There was an interesting post made on Website Babble last month from a member (jeffG) who was seeking more examples of everyday people (as opposed to blogging gurus) who are making worthwhile money from their blogs.
His post read…
We’re all aware by now that WordPress is the easiest way to build a website, but I was wondering how many of you actually make good money? And when I say “good money” I mean enough to enhance your existing lifestyle. I’m not talking about a dollar or two from AdSense per day.
I was at a social media event in Atlanta today and I was talking to all these WordPress users. Some had impressive followings on Twitter, Facebook, even Google+.
For some reason I just assumed a lot of these people did this for a living. As the night went on, I began to learn that very few of them made a lot of money. I don’t think I met one person that was full-time online or even close. And they said it was their goal.
So I’d like to know from the bloggers here, how many of you actually make good money? Yes, WordPress is too cool for school (as the old saying goes), but if your goal is to make money from your site and you’re not making much, what do you attribute that to?
Of course, we know that people make money with blogs. However, I also receive many e-mails from people who struggle with the monetization part of blogging.
Obviously, the number one problem is lack of traffic. However, there are blogs that receive decent amounts of traffic, yet the owners still have trouble converting sales for numerous reasons.
I love getting feedback from you, so I want to open up a discussion with people on both sides of the fence.
If you are making money with your blog, what are your top earners (ad sales, AdSense, product sales, etc.) and what suggestions would you give to those struggling?
Let’s inspire and learn from one another!
I’ll Start…
As many of you know, most of my overall earnings come from my static website, but my blog does pretty well considering it receives much less traffic than my main site and I consciously keep selling/affiliate links to a minimum.
My top earners here are AdSense, sales of my WordPress e-Book, Niche Website Success and various affiliate programs.
My blog is not heavily monetized. It has always been a brand-building tool that has helped build credibility and connections with my followers.
——————————–
How about you? How does your blog earn money? Are there any lessons that you’d like to share with others? Any struggles or frustrations?
Hi, my name is 
This is always an interesting topic to discuss. I’ve decked out my site with a few AdSense ad positions, but that was never intended to be a great money-earner. My target market is very small and hence the traffic to the site would match the target. In my experience, heavy traffic to the site corresponds with the revenue earned, so it would be a good starting point to write great posts consistently to build up traffic, then start playing around with the ad positions, colours, etc., to see what works best.
My various sites all make money from affiliate marketing. I did get into Adsense site flipping for a while but it just wasn’t for me. Now I concentrate on building the list and the relationship. Plus I also co-own a membership site in the forex niche.
Thankfully I have managed to quit my job to earn a full time living online.
Hi Jimmy, Smart move. List building is something most of us don’t pay enough attention too. This is definitely more of my focus for 2012 and going forward.
The more I look into making cash out of my blog the more I see people talking about list building and email marketing, however, as far as my own email use goes if I see anything in my inbox that is not from someone I know I just delete it. I wonder how effective it really is? Am I missing a trick?
Hi Marian,
Email marketing is truly a science. Some marketers act as if all you have to do is collect emails and send out messages. It’s not that easy. You have to find the right rhythm, send EXCLUSIVE mailings and know what your audience wants. I started segmenting my list. Read this post…
http://blog.2createawebsite.com/2011/11/14/aweber-email-marketing-strategy/
Lisa,
Since your website is a static do you just focus on driving traffic to it and do you have to do updates from time to time? Also is it better to have a static website so you can push more traffic to it vs. writing content all the time?
I know my biggest problem with my blog is I do a lot of writing due to me using SEO and a few other tools I have plus I have to keep keep ping the RSS Feeds with new content to keep me on the google reader until I have a big enough following then I can step back from SEO because Google is always changing something. WOW, guess I had a lot to say.
P.S
What do you do to ensure your hands don’t start hurting from so much writing?
hi lisa, I make money from many different sources, but my favorite has to be private advertising where you can get others to pay you month after month after month without having to worry about page views or adsense.
i`m making money with selling some good, quality products, which i`ve bought them with resale rights. it`s working great for me, because the products that i`m selling are very valuable, and i used them to make other online income streams.
it`s working really well for me so far.
well, im using adsense on my blogspot blog. and talking about enhancing lifestyle. im currently earning $1K /mo and thats a big bucks here in Philippines. it’s really a life changing. im even planning to resign from my day job because im already having three times of my salary.
Wow, It really is awesome what you do;)
Kapitan,
I am not really sure it’s the size of the traffic anyone more that determine the size of your check if your not depending on Adsense. I think its about the quality of the traffic your able to drive to your site.
P.S
I have a blog that I put up that is 2 1/2 months old and I just broke 1300 visitors last month. I had many others blogs but they didn’t get traffic this one I used SEO and other marketing tools to market it) I don’t have any Adsense on my site because I my site was design to build my list thus making it easier for me to market to them overtime.
A Filipino here.. Nice to know that you are also earning money from blogging. Unlike you, my earnings are dropping due to algorithm changes. I’m sad but I am moving forward.
AdSense is by far my biggest earner, and has been since I started by blog. I have been moving more towards using Amazon, and it has now become my second highest earner. I have written a few reviews, which brings in some earnings, just not on a consistent basis. In addition, private banner advertising seems to be picking up as well.
My goal going forward is to expand my earnings beyond AdSense, by, hopefully, continuing to increase my Amazon earnings. I will re-evaluate other opportunities in the new year.
That’s great, Paul. A lot of people ignore Amazon because of the low commissions, but they can add up. Not to mention you end up getting commissions for weird products simply because of how well Amazon upsells!
I definitely think Amazon and similar affiliate deals are the way forward. With a blog and adsense the tie in between what people are looking at (your post) and what an ad is putting in front of them is small, plus they’re reading your post, you’re asking them to stop what they’re doing and click on an ad to go do something else, something connected hopefully but still something else.
With dedicated affiliate sites people come to the site because they want that thing, whether it’s dating or bingo or some product from Amazon or whatever, once they’re there there’s nothing else for them to do but buy it or sign up or bounce. So, so long as your site isn’t horrible so they just leave you’ve got the sale. Obviously the hard bit is getting them there in the first place, if commissions are any good the competition for that 1st SERP is probably fierce but if you know how to do good SEO you can make good money.
Adsense was my only revenue source since the first day of my blog and it is still the best network for my blog at the moment. Now I’m diversifying the revenue sources and earning more from Amazon and selling WordPress Themes.
Thanks Lisa for sharing this information and tips. For me adsense is my source of earning..and I think most of the blogger earn from adsense.Great Post
Excellent post and since I’m still new to blogging, I’m looking forward to seeing other responses and learning from them. I have Adsense on my blog and I just keep tugging away as I learn at the same time. My saving grace is that I like creating info that will help others and whenever money comes, well, it comes. I keep a look out though for pointers and headed towards Amazon in the process.
Thanks again!
Frantastically yours,
Frances
Lisa, if I based my blogging success on how much I each I would be in tears right now – quite frankly I suck at monetization. LOL! I’ll stick with the day job. Most of what I earn I’ve donated or I use it to buy tech gadgets, premium plugins or sponsor contests. With that being said, here are my top earners for 2011:
Blogging contests prize money
CommentLuv Premium
Thesis Awesome Blogskin
AdSense
Blog Engage RSS service
ClickBank (didn’t get the payout yet though)
If there’s anything else – I can’t think of it right now. Entering “the right” blogging contest can be a huge amount of work but if the prize money is right – it can turn out to be worth while in the long run.
