Having a successful blog that puts pennies in the bank seems like a mere dream to most bloggers. We’ve all read the success stories of 20-something year old Instagrammers flouncing around Bali making thousands from just one upload. But, you’re probably wondering how exactly they do it?

In this article, we’re going to show you 5 creative ways to make money from your blog. Whether these tips help you make a little bit of pocket money from month to month, or help you make blogging a career, we hope they help you meet your goals and chase your dreams!

Native Advertising

Native advertising is the most common income stream among bloggers, and it’s the easiest to set up, too. However, most newbie bloggers turn to first to Google AdSense and get frustrated by the fact that they make peanuts every month.

That’s why you’ll hear so many bloggers claiming that “there’s no money in native advertising.”

But, actually, these people are missing a trick. A very lucrative trick.

Because the thing is that it’s only really the common ad networks that pay notoriously badly.

If you want to make money blogging, you need to increase your traffic and get accepted onto a well-paid ad network. Mediavine and AdThrive are considered as two of the best networks for bloggers thanks to their high RPM (return per mil- e.g $s per thousand views). Getting accepted isn’t easy though. They require bloggers to have a minimum of 25,000 unique views/ 100,000 unique views per month respectively.

If you work hard on your SEO and create amazing content, though, hitting these page views should be no impossible feat!

Affiliate Marketing

As a blogger, there are probably products that you love, use and want your reader to know about, too.

Luckily, there’s a way to make money from this: affiliate marketing.

You’d partner with an affiliate network and use your own unique affiliate link to direct views to a certain product. When your readers click on those links, you’ll get a percentage of any sale they make.

Imagine you’re a food blogger and you’re in love with your electronic hand blender. Why not share the love with your readers- and get a little love back in return?

This is affiliate marketing.

The largest and most encompassing affiliate network on the web is Amazon Associates. However, if you’re a niche blogger, or just someonelooking to support some independent business, we recommend doing research into smaller companies that fit perfectly into your niche and offer a high commission rate to their affiliates.

Brand Partnerships

In today’s digital age, huge brands are turning to bloggers to help them market their products to the millennial market. These brand partnerships can be difficult to come by and, in all honesty, they rarely fall in your lap.

To get a brand partnership, I recommend finding companies who’re similar in size to your own blog and pitching them an idea about how you can work together.

That means that you probably won’t be able to pitch Nike, but you might be able to work with a boutique eco-friendly sportswear company who’s audience looks similar to your own.

A brand partnership usually entails writing sponsored posts about the brand, endorsing their products on social media and acting as an affiliate. The amount that you get paid for this hugely depends on three things: your traffic, your following and your engagement. However, it can be lucrative and many big bloggers even rely on this as their primary source of income.

Using Rewards Based Social Media

Rewards based social media is a new concept, but we believe it’s going to start a revolution. By using a rewards based social media platform, content creators get rewarded for engaging photos, videos or blog links that they upload, meaning the revenue from the app is shared among users, rather than put into the pockets of the shareholders.

Imagine you had a dollar for every like you got on Instagram? Rewards based social media gives higher rewards to more engaging content to encourage talented content creators to continue using their app.

The most popular rewards based social media platform is SteemIt however, next year, Foresting are releasing a new and improved social media app that aims to revolutionise the world of social networking. I’ve been involved in the creation of the app and can tell you that it’s going to be pretty exciting!

To stay updated with news on Foresting, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

I hope that these 4 simple strategies help you finally make the money you deserve from the content you create.