Food blogging can be a lucrative and rewarding career, and we are here to show you how to monetize your blog! We are here to help and share with you 3 steps to get started.
Hi, I’m Kadee, and I blog over on ohsodelicioso.com. One of the first questions I am asked when I tell people that I am a food blogger is, “How do you make money?” There are a few ways you can earn income as a food blogger, and I’m here to tell all the secrets – especially monetizing your blog for beginners.
Ways to Monetize
First things first – you must have traffic to your blog before you can make any money. Creating a blog will not automatically gain you a viewership – you should market and advertise your content. You can drive traffic to your blog by being active on social media outlets like Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. As with most things, follower growth is usually slow and steady. Very few people have overnight success, so be patient when building a viewership. Check out our tips for starting your blog that will help drive traffic here.
After you have traffic to your blog there are several ways that you can monetize it. Today I’ll be talking about ad revenue, sponsored posts, and affiliate income. There are other forms of income like selling merchandise, a cook book, or even an e-book, but for today I’m going to stick to the first three.
Ad Revenue
There are many ad companies that you can work with to place ads on your blog. Some ad companies will pay you just for having an add appear on your blog, while others pay you per click-thru for ads. Either way, this is an easy way to earn money on your blog. It’s kind of a set it and forget it money maker, while you can focus on creating beautiful, fresh, and relevant content. This will help keep your readers coming back.
Sponsored Posts
One of my favorite ways to make money on my food blog is to accept sponsored posts. I have a few personal rules for this. One is only accepting sponsorship from a brand that I truly like and from a brand that fits the theme of my blog. It is always fun to showcase a product that I’m excited to share with my readers.
As mentioned before, there are ad networks that coordinate sponsored content for influencers. With this option, you generally receive an email from the company that you’ve signed up with telling you about upcoming campaigns. After a short application process the brand selects which influencers they would like to pay to showcase their products.
Another way to receive paid post opportunities is to work directly with a company, and skip the ad company as a middle man. This is the way that I prefer to work with a sponsor. I feel the interaction is more personal and I can personalize the post to both highlight my own opinion and the sponsor’s product. There are times that brands have reached out on their own, and times that I’ve reached out to a brand. Don’t be afraid to ask – the worst that can happen is that they say no.
Affiliate Income
The last source of income I want to talk about it affiliate income. This means that you place a unique link on your blog for a product, and if a reader clicks on this link and purchases a product, you will earn a commission. I have similar rules for this, as I do for sponsored work. I must love the product in real life, and it should fit with my blog theme. There are many affiliate programs out there, and you don’t have to be dedicated to just one. Also, some companies have their own affiliate program and will send you a unique link when you mention their product on your blog.
Insider Tips
If these tips for monetizing your blog for beginners was helpful, you will love this post on the power of product reviews. It shares the two different ways you can do product reviews and some insider tips for working with brands you love. You can even check out our blog here to learn how to maximize your profit. While learning how to monetize your blog is important, keeping track of your expenses and income is just as important. We have great tips to stay organized on our blog post here!
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