For a long time, blogging was considered as sort of an online diary where people share their feelings. Then, it evolved into “look at the places I’ve been and what I’m eating!”

Lately, it’s been used as a way to grab attention from Google as a companion to your sales site. They’ve been looked at as a way to share important information so that your readers consider you an expert.

And that’s still a very important function of a blog post. It can indirectly make you money by directing people to your actual site that sells stuff.

But, what if your posts could actually sell stuff? What if your visitors bought stuff or made you money from visiting your blog before they even saw your actual core products? Here’s how you can make that happen.

Ads

The most common of these is Google AdSense, but it’s also well known for needing insane amounts of traffic to make a noticeable impact on your bottom line. However, there are other ad networks that pay more than AdSense, such as BlogHer and Sovrn.

By learning to optimize your ads and finding the best placement for them on your site, you can make a bit of cash with absolutely no extra work. Why not, right?

Amazon Affiliate

Amazon sells everything. But did you know that you can direct people to Amazon and make a percent of what they spend?

They don’t pay out a ton, but it’s easy to pop a link into a blog post and make some extra dough. For example, let’s say you own a food site. You can talk about blenders, ice cream machines, popcorn, tortilla presses, and just about anything else you can think of, and then place an affiliate link to an Amazon listing. Easy!

Sell Hosting

People who read blogs often become interested in starting their own, no matter what niche you’re in. When they start their site, the first thing they’ll need is hosting.

Create a page detailing the process to start a blog, including where to get hosting. Place an affiliate to a host that pays a nice commission (e.g. Bluehost or HostGator). It’s not uncommon for this to become one of your best sources of income.

Recommend Products

Another common way to make money from blog posts is to recommend a product – and then sell it. The approach here isn’t to make a blatant pitch, but rather talk about how much you use that tool.

Let’s say, for example, you want to sell an email autoresponder system like Aweber. You can teach your readers why they need an autoresponder system, and how much it has impacted your business. Then, at the end, share that Aweber is your favorite one and explain why. Then you give them your affiliate link!

Now, none of these sources of income is likely to produce anything close to a full-time revenue stream, but all together they can do very well for you. They work great as a supplement to selling your actual products.

How else do you make money with your blog?