Earning money through blogging

Just like many new bloggers, at some point you will ask yourself, “Can I make money from my blog?” The simple answer to this question is YES!
The concept of passive income is very attractive to anyone starting out in the blogging world. Wouldn’t you like to make money while you sleep? This is basically what passive income is. You create digital products that you can sell on autopilot. Or you join an affiliate program. Basically, it is most certainly possible for anyone to earn money through blogging, as long as you realise a few truths.

The truth: Blogging can be an absolute game-changer. But remember one thing. What you put into your blog, you will get out. You need to be realistic with yourself. Blogging for a living is certainly possible, with a lot of time and commitment.
I have read the same articles and blogs about “set up a blog in 10 minutes” and “earn $5000 after a month” as you. They are simply not true!
Blogging takes a lot of dedication, time and energy. If you are not honest with yourself about this, you will set yourself up for failure. Coming up with consistent interesting content that readers will enjoy can be exhausting! And you do this over and over again. If you are still interested, then please read on.

Set up your blog to make money. Starting out can be daunting. Not many bloggers know everything before they start. It’s very much a trial & error. But I will give you a tip. If you start out with one of the free websites, that’s great for getting to know how the platform works. But as soon as you want to take things further and monetise your site, it won’t allow you to. Secondly, a free website will remain the property of the platform you are using. Any content you write does not belong to you. And they can shut you down for any reason, at any time. And thirdly, they only give you a limited choice of themes which usually aren’t so nice.
So my TIP for you is to self-host your blog. There are plenty of brilliant choices available online, but the most popular is Bluehost. Founded in 2003, Bluehost is one of the largest and most respected web hosting providers in the world and supports more than 2 million websites worldwide. Bluehost has been one of WordPress’ top recommended hosts since 2005 and offers an anytime money-back guarantee.
Customers can cancel at anytime without penalty to receive a prorated refund. Full refunds are available in the first 30 days (minus the cost of domains if cancelled after three days).They also provide an unbeatable support network which is available 24/7 via phone, chat, and tickets.
Their expert support staff are robustly knowledgeable and constantly share their knowledge and expertise directly with their customers.

It doesn’t cost that much for the year so I reckon it’s well worth it!

Write content that attracts readers. You need to write content that visitors to your blog will want to read! Generally, readers are looking for somebody to solve their problems. For instance, this blog is about helping people realise that they can earn money through their blog.
I am helping someone. The more you HELP people, you will gain their trust and form a relationship with them. By doing this, they will come back for more of that valuable content you write. If you create courses or e-books, then you have a better chance of these same readers buying from you.
There are many ways to write valuable content every time but here’s one trick I use. By learning from other bloggers who have made it I can cheat at it just a little.
1. Choose about 5 of your favourite blogs.
2. Go to Buzzsumo.com – it is not a free site, BUT it does allow you to do about 5 free searches per day. You can only see the top 5 most shared articles, but that is all you need to know for now.
Add the website you want to analyze in the search bar. Take note of how your favourite blogs have worded, set out and used stock images on their posts. For them to get their posts shared the most, they must be doing something right – copy their method! So, check which posts have the most shares and write a cheat list of ideas that you could use in a blog of your own.

Pinterest saves the day, again! It’s no secret that most bloggers are using Pinterest to drive traffic to their blog for FREE!
Before I converted my account, I always used Pinterest to find sewing patterns and homeschool resources, and had no idea I could link my blog with my Pinterest account to drive traffic!
If you already have a Pinterest account, then you need to convert it into a Business Account. Its FREE.
Next, you should insert an image of yourself in your profile. If you are not happy with doing that, then a business logo is okay too. Make sure you have at least 20 boards that are relevant to your audience.
For example, my Pinterest account is called Feed Our Life and my blog is about blogging, home schooling and sewing, so I created relevant boards:

I have 100+ boards in total, including Group Boards…ranging from crafts, sewing, recipes, blogging and making money!

Next, when you write a post, you need to create click-worthy images for Pinterest that will lead visitors to your blog. Make sure the images are pretty with legible fonts. Learn from other bloggers’ pins. If they are getting pins, then they are doing something right! Create 2-3 pins on Canva for each post and place one at the top and bottom of your post. And obviously you need to link them to Pinterest.
Group boards are boards owned by other people. These are overlooked by many-a-blogger and can dramatically increase your traffic after just one week. Look for group boards in other people’s Pinterest accounts or use PinGroupie, a website that provides you with a list of all group boards on Pinterest. Join some of the Facebook groups on Pinterest Group Boards: most of them have some great group boards opening on there every week. In order to join a group board on Pinterest, you need to send a message or an email to the person that owns the board.
All the above points are what I did to go from 0 views on my blog to over 350,000 in less than 2 months blogging.

Once you have page views to your blogs, directed from Pinterest, you can start creating things to sell, like online courses and e-books, and earn commissions through affiliate marketing.
Personally, I haven’t written any courses or e-books yet! But I have dipped my toes into the world of affiliate marketing.
There are many other affiliate programs available online, and if you want to join one that is within your niche, then go to Google and search “your niche + affiliate program”, for example, “homeschool curriculum + affiliate program”. All the companies who supply educational curricula and who have an affiliate program will come up in the results. Then you simply contact them and ask to join their programs!

Here is a list of fab Affiliate Networks & Programs which I belong to and which you can join too!

1. Amazon Associates

2. Shareasale

3. Bluehost

4. Creative Market

5. Appliques With Character

6. Swoon Sewing Patterns

7. Pinteresting Strategies – Carly On Purpose 

8. OptinMonster

9. Tailwind

10. WP Forms

11. Social Intents – Email List Builder

12. Social Intents

13. Grammarly

14. Craftsy

15. AdornIt

Lastly, if you are serious about making money blogging, then you need to invest in yourself.
There are also a lot of free courses available, but sometimes you just need the reassurance that you are getting valuable information. Buying a course is not wasting money. However, do some research and make sure the people you are buying from are trustworthy. Don’t be afraid to email the course owner before you buy. If they reply to your questions, then that should reassure you that they are trustworthy. If not, then steer well clear.
Do yourself a favour and don’t invest any money in blogging if you are not serious about it! You can end up spending a lot on courses before you realise it. If you just want to explore blogging and find out a bit about how to get started, then there are plenty of free resources available (especially through Pinterest) and use your time to invest in learning as much as you can FOR FREE!
I personally read lots of free blogging courses and tutorials before I felt was ready to invest any money in blogging. I started thinking about earning money through blogging about 3 months ago. Since then, I have read hundreds of blogs (for free) about how to earn money.

You can also find some great paid-for courses too – but remember, there’s a lot of free information out there that you can learn from without forking out hundreds for the same information you can find for free!

I have gained a wealth of knowledge in the time I’ve been blogging from learning for free and through my own mistakes.

It’s hard work. And can be lonely. BUT I am enjoying the journey and so will you!

If you are interested in blogging for a living but have some Q’s, please do not hesitate to email me! I promise I will reply to you!
If you enjoyed this post, please follow me on Pinterest where you will find lots of lifestyle, homeschool, sewing and blogging tips!
Thanks for reading, until next time!