How do I earn money blogging? It’s a question that many people ask, and we’re here to provide the answers. Blogging can be lucrative, but it’s not an easy way to make money, whether it’s your full-time career or a passive income business. So, how can you earn good money from blogging?
Well, you need to invest considerable time and effort. And this guide will introduce you to blogging and dispel common misconceptions. We’ll explain the best ways to make money with your blog and the exact, clear steps you need to take.
Let’s jump right in.
How much money can you make blogging?
There’s no limit to how much money you can make from blogging. It depends on various factors, including traffic level, audience, and monetization strategy. Most blogs make $3 to $25 per 1,000 views, but you don’t have to stick to the average. Bloggers can make much more with the right approach and more control over monetization methods.
To make money, advertising is the most common way that most bloggers use. Placing ads is a reliable method that takes no extra effort on your part, and we’ll discuss it in detail below. Additional ways can be charging brands for sponsored posts or brand collaborations, getting paid for product reviews, writing and selling e-books, creating a paid membership, etc.
Adsterra makes it easy to earn money from your blog. With over 15,000 reputable advertisers on our network, you can be sure of getting constant advertisements on your blog and earning a steady income.
11 Ways to make money from blogging
1. Ad networks
An ad network is a digital platform that serves as a middleman between an advertiser and a blog publisher. The benefit of using an ad network is that you do not need to spend time and effort chasing advertisers. They are already registered on the network, so you only need to connect your site to get ads placed.
There are many popular ad networks out there to choose from. Adsterra is one good example, with over 15,000 advertisers and 36,000 publishers registered. You can choose from different types of ads, including Banners, Popunders, Native ads, non-intrusive Social Bar ads with up to 30X higher CTRs compared to web push ads, etc.
Different networks have different requirements to join. For instance, one might demand at least 10,000 monthly page views while another requires 100,000+. Some do not have any minimum requirements. You can go for established ad networks with stricter submission rules, like Google AdSense, or choose more flexible networks.
For example, Adsterra doesn’t set any entry barriers to the number of ad impressions your blog delivers. The more abundant and genuine traffic you send, the more chances you have to get higher payouts. The good news is that Adsterra takes into account how your audience converts, so even publishers who send non-massive traffic can earn a lot.
2. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a system where you advertise a product for an online retailer and earn a commission on each sale coming from your referral. The affiliate (publisher) drives traffic to an online merchant’s website. If the traffic converts into a sale, the publisher will earn a fixed percentage of the sale within affiliate marketing.
Let us break it down into simpler steps:
- A retailer has a product they want to sell.
- You reach out to them to start an affiliate marketing partnership.
- The retailer gives you a unique link with tracking parameters.
- You insert the link on your blog or website.
- A user clicks on the link on your website and proceeds to purchase the retailer’s product.
- You earn a commission from the affiliate marketing sale.
Advertisers are constantly looking out for affiliates they can partner with to spread the word about their products. You can find them on dedicated affiliate networks with links, like special Amazon affiliate links, or reach out to retailers directly.
A smart way to earn income this way is to write a product review and include your affiliate links throughout it. Ensure you promote products that are relevant to your target audience. Irrelevant promotions will unlikely convert into a sale. For example, a gadget review blog should not be promoting makeup products.
3. Display ads to earn money blogging
How to make money starting a blog the proven way? Selling ad space as display ad placements is a common and proven method to make money blogging. You can earn significant amounts by allowing brands to place graphic advertisements on your website. These ads incorporate eye-catching visuals and have a call-to-action button leading to the advertiser’s website.
Display advertising comes in many forms, including:
#Banners
Banners are clickable ads that appear in a static position, usually at the top, bottom, or side of the page. They can be image or video ads with a hyperlink to the advertiser’s website. You can charge brands for each ad view or click.
Source: Bloomberg.com
#Smartlink (Direct Link)
The simplest monetization strategy for your blog and online business is to place Smartlink (Direct Link) anywhere suitable on your blog or social media. It’s a simple URL that shows multiple ad offers. Publishers place these URLs on their blogs and get paid for views, clicks, and conversions.
You get a line of code from Adsterra and put it anywhere you monetize with. When a user clicks the Direct Link, Adsterra algorithms select the best ad to attract the user. You get paid when users both view ads and when they convert.
#Popunders
Popunder is a creative ad format that appears behind the user’s browser tab. The user only notices the ad after closing their browser tab, making it less disruptive than other ad formats. Popunders are effective because they don’t distract the viewer while they’re still reading your posts: they only appear after the user is done with the post and wants to close it.
Here is a case study of Adsterra’s blogger, Akerele Oluwatobiloba, who also started with Popunders. as they pay out very well. With time, he’s figured out what suits in particular for his niche to earn $50 a day.
