Make Money by Writing a Blog

If you search for how to make money by writing a blog, you'll certainly find hundreds of tips and advice. Find a niche that suits you the best. Keyword research is important. SEO. Meta tags... Boring, but helpful. Of course they're all true to some extent. But because it can all sound complicated, those tips and advice might make you think blogging is a hard barrier to entry. You might forget the fact that blogging is such a fun way to make money.

Blogging allows you to show your personality and express your opinion without being interrupted.

Blogging really is a joy. It's supposed to be. In fact it has always been. I built my first website in the late 1990s, well before the word 'blog' or 'weblog' became popular. I just loved the idea of broadcasting my own content to the 'world wide web'. I even once had a part-time web designing job for a living.

Then I had no option but to quit, because things became too technical and I couldn't keep up.

When Content Wasn't King

By the mid-2000s, Flash animation had become the mainstream. A website with no Flash was considered no style. If we wanted to stand out from the crowd - more specifically, in order to monetize our website - not using Flash didn't seem to be an option anymore at one time. 

I would spend hundreds of hours trying to create fancy moving images. I'm not a graphic designer, I can't even draw. Content is not king. But Flash is. And me struggling with it, what for?

In the end I quit the web designing job and also put an end to my own website. It was the right decision at the time no doubt, because if website building was about being so heavily involved with animation making, it really wouldn't be my future career.

Having said all that, was everyone using Flash on their site? Of course not. There were many blog platforms where people could simply share information and exchange opinions. Wikipedia didn't have Flash. Flash technology once became the general norm in order to make a site look more professional, hence to make money, yet it was just the norm. So people like me were making ourselves believe that websites without Flash wouldn't make money. If it's too technical to do it myself but too costly to outsource it, the job's not for me, you see?

Blogging: Accessible By Anyone

It was only a few years after I gave up website building, Flash started to become a thing to avoid. No longer considered good because search engines couldn't crawl Flash, also the end users had to have Flash player loaded before they could view the content. I even thought my 2nd Gen iPhone was "useless" when it came to browsing websites back in 2008, because it wasn't supporting Flash.

At the same time, easy website builders such as WordPress and Wix were developed, and for the past over a decade, any individuals and companies have been able to create reasonably stylish websites without much of technical skill.

Don't Be Put Off By How-Tos!

Going back to the point I was trying to make in the beginning. Now it's easy for anyone to build a website, but there's something else that's boggling our minds - search engine algorithm.

If you want to find out how to make money by writing a blog and Google search it, thousands of articles explaining "SEO how-to's" will come up (including this very site, I must add!) Not only about SEO's but copywriting technique, what you should or shouldn't write about in order to keep the readers interested, how to place and where in the page to place a CTA button, etc. etc.

Doesn't all that put you right off? You're just thinking about creating your first blog site. A blog that will hopefully and eventually be visited by thousands of people, and that will make good affiliate income sometime in the future. When you just want to get it started, you find an overwhelming amount of information, as if you must learn everything before you start anything. Are there really so many rules?

It'll be a shame if you give up the idea of blogging just because you think there are too many technical skills to learn before you even start it.

Forget The Rules

The main thing is to get your blogging career started. Don't try to follow all the 'how-to's' in the beginning at the same time. Your brand new blog posts will not be recognized as 'trustworthy' by search engines anyway. While you're not making money with your website just yet, you can, and you should write anything you want, in any style you want, as long as it's your original. 

Here are some examples of the "Make Money by Writing a Blog Rules" that you often see but don't have to follow for a while. Just for a while. Try learning as you go along so that your website will start earning passive income at some point in the future. Because for now, taking it all in today won't let you earn money any sooner.

#1 Don't Be Obsessed with Information-Providing

What you often get told is that your website "must provide high quality and valuable information". Because that's what people are looking for on the internet. No one's interested in you unless you're a famous celebrity. So "stop using your website as a diary. Don't write your personal stories, unless they're related to the product you're promoting." So they say.

That's true, nobody cares about what you had for lunch today unless it's relevant to your post topic. But by following this rule ("you MUST provide information"), what new bloggers often do is to literally write necessary information throughout the post, and in a very serious tone. 

You're not WikiHow, your blog is you. And what's the point in writing a blog if you're not showing your wonderful personality?

#2 Never Mind The Keywords

You could easily get bogged down in keyword research. You can ruin half of your day by trying to find the perfect keywords. 

Finding the best keywords - yes, it's important. But instead of spending too much time for it, I suggest that you just find 'reasonably appropriate' keywords and use them, because your priority is to focus on writing the whole article and publish it. Just remember to use the keywords in...

1. The headline (page title) - for example 'Best Travel Umbrellas'
2. The permalink (URL) - for example https://yoursite/best-travel-umbrellas
3. The first paragraph of your article, if you can.
4. Again in a few other paragraphs. Repeat the keywords but don't over-repeat it unnecessarily. 

You can always update your blog content as well as the keywords at a later date. In fact, we bloggers all check our old web posts from time to time, to find better keywords and touch up the content so that it will rank better in Search Engine Results Pages. By that time, you may be using a better/faster keyword tool and easily find more search engine friendly phrases.

So to summarize, don't worry about keywords too much right now!

#3 You CAN Change The URL

Many experts say, you can change your headline (page title) or any of your blog content, but you mustn't change your permalink. But they often advise you without the full logical explanation, unfortunately.

What they're saying is, with the above 'umbrella' example, you might find a better key phrase 'Best Compact Umbrellas' instead of 'Best Travel Umbrellas' at a later date. You can rename the title to 'Best Compact Umbrellas' but you cannot change the permalink to https://yoursite/best-compact-umbrellas because it can "potentially harm your site ranking".

