For a lot of us, we aren’t blogging just for the sake of blogging.
I know I’m not!
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with blogging for fun – it’s a creative outlet and a way to network with other people who have similar interests.
But, many of us end up wanting to earn money from our blog (and there are some creative ways to make money for sure).
Unfortunately, only 5% who try, actually do.
Okay.
I know that’s a tough pill to swallow, but I’m not here to try to stop you from blogging altogether.
I definitely don’t want you to throw in the towel and think that there’s no way you – mom blogger, freelancer, food blogger, DIY’er – can earn enough money from your blog.
It just takes a new focus; you have to think outside the box when it comes to making money with your blog.
The traditional ways of monetizing might not help you make a full-time income.
What you need is to focus on more creative ways to make money from your blog.
But how?
The best way to make money from your blog is by selling something you control.
If you think about it, that boils down to selling a product, selling a service, or selling a subscription.
Let’s dig in.
Creative Ways to Make Money Online
If you are a stay at home mom, then maybe you are like me. After my maternity leave ended I didn’t want to go back at home. I wanted to find creative ways to make money from home.
Luckily I did! Let’s check out these methods below.
1. Interview Experts in Your Blogging Niche
Isn’t it awesome when an influencer in your industry replies to your outreach and agrees to do an interview for your blog?
This alone can bring massive traffic to your site, helping you grow your brand. What’s great is that you can sell this advice too.
Let’s see how we can monetize expert interviews in creative ways.
In Your Digital Product
One way to monetize expert interviews is by using them as an upsell to an existing course – the mid-level or advanced tier – as a way to increase the value of your course.
For example, AWAI’s copywriting course has advice from legendary copywriters to learn from.
With Your Service
One way to interview experts as a service is to offer your services as a video editor for hire.
You would oversee the video editing process for Youtubers or for events like weddings or graduations.
Alternatively, with the knowledge and skills you’ve learned from video editing, you can offer strategy sessions to others interested in video production and editing like Catara Lane does.
Subscription
Another creative way to make money with interviews is to offer it as a subscription.
Mixergy is a place where you can learn from many different entrepreneurs. Andrew Warner, the owner, has some interviews and courses available on his website for free.
If you’re interested in an interview or course that isn’t available, you’re redirected to go premium, which is a subscription that gives you access to the entire library of interviews and courses.
2. Run a Virtual Event
Virtual events – like retreats – are becoming popular with a lot of bloggers.
While corporate businesses use virtual events as a way to keep overheads low while reaching a larger audience, entrepreneurs are using these events to form deeper connections with their audience on a smaller scale.
So, how can you monetize your own virtual event?
With a Product
One great thing about a virtual event is that you can sell tickets for a one-off payment or you can sell video recordings, presentations, and notes from the event once it’s all said and done.
Or, you can sell virtual tickets to a real life event to make it more accessible for your audience.
Content Hacker sells virtual tickets to their real life event, Hacker Live Conference. When you buy the virtual ticket, you’ll get full access to recordings of every session.
Service
If you have a service-based business, you could run a 1:1 or small group virtual event that is tailored to your client.
For example, if you notice several clients are struggling with the same problem, you could run a virtual event where you meet up and share strategies or bounce ideas off each other.
Alexis Grant, former operator of The Write Life, offers workcation retreats for freelancers and entrepreneurs.
The premise is they go into nature to focus and become more creative.
With a Subscription
After you run your virtual event, you can use the video recordings, notes, and presentations as content for your membership site. You can add new material on a regular basis to ensure customers are getting enough value to stay subscribed.
3. Live Training/Workshop/Paid webinar
Webinars, or live training workshops, are part of the sales funnels of a lot of entrepreneurs’ products. But why not use these trainings as a product, service or subscription?
Here’s how:
As a Product
Some creative way to make extra money is you can monetize your webinars is to offer valuable training to your audience for free and then sell the replay later.
You can sell the class (and recordings) for a one-off payment.
Service
If you’re an excellent presenter and speaker, you can offer your services as a webinar presenter or keynote speaker for other businesses. For example, Mari Smith is a professional speaker and Facebook marketing expert.
With a Subscription
To create a subscription service around live training, you can include the recordings in a membership site and make part of your core offering be, “live training classes every month with complete access to recordings.”
4. Stock Photos
Images are essential to encouraging shares, engagement, and traffic to your blog. In fact, you can build your entire business on images. If you have an eye for design and can take your own photos, here’s how to sell them (combine these ways for maximum monetization). Here are creative ways to make money with photography.
