The great thing about making Money from home is that there isn’t just one way to do it.

I wanted to show you how to monetize your blog when you are Blogging your passions! The awesome news is that there are several ways you can do it. Isn’t that insane?! Like a dream?

Dang it, chase that dream!

That means that you could be making multiple streams of income with tiny effort.

But the number one thing you should have before you embark on your quest; a blog. Not just any blog, but a professional looking blog with lots of quality content.

Related: Why Have A Blog? Are You Embarrassed Not Knowing?

If it’s done the right way, making passive income or regular income from blogging can be extremely lucrative. Which is why I decided to start helping aspiring Craft Bloggers everywhere earn money from their blogs in my new How To Make Money Online series! The completed series can be found in my book The Essential Guide To Craft Blogging For Beginners.

If you don’t have time to read this post now, click here and pin it to save and read later!

How To Start Making Money From Home Blogging:

My Blogging Story

In 2007 I learned that there were people making money online by blogging. That fascinated me and it instantly became my dream. I had no idea that a decade later, I’d be doing it! Ultimately blogging has changed my life and it took a chronic medical condition, being disabled and trapped in the house to give me the guts to start my blog (in 2010) and end up being something I’d make a full-time income from in several years later. My decision to monetise my blog started in 2017. Within 10 months we started making a full-time income.

But that’s not where I started.

I had no experience when I started blogging; I was tech savvy but I had no experience with anything related to blogging. Not only that, but I KNEW in my core that my writing was not up to scratch. By any means.

When I did start making money from home, the first income I saw was just a few dollars a month – but gradually, my income grew to a full-time income.

How Do YOU Start Making Money From Home With Your Blog?

First, you need to start your blog. Trust me when I say, I KNOW how overwhelming it can be to start something when you have NO idea how to do it or what to do.

Luckily, I’m here to help. All of the things that you need to learn and new platforms you need to use are easily explained. In my experience, the overwhelm I feel is instant and after a couple of deep breaths (for oxygen to your brain which helps you calm down) and reading through a tutorial, I’m golden.

If you need help then check out this tutorial to help you start your blog the easiest way possible.

What’s The Best Way To Start Making Money From Home Blogging?

The key to it all; solve some problems.

For example; if you are an experienced in crochet you can start a blog that is dedicated to teaching beginners how to start.

To find out where to start searching for what your potential readers need help with, check out this post: How To Write Super Share-Worthy Content In Under An Hour

Let’s have a look at twelve different ways through which you can make money from your craft blog.

1. Contextual advertising (Google Adsense)
2. Affiliate marketing ( you are here)
3. Sell eBooks/Digital products
4. Selling Ads (you are here)
5. Sell Blog Posts (guest posts or sponsored posts)
6. Speaking Events/Workshops
7. Selling your services
8. Sell your blog
9. Creating courses and selling them
10. Building a membership website
11. Monetising a private mastermind group/facebook group/forum
12. Uploading your artwork and creating products to sell

Download a free printable blog planner:

Get The Planner To Your Inbox!

Display Advertising:

Some Advertising Jargon You Should Know About:

• CPA – means cost per action. With CPA advertising you only get paid if a reader actually performs a specific action e.g. registers with a brand after clicking on the ad.
• CPM – means cost per thousand impressions. CPM advertising is great because you get paid just for displaying the ad and aren’t depending on people to click.
• CPC – means cost per click. With CPC advertising you only get paid if a reader actually clicks on an ad displayed on your blog … (don’t click them yourself else you’ll get in trouble!)

Adsense Ads & Similar Programs You can join

This post is a combination of Affiliate programs and Adsense ads, but I do hope to earn enough passive income in the future to remove AdSense.

Adsense ads are another way to make money online.

How it works:

• Sign up an account with Google Adsense
• After approval, you can log in and get an ad code that you then add to your blog.
• Add it to your posts, pages or sidebar.
• When visitors click on your ads, you will get paid for it. The payout to you depends on competition and demand, it varies highly from $0.1 up to $15 – 20 per click.
• You are allowed to add 3 ad blocks to every page/post, and you can customise it so that it blends in with your theme and content.
• Please note that If you apply for a new Adsense account, you will need your own domain.

I used to use the plugin ”quick adsense” to make it as easy as possible to add the ads where ever I want them. Or, you can use the Simple Hooks plugin if you use the incredible Genisis framework.

What other Ad programs are out there similar to AdSense?

• Media.net
• Kontera.com
• infolinks.com
• Chitika.com
• Sovrn.com

Display Ads In your sidebar

You can choose to manage this type of ad yourself (always make it clear that links are no-follow in accordance with Googles guidelines)

Or you can sell through an ad management site like;

• Passionfruit ads 

I have used Passionfruit ads in the past, but I stopped because it was $9 a month I could be using elsewhere. It also seems that Passionfruit ads have started taking a cut of bloggers income without actually telling the bloggers that are already using the service. See Janine Huldie’s story.