Ileane, I had no idea you were donating some of your blog income. That’s awesome! Well whatever you’re doing with Basic Blog Tips it seems to be working well! And yes, it is true… not everyone measures success of their site by the amount of income.
I think JeffG was definitely right, Lisa – many bloggers talk the talk, but have nothing to show for it in their bank accounts.
Even many what we would consider “power bloggers” earn very little from their seemingly popular blogs.
Now it’s time for me to blow my own trumpet (talk about my own blog that is), but I think my blog is the perfect example of what is really possible with blogging.
Traffic Generation Cafe is just over a year old. It gets a great amount of traffic; my Alexa is currently under 9K.
Most of my traffic is highly engaged and interested.
However, making money off that traffic is a slow process. I’d say it took me about a year to start covering my expenses with what I was bringing in.
Only about 3 months ago I truly got out of the red and my income has been growing steadily each month.
It’s still not anywhere close to full-time income, but I know I’ll get there.
My main income streams come from:
1. Consulting and writing for other blogs.
2. Affiliate sales.
I am also working on my own product to release next year (thanks for the idea, Lisa!!!) and hope it’ll bring in a more steady and independent income stream.
You definitely have a very engaged audience. I’ve noticed that by following your blog so I’m sure whatever you do it will be a success!
Mainly Adsense and affiliate programs. I think that per lead affiliate programs are doing well with my blog rather per sale.
This is a great post and one that every newcomer should read.
Like Lisa, I generate most of my income from a portfolio of niche sites that are monetized several different ways: adsense, private ads, affiliate sales, my own digital product sales and lead generation.
Here is the irony. I spend more time on my blog than I do on all the other sites combined, yet my blog is my least profitable “business”. I started blogging to document and share my experiences, not so much from a profit motive perspective as my time is spent more effectively elsewhere (i.e. cranking out more profitable niche sites which are passive and residual in nature). But something about blogging / the interaction that keeps me glued to it.
That said, my blog has well over 5,000 subscribers now and generates most of its income from affiliate commissions and private advertisement (in form of links and paid posts). I am working on a training class which I plan on releasing next year. My blog income is not what I would consider “full time income”.
A final note on what truly is “full time income”. Many marketers/bloggers use that term loosely. Well the average HOUSEHOLD income in the USA is $45k, so does that mean making $45k from a blog is full time income? Many young, single internet-preneurs can survive on $20k a year, so does that mean $20k is full time? When folks boast about that phrase, it doesn’t mean much to me and really doesn’t hold any value.
The problem is that there is no clarity whatsoever, and several conflicting pieces of information that can easily confuse a newcomer, particularly if they are constantly comparing, bench marking or evaluating “possibilities”.
Hi Sunil,
I was hoping you’d chime in. Great points. We share a lot of the same kinds of results (blog vs. static site). I couldn’t live on my blog income alone either.
True – continuing to build those income streams while diversifying is the name of the game. Like we often say, a blog in itself is not a business – rather a CONDUIT to a business, whatever that business may be….
Without disclosing specific amounts, I’ve done quite well with
1)AdSense – hands down!
2)Paid Guest Posts
3)Amazon sales
it is a good topic Lisa, most of the money I have being making online are from CJ, Adsense and from some insurance websites, I think there are some many ways to make money online that sometimes we get lost lol
Paid Blog Posts, Advertising for people, and Affiliate sales.
It seems Adsense is the most popular method here. Im no exception, I just started and Adsense has been able to bring in some form of money,which is really encouraging;). I’m trying to earn trust and establish a close relationship with my readers first,before trying to earn money. Awesome question /post by the way
this is inspiring
Not much yet but i am working on it.
Its my first comment and m newcommers in this field when i read your blog such i very glad about ur views for blogging. bt if i wanna earn money some other way as a affilates. so waht kind of steps good for my blog health and when i start a affilates marketing
After several years and many blogs, I am finally starting to see a small amount of income from my blogs. The key is definitely in the traffic and in the list.
Right now, I am concentrating on Adsense, Amazon, and ProjectWonderful.
ProjectWonderful is like Adsense in reverse. The advertiser’s bid and pay to have their ad on your blog so there is no waiting for the “click”. On a recent search of places to bid, I saw that the top bid was $197/day. I think I could manage to survive on a that much per day. Lol.
@mskatrina Project Wonderful? I might have to try that out. Thanks for the info.
Right now it’s only Adsense but that actually isn’t bad at all
Hey Lisa,
Well this is a bit embarrassing since I’m not making much but considering the blog is barely going to be 2 months old, I have been making some sales on Amazon!
As for the affiliate offers I have in place, I’m still waiting for someone to jump in but I think I may have to start writing a few reviews on them just to get some juices flowing.
I still have a long way to go but oh well, I’m positive I’ll get somewhere even if I have to be taking baby steps!
Sergio
I’m quite new to blogging and my first way to generate some income is through Google Adsense. I adapt this idea when a friend introduce me and help me try the said approach. Now all I need is to get traffic for my blogs.
I am a complete newcomer to internet marketing so I cannot say how I will make money at it. I’ve heard a little about adsense and also Amazon selling. I intend to order your WP Starter Guide after the holidays.
I’m not a pro blogger. I make some pennies from contextual and intext advertisings.
I would imagine it’s like anything else, with a few people making a lot and a huge number of people making a little. But supplemental income is great too, isn’t it?
I am setup for adsense, but I am looking more into affiliate marketing.
Great post it help me specially now that I’m planning to create a blog….thanks
We are setting up our blog as part of our marketing effort. We figure we will make money off of our blog in the form of leads. It hasn’t happened yet but we are working on it.
Lisa, this is an interesting post. I not only enjoyed the post but the reader comments also. You have a great blog here and offer sound advice and information.
My results mirror those of Sunil. I’ve been at this for a couple of years and I’ve transitioned from a content writer to a full-time blogger/author. The author title is rather new. I’ve always written free books in the past and recently wrote my first non-free book. Did I just use the word non-free?? J
Anyway, I guess I could consider my income full-time since I’m earning 4 times the amount I used to earn at my part-time job (no longer work the part-time job). The majority of my income comes from my blogs, and of that income, AdSense is the largest portion.
I do monetize using affiliates, paid ads and am creating more of my own products. My goal is to rely more on my products and less on AdSense (isn’t that everyone’s goal).
As far as earning money using WordPress, all but one of my sites use WordPress. The one site that’s not on WordPress is in the process of being converted from Joomla to WordPress. Once that’s done, I can honestly say that I make a full-time income exclusively using WordPress.
Using Sunil’s example, my full-time income isn’t quite as high as the average household income in the US, but it’s more than adequate for a young, single entrepreneur. Let me add, I’m not a young, single entrepreneur. J
I think as long as we stick with it, the money will follow.
