If you’re a blogger who blogs on wordpress, you’re gonna love this post.
Why?
Because you’re a few moments away from learning about 10 proven ways to make money online blogging with WordPress, the largest publishing platform on the planet.
Infact, thenextweb reports that over 30% of all websites you find on the internet today is powered by WordPress.
So while using WordPress as your blogging platform, you can also make some extra money online doing so. It doesn’t matter if you’re working from home, or using your leisure time or your niche.
So…
Let’s dive right into the detailed guide of 20 “proven” ways to make money online blogging with WordPress.
But First, you should bear this in mind: following these steps is not a guarantee that you will make thousands or millions overnight. If you are desperate for quick and fast ways to make money online, then this article isn’t for you.
Also, if you want to really want to start making money using these methods, you will have to invest some time and/or money. It doesn’t matter if you’re 18 or 50, as long as you’re willing to do this.
READ ALSO: Best Online Business Ideas To Make Money in 2020
So the first and foremost step is having your own self-hosted blog either .com, .co, .net, whatever extension you decide to choose as long as it isn’t hosted on a free blogging platform like .wordpress.com or blogspot.com.
Incase you don’t know how to own your own self-hosted blog, the video below shows you a step by step guide on how to start a WordPress blog for beginners.
Once you have set up your blog, then you are ready to follow this guide.
10 “Proven” Ways to Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress
1. Google AdSense
For a lot of bloggers who are newbies or just started blogging, displaying Google AdSense Ads is one of the first options to make money online blogging with wordpress.
It’s quite simple. All you need to do is apply to Google, you will get a script code which you will apply to your website to start displaying ads.
And this is how it works. For every time a user clicks on the ad, you will get paid. These kinds of ads are called CPC ads.
CPC stands for “cost per click.” So this means that when you display CPC ads with Google Adsense, you get a set commission every time a visitor clicks on an ad.
However, Google adsense isn’t the only ad network for every blogger. There are quite a number of Google AdSense alternatives like Media.net.
2. Affiliate Marketing
WordPress Blogs can make money online using affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is simply when you earn a referral commission every time you recommend a product or service to your audience that leads to a sale. If the person buys after clicking your link, then you’ve made a sale and earned an income.
READ ALSO: Guide To Becoming An Affiliate Marketer
There are a number of affiliate programs that you can join and you can easily find one that relates to your niche or one that has products or services that your blog readers might be interested in.
You can join and promote a lot of products to promote from:
- Amazon Affiliate Program
- Commission Junction
- Aliexpress Affiliate Program
- ShareASale
- Shopify Affiliate Program
- Konga Affiliate Program
- Jumia Affiliate Program
READ ALSO: Guide To Becoming A Successful Jumia Affiliate
When you have decided on the products to promote, install and activate a WordPress plugin called “PrettyLinks” to manage your affiliate links.
Pretty link enables you to create branded links, easily insert links into posts, auto-replace keywords into links, and lastly see how each affiliate link is performing on your site.
Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money because when you promote a product and someone buys through your link, you earn a commission. Imagine promoting a product that gives you $5 to your audience and 100 persons buys through your link, that gives you a whopping $100 income. Isn’t that awesome? It sure is.
3. Sponsored Blog Posts
Sponsored blog post is another great way to make money from your wordpress blog.
A sponsored blog post is simply a blog post which you are paid to publish on your blog. It may be written by you or by the advertisers who paid you for it.
It’s quite simple to understand. A company can approach you or send you an email asking you to publish some information about their product, and promote it to your audience.
Also, You don’t have to wait or expect a company or advertiser to approach you for a sponsorship deal, you can as well approach or send emails to companies to negotiate a sponsorship deal.
But first, before reaching out to any company, it will be best and more professional if you put together a one-page media kit or page on your blog that details your traffic stats, social media following, audience demographics, and any other data that will make advertisers willing to agree to a sponsorship deal.