•  Monumetric (Previously The Blogger Network) –

“Built by bloggers, for bloggers – 100% developed with publishers in mind. With custom-setups built to optimise both your earnings and your reader’s experience, our blend of technology, placements, and premium advertisers are keys to successful monetization.”

I am going to sign up to Monumetric because I like the cut of their jib. I will update this post with any news on my experience

• BuySellAds –

They do take a 25% commission however, and acceptance into the network can be difficult. You can request payment by PayPal with a $20 minimum (which is something I have done with other programs I have joined).

• Approval –

Adproval appears to be very similar to Passionfruit Ads with more customisation options. You can change your ad store to match your blog. Which is a nice perk.

• WP125 –

A free WordPress plugin is an easy solution for those looking to sell only 125×125 banner ads. Though the process isn’t entirely automated, you will need to add purchases manually, WP125 will automatically remove ads after a specified period of time (ex. 30 days).

• OIO Publisher –

This is a paid alternative, but it is a one-time purchase only.

• BlogHer –

I am on the BlogHer network for submitted blog posts but I decided against their ads as their publishing guide for ads is rather strict. Take a look at the guide linked above to see if they’re the right fit for you and your blog.

Affiliate Programs

Related: Make Real Money Online with This AWESOME Affiliate Program

According to WebOPedia 

“Webmasters will receive a referral fee or commission from sales when the customer has clicked the affiliate link to get to the merchant’s Web site Web site to perform the desired action, usually make a purchase or fill out a contact form.”

If you are interested in learning everything you can about affiliate marketing then I highly recommend that you take the course Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing. The course tutor, Michelle earns 6 figures a month, A MONTH through affiliate marketing. I can’t recommend this course enough! Read more about my thoughts and experience here: Apply These Not So Secret Techniques To Improve Your Affiliate Marketing Efforts

If you are interested in joining the Amazon affiliate program then I also recommend that you read this book by Carolina King who earns thousands every month through the Amazon Program.

Even if you are just a beginner, if you target the right people you can still earn thousands with very little traffic. It will dramatically change your blog and help you, trust me! Check out the book here.

Affiliate Programs To Join

• Clickbank
• Shareasale*
• Affiliate Window*
• Linkshare*
• Commission Junction 
• Stylinity*

Related: 7 High Paying Affiliate Programs To Makes Lots Of Money

Tools I use in my Biz that offer Affiliate Programs/Referral Programs to Join

Before you go joining all the programs, I want you to know that I would happily shout from the rooftops about how much I love the following programs/websites. Don’t join for the sake of being an affiliate. You need to be able to share how much you love them with knowledge and enthusiasm/

• CoSchedule referral program 
• Creative Market  (an awesome place to find almost any digital resource for your blog, whether it’s a template, a logo or stock photography)
• Trello (it keeps me productive EVERY SINGLE DAY!)
• Leadpages (Worth every single penny)
• ConvertKit
• Evernote
• Board Booster

Some are referral programs, which means you may get the discount from your own account with them or a free month of premium membership.

For even more blog resources to help get your blog off the ground and well & truly kickin, check out this post: Boost Traffic By Using These Top Tools & Resources

Now It’s Your Turn

You’ve got big plans and dreams of making money from home blogging.

And with good reason. I love blogging and feel so fortunate to do what I do, connecting with you, sharing what I’m passionate about, and even earning an income. It’s the dream.

That doesn’t mean blogging is easy — in fact, sometimes it’s downright hard. But you want to start making money from home.

For all of your big dreams, maybe you’ve felt frustrated, confused, or stuck at times, trying to figure out how to grow your blog, get more traffic, overcome hurdles, find smart strategies, and earn more money.

Truthfully, one of the best ways I know to improve in blogging is to learn from other brilliant bloggers, freelancers and small business owners.

Don’t you wish you could just call up your favourite bloggers, ask them out for coffee, and soak up the wisdom as they share their most effective tips and tricks?

I’ll let you in on a little secret… it’s BYOC (bring your own coffee), but there’s a way to learn from some of the smartest entrepreneurs on the web on ALL the topics that matter for every level of home-based business, and all on your own schedule and without leaving your house.

Have you heard of The Ultimate Work At Home Bundle? Get ready to have your mind blown.

It’s a digital package crammed full of brilliant tools to help you start and grow your home based business, work smarter & make more money.

Are you ready?

I really hope that the information contained in this post helps you make money online relatively quickly. I can’t stress enough – if you get AdSense DO NOT CLICK ON THE ADS. Or get your friends and family to click on them. Google will know, and they will ban you. I made that mistake, and I was banned for four years! They lifted the ban after I was able to prove that I was ready to get serious.

If you have any questions AT ALL, please get in touch by leaving a comment below or by dropping me an e-mail.

The post Are You Really Ready To Start Making Money From Home With Your Blog? appeared first on Start A Craft Blog.