Passion drives many bloggers to share their experiences, expertise, and insider secrets, but can you also make an income writing blogs.
There are several ways to monetize a blog, but fair warning, blogging as an income source takes substantial time and effort. Those success stories about bloggers getting rich overnight? They tend to be just stories.
You'll need to start a blog, find an audience, and drive traffic regularly before you can start blogging for money. The good news is that if you're willing to put in the effort, you'll reap the reward.
In this post, we'll break down how to make money blogging whether you're a beginner or an experienced blogger looking to find another income stream.
How Do Bloggers Make Money?
Most bloggers start making money by offering services through their blogs. But after their traffic levels increase, they adopt methods like ads, sponsored posts, and affiliate marketing to increase their blog income.
The bloggers who are most successful leverage a diversified approach to monetizing their blogs.
Well-established content creators have demonstrated the earning potential of blogging. However, earnings vary widely based on factors like your chosen topic area and the variety of revenue methods you implement.
11 Ways to Make Money Blogging (and How)
If you're new to this whole blogging for money thing, you're probably wondering where to start. Below, we've listed 11 popular ways to make money blogging.
1. Sponsored Posts
Sponsored posts are blog posts that brands or people pay you to create. They're basically a paid ad written in an editorial style. Whether you're blogging about the latest products or personal finance, brands can reach out to you to create sponsored posts on your blog.
You can promote your sponsored posts by having a pricing list available on your website on your contact page. In the beginning, though, you might choose to do some outreach to local businesses (and brands that other bloggers in your niche have partnered with) and ask them if they'd be interested in a sponsored post on your blog. Make sure to mention how much traffic your blog brings and how many followers you have.
When creating sponsored content, transparency matters. Always include clear disclosure statements letting readers know when you've received compensation for a review or recommendation. This builds trust and keeps you compliant with advertising regulations.
On The Brunette Salad's blog, Vanessa Cesario shares collaborations with brands. Check out this sponsored post with Diesel. The photo blog captures pictures of Cesario wearing Diesel clothing in Italy with links to the jeans.
2. Dropshipping
If you want to make money selling products through your blog, adding an online store to your website is a viable option. You can list products that are relevant to your blog's niche. Plus, you can use dropshipping to start selling items worldwide without needing to stock them.
If you blog about fashion, beauty, home decor, maternity, children, DIY, photography, or any other niche, you can find products to sell from Oberlo.
The magic of dropshipping lies in your ability to sell products without having to buy bulk inventory, so you only buy what you've already sold. And with your website already set up, you can add hundreds of products (for free).
3. Create a T-Shirt Business
If you want to create your own product instead of selling someone else's, the t-shirt business model is a popular method for bloggers.
Also, most t-shirt manufacturers have begun to expand their product lines to allow you to create print on demand leggings, dresses, bodysuits, hats, backpacks, phone cases, canvases, pillows, and other products beyond just shirts.
By searching for print on demand companies, you'll find a range of vendors that allow you to add your own text and designs to products. Like the dropshipping model, you only pay for products that have been ordered by your customers. And so after your design is complete, you can literally start selling your own t-shirt the same day.
Think Pup's blog is a prime example of this model in action. The blog articles dog lovers would enjoy, share product lists for holidays like Christmas and Valentine's Day, and funny video content. But this blog is actually monetized with a print on demand t-shirt business.
4. Affiliate Marketing
One of the most common ways bloggers make money is with affiliate marketing. Once accepted into an affiliate program, you can earn commissions each time someone buys from your affiliate link.
Some bloggers choose to create listicles with affiliate links throughout. For example, "10 Best Amazon Products for Your Wedding" with Amazon affiliate links added throughout. Others choose to create articles with several different affiliate programs such as "10 Best Ecommerce Platforms" with links to several different competing programs so that readers feel like they have more options.
The only downside to monetizing with affiliate marketing is that you're only paid commissions and prices are outside your control.
When selecting affiliate partnerships, focus on products that genuinely benefit your readers. Prioritizing audience trust over high commission rates ensures long-term success and maintains your credibility.
5. Freelance Writing
For some, blogging isn't just a way to make passive income. Instead, some writers focus on earning active income as full-time freelance writers.
A blogger may use his or her own blog as a portfolio for new clients. In this case, your blog content might be around your area of expertise. You might also have a portfolio in your navigation that showcases all the blog content you've written for other clients.
Sharon Hurley Hall, an anti-racism educator and mentor, has a blog and freelance writing business. A post from 2021 highlights how she makes an income as a writer. There is a list of clients and articles written for those clients, helping her land more opportunities. Her website's navigation also includes a section for services and rates so potential customers know whether they can afford to hire her as a writer.
6. Giveaways
Giveaways are another way to make money blogging. While it seems like you'd be spending money giving away a prize, there are ways to monetize the audience.
Some giveaways have entry options where people are required to visit a webpage to get a point. You can add an affiliate link to that page, earning a commission in the process and covering the cost of the prize. Another way to earn a commission or payment is by promoting a sponsored giveaway of another brand.
For bloggers with an online store, the best way to monetize giveaways is to send a runner-up prize to all the people who've lost the giveaway. The prize? A discount on your products. This way, people get excited about participating in your giveaway without much expense.
Contest Canada is a popular contest and giveaway blog that earns affiliate commissions by promoting giveaways on their blogs. You can view their homepage to find out how to make money by hosting giveaways on their blog. They also monetize with ads and sponsored posts.
7. Brand Partnerships
You can also make money blogging through brand partnerships. Some may directly compensate you or offer you an affiliate link. Others, while not paid, may expand your audience, which helps you gain more visibility and new opportunities.
