Did you know that you can earn money from a blog? It’s not even that hard! All you have to do is create a blog for free and monetize it! In this article, you will learn how to monetize a blog to make money online.
How to Make a Blog for Free?
Monetizing a blog is way more convenient if you are using WordPress.
WordPress is the best platform to start building your own blog. It is free to use and has a lot of beautiful themes and plugins.
Furthermore, creating a WordPress blog is easier than you think. All you have to do is follow these simple steps:
1. Get Excellent Hosting
You cannot create a blog without hosting. However, choosing a hosting provider should not be done carelessly. That being said, you can create a free WordPress blog with 000webhost.
All you need to do is sign up for free by using your active Gmail or Facebook account.
2. Get a Domain Name
Finding a good domain name can be quite a challenge. You need to come up with a name that is creative easy to find and easy to remember. The key is to create a domain that reflects the content of your blog.
For instance, if your blog content is about car reviews, you can name it www.wildwheels.com or www.otoworld.org. You can also use your name to make it unique, such as www.drivingwithsteve.com.
Furthermore, you can get a sub-domain for free by signing up to 000webhost. You only need to type your desired address, then hit enter. The website will then inform you whether it is available or not.
3. Install WordPress using Auto Installer
Installing WordPress can be done manually or automatically via an auto installer. can be very scrappy However, we strongly recommend you to use the auto-installer since it is easier to use.
What you need to do is open the 000webhost app, go to Build Website menu, then click on Install Now button under Build WordPress Website.
4. Pick a Theme
One of the main reasons why we suggest you create a WordPress blog is because it has a lot of quality free themes. You can find almost any themes to fit any niche; from food and fashion to travel and lifestyle.
You can customize the themes to suit your needs. Try to experiment with at least three free themes to find out the best one for your blog.
Moreover, you can also buy a premium WordPress theme that comes with a lot of more features and perks, such as X theme, Foodie Pro, or The Core.
5. Add WordPress Plugins
Adding plugins to your blog is the best way to enrich their features. Fortunately, there are thousands of useful free plugins in WordPress.
However, regardless of what kind of features you want to put on your blog, an SEO plugin is a must-have since it plays a significant role to drive more traffic to your website.
SEO (search engine optimization) is a very effective tool to increase the number of your blog visitors. By practicing SEO principles, you’ll have better chances to rank well on search engines.
How to Monetize a Blog?
First of all, you need to understand that traffic is a crucial factor to earn a lot of money from blogging. Luckily, increasing blog traffic can be done in various methods, such as improving your content’s quality, using SEO plugins, and polishing your blog’s functionality.
Once your traffic number starts spiking, monetizing your blog will be a walk in the park.
Here are some excellent ways to monetize a blog:
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the most effective ways to monetize a blog. The idea is to earn commission by leading your blog’s visitors to purchase someone else’s products or services. The amount of the commission usually ranges between 10% to 75%.
Before joining a particular affiliate network, you need to make sure that it is legit. Do not join an affiliate network that has a bad reputation or is suspected of scamming.
000webhost and Hostinger affiliate programs are the perfect examples of excellent affiliate networks. It offers a big commission (60% or more per sale) and only takes a minute to register.
Other great alternatives are Amazon and eBay. Both platforms offer competitive earnings for their affiliate partners. You can even get a 200% commission bonus on eBay just by getting a new eBay user to make a purchase. Affiliate marketing is one of the best and most popular ways to monetize a blog.
To be successful, always avoid hard selling. “The more you squeeze, the more sand trickles through your fingers.” This old expression describes perfectly why you should not be too persistent in selling a product or service through your blog.
Soft-sell your products by cleverly embedding some affiliate links in your content. Do not push away your traffic by injecting numerous promotions and endorsements.
Always make sure, that your links work properly. Broken links are as good as nothing. Nobody would want to visit a website with broken links twice. Therefore, it is super important to make sure that all of your affiliate links are working properly.
Luckily, you can use the Broken Link Checker plugin to do this. The plugin will help you to monitor your pages, detect any broken links, and edit inactive links in each of your posts without needing to manually update them.
What is more, there are various WordPress plugins that can help you to manage and optimize affiliate links. Some of the most recommended ones are Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates, and Affiliate Links Lite.
Displaying Ads
Displaying ads is an amazing and easy way to monetize a blog. There are two ways to display ads in your blog: using a program such as Google AdSense or creating affiliate link banner ads.