#Social Bar
Social Bar ads are one of the most advanced ads nowadays. They appear like push notifications on a web page. You can place them in any position on your website and customize their appearance to match your website’s theme. Social Bar ads are effective as they look neat and are optimized for both desktop and mobile displays.
#In-Page Push ads
In-Page Push ads also resemble push notifications. The difference is that they’re displayed at a specific position, which you can place anywhere on the page. These ads are good at capturing the viewer’s attention, leading to higher conversions and revenue.
#Native ads
Native ads are unique for resembling your blog posts. They blend in very well with your website, so that the viewer might not even notice it is an ad. Native ads look like your website’s original content, making them effective at generating blogging revenue.
Source: Entrepreneur.com
#Interstitial Ads
These are full-screen ads covering the whole webpage. Viewers always notice Interstitial, making them very effective at earning revenue. However, they should only be placed after specific user actions, e.g., clicking a link or scrolling between pages.
4. Selling digital or physical products
You can make money blogging by selling physical or digital products and digital downloads to your audience and promoting them through social media channels. The key is selling digital products related to your niche. For example, a fashion blogger can sell clothing and accessories or fashion-related courses to their audience.
A successful case study on this monetization method comes from Into The Gloss, a popular makeup blog. After gaining a large following, it began selling branded makeup products to its readers. That business morphed into Glossier, a popular beauty products retailer with nearly $200 million in annual revenue.
5. Selling online courses
If you run a digital marketing blog, you can create and sell courses that teach people how to be effective digital marketers. You can also write an e-book on the same topic and market it to your readers. Popular blogs regularly host virtual workshops for their readers to come together and learn from industry experts.
The first step of launching online courses is choosing the topic you want to focus on. Some topics within your niche are more popular than others, so beware of the competition you will face. After choosing a topic, the next step is to choose a format for your online courses. It could be a mini-course that takes a few hours to complete, a multi-day course, or a professional masterclass that takes weeks or months.
6. Consulting/сoaching
Another way to earn money blogging is by offering freelance services, like coaching and consulting services, to your readers. Let’s say you run a popular legal services or interior design blog. As an expert in the sector, you can charge money for consulting sessions for people who want to get legal advice or design their homes. Depending on your niche, you can make hundreds to thousands of dollars from this.
7. Sponsored reviews
Almost everyone has read one sponsored post review. Bloggers can charge money to review specific products related to their niche. For instance, if you run a beauty and makeup blog, you are free to charge brands a fee to review their products.
Brands are willing to pay top dollar for sponsorship because it brings exposure to their own products or services. On your end, it gives you the chance to demonstrate new products to your audience and keep them engaged. How much you will charge for a sponsored review depends on your level of traffic and the engagement of your audience readership. However, do not be afraid to demand as much as you think you are worth.
8. Run campaigns for brands
Similarly to sponsored post monetization way, some brands may get in touch with you to run campaigns offering their own products. Similarly, you can reach out to brands to see if they are interested in advertising campaigns.
The brand can choose the ad formats they want, or you can work together with their staff to see what works best. After all, it is your own blog, and you are more familiar with your audience than they are.
Some brands may like your website enough and demand to be an exclusive advertiser for a specific period. Either way, it is wise to put in as much effort to ensure the success of the ad campaign. Positive results can make more advertisers knock on the door.
Adsterra supports multiple ad formats that give rich opportunities to monetize your blog or website, including Banners, Native ads, Popunders, In-Page Push, and more, across various niches, such as iGaming, Utilities, VPN, Social & Dating, and more.
9. Offer paid subscriptions
Paid subscriptions are a creative way of making money with a blog. Here, you monetize your audience directly by charging readers to access specific content. You can continue with regular content and blog posts that anyone can read and have a separate premium section only available to paid subscribers.
The main advantage of this model is that subscription revenue tends to be stable. It also makes it easy to forecast how much revenue you are expecting as the number of paid subscribers grows. However, this model is only suitable if you have started blogging, built a large following with free content, and garnered some loyal readers and a dedicated audience willing to pay for more.
10. Produce a podcast and get a sponsor
Another monetization strategy is launching a podcast. It can start as just a hobby but help you diversify your revenue streams. Once you acquire a decent following, you can make money blogging by placing ads in podcast descriptions on YouTube or Video ads to generate another income stream on top.
11. Grow your email list
You might have observed that most popular blogs leverage email marketing. You can easily announce discounts and seasonal promos, digests, new arrivals, and partnerships with your blog newsletters. You should endeavor to grow your email list as much as you can.
The most common way to do that is to insert popups requesting email addresses from visitors. You can even add a perk or a deal to entice the visitor to provide their email. Likewise, you can insert the email registration form in a static position on your website, e.g., the footer. The higher the number of email subscribers, the better the chances of making money with a blog.
