How I turned my blog into a 6-figure business

When I started my blog in 2010, I had no idea that you could make money from blogging, and yet, here I am, all these years later with a blog that brings me 6 figures a year. It has been a crazy whirlwind of a ride, and I wanted to share how I turned my blog into a 6-figure business.

How it all started

I started my blog in December 2010, as a way of chronicling my online money making adventures. I had graduated into the recession a few years earlier, and I found it really difficult to get any job. I had always been entrepreneurial, so I decided that it was time I shared my journey with the world.

I had no idea that you could even make money from a blog, so imagine my surprise when in November 2015 I was earning more from my blog than my full time job! I quit my job and since then I have grown my blogging income to six-figures. I employ my husband and I work when I want, where I want. Life is good!

How I make money from blogging

There are a variety of ways that bloggers can make money, and there isn’t a single thing that will turn your blog into a 6-figure business. Here is what I do to make money from my blog.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is where I promote a product or a service and I earn a commission for every sale that I drive. Affiliate marketing has some fantastic benefits, and my favourite is that someone doesn’t have to buy a product or sign up to a service straight after clicking my link. After clicking the link, a cookie is placed on their browser, and if they come back and make a purchase, I earn a commission.

It is also a great passive income, because I just have to write the blog post once, and then I continue to earn a commission whenever someone finds that post from Google, Pinterest or other social media and they make a purchase or sign up.

Too often we see American bloggers making 5 figures in affiliate income every month, but replicating that as a UK Blogger might seem impossible.

I have put together all of my affiliate marketing secrets into one place for you, in How To SMASH Affiliate Marketing as a UK Blogger. In this video and text course I cover everything from which affiliate programs to join to how to get over that fear of emailing your list.  If you are interested in affiliate marketing then be sure to check out my guide to getting started with affiliate marketing.

Advertising

Selling advertising space on blogs is a great way to earn money from blogging. The easiest way to get started with display advertising is to use a service such as Google Adsense or Media.net. I have been using MediaVine (you can apply once you have 25,000 sessions per month – sessions are different to page views) who pay me more per day than I earned in an entire month with Adsense!

Once signed up, simply display the code on your blog and earn some advertising income every time that your advert is displayed, and also when it is clicked.

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Sponsored posts

A sponsored post is where a company ask you to write about them, their products or their services for a fee.

I offer sponsored posts on my blog, and my fees are in line with the traffic I get, my social media followers and awards that I have won.

This can be a great boost to any blogger’s earnings and how much they are paid often depends on their stats. Every company is looking for something different, it could be a high number of page views, a large social media following or just good domain authority. As a blog reader you should be able to tell which posts are sponsored, as they need to have a disclosure telling you that they are sponsored.

Social media

There are companies and brands who are looking to get their products or services in front of many consumers, and one way that they do this is to ask bloggers to advertise items on their social media. The great thing about this is that anyone can make money from social media, not just big blogger. If you have developed a decent social media following then consider monetising your social media accounts with Buzzoole, SocialPubli and FameBit.

Selling related products or services

Bloggers typically have an area of expertise, and therefore they are known as an authority on that subject. This means that they can offer additional products to their readers. Massive bloggers like Zoella have created beauty ranges, but it can be anything. Publishing books, creating products or even making courses to sell to readers is a great way for bloggers to make money.

I have offered my services as a virtual assistant, however now that my blog is earning me a decent income, I have dropped that. I have created an ebook and an online course. These definitely contribute towards my 6-figure business. 

How I have made my blog a successful 6-figure business

There is one big switch I made that helped my blog to really take off.

Instead of writing like a journal about my life and my experiences, I changed it up and started writing in a way that helped others. That is what helped me to turn this into a 6-figure business.

For example, instead of saying “I made £x from matched betting” it would be “Here’s how you can make £x from matched betting”.

I was still writing the same content, but I was putting the needs of you, my readers, first. Most of you are here to learn ways to make more money, or save money.

Join my blogging course

I have spent the past few months putting together all of my blogging secrets and knowledge into one place. I then spent time testing it with a small group of people and now it has fully launched!

Turn Your Dreams Into Money: How to Build a Six-Figure Blog and Live the Life You Want is available now.

The course comes with over 90 modules and bonuses worth over £700!

Turn Your Dreams Into Money: How to Build a six-figure Blog and Live The Life You Want is the perfect course for you if you dream of:

• Having a wildly successful blog.
• Earning more money from your blog.
• Leaving behind your 9 – 5.
• Become a social media whizz.
• Earning money whilst you sleep.
• Having the freedom to work from anywhere in the world.
• Working on your own terms.
• Having a better work/life balance.

Start your blog in just 7 days

I love the freedom that blogging gives me, and I have been lucky enough to generate a six-figure income from blogging. Over the next 7 days I want to help you with not only the technical aspects of starting a blog, but also deciding why you should blog, how to launch and how to make money from your blog. Best of all, this challenge is totally FREE! Sign up here.