When you’re just starting out, learning how to make money with a WordPress blog can be a daunting task.
Between setting up your blog, driving traffic to it, and implementing different monetization strategies, it can get a little overwhelming. In fact, it can be hard to even decide which monetization strategy you want to pursue.
But that’s why I decided to write this post.
For the rest of this guide, I’m going to dive into 21 of the best ways to make money with a WordPress blog.
Having used a number of these strategies to build our blog’s revenue to thousands of dollars per month, I can tell you that learning how to monetize your blog is well worth your time.
So, whether you’ve been blogging for a while, or you’re just starting out, here are a few strategies you can use to make money with a WordPress blog.
1. Affiliate Marketing
Plain and simple, affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money with a WordPress blog.
But what is affiliate marketing?
Essentially, affiliate marketing is a monetization strategy that allows you to earn money by promoting other peoples’ products and services through a special link on your blog. So, when a user clicks your link and ends up making a purchase, you earn a commission.
I personally thing it is one of the most exciting ways to earn money online, but even better than that, it can be incredibly lucrative!
And the best part is, there are tons of affiliate networks and programs out there that can help you make money with a WordPress blog.
In fact, there are entire affiliate networks that give you access to thousands of affiliate programs all in one place.
On that note, if you think affiliate marketing is something you’d like to pursue, we recommend signing up with the following affiliate networks:
Having worked with a ton of different affiliate networks, I can tell you that these are, by far, my favorites!
2. Sell Physical Products
Another way to make money with a WordPress blog is to start selling physical products related to your niche.
This option does come with a higher overhead since you’ll need to manage the manufacturing and shipping of whatever products you decide to sell. Even so, starting an online store is fairly easy to do, and it’s a straightforward way to monetize your blog.
All you need to do is download the WooCommerce plugin, set up your products, and connect your account with a payment provider.
From there, you just have to fulfill your orders!
3. Sell Digital Products
Digital products like ebooks, templates, or plugins can be easier to sell than physical products because they tend not to cost as much to create.
Most products in this category are educational in nature; they provide consumers with valuable information related to the topic you blog about.
For example, if you run a recipe or food blog, an obvious digital product you could create and sell is a digital cookbook.
Rather than having to jump through traditional hoops to get your cookbook published, you can create an ebook and sell it directly to your readers as a digital download.
4. Sell A Service (i.e. Coaching or Consulting)
If your blog niche doesn’t lend itself very well to selling products, consider selling services instead.
Think about what services your readers would be interested in based on your blog topic, and offer to work with people in a one-on-one capacity.
Draw upon your existing expertise to create a service that your readers will be willing to pay for. Just be careful not to provide services that you’re unqualified to provide, as this could get you into legal trouble.
For many people, offering a service like consulting or coaching is a great way to make money with a WordPress Blog.
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5. Create And Sell An Online Course
The shape of education has evolved and shifted because of the availability of information on the internet. Many people are eager and willing to learn from others online who can help them solve specific problems they are facing.
And since you’re likely already sharing your knowledge and expertise about your blog topic through the free content you create, why not take that information to the next level and sell it as an online course?
Create an online course about a process or skill that you feel confident enough to teach.
There are plenty of online platforms like Teachable, SkillShare, or Udemy that you can use to set up and sell your online course.
Then, all you have to do is promote it to your blog readers.
6. Display Advertising
If you’re a blogger, you’ve probably heard of Google Adsense. However, if you’ve ever tried to implement these ads on your site, you’ve probably been pretty disappointed with the revenue you can earn.
For that reason, as a blogger, we recommend building up your traffic to a point where you can sign up for a premium ad network like Mediavine, Ezoic, or AdThrive.
These ad networks pay significantly higher than Google Adsense, and thus, they are a great way to make a passive income with a WordPress blog.
7. Become An Amazon Affiliate
It may seem like a no-brainer, but in order to make money, you typically have to sell something. If starting your own online store and selling your own products seems too intimidating, becoming an Amazon affiliate is a good alternative.
Rather than listing your own products for sale on your blog, you can find Amazon products in your niche to promote and sell through your website.
All you have to do is sign up for the Amazon Associates program and start linking products on your website.
For instance, if you own a WordPress blog about gardening, you can create an affiliate store on your website that links out to different Amazon gardening products.
You won’t have to start an actual Amazon store, and you’ll earn money simply by compiling lists of Amazon products in your niche.
It can take some time to earn money through this method since you have to have some consistent traffic to your blog. You may consider running some ads on Google or social media to help increase your number of website visitors.
8. Write Sponsored Posts
These days, companies will pay bloggers to write reviews or blog posts about their products.
And this is a great way to make money with a WordPress blog.
You can either wait for these companies to come to you, or you can be proactive and pitch your posts to companies you want to work with.
Even if a company doesn’t agree to directly sponsor your post, you can still earn money by writing reviews for products.
These types of posts are great for generating more affiliate income since people searching for reviews of a certain product are generally already interested in making a purchase.