Every month I disclose on my blog how much I make online (I find it helps inspire people and it attracts a lot of people to my blog from Google) and I have listed the money section, from November’s report, below:
Adbrite = $0.38
Clicksor = $0.36
ContextWeb (AdsDaq) = $1.26
Fidelity Media (AdJuggler) = $0.45
Passive Income = $12.42
Private Writing = $410.00
Reviews = $208.37
Smowtion = $0.24
Traffic Revenue = $0.18
UnderDog = $0.28
Total = $633.94
I don’t put in as much effort as I should to be honest, I get distracted very easily and my bipolar means some days I don’t want to work.
google adsense is very excellent opportunity for make money from our blog or our website. For making money our blog must have quality content and also blog must have good traffic. after that you should try for the adsense . when you will have adsense ID then you can insert code into your blog or sites.
I’ve not yet monetized my blog. I have good traffic and ranking but still don’t think it’s the right time. But I’m looking at all your wonderful advice so I know the best way to do it, if I decide to monetize it. Thanks!
For starters, it is not easy making money from your blog without hard effort. I learnt it this month and I believe that it had served a great lesson.
I’m pretty still trying to get the hang of monetizing my blog. As of now, it’s helped me earn money by serving as a sort-of portfolio to get offers to do some writing jobs with some companies.
Hi,
My blog has adsense and amazon. I’ve made some decent money with adsense but nothing with Amazon. I may try some clickbank products in the future or maybe CPA.
Thanks,
Jim
For now, I just use Google Adsense and a few affiliate products to earn money from my blogs. I don’t make a lot of money yet, but I hope that in a few months I will, since my income is increasing every month by 20-30%.
If you love what you’re writing about, the money will come as you build your traffic. It’s your passion that will payout in the end so don’t focus on monetizing right off the bat, take your time in building your site.
Hey Lisa, nice to stumble upon your blog. I remember your YouTube Channel being one of the first I stumbled upon when I was just learning about blogging and making money online!
Anyway, one thing I’ve done that helps is to keep making changes. This is of course assuming that you are getting decent traffic to your website. Once you have that, make changes every few days or so and watch the changes come in.
With all the tracking tools and software out there, this is very easy to do!
Wow a lot of good feedback on here! Please everyone, do tell!
Thanks for posting Lisa
Its not that easy to make money from any site. But my favourite way is using adsense on my blog sites. I wait till i get a reasonable amount of traffci to the site before putting up the adsense code. I can make between $5 and $10 a day per site doing this. Not much but it all adds up.
This is of course assuming that you are getting decent traffic to your website. Once you have that, make changes every few days or so and watch the changes come in.
Its hard to earn money but its a matter of content. When you have content that is of quality then you can notch your customer audience.
Through this video I want to tell you how you can get exponential growth in your earnings every month. This video has been made by me in reply to the article written by Lisa Irby here You can watch this video below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfZqrolwHjE
very inspiring, thanju. List building is something i need to put a lot more attention too, this feels like the way foreward for me in 2012
i think it takes time to make earning from a new blog.Hard work is a key to get good earning from your blog
For me it’s list building and then network marketing and affiliate marketing. I always look for the most leverage in my business. This way I have a whole team making themselves and me money. I don’t get a huge amount of traffic to my site, yet I make more than a full time income (for two working adults) for my family because I focused on building a relationship with my list, NOT just my daily traffic amount.
I’m writing some article for my boss, he just pays me on weekly basis. That’s how I earn money. By the way, nice video.
I agree with Jimmy about building a relationship and a list. Having a list is key to building that relationship with your readers.
Once you have a releationship built and the trust is there then you can start to earn money from your list.
I made over $50k in 2010 from writing online from examiner, adsense, amazon, cj and more. see my link
Yes, the main trouble is traffic. >_< i also got it. i wanna to increase my blog traffic. Thanks for your article ,
Yup, monetizing blog is attractive but creating an excellent blog to have self branding and get relationship (building list) is more important and more effective for our internet marketing development. Nice posting!
I can say that i have started making good money.
and if possible, will continue till blogging becomes my sole earning way!
intresting…my adsense disapproved bcoz of unsupported language really sad abt it anyway thanks for sharing
I have never been that successful in my online site. I have tried many things but i guess the reason that it wasn’t that successful is because i haven’t spend enough time for it.
Well one thing one of my friends has advised me is if your making a blog just for the purpose of making money you doing it wrong. You first have to bring good content to the table that your followers can relate to. After you have accomplished that he says people will come to you looking to advertise because they see your website is new and promising. And this information comes from someone who’s making over a thousand dollars a month just running his simple blog.
I completely agree. I think people see through blogs like that. It also distracts from the most important purpose — the content and the writing. It always gets back to that.
For me it’s really just adsense revenues and then some private advert sales that I use to generate my income. Every so often I’ll sell on a site but that’s it really. I’ve been trying out Amazon affiliate recently, but it hasn’t really worked for me
For me it’s YouTube ad-sense revenues. My site gets very little traffic compared to my youtube channel.I decided to create a video tutorial website all my videos are hosted in youtube.
I always see people complaining about adsense in forums and blog that they not making any money out of it. The only key is traffic! proper ad placement and format.
My main earning source is adsense and never tried affiliate marketing.Thanks Lisa for tip.
I have Gadgets Reviews site and i’m using adsense on it and also i have given some space for other advertiser so they can promote there site through my site. I think it is the best way to earn money with blogging.
Im struggling with grasping the concept, i earn very little from adsnense and nothing through affiliates so far. Even my other ads arent getting clicks…
Hi Lisa,
This is a question I had to really dig deep and think about before I started blogging and creating niche sites. What’s really helped me is Market Samurai in determining how to circulate useful information into a steady income stream. So far, Adsense and selling digital products like e-books have been pretty good so far!
I haven’t dug into e-mail marketing due to the blog and niche sites being quite new and fresh but that’s an outlook for the future!
Until next time, all the best!
There are lot of ways to generate money from your blog, if you have a massive amount of traffic then you can opt of paid ad placements. Absence doesn’t pay you well as compared with those ads that you’ll offer.
I find market samurai very helpful when it comes to analyising keywords for your website and it can come in handy. I think think adsense is one of the best ways to make money when you are just starting off because it can help bring visitors to your website.
you can make money online, but it is not easy. It will require effort on your part. Look at blogging, affiliate sales, or even writing online content through web content mills. Any way you go, you have to give it time and provide a good service. The money isn’t going to start rolling in overnight. Patience and persistence is the key to success
The best part of blogging for me is to give people what they want.. which is the same that I want… to learn “how to”
Nearly everytime I do a search on Google, I’m searching for an answer to something… and I have no trouble finding it!
I’m an professional artist with a blog, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m giving my fellow artists tips and advice that I have learned to promote their art on the internet.
That’s what it’s all about.. helping others and giving… you see all the successful bloggers doing it.
Graham
My google adsense has been banned,it’s make me frustated and now i started make another account.
make money online is not easy,now i struggling to start earn money with adult blog ,wish i could earn money from this blog
I can relate to the loads of traffic bad monetisation point. I have 3 sites at the moment, 1 which is my personal blog so not aiming to monetise, 1 “business” blog which is monetised by leads for work and lastly an experiment site.
This gets the most traffic (8k or so a month from SE / FB etc) it makes about….0.02 a day via adsense!
Some interesting points above I may try and experiment with.
