Blogging has become so popular these days. It is almost impossible to throw a question to Google and not receive up to 2-3 blog pages in response. While search bots crave for the quality and informative nature of blogs, real searchers, seeking for answers, suggestions or helpful tips, have also realized the helpfulness of active, informative blogs. This explains why some blogs have such a huge community of readers.


However, it is not that easy to maintain a blog while satisfying such a growing number of hungry readers. You need to pay for the cost of hosting. And for some people who are not techie savvy, there is also the cost of technical maintenance not to talk about the enormous time commitment involved. For these reasons and more, nobody will blame you for finding ways of making extra income from your blog – at least to cover some costs. Here are some of the ways you can leverage the money-making potential of your blog and make the most of it.

1. Adsense - PPC

   Adsense is a publishing program through which ads will be displayed on your blog and you get paid a certain amount when visitors click on them. Adsense is not a new program, though. It has been in use by both  bloggers and authority site owners. However, your earning potential with it depends solely on the level of your traffic. While it may be making fortunes for people that already have huge blog readers, it is often hard to start making some reasonable amount on start-up blogs. This goes without saying that Adsense is relatively easy to set up. Considering the fact that it doesn’t have special set up requirements - it is something that every blogger can benefit from. Just like every other online business model, your income will keep increasing as your traffic increases.
   
   Notably, using this monetization method may depend on the kind of blog you are running. For instance, I have a coupon blog where I don’t run Adsense. It is dedicated to the provision of current coupon codes like Pinnacle Studio codes, Mixbook coupon and those of many other products and services, but I feel like putting Adsense on the blog will serve as a distraction to my visitors. Since blogs are meant to offer enormous value to readers, I think it is best to think from the perspective of your readers even when implementing different monetization methods.

2. Cost Per Thousand Impression (CPM)

   Cost Per Thousand impression is an advertising program where publishers opt to show advertisers ads on their blogs and get paid by how many times each ad shows up. This monetization method is similar to Adsense which depends on traffic for huge earnings but unlike it, you will earn with CPM for every visit to your blog. With the fact that ads are served at every page view, you will get paid regardless of whether those ads were clicked by your blog readers or not. Whether you are running short term blogs that may be flipped in a few months or a long term blogging project which most of us are doing, you can start earning with CPM with your fist post.

3. Affiliate Program

   There are many internet marketers who focus on marketing other people’s products, and they make a killing at that. The good news is, virtually any blog can bring in some money through affiliate marketing. If you are running a tech blog, cooking blog, or any other web log on any niche, you can make extra income by picking and recommending relevant products to your blog readers. By just marketing the product, you don’t have to deal with shipping, if the product is one that requires it or any other hassles of selling the product yourself. While majority of the marketers out there depend on impulsive buying to make profit, having developed some trust with your blog readers gives you some advantage; it won’t be hard for them to accept your recommendations. If you are not so comfortable with abrupt product recommendations, you can adopt a review strategy. However, you must provide unbiased review of any product or service you are promoting.

4. Sell Links

   An active blog that commands great traffic is a goldmine. Many people will want to buy a linkback to their website from your blog if you have a huge community of readers or receive considerable traffic. This presents a good earning potential to bloggers. However, while it is up to your visitors to decide whether they want to click-through to an advertiser’s website, you need to be careful when implementing this strategy in order not to attract Google’s judgment “hammer”. As a guide, ensure that the anchor texts are relevant to your blog and keep the links as minimal as possible. You can offer links on daily, weekly or monthly payment basis - whichever suits you, there is no limit to how much you can earn.

If you have a blog that gets at least a single visitor per day, chances are you are leaving a lot of  money on the table if you are yet to monetize it.