Turning my blog into a full-time income has been a journey of hard work and luck. While it's not a get-rich-quick scheme, it's definitely possible to earn a living through blogging with dedication and effort.

In this post, I'll share ten ways you can monetise your blog. While it took me three years to monetise my first blog, my husband managed it in one year, and my subsequent blogs took even less time. But remember, success isn't guaranteed, and my later blogs haven't yet matched the earnings of the first.

However, with determination and a love for writing and independence, making a full-time income from blogging is entirely achievable, and it can be a fulfilling career path. Let's dive in and explore 10 ways to make money from blogging!

Here are 10 ways you can make money from a blog:

1. Accept and write sponsored blog posts

One of the most popular methods that bloggers use to make money is to write sponsored blog posts.  This is where a company will pay you to create a blog post on your own blog and include a link to them or their client. Usually they require a high DA score (Domain Authority is a metric determined by a company called Moz). Read how to improve your domain authority (DA) for tips and tricks.

Once your blog is established, many of these opportunities land in your inbox from companies such as PRs and digital marketing agencies who have found your website.  I’d suggest having a work with me page and contact page on your blog so you can easily be contacted by brands and agencies.

You can also find opportunities by searching hashtags on Twitter such as #bloggerswanted and #bloggerrequest.  Be warned – these hashtag feeds are filled with lots of spam, but you can always mute or block the repeat offenders!

Paid work like this can also be found in Facebook blogging groups and blogger networking groups, as well as on blogging opportunity websites such as:

• Get Blogged
• Press Loft
• Publisuites

There are lots more too.  Simply Google ‘blog networks’ ‘blog agencies’ and other similar terms and email to ask to be added to their blogger database, if they have one.

List of websites to find paid blogging jobs

To get started, check out this huge list of websites to find paid blogging opportunities for your blog and sign up to the lot for maximum exposure! 

2. Accept pre-written paid blog posts

Sometimes companies will offer pre-written sponsored blog posts.  Often they will try to write it in the tone of your website and they usually don’t mind if you edit the content, so long as links are left in place.

These are usually found by the same methods as above. Sometimes they are disguised by people pretending to be bloggers and wanting to place a ‘blogger guest post’ or offering their ‘awesome free content’ for your blog!

Usually they will be including a link to their client in the blog post and so it’s not genuinely a guest post from another blogger.  If you’re a new blogger then watch out for these emails.  Some call them blogger scam emails or the people sending them 'SEO sharks'.

3. Host giveaways for brands

Hosting giveaways on your blog or social media accounts is another great way to make money.  Some bloggers offer this service for free as it will generate traffic and followers for their blog too. But you can also set a fee to host a giveaway for a company.

Giveaways can be quite time consuming to create and promote. Plus the brand is getting exposure, advertising and often new followers from your hard work, followers and resources!

It usually takes more time to run a giveaway than to simply write a blog post.  This is because you may spend time promoting it on social media to get as many entries as possible.  So I'd suggest to always charge for your time and resources which may have taken you years to build up!

4. Write reviews and charge for your time (or sell the items)

Again, many bloggers will review items for free, but you can also charge a fee for your time and access to your platforms.  Receiving a gifted item to review plus pay is not unusual in the blogging world.

If an item is very high value and will be of use then you may decide not to charge. But again, consider the time and effort you put into the blog post.  Are you happy to give that away for free, in exchange just for the value of the item?  Is it worth it?  How long will the blog post, taking photos and researching the company and item take?  If it's several hours, then decide if this should be paid for.

Also if the blog post stays on your blog forever, that’s advertising and SEO benefits for the brand potentially forever, or for as long as you guarantee the exposure on your website.  I’d suggest putting a value on your time, platforms and effort unless it's a product that really is of value to you.

Some bloggers will sell review items on eBay or Facebook Marketplace to generate an extra income source from their blogging efforts, once they have completed the reviews.

5. Sign up to a display ad network (or sell your own ad placements)

Some bloggers are very successful with ads.  When you get over 50,000 sessions per month then you can apply for ads from a company called Mediavine.  At 10,000 page views then Ezoic is often recommended, but it has mixed reviews.  Many bloggers aim for Mediavine levels from the get-go. 

I’ve seen several bloggers say they make more in a day with Mediavine than they did in a whole month with Google Ads.  With Ezoic, revenue is usually doubled or tripled, but there are complaints of it slowing down websites or causing other problems.

I use Google Ads currently.  Other companies include AdThrive and SheMedia.  They all have different entry requirements and contracts, so read them carefully as I believe SheMedia locks you in for 12 months.

Ad revenue can vary.  There’s more money to be made if you place ads in more prominent places and also if you have a lot of traffic. 

You can also charge companies directly for ads if you wish.  You can offer banner placements and different charges for 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and so on.  Just add this service to your work with me page and media pack.

Have you heard of header bidding?

