The audience you've built 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 of your efforts.
What is monetization?
Monetizing 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 does “monetization” actually mean?
Monetizing a blog involves earning money from its online content through advertising, sponsored posts, or direct sales.
According to the 2017 Converkit report, just over 850 bloggers surveyed reported an average revenue of $54,108 in 2017. For professional bloggers, that figure rises to $185,975. However, amateur bloggers reported revenue of $9,497, with average expenses of $6,769, resulting in a profit of $2,728 for the year.
These results reflect a reality that can sometimes be hard to accept for the 37% of bloggers who leave their previous jobs to become their own bosses and earn more money. Indeed, even though it’s very easy today to set up monetization methods, it’s not necessarily easy to make a living from them. Competition is fierce, and it’s important to have one of these two fundamental prerequisites to start truly making money with your WordPress blog:
- A loyal audience ;
- and/or regular traffic.
These two elements make it possible to implement a well-oiled and solid strategy for monetizing your blog and generating income at the end of the month. Of course, there’s no magic formula: making money will take a lot of time and effort. But when you’re passionate about it, is that really an obstacle?
In this article, we’ll review various strategies you can use to monetize your blog. Keep in mind that these strategies can be used in combination, and their effectiveness depends on the size of your audience.
Monetizing Your Blog Through Advertising
Advertising is the first method that comes to mind when we talk about monetizing a blog. However, if you don’t have a certain amount of traffic, this strategy probably won’t be the most effective. You’ll need to supplement it with other methods, which we’ll discuss throughout this article.
If this applies to you, and/or if you'd like to run ads on your blog, you can do so through an ad network, an affiliate program, or sponsored posts.
The Advertising Agency
An ad network is a platform that connects advertisers ( companies that want to advertise) with publishers ( websites) to sell ad space. The best-known of these is Google AdSense , which needs no introduction. It’s the fastest way to start monetizing your site, but not necessarily the most effective;
The concept involves embedding code snippets —provided by advertising networks—into a website or blog. Through this process, platforms such as Google AdSense display banner ads in pre-designated ad slots.
These ads, or display ads, allow you to earn money from your WordPress blog through the content you publish. You can configure this content to allow or block the display of certain categories. You can also let an ad network make these decisions for you using retargeting. With this method, the ads shown to a user depend on the websites they’ve previously visited, allowing the ads to be tailored to their profile and presenting them with personalized ads.
The compensation offered by an ad network depends on the type of ad. The main compensation options are: CPC and CPM.
Cost Per Click, or CPC as it is more commonly known, is the amount paid by an advertiser for each click on their 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), refers to the payment made to a publisher for an ad displayed 1,000 times. This amount varies depending on what the advertiser has agreed to pay. For example, the average CPM offered by Facebook is €5 per 1,000 views.
Membership
Affiliate marketing is one of the leading ways to make money online with a blog. Based on the principle of advertising, it is one of the oldest forms of digital marketing to date and remains very widespread today because it has proven to be highly profitable.
The principle of affiliate marketing is based on trackable links placed in various locations on a blog or website. Whether embedded in text, displayed in banners, or featured in ad inserts, these links redirect visitors to an advertiser’s website with each click, with the goalof prompting a purchase of a product or service. Each link placed within a blog’s content is first configured by the affiliate—the blogger—to direct readers to a specific product or service.
Any visitor who clicks on one of these links to make a purchase earns the affiliate a commission. The commission percentage may vary depending on the type of product and the blog’s audience.
To set up affiliate marketing on your blog, you first need to find one or more affiliate platforms and sign up for their affiliate programs. There are different options depending on what you’re looking to promote. Among the most popular are:
Of course, this list is not exhaustive. We recommend that you thoroughly search the web to find the program that best suits your blog and project.
Once you've signed up for an affiliate program, you'll have access to a dashboard where you can set up your affiliate links, get the code to embed on your blog, and track the revenue and clicks generated by your audience.
Sponsored Articles
Writing sponsored posts becomes possible once a blog is well-established in its niche and has built a loyal audience.
The concept behind a sponsored post is to collaborate with an advertiser (brand, company, etc.) to write a promotional article about a specific topic, product, or service in exchange for payment. These sponsored posts may require a specific word count as well as the inclusion of backlinks—links leading to the website of the advertiser you’re working with.
If you’re an influential blogger, advertisers may contact you directly through your blog to propose a collaboration. In any case, to become a publisher, sign up with platforms that sell sponsored posts, such as :
Please note that each company is free to set its own terms of access. These platforms will expect your blog to have a certain level of visibility and a loyal audience in order to approve your registration.
We recommend that you accept collaborations that align with your preferred topic and/or your audience. Offering a sponsored post about the latest high-tech tractor equipped with AI-powered sensors to your audience of young mothers could undermine your credibility as an influential blogger.
