Earn Money Blogging on WordPress: 30 Guaranteed Ways – Part 1
Are you looking for the best, non-scam methods to earn money blogging? WordPress powers over 43% of all websites, making it the world's largest publishing platform.
By blogging and using WordPress, you can make money online doing what you enjoy. No limit exists on how much you can make working from home on your schedule.
The best "proven" ways to monetize your WordPress blog will be shared in this article.
Ps: This article will be in 2 parts, so it doesn’t get too long to read, and you may miss out on the numerous proven ways to make money blogging.
First of all, be forewarned—these aren't get-rich-quick schemes.
This is the wrong place to be if you're looking for an online business opportunity that will make you wealthy quickly.
Refrain from letting the images of fancy cars, mansions, or working from the beach deceive you. You will waste your time and money if you purchase any training or courses from any of them because they are all scams.
This is a thorough guide on legally earning money at home using blogging and WordPress, unlike other "make money online" articles.
An initial time and/or financial investment is necessary to use these techniques. You'll get what you work for if you're willing to invest time and effort.
You'll need to have your self-hosted WordPress blog before you can begin using any of these strategies. For beginners, we have a guide that walks them through setting up a WordPress blog.
The procedure is straightforward regardless of age—whether you're 20 or 60. But if you require assistance, you can use our guide after setting up your blog.
Monetize Your Blog Content
Advertising is frequently the first thing that enters your mind when considering how to monetize your blog.
WordPress does allow for the ability to monetize content with ads, but there are other options as well. Here are a few methods that work:
1. Make Money With Affiliate Marketing
When you use unique tracking links to recommend a good or service to your audience through affiliate marketing, you are paid a commission for each sale made due to the customer clicking your link.
Helping a friend open a bank account at a branch of your bank is a real-world example of affiliate marketing. A bonus or gift card is typically what they give you.
Similarly, there are affiliate programs for numerous online goods and services that you can join. For every economy sector (niche), affiliate programs are available.
If you're interested in learning more about affiliate marketing, consider the products you already use and believe your readers might find interesting. After that, you can check to see if they have a program where you can become an affiliate.
There is a long list of goods you can market, including:
- Amazon
- Commission Junction
- ShareASale
Once you've decided which products to promote, you can manage your affiliate links using a WordPress plugin like PrettyLinks.
It enables you to quickly create branded links, insert links into posts, automatically replace keywords in links, and even see how each link performs on your site.
The simplest way to make money is through affiliate marketing because you can promote a wide range of goods. There is an affiliate program at almost every well-known retailer, including Walmart, BestBuy, Amazon, and others.
2. Display Google AdSense on WordPress
Using Google Adsense is a simple way to monetize your blog. All you have to do to start showing ads on your website is add a Google script.
You will be compensated each time a user clicks on the advertisement. These are called CPC ads.
What is CPC? CPC stands for “cost per click.” When you use Google Adsense to display CPC ads, a predetermined payment is made each time a user clicks on an ad.
The advertiser decides how much each click will cost. (Conversely, you are compensated for ad views rather than clicks in CPM ads.) CPM, where M is for 1,000, stands for "cost per thousand impressions."
If you're starting, Google Adsense is an excellent way to start making money online.
Are you searching for a substitute for Google AdSense? Try Media.net. Additionally, they have a sizable advertiser base and offer competitive payouts.
3. Make Direct Sales of Ads Using a WordPress Advertising Plugin.
Although Google AdSense is simple to set up, the total money you can make is constrained. Earnings from each ad click will vary.
Selling banner ad space directly on your website might be more lucrative. You negotiate the price and terms independently rather than relying on an intermediary who takes a commission.
We discussed the distinction between CPC and CPM ads, depending on whether a click is paid or a thousand views are paid. Although you could use one of those models to sell banner ads, most bloggers charge a flat fee. Comparing the number of views and clicks versus a flat rate is more accessible.
However, managing ads sold directly requires more effort than Google AdSense does. You'll need to negotiate the price, create an agreement and terms, and handle administrative tasks like invoicing and adding code to your website.