When it comes to brand partnerships, the effort will come from your side while starting out. So don't be afraid to network with other bloggers in your area to find out what opportunities you might also be able to jump on. And you can also reach out to brands yourself to let them know you have an existing audience and are available for any opportunities they may have.
8. Ebooks
If you're an expert on a topic, or enjoy deeper research, ebooks tend to be a popular route for many bloggers.
When it comes to writing an ebook, you don't necessarily need to create it on a topic from scratch. To save time, you could always take the most popular blog topics and order them in a way that makes sense. Most blog readers don't have time to dig through every blog post. So don't be afraid to take the content you've already created and repurpose it into a different, more evergreen medium.
Let's take a look at the Frugalwoods blog. The personal finance blog has crafted a ton of advice on financial independence and living within your means. However, to make money blogging, they created an ebook called, "Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living." The ebook has over 1,000 reviews on Amazon, so the promotion from their blog post on the topic clearly helped generate some extra sales.
9. Online Courses
Another way to make money blogging is by creating and selling online courses.
You can choose to sell your online course on your website or through an online course platform like Udemy. By hosting it on Udemy, you gain access to potential new buyers but are restricted by Udemy's Terms of Service. However, if you host on your own, you'll need to heavily promote your course or have a sizable audience to make money.
You can also take a look at other successful courses in your niche, either free or paid, to compile the best content and minimize the weaknesses of competitors. So be sure to look at competitor course reviews to help you determine what kind of content people really want to see in a course.
The Smart Passive Income blog uses online courses to help generate additional blog income. They currently offer seven courses that range from $0 to $999. They have courses on how to find a business idea, how to create a podcast, and how to become an affiliate marketer. All these courses are relevant to the blog topic of making passive income without directly being about the topic itself.
10. Membership Content
Some big bloggers focus on making money by gating content, meaning that some of their exclusive content is available to paying members only.
You'll see this a lot with prominent newspaper brands or long-time bloggers with big audiences. Some of their blog posts may be available to read but an email membership opt-in form blocks the rest of the article as the article starts to get good enticing you to sign up.
Offering premium access to your most dedicated readers creates recurring revenue while building a stronger sense of community. Members appreciate exclusive perks like special tutorials, advanced resources, and direct interaction with you.
Olive Knits is an example of a blog that offers exclusive membership for $24.95 a month. The site provides members with live webinars, in-depth tutorials, tips and hacks, and access to the blog's online community.
11. Advertising Placements
Many businesses are willing to pay for visibility among your readers. Placing advertisements strategically throughout your website enables you to generate revenue from the traffic you've worked hard to attract.
Two distinct approaches exist for earning through advertisements. First, you can contact businesses directly to negotiate custom advertising agreements with potentially higher payouts. Alternatively, advertising platforms like Google AdSense, Mediavine, or Raptive handle everything automatically by connecting your site with relevant advertisers.
Display ads can become a consistent revenue source, even during months when you haven't published new content. However, to make advertising a substantial income stream, focus on driving high website traffic. Ad networks typically pay just a few cents per thousand impressions, so your ads need significant visibility to generate meaningful earnings.
How Long Does It Take to Make Money Blogging?
Building a profitable blog isn't an overnight achievement. While popular blogs can generate income quickly, it typically takes time to build an audience large enough to monetize effectively.
The timeline varies from blogger to blogger. Some content creators start earning cash within weeks by launching simple digital products and promoting them through email newsletters. Others spend months or years consistently creating content before seeing substantial returns.
Starting monetization early can actually work in your favor. Experimenting with small products when your audience is still growing creates less pressure and allows you to refine your approach. Many successful bloggers recommend testing revenue strategies sooner rather than waiting for a massive following.
Conclusion
So now you know how blogs make money. And there's still a lot more you can do, including expanding into video content, launching podcasts, or using your blog to book speaking gigs.
Whether you experiment with one of these ideas or a combination of them, you'll improve your chances of turning your blog into a money machine. It's time to turn a profit with your passion.
Summary: How to Make Money with a Blog in 2026
- Offer sponsored posts
- Add an online store to your blog
- Sell t-shirts featuring your blog's theme
- Put affiliate links on your blog
- Write blog posts for others
- Host a giveaway for your blog's audience
- Look for brand partnerships
- Create and sell an ebook
- Offer paid online courses
- Sell memberships to exclusive content
- Sell advertising placements on your blog
Blogging For Money FAQ
How Much Money Can You Make From Blogging?
It depends. With the right monetization strategy and decent traffic, you can make between $1,000 to $5,000 per month. If you run a high-traffic blog that gets millions of page views every month, it's not impossible to achieve $20,000 or above in monthly recurring income. Successful bloggers can make over $100,000/month in rarer cases.
How Do Beginner Bloggers Make Money?
For those just getting started, the easiest way to make money is to offer a service. For instance, if you're blogging about marketing, consider offering marketing consultancy services to startups and small businesses. Once you build a reputation and traffic levels increase, you can include ads, digital products, and affiliate links in your blog. Display advertising through networks like Google AdSense is another quick option, as you get paid for every thousand visitors who see the ads.
What Kind of Blogs Make Money?
Profitable blogs share one key trait: a strong relationship with their audience. When readers consistently engage with your content and value your expertise, they become more receptive to your suggestions and offerings. Choosing a profitable niche also matters. Topics where readers are motivated to spend money tend to perform better financially.
How Long Does It Take to Start Earning From a Blog?
The timeline varies widely among bloggers. Some have earned their first income within weeks by launching simple products, while others spend months building an audience first. Starting monetization early with small offerings can help you learn what works without added pressure. Consistent effort in creating quality content and building reader trust is essential for long-term success.