How To Make Money Blogging For Beginners

This is the million-dollar question, right?! When I started my blog, I read through a thousand and one articles with the exact same title. And still, it felt like they were weirdly vague and didn’t outright say: HOW DO YOU MAKE MONEY BLOGGING?

My blogging story begins with me graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in a field I’m not that passionate about, accruing $30k in debt, and ending up in different retail management positions until I literally could not take it anymore.

My blogging philosophy is also different than many of the “experts” out there, but I know what has worked for me, so that is what I will speak on!

My Blogging Journey

Look, I’ll try to make this as quick as possible because I know you’re not here to learn about me, but it’s relevant to the story (just let me tell it, okay?!?!!).

I have owned and given up on 3 different blogs & domain names before this one. I tried and quit a YouTube channel. I went viral on TikTok for like a single minute and thought I made it (lol, just kidding… but seriously).

The millennial in me has always loved social media and the social media influencers that come with it. I eat it right up! So, after quitting three blogs and starting my fourth, I decided I had had enough.

I thought to myself, “you put four years into a degree you don’t care about, three years into jobs you don’t care about, what could you POSSIBLY lose from investing time into something that you enjoy if you could potentially turn it into a job?” Spoiler alert, the answer was NOTHING!

And, alas, Lifestyle Kate was born. Okay, enough about me, let’s get into it.

Starting A Blog For Profit

So, obviously, the first step is starting a blog. The second step is knowing that you will have to spend money to start a blog with the intention of making a profit. Think of it as an investment, don’t lose any sleep over it, and keep it moving. I spent around $200 to start my blog, and every cent was worth it.

If you’re not sure how to, here’s how I did it: How To Start A Blog

Although there are steps in there where I mention what to do if you plan on making money blogging, I don’t explicitly focus on money-making methods. Read that first, then come back here for adjustments when focused on blogging for profit.

Disclosure: When you purchase via links on this site, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I have tested and tried all products recommended in this post.

Choosing A Blogging Platform

WordPress is the #1 most popular blogging platform and the only blogging platform I recommend when starting a blog for profit. Within WordPress, you can register for WordPress.com or WordPress.org. If this is confusing, don’t worry. This was a literal migraine for me to learn when I was starting out.

Long story short, don’t even consider WordPress.com. It’s as easy as that. Long story long, WordPress.com is a free hosting platform where they basically own you and your website. WordPress.org means you own your blog- you are in charge.

Go ahead and pay the fee to be self-hosted. But wait!!!!! Don’t go typing in wordpress.org to your browser just yet.

Choosing A Host

Throughout my many failed attempts at blogging before this blog, I used different hosts. I go into more detail about that here, but SiteGround is the only hosting option I recommend when looking to expand and grow a website.

I chose the Grow Big plan (which is also the recommended and best selling plan). When you click the link, you’ll see this:

Click “get started” under WordPress hosting. When starting, I opted to add on a few extras such as SG site scanner and domain privacy. I go more into the benefits of the GrowBig plan here.

You can also register your domain here as well.

Choosing A Domain

When choosing a domain, make sure it’s easy to spell and easy to remember. For example, my name is actually spelled Kait. It sounds the same as Kate, just harder to spell. When it came time to make a decision on my domain, I knew something more generic would be easier to pronounce and remember!

Additionally, you definitely want to choose a .com domain. It may be tempting to choose a .net or something else for a cheaper price, but in the long run, .com looks way more professional.

Pick A Profitable Niche

I would be lying if I said every niche makes money. Statistically, some niches perform better than others in terms of profit. Here are some of the most profitable niches for 2020:

Parenting Blogs
Finance Blogs
Lifestyle Blogs
DIY Blogs
Health and Wellness Blogs
Food Blogs
Self Improvement Blogs
Relationship Blogs

Get Appropriate Legal Documents For Your Website**

Let me be very clear, this is not an option. Even if it was an option (but it’s not), wouldn’t you rather be safe than sorry when investing your own time and money into something that’s important to you?

The cheapest (and smartest) route is purchasing the legal bundle (this is what I bought).

GET ALL THE LEGAL DOCUMENTS YOU NEED TO PROTECT YOUR SITE HERE

How To Make Money Blogging

There are three major ways to make money blogging:

Ads
Affiliate Marketing
Selling a product

How To Make Money Blogging With Ads

In my mind, there are three major milestones when making money with Ads.

First, you qualify for Google Adsense. Second, you qualify for Monumetric. Third, you qualify for Mediavine.

Every blogger’s path is different. What I will say is: Google Adsense pays next to nothing and slows down your site speed in the process.

Have you ever clicked on a Pinterest pin only to be stuck in some limbo loading page and exiting out? Thank you Google Adsense! Many people decide to run ads with Google Adsense as a way to monetize their blog right away and end up being happy with them. I personally chose to skip Google Adsense and focus on content creation and traffic growth until qualifying for Monumentric or Mediavine.

I have even heard of some people skipping Monumetric and waiting until they can apply to Mediavine (the hardest of the three to be accepted into). As you could probably guess, the harder the Ad companies are to get into, the better the payout.

And don’t get me wrong, there can be money to be made with Google Adsense, especially if you have a YouTube channel! Depending on how fast your traffic grows, it may be more worth it to wait for one over the other. If you’re in no rush to monetize, then don’t sweat it, and do what feels right.

How To Make Money Blogging With Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing means you make money to promote another item, and then you get a commission or percentage of each sale.

Depending on your niche, there are really great affiliate programs out there, you just have to know where to look! There definitely is a right way and a wrong way to do affiliate marketing. Linking to irrelevant content, products, or items will not turn into any real money in your pocket.

Your goal should be to belong to relevant affiliate programs within your niche that you can confidently recommend to your readers. Products you have tried yourself and swear by will always do the best. Try to avoid flooding your posts and pages with affiliate links, and always disclose anywhere you link to an affiliate program.

Most affiliate programs REQUIRE this, and if you want to make money with affiliate marking, you HAVE to read the program requirements and guidelines! Avoiding them could get you kicked out and disqualify your sales.

When including affiliate links in your posts, think to yourself: “how likely would I be to click this link as a reader?” to help guide appropriate placement.

When in doubt, there are many great courses out there that go in more detail about how to be successful with affiliate marketing. Investing in knowledge is just part of blogging, and it’s totally worth it.

How To Make Money Blogging By Selling A Product

If you’ve done your research, you’ve probably already seen this everywhere. If you haven’t done your research, I’ll break it down for you.

Bloggers make great money selling ebooks and products because its entirely passive income. They spend time creating the product, and once it starts selling, they can basically sit back and watch the money flow in.

Examples of this are informational courses, ebooks, or downloadable guides/templates. The best part is once the work to create the sellable product is done, you’re done! Once you get your content creation under your belt, I would suggest brainstorming relevant downloadable content you could offer your readers worth paying for.

Get Rich Quick Blogging

It’s important to note, blogging is not a get rich quick scheme. Many bloggers spend months and months before earning a single cent. Each path is different and earning money comes sooner to some than others.

The key to making money blogging is consistency.

You can’t put a price on passion and information, which is why many people end up being far more successful than they imagined. Be patient, keep at it, and making money blogging will happen for you.

If you decide to start a blog after reading this post, leave me a comment with your website information so I can stop by and give you some love! Starting a blog from scratch to make money is hard work, but stick with it and it’ll pay off!