Hello TheMoneyTools family. Welcome back to my blog. I have been struggling to turn my blog into a side hustle. Who said making money from blogging is easy? It is very challenging. Since ChatGPT is super trendy right now, I decided to give it a task. Let’s look at the recommendations ChatGPT made and my plan to turn this blog into a full-time side hustle.
There are several ways to make money from a blog. Here are some suggestions:
Affiliate Marketing:
“You can promote products and services related to personal finance and investing on your blog through affiliate marketing. You earn a commission when someone clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase.”
Yes I have joined affiliate marketing. Since my blog is about 2 main topics: How to blog and Healthcare/personal finance, my biggest affiliation is with BlueHost.
I have written over 20 blogs with my BlueHost affiliate links. For some reason they don’t get a lot of traffic.
When I investigate through Google Search Console, here is what I found:
Based on these activities for the past 3 months, my blog about how I was almost scammed by paypal got the most impression and clicks.
On the other hand, even though I spent so much time writing about blogging tips for beginners, those articles got little traction. Please let me know what I need to improve if you read my article.
What I need to do:
- Make sure all my BlueHost has the right affiliate links.
- Write more helpful content about BlueHost for the audience.
- Figure out a different way to deliver my content to readers.
Sponsored posts:
“You can write sponsored posts for companies related to personal finance and investing. This involves writing a post about the company and its products or services and being paid for your work.”
Ok, so I haven’t done any sponsor posts at all. Mostly because I feel weird reaching out to others. Partially I am just being lazy.
What I need to do:
- Reach out to bloggers who are also in the same niche through either social media or email.
Display advertising:
“You can place ads on your blog using ad networks such as Google AdSense. You earn money when visitors click on the ads.”
Yes, I am already doing this. I have Google Adsense ads running on the top bar of my blog and on the sidebar of each individual blog. I limit ads because I want my blog to look as clean and professional as possible.
Every time I visit other pages that are full of advertisements, I get annoyed because the contents are all over the place, and it is hard to navigate. I don’t think this is the best way to make it at the moment, but I still consider it an option.
What I need to do:
Once the blog reaches 10,000 visitors monthly, It will be the appropriate time to increase more advertisement.
Selling digital products:
“You can create and sell digital products related to personal finance and investing, such as ebooks, online courses, or financial planning templates.”
Currently, I have 2 digital products that I offer to my reader for free in exchange for your emails. I spent a lot of time drafting those. These two products are my babies, and I hope you find them useful. If you have any feedback, please let me know. The two products are:
- A FREE Guide: How To Start A WordPress Blog with BLUEHOST -2023- “10 Mins EASY METHOD”.
- Free Guide: How to use Canva.com to enhance your blog graphic
If you are interested, you can sign up here and get them at no cost
Offering services:
“You can offer your services as a financial planner or investment advisor to your readers.”
I am not a financial expert. I love to read about personal finance, such as credit cards, mortgages, and savings, … and I am decently good at those topics. I thought about making a Beginner Personal Finance Course. But the more I got into personal finance, the more I discovered that too many folks are already doing a way better job.
In 2019, I created a blog writing service but it didn’t do well because I didn’t advertise or talk about it at all.
In 2020, I joined Upwork as a freelancer to offer a blog writing service. The business didn’t pick up either.
In 2022, I created a spooky theme digital planner on Etsy. You can find the product on my Etsy shop here. The shop has been up and running for about two months now. So far, I haven’t made any money yet.
In conclusion
To start making money from your blog, you should focus on creating high-quality content that is relevant to your readers. This will help you to build an engaged audience, which in turn will make it easier to monetize your blog. You should also work on promoting your blog through social media and other platforms and consider using email marketing to stay in touch with your readers and promote your products and services. Finally, be patient and persistent – making money from a blog takes time and effort, but it is possible if you are willing to do the work.
