Owning a blog is exciting, especially after reading about bloggers who make tons of money with their blogs. And one of the most popular ways to monetize is by being an affiliate marketer.
However, as enticing as it is, being an affiliate may not be suitable for everyone, as it involves heavy hustling. But don’t despair, as there are 5 other creative ways to make money from blogging.
1.Selling Virtual Assistant Services
If you love publishing Facebook statuses and creating viral videos, why not make money doing it? As a virtual assistant, parts of your job description include setting up and managing your clients’ social media accounts
This includes creating image and text posts, scheduling them with apps like Buffer and Hootsuite, and scouring the Web for new ideas. Sometimes a client would ask you to write their business blogs as well, so both of your graphic design and writing skills are in demand.
2.Selling Products with Dropshipping
The Web has become a gigantic market since the day it’s online. With billions of regular Internet users worldwide, as long as you know where to find them, you can make a good living selling products.
The dropshipping business model allows you to sell items without having them in stock, as the suppliers will fulfill the orders. This also means that you don’t need to use up a lot of startup capital. You’ll only purchase the products after they’ve been sold and paid for by the customers. As long as you sell best-selling products from reputable dropship suppliers, you can expect to run a good business.
3. Selling Digital Products
If you have a knack for writing, consider selling e-books. If you’re good at teaching others on any subject, you can begin selling online courses or webinars. Of course, if developing apps and software is your forte, you can expect to make a good deal of money selling them as well. For such purposes, a flexible and secure e-commerce platform like WordPress or Shopify would be essential.
4. Selling Advertisements
If you’re good at writing or creating other types of content for your blog, it can grow faster and attract more traffic. Once you’ve hit a few thousand visitors per day, you can start selling ads to businesses. To reach out to them, send out promotion proposals to targeted companies. The types of ads can be banner, text-based, image-based, and video-based.
5. Becoming an Influencer
Many successful online bloggers are influencers in their own right. For selling products, you can leverage the power of Instagram through the help of Instagram influencers whose images and hashtags can sell.
If you’ve just started and had a limited budget, you can hire micro-influencers that accept modest rates in exchange for their endorsements. If you enjoy being influencers, you can sell a lot of products as well, like those Kardashian-Jenner clan.
In conclusion, you can monetize your blog as it evolves from an online journal to something with a lot of potentials. Depending on your passions and interests, you can sell services, products, or even be an influencer who helps others sell and promote.
About the Author
Jennifer Xue is an award-winning author, columnist, and serial entrepreneur based in Northern California. She is also a digital strategist for Oberlo. Her byline has appeared in Forbes, Fortune, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Business.com, Business2Community, Addicted2Success, Good Men Project, Positively Positive, and others. Her blog is JenniferXue.com.
