Do you feel a bit lost in finding ways to make money from your blog? Don’t worry. Take a deep breath and read this post.

I know, everyone keeps telling you how apparently easy it is to make money online, but in reality, that’s not how it works. Let me tell you the truth- as in any other career, you need to work your butt off and make real sacrifices in order to become successful online. If you’re willing to commit- you’ll have no regrets, but if you’re not- running an online business most probably isn’t for you.

When it comes to blogging- I see a lot of people looking to skip that work-hard part and go straight to living a nomadic dream on the beach.

Well, that’s not what I am about.

Here on this blog, I don’t want to lie to you and spill the magic steps that will help you make thousands of dollars just by watching Netflix on your couch and sharing some spammy links online. Nope. Instead, I’m going to show you what actually works. You might not feel it at first, but in a meantime, it will grow into something beautiful, you’ll see.

I do believe that you can start making money quite quickly tho, but if you want to make stable income out of it- we have some work to do, so roll up your sleeves!

Alright, as for today I wanted to share a few simple steps to get you started. If you’ve started your blog already (if you haven’t you definitely should, use our 5-minute tutorial over here), but haven’t made a single cent from it yet- you’re probably a bit lost. That’s what I am here for, my friend! In this post, I share three steps every successful blogger completes their online journey and so should you.

Are you ready?

Here are 3 Simple Steps You Need to Follow to Finally Start Making Money Off Your Blog:

Go Self-Hosted

If you’re taking your blog seriously and want to actually start making money from it this year- self-hosting is definitely the way to go.

Look, no free wordpress.com blog or a blog built on Blogspot can compare to having your own self-hosted blog. With your own self-hosted site you get all the freedom you need to build a successful online business. You can choose from many available products to make payment process faster or implement affiliate links in few easy clicks. It’s also way easier to trach your growth and gets sponsorships when you run a self-hosted website. This list could go on!

I know, I know, this might sound a bit technical, but with the right resources, you can even launch your self-hosted WordPress site in minutes! Read more about the benefits of migrating to WordPress over here or if you trust my word- go ahead and start a profitable, self-hosted WordPress blog in 5 minutes here.

Have A Niche

There’s a huge problem majority of the bloggers make when they start out. They tend to blog about everything without setting a definite niche for themselves. Of course, one might say that that’s exactly what lifestyle blogging is all about, but I couldn’t agree. Even if you want to blog about your life in general, I know for sure that there are some particular areas that you feel more knowledgeable in. Setting the right niche for your blog can do wonders for your overall online success.

I used to blog about EVERY SINGLE THING and that kept me back from properly monetising my blog. I have since realised that my passion is in teaching others about establishing successful online businesses. By determining my niche I now know what content works for my audience and what strategies I can use in order to monetise my online presence.

The next time someone asks you ‘so..what’s your blog about?’ you need to give them a clear answer. Also, you have to know that running a ‘beauty blog’ is too broad and it will make your journey a lot harder. Think what beauty products really rock your world, do you love supporting organic beauty brands or perhaps you’re all about luxurious beauty products? Find your niche and stick to it!

Read more: How To Find The Right Niche For Your Blog?

Join Affiliate Programmes

Affiliate marketing is a way for a business to reward bloggers or online influencers for each visitor/sale brought by the blogger’s own marketing efforts. Basically, once someone clicks on the affiliate link and buys something from your advertised website you’ve shared- you will get commisioned.

Affiliate Marketing has been my second highest income source for the past year and it is seriously the best way to make passive income even while you sleep!

Check out Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course if you want to learn more about it! The course was created by Michelle who currently earns over $50,000 a month through affiliate marketing, and she shares all of the best tips in this course. In this course, there are 6 modules, over 30 lessons, over 20 worksheets, bonuses, an extremely helpful exclusive Facebook group, and more, and she goes through everything when it comes to affiliate marketing. I was so happy to have found this course and learn from a real expert!

If you’re looking for fashion/beauty based affiliate marketing programs to join, Shop Style Collective and Reward Style are currently the most popular ones to use. They both seem pretty similar- you get to choose fashion items that you want to feature and you can then embed them over widgets or links. However, the way these two platforms pay you are actually pretty different.

In short, RewardStyle pays a commission based on every purchase that originates from your blog, whereas ShopStyle pays on a per click basis. Which basically means, RewardStyle only pays you once someone actually buys using one of your links while with ShopStyle, you will make money anytime someone clicks any ShopStyle links on your site.

Which one should I go with then? I’d say if you’re a beginner blogger- go with ShopStyle and start earning little extra income from day one. However, if you’re experienced blogger and have some kind of an audience built- I’d apply for Reward Style as their commision rates are usually way higher!

This post determines 3 steps that will help you get closer to growing a profitable blog, don’t forget to check out more of the tips for making money online over here!