If you want to maintain the trust of your audience, be sure to only write positive reviews for products that you’ve actually tried and would recommend.
There’s nothing worse than purchasing a product after reading a glowing review, only to find out the product is terrible!
That will hurt your credibility, and ultimately, harm your business.
9. Create An Online Membership
Another great way to make money with a WordPress blog is to create a members-only content section of your website.
Honestly, this is surprisingly simple to set up, and there are online tools that make it easy to turn your WordPress blog into a membership site.
You can charge people a monthly fee to sign up for your membership and to receive exclusive content.
The hardest part about this is that you need to incentivize people to join your membership by creating lots of high-quality free content.
This will allow people to see the high value of the content you create, and they’ll be that much more excited to see what you have to offer behind your pay wall.
Highlight the benefits of your membership on your blog, and display testimonials that illustrate the benefits of joining.
10. Build Your Email List
Practically every blogger will tell you that their email list is one of their most valuable tools when it comes to making money from their blog.
This is because people who have signed up for your email list have already demonstrated that they’re interested in the content you’re providing.
The biggest benefit of having an engaged email list is that whenever you have an affiliate product, your own product, or a paid service you want to promote, you can let all your subscribers know about it.
Seriously, building your email list will end up making you a lot more money than blogging without an email marketing strategy.
To build your email list, create a few enticing email incentives (also known as opt-ins, lead magnets, or freebies) to encourage people to sign up for your email list.
Then, be sure to continue providing them with valuable content until you’re ready to sell or promote a paid offer.
If you’d like to start an email list, we recommend doing so through ConvertKit. This is the email service that we use, and since it was built specifically for bloggers, it is one of the best options out there.
11. Start A Podcast
You’re already creating written content for your blog. So, why not repurpose that content for another medium like a podcast?
Podcasting can open up so many doors when it comes to the success of your blog.
Since many people prefer to consume content through listening rather than reading, a podcast can expand your audience profoundly. And with a bigger audience, comes more revenue opportunities.
Not only will you be able to promote your blog content through your podcast, but companies may offer to sponsor your podcast episodes if you gain a large enough following.
12. Start A YouTube Channel
Similarly to starting a podcast, starting a YouTube channel can get more eyes on your blog and can provide new ways to monetize your content.
You can create videos to share the content you write about on your blog in a visual way.
A YouTube channel gives people more opportunities to find and follow your blog. This, in turn, increases your blog traffic and your earning potential.
You can also monetize your YouTube videos themselves if you get enough subscribers and viewers. This will allow you to start earning from advertisements placed on your videos.
13. Accept Donations
If you’ve been cranking out content that people love to read, some of your readers may have already turned into loyal fans! Therefore, another great blog monetization strategy is to give people the option to support your blog by allowing them to make donations.
This monetization method works well if selling products or services doesn’t make sense for your niche.
For instance, if your content is more entertaining than it is informative, this could be the best option for you.
14. Start an Affiliate Program
If you sell products on your WordPress blog, increase your sales by establishing your own affiliate program.
People will be able to sign up for your affiliate program and earn commissions by referring your products or services to others.
Remember, word of mouth is still an incredibly powerful form of advertising. And let’s be real, people will be far more likely to promote your products if they receive a monetary reward for their referrals.
15. Create A Job Board
If your blog niche overlaps with a certain professional industry, you could create a job board on your website where employers can post their openings for a fee.
This is a valuable service because you’ll be connecting employers with prospective employees. And that’s well worth a small fee.
16. Host Giveaways
You may think hosting a giveaway will lose you money since you have to provide the winner with a prize. But giveaways and contests can actually end up helping you make money with a WordPress blog.
By creating a giveaway contest, you can encourage people to share your blog with others, subscribe to your email list, and follow you on social media.
This will equate to more blog visitors and more chances for you to earn from your other monetization strategies.
17. Host A Paid Webinar
If you’re not quite ready to outline and create a full online course, start by hosting a paid webinar instead.
You can promote your webinar on your blog or on social media and host it live.
Webinars are informative but typically take much less time and effort to create than a full digital course.
After you take people through your webinar content, you can host a live Q&A that addresses any of your audience’s outstanding questions.
Or, for a more passive revenue model, you could create an evergreen webinar by recording your live session and reselling it on your blog afterward.
18. Sell Your Blog
Last, but certainly not least, you can make money with a WordPress blog by cashing in and selling it.
If you’re ready to move onto another project, someone else might be willing to pay you to take over your blog.
Depending on your website traffic, you may be able to make quite a lot of money by putting your blog up for sale.
This will save all your hard work from going to waste, and it will provide another blogger with a head start in their blogging journey.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for ways to make money with a WordPress blog, there are tons of really awesome opportunities for you to pursue.
Whether you choose to focus on display advertising, affiliate marketing, selling an online course, or any other option, I hope this list has given you a good start.
So, how do you plan to monetize your WordPress blog? Be sure to drop your answer in the comments!