How Blogging Makes Money: From $0 to $1000/m Case Study

If you do a Google search for the keyword “how blogging makes money?

There are lots of guides with different views and teachings. But here’s what makes this one a bit different.

I started this blog you’re reading as a beginner with no experience in Internet marketing or blogging.

When I started this blog, I had no experience in WordPress, sales, SEO, or internet marketing. But as I kept pushing and practicing daily, I grew and felt more freedom over time.

I’m not here to tell you that this blog has generated over $$$$ within the past year, month, or week.

I’m here to show you how I took this blog from zero $ to a consistent monthly income. So you can, too, start a blog that consistently generates full-time income, regardless of your current situation, technical skill, or budget.

After reading through it, you should be able to identify the right niche, start your blog, write relevant content, and drive traffic to start making money.

First, I strongly suggest you download the complete free report on making consistent income from affiliate marketing in less than 30 days. This free book offers a solid starting point for everything you need about affiliate marketing and generating regular commissions.

Here are some affiliate sales I have made using the same principle I teach in the book.

Avangate Sales Notifications reports from Gmail.

Avangate Sales Report.

In this post, I will walk you through a step-by-step case study of how I went from nothing to a consistent monthly online income.

Let’s dive in…

But first…

Who is This Post for?

If you haven’t made your first $500 from blogging yet, this post is for you. If you’re struggling to find the right monetization tactics for your blog type, this post is for you.

And if you want to make money from affiliate marketing, you’re in the right place.

For the most part, affiliate marketing is this blog’s primary source of income.

So if you want to learn how to make money from affiliate marketing, you’ll find plenty of helpful tips here.

This post is for beginner marketers struggling to earn their first $100, $200, or $500 online.

6 Ways Blogging Makes Money For Bloggers

Before I discuss how I make money blogging, I want to show you the general strategies and tactics bloggers use.

I will also give you real-life examples of bloggers making money from each blog monetization tactic.

So you can rest assured that, in all honesty, blogging makes money if you work hard and long enough to see the reward.

For these reasons, here are six ways bloggers make money.

1. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to earn passive income from your blog.

For many years, affiliate marketing has been popular and a source of income for many online marketers.

Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income is a great example of how affiliate marketing can replace your 9-to-5.

Since 2008, Pat Flynn has earned thousands of dollars a month by selling other people’s products.

You will find a list of his income report posts here.

In January 2019, Pat Flynn made a 5-figure income from promoting someone else’s online course. In the process, he became one of the top three affiliates and generated five-figure revenue.

Pat Flynn isn’t the only one making a full-time income from affiliate marketing. Anil Agarwal of BloggerPassion made an incredible $13,000 within one week of the Cyber Monday and Black Friday deals.

If you’d like to read how he did it, here is the detailed post where Anil reveals the strategies behind his success.

2. Online Courses

Creating courses around a topic works well if you have something valuable that others can learn.

It could be a skill, self-development, business, health, life-changing program, etc.

If done right, online courses can generate significant income. Depending on your business model, they could generate a one-time income or recurring payments.

You don’t need much expertise to create courses on a topic, but you must stay one step ahead of your target audience to deliver value.

Yaro Starak is an excellent example of a blogger who makes money by creating online courses.

In January 2021, Yaro published 16 insights that helped him sell online courses from $7,000 to over $700,000.

Other marketers are making big money from selling courses online.

Jon Morrow of Smart Blogger makes over $1 million annually by creating and selling courses online. Jon develops courses on how to become a highly paid freelance writer.

You can, too, sell your knowledge or expertise to earn money online. However, your audience will need credibility and trust to believe in your products/services.

But this shouldn’t stop you from teaching others what you know so they can do better.

3. Selling ad Space

If you have a blog driving millions of visitors yearly, selling advertising space on your blog can make you lots of money.

Though I tried Google AdSense on this blog in the past, I quickly realized it doesn’t work for my type of blog.

Advertising won’t be a good fit for every blog or blogger.

As a rough estimate, you need about 20,000 daily visitors to make around $100,000 per year from the Google AdSense program.

Few blogs can drive this level of traffic over their lifetime.

If you don’t like the idea of posting consistently and generating thousands of visitors monthly to earn from your blog, advertising may not work for you.

Running contextual advertising like Google AdSense can be a suitable monetization method for blogs in the entertainment niche, sports, food blogs, fashion, news, etc.

You can apply for the Google AdSense program with a Gmail account and a blog.

4. Freelancing

This is one of the most popular ways to earn a living online.

If you have the skills or knowledge people need for a service, freelancing can support you.

Though freelancing can be time-consuming and draining, you can earn a very lucrative income if you’re one of the most sought-after freelancers in your niche.

Many bloggers have made freelancing their primary income and now live full-time on it.

One of them is Moss Clement of MossMedia.biz.

Moss is a highly sought-after B2B (Business-to-business) freelance writer. He has been doing this for over three years and averages $4,000 monthly from freelance writing gigs.

This figure excludes SEO and social media projects.

