Are you wondering, “How do bloggers make money?” Get the answers revealed by a full-time blogger here. I think you’ll be surprised to hear the many ways I make a living, from ads to affiliate links, sponsorships, and some more obscure ways! Keep reading to learn exactly how bloggers make a career out of writing on the internet.
How do bloggers get paid?: The Quick Answer
Most bloggers earn their income by way of some combination of the following:
- display ads
- affiliate marketing
- sponsorships
- products
- services
- memberships/subscriptions
The amount of money successful bloggers make varies dramatically, from nothing to seven figures a year, depending on various factors, including how big their readership is. Bloggers can make anywhere from $1 to $100+ per 1,000 views, depending on multiple factors and their blogging expenses. We’ll explore this in more detail below.
My Expertise As a Full-Time Blogger
I’m updating this post on my three-year anniversary of becoming a full-time blogger. It’s also five and one-half years after I started this blog, about eleven years after I started learning about search engine optimization (SEO), and about twenty years after I created my first website in college, back in the “Stone Ages” of blogging! So, I know exactly how blogs make money.
This article is meant to help newbie bloggers and to inform the general public about blogging as a career. Often, in real life, when I say I’m a blogger, most people have heard of the term but don’t fully understand it the way they know about more traditional careers.
So, with this in mind, below I discuss how bloggers get paid and who pays bloggers. Then, I answer in more detail the complex question of how much money bloggers make (hint: it’s an extremely wide range). Of course, if you’re interested in blogging, you can make money these ways, too.
I shared exactly how I make money blogging with the Shelf Made Stories podcast on Youtube:
What is blogging?
First, knowing what the terms “blogger” and “blogging” mean is essential. Here, I use the terms to refer to people who primarily write informational articles and/or posts on websites. This is somewhat different than a “social media influencer,” who mainly posts content on social media platforms (but there is some overlap).
As a blogger, my main focus is my blog/website and making money from the articles I write on it. I post on social media, too, but that’s a byproduct of my main business.
In other words, the main business is different than social media. For a social media influencer, social media content is the main business.
As mentioned, there’s some overlap, as I can simultaneously make money as a blogger from the audience of both my website and my social media content. For example, I can sell products both on my blog and my social media channels. To me, the distinction is primarily where the focus lies.
I also want to note that some bloggers are employed by a company to write articles for the company’s blog as either employees or freelance writers. The company pays those people in exchange for an article, which is different. Likewise, the future of blogging after AI isn’t yet clear.
This post is about sharing how bloggers who run their own independent websites get paid.
How Do Bloggers Make Money?: Beginners Guide
Display Ads: The Breadwinner for Article Bloggers
Who pays the blogger: ad networks and/or any person, brand, or company that buys ad space directly from the blogger (not the blog reader)
Display ads are third-party marketing images and videos you may often see on websites, including at the bottom of this page, in the sidebar, and sprinkled throughout this post. They are similar to TV commercials and magazine ads.
Bloggers generally get paid for each time a reader merely sees an ad for at least one second. A rate for every 1,000 views calculates the amount.
Most bloggers rely on ad networks to do all the back-end labor on this. Mine is called Raptive, which is an elite, higher paying ad network for bloggers with 100,000+ monthly pageviews.
There are a variety of ad networks, and they pay a wide variety of rates. I’ve heard as low as $1-2 per 1,000 views, and I’ve heard as high as $100+ per 1,000 views. It depends on the blogger’s ad network and various statistical factors, including how lucrative their blogging niche is.
Display ads can also be bought and sold directly between a blogger and a person or company.
PROS AND CONS
PROS
What’s good about display ads for bloggers is that we can earn income from articles for months and years after we first write them, and they keep content free for the reader.
CONS
What’s bad about display ads is that it takes a lot of traffic for the blogger’s income to become substantial, the blogger still has to maintain the site and the articles, and ads can look unappealing to the reader.
On The Literary Lifestyle: Ads account for a large percentage of my income.
Affiliate Marketing: The Fastest Way to Make Money Blogging
Who pays the blogger: People, brands, and companies that sell products or services (not the blog reader)
Affiliate marketing refers to how bloggers earn commissions by referring customers to purchase other companies’ products (or take other specified action, like signing up for a newsletter) through a trackable link.
Usually, a blog reader would have to click on a link with a blogger’s unique code embedded in it, and then purchase an item within a specific time frame for the blogger to get paid.
Any blogger can get started earning money this way with minimal effort: just sign up for a program and share a link. Many bloggers start with Amazon.
The commissions can generally range from pennies to $50-100+ per sale. Bloggers usually receive a small percentage of the total sales, so the commissions vary greatly.
PROS AND CONS
PROS
One great thing about affiliate marketing is that bloggers generally earn commissions on the sale total. So, if you click on a link for a book and then buy a TV (or both), the blogger can get a commission on everything you purchase, not just the book.
