Where ever online money making is discussed; mostly Blogging comes first. It’s not only the most popular way but also considered as basis of other online revenue streams.
In the past decade blogging has emerged as a lucrative way of earning rather than a hobby.
What Is Blogging?
Blog is a sort of website that regularly publishes individual’s (or group of people) opinion or information in conversational manner. Content presented on blog is called blog post. Blog post may consist of written, graphical, illustrative or video content. Normally writing and publishing blog posts is referred as blogging.
What Skills It Takes To Be A Blogger?
If you have passion for writing your chances to excel in blogging are high.
But you don’t need to be an expert writer at all. With following attributes and skills, you can be a good – earning blogger.
- Curiosity
- Fact Search
- Writing
- Summarizing
- Story Telling
- Communication
- Analysis
- Patience
- Understanding of social media and SEO
Ranking of Top Bloggers and Their Earnings:
| Ranking | Founder | Blog | Starting Year | Income per year |
| 1 | Arriana Huffington | https://www.huffpost com/ | 2005 | 250M |
| 2 | Peter Rojas | https://www.engadget.com/ | 2004 | $50M |
| 3 | Rand Fishkin | https://moz.com/ | 1998 | $35M |
| 4 | Pete Cashmore | https://mashable.com/ | 2005 | $30M |
| 5 | Michael Arrington | https://techcrunch.com/ | 2005 | $23M |
| 6 | Brian Clark | https://copyblogger.com/ | 2005 | $32M |
| 7 | Perez Hilton | https://perezhilton.com/ | 2005 | $42M |
| 8 | Vitaly Friedman | https://www.smashingmagazine.com/ | 2006 | $5.5M |
| 9 | Gina Trapani | https://lifehacker.com/ | 2005 | $2M |
| 10 | Cyan Claire | https://tutsplus.com/ | 2008 | $10M |
How Much You Can Earn?
Having shared above mentioned top bloggers’ income let’s not ignore the facts that:
- It took them years (of consistency) to reach this level.
- They are pioneers in their niches.
Being realistic let’s see how much an average blogger can earn. According to my research an average blogger after consistent blogging of 18 to 24 months can easily earn $35000 to $40000 a year.
How Do bloggers Earn OR Revenue Streams In Blogging?
Blog is actually a platform which can be used in different ways to earn money.
Here are the most common and effective revenue streams in blogging
Affiliate Marketing
In affiliate marketing blogger earn commission by diverting its audience traffic to client’s (merchant’s) online store or shop. Terms of commission can be sending traffic to merchant’s web or conversion into sales (online order).
Almost all good ecommerce brands and stores offer affiliate programs which a blogger can join as per convenience and suitability.
Earning from affiliate marketing depends upon conversion rate and commission percentage per sale. Which definitely depends upon your blog’s traffic.
Some of the top affiliate programs are as
- Commission Junction (CJ)
- GiddyUp.
- Impact
- Awin.
- Amazon Associates
Google AdSense
Google AdSense is one of the most popular earning methods among bloggers. It enables blogs to rent out spaces / slots to google on which google display its ads. When these ads are viewed or clicked google pays money.
Google AdSense program give control over selection of shape, size, type and placement of ads which you have to choose considering the reading experience of your audience.
Earning from google AdSense depends upon demographics of your audience and niche.
Sponsored Product Reviews
Your audience follows you for your opinion and expertise on a particular niche. You can get sponsorship of products /brands relevant to your niche. You get paid for your positive review about the product. Either you can search such sponsors or they reach out to you for promotion. Earning through this source depends upon your negotiation or your rate for review.
Selling Products and Services
For example, you have a blog on gardening. You can also sell gardening tools or goods for profit through your blog. You can sell products of your own or you can partner with a seller as well.