Tales of Belle

Lifestyle Blog

5 Ways to Monetize Your Blog

Updated on December 26th, 2025

If you would like to monetize your blog and turn it into a side hustle, you might be unsure of the first steps you can take. In this post, I will share 5 ways that you can monetize your blog.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you signup through one of my links, but there is no extra cost to you.

#1 Ads

If you have your own domain, the first thing you can look into is getting ads on your blog. Google AdSense is probably the most popular, but there are other advertising networks as well including Ezoic, Infolinks, Mediavine, Monmetric, SHE Media, and WordAds. All you need to do is apply to the network and wait to get accepted. Sometimes you will not get accepted right away especially if your blog is new and you do not have much content, but do not give up as you can always apply again later.

However, there are several things you need to consider when having ads on your blog. The first is that different advertising networks have different minimum payouts, which can range anywhere from $10-$100. It could take months or longer to reach the minimum payout, so you might want to consider that when choosing an advertising network to go with.

Also, even if you have consistent traffic on your blog, some months you may not make as much because the rates may change. For example, many advertising networks like Google AdSense pay based on ad impressions, and one month the rate might be $3 per 1,000 ad impressions, and the next month the rate may change to $2 per 1,000 ad impressions, so the amount you make from ads will vary. Lastly, you do not want to have so many ads on your blog that it hinders the experience of your readers. You need to find a balance and not just put ads wherever you can to try and make the most money.

To sum up, having ads on your blog is an easy way to monetize your blog, but you often do not make a ton of money especially if the advertising network pays based on impressions. However, you can maybe cover domain or hosting expenses with the money you make from ads.

#2 Offer Advertising Packages

If you have decent traffic on your blog, you can offer advertising and charge bloggers and websites to promote them for a month. You can create a package where you will write a post at the start of the month about your advertisers and include links to their blog or site (you can see an example here), place their logo on your sidebar, and promote them on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.) You can limit these packages to 5-8 bloggers a month, and when you are booked for a month, you can start booking the following months.

Also, you can create two or more packages and charge more for even more promotion. As far as what you should charge for the packages, I have seen bloggers charge anywhere from £2/$3 to £22/$27. You will need to find the right price for your blog as you do not want to charge too little for the time it will take you to write the post, promote them on social media, etc., but you also want to make sure you are not charging too much as you may not get as many advertisers as you would like. If you are stuck with pricing, you can read my post on How Much Bloggers Charge for Advertising Packages.

If you fully book advertisers each month, you can have a pretty consistent income to rely on. It does take time though to promote that you offer advertising, talk with your advertisers for that month and see what you should include in the post, write out the post, and finally promote them for the month.

#3 Write Sponsored Posts

You can also look into writing sponsored posts. You may be lucky and receive an email from a brand (my first sponsored post I wrote on 5 Ways to Save Money on Makeup I was contacted by email). However, relying just on emails is not reliable, but it can be challenging to find sponsored opportunities yourself. You can start with using networks like Get Blogged and Intellifluence.

I like Get Blogged because you can start applying for assignments as soon as your blog has a domain authority (DA) of 5 (to check your DA you can use Moz). So far, I have completed 5 jobs in the past 2 years, and I am currently working on another. Even though Get Blogged is a great resource to find sponsored post opportunities, the pay often varies depending on your DA, and if you have a higher DA, you can expect to be paid more.

As far as Intellifluence, I started using Intellifluence within the last two months, and I already completed 3 jobs and I am working on another two. I found the payouts for Intellifluence to be higher than Get Blogged, but there are of course brands that only want to pay $10 for a blog post and social media promotion. With these sponsored post networks you can send a pitch for relevant assignments and hope to get accepted. However, the networks do not always have relevant assignments to apply for, and you will not always get accepted, therefore, the pay can be inconsistent.