7 Key steps on how you can earn money from blogging
Step 1: build your online presence
Online presence refers to your existence and findability across the web. To make it successful (for example, monetizing Blogspot), it is important to first establish an online following and focus on community building before you can start earning money from blogging.
A. Choose a “balanced” blogging niche
An essential aspect of making money from a blog is selecting a good niche or topic to focus on. Some niches are more profitable than others. But, it doesn’t imply that you should go with the most profitable niche like some other bloggers if you have no passion for it. Note that such niches have the highest competition, making it harder to break into and build a large following.
An alternative move is to set up several narrow-niche blogs and create content that you are competent enough to generate. That is what we offered in our earlier article “Are You a Blogopreneur?”
B. Best way to make money blogging with different types of blogs
Finance blogs: Finance is one of the highest-paying blogging niches. You can write about personal finance topics like “Best credit cards to use,” “Best stock trading apps,” “Best wealth management platforms,” etc., and insert affiliate links to earn money. Some bloggers write about finance industry news to build and monetize a long-term audience.
Health blogs: Health is one of the most sought-after blog types. People constantly need health information, and you can fulfill this need. The key is posting relevant and factual information for your audience. You can monetize health blog traffic with affiliate ads for health and wellness products.
News sites: You can create a website delivering the latest news about politics, business, technology, or any other field. The key is specializing in something particular and posting consistently to send traffic to your blog. Then, you can monetize it with ads. Here is a case study of a blogger who went for news reporting as his niche. “I chose a news website because I’m very good at turning celebrities’ social media pictures into fully readable and viral news. And that’s a winning move in the 21st century.” He makes up to $80 daily from advertising powered by Adsterra.
Movies: Many people watch movies online and read reviews, and you can create a website to give them what they want. You can specialize in a movie theme, e.g., horror, fiction, or history. Movie enthusiasts have a higher tolerance for ads, so monetizing your website is easy.
Sports: Sports fans need websites with up-to-date news, highlights, event schedules, and other relevant information. You can create a great blog that delivers this information, preferably specializing in a single sport. A highly engaged sports audience can be easily monetized with affiliate links.
C. How do you choose a good niche to blog about?
- Select something you’re passionate and knowledgeable about. You need the passion to write wholeheartedly and specialized knowledge to ensure you provide factual and interesting content to your readers.
- Balance your passion and knowledge with choosing something people often search for.
- Identify problems that you can solve for others, i.e., what do you know about that others often struggle with and need help?
- You can check research reports or conduct your own research to see if your desired niche has an adequately large market worth targeting.
- Gather feedback to validate your niche, and don’t be afraid to change things if you get overwhelmingly negative feedback.
- Evaluate the competitors in your niche and consider if you can stand out above them.
Step 2: define your audience
Your audience is the group of readers your content appeals to the most. It’s the cohort that’ll gain a lot from reading your articles and will likely come back for more. Always consider the audience for content creation. Define your target audience based on demographics such as gender, age, income level, location, and interest: you should have a clear picture of the characteristics of your ideal reader.
Google Analytics and analytics from social platforms can also help you define the common traits of your existing audience. Then, put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself what content you want to view on a blog online. Research what keywords and phrases your audience frequently searches for and write detailed articles responding to those queries.
Step 3: choose a traffic source
It is advisable to pick a few sources and focus on getting the maximum amount of traffic from them. For instance, if you run a business news blog, it is wise to focus more on search engine optimization to generate organic traffic. In contrast, if you run an entertainment blog, it is better to focus on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
Step 4: harnessing the power of SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO), hand in hand with AI tools, centers on including relevant keywords that your audience often searches for. Use optimized titles and provide meta descriptions for all your blog posts. This way, search engines can easily understand and suggest your content to the right audience.
Search engines are the primary source of organic traffic for a blog, meaning you can’t afford to miss out on this area. Your blog’s content should be optimized to rank high and attract valuable viewers.
You can start earning money from your blog and your SEO-traffic in a few steps. Adsterra provides a 100% fill rate on all ad slots on your website. You can always get hold of Adsterra’s Anti-AdBlock feature that helps increase revenue by up to 35%.
Step 5: create compelling and high-quality content
Quality content is necessary to attract people to your blog when they do a quick Google search. No one wants to read content that does not add value to them or, at worst, is false and misleading. Does your content answer their common questions? Use Google Trends to look for the common questions among your niche audience or check the FAQ sections of similar websites. SEO tools like Surfer can also help you research, audit, and write SEO-optimized articles.
