How to Make Money from Your Blog
My head is literally spinning from all of the new information I have been learning in the last couple of weeks. I’ve been delving into the world of affiliate marketing and trying to get a grasp on the whole thing. You see, in the world of making money online, affiliate marketing is huge. All it really consists of is selling other people’s stuff, but when you put that model online you can do all sorts of new things with it. I mention this because some of what I’ve learned in this process can be used to help you make money on your blog.
First, here are some of the ways that you can make money from your blog:
- Google Adsense
- selling your stuff
- selling other people’s stuff
- placing ads
- selling ad space
- create a mailing list
I put Google Adsense first because that is what a lot of people first think about when they think about making money from their blog. I have also found that it is not a very good method. It is fairly easy to set up, but it provides a low return. I set up a blog for a friend that utilizes Google Adsense extensively. Last month she had almost 150,000 page views and almost 42,000 unique visitors. Even with that kind of traffic, Google Adsense only brought in about $100. Now that’s not bad, but for that kind of traffic you would think that the return would be much higher.
Selling your own stuff is what most artist do. Whether you sell directly from your site or you have links to online stores such as Etsy, eBay, or CafePress, you are probably doing some variation of this one.
Selling other people’s stuff is what is referred to as affiliate marketing. There are entire books, courses, blogs, and more written about this. A common way to do this is to write a post about a certain subject or product that you believe in and then include your affiliate link for people to click on and purchase. When I write about mailing lists, I will talk about Aweber and when you click on that link and then sign up, I get a small percentage of that sale. (Actually, I get 20% which is pretty good!)
Placing ads is what I have just started to do on this site. I will try to keep it minimal and will pay attention to the aesthetics of the site, but I do want to make a little bit of money to help support my habit (blogging). The ad at the bottom of this post helps people to find more information about particular education programs. Many of us like to take classes now and then and when you send for information using that ad, I make some money. The ad at the top of my sidebar is also something that some people will be interested in. Until you can make a living full-time from selling your art, it helps to have another way to make money at home.
Selling ad space is not something I have pursued yet, but may in the future. This is a more consistent source of income than placing ads, but may or may not pay as much. For example, a company may ask to place an ad on my site for a month and pay me anywhere from $50 to $500 for that. I have not pursued this because up until now, my readership has been rather low. Once I started posting a longer content-rich post once a week on Mondays and my featured artist post on Fridays, my readership has been steadily growing. Last month I averaged 36 unique visitors per day and the month before only 5. I am also up to 31 RSS subscribers.
The last thing to talk about is a mailing list and instead of rehashing what I have already written about on the forum at www.YourArtMarketing.com, I will instead point you to that post here.
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Chris O’Byrne
OnlineArtsMarketing.com
www.YourArtMarketing.com
13 comments ↓
Hi Chris,
I like the new look of your site! I am getting ready to change mine, and am inspired by anyone who is changing theirs, lots of permission here. Great post. I am about to pull Google Adsense as some of the ads offend me. Not much money involved, so why put up with it? You have much common sense as usual, so it’s always lovely to visit.
I pulled all my adsense because it was no money and it was messing up the loading of my blog. Affiliate marketing is a good way to make a little money…I’ve made about 100.00 in 2007. Mostly from places like Pay-Per-Post, and Text Link Ads. (Adsense netted me so far 26.00 that’s after two years of having it up.) There are many people who are making large money from their blogs…it requires a huge readership and willing readers to click on ads. More work than what I want to do as well as marketing my own work and all that. On a blog like this though I do think it could/will work really well. I have not seen any artists sites yet that make a lot of money in this way. Great post, I look forward to learning more about this subject with you.
@Kris: I’m glad you like the new site! I liked the overall look of the old one, but I needed a WordPress template that would do more behind the scenes. This one has a nice clean look and is easy to read and also does what I want as an admin.
I definitely am not a big fan of Google Adsense. It’s nice that you can put something up so easily and make a little money, but you have so little control over what appears and you make VERY little money.
Right now I am experimenting with these new ads. I’m sure most people would rather that I did not have them at all and that time may come sooner rather than later.
Part of what this blog is about is providing high quality content for my readers. Ideally I would have several products spread across a range of prices for readers to choose from. Having offers that only provide peripheral value is not what I want for my readers. One idea is to create a book from the blog. I picture having a print copy for each year and selling it through a company like Lulu. Another idea is creating my own Etsy-like site that provides what people are looking for in an online store. I though Etsy was the cat’s meow, but now there is a slight edge to that.
What products would my readers like to see?
@Heather: I’m sorry that you had to pull stuff from your blog, but I’m also happy. Sara kept saying, “my laptop froze again!” and every time it would be on your site!
First it was that quote thing, but then even Adsense was causing it to hang up. Very weird.
There ARE some people making good money from their blogs, but their blog is often the cornerstone of their online business. For most artists, their blog is how they create connections with people and then through that connection they can sell their art. I find that artist blogs with lots of “thingies” and “widgets” just detract from the main purpose of the blog which is to connect directly with the reader.
Like Kris, I did not appreciate some of the ads Adsense sent my way… Thank you for guiding us through these dense forests, Chris..
Chris, I have a question about blog platforms. Have you written about them, or do you have an opinion about this? Specifically, I’m looking at leaving Blogspot and moving to my own domain, which I own. Hosting isn’t a problem, Noel can host my blog. I am looking at Wordpress and others, and wonder if you have anything to say. Thanks!
@Neda: You are welcome! As you can see, I’ve already cleaned up the ad situation and put them all on one page called “Support This Blog”.
@Kris: I will say with great enthusiasm and a hearty yo ho ho… Go With WordPress!!!
I can’t say enough good things about WordPress and both Diane and I have had a lot of experience using it and customizing it. If there is anything you need WordPress to do, just holler and we’ll come a-running.
(Sounds like a good forum topic!)
Thank you, Chris! I’ve been going round and round with this one, realizing I need a stand alone blog because I intend to have it be SEEN, and want to control it. And I must tell you again how very much I like the new clean look of your blog. It is impressive. I appreciate how you have put your ads on one page. It works well. I just pulled Adsense completely and won’t be going back. I may be calling on you and Diane for help when I get to that step, thanks!
@Kris: Absolutely, call on us anytime. And I’m so glad you like the new look and ad page. Don’t hesitate to try those ads out!
I too like the new look! I also am thinking of leaving blogger it’s making me so frustrated! I wanted to write and leave a link to one of the most successful internet marketing people I know of. His name is Steve Pavlina, and he writes a content rich blog that makes him 20-40 thousand a month (yes I said a month). I’ve learned a lot from reading his blog front to back and thought you might like to know him too Chris and friends, so here you go:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/
Like I said I don’t have the drive to do this, but in a blog like this one, it could be a good place to learn some stuff, and adapt it to this segment of the internet world. It’s all about the content baby, don’t you know? It’s king.
@Heather: Thanks for the link. I’ve actually been a subscriber of Steve’s blog for over 2 years! I even did my own little raw food trial in January… I lasted 3 days.
And yes, content IS king!
I would absolutely suggest WordPress too! I use Blogger also to be able to help clients and it is much clunkier in my opinion!
~ Diane Clancy
http://www.DianeClancy.com/blog
http://www.YourArtMarketing.com
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