You don’t need a large audience, hundreds of thousands of page views or a large email list to make money as a beginner blogger.
Don’t get me wrong those things do help. But don’t get discouraged if you don’t have any of those yet. I don’t have a large following or large email list.
Yet I am able to make money as a blogger. I’ve made money from affiliates, sponsored posts, and selling my own printables.
You just have to find the way that works for you. Don’t think you have to do all the things either.
I made my largest affiliate sale recently during a month when I was taking a social media break.
The only platform I was on was Pinterest. You don’t have to choose one way to make money blogging over the other.
But when you’re just starting out it may seem like it’s just a scam. It seems like it will never happen. That’s why I wrote this blog post.
I wanted to explain all the real and simple ways you can make money blogging. I want to show you that it is possible.
Check out the rest of my blog post to find out how you can make money from home as a blogger.
*Disclaimer: In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost for you).
1) Make Money as a beginner blogger with Sponsored Posts
You may be asking what is a sponsored post? A sponsored post is when a company gives you a free product or money in exchange for writing a blog post about it. In the case of Instagram, you post a picture and write a caption about the item.
You have to disclose that it’s a sponsored post. On Instagram just include the hashtag ad or affiliate.
I am not a lawyer though. I recommend this sponsored post-agreement template. It’s written by a real lawyer.
Since I started blogging, I’ve made over $200 from sponsored posts alone.
I didn’t have to reach out to brands or sign up for a network. But if you don’t want to wait then signing up to a sponsored post network, or pitching to brands is your best bet. Here are a few networks to join:
I also recommend putting together a media kit. According to Melyssa Griffin, a media kit for bloggers is a document that outlines the key facts and statistics about your blog.
It basically acts as a job resume. You send it to potential brands you want to work with. It makes you look more professional too.
One of my favorite bloggers Lady Boss Studio has a great free resource library that includes a Canva media kit! Sign up to her email list to get yours today!
If you want more information on sponsored posts check out these resources:
2) Create Your Own eBook
Creating your own ebook is a great way to make money as a blogger. You create the book once and it sells over and over.
You can publish it to Amazon or sell it yourself using SendOwl. You can even create an affiliate program for your ebook through SendOwl.
There are pros and cons to selling it yourself versus Amazon. When you sell it yourself:
- You can sell it for how much you want
- Add as many links to the book as you want
- Create an affiliate program for the book
When you sell it on Amazon:
- The highest you can sell it for is $9.99
- Can’t add links
- There is a specific way your ebook has to be formatted
The plus side to selling it on Amazon is not having to have a large audience. Amazon has built-in traffic. It’s good if you don’t have a large email list or audience.
People go to Amazon to buy ebooks all the time. You don’t have to do any convincing.
It’s a lot easier to sell a $3 ebook versus a $40 ebook. But you have to sell a lot of them to make good money.
To help you get started download this free Canva ebook template!
3) Join High Paying Affiliate Programs
Affiliate marketing is perhaps the most popular way of making money blogging. It doesn’t cost anything to start.
All you are doing is recommending products or services to others. If people signup or purchase you earn a commission.
It’s hard to make your first sale in the beginning. It took me 7 months to make my first affiliate sale as a blogger.
But I know some bloggers who made their first sale in a month or two. It just depends on the type of product and niche. Some niches are easier to sell than others. It also depends on your audience.
Other factors that determine your sales:
- Blog traffic
- Social media following
- Do you have an email list?
- How you incorporate affiliate links in your blog
For beginner bloggers joining high-paying affiliate programs is the best way to go.
High-paying programs don’t require a large number of sales in order to make good money.
Even if you make a sale or 2 you still make good money. I recommend signing up to be an Ultimate Bundles affiliate. You can earn 40% per sale.
Click Here to Get Access to a Master List of Over 500 Affiliate Programs! Plus, use promo code TSA5OFF to get $5 off!
To learn more about affiliate marketing check out these resources:
4)Create Your Own Printables
This is another great way to make money that doesn’t require any monetary investment. You can create your own printables for free.
Then sell them on Etsy, Teachers pay teachers, Gumroad, Payhip, Creative Market, or Send Owl. You can sell worksheet templates, planner templates, coloring pages, and so much more!
Teachers pay Teachers is a site where teachers can sell their educational resources to other teachers.
If you are a teacher this might be up your alley. Teachers Pay Teachers does offer a free membership plan.
Send Owl doesn’t offer a free plan if you plan on selling digital products. It’s free to sign up if you want to be an affiliate for them or another blogger.
However, starting your own Etsy shop is free though. But they do have 3 types of fees:
- Listing fee-$0.20
- Transaction fee-5% on the sale price once sold
- Payment processing fee
If you would like to learn more check out the resources below:
5) Blogging Jobs
When I say blogging jobs, I don’t mean client work. I am talking about companies that hire bloggers to write for them.
It’s slightly different than clients hiring you to write for them. These jobs are more permanent and stable.