Another great thing is that bloggers can make sales long after writing articles that promote the links.
I also love that affiliate marketing helps keep my content free for the blog reader, and I can pick whatever products I want to promote, as well as talk about them however I want.
CONS
There’s a lot that’s bad about affiliate marketing, though. For example, someone can be influenced by a blogger online, and then go into the store to make their purchase, voiding any commission.
Companies can also change the terms of their program, so bloggers may put in a lot of work creating content upfront, only to have the commissions reduced or completely canceled.
Additionally, someone can learn about a product from both you and someone else, but only the last person whose link is clicked earns a commission.
Lastly, average conversion rates are low (1-2%), so, again, bloggers have to build up volume to make substantial affiliate income
On The Literary Lifestyle: Affiliate marketing accounts for a large percentage of my income.
Sponsorships: Hard But Worth It!
Who pays the blogger: People, brands, and companies that sell products or services (not the blog reader)
Sponsorships generally mean that a company has paid a blogger to talk about its product or service online. The sponsor may also pay for ownership or licensing rights to re-use the content created, as well as a variety of other terms.
PROS AND CONS
PROS
What’s good about sponsorships is that they help keep content free for the blog reader.
Sponsorships can also help bloggers know exactly what they will earn from a project ahead of time.
CONS
There’s also a lot that’s bad about sponsorships too, though. They can require a lot of blogging resources. Most of my sponsorships have taken months.
They also make me feel a lot of added responsibility to give the brand its money’s worth.
Additionally, sometimes sponsorships never pan out after a lot of negotiation, and/or attempting to collect payment can be challenging.
Finally, bloggers need a substantial following to earn significant money from them.
Sponsorship income can range from a free product to thousands of dollars (or even tens of thousands). The quickest and best way to learn more about sponsorships is by reading the book Sponsor Magnet.
On The Literary Lifestyle: Sponsorships account for a small percentage of my income.
Products: A Great Way to Diversify
Who pays the blogger: the blog reader
This refers to a blogger’s own products, such as handmade goods, books, or digital products (like my Printable Reading Journal).
PROS AND CONS
PROS
What’s good about this is that it can provide the reader with something that goes deeper than free blog content.
Bloggers can get great profit margins, too, especially on digital products.
CONS
On the negative side, some products require a lot of management.
It also takes time and money to set up, particularly in figuring out things like sales tax and delivering the product.
On The Literary Lifestyle: Products account for a small percentage of my income.
Services: Can Earn High Rates
Who pays the blogger: any person or company that purchases them, including the blog reader
Many bloggers also earn money via services, and these services can take on an infinite number of forms, such as coaching, consulting, creating content, managing social media, and so on.
A lot of bloggers use services to supplement the other types of blogging income while their blogs are growing. Some bloggers even use their blog as a marketing tool for their service. For example, I know a very successful home decor blogger who uses her blog as a way to grow her interior design business.
I’m not going to comment on the pros and cons here, since I don’t perform services.
On The Literary Lifestyle: Services account for zero percent of my income.
Memberships/Subscriptions: Puts You in Control
Who pays the blogger: any person or company that purchases them, including the blog reader
The final way bloggers make money is through memberships and subscriptions.
Subscriptions are essentially payments by the reader for exclusive content. Memberships can be like subscriptions, but they can also take on a variety of forms, such as clubs, mastermind groups, discussion forums, etc. Some bloggers also sell e-courses as memberships. I have a Patreon membership that readers can pay to join.
PROS AND CONS
PROS
Here, a bloggers’ income can be more predictable and more stable, as it’s something you control. It’s not subject to an algorithm or luck, like securing a sponsorship.
Memberships can give the reader more 1-on-1 access to the blogger, but the content isn’t free.
CONS
It’s up to the blogger to grow the membership from scratch and continue to provide value and customer service on a consistent basis.
On The Literary Lifestyle: Memberships and subscriptions account for a small percent of my income.
How much do bloggers make?
How much bloggers make varies dramatically based on their unique readership, their unique sources of income, and how effectively these income sources are implemented.
And remember, in addition to blog earnings varying dramatically, blogs are also businesses that pay expenses, taxes, government fees, payroll, marketing, and so on.
Some bloggers make $0, and some bloggers make over $1 million (yes, really) per year.
Generally speaking, bloggers can make anywhere from $1 to $100+ dollars per 1,000 views, depending on a large variety of factors, including how they choose to monetize their blog.
For more specific numbers: I have used the data in the video below as a guidepost for years now. But, note that the blogger also needs a solid business strategy that’s well-implemented.
Recap
The answer to the question, “How do bloggers make money?” is complex and multi-faceted. Most bloggers use display ads, affiliate marketing, brand sponsorships, product sales, services, memberships, and/or subscriptions to make money. The amount of money bloggers make varies dramatically, from nothing to seven figures a year, depending on various factors, including how big their readership is.
Related Posts: If you like learning about blogging, check out more blogging tips.
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