Once you’ve been blogging for a while you’ll soon realize the commitment and work that goes into maintaining a blog or website. At some point you may start to wonder, can I make money at this? Can this be a career? (If you are serious about blogging read all of my posts and watch my videos about how to blog.)

Moms are making money at home in their pajamas every day while taking care of their children and still running their homes.

I am very serious. Do some research online and you’ll find many bloggers who have branched out and made their sites and/or services into lucrative incomes.

Before that sends your mind into a whirlwind, understand there is a lot of volunteering that goes into a blog before you ever start to make money. Also understand that not every blogger is going to make millions off of their site. Heck, not everyone is going to even make $1,000 a month.

The success of your site lies in you. Can you withstand all the work that goes into this? Will you persevere? Is this a passion or do you just want to make some money? Is there a need for the content you’re writing? Do others find it valuable? Are you consistent in your efforts? You can read my post that includes 20 tips to improve your blog.

Today let’s talk making money. More and more bloggers are making a part-time income while running their site. The dream of making a full-time income is also proving to be more obtainable now as successful sites have proven that to us. This is all according to research I have done and by speaking with other bloggers who are making income.

Ways Bloggers Can Make Money

Here are 15 ways that bloggers are making money from blogging.

1. Become a virtual assistant  you are especially valuable if you are a fellow blogger and understand how blogging works and the importance of social media, etc. A virtual assistant can field emails, link up posts at meme/blog hops, administer your site’s Facebook page,manage your Twitter account, manage your Pinterest boards, really the list goes on and on. Most virtual assistants make an hourly rate- I think $10 an hour is a very fair fee. And, you can be a virtual assistant for multiple bloggers, easily working 20-40 hours per week if you want. You can communicate effectively and easily using sites like Skype, email and EverNote. Here is an excellent eBook that teaches you how to be a virtual assistant and includes 154 pages on information, tips and pointers.
2. Freelance writing for other sites-  many of the local news stations, online magazines, and blogs in general want content. If you already write on your blog, you can easily write for another blog and make money. You could even be a regular contributor. It is fair to charge by the post and expect to make $20+ per post. If you write five freelance articles a month you can easily make $100 extra for your family. Obviously, you can increase that by increasing your commitment. If you see a local magazine has an online version, email them and find out if there are freelance opportunities.
3. Google AdSense-  just about any blog can be approved for Google AdSense. The approval process is quick and painless. Once approved, you install the coding for up to three ads and you begin to get paid by the click. There are two drawbacks: you must meet a $100 threshold before you’re paid each month (it rolls from month to month until you reach it) and if they think you are clicking on your own ads, they will cancel you without question and getting back in is almost impossible. Just make sure you never ever click your own ads… let your readers do the clicking. Be patient and do not get discouraged if it take a few months to get your first check. It will come and as your site grows so will the revenue.
4. Sell Private Ads- create a media kit and outline the ad sizes you plan to offer and the prices you will charge for each ad. The cost for above the fold ads run more. When a company sends you an offer, and you will get them, email them with a nice thank you and ask them to take a peek at your media kit. You never know where this can go. Here is a post with tips for creating a media kit.
5. Other Ad Networks- there are some excellent ad networks you can run ads for. What I like about this is generally you are paid by the pageviews and not by the clicks, however, their approval process is a bit more extensive than Google AdSense. Generally you are approved according to size and type of content you write. A couple of good networks are Burst Media, Federated Media, Rivit Media and Media.net.
6. Write an e-Book– do you blog about recipes, crafts, how to blog, being financially savvy, etc.? Take what you would put into a series of blog posts and put them into an e-book. Then, sell the e-book on your site for a reasonable fee and find others to be an affiliate of your e-book. You make money off of their sales and your sales. Many bloggers use e-Junkie as their affiliate provider when getting other bloggers to promote their e-book. Angela England has written an excellent and informative eBook that teaches you how to write and market  your own eBook in 30 days. I own this and it is excellent!
7. Get a Book Deal– It is not as far fetches as it sounds. Pioneer Woman, Dooce and Kelly Hampton all have successful book on the market. Endless food bloggers have cookbooks on the market.   This is real guys- it is not uncommon for a blogger to get a real book deal and see their name in local bookstores.I was told by a former journalist that publishers are looking for successful eBooks now to secure book deals with bloggers.
8. Become an Affiliate– You can be an affiliate for Amazon, an affiliate for your friend’s e-book, or an affiliate for a site that offers your readers deals like Escalate Network. All of these are extra ways to make money from your site. Also, become an affiliate for eBooks of fellow mom bloggers. Many of them share 50% of the cut with you. That can add up quick.
9. Become a Consultant– Are you an expert in your niche? If you are a subject matter expert in blogging, charge an hourly rate to educate others with valuable information that can help them take their site to the next level. I have even found there to be an opportunity to offer consulting in my media kit for businesses who are running websites and blogs and need some tips and pointers. You would be shocked to find out that some of the folks running a business with a website have no idea what a keyword is nor the significance in understanding keywords help your site get found on Google.
10. Speaking Engagements if you are an expert on blogging, or crafting, or finance, etc., start applying for opportunities to be a speaker at conferences speaking on your topics.
11. Make Videos for Brands- you would be shocked to know that some companies will pay you to make videos for their brand. Sometimes they just want one video for their YouTube channel, sometimes they want you to be a spokesperson for a period of time. Include this in your media kit as another opportunity.
12. Etsy and Other Shops– if you make things and sell them in an Etsy shop, marry it with a blog. Use your blog to promote your store in a sense, but also to share tips and pointers about whatever it is you’re making. In other words, if you refurbish furniture and sell these pieces in an Etsy shop, start a blog where you give simple tips on how to re-finish wood, how to sand wood, how to choose your paint color, how to coordinate paint colors, etc. You will become valuable even to someone who does not ever plan to do this work themselves, but they see value in what you’re doing. Bam, they love your work and want to purchase some of it from your Etsy shop. (Um, then add Google AdSense to your  blog and an ad network like Rivit Media and start making more money from home.)
13. Graphic Design- do you have the eye, skill and software for designing graphics? Make graphics for people and/or blog design. You would be shocked at the money you can make doing this. Once words gets around that you are good, you will be booking people out weeks or months in advance. I’ve watched it happen many times in my four years of blogging.
14. Job Boards- more and more there are blogs popping up with job board opportunities. Business 2 Blogger is one of my favorites. Blogvertise is another good one to check out that is a job board of sorts.
15. Community Manger– big brands, as well as smaller companies who do not have the knowledge or time to Tweet and Facebook, will pay you to be a community manager. If being a virtual assistant is not appealing to you, but running a brand’s Facebook and Twitter accounts is appealing, make the company an offer. Include this as an option in your media kit.

Share with us what is working for you and what is not. I would love your feedback and input.

More Blogging Tips from Crystal & Co.

• How to Use Pinterest to Grow Your Blog
• How I Get 140k pageviews a Month on My Mom Blog
• Linky Party Strategies– 50 Parties in My Niche
• How to Improve Your Blog
• 16 Twitter Tips