
- calculators
- physical products
Offer services
Offering services is a great way to earn some extra money.
Depending on your niche and the needs of you target audience you can offer services like coaching, consulting or mentoring.
Besides offering service on your blog you can also use your blogging skills to make some extra money online.
Some services you can offer are
- freelance writing
- SEO services
- become a virtual assistant
- photography services
- web design and graphic design
Many bloggers when they are just starting blogging also do some of these things to earn money while they are growing their blog. As it takes time to earn a full-time income blogging.
Final thoughts on making with your blog without ads
As you can see, it is possible to make money blogging without ads.
Ads are just one way you can earn money with your blog but it is not the only (or best) one.
My biggest advice for you is to diversify your traffic. Don’t just rely on ads or affiliate marketing or any other way. Have multiple streams of income.
Because blogging income isn’t consistent or secure.
It’s not like with a traditional job where you know you’ll be getting x amount of money every month.
With blogging, you never know how much you’ll earn each month. There are so many different things that play a role in your income.
And that’s why it’s so important not to rely on just one thing. Instead, do as many different things as you can and have multiple sources of income.
How To Make Money Blogging Without Ads
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