There’s no need to mention advantages of having a blog. Everyone who is blogging can point to self-realization, having a platform to exchange ideas, promoting your own creativity. The only problem is that often a blog can also be a money sink. But what if you could actually earn money this way?

Obviously, it is possible. Different blogs use different methods, with varying results, and often something that works for bigger blogs might not work for everybody. So, here are the most common ways to make money off a WordPress blog. Enjoy, and don’t forget to comment!

PART ONE – Please, click an ad on my website!

Pay Per Click (PPC) and Pay Per View (PPV) advertising

Simply adding ads on your website that are targeted to your visitors’ interests. Those could be text links, banners, videos and other rich media ads. You get paid for visitors viewing your ads, and a little bit extra for clicking them.

– AdSense – Google’s advertising platform for publishers. The most popular platform for this type of advertising, with over 2 Million publishers in the network. It is very flexible and offers a lot of tools, ad types, metrics and is free to use. You may try it here: www.google.com/adsense

– WordAds – an alternative for AdSense managed by WordPress.com. It covers a huge community with millions of blogs hosted on WordPress.com (there are more than 72 Mln WordPress sites worldwide). They offer good rates, a variety of creative ads that are optimized to look good on any WordPress theme. Interested? Check it out here: http://wordads.co/

– BuySellAds – a popular network among influential bloggers and content publishers. They have high requirements, so it’s hard to be accepted, but once you get there, you’re a part of a enormous network selling over 6 Billion ad impressions each month.  More info here: http://buysellads.com/

PART TWO – Want to click something? Already going? Take the ad!

Ad networks, Shortening link services – advertising without taking up pixel space on a blog

You don’t have any ads on your blog, but you have some shortened links posted on your site. When someone clicks on those links, they are redirecting you to a site with an ad, earning you some money.

– Shorte.st monetization plugin – There are lots of shortening link services, having usually similar prices and rules. However, Shorte.st is a great one, because it has a really easy-to-use WordPress plugin. You download it and install like any other plugin from wordpress.org. Inside you can choose which domain to shorten, as well as add scripts. There are also a few other tools you can use. You can find the plugin here: http://wordpress.org/plugins/shortest-website-monetization/

PART THREE – Of course you can read that. Just pay for it!

Selling products and having premium content

There is of course a way to earn that doesn’t require ads. You just have to create something, that your users will want to pay you for. For example:

– e-Products: something that users can download after paying. That could be an e-book, graphics, unique fonts, icons, templates and more. You can even create an e-store providing products with complete services like premium support, updates,  This is an example plugin for an image store: http://wordpress.org/plugins/cp-image-store/

– Premium content: if your articles or tutorials are very popular, you can consider making them available only for subscribers. Users may read a short part of your course or tutorial, but the whole course could be just for subscribers. Just remember – users don’t like to pay, so your content has to be top grade!

– Custom promotions: if you represent an influential community of certain enthusiasts (web design, WordPress, social media, SEO, technology, etc.), you might want to offer some sponsored reviews, deals, competitions, newsletter advertising or other custom campaigns.

Which way do you prefer? Or maybe you are considering using more than just one? Using ads on the website doesn’t mean you can’t use shortened links or premium content, it is all up to you. Just remember, that user has to feel comfortable with your ads, so often less is more. Getting paid a lot might seem tempting, but the most important thing for a blog should be its readers!