On a small scale, you can start your freelancing career with marketplaces such as Fiverr, Upwork, PeoplePerHour, etc. Business people who need your services can easily find your listing gigs and hire you for the job.

5. Business Coach

Let’s clear something up: Coaching isn’t for everyone.

You need expertise, credibility, a track record, trust, results, and testimonials for people to believe your advice.

You don’t build these overnight. You must have been in the game long enough to acquire these values.

Coaching can be very lucrative if you have what it takes to lead others in the right direction.

Lilach Bullock is a business coach who helps women achieve their online dreams. She exemplifies how offering your expertise and knowledge can pay off.

She has been doing this for years and makes a full-time income.

6. Selling Products and Services

This one is a huge business if you have what it takes.

Not just what it takes, but the desire to be a successful online entrepreneur.

Many bloggers have transitioned from just blog writers to selling their products and services.

This could be a book publishing business selling digital products or services directly on their blog.

My friend Ryan has transitioned to being a self-publishing Amazon eBook author. He created the popular blog “Blogging from Paradise” and has authored over 100 bite-sized Amazon eBooks.

He has sold over 300 copies of eBooks on Amazon and is traveling the world, living the dot-com lifestyle.

And not just Ryan; Brian Clark started Copy Blogger as a simple blog for writers to learn the art and science of creating content that works.

Over the years, the blog grew, and Brian saw an opportunity in WordPress development, so he started the StudioPress WordPress Themes brand.

StudioPress was sold to WP Engine in 2018 after many successful years of creating and selling one of the best WordPress child themes and frameworks ever.

You can also start selling products and services on your blog.

However, to make buying easy for customers, you will need payment processor features on your blog and a contact form like WPForms.

WPForms is the most-used contact form and integrated payment-processor form for most WordPress sites.

For more information on WPForms and how it can help your eCommerce sites, read my extensive WPForms review here.

Away from how bloggers get paid for blogging, let me share a case study on how I make money from this blog.

How I Made Money from Blogging – Case Study

This is a short report on going from zero to making money online.

If you’re ready to learn from me, this blog will provide the exact step-by-step formula I use to turn affiliate marketing into a profitable business.

I have created a ten-part email series that walks you through the ropes of making money from affiliate marketing.

If you didn’t get value from the ten-part email series I shared, unsubscribe. I will personally apologize for wasting your time.

1. Find the Right Niche or Blog Topics

Initially, I used to blog more about search engine optimization and digital marketing news.

Nothing was wrong with my content, except that I was competing against more advanced and experienced marketers. My competitors have 100 times more marketing budget and experience than I do.

Ranking near the top 20 of the SERP for my target keywords was tough.

If I want to get noticed, I’d rather buy traffic.

For six solid years, I fought to beat other websites in the SERP. But when competing against giants like Neil Patel, Brian Dean, and Moz, you’re only fighting a lost battle.

After reading this post on Tom Dupuis’s website, I decided to try something different from what I’ve been doing.

I decided to try affiliate marketing in a different form and niche.

Enter Product and Services Reviews

Although I was writing a bit of it initially, review posts account for less than 5% of the blog’s published content.

Instead of writing about SEO, website traffic, and digital marketing news, I tried product and service reviews.

But it doesn’t have to be a blatant product review. It has to be something I know, use, and have practical experience with.

It must also be a niche with a growing interest in relevant products and services. A niche where people are already spending money to buy these products and services.

This is because my passion or interest counts for nothing if people are not spending money to buy.

This is something you have to understand about Internet marketing.

Your passion doesn’t guarantee profit or success, and neither does your expertise nor your experience automatically qualify you as the go-to marketer.

You have to research the market for demand and profitability. If there is a lot of spending and business in the niche, that’s a good sign.

I’m a BIG fan of keyword research for market evaluation.

For the most part, I use keyword research at every step.

First, I created a list of products and services my audience would like. Something that will help move their business forward.

Since most of my audience uses WordPress, building a list of relevant products and services isn’t too difficult.

Long story short, I started writing about WordPress optimization products, plugins, web hosting deals and products, SEO tools, etc.

The results proved I didn’t choose the wrong blog topics, as seen in the image above.

Lessons:

Evaluate your blog niche and competitors, and adjust your approach if it doesn’t deliver the results you want.

2. Publish The Right Content

I learned from the transition that writing review content is quite different from other forms of content.

I still learn today.

If you want your review post to appear in the SERPs for the target keywords, you must be at the top of your SEO game.

First, your review post must convince the user that you have real-life experience with the product. You must have used and tested it and be able to vouch for its quality and benefits.

Most people who publish review posts blatantly copy what’s on the merchant’s website. They make a few edits, mention the product’s features and price, and then hit publish.

With such an approach, you won’t get the best out of affiliate marketing.

I understand it is nearly impossible for a beginner to buy every product you want to review on your blog.

But there is a way to go around this, as I did when I reviewed Cloudways hosting and the SEO PowerSuite tools.

This is how the process works.

If the product merchant offers a free trial, sign up and test-drive the product during that period. Use the free trial period to learn about the product’s pros and cons – its benefits, details, and features.

