The audience you've gained with your WordPress blog is the result of many hours of hard work. Now it's time to monetize your content and reap the rewards.
What is monetisation?
Monetising your blog has never been easier than it is today. There are many ways to do this, depending on your audience and the popularity of your blog. But what do we really mean by "monetisation"?
Monetizing your blog is the action of earning money from your internet content through advertising, sponsored posts or direct sales.
According to the Converkit report 2017Converkit report, just over 850 bloggers surveyed reported an average turnover of $54,108 during 2017. For professionals, this amount climbs to $185,975. However, for amateur bloggers, the figure is $9,497 with an average expenditure of $6,769, giving a profit of $2,728 for a year.
These results reflect a reality that is sometimes difficult to accept for the 37% of bloggers who leave their previous job to become their own boss and earn more money. Indeed, even if it is very simple to set up monetisation methods today, it is not necessarily easy to make a living from it. The competition is tough, and it's important to have one of these two basic prerequisites to start making real money with your WordPress blog:
- A loyal audience ;
- and/or regular traffic.
These two elements make it possible to put in place a well-oiled and solid strategy to monetise your blog and generate income at the end of the month. Of course, there is no magic: earning money will require a lot of time and investment. But when you're passionate about something, is that really an obstacle?
In this article, we will review different strategies to adopt for monetizing your blog. Note that these strategies can be cumulative and that their effectiveness depends on the level of audience.
Monetise your blog with advertising
Advertising is the first technique we all think of when we talk about blog monetisation. However, if you don't have a lot of traffic, this strategy will probably not be the most effective. It will be necessary to complement it with other methods that we will present in this article.
If you find yourself concerned, and/or you wish to set up advertising on your blog, you can either use an advertising agency, or affiliate or sponsored articles.
The advertising agency
An advertising network is a platform that brings together advertisers (companies that want to advertise) and publishers (websites) to sell advertising space. The best known of these is Google AdSense which needs no introduction. It is the quickest way to start monetizing, but not necessarily the most efficient;
The principle is based on the integration of pieces of code on a website or blog provided by the advertising agencies. Through this intermediary, platforms such as Google AdSense will display advertising banners in previously placed inserts.
These ads, or display ads, allow you to make money with your WordPress blog through the content that is displayed. This content can be set up to allow certain categories to be displayed or not. It is also possible to let an ad network decide for you using the retargeting principle. With this method, the advertisements displayed to an Internet user depend on the previous websites he has visited in order to target his profile and present him with personalised ads.
The remuneration offered by an advertising network depends on the type of advertising. The main remuneration options are: CPC and CPM.
The Cost Per Click, or more commonly known as CPC, corresponds to the amount paid by the advertiser for each click made on its ad. On average, the CPC offered by Google is 1€ in France compared to 1 to 2€ in the United States.
CPM or Cost Per Thousand (impressions) means that a fee is paid to a publisher for an advertisement displayed 1000 times. This amount of money varies according to what the advertiser has decided to pay. As an illustration, the average CPM offered by Facebook is 5€ for 1000 views.
Membership
Affiliate marketing is one of the leading ways to make money online with your blog. Based on the principle of advertising, it is one of the oldest forms of digital marketing to date and is still very popular today as it has proven to be very profitable.
The principle of affiliate marketing is based on traceable links placed in various places on a blog or website. Integrated into texts, placed in banners or advertising inserts, these links redirect a visitor to an advertiser 's site with the aim ofpurchasing a good or service. Each link placed in the content of a blog is previously configured by the affiliate, the blogger, to redirect his readers to a specific product or service.
Every visitor who passes through one of these links to make a purchase earns the affiliate a commission. Depending on the type of product and the audience of the blog, the percentage of this commission may vary.
To set up affiliate marketing on your blog, you first need to find one or more affiliate platforms and sign up for their affiliate programme. There are different ones depending on what you are looking to promote. Some of the most popular ones include:
Of course, this list is not exhaustive. We advise you to scour the web for the program that best suits your blog and project.
Once you join an affiliate program, you will have access to a dashboard that allows you to set up your affiliate links, get their code to display on your blog, and track your revenue and clicks earned from your audience.
Sponsored articles
Sponsored writing becomes possible once a blog is well established in the landscape where it is located, and a loyal audience is present.
The principle of a sponsored post is to deal with an advertiser (brand, company, etc.) to write an advertising article about a theme, product or service in return for payment. These sponsored posts may require a specific number of words as well as the integration of backlinks, links leading to the advertiser's site with which you are working.
If you are an influential blogger, it is possible that advertisers will contact you directly through your blog to offer you a collaboration. In any case, to become a publisher, sign up with sponsored article sales platforms such as :
Note that each company is free to set its own conditions of access. A certain degree of visibility of your blog and a loyal audience will be expected by these platforms to validate your registration.
