How To Start A Blog And Get Paid

Just getting started with your blog? Here's your guide to make money with blogging – for beginners.

As a new blogger, it can be hard to know where to start. You hear people are making money from their blogs, but you don't quite understand how.

In this beginner's guide on how to make money with a blog for beginners, we're going to show you how to make your first $100 from your blog.

I know. $100 doesn't sound like a lot of money. But it's just the beginning. Once you get the basics down and earn your first income, you can scale it and earn as much money as you'd like.

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How to Make Money With a Blog (for Beginners)

First things first, it's important for me to remind you that blog income doesn't happen overnight. You will need to set up a blog, build an audience who trusts you and drive traffic regularly before you can start making an income.

The exotic blogger's lifestyle that you see on social media comes with a lot of hard work so make sure you're ready to put the work in.

As a blogger beginner, you probably don't have tons of traffic yet and don't have a huge email list either. So the idea here is to start small ($100) and build up from there as your blog grows in size.

By setting yourself a realistic goal of $100, you will feel motivated – as a larger goal might seem too far out of reach. And, once you do achieve your goal, you're going to get a better understanding of what works for your blog (and what doesn't) and use the learnings to make even more money.

Related posts:

How to Start a Blog in Under 10 Minutes
Blog Niches That Make Money: 5 Profitable Blog Niche Ideas (Examples Included)
What Should I Blog About? 80+ Ideas You Can Create a Blog About
How To Come Up With a Blog Name. 8 Creative Ideas To Pick The Perfect Name

*This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on them and purchase something we get a small percentage of the sale. More info here *

Blogging For Money – For Beginners

So anyway, how DO you make money blogging as a beginner? Well, there are actually many different ways you could approach this.

Let me break them down for you.

1. Affiliate Income

One of the easiest and most common ways to make money blogging, for beginners, is affiliate marketing. You don't need to have your own products or services. You simply promote other people's products on your blog, and when someone makes a purchase, you make a commission off it.

Where to Find Affiliate Programs

So where do you find these affiliate programs? To be honest there are hundreds of options and it may be overwhelming when you're getting started.

Many new bloggers start by making money with Amazon. So you sign up to become an Amazon Affiliate and use links within your blog. When someone makes a purchase on Amazon, you will make a small commission of it.

In addition to this, you can sign up to use large affiliate marketing networks. These networks have thousands of affiliate programs for a variety of brands. You can choose the brands and products you want to promote and do it from one centralised platform.

Two affiliate marketing networks we use ourselves:

ShareASale
Commission Junction

How to Start (Action Steps)

1. Make a list of products and services you love and use. Research potential affiilate marketing opportunities for these.

2. Sign up to Amazon and/or affiliate marketing networks.

3. Brainstormand create content that will help you promote your chosen products and services.

For example, if you're promoting a software you like you use, you could create a tutorial on how to to use the software (for newbies). Within this article, you would use your affiliate link for the software so if someone clicks through and makes a purchase, you make the commission.

You could also do product reviews as a piece of content. This is a strategy many fashion and beauty blogger use. They will write a review of products they like to use and then include an affiliate link so their readers can make a purchase.

There are many creative and effective ways to create content that brings affiliate marketing results. Do your research and see how other bloggers in your niche are promoting their affiliate partnerships.

Don't be afraid to borrow ideas and emulate successful bloggers. You don't need to reinvent the wheel.

4. Promote your content. For you to make money from affiliate opportunities, your blog needs to be read. Promote your content on social media, via your email list and anywhere else that's relevant. The more traffic you build, the more the opportunities for you to make affiliate income.

2. eBooks

If you want to sell your own products, an ebook is a great way to make money blogging. It's also a great way to see whether or not your audience is ready to buy from you.

Don't get overwhelmed! An ebook is not a novel. You don't have to write hundreds of pages. In fact, most good ebooks are concise but packed with information.

Think of an ebook as a longer form blog post. You can create an ebook about almost any topic but obviously it would make sense to make it about a topic that is relevant to your readers.

All you have to do is make sure it's a topic you know well and can write about. And of course, it's a topic that is interesting enough for your readers to buy from you.

Most beginner bloggers will sell their first ebooks for a very reasonable price. So, it's a good idea to prices yours at $7 to $40 mark. That way, it's not a huge investment for anyone to purchase and you can sell it easily.