You can also search on social media for brands looking for bloggers to work with. On Twitter, you can search in the #bloggerswanted, #bloggersrequired, #prrequest, and #bloggerjobs hashtags. I do want to mention that there are some bloggers who use these hashtags to promote their own blog posts, so it can be difficult to wade through them to find opportunities. On Facebook, you can join groups such as Influener and Blogger Opportunities, Blogger Opportunities, and Influencer/Blogger Assignments & Opportunities or even groups for opportunities in your country. Get Blogged also has their own Facebook group Blogging Opportunity Community. However, social media can be hit or miss because brands may only want to work on a gifted basis or the opportunities are restricted to UK or US-only bloggers, which may not be relevant if you live outside those countries.

There are also some websites and accounts you can check every now and then including The Lifestyle Blogger UK. Also, I have created a list of 70+ Sponsored Post Networks and I separated the networks by which ones are worth joining and which ones you should avoid. I will say do not start joining every single sponsored post network or browsing every website because it can be difficult keeping up with them. I would recommend joining one network, seeing how it goes, then joining another one.

Lastly, you can also pitch to brands yourself, especially brands you have seen working with other bloggers. You can send an email to the brand’s pr representative letting them know who you are and what you can offer them as a blogger. It would also be helpful to attach a media kit with all your information such as blog statistics and social media accounts.

Join Get Blogged to find blogging opportunties.

#4 Affiliate Marketing

Another way you can make money is through affiliate marketing, which is where you include affiliate links on your blog, and whenever someone purchases an item through your link, you earn a commission. I personally do not do much affiliate marketing, and I have shared My Experience with Affiliate Marketing as a Blogger.

Since I have not had much personal experience with affiliate marketing, I had a chat with Lynn from Lynn Mumbing Mejia to understand what her experience with affiliate marketing has been like. Lynn has been doing affiliate marketing for 7-8 months now, and she received her first payout in May 2021. She told me that she is an affiliate for other bloggers when they offer to send her a digital product for free in exchange for promotion and she also joined affiliate marketing platforms.

Lynn said that affiliate marketing is a great way to make income from home by recommending products that you know and love, but people can get overwhelmed into buying a lot of things they do not really need. She also mentioned that it takes a lot of work promoting, setting up tweets, adding link insertions into posts, etc. and you do not know what will make money. I was curious how much money bloggers who are starting out with affiliate marketing can make, and she said that it is realistic to expect no income at first. You first have to build trust in the community, and once you have built that trust, you can expect to make $20, $40, $50, etc. a month. Here is a wonderful quote by Lynn if you are considering affiliate marketing:

I recommend just staying true to yourself. If you feel like this product helped you or you would 110% genuinely buy the product then recommend it and attach an aff link.

Lynn

Affiliate marketing can be a potential way to make a good amount of money through your blog, but you will most likely not make a lot or if any money at first, and it will take time to build trust with your audience.

#5 Sell Products and Services

Lastly, you can create your own products to sell or provide a service. Bloggers have written eBooks on blogging, affiliate marketing, email marketing, Pinterest, Instagram, SEO, keyword research, etc. They have also made courses, journals, planners, Pinterest and Instagram templates, etc. As for services, there are bloggers who create customized logos and headers, offer virtual assistance, provide Pinterest or general social media management, blog audits, coaching, offering to produce a corporate video for a client to boost their online footprint, etc. Of course, you should not create a product just to create something to sell. You should have experience on the topic that you think others would find useful, and you should also have experience if you are offering a service. As for where to sell your products or services, you can sell them directly on your blog or on sites like Gumroad, Teachable, Fiverr, Etsy, and Shopify.

Additional Resources:

Do you monetize your blog?

Comments

  1. Sneha says

    I had no idea about sites like getblogged and intellifluence. I will check them out for sure. Thanks! I definitely learned something new.

    Reply

    • talesofbelle says

      No problem! Ads are an easy way to make some money from your blog, but do be careful that you don’t have too many as that can deter people from visiting your blog.

      Reply

  5. thatswhatstaceysaid says

    Great tips, thank you for sharing. This is something that I would like to start in the near future…once I figure out how everything works!!