Lastly, ensure you disclose whenever a post is sponsored. Adding a sponsored post prefix to your post title in WordPress will do the trick.
4. Sell banner ad space directly on your website
Directly selling banner ad space on your website is another profitable option to monetize your WordPress blog. It’s even more beneficial to you because you will have full control over pricing and be able to negotiate with advertisers.
One thing I love about selling banner ad space is all revenue generated is yours since there is no third-party company involved.
So, to start selling ad space on your website, you can use the WordPress ad management plugin called AdSanity which makes the process easier a lot easier.
5. Writing paid reviews
You can make money writing paid reviews.
A paid review is like a sponsored post, where you write about a product and people check it out because of your review..
You blog must not entirely be a review site with affiliate links before you make money writing paid reviews, instead, you can try out products related to your niche for free, and then get paid for writing a review.
Just like reaching out to companies and big brands for sponsored posts, you can also do the same for paid reviews. But you have to be sure you’re reviewing products that are relevant to your niche so your audience would be interested in.
PayPerPost is a website that can help to connect you with businesses who may be interested in paid reviews.
6. Flipping Websites
If you know how to build a WordPress website, then you can create a website, drive traffic to it and build it up to be an authority, then sell it. There are a lot of brands and people who will be interested in buying established websites that they can use to start or build up their own businesses online.
Before you rush into creating and building up websites, you have to be aware of the types of websites in demand, and how to price and sell them.
Flippa is a platform for buying and selling online businesses.
7. Sell Ebooks on WordPress
EBook are multiple digital “pages” that people can navigate through, and are often packaged as a PDF document so they can easily be sent from one user to another.
You can write or combine old blog posts on a particular topic into an ebook. Once you have the information complete and detailed in your Google Docs (which I recommend), you can convert it to pdf and use canva to design a cover and sell it as an eBook.
The video below explains the whole process better
There are a handful of plugins that makes it easier to sell digital products on your WordPress blog. If you want to create an online store for your ebooks or digital products you sell, we recommend Easy Digital Downloads plugin.
8. Sell Online Courses
If you can create an online course, then you can make good money online selling them on your WordPress blog.
In creating a detailed course, you’ll need to create lessons for it, and include supporting materials such as downloads, slides, checklists, templates, etc.
In selling your courses, you can do it in two ways . You can create two different tiers with different price options; a basic version without support, and a premium version with email support.
You can use a learning management system (LMS) plugin called LearnDash to promote the course to your audience when your course is ready.
9. Offer Freelance Services
You can offer various freelance services as a blogger once you’re become an expert on your niche. You can offer your skills and services as a freelancer and get paid for it.
For example, if you are a competent content writer, you can reach out to your audience or other websites to write for them and get paid to do so. Of course, your blog can also be a reference if samples of your previous works are needed..
Once you start freelancing, use the plugin called “FreshBooks”, to invoice and collect payments from your clients
10. Become a public speaker
Public speaking can result in a lot of publicity to you if you’re an expert and influencer in your niche.
Especially if you have a popular blogger with a good number of audience and networks.
So when people see you as an expert in what you do, it makes it easier to get some public speaking jobs and get paid for it.
At the same time, you get to promote your blog and services or whatever it is you do best.
But bear in mind; if you want to really be successful as a public speaker and get paid for it, you have to be a total expert in your niche. If you aren’t an expert yet, work towards it consistently and keep improving yourself in what you do.
Also, note everyone will know you’re open to accept public speaking gigs. So you can also let people know that you are available. You can announce on your blog, social media handles or privately reach out to event organizers.
Conclusion
And that’s it. 10 “Proven” Ways to Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress
I’m confident any or all of these ways will work for you, but you have to be willing to put the work into it.
If you’ve been blogging with WordPress and making little or no money online, then don’t waste time in implementing these steps.
Within a little time and consistent effort, you’ll see a nice increase in your income as a WordPress blogger.
