This is the final part of the ‘How Bloggers Make Money’ series. If you missed the last two parts where I wrote about how Bloggers make money through Google Adsence and WordAds, click here, or how Bloggers make money through banner advertising and affiliate marketing links, click here.
I am happy many people are finding these posts very useful. Blogging and its vague financial rewards should be discussed frequently. I wish I had posts like this to read two years ago. I won’t have made the many mistakes I made in the early days. Here are some more ways Bloggers make money:
Sponsored Posts
Sponsored posts are posts brands pay Bloggers to write and publish, usually with links to the brand’s site. Sometimes, the brand writes the post and all the Blogger has to do is to edit and publish. This is a very popular way Bloggers make money and it is my favourite way of monetizing Fashion and Style Police; I remember getting my first sponsored post offer just four months after I started blogging. What you could earn from one sponsored post could be anything from £20 to £200 or more, depending on the brand, your followers, blog engagement, whether you write the post or the brand writes it, the blog’s traffic, the blog’s domain authority, and so on. I know some Bloggers who charge hundreds of pounds for a sponsored post and some even charge a couple of thousands of pounds, these Bloggers have a huge following and a lot of traffic so work on growing your blog before you start requesting such amounts.
If you have at least 5000 unique visitors a month and you have a Domain Authority of 25 at least, you can charge £30 and above for a sponsored post. You can check your blog’s Domain Authority and other information here.
At the end of the day, charge what you are comfortable accepting, don’t work for free and always remember to let your readers know when it is a sponsored post. Transparency people! I will be writing a more comprehensive post on what to charge for sponsored posts using various examples so watch this space.
Product Gifting
The difference between product gifting and sponsored posts is that the brands pay the Blogger by sending products for free in return for a post. If a Blogger has accepted a product, you see a post with the c/o (courtesy of) alongside the product details letting the readers know the product was gifted. I started receiving gifts from brands months after I started blogging. Many Bloggers still charge a fee alongside the product to guarantee a post depending on the brand and the product in question. Bills in 2015 cannot be paid with clothes and shoes unfortunately. Bloggers are usually gifted all sorts regularly by brands. In a month, I usually receive over 5 items by brands and their PRs and that is a small figure. Many famous bloggers can easily receive over 20 items or more in a month. This is a nice perk of the blogging job but I only receive products I will happily buy with my own money from brands I love and respect. I get offers from so many brands trying to send me a $10 sunglasses or shoes in return for a sponsored post, no thanks. Not on Fashion and Style Police. I have My Brand to protect.
Sponsored Giveaways
Sponsored giveaways are when brands offer your blog readers a product through a competition on the blog. You must have seen this on blogs, it is quite popular with Bloggers. Some Bloggers run a giveaway with their own money, I have done this in the past, and some Bloggers organise a giveaway sponsored by a brand on their blog. In other words, Brand A contacts Blogger A and offers to send a pair of jeans to a blog reader chosen by Blogger A, Blogger A gets traffic and readers are excited and eager to win, everyone loves a freebie. Brand A gets free advertising or paid advertising if Blogger A is smart enough to charge for this giveaway and also get a pair of the jeans for herself.
Most Bloggers charge to organise a giveaway. The figure varies depending on various factors like the brand and item in question, the blog’s followers and traffic, how influential the Blogger is and so on.
Brand Ambassador
This is when a Brand selects a Blogger or Bloggers to promote its products and services. Usually, the brand will send its products regularly to the Blogger and there should be a banner ad up on the blog as well. I know a couple of Bloggers that are Brand Ambassadors and they usually get free clothes and accessories monthly, and they publish sponsored posts for the brand regularly as well. There are so many cool blogs all over the web, so you will need to stand out from the rest to be noticed by the brands. Work on publishing the right content and market the hell out of your blog. Make use of all the social media channels and get noticed.
OTHERS
Many Bloggers are now making money by writing books and e-books, writing for other online sites and magazines, attending events, organising Twitter chats and Instagram takeovers for brands, vlogging on YouTube, the blogging opportunities are indeed endless and it is a profitable venture if you get it right.