Product
There are many creative ways you can sell your stock photos as a single photo or in packs. Kayla Butler of Ivorymix sells photo bundles on her site.
Or, you can host your stock photos on larger marketplaces like Creative Market – like Stefan & Janni – or Etsy – like HeatherTaylorDesign. Alternatively, you can also submit your photos to stock photo sites like Getty Images or Shutterstock.
Finally, you can create a course to teach people how to take photos based on your experience: iPhone Photography School
Service
Having unique, beautiful and branded photos for your business is something that a lot of entrepreneurs want, but it takes so much time to capture and edit them. Why not be the person who helps entrepreneurs with custom stock photos?
You can offer custom brand photography like Nicole Howard does.
With a Subscription
If you have a lot of images, why not make a membership library for your audience? Pixistock has beautiful styled stock photography for women entrepreneurs, and they offer a membership to gain access to:
- Lifestyle images
- Pre-made social media quote images
- Styled desktop images
- Mockups
- And more
They offer 50+ new images every month, making this membership very valuable to their target audience.
5. Roundup Posts
Have you seen some epic roundups lately? I have a lot of big roundups here on Twins Mommy. Have you seen these:
This is one of the best ways to grow your reach as a blogger. Both expert opinion roundups and “best of” resource roundups can be monetized.
Here’s how:
With a Product
For a lot of bloggers writing content marketing posts for their blog or social media takes a lot of time out of their day.
As a freelancer, you can help them out by creating content bundles that are specific to an industry or theme – in this case, you would have content bundles of pre-written “best of” roundup posts.
With a Service
One of the challenges for a lot of bloggers and entrepreneurs is that expert opinion roundups require access to experts. Not everyone has spent time developing those relationships.
Some freelance writers like Minuca Elena specialize in writing expert roundups.
If writing isn’t your skill, why not offer blogger outreach services like lifestyle blogger Jen? You can help brands or solopreneurs identify key bloggers to help them with their content marketing strategy.
6. Virtual summit
While this could be considered a type of online event, the summit format is something that has exploded in the blogging industry and many entrepreneurs are jumping on this boat.
Let’s see how to monetize a virtual summit.
With a Product
Typically, summits are offered for free with influencers as speakers, with the option to purchase access to the recordings. However, you could experiment with selling tickets to individual speakers’ events, day passes or selling tickets for the full summit.
You can also teach your knowledge about running virtual summits like Krista has in her Summit in a Box programs.
With a Service
If you’re a strong Type A person and you like managing projects, you can offer a virtual summit management service for entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Lisa Nelson is a project manager for 6-and-7-figure business owners and helps them set up their virtual summits. You can work behind the scenes and ensure a smooth-running summit for your clients.
With a Subscription
For recurring income and one of the cooler and creative ways to make money on the side, is you can use the video recordings, notes and presentations as the core offering for a membership site. Once that’s set up, you can then add extra material on a regular basis to keep your subscribers happy.
7. Challenges
Most people use free challenges as a lead in to their main offering. It’s one of the great lead magnets to help you grow your email list.
But, did you know that you can also use challenges to help grow your income?
With a Product
Challenges are usually dripped content over a period of time, which means you could offer your subscribers the chance to purchase instant access.
Make sure that your paid challenge is much more valuable than a free challenge though. You can add a workbook, cheat sheets, video lessons and more.
And out of all the ways, challenges are creative ways to make money fast.
Or, you can sell your challenge after you’ve run it. The bloggers behind Avocadu run a 21-day weight loss challenge and is a highly successful challenge for their audience.
With a Subscription
With all the content you made for your challenge, why not create a membership site where members have access to the challenge at all times?
Additional material would need to be added regularly, perhaps from new challenges. You can also give your customers access to success stories from those who did the challenges.
8. Writing Skills
The fastest way to make money blogging is to blog for someone else. Since I’m a freelance writer, I found this was the way for me to make money with my blog.
But even if you’re not a professional writer, you can still profit from your writing in other ways. Here’s how:
Product
With all that blogging you’ve been doing, you can establish yourself as an expert by publishing an eBook. And to encourage sales, you can offer it on your site for a premium price to make it more accessible for everyone.
Or, if you want to grow your reach, you can offer your eBook on Amazon.
With a Service
As a blogger and writer, you can offer ghostwriting services or guest posting services to small businesses, influencers, and other bloggers.
You can also market yourself as a ghostwriter for eBooks.
A lot of companies use eBooks as a lead magnet and need a writer to create their book. Or, there are a lot of business bloggers who want to tell their story and need a writer to format their thoughts into a nice eBook.
