Last updated on February 9th, 2024 at 09:37 am
Some people start writing blogs because they need money while others blog because they love it. We will assume you are either of the two or maybe let’s just say you do blogging as a passion.
When you do something out of passion you might never even think of having to receive some cash for doing it. But again why not make money from it? It would be interesting to do what you love the most and get paid for that right?
Blogging can be expensive even when you are using a free platform like WordPress. This is because blogging is time-consuming, you are also indebted to your hosting provider, domain renewal fees, security certifications, and any premium plugins you might be using so yes you will need to make some money.
If you are consistent with content creation and your site already has traffic then you are ready for monetization. If you are not yet there don’t worry keep doing what you do best you will get there. But let’s get you informed on how you can monetize your WordPress blog when that time comes.
Related: 9 Best Blogging Platforms in India to Start a Blog and Make Money
How much can you earn as a Blogger in India?
How much money a blogger earns a month or per year varies and it’s different for every blogger. There are a lot of factors governing a blogger’s income.
This can be the topics a blogger writes about, the audience they have, the traffic they get, the company they write for, etc. According to AmbitionBox, the average annual earnings of an Indian blogger is Rs 3.0 LPA, with Rs 0.3L on the lower end and Rs 5.6L on the higher end. This estimate is based on 68 latest salaries received from bloggers.
So in today’s article, we will discuss the top ways to monetize your WordPress blog in India.
Your WordPress blog can help you earn money in many ways. However, some of these ways may take time before you can make money through them. For instance, for you to place ads on your site you must have good traffic.
Just because some ways take long doesn’t mean you just wait for them to play out. We will discuss several other ways you can be able to make money with your blog as you wait for your blog to get good traffic.
But we can’t proceed without mentioning ads since it’s a major way of monetizing your WordPress blog.
1. Monetize your blog with Ads
The simplest way to monetize your WordPress Blog in India is through display advertisements. The ads may appear on your pages as static displays, pop ups, or native ads. You might also consider installing a WordPress theme with ad space.
The most common payment models for display ads are the pay-per-click (PPC) model and the pay-per-impression (PPI) model. In the PPC model payment is received whenever someone clicks on a display ad on your site while the PPI model pays whenever a user sees an ad. PPC models will earn you more as long as users click on them at a consistent rate.
For you to place display ads on your site, you have to partner with advertising networks or companies that pair advertisers with a website to host ads. Choosing a reputable network is very important since they pay you for your ad clicks/impressions and also get to determine which ads will appear on your site.
Google AdSense is by far the most popular ad network for WordPress. AdSense is free and easy to use. It supports the widest pool of targeted ads of any network. It operates on the PPC model and as a publisher, you get 68% of the profit from each ad click.
There are Google AdSense alternatives with some offering better payout and others with looser content requirements for you to become a partner. Some of them include Propeller Ads, Tyroo, SVG media, adChakra, Pubmatic, Affle, Collectcent, and Adson Media.
New bloggers tend to go for Ads as a way of generating passive income but there are some requirements you should know as a new blogger in India before trying it:
Reputable networks like Google AdSense have strict requirements you must meet to become a partner. One is that you should have an existing catalog pool of quality blog posts. As a new blogger, you might not be eligible on this basis.
You will need a good amount of traffic for you to earn significant income from display ads alone.
If your blog is cluttered with distracting ads it can damage the trust your readers have in your site.
Many users install ad blockers or develop “banner blindness” which prevents ads from showing.
However, display ads are still one of the easiest ways for bloggers to generate passive income, as long as they have enough content and traffic to bring clicks and impressions.
2. Use Affiliate Marketing
You can also get passive income through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a better option for the user experience as compared to advertisements and it can be more profitable. According to Business Insider, affiliate programs generate 15% of digital marketing revenue.
As an affiliate marketer, you get to promote third-party products on your blog content. You mention products in your blog posts and place unique affiliate links which visitors can click on and purchase on the product on the third-party website.
The affiliate links you use are tagged with a unique tracking code, which signals the merchant that the traffic came from your blog. Once a visitor makes a purchase through your unique affiliate link, you receive a commission.
Blogs offer many opportunities for affiliate link placement hence making them a good platform for affiliate marketing. For example, you could write a review of a popular product or new product in India or mention a product about a larger topic.
Amazon Associates is the biggest player in the affiliate marketing space, with affiliates even in India. Apart from Amazon Associates, you can also become an affiliate of Indian online stores like Flipkart, Myntra, Amazon India, and Nykaa.
Just think of a product you enjoy, and check whether they offer it on their website. Then write a blog on the same and add affiliate links on the blog to direct your audience to the website.
