From beauty tips to fishing excursions, there’s a blog for it all. Behind every blog is a hardworking blogger. There are writers out there in every niche, producing fascinating reads for anything you could ever want to know about. With photos and videos dominating social media, it can be easy to think that blogs are a thing of the past, but don’t be fooled. Blogging is as alive as ever, and it’s quickly turning into a popular profession.
I recently stumbled upon the article “How Much Do Bloggers Make? Like, Really?” by the incredibly successful bloggers Alex and Lauren from the blogging bootcamp site Create and Go. While reading, I chuckled at the quote, “To strangers, blogging sounds like a hobby. To friends and family, it sounds like unemployment.”
When I first heard of blogging as a career, I was confused. But while growing up in the internet age, I’ve come to understand that many bloggers, such as content creators on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, make a full-time income from their creative work.
Create and Go emphasizes that blogger incomes vary. The publication states that, “Most make nothing, some make a little and few make a lot.” It all depends on the work you put in, similar to the success of any business. Some bloggers make $0, some $1,000 a month and others $10,000 a month. Lauren and Alex earn $100,000 a month. Yeah, a month.
But how? How can someone who is — odds are — writing from the comfort of their home about their interests make enough money to support themselves and, oftentimes, their families? Well, like this:
- Advertisements
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Like the ads plastered across screens and city billboards, bloggers can have ads placed on their websites. Once a blogger reaches a certain amount of page views, they can apply to an advertising network and showcase that they have eyes on their posts — eyes that advertisers want. Once accepted, ads can be placed on the blogger’s website, and they can earn money from ads viewership and interaction. In a sense, the blogger’s website acts like a digital ad section of a newspaper or magazine.
- Affiliate marketing & partners
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Affiliate marketing is when a blogger promotes a product or service with an included link to direct readers to the purchasing point. Let’s say there’s a blogger who writes about fishing. In a recent blog post, they discuss their go-to fishing gear with a review on each item. Any time they list an item, they include a special link that directs readers where to purchase it if desired. If a purchase is made from the blogger’s link, the writer earns a commission from the sale. This is an excellent way for bloggers to earn passive income. They can continue to make money from the links months or even years after the post was published, continuously earning money while moving on to the next project.
- Sponsorships
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Different from affiliate marketing, sponsorships put money in a blogger’s account by having them endorse a specific product with the guidelines to do so. A beauty blogger can be sponsored by a makeup brand to promote a new line of blushes. In the post detailing the blush and the blogger’s experience with it, they are given key points about the product to talk about, typically selling points that make the product desirable to readers.
Sponsorships are typically a one-time payment, unlike affiliate marketing, which is commission-based and a stream of passive income. With a sponsorship, once the post(s) are published (depending on if they have a longer-term agreement with the brand), it doesn’t require generated sales to make money; the blogger has already made it.
It’s considered wise for a blogger to test products or services before accepting the deal and referring it to their audience. The same goes for affiliate marketing. The sponsorship should make sense with the blogger’s brand and be of good value. This way, the blogger won’t lose the trust of their audience by endorse a poor product or service as a cash grab. No one wants to see a beauty blogger endorse an air fryer.
- Products & services
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Bloggers are oftentimes avid entrepreneurs. Once they have loyal readers who trust in their word, they can further this loyalty (and thus their income) by creating their own products or services. Their preexisting niche dictates what kind of products and services they’d create. For example, a travel blogger could design a cute tote bag or travel journal, whereas a cooking blogger could publish a cookbook. Many bloggers even make paid blogging courses for their audience and other inspired bloggers to teach them how to turn their own blogs into a booming business just like they did.
A lot of these income streams are effective because readers trust the blogger’s opinion. The blogger becomes a brand themselves. It’s this brand loyalty that leads to a generation of sales, which is why external brands work with these bloggers alongside the exposure the partnership offers.
For a blogger to make money, it’s vital they have an audience that continues to grow. The more traffic to a blog, the more money it will generate. While it may take time, bloggers tend to see a great return on their investment as they continue to constantly improve their blog.
Social media has allowed various types of people to gain a following and start their own business ventures in ways that could’ve never been done in previous decades. Entrepreneurship has evolved from these technically social advancements, and there are now multiple ways bloggers, content creators and social media strategists can earn their income. What do you think? Should you take up blogging?