Monetization is a hot topic among bloggers - whether they are blogging for business or simply to advertise on their blogs. If you are blogging for fun or working to establish yourself as an expert within your industry, you can always use your blog to drive more revenue. Use this guide to learn more about what marketing on the blog is and some simple methods to help you boost your blog's revenue.

What is Monetization?

In the world of blogging, monetization means utilizing your website so that it brings you revenue. This can be implemented to a number of different degrees, and most bloggers do use more than one method to make money.

Blogs with no monetization do exist, but they do not make any money. They don't promote products, services or host ads. New bloggers often start here and then slowly enhance their blog so that it starts to bring in money after they become more established. In fact, some monetization methods, such as Google AdSense, don't allow blogs to start using their services right away.

How Many Ways Do You Make Money Blogging?

Many bloggers find at least one way to make money off of their traffic or content. For most business owners, this money comes from an enhanced conversion rate, leading to more sales. However, this doesn't have to be your only source of revenue.

Business owners can promote only their product or service and still make money by:

• Offering a business consultation to help others learn how to blog.
• Allowing for sponsored content on their website.
• Selling ad space to non-competitors.
• Writing paid guest posts that allow you to include a link.

Those who are trying to build themselves as an industry authority, rather than solely promote their business, have a lot more options when it comes to making money with their blog. This is because they don't have to worry about taking away from their product or service. While they have more freedom in monetization, this doesn't mean that they should go overboard; cover your blog in ads and you will quickly be seen as spam.

Different Methods for Blog Monetization

The possibilities when it comes to making money with a blog are truly only limited by the imagination. Blogs are becoming more unique and specialized, which means they have more one-of-a-kind opportunities to make money.

Here are some of the most common ways people make money with their blog and how they get started:

1. Pay-Per-Click Advertising

These services allow bloggers to get a small amount every time a visitor clicks on an ad. Google AdSense is one of the most popular, offering plenty of tools to help bloggers get started. All the blogger needs to do is place ads on their website and wait. They don't have to worry about finding advertisers or promoting projects, so this is one of the easiest methods to implement.

2. Paid Advertising

Unlike pay-per-click advertising, selling paid advertising space lets you choose whose ads you place on your blog. The advertiser pays a flat fee to be listed in your directory or place their image on your site. Because you are choosing the advertisers, rates and duration of the agreement, you have far more control than you would working with a service.

3. Sponsored Content

Sponsored content is a form of paid advertising. Instead of placing an image or link on your site, you are being paid to talk about a certain product, service or topic. In most cases, the blogger is still responsible for writing the content, keeping you in control of the information written on your site. A lot of product reviews fall into this category.

4. Affiliate Marketing

This form of advertising doesn't require a company to provide the blogger with an upfront fee. Instead, the blogger promotes a product or service in exchange for a portion of the sales revenue. Several affiliate marketing networks are available to help people get started.

5. Membership Programs

Offer exclusive content to visitors who pay a monthly membership. Provide your regular visitors with great blog posts, but allow them to get something extra if they subscribe.

6. Consultation or Public Speaking

If you become highly recognized within your niche, you can offer a paid consultation service. Encourage event planners to hire you to speak by including coverage on your blog. Regularly discuss popular industry events and give expert advice to get noticed by people in need of your services.

Most people who are new to blogging choose to get involved with a combination of pay-per-click advertising, sponsored content and affiliate marketing. This is because there are platforms that can help bloggers easily get started and it doesn't require them to seek out their own advertising clients.

Choosing the Best Way to Make Money Blogging

While there are several possibilities when it comes to monetizing a blog, they aren't for everyone and don't work in every industry. For example, if the goal of your website is to get people to buy your product, you don't want to rely on anything that would display your competitor's ad to your potential buyer. You also wouldn't want to place anything on your blog that would distract visitors from your product or industry, so you would have to be very picky with sponsored content, if you even used it at all.

Remember that many monetization services can be traded with other bloggers to gain exposure and boost SEO.  For example, trading advertising space or sponsored content is very common and can help drive traffic to your website.

Want to learn more about blogging? Contact us today to learn more great tips.