Furthermore, take screenshots where it makes sense to explain things in more detail.

3. Drive The Right Traffic

Website traffic is unequal, so its value to your business won’t be the same.

For most affiliate marketing websites, SEO works better than paid media.

If most of your content traffic comes from search engines like Google, you’ll make more money from your affiliate marketing campaign.

However, it’s still worth trying paid search marketing, as it helps expose your content and drive relevant eyeballs to your review posts.

If you blog about trending topics like fashion, recipes, news, sports, politics, etc., Facebook ads might be an excellent option.

But if your blog covers SEO, digital marketing, WordPress, plugins, or affiliate marketing, search traffic is your best bet.

This is because people start their online buying experience mostly with searches. You want to be there when they begin that journey.

So, drive traffic to your blog content and topics.

4. Build Your Email List

I have read over a thousand times that money is on the list; I never experienced it until I started building one.

The money you can make is proportional to your email list size. Your email list size will determine your income.

According to HubSpot Marketing, email marketing ROI (return on investment) is $42 for every $1 spent. Your investment in email marketing will never be a loss if you build a healthy subscriber list.

If you want to keep making money from your blog on-demand, list building should be a priority. There are no shortcuts.

Email marketing service providers like GetResponse provide the tools to build your email list quickly.

I use GetResponse for email marketing on this blog. Many marketers have chosen email marketing for years.

Start your email list-building campaign with the GetResponse 30-day free trial offer here. So you can see if GetResponse will help your business move forward.

5. Monetize Your Content

I have tried several blog monetization tactics, and nothing works better than affiliate marketing.

For a quick overview, I have tried contextual advertising such as Google AdSense, Infolinks, Adbrite, Bidvertiser, etc.

In my experience, you will only make good money from any of these options if you have thousands of page views monthly.

However, you have many blog monetization options. In my opinion, affiliate marketing is much better for beginners.

With little traffic, you can earn $500 or more a month by selling other people’s products.

But running affiliate marketing campaigns on your blog isn’t enough. You need a strategy to make it work.

People won’t buy based on your recommendations if they don’t trust your advice or content.

In my case, here are a couple of things I keep in mind when writing affiliate content review posts:

Originality

The content has to be original. It should be different from what others have written on the topic.

It must be in-depth and provide all necessary details about the product or services. It should also be free from plagiarism. Don’t copy what’s on the merchant’s website; paste it into your content.

Google wants your review post to be in-depth and original.

User Experience

I have touched on this briefly in this post; it’s important to discuss it again.

Practical experience with the product or services you want to review is crucial.

If you can’t access the product directly, dedicated communities exist for almost anything.

For instance, here is a group of SEO PowerSuite users on Facebook.

Assuming you want to review the SEO tool but never use it. You can join this group and collect real user experiences to include in your content.

This will give your content more substance, originality, and depth.

Benefits

In their review posts, many marketers discuss product features, descriptions, pricing, etc.

These are only part of what users want to know, not what they look for in review content.

Ask yourself this question:

Why do people buy luxury cars?

One of the main benefits of driving a private car is saving time getting to your destination.

So, having a 504 Peugeot Saloon car is the same as having a Lamborghini or Rolls-Royce, right?

You’re mistaken…Do you know why?

Material, social, or ego benefits come with owning a Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce, or Tesla that you will never have if you’re driving a 504 Peugeot 1968 Saloon Car.

If you still don’t get it, let me give you another example of the benefits vs. product features and details.

You may have the best SEO tool in the industry, with lots of features and a great user interface. If all these features don’t help business owners achieve better rankings, increase sales, and generate more revenue, your product won’t sell.

This is because that’s what a business owner cares about. He doesn’t care about your product features, bells, and whistles.

There is no reason to buy SEO software if the tool can’t take his business from point A to point B.

I hope you understand the differences between features and benefits now.

So, when you write your next review post, focus on the benefit the product brings to the end user.

Call-to-Action

As you write your affiliate review post, include a call to action where necessary.

Insert your affiliate links as often as you want people to click through them. Don’t be shy about not including your affiliate links in your post.

I use different tactics to include my affiliate links in a post on this blog.

I use buttons, text links, notice boxes right after the introduction, content in the middle, content at the end, etc.

If you love writing, you’ll love blogging, and if freedom is what you’re fighting for, blogging is your one-way vehicle to your dreamland.

I always look for ways to include affiliate links in a post because you never know where a user might click through.

Summary…

Can you make money blogging?

Yes, because I’ve seen firsthand how blogging can make you money. And not just me; thousands of bloggers have found life worth living by running an internet-based business.

You can, too, achieve financial freedom through blogging if you’re ready to run it like a business.

You can run your blogging task part-time while still working a day job. Make it a side hustle and slowly grow it into a real business that runs itself.

Blogging is hard; I have to tell you this. If anyone tells you otherwise, they’re lying.

Growing your blogging career to a point where it generates full-time income will require a lot of effort. It won’t be easy, but it’s not impossible, either.

You must believe in your dream and keep working on it until it becomes a reality.