    Reply

  11. glowsteady says

    It’s great that there are so many different ways to generate an income stream now. I signed up to Intellifluence a few weeks ago and I’m currently working on 3 things with them, I really like the platform! I’ve been thinking about starting offering ad packages too x

    Reply

    • Karalee says

      Intellifluence is great & I was concerned that the opportunities would quickly run out, but they seem to add new ones all the time.
      Yes I’ve been thinking about offering ad packages too, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Maybe soon though!

      Reply

  13. Molly Scott says

    This is really useful. I read a lot of these types of post and I think yours is the best, most helpful so far – so a very genuine thank you for sharing.

    Reply

  15. Jordanne | Ofaglasgowgirl says

    Such a great post for those looking for ways to monetize their blogs. Monetizing can take some time to get into but once you’re over the first month or so, it’s a great way to increase income, especially if its passive.

    Reply

  18. Merry says

    Thank you for sharing this! I have worked with sponsored posts, offer ad packages, put ads on my blog, aff marketing, sell my digital products. So far, I found pitching to brands & write sponsored posts is a great and fast way to make money. I did aff marketing and selling products and have made around $100+ in 9-10 months, but it takes time and a lot of time to promote the products. I put ads on my blog but the payment wasn’t great so I have to remove them. I also offer ad packages and love it so much because I got to meet many bloggers every month 🙂

    I could say that these tips are really good to monetize your blog, however, each of them may vary depending on how you approach it 🙂 Everything needs patience and a great effort x

    Reply

    • Karalee says

      You’re welcome! You’ve done a lot it sounds like!
      I find pitching to brands & writing sponsored posts the best too because the payments tend to be higher than having ads on my blog for example.
      That’s good you made some money from affiliate marketing & selling your products.
      I don’t get that much from having ads on my blog either, but I find it does cover the cost of running my blog.
      I need to start offering ad packages soon!
      I completely agree! There is no get rich quick way when it comes to blogging, but it is possible to make money if you’re patient & persistent with your efforts!

      Reply

  19. Isa A says

    I need this post and read each and every word, snapshot the last point for my ref. Since I’ve started looking out for work and did my first pitch that started this July, helped a lot. Thanks xx
    Isa A. Blogger
    https://bit.ly/39f9FN0

    Reply

  20. A Sustainably Simple Life says

    This is such a helpful post! We’re hoping to eventually monetize our blog, but it’s still a work in progress. We’ve signed up for a couple of affiliate programs, but haven’t had a lot of success with them yet. I’m definitely going to check out some of these other options.

    Reply

    • Karalee says

      I’m glad you found it helpful! It does take time to see a payoff from affiliate marketing, but I hope you’ll be able to have more success!

      Reply

  23. CristinaR says

    These are all amazing tips! Have been working on affiliate marketing and hoping to see some results, also sponsored posts and pitching brands is very useful! x

    Reply

    • Karalee says

      Thank you! I’m interested in hearing about your experience because as I’ve mentioned I’ve done 0 affiliate marketing. I hope you see some results soon too!

      Reply

  25. Lisa's Notebook says

    As yet I don’t really monetise my blog. I have a few affiliate links in some posts but that’s about it – and no surprises, they don’t bring in any money, haha. Useful post, Karalee, thank you 🙂

    Reply

    • Karalee says

      You’re welcome! It’s great being able to make some extra money from my blog. I would definitely recommend looking into ads as it requires the least amount of work compared to writing sponsored posts or affiliate marketing.

      Reply

    • Karalee says

      I’m glad to hear that! My blog is still a hoppy too, but it’s nice having that bit of extra money to pay for my domain & things like to run my blog

      Reply

  27. sarahslemonadelife says

    Great suggestions! I have been looking for other ways to monetize, as I have only done affiliate marketing so far and would like to expand. I’m going to check out some of the groups and sites you listed! Thanks!

    Reply

  29. Harsha says

    Hopefully, I will monetize my blog soon and these are great tips. You have shared some great links which will be extremely helpful. thank you xx

    Reply

  30. bournemouthgirl says

    I definitely think these are the popular ways to monetise your blog. I offer advertising packages and do affiliate marketing. I am working on a product for the near future. Thank you for sharing.

    Lauren

    Reply

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