Alternatively, you can be a writer’s coach and help others find their voice. Dr. Nicole Janz is not only a journalist and doctorate, she’s also a writing coach.
With a Subscription
If you’re a freelance writer, instead of getting paid on an ad hoc basis or per project, why not write for clients on retainer like many copywriters do?
This helps form a steady income and workload each month, which means you’re not scrambling to secure a new client before work runs out.
It’s the freelancer’s steady paycheck.
9. For the Food Blogger
The food blog industry is exploding and it’s a profitable niche to be in for sure!
As a food blogger, you have a unique skillset that can be monetized in so many ways – let’s take a look.
Product
One of the first products you can create is a recipe book like Chungah of Damn Delicious – especially good if you’ve already built a loyal following who are excited to buy from you.
Alternatively, you can publish your own eBooks like Kelly McNelis from New Leaf Wellness, and sell them from your site.
With a Service
If you have skills in the food industry, you can sell recipe development services to brands, including food photography.
Or, you can sell tailored meal plans to busy professionals or families complete with recipes and grocery lists. PlateJoy does something similar as a subscription, but if you’re a dietician or food blogger, you could do this on a smaller scale as a unique and personalized service for your clients.
With a Subscription
You can try your hand at creating a membership site full of recipes, meal plans and expert advice and tips. This is a great way to have recurring income.
Or you can help other food bloggers launch their blog and make money like Lindsay and Bjork of Pinch of Yum did with their Food Blogger Pro monthly subscription program. Since food blogging is such a huge industry, many new food bloggers need help and support in building a profitable food blog.
10. Creating Printables
Do you have a flair for designing beautiful documents?
Printables might be something you can create and sell on your blog.
From chore charts to calendars, planners to adult coloring pages, the possibilities are endless.
Not only are they easy to create, but they also have a low startup cost and are one of the many ways to earn some money from your blog.
With a Product
One way to monetize printables is to create and sell a planners, workbooks or even templates. You can sell them on your blog, on Teachable or on Amazon.
Or, you can also sell all manner of printables on Etsy like so many other mom bloggers do!
With Services
Many bloggers don’t create their own planners or worksheets. They often hire out graphic services to designers. Why not use your design skills and sell beautifully designed worksheets and workbooks as a service to online course creators? For example, Lucy Bilson provides design services for content creators and business owners.
With a Subscription
Bloggers love digital downloads. You can capitalize on their obsession by selling adult coloring pages or monthly/seasonal themed planner printables as a subscription or from your membership site.
11. Influencer Marketing
Using influencers in your marketing is a cunning strategy to spread your message. By networking with influencers and leveraging their success, you can promote your blog and brand and reach an entirely new audience.
Here’s how you sell it:
With a Product
You can create a course or eBook guide to help bloggers or brands DIY their influencer marketing strategy. For example, Lia Haberman has an Influencer Marketing Masterclass for sale.
With a Service
If you have a Rolodex of influencers you’ve collaborated with in the past, or know the keys to influencer outreach, you can offer your services! Help others by pinpointing the influencers in a niche and managing outreach and communications on behalf of bloggers and brands.
As an example, Pam Moore offers influencer marketing services and helps with:
- Influencer marketing execution
- Onsite event and conference influencer amplification
- Blogger outreach
- Content development in partnership with industry influencers
- And more
12. Social Media
As a blogger, you’ve got social media skills, right? You know how to find out what kind of content does well, and you know how to produce it. You’re probably also good at creating social media graphics and coming up with some enticing social media posts.
Here’s how to monetize that skill:
With a Product
One easy way is to sell packs of social media graphics on Etsy. You could also sell these from your website.
With a Service
You can also offer social media management services or specialize in one social media platform, for example, Pinterest, like Heather Farris.
Or, sell your services as a designer of custom social media images for lots of different niches.
With a Subscription
If you want to sell social media packs for recurring income, you could create a membership site filled with banners, posts, graphics, quotes, and more.
13. Teaching
Once you’ve achieved success with something in your business, one thing many entrepreneurs do is monetize that success by teaching others how to do what they’ve done.
With a Product
It’s very common for entrepreneurs to monetize their expertise with an online course or an eBook that talks about how they became successful. For example, By Sophia Lee created an email course after her success growing her email list.
With a Service
If you’ve achieved success, you can also provide a coaching service to other entrepreneurs who are a step behind you. For example, Sarah Marie not only offers Pinterest management but also blogging audits.
