To many Nigerian bloggers, there’s only one way to make money from a blog: Google Adsense.

To such people, it’s Adsense or nothing. That’s why they’re more than eager to get a Google Adsense account and start slapping up the ads on their blogs.

And if their application for Adsense gets rejected, they feel like failed bloggers — because they don’t know of other monetization strategies.

Even the few that are aware of other ways to make money from a blog can only mention two or three aside Adsense.

Now, what if I told that there are well over 100 ways to monetize a blog? Yes, there are.

But in this post, I will be revealing 10 easy ways to make money from your blog right here in Nigeria.

1. Private ads   

Instead of having sleepless nights over the rejection of your application for an Adsense account or the ban of your account, you can sell ad space on your blog directly to advertisers. This way, you’ll take all the money and be in total control.

Linda Ikeji and Paschal Okafor are examples of Nigerian bloggers who make good money from their blogs by selling ad space to advertisers.

However, to attract advertisers to your blog, you need good traffic. No company will advertise on a blog attracting just 100 visitors per day. Businesses advertise on blogs that attract thousands of daily visits and page views.

More importantly, advertisers love targeted traffic. That is, you should have a specific audience. A company selling smartphones and tablets would prefer to advertise on a technology blog, not on an entertainment blog. Why? Because the tech blog’s audience is that company’s target market.

Even after you’ve started generating massive traffic on your blog, advertisers might not come by osmosis, especially if you’re in a competitive niche. So, you might need to contact them, telling them about your blog, your traffic, and the benefits they’ll gain from advertising on the blog.

Constantly looking out for advertisers is the key to making money consistently from ad space selling. However, some blogs are popular enough to attract customers automatically.

2. Sponsored posts and reviews

Instead of advertising directly by having their banners displayed on your blog, some advertisers will request that you write a post about their business, instead. In such post, you will introduce your readers to the business, review their products or services, and discuss how these offers can benefit your readers.

As with display ads, you need huge, targeted traffic to attract advertisers to publish sponsored posts and reviews on your blog.

3. Affiliate marketing

I have already explained affiliate marketing and how it works in one of my previous posts (click here to read it). So, I won’t be defining it here.

Affiliate marketing is one of the most lucrative ways to monetize your blog, especially if you’re targeting a global audience. One good thing about this strategy is, you don’t need tons of visits to make good money from it.

You have the option of either displaying affiliate banner ads on your blog or writing review posts about products that you’re marketing. I prefer the latter option because it helps your readers know more about the products and is more likely to convince them to make a purchase.

Amazon and Commission Junction are examples of affiliate networks you can register with if you’re targeting a global audience. But if you’re looking for Nigerian affiliate programs, Jumia and Konga both have affiliate programs that pay good commissions.

4. E-books and other digital products

I guess you’re familiar with e-books. I mean, you’ve seen them on many blogs, where they’re either given away for free or put up for sale.

You, too, can make money from your blog by writing an e-book and selling it to your blog readers. If your e-book is on a topic that many people really want to know more about, then it will sell well, and you’ll make good money.

Similarly, you can create other digital products such as videos and podcasts — if you’re more comfortable with those. But for now, e-books sell better and faster than videos and other forms of digital content. The reasons? First, they’re more familiar with e-books. And second, most Nigerians cannot afford to spend the huge data on video downloads.

5. E-courses

If you’re really loaded with stuff that people are yearning to pay you to learn, you can create an e-course rather than an e-book or video. The main difference is that you’ll release the content of an e-course as lessons or modules over a specified period, and you’ll offer to answer questions and give other forms of support that participants might need.

Bloggers make consistent income by repeatedly staging their e-courses after every two or three months. My good friend, Mr Muhammed Abdullahi Tosin of NaijaWritersCoach.com makes good money using this strategy.

Presently, I’m running my e-course on freelance writing, the Writing Income Masterclass, which started on Monday, August 4, 2014.

6. Consulting

This is for the gurus. If you have years of experience in a particular field and have started a blog to share your knowledge with others, then you can make money by starting a consulting service.

For example, if you’re a serial entrepreneur with many years of experience in the business world and a good number of successful businesses under your belt, you can make money from your blog by rendering your business consulting services to small business owners who are eager to learn how to grow their business.

Mr Ajaero Tony Martins (of Mytopbusinessideas.com and Strategicbusinessteam.com) makes a killing each month from his blogs by consulting for small business owners in Nigeria and beyond.

7. Paid memberships/ premium content

You can decide to set aside some topnotch information on your blog and turn that into premium content. That is, you charge your readers a certain fee to grant them access to your topnotch content.

Similarly, you can set up a separate website or forum where you can share your topnotch content, but charge members a monthly access fee.

This monetization strategy can only work for you if you’re really loaded with lots of valuable information that your readers can hardly find elsewhere.

Copyblogger is one of the popular blogs I know that make money using this strategy.

8. Freelancing

This simply means rendering services and getting paid on a per-contract basis without being formally attached to an employer.

You can make money through your blog by rendering your services as a freelancer. This requires that you have a skill that people are willing to pay you for, though. Examples of such skills include writing (my forte), graphics design, blog installation and setup, and so on.

If you have any such skills, create a “hire me” or “my services” page on your blog, so your readers will become aware of what you do and how they can benefit from it.

As for me, I render freelance writing, blog setup, keyword research, online business coaching and other services. (Click here to see my own “hire me” page.)

9. Physical products

What you can sell on your blog isn’t restricted to digital products. You can sell physical stuff, too.

For example, if you’re a fashion blogger and have a small business that sells ladies wears and accessories, your blog can be an effective tool for marketing your business and for selling your products. Bear in mind, however, that you will need to devise a way to handle payment, shipping, and other vital issues.

Parktel Online, a smartphone retail outlet in Lagos, adopts this strategy. They have a technology blog where they share information about latest tech devices and market their business.

10. Live training and seminars

Another lucrative blog monetization strategy is to offer live training and seminars to those who are willing to learn from you. Many people learn better in a one-on-one, face-to-face setting. Such would prefer to pay for live training sessions and workshops.

Akin Alabi makes good money by staging live seminars on information marketing.

There you have it!

Now, if someone asks you how to monetize a blog, you now know a good number of answers to give. And as I stated earlier, there are still many more options, but I stayed put on these 10 because any serious Nigerian blogger can implement them easily.

However, these strategies will only work for you after you’ve established yourself as an expert by consistently offering quality, valuable information for free. This is the only way to build trust, which will then convince your audience to buy whatever you have to sell.

And it goes without saying that establishing authority and trust takes time. Don’t expect to make money from a blog after a few weeks or months of starting out.

But if you have already built a huge following over time and have been deemed an expert by your audience, then go ahead to monetize using one or a combination of these strategies. They’ll surely work if you have loads of valuable and in-demand information.

Bottom line

The only way to make money online is to sell something. Everyone who makes money online sells something. What we sell, how we sell, who we sell to, and when we sell might differ, but why we sell is the same: to make money.

Now, your turn…

What do you think about this article? Do you have any objections, contributions, or questions? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

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