And, for you… once you make a few ebook sales, it's a huge confidence booster. You know you're on the right track. You have people who want to buy from you – you are now ready to take it to the next level.

The Healthy Mummy sells a variety of e-books to her audience

Once you've sold some ebooks, you can take it further by creating other digital products such as webinars, video tutorials and also online courses (which we talk about next)

How to Start (Action Steps)

1. Brainstorm content ideas: Analyse what content resonates with your audience. What do they like hearing about? What topics do you have expertise in? What topic engages your audience the most?

Ask yourself these questions to choose an ebook topic that will

2. Write the ebook: Keep things simple. You don't need any fancy software. Start writing and formatting your ebook in Google Docs. You can design an attractive cover using Canva and you're ready to go.

3. Figure out where to sell:To sell your ebook, you can use a variety of different platforms:

1. On your own blog: Promote it everywhere on your blog. Put up banners in the sidebar, mention it in your blog posts and if you have an email list – definitely let them know you have an ebook for sale.

2. On Amazon : You can self publish your book and sell it on Amazon very easily.

3. On ClickBank: ClickBank is a very popular online retailer for digital products so selling your ebook on this platform can help you reach a very wide audience.

4. Set up for sales: Figure out how you're going to accept payments and deliver the ebook to your customers. You can do this easily through a service like SendOwl (if you're selling through your blog). Or you can sell through Amazon or ClickBank as mentioned above.

You can also do your own setup, and accept payments through a service like Paypal or Stripe and deliver the ebooks via email once you receive a payment.

Do what is the easiest for you.

5. Promote your ebook: You need to get the word out about your ebook. Promote your ebook to your email list, on Pinterest, on relevant Facebook groups and anywhere else that would be relevant. Don't be shy to let people know you have something for sale.

3. Online Courses

The next step up from ebooks is creating and selling online courses. In fact, very often bloggers will create an ebook and then expand on the same topic in their online course.

Like ebooks, you can create an online course about almost any topic. Of course, it should be a topic that people want to learn about and one you know a lot about. At least enough to teach a course. 😉

Some ideas… if you have a food blog, you can do a course on recipes. If you run a fashion blog, you could sell a course on fashion tips. If you write about relationships, you could sell a course on how to manage long distance relationships.

You can sell your courses at higher price point than ebooks but the price you choose will really depend on the depth of your course, your expertise and how well your audience already knows you.

I've seen short courses for $29, some for $47 and have also seen high level experts sell for $997. Research other courses in your niche to see what the average price point is.

Don't overprice it but don't undersell yourself either. Test a few prices and see what works best for you.

David from Rise To The Top has a number of courses . Some selling for $997

How to Start (Action Steps)

1. Choose a topic: Your course should be about a topic you can help your audience with. If there's a struggle or an issue that comes up regularly, address it by creating a course about.

2. Create your content: Once your topic's in place, do the hard work of planning and creating your course. There are many formats to deliver a course in but most are usually a combo of videos, slideshows and text.

Decide how you're going to deliver information and create content accordingly.

You don't need any fancy equipment to get started. You can write your scripts in Google Docs and record your vides on your phone (but use a tripod). Just choose a quiet place and start creating.

3. Figure out where to sell:There are many ways to sell a course online. Some of your options are:

1. On your own site: You can host your course on your own website

2. On Udemy (or other similar sites)

3. On Teachable ( or other similar platforms.

Where you sell your course will also depend on the complexity of it. Platforms like Teachable make it easy to create a course heavy on videos and slideshows.

4. Set up for sale: Once people buy your course, you will need a way to deliver the course to them.

At the very basic level, you can host your videos on YouTube or Vimeo and deliver it to your customers on your own website. To keep things simple, course creators often use platforms such as Teachable or ClickFunnels. These platforms help you not just host the course, but also easily accept payments for your courses.

If you've decided to sell on Udemy to start with, then the platform will guide you through the process of setting up and selling a course through them.

5. Promote your course: Like everything else, if you don't promote, no one is going to know you have a course. Tell your audience via email, social media and advertise it all over your blog that you have a course. Promote on any groups and forums where potential students spend their time.

4. Freelance Writing

A blog is very good proof that you can write. Unless you enjoy writing and write well, it's going to be very difficult for you to succeed in the blogging world.