Unlike client work, you don’t have to pitch to people, send proposals, etc. Blogging jobs are a lot easier to apply to. All you need are relevant writing samples. That’s it.
They will ask you how much you charge and contact info. When I say writing samples, I mean published samples. They can even be published samples from your blog.
Where to find blogging jobs
My number one recommendation for finding them is Problogger.com/jobs. They update their listings daily. It’s a free job board too. Meaning no paying a monthly fee to access them. Another way you can find them is through Twitter.
You could find them in Facebook groups but I don’t recommend it. You will face more competition in Facebook groups than on Twitter.
Twitter is how I found a previous blogging job myself. I used to write video game reviews for a video game blog. I found that job listing on Twitter.
Follow different bloggers and websites on Twitter. If they are looking to hire a blogger, they will tweet about it. You can even find guest blog posting opportunities that way too.
6) Create Your Own Course
Creating your own course is another great way to earn money as a beginner blogger. You can create one on any topic.
If you know how to do something you can create a course on it. You’re basically teaching people how to do something.
You don’t even have to be in front of the camera. I took a free course on Instagram that was just a series of pdf files.
I actually took a few free courses like that. I also took some that were basically just narrated PowerPoint presentations.
Where to host your course
There are many platforms available to host your course. There’s Teachable, Udemy, Thinkific, and more. You will have to pay for Teachable’s basic plan in order to sell a paid course. Teachable’s basic plan is $39/month.
Another great platform for hosting your courses is CourseCraft. You can create as many courses as you want for free!
Plus, you can add up to 100 participants per course, integrate with your email list, use promo codes, and more on the free plan! If you want to upgrade to the paid plan, it’s only $29/month.
Which is less than Teachable’s basic plan. Check out my blog post where I show you step-by-step how to use CourseCraft.
7) Launch Your Own Merch Store
Nowadays you don’t need thousands of dollars to launch your own store. You can launch your own Zazzle, TeeSpring, Redbubble, and others to create your own line of products.
These stores are called print-on-demand stores. They create the actual products, ship them out, and handle the returns. All you need to do is upload a design and market your store.
Of course, they do take a commission when your product sells. It’s similar to eBay or Etsy except you aren’t creating the product yourself.
You can upload your design to tons of products. You can pin your products to Pinterest to promote them! Or promote your products in Instagram stories!
A great place to great graphics and designs for your store is Creative Market! You can get mockups and professional designs!
Read my blog post to learn more about starting your own online store for free.
8) Sell Your Own Templates
This is another great way to make money because you can create templates for free. Then sell them using Send Owl, Creative Market, or Etsy.
The best part is that you can set your own prices. You can use Canva to create them too. But you can’t sell existing templates in Canva. You have to create your own from scratch.
- Instagram Posts
- Instagram Stories
- FB or Twitter
- FB Ads
- Presentation templates
- Landing Page Templates
- Sales Page Templates
- WordPress Templates
- Email templates
- Mockups
9) Start Your Own Coaching Program
I see more and more bloggers starting their own coaching programs. It’s becoming the latest way to make money blogging.
I see more bloggers starting coaching services than creating their own courses or ebooks. With good reason too.
If you have a deep desire to help people you can become a coach. You don’t need to become certified either.
The best part is you can charge people what you want for your coaching services. You can take on as many clients or students as you want.
You can coach them on anything you’re an expert in. With coaching, you don’t need to know how to create an ebook or an online course.
You don’t need fancy software either. All you need is a laptop and Wi-Fi. Many coaches use Facebook groups to run their programs.
10) Become a Virtual Assistant
You might be asking what’s a virtual assistant? A virtual assistant is someone who helps business owners with different tasks.
It’s just like the name implies. You’re assisting them with some aspect of their business.
There are many services you can offer as a virtual assistant. Here are a few:
- Pinterest management
- Social media management
- Graphics
- Writing
- Data entry
- Customer service
- and more!
You can choose what services to offer potential clients. You can even just be a Pinterest virtual assistant. This is where you help people manage their Pinterest accounts.
I know many bloggers who hire Pinterest virtual assistants. I also know many bloggers who are virtual assistants in addition to running their own blogs.
The two people I recommend that specialize in helping others become virtual assistants are Abbey @ The Virtual Savvy and April Herndon from My VA School.
I took a Photoshop course from April Herndon and loved it! I learned so much about Photoshop from her.
If this is something you want to do go for it and don’t stop until you get your first client.
Related Posts
Why You Should Start Affiliate Marketing
20 Ways to Make Extra Money from Home
Conclusion
You can definitely make money as a beginner blogger. It just takes a little creativity. You can sell a course, ebook, templates, printables, launch your own store, etc.
Don’t select just one monetization method. I recommend choosing multiple methods. This will help you make consistent income blogging.
If I can make money blogging you can too.
Thanking you for reading my blog! If you liked my post, please pin it to Pinterest!
Have you tried any of these methods? Do you have any tips you want to share? Let me know in the comments below!
Until next time take care!