A WordPress ad management plugin, however, can facilitate the procedure. We advise using AdSanity because it enables you to manage your ads and Google AdSense.
4. Sell Sponsored Blog Posts
Some bloggers wonder how to monetize a blog without ads because they want to avoid showing advertisements to their readers.
You give up some control over the information displayed on your website when you use ad networks. Ads may annoy or offend some readers, and an increasing number of people are using ad blockers, which lowers your chance of making money.
The use of sponsorships is an alternative method of blog monetization.
A sponsorship functions the same way it does in sports, television, or other fields. A company pays you to represent its product, promote it, and talk about it to your readers.
It's a good idea to start by assembling a one-page media kit that includes your site's traffic statistics, social media following, audience demographics, and other statistics that will make it more appealing to advertisers. After that, you can approach businesses to discuss sponsorship opportunities.
Before publishing sponsored posts, you must be aware of the disclosure laws in your jurisdiction.
For instance, a blogger in the US who publishes a sponsored post must abide by the FTC's Endorsement Guides. This includes mentioning any sponsored content upfront. In WordPress, you can accomplish this by prefixing your post title with "sponsored post."
5. Get Paid to Write Reviews
Paid reviews are another way to monetize your website, much like sponsored posts.
This monetization strategy is slightly different from a review site with affiliate links, which was previously mentioned.
Alternatively, you can try out niche-related products for free and even get paid for writing reviews.
Similar steps can be taken to obtain sponsored posts when doing this. You should only review items your target audience finds exciting and pertinent to your niche.
You can independently approach businesses to inquire about writing paid reviews.
Additionally, there are websites like PayPerPost that can assist in connecting you with potential business partners.
6. Earn Money Online by Flipping Websites
You are ahead of most people if you know how to create a WordPress website. Entrepreneurs occasionally prefer to purchase existing websites they can use for their businesses.
If you can create a WordPress blog and attract visitors, you can sell it and profit from your work.
It is necessary to know what kinds of websites are in demand and how to value and market them. There are websites like Flippa that act as brokers and auction houses for the sale of websites.
7. Land Engagements as an Influencer Speaker
If you are using your blog to promote your brand, you will eventually build a sizable following that will help people recognize you as an influencer in your industry.
This recognition may help you land some jobs that require public speaking. Speaking at conferences is a popular way for bloggers to rake in big bucks.
Whether paid or not, giving an event speech can help promote your blog and personal brand. You can discover many new opportunities if you are good at networking and public speaking.
To earn money as a paid public speaker, bear the following general advice.
- Be a pro in what you do – Start learning immediately if you don't possess the necessary knowledge or skills.
- Be consistent – You must constantly advertise your subject-matter expertise through your social media and blogging efforts.
- Inform people of your availability – You can privately contact the event organizers or post an announcement on social media.
- You should find paid speaking engagements in public. Many well-known speakers get their start in public speaking at smaller, more laid-back, free community gatherings.
Create a Paid Membership Website
There are many additional ways to earn money from your blog online if selling advertisements, or sponsored posts are different from your things. One common strategy is to charge visitors to access particular materials or parts of your website.
Here are a few methods for accomplishing that.
8. Produce content that is exclusive to members.
Huge fans of your writing, your most devoted readers might be prepared to be charged to access more of your work. You can make a members-only section where they can share longer blog posts, downloads, videos, audio files, and other materials.
Due to the ongoing need to produce premium content for your paying members, membership sites can require a significant financial investment. But because they generate recurring income (subscriptions), they can be highly profitable.
Using a WordPress membership plugin, you can quickly create a membership website. We advise using MemberPress because it is the most robust and user-friendly membership plugin for WordPress.
9. Create a Private Forum
Forums are a fantastic platform for providing one-on-one guidance to your audience.
Community members can interact with and assist one another. Making private forums users must pay to access is another option for building a paid membership website.
Even though moderating a forum can be labor-intensive, it's a great way to make a consistent income from your WordPress website.
Create a forum on your website first to get things going.
