Hey guys! This is a question I keep getting constantly through email. And I think it deserves a proper answer.
The short answer is yes, you can make money from blogging. The real question is: in what terms?
I’m sure you’ve heard how people make money from blogging. They either sell merch, ebooks or courses, or they are getting paid by sponsors to do posts about specific topics (which is harder to do because you need a bigger brand to notice you), or through affiliate marketing, or through donations, or through displaying ads (Google Adsense, WordPress Ads, Ezoic etc), or even through guest posts.
The only real way to make money through blogging is by providing value to your readers. This is either through the content you’re posting (better content attracts more viewers), or through the products you’re promoting.
If you really believe in a product (a book from Amazon for example) and you want to tell that to people, you can earn commissions through Amazon’s Affiliate Program. However, this doesn’t mean your readers will jump into buying that. Maybe they don’t find value in it.
Overall, when you think about money through blogging, you need to think about your readers. What would they want?
For me, the money I make are through donations. And with this occasion, I want to thank every single one of my supporters on Buy Me A Coffee. You’re amazing people!
Are there any other ways you make money through blogging?
Love,
Elena
PS: If you enjoy my content, I will think of you while drinking my coffee. – BuyMeACoffee
My son, this blog and coffee is what keeps me alive and going while fighting alcoholism!
Short Wisdom 
Interesting concepts. I don’t think I could convincingly present myself as a sympathetic person. My morning start coffee is a heaping tablespoon of instant coffee. I used to and sometimes still think of alcohol as a “writing tool” because I can sometimes write without inhibitions what I would normally think is very bad writing. But there seems to be a shorter and shorter time-window of opportunity to write (which sometimes is good writing[or a good start for later editing]) until I’m just re-inhibited, feel sick, and just want to sleep. Writing while you’re sleeping seems like a difficult task.
So, I don’t think I could do the coffee thing, but I’m thinking that if I were a sympathetic figure, I’d have to find a way to say, “Well, I don’t need you to buy me a cup of coffee but with that coffee money you could buy my latest book. ” A book sale would be less and more: the royalty payment is a little less, but the satisfaction would be a little more. Anyway, my stats page usually shows zero clicks on links, and zero everything else except for “likes”. I haven’t bothered with book links lately because people seem annoyed at them.
Blogs earn money if the authors have products to promote and sell, use affiliate marketing links, and put google ads. I post online for a long time but did not get rich. I was active for 2 years on my site and understood a thing or two.
I will never write what people expect me to earn the read. Authenticity is the way to move on. Donations are a popular way for blogs to earn but for me is like begging. Maybe I have a problem with receiving. On my website, I have only likes, but that is good enough for me. Someone found themselves in my posts. I do not have any expectation to earn big from the blog, so I focus on products I would like to create.
Interesting article, there are certainly ways to make money from blogging. You just have to stand out.
I post my writing online but the point for me is not the cash but the actual sharing of my work. I don’t want my kids saying their Dad just kept it to himself. That’s not me at all. So if people do want to pay me for consuming it, it would be nice but first I just want co-writers. 🤪
Nice article, how does one promote a blog without ads?