Blogging is one industry that’s grown exponentially in recent years. What started off as people writing about whatever came to their heads and taking photos on an old phone has exploded into one of the most profitable career paths out there. Yet it can often be assumed that you can only make money from blogging if you have a large following and have been on the scene for years. This isn’t true – anyone can make money from a blog, you just need to know how. If you’re wondering how much money bloggers make in 2024, the different revenue streams, and how to make money blogging, keep on reading.
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How much do bloggers make in 2024?
The actual number that bloggers make can vary on a wide array of factors. Some bloggers might make hardly anything a year, while others make over half a million. The amount of money you can make per year depends on the season, the clients, the budget and your blog niche. Because of this, it’s difficult to estimate how much specifically you can make from blogging, but you can work out the averages.
Some factors include:
– The age of your blog
– The effectiveness of your marketing and SEO
– The niche you’re in
– The types of advertising you offer
According to Indeed, the average blogger makes $64, 846 per year (around £51,000). Based on a broad study conducted by IncomeSchool, bloggers can earn around $36.80/1,000 page views.
Where do I find further statistics for how much bloggers make in the UK? Is there a credible source or shall I just find different ones?
What are some ways you can make money blogging?
When you think of how to make money blogging, there are a myriad of things you can try. It’s important to diversify the way you make an income so you’re not just reliant on one stream should it go wrong. Some of the best ways include:
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Display Advertising
Advertising is likely the thing you think of when it comes to making money from blogging. There are many ways you can bring income in through ads and it’s down to you to see what works best for your site. Look into display ads which are banners and can be integrated in places such as your header, footer, sidebar and in between your paragraphs in your blog posts.
You can sign up for services such as GoogleAdsense, AdThrive or something similar which can display ads automatically based on a code that you implement to your site. You then earn when people see your ad, known as impressions, or when people click on it. You can also make your own banner ads or have a company pay a set fee for you to display their ad. This can be a benefit as you get the money upfront, no matter how many clicks or purchases it gets, but on the other hand, if you make a larger number of sales, you might not get as much money as you would do if it were based on CPM or CPC.
You want to strike the balance between having enough ads to make you money, but not having so many that people are put off from interacting with your site. Don’t be afraid to play around with the layout and do things such as A/B testing to see what works best.
Other types of ads you can have on your blog include sponsored content in exchange for payment. We’ll go more into this below.
Affiliates
Affiliates are another great way to make money from your website. With affiliate links, you earn a commission for each click or sale that’s generated when people click on the link. This can be very profitable depending on how much the products are that you’re linking to and how carefully you tailor your articles. You want it to be directed at those that are ready to buy and will click through. Some examples include packing lists for certain destinations or trips to tours and hotels as part of a review.
Consider how far along in the process the reader is likely to be and therefore how likely they are to purchase through the link. There are a host of affiliate programs you can sign up for, including Amazon Associates and Travel Payouts. These are sites which offer many affiliate links for companies and save you from applying for individual brands. You can also add plugins for companies such as SkimLinks which can automatically add links to your site. This can make you more money and save you time.
If you have certain companies you want to work with, it’s worth contacting them to see if they have an affiliate program. You might have already written about them and want to earn some money from the post, or perhaps you love what they do and want to work with them going forward. Some affiliate programs are better than others so do your research before signing up. Some brands might also be on multiple programs and it’s usually worth going directly as you will likely get more commission. This is because they won’t be giving a cut to a third party such as Amazon Affiliates for example.
Sponsored Posts
Sponsored posts are another way to make money from blogging and are popular in a variety of niches. With a sponsored post you’ll be paid to either write about a specific topic, product or company, or perhaps they’ll write a piece for you to publish on your site. These posts tend to be more advertorial and detail the product or service in question, usually with a link to purchase the product and visit their website. The idea behind this is a form of advertising that’s more informative than an ad and isn’t restricted just to an image banner. Instead, it can include much more information, and images and can rank on search engines. It’s also shareable on Social Media and as such can have a great reach.
It’s important you maintain transparency and disclose when a post is sponsored, the same way as they should be able to identify an advertisement. While it’s a more natural form of advertising, it’s still promoting a service or product and you’ve been paid to do so. Being clear on this is vital to not mislead your readers and to keep in line with guidelines too.
Selling products
Think about the niche your blog is in and how you could make money from selling products that relate to this. You could make your own merchandise that relates to your blog, such as accessories, crafts or apparel. You might want to design t-shirts for example, or perhaps if you work in the travel niche, you’d like to sell a travel bag you’ve designed. These are things that once you have a loyal following in particular, can help you to make money and further increase engagement with your blog. If a product is to go viral and it’s branded with your blog name and logo, it can increase the views to your site and vice versa.
Some niches where products might do well include selling travel bags for a travel blog, t-shirts for a fashion blog, food products or cookware for a food blog and custom playing cards for a casino blog. There really are limited options, just make sure you do your research and don’t invest heavily if you’re not going to make money back. It’s best to start small and enable this side-part of your business to grow as opposed to going all in at once.
Offering a subscription to your blog
Once you’ve got a good level of viewers and a regular cycle of producing high quality content, you can make money by adding a subscription to your blog. There are a few ways this can be executed, for example charging readers a monthly fee in order to read certain articles. You could also add a membership option where people pay a fee that could be monthly or yearly and this includes a number of benefits. These could include a free gift on their birthday, access to exclusive content and features such as a forum or chat space for other members.
By making them feel they’re part of something special and exclusive, they’re likely to want to sign up and recommend it to others. You want to ensure it’s worth them paying for it and that you don’t let down their expectations. Carefully consider what you want to charge, how often you’ll charge and what you’ll do to make it worthwhile for those that sign up for you. Again, this isn’t something that can be rushed and you want to offer high value so people don’t end up asking for a refund or being disappointed.
Organising events for your blog
This helps if you have a loyal following as you’re more likely to get people to attend, but events can be a fantastic way to monetise your site at any level as long as it’s done right. You could set up a meet-up where you meet your readers over lunch, cocktails or dinner. This can be a great way to interact with your followers and find out more about them and what they like or want more of from your site.
You could set up seasonal events too, such as cocktail making, wreath creating or a food masterclass. You can rent a space and sell tickets, all of which can help bring in money. If you want something more specifically relevant to your blog, you could organise a webinar or seminar based on something to do with your site. For example, if you run a cooking blog, why not run a masterclass on bread making? This could be done in-person or virtually, perhaps offering a discount for those logging in online. This way you can interact with as many people as you like but if you do choose to do it online, you don’t need to worry about necessarily hiring a large space to do it in.
Sell your blog photography
If you’re someone that takes your own photos or videos for your blog, you could sell these to make additional funds. There are a few ways you can do this. If you’ve been to review a restaurant or bar for example, and taken some beautiful images, you could sell these directly to the venue. They can then use these in their marketing and social media just as they would images from a photographer hired specifically for this. You could also put images you’ve taken for your blog on stock sites where the general public can choose to purchase them. This works best for generic photos as opposed to ones that focus on a specific brand or product.
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What are some tips for making a successful blog?
This is a detailed insight into how much bloggers make and how you can earn money from blogging yourself. There are many top tips for you to utilise when looking to turn your blogging into a profitable business. Whether you already blog for a passion and want to turn it into something that makes money, or are going into it with the view of creating a business, there are many things to try. Have you got any ideas from reading this post? Let us know inthe comments below, we’d love to hear from you!
