Typing bits of text on your own website, will that make you rich? How can you actually earn money with blogging? Yes, even if blogging is not your main job, you can still earn a living with your site. A well-filled living even – if you approach it cleverly. I myself have not become a rich bastard with it, but I do earn a nice little bit of money with my blog. How do I do that? And how especially not? I will reveal that in this honest article.
Making money blogging, that’s how it works for me!
“You like what you do. Why would you charge money for it?”, I sometimes hear myself. I think about it quite simply: a baker also likes baking, but that is not why he gives away free bread. When I collaborate with a company on my blog, I give that company a spot on my blog, I think creatively, spend hours writing and take suitable photos. I charge a fee for those hours.
How much do you earn with that? Enough to keep an entire household running? Well, no, not in my case. I see my blog as a hobby, not as my job. I earn a nice little bit of money with it , but my own copywriting agency is my main source of income. I put at hours into my blog every week (sometimes even more). Of that, if I convert it to my writing rate, I get paid for maybe 3 hours a week. For me, that’s perfectly fine. My blog is my outlet, it’s my way of spreading my positivity mission to the world, and I simply love writing blogs. The fact that I sometimes earn a little bit from it is a bonus.
How does it work exactly, earning money with blogging? I share 6 ways to earn money with your blog.
1. Advertorials
My main way of making money with blogging is advertorials on my blog. A company will then email me asking if I want to link to their website and/or tell something about their service in a blog article. That link may give them extra clicks or a higher position in Google. I then think along with the client, see how I can make that link fit in an article that is (especially!) fun to read and then put my digital pen to paper. After the client has given their approval, the article goes live and I send an invoice. In such a case, I always work with a fixed rate per article.
Of course, I don’t just accept every request. For example, I think it’s very important that a brand suits me and that I fully support it. For example, I once had a collaboration request for a wine brand. But since I don’t drink alcohol myself, that’s not really a “Romy collaboration”. I just say that honestly. The brand itself also benefits the most.
2. Paid reviews
For my blog I also sometimes do some testing. I test a product, take pictures of it and give my unvarnished opinion on my blog. Sometimes I read a book for it, other times I try a new vacuum cleaner as a housewife, then again I taste a veggie box as a critical taste tester. My favorite reviews are those where you experience something. For example, we visited the Wilderness Resort in exchange for a blog article and Bartina and I were photographed by a professional photographer for a romantic photo blog .
You probably understand that a book is a bit cheaper than a supersonic vacuum cleaner (man, still happy with this thing !). That’s why I often ask for an amount next to cheaper products. I have a certain rate in mind for collaborations. If I receive a product, I often deduct the value of the product from that amount to arrive at a rate.
I also always look critically at whether I really need the product . Because as nice as it may seem to receive “free packages”, in the end you have little use for a house full of stuff that will get a one-way ticket to the thrift store during the next cleaning round.
3. Collaborations via Blog Brains
I usually use my best negotiating skills to come to a nice collaboration and a good rate. But it is most convenient if that commercial part is already done for you. That is why I like to work with Blog Brains (for 3 years now). They are between you as a social influencer and a brand. You are not approached by the brand itself, but receive nice collaborations via Blog Brains. It costs you nothing, just a few minutes of time to register.
Once you have registered your blog with Blog Brains, you will regularly receive requests in your email for fun collaborations that you can “pitch” for . The amount for the collaboration is fixed, so you know for sure that no nonsense requests will come by. All other agreements, such as the number of links in an article, have also already been made by Blog Brains. For each request, you can decide for yourself whether or not you want to enter into the collaboration.
I have had a few dozen collaborations via Blog Brains in recent years and can certainly recommend it as a platform for making money with blogging . My favorite collaboration via Blog Brains? The one where Bartina and I traveled to LA , stayed overnight in a hotel and made the city landscape unsafe on an e-chopper.
4. Affiliate marketing: a nice extra
If you believe the internet, affiliate marketing is a golden business. It means that you place commercial links on your site and that you receive a tiny bit of money for every customer who buys something via such a link . Often a few percent of the sales price. I myself use affiliate marketing occasionally, but it doesn’t earn me much more than a few tens of euros per month in my bank account. I am affiliated with the bol.com partner program and earn a little from it every now and then. I still have to delve into other affiliate programs, such as Awin and Shopify.
There is no doubt that I can do much more with affiliate marketing (there are even very expensive courses available), but I am quite adamant that I never want to turn my blog into a billboard with dozens of commercial links per article.
5. Ad revenue: not my thing
How many times have I been given the tip to start with Google AdSense… But I remain skeptical and I don’t think that way of making money with blogging suits me. I myself don’t get very enthusiastic about websites where a screaming advertising banner or a heavy pop-up first meets you. So far I am not convinced that such advertisements earn me more than they cost me in frustration.
I also think it’s quite a thing that you have little influence on the content of the advertisement . Imagine that an advertisement for the latest McDonald’s burger suddenly appears, while I have been a vegetarian for 15 years. So no, for the time being I will not do ads myself. Of course you can also approach it more subtly with a single banner in between. Who knows, I might make that choice one day, but for now I think it’s fine to keep my blog ad-free.
