Once considered the domain of hobbyists and newspaper columnists, blogging has become a lucrative money-making venture for everyone from influencers to Fortune 500s.

In this guide, we’ll look at some of the best ways to engage audiences, attract investment, and churn out a steady stream of high-quality content through content automation strategies.  

How to monetize your blog 

No matter how original and well-written your articles are, monetizing your blog requires a little entrepreneurial thinking. To get you started, we’ve listed some of the most effective strategies to help you develop a blogging business model. While you don’t have to try all the following methods to start earning blog income, it’s worth trying a few to boost your chances of success.

1. Use your blog to attract clients

Maintaining a blog is among the most effective self-promotion methods available. Directing potential clients to a slick blog brimming with well-written, educational articles will establish trust with your audience while showcasing your expertise. Think of it as a living online portfolio. 

Once you’ve developed a few posts, and optimized them for SEO, you should start seeing new users visit your blog and website. As traffic to your website increases, make sure you have strong calls to action (CTAs) that push sales—whether that’s by encouraging visitors to subscribe to your products or services, or just to your mailing list, make sure you have a clear customer journey that drives revenue. 

2. Sell advertising space on your blog

Selling advertising space to businesses can be lucrative if your blog attracts lots of traffic. Plus, there are tons of advertising networks available to help you get set up. Some of the most popular examples include Ezoic, Media.net, and AdThrive. 

Of course, building a content strategy that drives traffic is much easier said than done. The web is saturated with blogs competing for attention, even within the smallest niches. If you’re wondering how to boost traffic, it’s worth trying the following strategies:

• Learn the basics of search engine optimization (SEO), such as keyword research. This will ensure your blog climbs to the top of Google search results pages.

• Focus on creating newsworthy or viral content by tuning into the latest online trends. 

• Try to keep your blog content short and sweet (at least when you’re starting out). This strategy will help with SEO and ensure your content is as shareable as possible.

3. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing represents one of the most popular revenue streams for bloggers. The practice involves promoting other businesses’ goods and services in return for a small commission per successful conversion. 

Processes surrounding affiliate marketing are similar to those associated with selling advertising space. There are plenty of popular affiliate networks available online, including ShareASale, Rakuten Marketing, and ClickBank, each of which provides instant access to merchants and agents on the hunt for content just like yours!

While affiliate marketing sounds simple, you’ll need to strike a balance between promoting clients’ offerings and producing engaging content. Readers are unlikely to enjoy or trust brazenly sales-oriented articles. 

The secret to writing stellar affiliate content is providing value to your readers through well-researched content that speaks to their needs. 

4. Sponsored posts

Sponsored posts involve charging a business a fee to write an entire article reviewing their goods and services. One of the most significant benefits of these posts is that they seem more authentic than traditional forms of advertising, building trust among consumers. 

According to recent statistics, sponsored posts can produce click-through rates almost nine times higher than standard display ads – an obvious perk for marketing teams! And with the death of third-party cookies on the horizon, contextual marketing like this is likely to gain traction in the next year or two.

As a directly sales-oriented strategy, however, sponsored posts are only viable for bloggers with large followings. No matter how amazing your writing skills, companies are unlikely to part with their cash if your blog doesn’t generate some serious traffic. 

5. Turn your blog into a subscription service

As consumers become hungrier for high-quality content, more are paying subscription fees for articles, videos, ebooks, and other forms of content that suit their interests. Substack, for example, allows independent writers and publishers to charge subscription fees for content. Amazingly, the platform has grown from 50,000 paying subscribers in 2019 to over 1 million subscribers at the start of 2022. If you’re passionate about a niche topic, why not build a community of subscribers with whom to share your carefully crafted musings?

Naturally, you’ll need to spread the word about your subscription service if you want to build traction and secure a healthy blog income. Social media can help build an audience base. Similarly, getting your name out via guest appearances on other blogs and podcasts will likely boost your subscription numbers. 

6. Sell digital content or courses

If you’re well versed in a particular subject, you can turn your knowledge into an online course or ebook. Content that requires time, care, and superior knowledge is often perceived to be of much higher value than traditional short-form blog posts. As such, people are more willing to pay a (reasonable) premium for access to your content.  

If you’re struggling to think of a course theme, try to identify your audience’s main pain points. For example, if many of your readers are worried about climate change, creating a course or long-form ebook about this emotive subject will surely drive engagement and sales, especially if it’s tied to actionable solutions. If you’re unsure about what topics are affecting your audience, consider sending a survey. 

How to automate your blog content

Once you’ve established a popular blog that attracts traffic and/or revenue, you’ll need to continue creating engaging content that satisfies your audiences and stakeholders. But with the additional focus on finding affiliates, creating premium content, or pursuing other revenue-driving blog strategies, you may find that your bandwidth for blog writing is limited. That’s where content automation via outsourcing can supercharge your output.

While this may sound like a daunting prospect, there are plenty of tools and resources available to help you meet audience demand and produce quality content fast. Here are some of our most effective tips:

1. Beat writer’s block with content idea generation tools

Even the most creative wordsmiths experience writer’s block from time to time. If you’re twiddling your thumbs while struggling to generate a compelling idea, there are tons of online tools available to help get your creative juices flowing. 

Whether you’re a fitness enthusiast or fashion blogger, try a blog post idea generator on a platform such as Draft or GrowthBar. Some idea generation tools will even provide keywords and meta descriptions to help you ace your SEO and drive traffic. 

2. Hire ghostwriters

Once your blog starts generating substantial income, it’s worth finding specialists like ghost writers to support your blog. While you may feel reluctant to let others work on your blog (it’s your personal project, after all!), experienced freelancers will add fresh perspective to your site. They’ll also free up your time to explore other revenue opportunities, rather than staying bogged down with copywriting. 

Obviously, you’ll need to ensure the freelancers you hire are the right fit for your brand and industry. Some blog owners use sites such as Upwork and Fiverr to source writers. While this approach can lead to fabulous partnerships, many blog owners struggle to find their perfect match among the thousands of available freelancers. Indeed, it’s difficult to vet these freelancers for quality, and you may struggle to achieve a quick turnaround with some of the most in-demand writers.

Fortunately, niche marketplaces like Draft make it easy to get affordable and well-written blog posts. We pair cutting-edge technology with vetted writers to deliver quality content, fast. Whatever your niche, we’ll find the best person for the job and ensure your first draft is ready within a few days. 

Plus, you can request any revisions free of charge if the piece isn’t quite right. Once you’ve settled into the platform, you can even curate your own pool of preferred writers to ensure your content hits the mark every time.

Naturally, there are a few things you can do to enhance your briefs and ensure your ghost writers produce the best possible content, including:

• Basic content specs, such as the word count and dialect

• Include information about the keywords you would like to use

• Add information about the tone of voice and audience

• Choose a format, assuming you have a preference (e.g., listicles, or how-tos)

• Any internal or third-party links that you want included

It’s also helpful to be as responsive as possible during the writing process. No matter how comprehensive your brief, it’s common for questions to pop up. Providing a prompt answer will give your writer time to produce a great piece.

3. Take the pain out of proofreading

Finally, remember to proof and edit your work. Tools like Grammarly and ProWritingAid can catch most mistakes but hiring a human proofreader or editor can take your blog post from good to great. 

The bottom line

While professional blogging may seem like a daunting prospect, there are heaps of resources out there to help you produce a stream of captivating content. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or a blogging rookie, ghostwriters, content generators, and monetization platforms are ready and waiting to make your content dreams a reality. 

To find out more about Draft and how our writers help boost blog income, create a free account today.