With a Subscription
You can create a membership site to share your expertise. While this is a monthly subscription, it’s only offered during certain times of the year.
14. Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is the cornerstone to having a successful and sustainable blogging business. Without having a marketing strategy, it’s hard to find your target audience and eventually sell to them.
If you’re a digital marketer or have implemented systems that have worked for you, you can profit from your knowledge.
With a Product
While we already touched on using social media marketing as a way to monetize your blog, you can also profit from email marketing. After all, the money is in the list, right?
Meera Kothand is a digital marketer and writer. She has a course for new bloggers called Profitable Email System.
If courses or eBooks are too big of a project, you can also sell workbooks or a kit like Lady Boss Studio does with their Elemental Sales Page Template.
These are typically not as involved as creating a course.
With a Service
You can also offer email marketing services to help other businesses with their strategy like copywriter John McIntyre.
Or if you want to focus on service-based businesses, you can coach entrepreneurs on how to develop a marketing strategy to attract their ideal clients.
With Subscription
Finally, if you’re interested in running a membership site, you could create a master class for a set period where you teach others your strategies to help their business grow.
15. Affiliate Marketing
One of the easiest ways to start earning hundreds of dollars per month as a blogger is to do some affiliate marketing.
You recommend a product to your audience using a special link and if a person clicks on your link you get a kickback or commission. I’m an affiliate for tools like Tailwind, Bluehost, Teachable and for eBooks, and courses.
Let’s look at some creative ways to make money with affiliate marketing.
With a Product
For bloggers who excel with affiliate marketing, they will most likely create a digital product of what they know. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is a popular finance blogger. She create an affiliate marketing course becuase of all the money she was making with this income stream.
If you find that you are making consistent income with an affiliate strategy, why not bundle it into an eBook, planner or course?
With an Affiliate Service
What I mean is if you have a digital product why not offer an affiliate program for it? I have many products and offer affiliate marketing for those.
Bonus – Tools
If you need help with each of these three types – product, service or subscription – you’ll probably need some tools.
Products/courses
For eBooks or other digital products with a one-off payment model, you’ll need a hosted payment and digital delivery service. Here are three to choose from:
- Teachable – This platform allows you to sell your digital goods like books, art and courses, directly to your audience. You don’t need to bother with your own shopping cart or e-commerce site when you choose Teachable. Plus you can start a free trial to see if this is the course platform for you.
- SendOwl – SendOwl is a hosted shopping cart and digital product delivery service. This means you don’t have to worry about sending customers your products or collecting and complying with the legalities regarding your customer’s sensitive payment information – SendOwl takes care of that for you. If you want to sell your product quickly and easily, SendOwl can help you out.
- DPD – Another easy platform to use is Digital Product Delivery, known as DPD. You upload your files, copy and paste a button on your site, and you’re good to go. They support a variety of payment processors such as Stripe, PayPal and ClickBank.
Invoicing Tools for FReelancers
If you’re a freelancer or offering a service, you’ll need a payment processor for your invoices. While the popular choices are PayPal and Stripe, there are other services you can use to make invoicing easier.
- Zoho Invoice – Zoho is a web-based invoicing platform that creates invoices quickly for faster payment. They are a known brand in the space, and they have a fully-functional free tier for up to 25 clients.
- FreshBooks – This is a popular cloud-based accounting program that concentrates on invoices, time tracking and project management. What’s great about using FreshBooks versus using PayPal directly is that with FreshBooks – at least for users in the U.S. – you can often end up paying just a $0.50 flat fee rather than the normal 2.9% charge from PayPal.
Subscription Based Model
If you want to run a membership site, there are some great plugins available if you are running WordPress.
- MemberMouse – This is a full-featured solution for your WordPress membership. There’re a lot of features included with MemberMouse including content restriction, content dripping and coupons and trial offers. Pricing starts at $19.95/month.
- Paid Memberships Pro – For a developer-friendly option that incudes unlimited membership levels – as well as the ability to restrict access to members-only content on a page-by-page level, and much more – this plugin is perfect for the tech-savvy entrepreneur or small business. It’s freely available as open source software, but pricing runs from $97-197/year for support from the developer and access to advanced add-ons.
And if you don’t want to use a plugin or if you don’t have a WordPress site, you can use hosted platforms like ClickFunnels or even Teachable to run your membership site.
Wrapping it Up
As you can see, there are a lot of different ways people can monetize their blog.
From having a service to creating a product to having a membership for recurring income, you can find a lot of ideas to fill those three money-making tiers.
Over to you – how do you monetize your site?