6. Instagram posts
Apparently there are “influencers” who quickly earn $30,000 with a single photo on their account. For my Instagram income, you can divide that amount by approximately 500. You understand: I won’t get rich from that . Still, I do occasionally enter into such collaborations. Sometimes in exchange for a product, sometimes for payment. I think Instagram is the coolest way to combine my passion for typing texts and my love of photography. So who knows, maybe I’ll do more with that someday.
For now I think it’s cool to offer a combination of a blog article with an Instagram post . Often that’s a good way for companies to get extra attention and at the same time you have the chance to think creatively about a multi-media strategy. Sounds like a nice marketing pro, right?!
Other Ways to Make Money Blogging
There are also many more ways to earn money with blogging. I know many successful bloggers, who have linked a complete course program to their blog . Or bloggers who write a book that ends up on the bestseller list in bookstores. Writing and selling an e-book can also be a golden idea. And then there are also plenty of bloggers who run a successful webshop . Well, if you really want to earn money with blogging, there are plenty of options to think of.
Of course, you have to be in the mood for all that (and have/make a lot of holes in your agenda to take action). If you just use your blog as a hobby, every tenner or every collaboration is a bonus. Setting up a complete webshop (including logistical hassle) is probably a bridge too far.
What I have done myself is to create a page on my blog to portfolio as a copywriter. That way, I have sometimes acquired some really cool clients as an enterprising copywriter via my blog. Writing a book or e-book also seems great to me. But those are more long-term plans that I would rather see as a once in a lifetime way to realize my mission (to throw more happiness into the world) than as a way to “walk in”.
The collaborations you don’t want to say yes to
It may sound like the collaboration requests will start pouring in once you have a blog. But no, you have to put in some effort and not every request is likely to make you jump up and down with enthusiasm. Do you fully support the brand? Do the conditions suit you? And do you get paid well for it? Here are a few typical less interesting requests that I definitely find in my inbox every month:
- “I have already written an article for you. You can repost it, free of charge. There are 5 links to my site.” No, thank you. I write all my articles myself and I am not going to advertise for free.
- “I have a good idea: if you include a link to our site now, we will place your link on our page. ” [Note: ‘our page’ is by default an overview of 600 links on some vague site that no one will ever click on]. Nope, no interest in it and no desire to do so.
- “Dear editors, we would like to work with you. You will receive a 10% discount on our [way too expensive] sportswear in exchange for an article .” Yes, good deal. I always have to chuckle when a company addresses me with ‘Dear editors’. I think one look at my blog will show that I am not a ten-person editorial team on my own. Or you should count Pip as Chief Happiness Officer.
- “ We are a CBD oil and magic mushroom company and we see a perfect match with your site.” Sorry, but unfortunately that match is not mutual.
- “We would like to send you 10 bags of tea in exchange for an article , self-made photos, an Instagram post and a giveaway.” Ehm, then I would rather buy a pack of tea for € 2 in the supermarket myself instead of putting 5 hours of work into it.
- “We have a very nice initiative, but no money. That is why we want to ask if it can also be free.” No sorry, that is not possible. I also tried that when I took out my mortgage and had just become an entrepreneur. But unfortunately, it turned out not to be an option.
Tips for collaborations
I am certainly critical when it comes to collaborations. Not only in terms of rate, but in many other ways. I have written before about what I find important in collaborations as a blogger . These are the most important:
- Look critically at every collaboration. Your blog is your passion, your baby. People follow you because they like to read what you are doing, not because they want to be presented with advertising every day. So be critical before you say ‘yes’ and see if the product or brand really suits you.
- Make collaborations your own. Give it a fun twist. You can make more of a product review than just that review. Link fun tips to it. Combine it with a list of facts. That way you not only make the advertiser happy with the article, but also your dear, loyal readers.
- Honesty lasts the longest. In the Netherlands, it is legally required (by the Advertising Code Commission) to indicate that an article is sponsored or that you have received a product for free in exchange for publicity. So indicate this properly. Not only because it is required by law, but also because it is transparent to your readers.
- Know your worth. I too have fallen for the “Yes, but we don’t have a budget, but we do have a great initiative!” excuse. My tip: don’t just do business with companies for free. A lot of time goes into writing such a blog and then you also make valuable advertising for the company. So think carefully about what you ask and don’t give away a spot on your blog for free.
- Create a media kit. You don’t have to be a Photoshop genius for that. Mine is also a simple craft in Canva. In such a media kit you list which options for collaborations you offer, how many visitors you have and what the rates are. Super handy! Once you have created such a kit, you don’t have to write down all the options for every collaboration. Moreover, such a document looks quite “pro” of course.
- Make fun your priority. As nice as it is that you earn a (modest or well-filled) living with it, never lose the fun in blogging. See how you can also approach making money with blogging in a way that is completely “you”.
How do you make money blogging (if you have your own blog)?