I am a novice blogger. actually i already have a personal blog. but I am still confused how to learn to optimize my blog. I plan to create a blog that can provide income. so my blog can be beneficial for me and everyone who followed my blog.
I want to get help from you information on how to make my blog can be optimized. thanks ….
I Have Problem with My google adsense, My account blocked because of language in my blog not support google adsense!! Help Me
Hey Lisa!
This is a great blog post, thanks for bringing it up. Currently my top earner is a blogging affiliate program. It’s actually a blogging/marketing training system and platform. Next in line would be my consulting services.
Thanks.
Ti
I think that very few websites are able to earn a living just with ads or similar.
With my websites I’m able to pay my internet bills only, and this is good, anyway. It’s enough, for me.
I’m a blogger for passion, but my main job is music composition and production. And when I don’t have music projects I focus on my websites. So, it’s ok for me.
Anybody can make money online. The key is to not start with a super competitive niche. I would start out offering services on forums. Simply look in the forums and find a service or job that no one wants to do. You can easily earn money in your first month. It may not be allot but it will seed your business operating funds.
well, what niches are not super competitive, today? I remember I passed days to find suitable names for my new websites.
If there are so many domains registered and so many online businesses I doubt there are not competitive niches. It’s hard, at last until the economical crisis will not change into an economical expansion.
hi lisa
thanks for bringing this topic up.actually i really thought adsense wasnt gona work out for me but now i make thousands per week
Hi Lisa,
My site is pretty new (SBIer here), and I average only about 100-200 visitors a day. I understand that it takes more traffic to see money from adsense, but so far I noticed that people avoid clicking on ads but willingly use widgets. I believe they think that “ads” are somehow bad (my own husband told me he would NEVER click on an ad because they are not “real”), bud widgets are “the real thing”. So far my insurance comparison widgets on 4 or 5 pages bring me 10 times more money than adsense on all 90 pages together!
right, let’s say that ads are not seen as “good things” by common web surfer and it’s reasonable.
We are overwhelmed by ads, just anywhere, from TVs and radios to web.
about the widget, since it’s a comparison tool, it’s not considered an ad. And this makes me think that “comparisons” in general are a very good way to show products. The idea could be extended from widgets to full articles.
Okay. .. I am a new blogger. I am trying to focus on building my site and content. I’m wondering if people can show how they sell what they sell. How do you make the conversion? It’s one thing to slap ads up but how do you promote other people’s products? can we have people link their top sellers so we can analyze what they did? It’s one thing to list ways to monetize but unless you know how to present it, it’s just another program with potential. It’s giving someone a tool set but they don’t know how to use the tools.
I make maximum of my income from Adsense…
It’s great to read all of the success stories in the comments section here. I’m new to blogging and have been focusing on Amazon because that seems like the easiest way for a beginner like myself. I constantly see people advertising that they are making 6 figures from Amazon, yet none of them ever want to share any detailed information about their sites so it’s frustrating.
i think affiliate marketing is much more better than adsense!
Adsense is the best way but right now I’m not making any money from it. I will make money shortly and thanks for the article.
Lisa… The information you have on here is fantastic. I started blogging a few years ago and I have a modest following. I have noticed that recently many people have been emailing me asking me what I charge per day to advertise on my blog. You bring up some great points. Most notably… That every site is different and although I would love to charge a certain amount..I may either be charging to high or charging to low. I definetly want to communicate smartly when I delve into this area. In addition to earning money from the site I would also like to test products and blog about them.
I still have a ways to go but I focus on organic traffic through backlinks. I sell my own published ebooks and I sell other people’s products. I expect my website to continue growing.
Lisa,
Thank you so much for this useful information. I really do enjoy reading the informative articles on your sight. I have booked marked you and will be sharing your information with others.
Thanks again!
I use my blog for Adsense and affiliate marketing purpose.
Some great comments here, we find that Adsense is ok for a steady stream of income but the real money is with the affiliate sales, one sale can make you the same in one day that Adsense makes for the whole month. We are trying to cut down on the banners and give useful travel ralated information and relevant products via affiliate links which is far more effective.
Keep up the good work everyone.
The twitter box didn’t work so feel free to follow us @100places2visit
List building I hear about all the time. I was wondering if a list from Net Max was a good way to jump start the traffic and list building. After 3 months I only average 90 visits a day and VERY few people have signed up to the site.
to make money from blogs, I followed Id Blog Netowrk…
I do not make a lot of money right now, but like most people Adsense is big for me and CJ, now Kontera. I am monitoring who makes the most.
Adsense is best service to make money from your site so go with adsense and thanks for great post
Earned from ads and adsense. Direct advertisers pay a lot for high page rank.
I have been using adsense to make some money on my site. Links to affiliate products also has brought me some income.
I would appreciate any critique of my site. I am still averaging only 100 visits a day after 3 months. Am I being impatient? Is the way I monetized the site wrong? I am trying to be very selective about the sites I exchange links with, maybe too selective?
100 people per day isn’t huge but it should be enough to make money from. Affiliate deals might be better for you than adsense, especially as all your adsense ads are right down the bottom of the page (except that banner right at the top of course, but I think that’s just too easy to ignore). Try at least putting adsense banners in the post rather than top and tail. But better still would be to get some affiliate ads from people selling something that’s a really good match to the content of the post. Maybe Amazon Kindle books affiliate deal, or different ereaders, and put those ads right in the post, if you’ve got a post ‘best ereaders’ link out from that post to places where people can buy them from. your ads are too easy to ignore, that’s not that they don’t stand out enough they just aren’t in places that I have to read.
sorry when I say put ads in your post, I don’t just mean banner ads, they can be simple text links too, so if you review a reader, have a ‘buy our favourite reader here’ link.
Also you should add some control to your adsense account, I’m seeing a lot of forex ads, don’t know if that’s a good match to your audience?
Thank you Tom for taking the time to review my site AND for the suggestions. I am updating the posts as I have time and I can see how much better the ads should work. I was concerned about the posts looking too much like one big ad but with just using text links along with a couple of banners the posts look fine. Let me know what you think.
hey Frank, yeah that looks cool. I would even go one further. Where you have
“Visit The [link to island book store]Island Book Store[/link]
It is a known fact that sales of electronic books, such as erotic eBooks written by independent authors, are up everywhere.
”
I would simply put something like
“It is a known fact that sales of [link to island book store]electronic books[/link], such as erotic eBooks written by independent authors, are up everywhere.
”
or
“It is a known fact that sales of electronic books, such as [link to island book store]erotic eBooks[/link] written by independent authors, are up everywhere.
”
Have an article specifically about the Island Book store, then you can tell the user all about it and link out to it throughout your copy. You can mix this up with a banner or two. Some people will come to the page and be engaged by a banner and click straight through, some will want to read the article so you want them to find something in the article that makes them want to investigate further.
Hello Lisa
I have a blog, website and social blogs that I put up that is 2 1/2 months old and I get no visitors on it. I don’t have any Adsense on my site because it seems my site was design to build for no visitors but I have patience. What I now have earned is min $ 1300 and hosting costs, so it goes down like a spiral.
My blog makes money through writing. As a professional content writer, I use my blog as a means to gain clients. I have added affiliate links too but as of now, I haven’t made any sales. I have applied for AdSense and I hope to get the account.
