How to Make Money by Blogging. | Raven Digital Marketing Agency

If you landed here, it means that you want to know how to make money blogging, right?

Ever dream of quitting your job and start working from home?

I know I do! For the past years, I have been working in a very demanding job. I have been lucky enough to work with people I love, but the job itself was very time-consuming. It was the norm to work for 12-14 hours a day in a high-stress environment.

I kept dreaming of a stress-free life and being able to do what I loved.

So in the evenings, instead of relaxing or watch T.V or going out with friends, I quitted almost everything and then I started researching online for alternative options. I found many interesting creative ways to make money that could give me more freedom, but what I really wanted was:

Something that would fulfill me and that I could enjoy doing every day

Something that made money and helped me live the life of my dreams

During my research, I came across the concept of passive income, and I thought: “Wouldn’t it be great to be able to set something up and not having to worry about money anymore?”

We started to generate some passive income, but I was still looking for my real passion.

Something was still missing.

I then realized I spent a lot of time reading blogs, looking at people currently living the life I want to live.

Some can stay at home and raise their kids away from the corporate world. Some can travel every day of the year using their savings and investments. Some created a 6-figure business while going to school, and some have created a new life for themselves that allow them to do what they love.

Let’s be real here:

I was looking to find my passion, but I also wanted to make money blogging. My goal was to be able to make $1,000 a month after a year of blogging. If I couldn’t do that, I would just quit this blogging business and move on to new adventures. But to do that, I had to learn how to make money blogging…

I am not going to keep writing about how much I make every month, and it took me a long time to decide, but I really wanted to let you know that it is possible to make money blogging with NO EXPERIENCE.

So how did I do it? Did it happen by magic?

First of all, I just want to say:

I have no experience writing for a living.

Up to 6 months ago, I didn’t even know what digital marketing was (I am still unsure…).

I never liked social media (and still don’t).

I have never made money with an online product before.

So if you think you cannot do it, you are wrong!

And if you think it’s too late to start a blog in 2021, it’s not!

Start NOW! I learned how to make money blogging and if I did it, so can you!

This is how I did it

In just a few minutes, I am going to tell you how you can make money blogging, but before you all get too excited about it, I just want to be clear about a couple of things:

Making money blogging is POSSIBLE, but it is…HARD

If you read an article, you can set up a blog in 10 minutes and make money in dollars after a month…that’s not true, at least in my experience.

Blogging takes a lot of time and commitment.

There will be moments in which you are alone, and no one is reading your blog, and you will be thinking: “Why am I doing this? Will this ever work?” but you have to keep pushing and be motivated. You need always to keep your goal in mind.

And if you think you are not cut out for that, then blogging might not be for you!

(Blogging is not a get rich “the quick and easy way” thing )

You are going to have to keep working at it.

You are going to have to write and re-write your content. Improve your articles, find out what works and what doesn’t work, and you cannot be afraid to change things.

You need to listen to people that know what they are doing better than you, but then it will be down to you and you alone to put in the hard work.

I put together the most in-depth, comprehensive post to help you start your blog. This is NOT a quick read. I will share with you all the tips I used to create a successful blog. If you want a thorough guide to help you along with all the steps, just click here and get started!

WEB DESIGN AND WEB DEVELOPMENT :

Consistency is key when designing a website. From specific colors, consistent typefaces + font size, spacing, image treatment, etc. The list goes on. Behind any successful web design, is an intention of consistency throughout the design. I plan on creating a blog post that dives deeper into how to achieve consistency throughout your website/blog, but for now, I will focus on how to make your web developer happy through consistency in design.

When you are used to designing in print, and not for the web, it is easy to overlook providing the active/hover states of buttons + navigation. This is a commonly forgotten element, as the website looks complete, but you often forget about the user experience! I include these states on a separate layer, clearly labeled + organized. I also include this on the style guide, to make sure I am consistent throughout the entire web design.