You must have heard of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence tool that has taken the world by storm. This tool can help you write content that drives engagement. You can also use several free AI tools to help you generate content faster:
Use catchy headlines to draw their attention because this is the most challenging part of getting your audience to read your blog content, e.g., “Better Sales, Made Simple,” “Transform Your Online Store With this Tool,” “A New Approach to Up Your Fashion Game,” “Meet the New ___,” etc.
Catchy headlines appeal to the reader’s emotions and pique their curiosity. Make them feel like they have something to lose by not reading your article, as the above examples illustrate. It’s like showing someone a minor part of something valuable and leaving them hungry for more.
Consider Saif Khan, an Indian blogger who used ChatGPT to create compelling content for his blog, generating high-quality traffic and $3,000 monthly revenue. And also try our article about the best ways to make money with ChatGPT.
Step 6: building your platform
You may wonder where to make money blogging? You can do it with ready-made site builders on platforms like WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, and Webflow. With these platforms, you can design and publish a blog within a few hours. Creating a blog has become as easy as ever. They provide templates that you can simply edit to create a professional blog. You don’t need technical skills or to hire a programmer for help.
Good design helps attract an audience to your blog and retain it. If you want to build a long-term following, the blog should appeal to the eye, with high-quality images and videos, sufficient white space, easy navigation, legible fonts, and high loading speed. Include headers to make the site easy to navigate. Use a healthy color contrast (e.g., dark text on a light background) and make your site mobile-friendly.
Step 7. Build your backlink profile
Backlinks are incoming hyperlinks from another web page to yours. They improve your rankings on search engines like Google and give you a more solid reputation among readers. To build your backlink profile, you can reach out to blogs with posts related to yours. Here is an example of a format to follow:
The example of a letter for backlink queries
“We write ten guest posts per month and would be happy to link to your website in our content. We’d also love to contribute to your blog and can pitch some topic ideas that your audience will enjoy.”
Of course, not everyone would respond to your reachout, but the few that respond can be worth it.
How long does it take to make money blogging?
The time it takes to make money blogging depends on several factors, including niche, content quality, and your marketing efforts. However, it generally takes at least 6 to 12 months to start earning significant income from a blog. Generally, blogging is a long-term commitment, not a get-rich-quick route.
That said, you can start blogging and make money regardless of your age and professional experience, learning the ins and outs of blogging with time. Can anyone make money blogging? Exactly right! You don’t need any credentials or experience to be a blogger.
Misconceptions on how to make money with a blog
People often have misconceptions about how to make money off of blogging. Let’s explore and dispel them.
- Blogging is expensive. The costs of hosting a blog are nominal compared to the revenue you can generate.
- Blogging is a fast way to earn money. Blogging can be extremely profitable, but you need considerable time and effort to build a profit-generating audience. You can make money from a blog and leverage Adsterra ads at any stage of your journey.
- Every blog post needs to be perfect. Perfect is the enemy of good.” One of the best things about blogging is that you can always edit published posts.
- You need an existing following to start a blog. You need not be a celebrity or social media influencer to start a blog for money. You can start small and build an audience with relevant content, social media post promotion, and search engine optimization (SEO).
Can you still make money from blogging in 2025?
Blogging is one of the best ways to make money online in 2025. Building a blog has become easier, with the best platforms like Wordpress.com , Blogger, and more, providing the whole infrastructure. You can host a blog with a custom domain for as low as $3 monthly.
You don’t need a specific amount of views to make money blogging, either. Start when your traffic is small and build your revenue as you grow.
Adsterra doesn’t have any minimum traffic entry level before you start monetizing your blog website or social media. So, can you make money blogging in 2025? Yes, and the higher the traffic, the more money you can make.
How to generate income from blogging — FAQs
Many bloggers get paid selling ad space on their blog, adding affiliate links, creating and selling digital products, promoting personal brand products, writing sponsored content, gating exclusive content with subscriptions, etc. However, advertising networks are usually the easiest way for bloggers to get paid merely by copying and pasting the ad code on their pages and adding to revenue streams.
iGaming, Sport, News, Software, and VPN are among high-demand and profiting types of blogs and blog topics. They let you earn money via Adsterra, provided a well-thought business strategy paired with creating high-quality content. It’s not mainly the blog niche but also the ad format that defines whether a blog earns good money.
You can roughly estimate from up to a year to be able to make $1000 per month blogging. And it’s only guesstimation as there are no cast-iron timeframes. The more consistent you are in building and developing your blog, the higher results you get.
Yes, blogging is a good way to make money online. There are a range of monetizing ways you can apply as a new blogger. You can start making money blogging with any traffic, small or big, with flexible ad networks like Adsterra that have no entry threshold. The question of how you can earn money from blogging is an easy answer: register, copy your code and place it on your blog pages.
