Grow Your Blog Audience and Make Money Blogging

People who enjoy writing are now able to convert that passion into dollars quickly, thanks to the Internet. More specifically, the game-changing innovation is known as blogging.
Fortunately, blogging does not require much technical wizardry, if any. If you're capable of putting down inspiring copy, choosing the right blogging platform, and picking the right marketing tactics, you too can make money.
Curious about how it’s done?  Let's look at five ways you can build your audience and make money blogging.

1 Build Your Blog Audience

 

Use your favorite and most effective marketing strategies to bring people to your blog.  Building an audience is not a trivial pursuit, so don't hesitate to properly learn online marketing and advertising techniques if you're just starting out.
Begin with something simple, like using links to your blog from social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Proceed to other options like video marketing (YouTube), email marketing, and search engine optimization techniques as your audience grows.

2 Allow Your Visitors to Buy or Donate

 

If you write about specific topics (e.g. gardening, dog training, golf) that easily lend themselves to making purchases online, consider setting up a PayPal merchant account or the equivalent. This way, motivated readers can show immediate appreciation for your advice and you earn cash from original or affiliate products (see below).
See also: The Most Profitable Online Niches Markets Revealed
On the other hand, if you are wary of selling and marketing for profit, why not leave a coffee cup image to collect donations for your excellent information and brilliant insights? It won't earn you as much money as affiliate marketing or contextual ads, but the number of donations may give you an idea of your earning potential.

3 Make Money with Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is tough when you have to chase after new customers one at a time.  However, with a blog, you can strategically place great products in front of a loyal audience who are likely to know, like and trust you.
Whether you choose items from ClickBank or individual companies, ensure that these items are high quality and are aligned with your values and those of your audience. Check out the rules for earning commissions (e.g. first link versus last link purchases, full disclosure requirements, etc.) to ensure that you are properly rewarded by each program.
Note: you can see all of our affiliate marketing articles here.

4 Make Money Blogging with Contextual Advertising

Contextual ads give you a way to monetize your excellent content by showing readers relevant ads that may interest them. If they click through, you earn a small fee (commission) as compensation for hosting the ad. Small fees that add up over time…
The service effectively does all the work once you set the parameters: amount of ads, size, placement on your blog etc. Your selection of keywords will determine the quality of the appearing ads, and hence the amount of money you make.

5 Original Content is King

 Making money from blogs is great, and a number of people are able to earn a full-time income from it. Above all, though, your blog is meant for providing meaningful information to readers, so maintain your integrity as your income increases.This means sticking to original content, including product reviews of items you've actually used and can wholeheartedly recommend. Those being said, use all the creative and ethical techniques to attract attention to your best offers (e.g. embedded product links within text and/or images).
Conclusion
Making money from blogging can encompass different levels of financial compensation, ranging from weekly coffee change to a full-time online business. Whatever your income goals are, they are achievable with a little bit of work, some luck, and a willingness to grow your targeted reading audience with tried and tested marketing techniques.