When your site is live, your content + pages should be set for a while! What happens when you, or your client, want to create a new page listing out new services, products, etc? They can easily create a page by selecting “default” within WordPress. If you do not design this default page, then most likely it will just have your navigation at the top, along with the footer below, and a wide area of white space for all content. It looks like it wasn’t designed specifically for your site. If your website, like mine, has an area for hero images below the navigation, simply draft up a default page including this image placeholder, as well as the appropriate text box width, and any other elements you want to be included in the future pages. This will make updating your site with new pages a smooth + easy task.

Auto-response This element is pretty self-explanatory, however, it is commonly overlooked! If you have a contact form, newsletter sign-up, or any other form on your website, you should design what happens when the user clicks “submit.” A simple “thank you for getting in touch! I will respond to your inquiry shortly” will do just fine. If you only respond to project inquiries on Fridays, make sure to include that so that the user isn’t left anticipating your response for a week. This is a great way to set expectations, so they don’t think you are flaky or non-responsive!

Learning web design requires lots of practice coding, so let’s jump into the ways you can teach yourself web design (and code).

You will want to start learning HTML/CSS first, which will help you to build a website, and then learn programming lanuages such as JavaScript to give functionality to your website (and PHP if you want to be a WordPress developer).

2. EMAIL MARKETING:

An effective email marketing strategy leverages automated email sequences to help move potential clients along their buying journey.

They are strategically spaced out to nurture and warm up your leads and can be used as part of a sales funnel or to invite your list to another nurture activity such as a challenge or webinar.

For service businesses, the more common email sequences include:

A welcome email sequence: which is sent after someone has first joined your list

A sales email sequence: which is sent as part of a launch or promotional campaign

A nurture email sequence: which is sent after someone downloads a specific opt-in

Automated sequences also free up your time, so that you can focus on more critical tasks.

Creating E-Mail list segments: Sometimes you may have more than one audience type.

For example, this is common in industries such as recruitment (where you have clients and candidates), or real estate (where you have both buyers and sellers), or interior design (where you may have clients, suppliers, and builders).

As such, you’ll want to strategically segment your list so that you can send targeted communications to each group of subscribers.

When you send targeted communications, you’ll be more relevant and see better responses and results from those with whom you’re communicating with.

3.ADS

This is where a lot of bloggers start. Putting ads on your website is a way to make money blogging right away however, the payout for ads will be minimal until you increase your page views. Many bloggers wait until they are established to start working with an ad network. Sometimes ads can come off as spammy and it’s important to build up the valuable content of your blog before using ads that many visitors could find annoying. Some people might leave a website if they are bothered by ads but will be more likely to stay if the content they are reading is awesome. Many bloggers also wait until their traffic grows because there are better ad networks available when you have more page views.

Here are a few ad networks to consider:

Google ads ( for low traffic)

Media vine (requires 25k unique visits per month)

Ad thrive (requires 100k pageviews per month)

Is it passive income? Yep. Passive income doesn’t get easier than connecting with an ad network and getting paid for your traffic and clicks.

Am I doing it? Nope. I prefer not to clutter my pages with advertisements. I try to write valuable content that can teach something new and ads could distract my readers. I do sometimes manually place ads into my blog posts but only if they are relevant. Even though I could get paid for ad clicks. I’d rather have them stay, read more blog posts, and hopefully sign up or subscribe to my email list.

Should you do it? Maybe. It depends on your blog niche and offerings. Ads are a good way to make a supplemental income with little effort.

AFFILIATE MARKETING

This is one of my favorite ways to make money blogging! Affiliate marketing is when you share another person’s product link on your website and then receive a commission for any purchases made through your link. You can make money with affiliate marketing through shopping sites (amazon), affiliate networks, and private affiliate programs. It’s important to promote products/services your target audience will enjoy learning about. You can promote affiliate programs by writing a product review, linking to a product in a relevant post, or placing an affiliate banner on your site.

Is it passive income? Yes. You write a blog post, monetize with affiliate links, and can potentially make money from that post forever.

Am I doing it? Yep! Affiliate marketing currently makes up about half of my blogging income.

Should you do it? Yes. It’s one of the easiest ways to monetize your blog.