Sell to Monetize Your Blog
Unlike advertising, selling is a completely different—yet equally effective—way to monetize your blog. Depending on your area of expertise, your skills, and the topic(s) covered in your content, selling can take many different forms. Let’s take a look at each of them and how to implement them so you can start generating revenue with your WordPress blog.
The Sale of Products and Services
Selling services is one of the best ways to make money quickly with your blog. You don’t need to have millions of readers or followers; you’d be surprised at how much you can earn with just a small, loyal, and engaged audience.
The idea is to offer readers and subscribers a service based on one’s own area of expertise. Since there are thousands of fields of expertise, each more diverse than the next, it is impossible to list them all. However, in recent years we have observed a trend toward:
- coaching;
- consulting;
- from the sale of online or in-person training courses;
- and the sale of services (writing blog posts, creating a WordPress website, etc.).
Offering your services couldn’t be easier. Create a page dedicated to your business using the WordPress interface. Introduce yourself and highlight your unique value, making sure to showcase your experience and include reviews from past clients to convince your audience that you’re THE ideal person for the job. Include a contact form or links to your social media profiles so your future clients can reach out to you.
Finally, above all, focus on fostering a sense of trust and connection through your content. After all, readers who feel a connection to their favorite blogger are more likely to seek out their expertise.
Stand out from the crowd!
The sale of products
Your blog's theme and area of expertise can allow you to sell products such as e-books, T-shirts, mugs, and other items related to your community.
To sell your products, consider setting up an online store directly on your WordPress blog using WooCommerce, the best plugin for creating an e-commerce site with WordPress. You can also combine this store with affiliate marketing integrated into your content to increase your blog’s revenue streams.
However, don’t just offer anything and everything. Maintain your credibility with your audience. Sell products that are relevant to your blog’s theme and align with your readers’ interests. Lending credibility to your products through your expertise is an excellent way to convince your audience through your marketing message.
Link selling
Similar to articles, another way to generate revenue from your blog is by selling links. The goal is relatively simple: host links on your blog that redirect your visitors to your clients’ websites.
Backlinks are particularly valuable for businesses looking to promote their brand, product, or service. They also make it possible to have content recommended by others, acquire new customers, and improve their search engine rankings.
In fact, when it comes to search engine optimization (also known as SEO), Google pays particular attention to the links that point to a website; these are referred to as “inbound links.” Their number and quality contribute to a website’s popularity metric, which is taken into account by search engines. Quality, in turn, is judged by the relevance of the links. Two websites in completely different fields will be penalized by Google if they establish backlinks with each other.
In short, the more high-quality backlinks your site has, the better your online visibility will be.
To get started with link selling, sign up on platforms such as GetFluence and SEMJuice and start generating revenue with your WordPress blog.
The Sale of Leads
This technique is particularly useful if your blog content is intended to help your readers (tips, information, etc.).
By definition, selling leads involves offering your audience to a company that might be interested in your readers’ profile. This arrangement takes the form of a partnership and allows you to generate revenue from your blog. On average, the cost per lead for a specialized company is estimated at between €15 and €60, or even more; it all depends on the lead’s qualification level and the industry.
On your end, payment will be made per lead or as a commission, depending on what you’ve agreed upon with your client. Be sure to be as transparent as possible with your readers about your approach. Hidden or forced sales—in addition to being illegal—can undermine your credibility with your audience and threaten the survival of your blog.
Premium Content Sales / Subscriptions
One way to make money with a WordPress blog is by selling premium content. This term generally refers to providing your most dedicated and interested readers with unique, regular content in exchange for a fee or a subscription.
The content offered for sale must address a specific need. In general, it’s a good idea to focus on niche topics—content that’s hard to find online—to share your knowledge and expertise on a specific field or subject.
The quality of the content provided must be impeccable and must offer your client genuine added value that goes beyond what you typically share on your blog, which is accessible to everyone.
Your premium content can take the form of articles, videos, tutorials, or professional training courses. The newsletter is also a powerful tool for delivering regular, high-quality content to your subscribers through its simple distribution. It will help generate more engagement and foster a closer relationship with your most valued readers.
Loyalty: The Key to Monetization
Generating income from your blog in 2022 is entirely possible thanks to the many monetization options discussed throughout this article. Each one offers unique benefits and a solution tailored to your blogging activity and goals, helping you start earning money with your WordPress blog.
It’s important to note, however, that all these methods are built on a common foundation: customer loyalty. Without a loyal audience built up over many long hours of work and dedication, you’ll find it difficult to earn enough money to make a decent living at the end of the month. Keep this in mind and make loyalty your top priority to set you on the path to success.
