Looking for the best methods to make money online?
WordPress powers over 31% of all websites. So, with the right strategies in place, it’s easy to make money online with a WordPress blog.
In this article, we’ll show you 30 legitimate ways to earn money online blogging. Making Money Online Blogging
While there’re a lot of different ways to make money online, in this article, we’ll specifically explain how to earn money with a self-hosted WordPress blog.
To build a WordPress blog, you’ll need to own a domain name and web hosting.
A domain name is your website’s address on the internet such as Google.com or IsItWP.com, and web hosting is where your website’s content and files are stored online.
The combined cost of a domain name and hosting can be quite expensive, especially if you’re just starting out.
That’s why we’ve worked out a deal with Bluehost to offer our users a FREE domain name and over 70% off on web hosting.
Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer »
Bluehost is one of the largest web hosting providers in the world. They’re an officially-recommended hosting provider by the folks who created WordPress.
Before you dive in, keep in mind that these are not get-rich-quick schemes. You’ll need to put in time and effort to reap the reward.
Need help building a blog before you begin? No problem. For a detailed guide, check out our article on how to make a WordPress blog.
Here’s the table of contents for easy navigation:
Blog MonetizationDisplay Google AdSenseAffiliate MarketingSell Direct AdsPublish Sponsored Blog PostsPublish Paid ReviewsEarn Money by Flipping Websites
Build a community-powered website create Restricted Members Only ContentSell Online CoursesCreate a Private ForumCreate a Niche Social Network
Sell ProductsSell Ebooks on WordPressKindle Direct PublishingStart an ECommerce Business With WooCommerceAllow Subscription-Based ShoppingCreate a Digital eCommerce Store With Easy Digital DownloadsCreate an Amazon Affiliate WordPress Shop
Sell ServicesOffer Freelance Services on Your WebsiteStart Your Own Consulting BusinessList Your Services on a Freelancing SiteSell Your Service Gigs on Fiverr
Monetize Digital ContentLaunch a YouTube ChannelAccept Sponsorship for Your PodcastsHost a Paid Webinar
Design & DevelopmentSell WordPress PluginsSell WordPress ThemesSell GraphicsCrowdfunding
More Ways to Make Money OnlineAccept DonationsRent Your Home or RoomCreate a WordPress Job Board With Paid SubmissionsBlog Monetization
Once you’ve got your blog set up and traffic is coming your way, you can monetize your blog and start making money. Some ways to monetize your blog are Display Google AdSense: Make money by displaying Google ads to your blog audience. Affiliate marketing: Refer different products and earn a commission when someone purchases from your referral. Sell direct ads: Keep 100% of ad revenue by selling direct ads, without joining any ad networks, like Google AdSense.Publish sponsored blog posts: Allow your sponsors to publish a post on your blog and endorse their products. Publish paid reviews: No need to wait until someone purchases your affiliate product. Get paid by writing reviews. Flip blogs and websites: Just like real estate, flipping blogs and websites is a real business.1. Display Google AdSense
Monetizing a website with Google AdSense is probably the easiest way to make money online.
Google AdSense is a Google-owned advertising network that allows bloggers and website owners to monetize their website by displaying text, images, videos, and other interactive advertisements on their websites.
Here are a few benefits of using Google AdSense to monetize your website: Minimal requirement: Unlike other ad networks, you’re not required to have a huge traffic volume to join Google AdSense. If you provide quality content on your website, then you can apply to join AdSense.More revenue: Google ads are targeted by site content and audience. AdSense ads are more targeted than other contextual ad networks. Because of this, it helps you generate more revenue than any other contextual ad network. Easy to use: Ad management on WordPress is easy with Google AdSense. For optimal ad placement, you can either choose an AdSense-ready WordPress theme or ad management plugins such as AdSanity.
Get started with Google AdSense now! 2. Affiliate Marketing
With affiliate marketing, you can choose a product you like, promote it online, and earn commissions when someone purchases it through your referrals.
The best thing is, with affiliate marketing, you don’t have to bloat your website with annoying ads. You can refer to the products within your articles and generate a solid income when your readers purchase them.
You can start affiliate marketing in 2 simple steps:
Step 1: Find the Product You Want to Promote
The easiest way to find a product you want to promote is to join an affiliate program like Amazon Associates, Commission Junction, or ShareASale and browse through their site.
After selecting the product, you can get an affiliate link and promote the product through that link on your site.
Step 2: Promote the Products by Placing Affiliate Links
Placing affiliate links on your website is easy. However, it’s advised to use an affiliate link management plugin like ThirstyAffiliates because you can organize all your affiliate links in a single place.
In case the company that you promote modifies the affiliate links, then you don’t have to waste your time by replacing every single link you added throughout your site. Instead, you can change it in the ThirstyAffiliates panel and all of the affiliate links on your site will be automatically updated.
You might also want to check out the best affiliate management plugins for WordPress.3. Sell Direct Ads
Advertising networks take a portion of the ad revenue you generate from your website. If you’ve grown a significant traffic base, then you can start selling direct ads on your site. That way, you can keep the full ad revenue profits from your site.
Using AdSanity is the best way to sell direct ads on your site. AdSanity is a lightweight ad management plugin for WordPress.
You can read our complete AdSanity review for more details.
Publishing sponsored posts is one of the easiest ways to make money online.
You can publish a sponsored post once in a while to make some extra income from your WordPress blog.
When publishing a sponsored post, make sure to explicitly tell your audience that it’s a sponsored piece of content. Otherwise, it might come off as a little out of sync with your trusting audience. Plus, in some countries, like the United States, a blogger needs to comply with FTC’s Endorsement Guide by disclosing whenever a post is sponsored.
If you publish sponsored posts on an ongoing basis, then you might want to install the WPForms plugin on your site.
WPForms allows you to create a post submission form on your WordPress site. With a post submission form, you can allow users to submit a post in WordPress without providing them access to your WordPress dashboard. In addition, you can require your sponsors to make a payment while submitting the post for your review.
For more details, learn how to accept a sponsored post in WordPress.5. Publish Paid Reviews
Affiliate marketers often publish product reviews on their site so they can refer affiliate products and make money.
Did you know that you can even get paid for writing product reviews?
The easiest way to get started with publishing paid reviews is to join Sponsored Reviews as a blogger. That way, you can easily connect with sponsors who want to publish a paid review on your site.6. Earn Money by Flipping Websites
Just like real estate, flipping websites is a serious business.
Because building and growing a website is a lot of work, entrepreneurs often prefer purchasing an established website over starting one from the ground up.
Flippa is the world’s largest marketplace that helps you buy and sell websites. Alternatively, you can partner with a website brokerage firm to sell a website, like Quiet Light Brokerage. Build a Community-Powered Website
A community-powered website requires users to register an account. You can collect a monthly membership fee and earn recurring income. Create Restricted Members Only ContentSell Online CoursesCreate a Private ForumCreate a Niche Social Network7. Create Restricted Members Only Content