Moreover, I am writing an eBook too…I guess that will help me to earn money as well.
good questions, my blog makes money from affiliate marketing and adsense
with the effort of providing traffics daily, new visitors come in and the blog is growing by the day.
with time, i will start selling ads on it
Well lisa, with your advice on affiliate marketing I am now making $200+ per month, which may not seem like a lot but its a lot to me because before I was getting a lot less and I was offering a service meaning it took more time for me.
I found a niche that was one I was interested, very small but it converts! It just goes to show that just 40 visits per day from targeted keyowrds can make you a lot of money!
Michael, that’s EXCELLENT! So true, the more defined the niche is, the better it can convert. Congrats!
hi Lisa
I am love your article and i am interesting all your information because i am new in online, could you please teach me how can i start with my blog to make money. please please help me, i don,t know how to start,,,
thank you Lisa Congrat for you and success
Hi Lisa , a guy approached to me for selling a blog. as per what he shown by by adsense he is getting nearly 850$ per month. can you tell me before buying the website what are the factors i must know. And what should i ask him.
Hi Jaishan
You need to check his Adsense stats to make sure that that figure is an accurate figure for the income from that one specific domain over specifically 1 month, and that it is consistently around that figure for the last 6 – 12 months, not simply peaked at $850 one month but is much lower in all other months – if it’s ramped up to that and is still climbing that’s ok, but you don’t want that to be a really high month in isolation; like if it’s some Christmas product and December was much bigger than Jan – Nov and now income is tiny again until next Dec. Usually the value placed on a site like that is regular or average or expected (however you want to negotiate it) monthly income x 12 months.
I would suggest you probably also need to know how much work he’s already put into it, what keywords are generating the income, what other keywords does it rank for and what other keywords could it rank for. This will all tell you how much scope there is to improve. If the site already ranks no.1 for all the keywords in it’s niche there probably isn’t that much scope for it to make more than $850 pm. However if it ranks no.5 for some low traffic keyword so you can improve on that and start ranking for some of the bigger terms in the niche than you have scope to make a lot more money.
Are there any good affiliate deals that would compliment this site, if it’s making $850 on adsense there is probably good scope to make a lot more on affiliate deals.
Probably good to check where the traffic is coming from and why it’s ranking well. If all the traffic is coming from one or two sources, are these sources that the guy selling it owns? Is it going to dry up once you own it? Similarly, why does it rank well, is it because it’s part of a network, does the guy selling it own the network, could it be cut off from this network. Stuff like that, just be very sure that nothing is going to change for the worse causing traffic to dry up once you own it.
now reading your blog i like to try more things to earn money as at that time i mo only earning money through affiliate programms like click bank and cj.i got inspiration of doing this after watching your videos on you tube 1 year before.thanks lisa for this.www.freebiesworldz.blogspot.com
Hi Alisa, I just sign up on wordpress and created a blog post. Pls how can I make money from it. I tried to sign up on google adsense but it’s not working. Pls some one should help.
you need to put significantly more effort in than that. Create a wealth of good content that is worth someone coming to your site to read. Your site has to have value to be accepted into adsense program. Once you have enough decent content and you have been accepted into the program then you can concentrate of building on that content and generating some traffic, then if your layout is well thought out and your content is thematically arranged such that relevent ads will show in appropriate places people will click and you will generate income. Don’t expect something for nothing, don’t expect to get paid for contributing nothing.
I am averaging over 100 visitors a day and have not made a dime. I guess it just takes persistence and constantly trying things till one or more work. Throw everything you can against the wall and sooner or later something will stick….I HOPE
Although as a person have not being making anything from blogging but still believe that the best way is through affiliate marketing and google adsense
@Weltsecret yeah putting a affiliates sites or products and Google Adsense on it we still cannot make sure that we can gain a money out of it if we don’t market those blogs of ours by way of SEO…
Hi there Lisa,
I had a problem on my blog when I was using Adsence – It took quite a long time for money to start stacking up so I started to look into sites that specify in intext advertising/ contextual but soon ditched that when I saw Infolinks highlighted almost everything on the page and it looked too ugly. At the moment I’m testing out “powerlinks” apparently they specify in highlighting only certain words that have the biggest hits.. It’s look half decent on my site at the moment, not too intrusive. I’m going to be testing a few more out such as Kontera. Infact, Powerlinks contacted me via phone about a month ago, I was pretty suprised, do these big company’s have a list of phone numbers to every site that we can’t get hold of? That’s a main concern.
I’m not into banner adverts since i havn’t had any clicks on them – ever – since I opened up my site so I’m looking for a better monetizing technique, anyone got something for them that works?
Will, you are right.
I had a wonderful blog on freelance affiliate marketing, but now a days I don’t pay too much heed on this blog and I rarely post. But this blog had PR 4 once and drove 40-100 visitors a day. I used all of your contextual advertising networks as you mentioned. But something I got very special in this segment is “Text-Link-Ads”, it really worth to mention that I earned more than $300 from this site until the site bared sub-domains and blogspots from approving.
Overall I made around $550 from affiliate marketing through blogging in 5 years!! Where is the profit? Does blogging this way match to your efforts and time spent? Not absolutely. So, I quitted.
But my cousin is in Travel industry, his static site powered by his blog generates good traffic and he has a very good conversion ratio. He never uses Adword, still his organic traffic clears bread and butter.
Thereby, I have learned from my experience that a great blog is essential for building a brand. But the major revenue naturally come from static pages with your own product. To survive online- you must have a good line of products which is the basement of online marketing.
Thanks Lisa for giving this opportunity to share emotions and share experiences.
i heard Micro niche blog and websites earn more than a normal blog, I don’t have idea and knowledge how to start such a website. Adsense CPC is high for such a website.
I enjoyed your website, you really helped me out and I appreciate it! I am starting a clothing and design business and its not too big so far. Hopefully it will get a little better here soon. Like you said once you get the right people coming to your site and having people come back then you make money. If it is interesting to users with a professional and easy for them to access then my opinion they will come back. I appreciate all of your help you definitely know what you are talking about! Thank you again!
Eddie
By building a list way to make money money using a blog is This refers to the process of. the email addresses of visitors to your blog gathering provides you with the opportunity. This distribute to to information packed emails them will earn their trust that Having earned their trust. you are in a position to, recommend a product can be either your own or those of an affiliate to them, which If you are looking for a way.
carefully consider to make money using a blog, methods the just mentioned Use any. these of today ways to make money using a blog start reaping the benefits, and within the week .[inserttext]
This is a guest post by Matthew Wolfe. He teaches entreprenuers how to create blogs, generate traffic, and make money with his free video tutorials at The WordPress Classroom. You can also find out more about Matthew, as well as learn more tips and tricks at his personal blog, MatthewWolfe.com.
Making money with Adsense is rather difficult and it is not cut out for everyone. It took me 1.5 years to make my first US 100 from Adsense.
hey i´m a newcommer in this business and so i don´t have any idea how to earn money with a blog but it sounds interresting so could you tell me something more about it ?
