Whether you’re just blogging for fun or as part of your business plan, you might want to monetize your WordPress website. That way, you can grow your cash flow and have residual income. Even if you don’t have huge ambitions for your blog, maintaining one still requires some money to cover the domain name and web hosting.
Before we go over the monetization methods, we need to emphasize one key aspect – you have to be patient. Getting money for your content is doable, and you can find people making over six figures with their blogs, but you need to be patient as it takes time and effort.
To monetize your website – you need to have a decent amount of traffic to use these methods most efficiently. If you haven’t already, check out our article on optimizing and bringing more traffic to your website.
Alright, let’s start!
Ads
The easiest way to earn money on ads for a beginner is by using the Google Adwords program. It uses the PPC – Pay Per Click (also known as Cost Per Click), a model where you get paid when a visitor clicks the ad on your website. There are plenty of PPC companies around, but we’d recommend Google as it’s the most reliable, and you can apply for Google AdSense here. Before applying, make sure that your website has enough original content to have more chances of getting approved. Once you get approved, you’ll receive a code that you need to put on your website.
If you don’t get approved, or need an alternative, here’s a short list of AdSense biggest competitors:
If you’re not a developer, there’s no need to worry. You can use plugins like Ad Inserter to insert ads to your website easily. Another way to insert ads is by using WordPress shortcodes.
Remember that to earn decent money using the PPC model – you need to have a good amount of traffic on your website.
The PPC model’s slight issue is that over 26% of internet users use Ad Blockers in their browsers, so you can lose valuable revenue. There is a solution! Use plugins like NS Adblock Blocker to detect users with Ad Blocker enabled and present them a custom message or deny seeing content on your website until they turn it off.
To sum it up:
+ Easy passive income, and you don’t have to do anything once you’ve placed ads on your website
– You need clicks on ads actually to make money; page impressions aren’t enough
E-commerce
Creating your online store is the most apparent strategy to monetize your blog. WordPress allows you to run sales efficiently, list products, and accept payments using the free WooCommerce plugin. WooCommerce allows you to sell anything, from physical to digital goods, services, and appointments. This method isn’t easy and quick, and it takes time to earn money this way. However, if you find your niche – it will make it easier to grow.
Here are some examples of what you can sell on your store using the WooCommerce plugin:
- Physical goods
- Digital goods (Ebooks, photographs, art)
- Counseling
- Training
To sum it up:
+ You don’t depend on a third-party company for your income, and you set your own rates
– It takes time to build and establish your store, so it’s not a passive income option as it requires hard work
If you need a reliable web host for your E-commerce website, take a look at Skystra, as they’re highly rated in our yearly WordPress hosting roundup article.
Sponsored posts
This method is excellent because it offers a fantastic user experience since it’s not a straight advertisement. In a nutshell, you write reviews on products or services in your niche, and companies pay for this content.
If you’re already well-known in the space – companies will approach you automatically. If you’re just starting, make a plan, find companies in your niche, and offer reasonable rates for quality content. If you’re good, you can even have a deal with businesses to write a certain amount of articles per month or have a yearly contract. That way, you can plan your revenue.
In addition to your blog, you can also write sponsored posts on your social media channels and bring traffic to your website. Try not to write biased opinions, as it can affect your credibility. Write honest experiences with the products/services, and your visitors will trust you.
+ Great user experience and you can set your rates and conditions
– As a beginner – it can be a bit hard to find companies to pay for reviews
Google AdSense for search
This is another interesting method to earn passive income if you have a website with tons of useful information and your visitors often use the search function on your blog. You can replace your regular search bar with Google’s Custom Search Engine (CSE) and have Google display ads each time someone uses the search bar. If the visitor clicks the ad – you earn money! You can get started here, and once you apply – you’ll need to connect the search form with your AdSense account.
You can use the WP Google Search plugin to display it on your website easily after getting the GSC ID from Google.
+ Search bar click rates are high, and you can earn quite a bit of money
– Competing companies might use Adwords to advertise, and their ads might be shown in related search results. If you have an E-commerce website – avoid this method
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular methods of monetizing WordPress blogs and websites. In essence, companies pay you money to bring them, new customers via affiliate links. For example, if you blog about tech products and link to a product you use a lot – you’ll get paid each time someone buys the product through your link (if you have a contract with the company that sells it).
There are two ways to get paid via affiliate links:
- CPC (Cost Per Click) – each time someone clicks the link
- CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) – each time someone buys the product through your link
CPA is the better way to earn money as you make more, and everyone is happy – you for receiving the sale, the company for selling the product, and the reader for finding and purchasing the product.
You need to use unique affiliate links so the company knows how much business they get through your website. Each company will provide you with a special link once you set up an account with them. For example, you can find Amazon’s instructions here.
Ensure to only include products in your niche, or your readers won’t trust you. Also, be honest, and tell your readers you’re earning money via commission sales – it goes a long way.
+ Good passive income, and allows you to build long-lasting relationships with businesses
– You need to have an already established blog (make content first, then use affiliate marketing to earn money)
Exclusive content
If you have an area of expertise and believe people would be excited to learn from you – providing exclusive content could be a great source of income! It also helps if your website is already established and well-known in your niche.
There are a couple of different strategies you can try on your site.
Premium content
This is the type of content your visitors would pay to gain access to. It could be music, photos, research papers, exclusive articles, movies, etc. Make sure to provide something for free, so the readers can get an idea of what type of content you’re offering. This builds trust between you and the reader, and they’re more likely to hand over cash for the full content.
Subscriptions and memberships
If you want to provide access to all resources on your site to the customer – you can offer subscription plans. If you’re going to offer the option to unlock extra content (unique pages, discounts, etc.) – you can use memberships.
You can play with this strategy and combine it with your premium content so that members can unlock different levels.
Donations
Donations are a great option if you don’t want to force your readers to pay up to enjoy your content. That way, anyone can pay as much as they like to keep your site running. This isn’t the most reliable method, so you might want to combine it with the ads to have a backup plan.
We can’t wait to see what you come up with using these tips, as WordPress monetization done right can really be a game-changer for you.
