Blogging to make money

[hardworkingmum]

I don't write any blogs but I do follow a lot of parenting blogs.

They always seem to be giving away some kind of product as a prize which I assume they get for free (and maybe one to keep for themselves)

So it may be that there is more than just money to be made by having a successful blog if you can get it to connect with the right brands.

 

[Jon]

I think blogged, if you get it right and connect with a decent and wide readership and get those subscriptions you need can work out quite well.

I just have yet to discover an area that seems a saturated as the 'mums/parents' blog world.

 

[rebeccajlsk]

I started my blog just over three years ago now with no knowledge that I could ever make money from it. I now can earn anything from pennies per month to a couple of hundred quid for something I considered a hobby and would have continued alongside my work nonetheless.

There are a number of ways to make money from blogging - these could be via sponsored posts (taking into consideration that you must fully disclose to comply with the law and use no follow links if you don't want to be kicked off Google's searches). There is also advertising (whether through adsense or sold via yourself), affiliate programmes and payment in kind - aka being sent a product to review.

The main thing to do if you are putting your blog out there to make money is to create some good quality content first and then network, network, network. When you start to see those stats grow, then add Adsense or something similar.

Hope this helps!

 

[rebeccajlsk]

I think blogged, if you get it right and connect with a decent and wide readership and get those subscriptions you need can work out quite well.

I just have yet to discover an area that seems a saturated as the 'mums/parents' blog world.

It is quite saturated, I agree. However, a lot of those that start 'mummy blogging' don't carry on when they realise that sponsored posts and products for review don't start flying in as soon as they first publish a post.

I would say personal finance blogs are quickly catching up - I have one myself - and not only are they huge in the US, I have seen an increase in the PF blogs starting over here too.

 

[Jon]

I think blogged, if you get it right and connect with a decent and wide readership and get those subscriptions you need can work out quite well.

I just have yet to discover an area that seems a saturated as the 'mums/parents' blog world.

It is quite saturated, I agree. However, a lot of those that start 'mummy blogging' don't carry on when they realise that sponsored posts and products for review don't start flying in as soon as they first publish a post.

I would say personal finance blogs are quickly catching up - I have one myself - and not only are they huge in the US, I have seen an increase in the PF blogs starting over here too.

Have to agree here. I think of a lot of people do seem to get into Blogging when they see others earning a lot of terms of free products. Personal finance and frugal type stuff will always do well I think.

It's just a shame Clickbait sites rank so highly in Google pushing down sites or blogs with genuine content down the list.

 

[RedAlix]

I started a blog last year, haven't really done much with it tbh.. I also think why would someone want to read what I have written lol I don't make any money from it, but then I don't really know where to start. I've had a look at my blog this morning and was up to 15 posts on there! I'd just done 2 more so up to 17 now maybe I should give it a go, it doesn't take much time and if it has potential to make a few ££ then its worth it isn't it!

 

[FreeSwagSites]

Pinterest is a good way to get extra traffic. Very quick and easy to pin your page/post there after publication.

 

[Jon]

I have heard pintrest is good for generating traffic but what worries me is you have your blog/site then Twitter/Facebook/Pintrest/Linked in etc and it near enough becomes a full time job just keeping those social accounts going let alone creating new content on your actual site.

 

[RedAlix]

what worries me is you have your blog/site then Twitter/Facebook/Pintrest/Linked in etc and it near enough becomes a full time job just keeping those social accounts going let alone creating new content on your actual site.

my thoughts exactly!

I find it hard to do everything I want on my website let alone social media and other advertising.

 

[Jon]

Think it's a bit of a balancing act that maybe I find hard enough based on the fact I work full time.

 

[mbmetro100]

Hey,

Has anyone had any experience of Blogging to make an income?

I have toyed with Blogs before using WordPress (Loved the software btw) but found it quite hard to come up with new content at a pace that people are looking for on Blogs (Which seems to be every few days).

It seems that those that hit the right mark can end up charging to host other peoples content, let alone also offering the opportunity to hold banner ads and sponsored competitions.

Seems like if you have the time, and the originality to write a very large amount of content Blogging can bring quite a lot of riches.

Hi Jon,

I've being using Blogger (free option) now for the past 18 months and have enjoyed some success. I mainly review technology products for the Amazon UK program and fitness equipment for the US scheme. I once used the free Wordpress option, but they have a tendency to blitz free accounts and close them down without any good reason, so that's why I moved to Blogger.

Before you start doing any sort of review, it's important to do some form of due diligence - The Amazon feedback score should be at least 4/5 and less than 10 comments or the product will be saturated, it has low competition or even limited data using the free Google keyword planner and that you can easily write a blog article about the product. Any article should be at least 300 words, have a good layout, contain an product picture and have a call to action at the bottom including a contextual link of the product in question. Once you find a route that meets with your own style and work, just rinse and repeat the process and watch the affiliate commissions roll in.

The key with any blogs and product reviews is to occupy the first ten places for any natural search with Google.

 

[Jon]

I may be wrong ( and probably am ) but isn't there concern with using Blogger that you never truly own the site and effectively Google could just shut it down (not that they would )

 

[mbmetro100]

I may be wrong ( and probably am ) but isn't there concern with using Blogger that you never truly own the site and effectively Google could just shut it down (not that they would )

That's true and the same can be said with free sites like Wordpress, Google Sites, Squidoo. I've had a couple of free blogging accounts closed for no apparent reason. The best way to go about it with regards to a free Blogger account, is to create a blog about your product and write a few posts about it including your link in each. After about 8 or 9 posts create a new blog with a different email account. That way you won't have all your eggs in one blog basket and you'll still have other blogs with your product links to fall back on.

For the medium to long term you should always look at the paid option for extra piece of mind.

 

[alex]

Thanks for the tip mbmetro100 - do you have a link to any of your blogs please? I'd like to take a peek!

 

[alex]

Ignore - I saw the link on your profile!

 

[RedAlix]

Well I signed up with AdSense and they have accepted my blog to show ads.. just have to work out how to get them to show up and get more people visiting

 

[Jon]

Have taken a look - The Ads are not too intrusive so they look fine.

Be interesting to see how much you can make once you up your views.

Got a mate who runs a fly fishing blog which is very popular - Is signed up to Amazons version of Adsense and makes about £20-£30 month from it.

 

[RedAlix]

Thanks Jon, i'll keep you updated

 

[mbmetro100]

Well I signed up with AdSense and they have accepted my blog to show ads.. just have to work out how to get them to show up and get more people visiting

I started using Google ads on some of my blogs and YT videos in October 2013 and have made £41 so far. Once I reach £60 i can cash out for sterling payouts.

 

[Jon]

I worry if I turned adsense on on this site I would end up getting served adverts for outdoor hardware goods and garden sheds lol