Thank you
The problem with me is that adsence banned me after my first month , it was an opportunity for me to work on my blog traffic that is between 600 and 1000 unique visitor monthly after 6 months blogging , but until now i didn’t find another way to monetize my blog , can you please help me
Since I started with Adsense on my sites more than three years ago now, this is the first month (Feb 2012) that I’ve earned over $259 – and there’s still 8 days left of this month, so I’m pretty pleased. Nearly half of these earnings come from my one site for which I write articles about work from home ideas. I have found that adding a WordPress blog to a site, to the same host server that the site is on, can result in a very strong SEO’d URL – if you make the name of your blog similar to the name of your site (that the blog is on) or repeat that site’s name in the blog’s name and then just add a word or two, you often end up with a really strong Search Engine Optimized URL. Of course writing and adding many articles related to those two sites’ names is important too (important for trying to increase traffic to a site)
I also mention the freelance services I offer, on this work from home ideas site and blog – I make a living from working from home, doing the freelance services I offer, so although all my earnings from my sites are not all passive income, yes, I could say I make a living from my sites. The extra earnings passive income from Adsense is a welcome bonus, though.
We have our own ad network, but we also bring in money through the sale of ad space.
I made a new blog targeting more and more specific keywords. But my previous blog which is getting around 1000 visitors per day is helping me for my pocket money. I am earning around 100-150 $ per month from that blog. But recently I drop my traffics a bit,but the earnings remain the same.
What is with site stats?
AWSTATS says I get over 1600 unique visitors a month with over 30,000 pages viewed. Word Press says 350 total visitors a month and not many pages at all. I would like to try to sell ad space but do not know which to believe. I would imagine if the AWSTATS are closer to the truth then I should be able to sell some space…no? Frank
Hi Frank, install Google Analytics. It’s the most accurate.
Hi Lisa -
Google Anayltics only works if a user has javascript enabled in their browser, right? So therefore it’s not 100% accurate?
Thanks Lisa……………………………………………………………………………………
Well that was a real buzz-kill! I thought I was getting a lot more visits a day. Google shows 21 for today and 7 were from me! Why such a huge differenc?
Some stat programs (especially AWStats) use log files which count images and other things as views which can be confusing. Google Analytics actually counts views/visits more accurately.
Ok, so I put off selling ad space and just focus on SEO. Thank you
I’ve only just started blogging, but I’m looking to do my research for monetising, thanks for all the tips!
My blog doesn’t make any money, but I’ll get there at some point.
I use just 3 ideas. Sales(major source), Google Adsense(secondary source) and sometimes direct Advertisements.
Very good blog entry Lisa. I’ve seen some of your other videos as well on Youtube and I like your honesty and you’re always full of information to help out.
I’ve actually debated on doing a blog and will actually start on it now, more in thanks to this entry as well. Planning to do a blog of our son and promote affiliates related to children, toddlers, etc on it, as well as adsense. It’s nice to know that there are potentials to making money on blogs based on some of the posts made here, even if it is only a few hundred a month.
One thing I noticed that you said was that Google Analytics was better to use.. I’ve questioned that, as I’ve also read up in the past that if people do not allow or use javascript or cookies, then GA doesn’t pick up those visits, whereas Awstats will. I’ve always wondered which is better to track, though I guess using both of them wouldn’t hurt too bad. One thing I noticed though is that the traffic is drastic in comparison, with GA being much less than Awstats.. any more light you can shed on this question?
Thanks again in advance, and thanks for continuing to bring great information and keeping things honest.. I particularly liked your video about online scams and staying away from them (you used a Youtube video example that some woman contacted you about who got scammed from someone’s Youtube channel, sadly).
While I haven’t made a dime off revenue from my blog, I do get revenue from consulting work and even got my job as Director of Social Media because of my blogging, tweeting, and social media experience. Sometimes, it’s not about the dollars and cents from direct revenue, it’s about the paycheck for being a thought leader.
Just my $.02. (pun intended)
–Sean
hi lisa i have start blogging nearly 8 months ago,at start i have zero clicks but now by the time i made change in blog layout and also work for seo,and now getting a handsome clicks for a couple of months,tell me how can i increase all stated above effectively.
Hi Lisa, I’ve been following your blog and always learning from you. I started being active to my blog last year 2011 and it seems like nobody clicks my ads. But when I received few clicks with cents conversion I was inspired that this cents might convert to 1 dollar and so on… I’m always upbeat whenever I read your write-ups because you inspires me a lot.
Adsense is the best option for me.
I use only Google Adsense. But I don`t get much of it(((
Adsense is a top Earning way…
I’ve only really been blogging since December this year. I’m on about 50 visitors a day. I’ve made a little bit of money from a paid link. But I don’t expect to be making money (or even trying ad sense as you advise) until I’m on at least 300 visitors a day.x
I started last month. Well, I’ve been in luck with Stumbleupon. The highest amount of traffic I got from stumbleupon was 356 unique visitors. I started using Contextweb as a way of monetizing my blog, and so far I have earned .67$s in 2 days from it. I like it.
Hi Lisa. I have not made a dime yet. LOL. Then again, my blog just launch 3 weeks ago. I’ve been working on it 6-15 hours a day EVERY day. A lot of stuff with setting up, I did not know how to do. I really thought I was computer literate until I started blogging. I really don’t know Jack. Right now I am using my free ad coupons just to get people to my site in the hopes a few of them will like it and become loyal viewers. No such luck yet. I know it’s coming. I know it will all work out for me. I truly believe that. And I am very willing to work at it until it pays off. I’m also looking forward to having such a knack at what I’m doing that I can start other blogs with a lot less effort and be able to keep all of them up at the same time. Thank you for all of the info you have shared with us!
now a days CPM and CPV websites are more popular as being a webmaster you can earn from every visitor you get into your website. there are many program running like edomz.com, clicksor and chitika anyone you can join and just need to put cpv code in your blog and site.
Hi Lisa………..
I am so amaze that you earn a lot of moneyy from your site, But I have a question that, What is the difference betwen the earning from blog or website… thanx
My blog makes all the money from Adsense alone ! not too much !
i have low traffic and so affiliate won’t work !
Hi Lisa. I have been following you for quite long already and you are such an inspiration. Your tips are such a great help especially for me who is struggling to earn a dime on adsense.
Thanks for this article, it’s been really helpful as I am just about to do my first e-commerce site on wordpress.
For the first four months of 2012 here’s how my income has been spread out. For January-April I’ve been paid $11,260. For an average that’s about $2800 per month. Here’s how it’s broken down: My Squidoo pages have averaged $1167 per month; Amazon Associates affiliate income, with most links on my Squidoo pages have averaged $342 per month; Online Small Business Marketing I do for a local company (they pay me commissions for each new customer I bring them) I averaged $689 per month; Cash Back Website referrals residual income averaged $512 per month; and the other $29 per month is misc with Google Adsense including in that misc. However, I have recently started building my own websites so my Adsense is increasing. You can see more details about my earnings on my website (just click my name above).
I earn money from my blog by providing info about KTA Mandiri Personal Loans). But I lose when the competitor come and my blog left behind in serp.
Nice post Lisa I love it keep good posting, what you write is very useful for me who looking for money from blog.