We advise you to accept collaborations that are consistent with your chosen theme and/or audience. Offering a sponsored article about the latest high-tech tractor with AI-based sensors to your audience of young mothers risks undermining your credibility as an influential blogger.
Selling to monetize your blog
Different from advertising, selling is another equally effective way to monetise your blog. Depending on your area of expertise, your skills, and the topic(s) of your content, selling can take many forms. Let's take a look at each of these and how to get started generating revenue with your WordPress blog.
The sale of benefits and services
Selling services is one of the best ways to make money quickly with your blog. Here, you don't need to be read and followed by millions of readers; you'd be surprised at what a small, loyal and committed audience can earn.
The principle is to offer its readers and subscribers a service that depends on its own field of expertise. As there are thousands of different fields of expertise, it is impossible to list everything. However, we have seen a trend in recent years for :
- coaching ;
- consulting ;
- the sale of distance or physical training courses;
- and the sale of services (writing blog articles, creating a WordPress website, etc.).
To offer your services, nothing could be easier. Create a page dedicated to your activity through the WordPress interface. Introduce yourself and your added value without forgetting to highlight your experiences and the opinion of previous clients to convince your audience that you are THE person. Include a contact form or links to your social networks to allow your future clients to contact you.
Finally, remember to build trust and closeness into your content. Readers who feel close to their favourite blogger are more likely to seek out his or her expertise.
Differentiate yourself!
The sale of products
The theme of your blog and your speciality may allow you to offer the sale of products: e-books, t-shirts, mugs and other items related to your community.
To sell your products, you should install an online shop directly on your WordPress blog using WooCommerceWooCommerce, the best plugin to create an eCommerce site with WordPress. It is also possible to couple this shop with product affiliation integrated to your content to multiply your sources of income with your blog.
However, don't offer everything and anything. Remain credible to your audience. Offer products for sale that are related to the theme of your blog and to the identity of your readers. Making your products credible with your expertise is a great way to convince your audience in a marketing pitch.
Selling links
In the same vein as articles, another practice is to generate income with your blog by selling links. The goal is relatively simple to understand: host links on your blog redirecting your visitors to your clients' websites.
Backlinks are of particular interest to companies that wish to promote their brand, product or service. They also allow companies to have their content recommended by another, to acquire new customers, and to optimise their position in search engines.
Indeed, in terms of natural referencing (also called SEO), Google pays particular attention to the links that point to a site; these are called "incoming links". Their number and quality contribute to a popularity indicator for a website that is taken into account by search engines. The quality is judged by the relevance of the links. Two sites from two radically opposed domains will be penalised by Google if they set up backlinks.
In short, the more and the better the links to your site, the better your visibility on the Internet will be.
To start selling links, register on platforms such as GetFluence and SEMJuice and start generating revenue with your WordPress blog.
Selling leads
This technique is particularly useful if the content of your blog is intended to help your readers (advice, information...).
By definition, selling leads consists of offering your audience to a company that might be interested in your readers' profile. This contract is formalized in the form of a partnership and allows you to generate income with your blog. On average, the cost per lead for a specialised company is estimated at between €15 and €60 or even more, depending on the degree of qualification of the lead and the sector of activity.
For your part, you will be paid per lead or in the form of a commission depending on what you have agreed with your client. Make sure you are as transparent as possible with your readers in your approach. Hidden or forced selling, in addition to being punishable by law, can discredit you with your audience and threaten the survival of your blog.
Selling premium content / subscriptions
Making money with your WordPress blog can be achieved by selling premium content. Premium content is generally defined as presenting regular, unique content to your most frequent and interested readers for a fee or subscription.
The content offered for sale must meet a particular need. In general, it is worthwhile to focus on niche topics with content that is difficult to find on the internet to bring your knowledge and expertise on a specific field or theme.
The quality of the content provided must be impeccable and must provide your client with real added value that is not found in what you usually offer on your blog in an accessible way.
Your premium content can take the form of articles, videos, tutorials or professional training. The newsletter is also a lever to present regular and qualified content to your subscribers through its simple distribution. This will create more interaction and establish a closer relationship with your privileged readers.
Loyalty: the key to your monetisation
Generating income with your blog in 2022 is entirely possible with the multiple sources of monetization mentioned throughout this article. All of them are interesting and offer a solution adapted to your blogging activity and your desires to start making money with your WordPress blog.
However, it is important to note that all these methods have a common foundation: loyalty. Without a loyal audience built up through long hours of work and investment, it will be difficult to accumulate enough euros to make a decent salary at the end of the month. Keep this in mind and make loyalty your first watchword on the road to success.
