This post may contain affiliate links, which help us generate revenue so that we can keep producing awesome content for you. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for using our links and giving us the opportunity to share a sliver of this great big world with you.
Now that you’ve set up your WordPress blog, created some awesome content that people actually want to read, and driven some traffic to your website, you’re probably wondering how you can start making money with this website you’ve worked so hard on. That’s what I’m here for. Before you start diving into this post, however, I just want to say that the list below is intended to be a comprehensive list for beginners on how to make money blogging in 2019. That means you should merely pick out the 3-5 strategies below that best highlight your strengths and make the most sense for your blog, while skipping over the rest. A big mistake many new bloggers make is trying to tackle everything all at once, which inevitably ends in frustration and burn out in 99% of instances. Don’t be a statistic.
Week 1: How to Start a WordPress Blog With SiteGround
Week 2: How to Write a Blog Post That People Want To Read
Week 3: 15 Ways to Drive Massive Traffic To Your Website For Free
Week 4: How to Make Money Blogging in 2019
Sign up for affiliate marketing platforms
One of the easiest ways to start earning a small side income from day one of your blog is by including affiliate links in your blog post. Affiliate links are links to products or services that result in a small commission to you when a reader clicks on your link and purchases that product or service. While some companies and brands have a more rigorous affiliate application process, a few sites that you can apply to today (and have a high likelihood of being accepted into as a new blogger) are Amazon Associates, ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, and ClickBank.
If you do choose to include affiliate links in your blog posts, make sure to include a disclosure somewhere on the page so that your readers know that the links included on your post are affiliate links. The disclosure can be as simple as “this post contains affiliate links,” or as descriptive as the disclosure at the top of all of my posts, which reads as follows:
This post may contain affiliate links, which help us generate revenue so that we can keep producing awesome content for you. We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for using our links and giving us the opportunity to share a sliver of this great big world with you.
If you’re like me and don’t want to have to worry about remembering to include a disclosure on each individual post that contains affiliate links, you can use a WordPress plugin like “FMTC Affiliate Disclosure” to broadly apply a custom disclosure at the top of each of your posts. Just go to Plugins, search for “FMTC Affiliate Disclosure,” install the plugin, click on “Settings,” and type in your preferred affiliate disclosure wording:
Host ads on your site
Another way to make passive income from your blog is to host display ads on your site. There are several ways you can go about this:
- Turn your affiliate links into display ads. Since you’ll be generating income each time someone clicks on an affiliate link, why not turn it into a display ad and get even more eyes (and clicks) on it? For example, we have an Airbnb ad on our right sidebar that we created ourselves in order to promote our Airbnb referral link. You can create your own ad on Canva for any affiliate product or service you’re promoting.
- Sign up for an ad program. The easiest way to get display ads on your site is by signing up for an ad program like Google AdSense or YieldPass. While Google AdSense is much easier to sign up for, a smaller company like YieldPass, where you’ll get to actually speak with your account manager and make sure they have a solid understanding of your blog so that they can direct more targeted ads to your site, may actually be able to generate higher converting ads for you. Once you have 25,000 monthly views, you can apply for MediaVine, which is probably the most popular display ad program that larger bloggers use.
- Contact relevant companies directly. If you’re concerned about display ads making your site look spammy, a good solution for you might be to contact companies that sell products or services related to your brand directly and ask if they would like to host an ad on your site. For example, if your blog is focused on adventure travel, you might want to reach out to brands that sell hiking shoes, tents, sleeping bags, or adventure tours. This way, you have full control over which ads appear on your website.
Write an eBook
If you like to write (which, if you don’t, why are you blogging?) and have special knowledge in a certain area, then you might consider writing an eBook as a way to generate passive income from your blog. You can either self publish your eBook on Amazon, or you can sell your eBook through your blog, utilizing your email list, blog posts, and social media platforms to promote your book.
Speak at conferences
While public speaking is a nightmare for many, for others it is a dream. If you are one of the few with a special knack for entertaining and engaging large audiences on stage, you might consider applying to speak on a topic you specialize in at relevant conferences across the country, or even the world. Some popular conference for travel bloggers are TBEX, WITS, and the New York Times Travel Show, but if you are serious about becoming a public speaker through your blog, I would recommend hiring a speaking coach. Not only will you be able to learn useful techniques for becoming the most effective speaker you can be, but you’ll also be able to find more speaking opportunities through your coach that you might not be able to find otherwise.
Work with brands
One of my favorite ways to make money blogging is through partnering with other travel brands. Working with brands can take the form of going on press trips, promoting another brand’s products or services, or dedicating yourself to a specific campaign the brand is running at the moment. While you can certainly reach out to brands you love directly and propose an idea for collaboration, the best way to stay up to date with specific campaigns a brand is running that you might be a good fit for is to sign up for third party influencer agencies that have relationships with brands in your niche. A few influencer marketing agencies I’ve found success with in the past are Cooperatize, IZEA and Collectively. You can see examples of what a brand partnership looks like here and here.
Create and sell an online course
Creating and selling an online course is a great way to not only make an income right now, but to also have a semi-passive source of income in the long run without having to do too much work after the initial stages. Depending on how you decide to structure your online course, you may not need to have any involvement in the course other than marketing and promoting it, which can be done passively. Think about what kinds of special skills you have that other people would love to learn, and start writing out an outline of what your course would cover. Then, simply upload your courses to a platform like Podia, and you’re ready to start selling your course!
If you haven’t signed up for my online course on how to get comp’d travels as a travel blogger yet, I’d love for you to go check it out!
Start a coaching/consulting business
Speaking of imparting your knowledge onto others, you might also consider starting a coaching or consulting business. While creating and selling an online course may be more appealing to those looking to create passive income, starting an online coaching business may be more appealing to those who value one on one connection and more personalized forms of training.
Sell your freelance services
If you’re a blogger, you probably have solid skills in at least one of the following areas: writing, editing, social media, marketing, email campaigns, graphic design, website design, or photography. A great way to make some additional income is to perform the services that you’re best at and that you can complete in the shortest amount of time for other businesses. Not only does freelancing afford you an opportunity to keep practicing and honing your skills, but it also provides you with an income so that you can continue investing your time into your blog until you’re able to rely solely on your blog for income.
When discussing how to make money blogging in 2019, the world really is your oyster. There are so many different avenues for making money online nowadays that almost everyone can find something that they enjoy and are skilled at. Remember, when it comes to blogging, slow and steady wins the race. Try to stick with just a few of the above avenues of income to start so that you don’t overwhelm or burn yourself out before you start seeing success. Now go out there and start making some money, you blogger, you!
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