Hi Lisa. According to you How much money can one earns from Google Adsense in Tech Niche only if he gets around daily 150 unique visitors to their blog out of which 80 from INDIA and 70 from USA , UK and other foreign countries.
I hate programs such as Google ad sense. The reason for this is because when you put yourself out there, you’re bound to get haters. This results n invalid clicks. I should know. I’ve been there. Which is why I use Project Wonderful. Granted, I’m still not making any money from my blog. However, it’s only a few months old.
It seems that almost everyone expects to earn money after putting in two or three months of work. It can take years before a blog or niche site attracts enough traffic to earn money from Adsense or any other advertising platform. 1000 unique visitors really isn’t that many in a month (maybe for a day) – and the reason niche blogs seem to make more money is that the CTR is often higher and the price paid for high ctr is greater.
Great post. I have just started up my new blog over the last few weeks and just implemented Adsense and have been using Amazon affiliate links throughout my posts. So far not much, but again it has only been a few weeks. I am trying to write as much as possible and hopefully over the next few months/year I’ll see some financial gain. Love writing about my topic though so I’m enjoying blogging without any type of income associated with it.
You said a key word… enjoy. That will take you very far, my friend!
Cheers and best of luck, Matt.
Hey Guys,
((
I am getting 15-20k pageviews a month for my social media blog and I am just earning a Chicken bucket at KFC every month. Don’t know what Adsense Payments are so low these days.
Interesting question, Lisa. I was wondering how many people make money purely on topic blogging vs. affiliate blogging. I really think there is a difference between the two.
My affiliate blogs have made thousands–but, in my mind they were specifically created to drive affiliate sales.
However, recently I’ve been trying a pure topic driven technique that is only information and does not have any monetization tied to it — yet.
Interestingly, I’ve seen this blog jump in page rank and traffic much faster than my affiliate and adsense blogs. So, I would like to know who has driven income from a informational blog only.
I am into blogs for last few days only. But I am looking forward to make it big. This blog is one of the most informative blogs i have ever seen. Excellent Work.
The focus on my authority site is mainly for my primary business, The Six Figure Mentors. I don’t use any form of advertising and only make money by signing people up form the ongoing training that the SFM community delivers.
Do you think I need to broaden my horizens? I’ve never liked adsense as it only seems to generate pennies and don’t want to advertise anything scam like!
The countdown for my website launch is in a month.Yeah!!!! I’m not going to even worry about monetization for the first six months or so. In that time, I plan on building my email list, making great connections with people, promoting my site, and working on some e-books that I would like to sell.
I’m not an expert in blogging, but I believe slow and steady wins the race. Yes, I want to make money like the next person, but it’s the journey and connections that I make with people that’s going to give me staying power (hopefully).
I plan to monetize my site with e-books, e-workbooks and courses, and maybe some affiliate links. I am so not a fan of Adsense, but never say never. Ads, hand-picked of course, would be great if only I know my customers will benefit from them. I always want to have a professional, solid brand.
For now, I’m keeping my day job.
I just started a blog I’m looking for people to check it out. I’m adding real legit ways to make money online. Http://SP-ROCK.tk Thanks.
My name is Mike Omoasegun, i would like to share with how my blogs make money: i have more than ten (10) blogs/sites, all make money through google adsense, through selling ebooks. Two of the sites are articles websites, one of them is free advert site, one is online store where i sell my products, two of them are forums sites. etc. i also use affiliate links to some. to make money from blogs or sites need patience and hard work. thanks and God bless
Hi…I am so confused!!
How do I get a company to place ads with me so I can make money??
I already have a blog. Now I need to make money from it. I am lost!
Hi Debi,
The best way to get advertisers for your website is to have lots of traffic. Google Adwords, affiliate links, and most advertising will not be successful until you get some traffic coming your way.
Here are a few ways to do this:
1. Get your own hosting. Use Godaddy or hostgator(about 8-10 bucks a month)
2.Use a wordpress site. WordPress.org NOT wordpress.com it offer many free plugins that offer SEO.
3. Build a facebook page and put your recent blog bost onto your page.
4. Use Facebook to find groups in your niche-Google and Facebook search to find groups and forums to offer valuable content.
5. Write articles and submit them to free article submission site. like http://www.ezinearticles.com,,reprintarticles, and goarticles.com to name a few
This will help get your traffic coming…hope this helps!
Quisha
I create money from blogging by advertisement . Besides advertisement affiliate programs also makes money for me.
I had a look at your blog and of course it makes a lot of sense to read articles like these. I just wish to understand if these advertisements actually make good money, enough to have a great lifestyle? Also, my blog is more towards my personal experiences, does this show any potential for monetization?
I’VE BEEN STRUGGLING TO START A BLOG. I READ ABOUT IT ALL THE TIME BUT CAN’T UNDERSTAND HOW TO GET STARTED
Hi Laurina,
The best way to start a blog is to blog about something that you are well skilled in, have a lot of knowledge in AND if you want to be able to make money from it, it need to have the ability to make a profit…does it solve a problem, or have a lot of interest by the public.
Now, you don’t have to be a master at the topic but you should know more than the average person on the topic. And be willing to invest in knowing more.
Wrodpress.org NOT WordPress.com is a AWESOME platform to get started with your blog.
Chat with me on http://www.facebook.com/thecurintongroup and ask me anything you want to learn more!
I make some money from a upload site that pays me a penny for every 1 file downloaded. It’s made me 4 bucks so far lol. Also adsense throws a few nickels at me from time to time.
Money is the most powerful weapon in this world. Everyone want to become a rich man but everyone want to know how?
Blogging is known by everyone but there are only some peoples know that how can they earn by their blog.
I this blog have a great tips that how can a blog make money.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I believe that the first mission would be to get targeted traffic to your site. There are many ways out there that claim to deliver traffic to your site. But a lot of these methods are mere surfing sites that rotate users for 15 to 30 seconds to your page. But do people really sit there an watch the pages being rotated in front of them? Probably not…
But it is quite difficult to make money with a website if there isn’t any true targeted traffic heading your way. So the first step would be to build your backlinks with solid PR sites that will boost your PR. I am very new to all this, but have spent most of my time trying to build traffic to my site. It’s very time consuming and seems it will take a lot of time.
So all this being said, I look to make some money from my site eventually, but so far has been an uphill battle!
I am doing blogging since couple of months, and finding it hard to get organic or refer traffic, what kind of things i should do to get more traffic and to earn money from it. Kindly share your views.
Hi Richa, I understand your comment, try doing SEO search engine optimization this will help drive more traffic to your blogs. That’s one of the main reasons to have a blog is to get more traffic, and to also make useful and quality content for your blogs.
I just recently found out that Blogspot.com has new features for Google affiliate products, I will be writing more content for Blogspot more often than I use to. My site brinafr3sh.hubpages.com/hub/onlinewriter
Google is phasing out SEO. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenkrogue/2012/07/20/the-death-of-seo-the-rise-of-social-pr-and-real-content/
Just something to think about. They want the best relative content on the web vs people who are trying to work the system to make a quick buck.
My Blog makes money from Google Adsense , Chitika, and In house ads. Get a free blog with CashMyStudio and earn royalties from Google Adsense and Chitika for free. Just click on my name.