SPONSORED POSTS & SPONSORED ADS

If you have enough traffic or email subscribers, you can get paid for writing sponsored posts, such as product reviews. Companies want to get their brands in front of a new audience and will pay bloggers to write a review or feature information about their products. As a blogger, you might receive free products in exchange for writing a blog post or you might charge the company a fee. Another possibility is to charge a fee to display an advertisement on your blog. This would often be displayed in your blog sidebar and would remain there for an agreed-upon length of time. One thing to remember is to feature products relevant to your niche so your audience will be more engaged with your content and more likely to share your posts with their friends.

Is it passive income? Sometimes. You’ll likely only be paid for writing a blog post once. If you find a company wanting to display an ad on your site long-term, you could receive monthly payments for an extended period of time.

Am I doing it? No. If I am writing a review about a product/service it is most likely because I use it in my business and have loved it enough to become an affiliate partner.

Should you do it? Sure! Many bloggers and influencers get free stuff in exchange for promotions. Most times the freebies are in addition to the fee bloggers charge for writing the post or displaying the ad.

PHYSICAL PRODUCTS

Selling physical products can go hand-in-hand with your blog. If you already run an online shop, then writing blog posts will be a strategy for increasing your traffic and sales and adding another income stream to your eCommerce business. You can make money blogging by promoting physical products to your current readers or by writing reviews and featured posts about the products you’re selling. You’ll want to sell products that align with your blog’s niche whether you decide to start a boutique or start a dropshipping business.

I recommend using Shopify for starting a boutique or for connecting with drop shippers. There are a couple of different ways to connect your online shop to your blog. 1. Your shop can be connected to your blog by creating a shop link in your blog’s navigation. When clicked, the link will open your store’s website in a new browser window. 2. Another way to link your online store to your blog is to use the embed code found in your Shopify dashboard. You can create a shop page on your blog and then instead of having the nav link open a new window, you embed your shop products directly into that page on your blog.

Is it passive income? It can be. If you use a dropshipping option then all shipments will be handled by a third party.

Am I doing it? Yes. I have a page of products on my blog and I sell on social media.

Should you do it? Sure! For some, this will be the part of the business they are most passionate about because they can connect with customers in a special way by sending physical packages.

DIGITAL PRODUCTS & COURSES

You can make money blogging by creating and selling digital products such as ebooks, graphics, printables, courses, or literally anything that can be sold digitally. These products can be sold on their own web page, by being featured in your posts or sidebar, or through an automated sales funnel.

Is it passive income? Yes

Am I doing it? Yep. I offer multiple downloads and courses. I’m also working on an ebook I hope to release very soon.

Should you do it? Yes. The possibilities of digital products are endless. Creating a simple art print can be a good way to get started

SERVICES

Do you have a service you can offer to your blog readers? This can be things like design, branding, copywriting, coaching, or business consulting. It’s easy to create a page on your blog to promote your services and rates. You can promote yourself by writing informational content about your expertise in your blog posts. Running an online business can be lonely at times but offering services gives you the chance to be social and build relationships with clients while you make money.

Is it passive income? No.

Am I doing it? Sometimes. I will offer services in my sales funnel when my time allows for it.

Should you do it? Yes. If you have the expertise you use to help people, you definitely should.

Why can’t I just follow my passion and write what I want?

Of course, you can, but if you want to blog for money, I suggest you don’t.

I gave myself a few months to make blogging work for me, and I couldn’t hang around for people to read what I wanted to write.

EVENTS

Planning an event and selling tickets is another way to add an income stream to your business. Some bloggers host online summits or workshops with live video lessons. Hosting an in-person conference or retreat is another option to consider. I’ve heard of live events being hosted for subjects in many different niches such as yoga retreats, social media conferences, woodworking classes, meditation retreats, and marketing workshops. The possibilities are endless!

Is it passive income? No. This will require a lot of work from planning to execution.

Am I doing it? Not currently.

Should you do it? Yes! And please invite me!

FEATURE YOUR OTHER BUSINESS

You might be able to increase your income by incorporating an offline business into your blog. Okay, so this income isn’t directly coming from your blog but you’ll be using your blog as a tool to promote your offline offering. An example of this is a direct sales business. Many bloggers feature their direct sales business on their blog by having a page dedicated to it or by writing blog posts about the products they are selling. They may even include a contact form for anyone who might be interested in joining their team.