How to Make Money Blogging for Writers

by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen @ Quips and Tips

Are you weary of waiting for article assignments? Chew on these tips on making money blogging for writers…because developing multiple passive streams of income via blogs and other types of web writing may be the best way to fill in the gaps between jobs. Plus, blogging gives you a break from print magazine writing! Here’s what I’ve recently learning about making money on my blogs – tips I wish I would’ve known a year ago.

Before my blogging tips, a quip:

“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.” – Cyril Connolly

Whether you’re blogging for yourself or writing for the public, make sure you’re not adding stuff to the world that you wouldn’t want to see in the world. Read on for tips on making money blogging for writers.

How to Make Money Blogging for Writers

1. Balance keyword strategy with voice

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) may attract readers to your blog – which can increase the amount of money you make – but it’s difficult to balance SEO with your writing voice and style. This is still a struggle for me; sometimes I feel like my voice is lost in my keywords! But, if you want to make money blogging as a writer, you need to practice both until you find your balance. Just like non-web writing, skillful blog writing takes years of practice. Public practice!

2. Put Google Ads inside your posts

I know some writers and bloggers who think ads are tacky – and I myself don’t love an ad smack in the middle of my articles – but, I really, really want to earn a living as a writer and blogger. Maybe I’m selling out, maybe I’m making a smart business decision…I don’t know yet. But I do know that my Google revenues increase when ads are in the middle of my posts so that’s where they’ll be. For now, anyway.

3. Don’t fill your sidebars with ads

My Quips and Tips for Achieving Your Goals blog once was littered with all manner of gigantic flashing, blinking, and bleeping ads. It was painful even for me – and completely ineffective!

4. Place a specific, relevant ad inside your post

Let’s face it: if you want to make money blogging (and not be another starving writer), you need ads. Explore the affiliate programs at ClickBank, Commission Junction, or LinkShare; put a small link or banner in your post after ensuring it’s relevant to your topic. Don’t put it near your in post Google Adsense Ads.

5. Experiment with Chitika Ads

Darren Rowse at ProBlogger says that this affiliate marketing program is his number 2 way to make money blogging. I tried Chitika on my blogs for a couple of weeks, decided there were too many ads in my sidebars, and eliminated them….without checking to see if they were earning money! I just discovered that they were earning money, and are definitely worth re-installing.

I want to keep earning a living as a writer – and I haven’t received a new print magazine assignment in what feels like forever! I’ve turned down some low-paying assignments so I could focus on the biggies…but the biggies aren’t beating my door down. I’ve also been immersed in my blogs, and thus pitching less. The blog-building will pay off, but it’s definitely a long-term process. If I need to eat in the meantime, I’ll steal eggs from my neighbors’ chickens!

Fellow scribes, what do you think of making money blogging for writers? Is putting ads on your blog as a writer a sell-out? Is your blog ad-free…and you’d have it no other way? I welcome your thoughts.