That is only the case if your page is already ranked high in search engines and the page has backlinks from other sites or internal links from other pages.

At the early stage of your website building this will rarely be the case, so I suggest that you don't have to be afraid of that. You can always check to see your page is back-linked by using a tool such as SEOquake. Also to see if your site has broken links using a free broken link checker.

#4 Don't Be Obsessed With Word Count

"You must be writing at least 2,000 words in order to rank on the first page of Google". It seems to be the case most of the time, sadly. And it gets harder as more and more content marketers write insanely lengthy articles for ranking purposes.

However one of my most popular niche affiliate pages back in 2016 was about vintage style suitcases, was in the first page of Google with that very phrase, but amazingly the page had only less than 350 words.

Sadly I neglected to maintain the site (lost interest in the niche, in other words!) and the page has vanished from SERPs, but it did tell me that a blog article could be extremely short and still manage to be recognized by search engines.

#5 Forget Backlinks!

A backlink is where another website places a link to your site. So the webmaster recommends their readers to refer to your site. It means your website is seen trustworthy. Many SEO tools measure the value of your website by the number of backlinks that you have. (There's more to it, but that's what it is, to simply put.)

One of the few best ways to receive backlinks from other websites is...is to ask!

If you've written an article about travel umbrellas for example, Google search for other websites in the same niche, and send a polite email to each website owner.

"I was reading your page about umbrellas and found the information very useful. Especially about XYZ... By the way, I've written an article about travel umbrellas. I'd be most grateful if you could spare a few minutes to read it for me, and the link in your page if you consider it worthy. The URL is..."

Do you have time to do that? You might do, but I suggest that you shouldn't waste it. While it seems to be a good idea, it is only an alternative strategy to rank better in SERPs. Use your precious time in writing another good meaningful blog post!

Also let me add that some experts don't believe in backlinks: "Are Backlinks Good For Rankings? Nope." 

What Not To Do

I must reemphasize that these rules that I've mentioned will come as important in due course. But the most important thing for you right now is really, to enjoy the whole blogging experience, so don't let these rules become your obstacles right now. That's what I'm trying to say.

However, there are a few things that you really mustn't do. So keep these in mind from Day 1.

Ways To Make Money by Writing a Blog

The best way to make money by blogging is as an affiliate because you're not selling anything, you only recommend products to your readers. It's a great idea mainly for two reasons;

#1 Promote Anything You Want

Any brands that you love, any services that you think are useful, any household items, say, that you think are convenient - you can share your thoughts with your readers and make a recommendation in your blog post. Providing the brand offers an affiliate program, you can promote anything on their behalf, and when your blog reader makes a purchase via your page, you'll receive a commission.

#2 No Need To Worry About Sales/Order Status

You don't need to worry about any maintenance aspects that merchants normally face - ordering stocks, monitoring orders, customer services, etc. When they buy, they buy, and you'll automatically receive a commission (simply speaking!)

Except that sometimes your readers may leave a comment to ask for more information about the product that you recommend. You are not the seller, so you give your honest opinion about it. In fact it's important to tell them your honest view because you're trying to influence your readers by making recommendations. Although you might not want to be too brutally honest and criticize products that you have an affiliate agreement with. But then if you didn't like a brand, you wouldn't become an affiliate... 

Amazon Associates Program

Amazon affiliate program (Amazon Associates) will definitely give you versatility in terms of promoting products that are related to each blog post. For example, if you like fashion and your article is about feeling blue on a rainy day, you can certainly introduce some colorful umbrellas for ladies, classy rain jackets for men, waterproof boots perhaps.

It's great because you are allowed to promote almost any items that are sold on Amazon. Also joining the program is easy and you can start promoting goods on your website almost immediately. Check for more details from here: How To Make Money As Amazon Affiliate.

If You Like A Particular Brand

If you are a fan of a particular brand and intend to recommend multiple products from the brand, the best way is to Google search by the phrase "[Brand Name] + affiliate program". For example, if you love the fashion brand Paul Smith, search by the phrase "Paul Smith affiliate program". 

You'll find a page that explains how to join with a signup link. Not always, because not every brand is open to an affiliate program, but most of the time you'll find it. (By the way, if you want to be an affiliate for Paul Smith, you can find it in the affiliate network FlexOffers.)

The joining application can be a 1-step process or a 2-step process. With some brands such as Paul Smith's example will be a 2-step; they will first ask you to join the affiliate network (FlexOffers), then to join the brand's affiliate program. They're all free to join, and it's not difficult - you just need to fill in a simple form (your name, address, website address, how you want to get paid, e.g. via PayPal). 99%+ of brands check your application manually so you'll wait about a day for it to be approved.

Placing Your Affiliate Link In Your Post

Once your affiliate application is approved, you'll be supplied with banners, text links and some convenient widgets that you can embed in your blog post. You can place the link multiple times within one post but don't go crazy, obviously!

How you can place a link in your blog post - check the related post "How To Create A Website For Affiliate Marketing".

Advertising Ads

Google Adsense allows you to earn on a PPC (pay-per-click) basis. Means every time your reader clicks the ad on your website, you'll receive a few cents. As far as your expected income is concerned - how much exactly depends on the ad, but it's a very small amount. So it's almost not worth considering it as a way to make money by writing a blog.

But it will add a variety to your post, and also it's easy to sign up with Google Adsense. For an experience you might just want to try it out. Of course there are many other PPC agencies available, but the rates per click are all so low, I personally don't think it's worth trying them out other than Google Adsense.

Make Money by Writing a Blog

Do you want to set up your website for free and start writing a blog today? You can actually do that in the next few minutes. Your immediate goal is to get your blogging platform kick off without worrying about any complex methods. You can learn all the SEO 'rules' gradually as you keep posting your blog from here.