What is a Blog and how to make money from it!

Applications and social aspects

Blogs often have a personal character. In the past, they were associated with online diaries, but today their thematic scope is so wide that this designation seems unfair. Blogs contain personal reflections, observations, comments, drawings, recordings (audio and video) – thus presenting the author's worldview. Web diaries also have many other applications: they can be used as portals dedicated to specific topics, marketing tools, or communication tools (e.g. political). While personal blogs usually have one author, in other cases a blog often has multiple authors.

Blog authors usually follow other blogs, create links to them (blogroll, trackback), and establish contacts with their authors. In this way, the network of blogs begins to function as a larger, interconnected whole, called the blogosphere. In the case of blogs dedicated to specific topics, the exchange of thoughts between authors can contribute to the development of a particular field of knowledge. In the case of personal blogs, authors often establish social relationships, which is why the network of blogs is compared to social networking applications.

How to earn money from blogging

1. Sell advertising on the blog
2. Join an affiliate program
3. Create sponsored texts
4. Sell space for external sponsored texts
5. Sell products related to the blog's topic
6. Create and sell your own courses and e-books
7. Offer subscriptions and paid access to premium content
8. Provide consultancy services

Sell advertising on the blog

The greatest benefit of online advertising is the ability to instantly publish information and content that is not limited geographically or temporally. For this purpose, emerging areas of interactive advertising pose new challenges for advertisers who have previously used other strategies.

Another advantage is the efficiency of advertiser investments. Online advertising allows for adapting ads to the content of websites. For example, Google Ads, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Google AdSense enable placing ads on relevant websites or next to search results of keywords.

Revenue models

There are various models for purchasing advertising space. They can be divided into three basic groups: sale based on the number of impressions (for a specific time, e.g. a day or a week, and for a specific number of impressions); sale based on settlements for specific consumer actions (payment for clicking on an ad or performing a specific action on a site, e.g. providing contact details); a model combining the two above methods of sale, in which the offered number of impressions is associated with the sale of actions. The most common ways in which online advertising is purchased are CPM, CPC, and CPA.

• CPM (Cost Per Mille), also known as "Cost per Thousand" (CPT), occurs when advertisers pay for displaying their message to a specific group of recipients. "Per mille" means for a thousand impressions, or a lot of ads, where M comes from Latin (Mille = a thousand). Some impressions may not be counted, such as reloads or internal user actions. This is the most common model, allowing advertisers to determine what they are paying for. One ad emission (impression) means presenting the ad to the internet user once.
• CPV (Cost Per Visitor) occurs when advertisers pay for redirecting a target group to advertisers' websites.
• CPV (Cost Per View) occurs when an advertiser pays for each view of an ad or webpage (usually used with pop-ups, pop-unders, and interstitial ads).
• CPC (Cost Per Click), also known as Pay per click (PPC), advertisers pay each time a user clicks on a keyword and is redirected to their website. In reality, they are not paying for the ad itself to be displayed but only when the ad is clicked. This system allows advertising specialists to narrow down searches and obtain information about their sales. Under the Cost Per Click system, advertisers pay for the right to be listed among a series of keywords, which is directly related to traffic on their website, and only pay if someone clicks on their keyword, which leads directly to their website. CPC differs from CPV in that for each click, payment is made regardless of whether the user reaches the target page. The price is usually dependent on the form of advertising and creative solutions (generally, a more attractive graphic solution encourages more clicks). You can purchase a specific number of clicks or pay for all clicks in a given period.
• CPA (Cost Per Action) or (Cost Per Acquisition) is based on results and prevalent in the business sector of affiliate marketing. In this payment system, the publisher takes on all the risks of running an ad, and the advertiser pays only for the number of users who have completed a transaction, such as a purchase or registration, filling out a survey, reviewing a specific text, etc. It is the best way to pay for banner advertising and the worst way to collect fees.
  • Similarly, CPL (Cost Per Lead) advertising is the same as CPA and is based on the user filling out a form, subscribing to a newsletter, or other actions desired by the advertising client.
  • Similarly, CPO (Cost Per Order) advertising is based on completed orders.
  • CPE (Cost Per Engagement) is a form of Cost Per Action, first introduced in March 2008. Unlike Cost Per Impression or Cost Per Click, the CPE model means displaying an ad for free and advertisers pay only when a user interacts with a specific element in their ad. This user interaction with the ad can be understood in many different ways.
• Cost Per Conversion Describes the cost of acquiring a customer, usually calculated by dividing the total cost of an advertising campaign by the number of conversions. The definition of "conversion" varies depending on the situation: sometimes it is considered a lead, a sale, or a purchase.
• CPD (Cost Per Day) An advertiser pays a specified daily budget.

Join an affiliate program

Affiliate Program (PP) – an internet marketing tool. It is a script linked to the order base of an online store. In this program, the organizer is an online store offering products or services – while partners are individuals or companies with their own website. After joining the program, the partner places materials provided by the organizer on their website – in return, they receive a commission for each transaction that started on their site.

Operation description

In practice, a customer X enters a partner's website. On that site, the customer familiarizes themselves with the offer of store Y, then from the partner's site, via hyperlinks, they go to the store's site. If this customer makes a purchase in the organizer's store, the partner receives a commission (usually in the form of a few percent of the order's value) from the organizer.