The lack of transparency, control, and limited demand pool from AdSense and similar networks, pushes many to header bidding. If you hit 30,000 unique visitors per month, Newor Media has been recommended. They can optimise your ad units and get competitive rates for them as well.

6. Make use of affiliate marketing and referral schemes

Affiliate marketing made around 40% of my income last year and it was something I decided to work on for a couple of years to try and increase.  It's a great way to make money as a blogger in a more passive way by writing a blog post once and continuing to generate income from it. Of course it's not totally passive, as websites need constant updating and tweaking to stay relevant and ranking well.

One of the first things I recommended was a matched betting company called Profit Accumulator which is a company I used myself and still highly recommend. Writing about things you know about and have used yourself is the best way to get started with affiliate marketing as you can then genuinely recommend the products or services and write about your own experiences.

If you're wondering where to find affiliate schemes to sign up to, then here's a comprehensive list of high paying programs to get you started.

Awin affiliate marketing platform was another of the first affiliate marketplaces I signed up to.  Awin have thousands of well-known brands on their books and when you sign up to the platform you can apply to each brands affiliate program.  You have to pay £5 to sign up, but you get it back in your first affiliate payment.  The threshold is only £20 for a pay-out.  These posts may be helpful for more information:

• Make money from your blog with Awin affiliate marketing
• 5 reasons to use Awin as a blogger
• What is Awin?

By the way, you can also share affiliate links on social media to try and increase your revenue!

Use refer-a-friend schemes to make money blogging too

Signing up to referral schemes, such as refer-a-friend opportunities, is also a great way to make money blogging.  Here are some of the best refer a friend schemes in the UK. 

Just be sure to read the terms for any refer-a-friend offers you discover. Some offers do not allow you to share publicly, on social media or on websites and they will forfeit any earnings if you are found to break the rules, such as the Chip refer-a-friend offer and the Freetrade free share offer.

7. Social media posts

Setting up social media accounts for your blog is always a great idea.  Some bloggers will include social shares as standard with their partnered blog posts. Some bloggers do not include social shares and instead have it as an optional paid add-on to generate more income. This is a great idea to easily boost revenue.

Some companies will pay for stand alone social media posts, especially on Instagram if you have an active and engaged account.

Social media is also a great way to be found by companies looking for bloggers to work with, so it pays to be active and consistent on your accounts.  You don't have to manage it all by yourself and manually as there are many social media schedulers to help you out and save time.

8. Sell your images

If you’re taking amazing images for your blog, then why not sell them as stock images so others can use them too? There are lots of stock image websites you can sell them to and you’ll be paid each time someone downloads the image.

Brands may also want to use images you’ve created in collaborative blog posts with them, so consider charging for image use or for giving away the copyright to a brand.

I regularly see bloggers talking about this in the blogger groups and many charge for image use by brands.

It's also worth checking the fine print of any contracts you sign with brands as some will automatically expect rights to any images you create as part of a collaboration.

9. Write content for brands and their own websites

Lots of brands look for guest bloggers, which is usually in exchange for exposure and a link back to your site, but sometimes brands need a regular content writer for their own blog or website.

For bloggers it can seem like a natural progression to offer copywriting services to brands for their own blogs. If this is a service you wish to offer then add it to your work with me page and let people know!

It’s not something I offer currently, but I have been approached several times by random brands and those I’ve already worked with to ask if I can write their blogs for payment.  It’s definitely an income stream worth exploring if you have the time to do additional writing.

10. Blogger outreach

Sometimes after you’ve worked with a brand they will ask if you know more bloggers who are interested in working with them too.  It’s great to share these opportunities with your networks even without payment, sharing is caring after all, but occasionally they’ll offer a finder’s fee.

This means you’ll get a certain percentage from any completed work with the bloggers you recommend or a set fee, such as £5 per blogger you refer.  I guess there’s no harm in asking if they offer a finder’s fee when asked to find more bloggers for a company!

On ocassion I've been sent a finders fee without even asking for one - amazing!

Some blogger’s offer blogger outreach as a part of their services.  We have access to private blogger groups that brands don’t and we can save brands a lot of time by doing the outreach on their behalf.  It's another great way to make money from your blogging skills and contacts if you have the time.

Final word

Hopefully this article has enlightened you as to how you can make money from home with your blog.  It also shows you how to think outside the box and make money from services linked to your blog that doesn’t always include just writing blog posts.  There's a lot of different ways blogging can serve you financially. 

Don't forget, once you are making money from your blog then it's classed as a business and you may need to complete a self assessment tax return to declare your earnings each year and pay any taxes due.  You can find much of this information online yourself or you can seek the advice of a self assessment accountant to complete your returns on your behalf or for professional advice.

Want to make more money from your blog? 

Check out this huge list of websites to find paid blogging opportunities for your blog  and my 6 secrets to make more money from your blog!

Looking for ways to make money from home? 

Here are 60 tried and tested ways to make money online in the UK and check out my favourite side hustle to make money in my matched betting blog!