10. Create a questions and answers community
Question-and-answer communities like Quora and Stack Exchange are huge. They assist you in creating an active, driven, and highly engaged online community.
You will need to invest time in creating a sizable community, like forums. After that, you can start making money off of user-generated content on your website by using affiliate links, ads, and other strategies.
Popular question-and-answer websites can negotiate sponsorship and direct advertising deals with companies that advertise on those websites. This enables them to bargain for a much higher rate and more benefits.
Create a Directory Website With WordPress
Developing a directory or listing website is another way to earn money online using WordPress. Visitors can then pay you to advertise their listings on your website.
To help you get started, here are a few different directory ideas.
11. Create a Paid Business Directory
Web directories may bring to mind the early days of the internet before bots began automatically indexing everything, but they are still helpful today. Angie's List, Yellow Pages, and Yelp are well-known online directories.
Generic web directories are no longer required, but regional or specialized directories can be beneficial. You could design a local real estate directory, for instance.
Directories compile critiques of nearby companies, promote the top podcasts on a given subject, or list the top goods in a given market niche.
You can select from a wide variety of directory plugins for WordPress, many of which let you accept payments alongside submissions.
12. Construct a WordPress Job Board Using Paid Submissions
The creation of a paid job board is another choice. Companies that want to reach your audience with an open position announcement can pay you to submit a listing.
If you specialize your job board, it will be simpler to build a successful one. This will reduce competition and enable you to establish yourself as the preferred resource for anyone looking for work in that sector.
For established blogs in a specific niche, this is very effective. For instance, ProBlogger is now well-known for its professional blogger job board.
It's simple to build a paid job board using WordPress. Charges for posting jobs can be collected using the WooCommerce Paid Listings addon.
13. The Making of a WordPress Event Calendar Using Paid Submissions
Make an event calendar in place of a job board, charging people to post their events there. Additionally, if you already have a following, this works well because companies will pay to advertise.
An excellent way to monetize regional or sector-specific websites is through a paid event calendar. You can promote conferences in a particular field, local events, webinars, or live-streaming occasions.
Sell Digital Products With WordPress
If you're looking for a way to raise money, selling your digital goods might be an excellent choice to earn money online while blogging with WordPress. Even though the initial product creation requires some time, very little work is needed after that.
These are a few examples of digital goods you can produce and market on your website.
14. Sell Ebooks on WordPress
Ebooks are a logical option for developing digital goods. Writing and producing them is pretty straightforward. You can compile some of your older blog posts and turn them into book chapters if you've been blogging for a while.
Once your book is written, you can use a tool like Canva to create a cover and a PDF of your ebook.
Using a plugin makes it simple to sell digital goods on WordPress.
We recommend using Easy Digital Downloads for digital downloads. All the features you require to set up your online store are present and are comparatively simple.
15. Sell Online Courses
Another excellent method of earning money online is by selling online courses.
Compared to ebooks, courses typically have much higher price points. For your expertise, you can demand a higher price.
In addition to creating the lessons for your course, you'll also need to make any supplemental content you want to offer, such as downloads, slides, checklists, templates, etc.
Additionally, you must choose whether you want to provide individualized support for your course. Two levels of each course are available on some websites: a free version without the support and a paid version with email support.
Utilizing a learning management system (LMS) plugin, you can present your course to your audience once it is finished.
Since MemberPress comes with a built-in course builder, we suggest using it.
16. Host a Paid Webinar
Webinars are a fantastic way to increase your audience, share your knowledge, and develop your company. But did you know they’re also an intelligent way to make money online?
Online courses and webinars are similar, but a live webinar frequently has a section for questions and answers.
It's simple to host a paid webinar with WordPress. It's essential for the success of your webinar to use your site, whether you're hosting the webinar yourself or just using it to promote it and sign up participants.
Thanks for reading this article! We hope you are inspired to use WordPress to make money online! Anyone can make money from their WordPress site if they put in the effort and keep at it.
Remember, this is just Part 1 of this article. A sequel showing another 14 extra tips to make more money. Our proven tips can also help you rank high in search engines. Also, check out our step-by-step guide to creating an online store.