In finding out how to earn money in blogging, it will first be important to understand what exactly is blogging?
We will also need to establish how to get started and what tools will be needed.
Before I started with this, I was often reading about “overnight millionaires” who had made their money in blogging on the internet.
I certainly never understood how they could have done that, until now. Because now I know how and I want to share it with you here.
So, What is Blogging, Then?
A Blog or Blogging is described in the dictionary as:
- a website containing a writer’s or group of writers’ own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other websites
- a single entry or post on such a website.
This pretty much describes blogging in a nutshell.
So, if it entails writing articles giving your own experiences and opinions, how does one earn money doing it?
The answer to this question lies in the subject matter of the blog (a niche) and a particular opportunity known as Affiliate Marketing.
To start a Blog, you just need to choose an interest or a hobby about which you are passionate and can write content.
It should also have some commercial viability so that you can promote particular products for sale through your blog.
In essence, affiliate marketing is where you, the blogger, enter into a relationship with a company that has products for sale online.
In doing so, you receive permission from the company to promote its products through your blog. You then get a personally identifiable link to post on your website.
If a customer clicks that link and buys the product, you will receive a commission payment. Commission payments can range anywhere between 1% and 50%.
This is a way in which companies that have products for sale on the internet can increase their marketing reach with little effort on their part.
They can actually have thousands of bloggers in their affiliate program driving customers to their products.
How Do I Choose My Niche?
The first step is to figure out what interests or passions you have.
Maybe you are interested in Healthy Lifestyles and Outdoors Activities, Camping in particular.
A quick search in Google for Camping Affiliate Programs turned up a list that included recommendations for the Top 10 Camping Affiliate Programs.
The affiliate offerings include general camping gear, clothing and footwear.
Also, specific items, such as camping cookware, water purification equipment, lightweight camping gear, fire lighting and much more.
With each of these affiliate programs you could choose to promote one or several products.
This is just one example of how you might go about choosing your niche and finding relevant products to promote.
It is the beginning of how to earn money in blogging.
My first blog website niche is golf, about which I am passionate.
Golf is a very broad subject, so I needed to refine it and decided to focus on women’s golf.
This, too, is quite broad, so I finally settled on What’s In The Golf Bag, Girls? and focused the website on “the best golf balls for women”.
I have Affiliate Marketing arrangements with a whole range of companies, such as PGA Tour Superstore, Wilson and Global Golf, to promote these and other golf products.
Time To Build Your Website.
Building a website can be a complicated and costly process. Website design by itself can be a high ticket item.
Then you have to choose and purchase a domain name, get your domain hosted on a server somewhere and decide on a content management system (CMS).
If, by now, you are feeling overwhelmed and think that it is much too difficult and puzzling for you.
Wait a minute!
Don’t give up yet – read on, because we have the simplest of solutions. You can actually accomplish all this free of charge as a Starter Member of Wealthy Affiliate.
Wealthy Affiliate provides the most comprehensive platform for beginner and experienced internet entrepreneurs.
It simplifies website building automatically (your website built, hosted with CMS in 30 seconds).
There is training on how to find and activate your niche with courses on driving traffic and securing affiliate relationships.
You can begin this as a Starter Member, which is FREE, and gives you access to the platformfor seven days.
If you decide to continue, you can upgrade to Premium Membership at $49 or Premium Plus at $99 per month.
If you decide to upgrade your membership within the first seven days, you will receive a Free domain. These usuall cost $16 per year.
From then on you will continue to enjoy all the benefits the whole platform offers.
How To Earn Money In Blogging With Wealthy Affiliate.
If you join the Wealthy Affiliate Community, you will certainly discover everything you need to know for how to earn money in blogging.
In addition to website building and hosting, there are extensive training courses that will help you understand the right way to do affiliate marketing.
The opportunities for success are endless. But you will need to do the work.
You are probably used to working for a “boss” in the 9-5 approach. However, with affiliate marketing, you will be the “boss”.
Your success or otherwise will depend solely upon you! The more you put into your business at the beginning, the more you will reap in time.
This is NOT a quick fix money-wise. Do not believe those internet marketers who offer you “instant cash” rewards.
The only place Success comes before Work is in the dictionary!
Wealthy Affiliate will guide you through the learning process – the rest is up to you!
Success or Failure?
Often, things do not work out as we wish the first time, or the second and so on.
I am here reminded of the words of Thomas Edison, one of the world’s greatest inventors.
When asked a question about the problems he encountered along the way, the answer he gave was inspirational.
“I have not failed 10,000 times—I’ve successfully found
10,000 ways that will not work.”
Maintaining a positive attitude is crucial to success. With positivism, one can overcome obstacles and find ways through to success.
People tend to invest a significant amount of money in acquiring a University Degree. Often, they are unable to find work in their chosen field.
Now, for the investment of a small amount each month in Wealthy Affiliate, a whole new world of opportunities will open.
Do you have the courage to take the first step?
I’ve been with Wealthy Affiliate for 1 year and a half now and I endorse them 100%. I came in as someone who knows nothing about affiliate marketing or running a website and they taught me everything. The community there is full of some very experienced people who are helpful and encouraging! The training is easy to understand and there are so many tools to take advantage of! Thank you for this in-depth review!
Cynthia, thank you for commenting on my post – How to earn money in blogging – and for sharing you own experience with Wealthy Affiliate. I have been with WA for about three months now and am finding the training really good and comprehensive. I am so glad that you have had good experiences too.
Wow! I never thought that blogging would be an area where you actually earn money. I figured people just did it as a past time and that there was no other benefit to it. I really have realized that I was wrong on this and you have proved me that I can actually make money with this. It’s good because I like to write in general and this is good for me
Misael, thank you for your comment about how to earn money in blogging. I do think that people get confused about what blogging actually is. So I thought it important to explain it and how it would be possible to monetize it. Thanks again.
Hello there! This is a great review of what blogging is and it is actually something that I only learned about just a couple months ago. It was also through wealthy affiliate that I found out about it when I was searching for passive ways to make money. I really like how you mentioned that success is not an overnight thing but that it takes a lot of time and effort in the very beginning. Something that I noticed is that people kind of anticipate quick success especially with the false advertisements that claim you can make X amount of money in a short time. Thank you for being real in this post!
Mike, thank you for your comment on How to earn money in blogging. I think it is so important to be absolutely honest and tell it like it is. As you well know, earning money online takes time and work, and if you are prepared to do this you will reap the results.