{Tips for Blogging: Part 4} Making Money Blogging

 { Previous posts in this series include Part 1: Getting Started Blogging, Part 2: Growing Your Readership, and Part 3: Blogging Etiquette}

Can I start by saying I feel a little weird writing about this?

Partly because I have this awkward relationship with money that makes me disdain talking about it.  If we could all just agree to pretend we don't need, have or want money it would make my life significantly more comfortable.  But also, I feel like there are a million sources more equipped to tell you how to make money with your blog.  There are whole blogs devoted to the subject. I'm still so new to the game.  I'm still learning.

And it still kinda blows me away that I get paid to do this!

But I know that sometimes what we need is not a definitive article from an expert, but the experiences of somebody we know who has done what we want to do. All this to say that if I were sharing this information with you in real life, I wouldn't be some authority on the topic giving a presentation at the front of a room, but a friend across the table in a Starbucks somewhere trying to explain it all the best I can while I eat a giant White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Cookie.

There are 3 ways that I make money on my blog.

#1) Affiliate Programs. Affiliate advertising is when you advertise for a product or company and then receive a small commission for every purchase resulting from that ad.

The Amazon.com affiliate program is by far the most profitable one for me.  I saw a huge spike in my affiliate fees in March when my list of  99 Ways to Simplify Life with Kids spread it's way across pinterest. 

I like being an Amazon affiliate because I love books and resources and I personally purchase from Amazon so often that the UPS guy has started asking questions. I can feel good about the items I'm recommending, and my readers can feel safe purchasing from a company with a great reputation.  Plus, it funds my own slightly out of control book habit.

There are also affiliate ad networks through which you can apply for and manage a number of affiliate programs in one place.  An example of this is Commission Junction.

 #2) Google Adsense.  This has become the main source of my income. Adsense is an ad network that places contextual ads on your site for you.  Basically, you put a code on your blog to allow an ad of a certain size in a certain place.  Then Google figures out which ads to target to your audience,  keeps track of the pageviews and clicks, and pays you accordingly.  You can choose to disallow certain categories of ads,and you have the option to display text ads, image ads, or both.

It's easy to use and it's profitable for blogs of all sizes.  Other than the fact that I wish the categories of ads to allow and disallow were more specific, I have nothing but good things to say about Google Adsense.

There are other ad networks out there too that I haven't tried. Some of them specialize in particular types of websites.  A few examples are Chitika, Rivit Media , and BlogHer

#3) Sponsored Ads.  I feature some sponsored ads in my sidebar.  That means that somebody has created an ad and paid me a fee to display it on my blog for a certain amount of time.  When I decided to first start selling sponsored ad spaces I started by giving some spaces away to friends for free.  Then I created a page detailing my ad rates and sizes and waited for sponsors to roll in, slowly switching out the free ads for paid ones.

 I'm certainly not making a fortune off this method, and keeping track of invoices and ad expiry dates is a constant reminder to me that administration is NOT a gift I possess.  But I love my sponsors, and I like the look of the pretty colourful ads in my sidebar, and sending invoices makes me feel oh so grown up. 

By the way, I noticed recently that the blog The Lettered Cottage is using a program called OIOpublisher that appears to do all that icky administrative stuff for them .  I haven't tried it yet, but I'm seriously considering it!


What works for your blog may be completely different from what works for me.  I suggest implementing one strategy at a time and experimenting with it.  Find out how best to make it work for you, what products and services tend to be most useful to your readers, and which avenues you personally are most comfortable with.

And one more thing.  This might not even be an issue for you, but it is so important for me to remember to trust in God, not my blog.  I decided a few months ago to stop checking to see how much money I made from Google Adsense each day because it was taking my focus off the huge blessing this opportunity is and putting my hope (and often worry) into a days wages. It is God who provides for us, not the blog.  He knows how many pageviews I'll get tomorrow, and what repairs our van will need this year, and what our next dental visit will cost. And he wants me to trust him in all things.

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