When people start a blog, they often want to make money from it. Me included! Whether you want to make enough money to cover the expenses of your blog’s upkeep or you want to grow it enough to pay off debt or quit your job, you probably have a financial goal associated with your blog.
The great thing is, there are so many ways to monetize your blog! They require varying levels of time and effort, and not all of them will work for you. But the beauty of that is, you get to try your hand at so many things and see what works best.
But that also means there are so many ideas, and you might not have any idea where to begin. If you’re feeling a bit paralyzed by all of the options, here are some things to consider.
Brainstorm All the Possibilities
First, set a timer for 10-20 minutes and write down all of the possibilities of how you can monetize your blog. There are no bad ideas at this stage! Write everything down.
Not sure where to begin? Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Sponsored posts
- Affiliate links
- Design work
- Ebooks
- Ecourses
- Physical products
- Patreon
- Freelancing
Consider How Much Time You Want to Devote to It
Next, ask yourself how much time you’re willing to devote to monetizing your blog.
Remember: this is in addition to creating content for your blog. Even if it’s something as seemingly simple as affiliate links, you need to: look up the best affiliate programs, apply, find and build the links you want to use, make sure all of your links are compliant, etc. It takes a lot of work!
Do you only want to spend about an hour on it per week? Then some of the bigger ideas are probably out. Or, if you’d rather prioritize a higher payout over free time (nothing wrong with that!), you might want to cross out the smaller ideas.
Consider How You’re Motivated
Next, consider how you’re motivated. Do you do better with creating something in advance and then getting a payout when people buy it after it’s complete, or do you prefer to get paid first and then do the work?
I thought I was the latter, so I started freelance designing. But I realized that if I didn’t do the work before getting paid, I just felt guilty about it any time I wasn’t working. It wasn’t healthy for me, so I stopped accepting freelance clients. Now I’m all about affiliate links and digital products!
You might be the total opposite. In which case, go for more of a freelance route or pre-sell your digital products, so you’re getting paid as you’re working on it.
Pare Down Your List & Try Things Out!
Finally, go back to your list of ideas and start crossing things out based on your time and motivation requirements. Then, when you have a shorter list remaining, rank the ideas based on what you’re most excited about and start at the top of the list!
Don’t get too discouraged if you don’t love something as much as you expected. I really expected to love freelance designing, but I actually hated it. That’s okay! Try something else instead. As long as you’re trying new things and you still enjoy your blog, you’re golden!