So, keeping this love of writing in mind, you could start making money off your blog by selling freelance writing services. Use your blog as proof of your writing ability and pitch to clients in your niche.

When your blog has little traffic, freelance writing is a great way to start and make money blogging, for beginners without having to wait around.

Not sure how to get started with freelance work? Check out our article on How to Become a Freelance Writer.

Cecily Paterson offers freelance writing services on her blog

How to Start (Action Steps)

1. Pick your specialty: There are many kinds of freelance writing. Do your research to decide whether you want to go into blog writing, copywriting, social media writing etc.

2. Look for work:There are hundreds of different ways to look for freelance writing work. Here are some ideas:

1. On Upwork: Join a freelancing platform, create a profile and start applying for work

2. Cold pitching to clients: Research potential clients in your niche (e.g. if you run a fitness blog, think of business owners who could be potential clients in the fitness industry) Email them to pitch writing blog content or ghostwriting for their business.

3. On Facebook groups and forums: Writing or freelancing related Facebook groups are very popular and can be a great source of work for newbie writers.

4. Through your network: Let your network know you're looking for writing work. You never know who could need your service.

5. On your blog: Create a 'Work with Me' or 'Services' page and list Freelance Writing as a service for clients. If potential cilents arrive on your site and like what they see, they may be interested in working with you.

Also check out our article here for many more resources for freelance writing jobs: Freelance Writing Jobs: 26 Resources for Finding PAID Work

3. Promote yourself: As always, don't forget to promote your freelance writing services via your blog, social media and to your personal and professional networks.

5. Google Adsense

Adsense is an advertising platform owned by Google and one of the most common ways of making money from blogging for beginners.

Basically, you sign up and allow the Google ad platform to place ads on your blog. You can choose where and how many ads to show.

In return you are either paid when someone clicks on your ad or by the amount of views the ad receives on your site.

What's great about Adsense is that your readers are shown ads that are relevant to them. This means your audience will see ads related to the content on your blog. Alternatively, based on their browsing history, they may also see ads for other products they've previously shown an interest in.

Depending on your niche and traffic, you can make a lot of money from Adsense. The more traffic you generate, the more your Adsense income is likely to increase.

How Start (Action Steps)

1. Sign up for Adsense:Adsense is free to sign up and once you're in, yo can learn more about the platform, choose your ads and learn more about what's possible.

2. Create ad placements: You can place as many or as few ads on your blog as you wish. I'd recommend not overwhelming your visitors with too many ads.

Decide where you want to place your ads – within your blog posts, on the sidebar, at the bottom or at the top.. the choice is yours.

3. Promote your content: As I mentioned above, your Adsense income will depend on how much traffic you generate and the quality of it. If you drive very relevant traffic, your ads are likely to perform better.

So, promote your content at every opportunity and the people who see it may then be tempted to click on your ads.

6. Coaching and Consulting

When you start a blog about a topic, you tend to become an expert on that subject. You're already writing ebooks and selling online courses, so why not consider branching out further and becoming a coach or consultant.

For example, if you write a blog about home improvement, you could consider offering interior design consulting as a service.

Another example would be if you have a really strong Pinterest presence for your blog – you could offer Pinterest coaching and consulting services.

See also: How to Become an Pinterest Marketer

Additionally you could also offer group coaching services if you are particularly knowledgeable about a certain topic. You can coach about fitness, health, food, marketing, food, lifestyle and so many other topics.

David Bergwerf offers online fitness coaching

How to Start (Action Steps)

1. Pick your specialty: Decide what you want to offer a coaching or consulting service for. Think of any ways you can help people and consider creating a service based around that.

2. Promote yourself: Sell your new service to your audience. As they already know and trust you, it's likely they might be interested in your new coaching service as well.

So there you have it. Six different and realistic ways to make your first $100 from your blog. You don't have to do them all (you can if you want to) so just start with one.

Pick the one that seems most doable for you at the moment and the one that appeals to you the most and just get started.

Any more questions about how to make money from blogging, for beginners? Leave us a comment below.

Your complete guide on how to make money blogging - for beginners. Make your first $100 and then the sky is the limit. We've got ideas and resources to help you make money from your blog - even if you are a beginner. | FulltimeNomad.com