Here are the complete steps on how to put these two on your blog:
Google AdSense
Google Adsense is the backbone of monetizing blogs. Even when you are inactive or stop creating content for months, you can still earn up to $112 per day using Adsense only! Adding Adsense to a WordPress blog is quite easy. All you have to do is follow these simple steps:
1. Sign Up
Signing up to Google Adsense is pretty straightforward, especially if you already have a Gmail account. However, the validation process may take up to 3 working days.
2. Create New Ads
First, you need to access your WordPress dashboard, then go to AdSense panel. Click on New ad unit under My ads.
Next, input your setting for the ad. Get a name for your ad and choose your preferred ad size. (We recommend you to use the Responsive option that will automatically adjust the ad’s size in your blog). Make sure it fits your blog by clicking on the Preview button.
Finally, hit Save and get the code, then copy the AdSense codes.
3. Insert Your Ad Codes
From your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance >> Widgets, then drag the Text section to any place in your blog (most users start from the sidebar). Next, click on the Add Widget button.
Once you are done, paste the codes to Content. Do not forget to fill the Title section to avoid confusion (especially if you plan to put multiple ads).
Aside from this method, you can also use a plugin to insert the AdSense codes, such as Ad Inserter or Advanced Ads.
Affiliate Banner Ads
An affiliate banner ad works as a link to redirect the visitors to your affiliate partner. It is one of the most effective ways to convert your visitors into paying customers and a fantastic way to monetize a blog.
Luckily, most affiliate networks provide a pre-made banner to promote their products. Therefore, all you have to do is copy the HTML code for the ad, go to the text editor in your WordPress dashboard, then paste it into the area where you want to display it.
This whole process is very easy and straightforward.
Selling Products and Services
Selling your own services and products is a great way to monetize a blog. While the affiliate marketing scheme heavily relies on others’ goods, this method allows you to play by your own rules.
Nonetheless, whether you sell online courses, consultation services, or something solid like books or furniture, you have to establish strong traffic as well as produce quality products to succeed.
WooCommerce is a terrific plugin to create and manage a web store in WordPress. It is free and has a lot of useful features to help you sell a product or service.
This plugin is compatible with many WordPress themes. It will give you countless options to create engaging content to sell your products.
It is also adaptable, so you can use the plugin for other purposes, such as defining membership levels or running multiple auctions in your blog.
Installing WooCommerce in your WordPress blog can be done in five simple steps:
- Sign in to your WordPress dashboard
- Go to Plugin, then select Add New
- Type in “WooCommerce” in the search box and hit enter
- Click on Install Now
- Click the Activate Now button
That is all you have to do to get the WooCommerce plugin up and running! Now you only need to customize the plugin as you like.
Sponsored posts
Another great method to monetize a blog is by creating sponsored posts. This method requires you to make blog posts to promote a particular brand or products. The content can be articles, in-depth comparisons, summaries, etc.
There are no fixed rates for sponsored posts. Therefore, you have the chance to negotiate your fees.
Remember, that in the world of online marketing, nobody wants to hire a nobody (pun intended) to create a sponsored post. To lure the sponsor, you need to strengthen your online presence and make sure you have a good portfolio.
Boosting your online presence is not that difficult. All you have to do is be consistent and stick to your core strength. In addition, do not hesitate to take as much credit as you can for every job that you have done.
Your affiliation with certain brands or products is the best deal maker for a sponsored post. If you succeed to attract paying customers via your affiliate links, there is no reason for the sponsor not to hire you as their influencer or brand ambassador.
Paid Reviews
Writing paid reviews is another great way to monetize a blog.
While writing a review of a particular product can help a lot of shoppers, it can also earn you profit. Paid reviews might sound similar with sponsored posts, but both terms actually have different meanings.
Paid reviews require you to write an honest opinion of a particular product. Meanwhile, sponsored posts obligate you to promote or endorse the product to your visitors.
Although it might look easy, doing paid reviews in your blog should be done carefully to make it as natural as possible.
Conclusion
Finally, monetizing your blog will only get better in the long run. Therefore, you should not rush into anything and just take it on one step at a time.
To summarize it all, you can monetize your blog with five different methods, namely:
- Affiliate marketing
- Displaying Ads
- Selling services and products
- Sponsored posts
- Paid Reviews
That is all you need to know to start monetizing your blog! Let us know if you have any other method to monetize your blog by leaving a comment below.
