If you’re a writer, fashion enthusiast or fitness guru you may have considered starting a blog. In fact, starting a blog is for anyone who has a deep interest in a subject and wants to share it with others. In today’s digital space, we read blogs on culture, community, media, food – the list goes on.

Yet, although starting a blog is an exciting and new creative project – they require hard work and a significant time investment. Therefore, many individuals start blogs with the hope of making money through their platform.

The design and concept of blogs has shifted over the past decade. Many bloggers are finding new avenues for income streams through the content they create. Yet, the question most of us are still asking is:

What are the financial prospects of creating and running a blog?

If you are considering starting your own platform or looking to revamp your current blog – there are several ways you can make money doing what you love.

So, let’s check out 3 ways you can make money from running a blog.

AdSense

The first way you can make money running a blog is through the use of AdSense. This is an integration tool built by Google to place and run ads throughout your website.

AdSense is a whole process that you should read and become familiar with – if you are interested in using advertisements on your site. In our opinion, we believe that this is a great way for you to achieve monetary gain through your platform.

Advertisements on your blog will produce impressive results if you have a high volume of traffic. Yet, if your readers are sporadic, this may not be the best choice for you.

Additionally, advertisements can often deter readers from visiting your blog. If they believe that the ads are annoying or distracting – they will click off the page and find content somewhere else.

Running ads can be a tricky decision. You will need to decide if the money you make through AdSense is truly worth it or if you are better off keeping a clean blog interface and finding other methods of income through your content.

Writing and Consulting For Brands

Another way to make money running a blog, that omits the idea of running advertisements on your website, is writing and consulting for brands within your niche.

Writing and consulting for brands is a great way to expand your content and learn more about the inner workings of your industry. Growing relationship with brands is the top way that most professional bloggers and influencers maintain a steady career and income.

Working With Brands

Brands want real people with a creative vision to help them effectively grab the attention of their audience. Therefore, a brand may work with a blogger on creating content – images, writing or even video – that aligns with the brand’s identity and marketing. In terms of consulting, the blogger may think of ideas, add creative direction input and identify strategies that will work for the brand.

In some cases, this may be “behind the scenes” work – where the blogger helps to consult the brand without sharing this with their audience. We can think of this situation in comparison to what a ghost writer does when writing content for a client. Let’s call them a “ghost blogger.”

In other cases, the brand may forge a deal with the blogger/influencer to consult for them and post about the content they have created together.

In order to engage in this type of work, a blogger must develop relationships with brands. It is best to have a portfolio of tangible work, a media kit and even example ideas that you can present when pitching to work and consult for a brand.

Sponsored Posts + Brand Partnerships

The final way that professional bloggers can make money with their platform is to engage in sponsored posts and brand partnerships. This process is similar to consulting, but is usually more of a consistent, on-going process between the influencer and brand.

For example, for fashion focused bloggers, a brand may send you product and offer compensation in exchange for a post on your Instagram account or feature on your blog. This doesn’t require any type of true collaboration between the client and yourself, but rather the brand lets the blogger create and direct the content they want. The brand already knows the blogger’s style and aesthetic, therefore trusting their creative process.

These types of posts and partnerships are the bread and butter for most professional bloggers. If you have a specific niche that you excel in – you can ultimately choose which brands you would like to work with. You can put together the type of content you are willing to create and the deliverables that will be sent to the brand.

Examples of Sponsored Post Compensation

A brand may offer several types of compensation for such posts such as:

• Sending product that the blogger can keep
• Gifting product and a monetary compensation
• Giving the blogger product to shoot and return, with the addition of monetary compensation

In all, it benefits the brand if the blogger is able to keep the product. They may create a partnership that requires one or several sponsored posts – but if the blogger is able to keep the item, they may continue to promote your product organically over time.

This method is the best way for bloggers to make money with their platform, create great content and develop relationships with brands.

So, as you can see, making money from your professional blog is possible. No matter the industry, you can employ the methods of AdSense, consulting for brands and creating sponsored posts to help your blog thrive. Creating and growing a blog isn’t the easiest project, but the end result allows you to effectively showcases your direction, vision and true creativity.