Can You Still Make Money by Blogging in 2018?

A thread popped up early this month at a forum I browse regularly.

The title of the thread was Is Blogging Dead in 2018?

Of course, blogging isn’t dead, silly. It’s alive and well.

Sure, it’s evolving. But the fundamentals of blogging remains the same.

The space does appear to get more and more crowded, as evident by WordPress’s (still) growing popularity.

So if blogging isn’t dead, how do bloggers make money in 2018?

In this article, you will find the fundamentals of how to earn money from your blog.

These fundamentals will be extremely helpful for those who are looking to start a blog or have just started a new blog and those who are curious about how bloggers make money.

The Fundamentals of Making Money by Blogging in 2018

No, not the kind of traffic that you get stuck in on the way to work.

Readers. Followers. Visitors.

Without traffic, you will not be able to monetize your blog.

Traffic is the single most important metric for any websites – blog, eCommerce store, and web apps alike.

Blog monetization is a number game.

Only X% of your traffic will ever buy from your affiliate links or click on your ads.

Say 5% of your traffic will click on your ads and the PPC (pay per click) is $1,

If you have 1,000 visitors per day that’s 1000 * 5% * $1 =  $50 per day,

for 5,000 visitors per day it comes 5000 * 5% * $1 = $250 per day.

Also, the more traffic your blog gets, the more options you get at generating income. For example, Mediavine the ad network only opens up for application for websites that have more than 25,000 sessions per month. Buysellads, a direct ad selling platform, requires 50,000 pageviews per month.

But how do we get more traffic?

No one will be visiting a website that is an empty shell.

Your blog will have to provide value to the readers.

Your content can assume different forms: text, images, videos, sound.

It can be informational, for example, a how-to guide to starting a vegetable garden.

It can provide entertainment.

It can be inspirational. You could be documenting your pregnancy journey or your adventure on a solo trip to exotic locations.

I wish I could I tell you all it takes is great content for you to get traffic to your blog.

But the truth is, producing great content is only the starting point…

Google is the best traffic source if you know what you’re doing with SEO (search engine optimization).

From my experience, Adsense provides the highest revenue when the traffic is organic, i.e. the visitor comes from clicking on a Google search result. My experience is confirmed by other bloggers.

However, Google is notoriously difficult to rank for.

This is especially true for bloggers who are just starting out. There are even some rumors saying that a new website is “sandboxed” by Google, meaning that a website is not properly ranked until it has aged a couple of months.

That is why I strongly recommend Pinterest to new bloggers. As a matter fact, that’s how I started with my first blog.

For some niches, Pinterest works wonderfully at bringing in traffic. Niches like food, decoration, craft, and mom blogs can get exceptional results on Pinterest.

However, other niches like tech and crypto-currency may not get much interest on this image-sharing platform.

But there’s really no harm in trying to promote your blog posts on Pinterest, no matter what your niche is.

I have also had some pretty positive experience with Reddit, but it can be a hit or miss.

The Reddit crowd can be a little rowdy sometimes, so make sure you phrase your post title appropriate to make it sound less of a spam when you post to Reddit.

Other traffic sources that didn’t work quite well for me, but you can try out are:-

1. LinkedIn
2. Stumbleupon
3. Google Plus
4. Twitter
5. Facebook.com

Once you have some amount content and traffic, you can start looking for ways to monetize them.

I could give you a list of 30 ways to make money from your blog, but there are people doing that already.

Instead, I’ll let you know some of the most effective ways that have worked out pretty well for me.

1. Amazon Associates. Most of my blog income (>95%) is generated from Amazon’s affiliate program. Amazon converts really well with US traffic and its requirement is not as strict as Google Adsense. Adsense can be a pain to apply to. It took me like 3 tries to get approved.
2. Google Adsense. Not as substantial as the income from Amazon, but the money is quite decent. However, I have recently started experimenting with Bluehost affiliate ads instead.
3. Selling merchandise. I started promoting my own merchandise on my blogs and have generated a small amount of profit.

Just like businesses, some types of blogs are more profitable than the others. And what is effective for me may not be as effective for you.

The best way to find out the most effective way to monetize your blog is through experimentation.

Yes, it is possible to make money by blogging in 2018.

To make money you will need traffic, content, and ads.

traffic + content + ads = money

Your content must provide value to the readers.

Using the content as a magnet, attract visitors from Google, Pinterest, or other social media sites.

Place ads or affiliate links strategically in your content. I recommend Amazon Associates and Google Adsense.

Happy Blogging!

-Hank