Affiliate programs are usually created by stores that sell products with a high margin. This applies, for instance, to such industries as jewelry, branded perfumes, or e-books. Everywhere where a store can give up part of its profit for greater sales. Also, in sports markets related to winter sports (snowboarding, skiing), investments are made in affiliate programs due to the large number of websites dedicated to winter sports, these sites are potential partners of affiliate programs. In the case of large companies launching their affiliate program, they usually do so based on a tool created specifically for their needs and independent of other entities. Other players use external, generally available software, although individually integrated (e.g. Partneo) or decide to participate in affiliate programs based on affiliate program networks.

Affiliate program regulations usually precisely specify the role of a participant in such a program. In most cases, the partner is neither a representative of the organizer nor a mediator between the customer and the store.

Participating in the affiliate program is a form of teleworking.

There are several methods of promoting affiliate links in affiliate programs, including:

• Promotion of links on social media
• Placing affiliate codes or links on your own website or blog
• Promotion on discussion forums

Affiliate marketing strategy

Affiliate marketing is a strategy in which publishers (affiliates) advertise products or services of other companies (advertisers) and receive a commission for sales or other actions that encourage the use of the advertiser's offer. Publishers promote the products or services of advertisers through affiliate links, which are unique URL addresses that redirect users to the advertiser's website. In the case of a user making a purchase or performing another action that encourages the use of the advertiser's offer, the affiliate receives a commission.

Sponsored texts

Sponsored article – a form in print or on the internet. A sponsored article is commissioned by an advertising agency or directly by the advertised company (however, it may be written by a copywriter or a person from the editorial staff of a specific publication). It looks like a normal editorial text but promotes a particular product or business in a specified, more or less subtle way. Fees for sponsored articles are often very similar to traditional advertising prices. It also happens that the profit for writing a sponsored article (in monetary or other form) goes directly to the author of such an article.

Sell space for external sponsored texts

This way of earning money from blogging involves publishing various content provided by an external author, a company that wants to appear on your blog. These can be articles prepared at the advertiser's request, interviews, etc.

If you are interested in this form of earning money from blogging, simply register as a publisher on intermediary websites, e.g. Whitepress, specify your rate and the size of the audience group, and interested advertisers will contact you with texts for publication.

Advertisers may also propose buying a link in an already existing text – marking a part of your text to lead to their site (similar to affiliate marketing).

Sell products related to the blog's topic

How to earn money from blogging in a really simple way? You can open an online store and sell products through your sites.

The products can be physical (e.g. books) or digital (e.g. e-books) and should be directly related to the topic of your blog.

Here are a few ideas for online sales through your blog:

• Studies, e-books, webinars, and virtual events
   
• T-shirts, mugs, and other goods with your blog's logo
   
• Products from external companies

For example, if you run a fitness blog, you can sell branded sports equipment, sports supplements, or clothing. If, on the other hand, you run a travel blog, try selling digital tourist guides for download.

Create and sell your own e-books and courses

Selling online courses is one of the most profitable ways to earn money online, and blog authors can earn substantial income depending on the offered topics and the reputation of their name.

Creating a course requires one-time effort, and revenues from it can last for several years. Of course, professionalism in selecting and presenting content is indispensable.

An extension of this idea could be writing your own e-book. By running a blog for a long time, you know very well what interests your readers the most – comprehensively describe it in your e-book.

If possible, complement the text with images or charts, especially if they help explain what you are writing about. The best are your own photos, although you can also add a few stock photos if they are really essential or helpful. To make your e-book look truly professional, you can hire an external specialist to help you with the design.

Offer subscriptions and paid access to premium content

Another idea on how to earn money from blogging is to provide paid content or offer subscriptions. Of course, a certain part of the resources must remain free – readers want to know how valuable the materials you publish on your blog are before deciding to purchase.

Complementary to free posts can be in-depth studies, analyses, and articles that require payment.

Get readers interested – post a preview of premium content or a part of it – and ask them to make a payment to continue reading.

A similar but slightly different approach is offering paid membership. This can include selling subscriptions under selected pricing plans – access to a specific database is only available to those users who pay fees. Reward loyal users with various bonuses, such as access to webinars, additional downloadable resources, etc.

Provide consultancy services

If you are an authority in your field, a potential option for making money online is treating your site as a portfolio and offering your services as a coach or consultant (e.g. becoming a digital marketing consultant or nutrition advisor).

Depending on the field in which you specialize, you can work with individuals or provide consultations to companies.

Treat starting a blog as the first step towards your consulting business – use your knowledge and experience, as well as the fact that by running a blog, you have managed to reach a large audience potentially interested in your services.

You can encourage your most loyal audience to expand cooperation with special packages, discounts, and perks for regular blog readers.

How much can you earn from blogging?

There is no definitive answer. The highest amounts are staggering, but of course, they concern only a selected group of bloggers-influencers. If you are interested in details, we invite you to read an English-language article about the earnings of the highest-earning bloggers: about the revenues of top-earning bloggers.

And what are the amounts achievable for everyone? It depends on the niche, audience size, author's recognition, and time spent on promotion. With some effort, you can achieve monthly earnings in the range of several thousand. However, it is worth noting that strategies that work for the best can also be successfully used at every level of blogging.

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