By: Eden Hensley; Photos by: Brooke Dennis for Alt Summit
The world of creative entrepreneurs and bloggers is not just one photo opportunity after another. Like any other business, whether a hobby, a part-time job, or a full-time job, making includes less flashy aspects: finding freelance work; billing clients; reporting campaign results; and more.
Ever been curious how bloggers make money? Short answer: ABC, or as Blake from Glengarry Glen Ross would say, “Always be closing” (aka keep hustling). Making money blogging requires a diverse product portfolio, starting with creative for one’s own site and including advertising, brand collaborations, contributing roles, consulting, and more.
To help you get started monetizing your content, we kicked off an Advertising 101 series this week with a look at ad networks. Be sure to check back over the coming weeks for future posts covering affiliate networks and content networks (also known as blogger or social media influencer networks).
If you are curious how bloggers leverage ad networks as part of their business strategy, a few bloggers share traffic numbers and revenue sources. By looking at these reports you can get an idea of what is working and what is not.
- Pinch of Yum publishes a monthly traffic and income report.
- Budget Fairy Tale produces a monthly blogging report with traffic across multiple sites and income sources.
- Real Food & Ice Cream delivers a monthly report showing traffic, social media, income, and expenses.
- The Financial Blogger produces a monthly blog income report (last published this past April).
How are you monetizing your blog? Are you producing a monthly report for yourself?