I just started creating sites so I’m new to this. I am going into this with the knowledge that it will be at least a year before I see any kind of money from my efforts and I’m prepared to wait it out. I’m using a combination of SEO, content, social media, commenting, guest blogging (just one place so far) because I don’t want to place all my eggs into one basket. I’m doing it on all sites because quite frankly, why not? I use the products and I believe in them so I don’t leave any stone unturned but I’m not crazy about it, either. I’ll hopefully have a good story in 2013 about making money from niche sites!
I’ve monetized with Google Adsense and I’m seeing a healthy amount of organic traffic from Google. With a bit of work I think that could translate into at least enough to cover my hosting costs every month!
My blog is about “How” I make money online and my most popular posts are my monthly income reports where I detail how much I make from what source. My actual income comes from affiliate links, most of which are for products I recommend on my Squidoo lenses. My blog details where I make my money. Since I’ll make close to $40,000 this year, I guess that’s enough to enhance my lifestyle, as the question asks.
I’m still waiting to earn money from my blogs and currently nothing goes as i wanted, maybe you have a guide how to be successful as you do?
I earn a minimal amount of money from my site. It is 6 months old and I have over a hundred posts and probably twenty pages. I just began monetizing at the sixth month mark. Traffic isn’t easy and I come from the SBI training to give first then monetize. I do try several different things that is not so typical in my niche. I have a gluten free living site and I sell everything from t-shirts and gift items to consultations. I also am an Amazon Associate bc it is one way to monetize my posts and it is pretty easy.
Only use adsense so far. Start seriously write my blog in dec 2012. I don’t think to get much money from adsense at not much visitor yet.
Hii Everyone
I am new to creating websites and blogging. I think it can be a good way to earn money once you become expert in this. I am using different kind of SEO technique like onpage optimization, directory submission, social media, blog and guest posing. I believe that first effort should be to increase the Google PR of your blog and website. It must have quality content which encourage visitors to visit again and again and also to refer to their friend circle.
I am looking forward for my time when i start earning from blogging and website.
Regards
Sudha Gautam
I created a health, nutrition and recipe blog http://www.eatfeelfresh.com which has made tons of money through Pinterest! By utilizing tons of other social media sites and commenting on other blogs, you’ll increase traffic to yours. It’s been less than a year and I have over 1 million hits!
Sara this is amazing!
Agreed, that is amazing. You must have some great ideas.
Hi Lisa,
I also monetize my blogs like what you do and it help really a great helps in generating traffic to my site. I had made connections and promoted my site. And great! I had a great results and most of all I have learned lessons from other bloggers. Your information is a great help to every blogger.
Excellent post!
I am a firm believer that having various income streams from a blog or website is very important. The main reason is quite simple.
Various income streams will allow you to use each in the place where they are most effective. For example, using a CPC network will be most effective for more informative posts, while an affiliate network will likely be more effective from targeted traffic coming from a blog post about a certain product or service in a certain niche.
Excellent post here
i mostly use paid posts and text links for make money from blog.
Just started blogging on making money online. Trying to learn for earning from my blog.
Hey Lisa,
Awesome post with great information. According to me, making money with blogging is really a tough part which requires lot of hard work. I think, for making money with blogging we requires lot of traffic and also update our blog continuously. For traffic, we have to make more backlinks which can be done by either commenting on others blog or by guest blogging.
My blog is 3 months now,i blog about photography tips,what am really struggling with is getting traffic,i need tips how i can get traffic.Thanks Japheth from Kenya
I make money with AdSense but my income is only about $10-$12 a month.
Hey Lisa. Great Idea it is
I make money from my blog with Adsense and Clickbank. It’s like about 125$ only / month.
Is it bad for a 30 days old blog? And can you suggest me some other ways to bag some cash from my blog?
Hey Lisa ,
Seriously its quite amazing to know about money making blogs .You have enlighten me with the varied knowledge a very big thank you .I ll be always be glad to read your thoughts about money making in future
I make money from many different sources, but my favorite has to be private advertising where you can get others to pay you month after month after month without having to worry about page views or adsense.
My blog is 8 months now,i blog about photography tips,what am really struggling with is getting traffic,i need tips how i can get traffic.thanks you lisa
At the moment Adsense is the only way I’ve monetized my sites, but will be looking at a few other options like Amazon or even list building via an opt in…
my alexa rank is stopped on 644155
how i can decrease it…..
Alexa has nothing to do with your traffic potential or popularity. It’s your rank compared to other sites. It’s becoming less and less important because it’s only influenced by people who use the Alexa toolbar. So the fewer people that use it the, your rank will suffer. Focus more on traffic since Alexa has nothing to do with your site’s success or traffic.
yes i also agree with the previous comments that alexa is something which is of an immense importance for your website.
all what matters is the traffic what you get for your articles…it is the true mirror which reflects the visitors for your website!
also, except the google adsense, there are many ways by which you can earn money such as by placing chitika, infolinks ads and also by the use of affiliate marketing.
Thank you for such an informative article. I am just starting out and I really appreciate your honesty in what it really takes to make a living blogging.
Just found your blog. Great article for beginners. I stumble upon successful blogs everyday, but never realize how well they perform. I am really impressed by your performance too.
My main income stream is Adsense.. and i get a lot of visitors on my blog, but i dont know whats the reason but AdSense keeps on deducting my earnings… Am i really fed up of adsense now, and i am thinking to try out some affiliate marketing!!
I’m still struggling greatly…and I’m 66 years old and we’re retired and ok financially…but I just want my blog to make big money … just to know I CAN do this.
I’ve been a stay at home mom for 47 years and been blogging daily for 3 1/2 years. I initially just started blogging because I love storytelling and I didn’t even realize people MAKE money at this….and I still DON’T…hahaha I have good traffic…or at least good to ‘me’…as I average 800 to 900 readers a day usually…but I only make money through adsense and that isn’t doing well for me. I try to change ads as I see they’re not working but so far I haven’t found the ones that are going to be good for ME. I’ve looked into affiliate ads…but haven’t added any. I WOULD GIVE AN ARM to spend an afternoon with YOU Lisa 
I want to do this so so badly……I’m 1,035,020 on the alexa scale today so I’m getting better and better there AND on a daily basis….I should be well under 1 million by the end of this week…..but HOW do I make good MONEY? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!
First of all, fantastic article, kudos.
Secondly, I’d just re-iterate what others have said – it takes a LONG time, years even, before most people start to see any kind of decent revenue streams from their blogs.
But, what I do, and many others out there is to work as a freelancer on the side while we wait for our blog to hit the big time and garner enough traffic to make it our full-time occupation (oh, the dream!).
There’s plenty of good options out there for freelancing – much of which only require writing skills – which almost all bloggers have, so it’s a great option. There’s a good list of ideas at http://www.coconutdaily.com/content/how-make-extra-money-online-free.
Thanks again for the great post.
I suggest if anybody who just started a blog or wants to start one – DO NOT quit your day job! As one reply was, it takes time to make a decent amount of money. On my blog, I have some links to other sites that I own, and that has made me some money – due to the Adsense ads. But, still working on the blog itself.
I agree. I didn’t quit my job until my income was 4x’s my salary and I had the savings to be comfortable. This is hard work and you have to make sure you are in a good place before you give up stability.