It’s now the year 2022.

If you haven’t started your online blog yet, you’re missing out.

Many bloggers have quit their jobs and blog full time.

But, making money with blogging was much easier back then.

Today is much different. 

There is so much more competition, and Google is improving its algorithm with constant tweaks and updates making it harder to rank.

It would’ve been great to start blogging in 2010 or 1989 but we can’t turn back time.

All you can do is move on and take action. 

How blogs make money today

In today’s blogging world, everything seems to be saturated.

Every niche, even sub-niche of sub-niches, is full of competition. 

In saying that, I started pretty late in a very competitive category— health.

What the heck was I thinking!?

But I’m doing reasonably well in an overpopulated and competitive market.

That’s not a brag. Instead, it’s proof that even in a saturated market, you can earn a buck.

Many people don’t give blogging a chance because they think it’s “saturated.”

So, they don’t even start.

Do the work, be patient. Blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme.

You can do well in an overcrowded niche. I did it, and I’m not that smart.

I worked at a factory, packing boxes for goodness sake. There’s no brain power involved. But, it allowed me to stress over my blog instead of work.

I started blogging very late in a bloody red ocean. There were many times that I wanted to quit especially in the early days. So glad I didn’t because if I did, I would still be stuck at a job I hated.

It doesn’t matter when you start, as long you start. The following is how I make money online with my blogs:

• Affiliate marketing
• Own product

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is selling other people’s products.

It’s great to start with affiliate marketing as it’s fairly simple.

The problem with affiliate marketing is that it’s easy for anyone to start. And the money is excellent.

Therefore, hundreds, if not thousands, of other bloggers are doing affiliate marketing and most likely promote the same product.

But, competition is healthy, so don’t worry too much. 

When it comes to starting affiliate marketing through your blogs, it usually means you need to rely on content marketing if you don’t have the revenue to buy advertising.

Since content marketing is free and has the highest return on investment, it’s tough.

You’ll need to work hard in a popular niche like fitness, food, or travel.

Wouldn’t it be great if you love accounting and are passionate about writing about it day in and day out?

Although it would be a lucrative business, not that overcrowded, I have no interest in counting other people’s money. 

I don’t know why I wasted four years of my life doing Accounting when I hated it.

I should have quit and started this blog twenty years ago. 

But regret is poison. Don’t dwell in the past.

From experience, blogging won’t work if you don’t have the patience.

The blog you published will not be index by Google for months. Or get indexed at all.

I still have a 1-year old article that is not showing in Google search. 

There are many affiliate platforms that you can join. 

One of them is my favorite, Clickbank. 

Clickbank has been around for many years and is one of the biggest affiliate marketing programs.

Businesses can list their products for affiliate marketers to promote.

You don’t have to join Clickbank as there are many others such as Share a sale, Digistore24, or CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction).

Depending on your blog niche, Clickbank may not be suitable for you.

If you’re selling tech products, your best option is to start an affiliate with the company brand for higher commissions. 

However, your conversion rate may not be as good. 

I know myself that buying direct from brands is dearer compared to third-party sellers. 

Amazon has always been the best and the most recognized online marketplace. 

However, Amazon has decided to cut the commissions for their affiliates resulting in many bloggers losing profit. 

There isn’t anyone can do about it unless you start promoting eBay or Walmart instead. 

If you don’t mind the commission cuts, then, by all means, be an Amazon affiliate.

My only tip is to wait until you’re getting constant traffic to your blog. You have to convert a browser to an Amazon buyer within six months for you to continue to be affiliated with Amazon. 

How blogs make money with own product

Selling your product is more challenging than selling others’. You have to start your brand from scratch. 

That means you have to spend a ton of money on marketing, product costs, packaging, and transport.

But, you get brand equity, which is the biggest pros in selling your product. 

With affiliate marketing, you’re essentially promoting other brands and not your own. 

Branding takes a lot of effort, patience, and skills.

What is a brand?

To clearly define what a brand is, here’s Seth Godin’s definition, one of the influential marketers in this generation.

A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.

If the consumer (whether it’s a business, a buyer, a voter, or a donor) doesn’t pay a premium, make a selection, or spread the word, no brand value exists for that consumer. 

By: Seth Godin

Essentially, a brand is something you pay a higher price for because of your perception.

Selling your product costs money and requires a significant initial investment. However, the returns could be rewarding. 

I say “could” because, just like any business, you can fail.

If starting your product is too much of a risk or you don’t have the capital yet, try affiliate marketing or the following:

• Ads
• Sell ads
• Writing service

Ads

Plastering advertising everywhere on your blog can be ugly and distracting when done wrong.

Have you seen websites with banner ads in the body, on the side, at the bottom, at the top, then you get a video at the bottom right-hand corner, then a pop-up? 

What a mess!

However, you can make an excellent, consistent sum of money.

Advertising is a more consistent stream of revenue compared to affiliate marketing.

With affiliate marketing, some weeks you make lots, other weeks you make nothing.

Having ads on your website can be done on day 1. 

I advise against it, though. Ads can affect SEO.

Ads essentially drive your reader out of your blog and can slow down the entire website. Which may negatively impact your ranking on the search engine.

I say wait until you get the minimum requirement of a better-paying ad manager, such as Mediavine.

The minimum number of sessions to join Mediavine is 50K in 2022. That is session, not page views.

What is a session?

According to Ezoic, a session is a single visit to a website by a user. Regardless of how many pages are viewed by the user, it only counts as one session.

A pageview can be many visits to your website. Each visit to a new page counts as one pageview.

[source: Ezoic, pages vs. sessions]

If you don’t have the patience and want to get paid for your efforts, there are other alternatives. There is Adsense, Ezoic, and many others.

Sell ads

How about selling banner ads in your blog? Reach out to your local pub if your niche is about beers and pubs.

You can call hairdressers if you love writing about hair trends. Or a fashion start-up company if you’re a fashionista.

Calling businesses for paid adverts on your site is good money.

Sponsored posts

Once you’re getting a good amount of traffic to your blog, you might get inquiries for sponsored posts. 

You can write a post about a product or service, and you can get paid by publishing it in your blog.

Businesses are always looking to get in front of people about their products. And are willing to pay for awareness about their brand.

Writing service

If you think this article is terrible, you haven’t seen my first one.

My first blog was hard to read and had many grammatical errors.

When you exude awesomeness in your writing, why not write for companies?

Content marketing is crucial for businesses nowadays.

And they need your help.

Before you can charge for your writing services, you need people to know about it, which requires a little bit of marketing. 

But, as your blog grow,  depending on your topic, you can promote your services in your blog.

If promoting your writing service in your blog is not ideal, you can join Upwork, Fiverr, or Problogger to get some eyeballs.

Upwork is hard to join as they require the best and many people have joined before you. With Problogger, you may not get many jobs. 

Fiverr has many small businesses that can get your writing services rolling.

The downside to Fiverr is that many competitions are selling the same service as you for very little money.

My advice is to acquire as many reviews as possible and use that to promote your business outside of Fiverr.

Personally, I mostly use Fiverr for my business needs including writing, logo, branding, and more.

Fiverr is cheap, but you have to sort the good ones from the bad by ordering their service.

Conclusion

There are many ways you can make money from your website.

From ads to selling your own products and services.

There has never been a better time to start blogging. The best time was the invention of the internet.

When I say it’s not too late, take it with a grain of salt. More and more blogs are being published day by day.

Don’t wait too long because entrepreneurship is cool nowadays. 

Find out how you can quit your job, work from anywhere, no boss, choose your own hours, and have more time for your loved ones by clicking on the following: how to start a blog that makes money on autopilot.