Below are a few tips for getting started with affiliate marketing on WordPress
a). Be genuine with your reviews and selective about your products so readers will trust your recommendations.
b). Follow the rules for your affiliate program(s) and always disclose in your post when the links are affiliate.
c). Build out your readership with excellent content before adding affiliate links.
d). Only promote products within your area of expertise and this will make it easy for you to explain the product to the audience.
3. Sell Sponsored Blog Posts.
If you are already established as a writer, you can secure sponsorships, in which brands pay you to mention or review their products in your blog posts.
Although basing an entire post around a product takes more effort, you can earn a lot of money from that. If you regularly publish reviews, you can also connect with brands you already cover.
Sponsored content doesn’t necessarily mean those companies should contact you, you can reach out to them and request sponsorship. Having an established reader base is an added advantage since brands are much more likely to agree to a sponsorship deal.
As much as you want to please your sponsors be genuine with your recommendations and opinions. You wouldn’t want to lose the trust your readers have in your content over a one-time business deal.
It is also important to know the difference between sponsored content and native advertising. Native ads blend in with the rest of your content and are created by advertisers.
4. Earn money by offering paid services
If you are skilled in a certain area that is in demand, especially to your audience you can offer paid services to your visitors. Depending on your skill set, you can offer services like SEO, content writing, and logo creation among others.
Just create a page on your blog and list all the services you are offering to maximize the visibility of your page, make sure to place its link in the navigation bar and prominent spaces.
For payment options, you can add methods like bank account details, or use the help of a payment gateway and ask your clients to make the payment using it.
5. Sell exclusive content.
If you have been blogging for a while, you can include exclusive content on a topic of your expertise as premium content. This is a common monetization strategy among experienced bloggers which can earn you extra money.
Premium content covers topics within your blogging niche but should offer insights beyond your standard blog posts. If you are not sure what content would provide value to readers, consider one of many possible content types:
Exclusive posts: These types of posts provide extra value in addition to your free posts. Exclusive blog posts can be entirely new information, or they could expand on a free post or augment existing posts.
Printable blog posts: These blog posts involve converting your longest posts into printable PDFs that users can purchase. You can also add some bonus exclusive content to these PDFs, such as a summary or worksheet for instructional posts.
Ebooks: Ebooks are one of the best ways to offer exclusive content on blogs. This is because they take less time and effort to produce than other forms of content, they are affordable, and you can easily create one from old blog content.
Courses: Apart from ebooks you can also offer a full online class around your topics. This can be done by creating self-guided teaching materials, such as videos or downloadable templates, which will allow your audience to proceed at their own pace. As they progress, you can determine if they are interested in further topics to cover.
Offering live video coaching can boost your income since you get paid for your skills and time. Whether you focus on online courses or on-demand coaching, you can also include chances for communication with your students via email or inside the blog.
For you to sell readers on your paid offer, however, you need to prove your value with free content first for your readers to see the worth of buying your exclusive content.
6. Offer membership.
A membership website offers access to gated content exclusively for members. Membership blog sites can also grant access to a community forum or message board for fans to discuss your content and interact with you.
However, membership requires a lot of work since you need a big following and to prove your value with free resources. This will also require you to shift your content strategy to accommodate regularly updated premium content.
You can also go for an alternative membership service, Patreon. This platform allows fans to sponsor content creators on a monthly basis in exchange for exclusive membership content.
To get started, set membership tiers on your Patreon page with increasing perks for each tier, and place CTAs on your blog asking your loyal readers for support.
Patreon handles the content gating, membership tiers, and payments on your behalf, and takes a percentage fee from your recurring revenue.
7. Ask for donations.
If you don’t have the time and resources to produce exclusive paid content, you can request one-time or recurring donations from your loyal readers.
Although donations cannot be a reliable source of income, they require less effort and they are a low-key approach that lets you focus exclusively on your writing.
With donations all you have to do is place CTAs to a payment method like PayPal. A PayPal plugin for WordPress can help integrate this processor with your website.
However note that the term “donation” can also mean a charitable cause or a nonprofit mission, so be careful when using it, especially if you are using the donations in conjunction with other monetization strategies.
Instead of that word you can use a word like “Support” or consider setting up a Patreon page as mentioned above. That would be a better alternative for crowdsourced revenue.
Conclusion
WordPress websites are so flexible, and therefore there are many ways to monetize your WordPress blog. Although different methods work well for different types of creators, there is no perfect way of earning money from your WordPress blog.
All the 7 top ways to monetize your WordPress blog in India mentioned above have their own pros and cons. That is why above all you should focus on creating quality content for your readers. Just as you might have heard there is no shortcut to getting rich, but consistent, patience and determination will pay off.