So you’re thinking about starting a blog to maybe make a little bit of extra cash. But your wondering how do you actually make money from a blog in the UK?
If so you are not alone! We found ourselves in the same position not long ago and set off on a journey to answer the very same question.
Since then we’ve started doing just that – making a little bit of extra cash from a blog that’s UK based and below we share what we’ve learnt so far.
Part of the problem with making money from blogging is just the sheer noise there is out there.
You’ll see plenty of stuff telling you to just do this or that and eventually all will be well. But what if you’re completely fresh to all of this stuff and don’t have a clue what it actually means but are willing to learn.
Well hopefully then the stuff below will be of some value to you. Here we try and breakdown one of the most popular ways people make money from a blog (Amazon affiliate marketing).
We try to do it in a way you could explain to anyone else and also try to provide a handy diagram that hopefully make it even clearer.
We’ve found that part of the problem with all of this stuff is that people write like they’re talking to others in their community who already get it! But not everyone does, especially when you’re completely fresh to it.
How To Make Money From a Blog UK
So let’s take a closer look at one of the most popular ways to make money from a blog in the UK and indeed globally.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is probably the simplest method of monetising your blog. It’s beginner friendly as it’s a fairly straightforward model once you pick it up.
Affiliate marketing works by your blog/site essentially directing buyers to a particular product or service. You then get paid a set commission with the product or service provider for sending paying customers their way.
Perhaps the most famous affiliate marketing program around is Amazon’s (that’s what our affiliate site is based on).
Let’s walk through an example. Imagine your blog (NutsAboutSpeakers.com) deals with bluetooth speakers and Ben is looking for a new bluetooth speaker:
- 1 – Ben jumps onto Google and types in “best Bluetooth speaker for under £50”. One of the results he sees on page 1 of Google is from your awesome blog covering some of the best Bluetooth speakers in that category.
- 2 – Ben clicks through onto your website, reads a review and finds a speaker he likes from your recommendations. He decides to click the “buy now on Amazon” button.
- 3 – After clicking through to Amazon, Ben buys the speaker in question.
- 4 – The product is then shipped to Ben.
- 5 – Once the speaker has been shipped to Ben, you get paid a commission based on a % of the total sale.
- Note: The click from your blog is tracked via a cookie that lasts 24 hours. Even if Ben ends up buying something else on Amazon, the blog owner will still get a commission. You get paid a % of the total basket.
Its as simple as that. The name of the game is to try and get as many clicks through into your affiliate links as possible and hope they buy the product.
Amazon are not the only game in town and there are tons of options out there.
However, Amazon is a popular starting point as they’re such a massive player in the online retail space and have a global presence. They now allow you to benefit from sales generated in several countries even if your based in the UK including: USA, Italy, Germany, Spain, Canada and Japan.
It’s also very likely that you’ve already used Amazon for your own shopping needs and a fairly familiar with how they operate as a site. Being able to place yourself in the buyer’s shoes helps when thinking about your user experience.
When you first join Amazon, you get 6 months to generate 3 sales otherwise your account gets closed. Though it’s worth noting you can simply open another associate account fairly easily.
How Do You Direct People To Your Website?
The name of the game with affiliate marketing is to put yourself in between buyers and their chosen place of shopping by offering them value in someway.
To do so, you need to direct traffic to your website/blog. There are several ways to direct traffic including social media (e.g. Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram & Twitter), paid advertising and referrals (getting traffic from other websites).
However, perhaps the most effective way is through SEO traffic.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. When people refer to SEO it basically means trying to make your website appear more friendly to search engines most notably Google.
I say it is probably the most effective way of as it is estimated that 35% of consumers start their online shopping journey on a search engine. This is second to only Amazon at 38%.
Getting ranked on Google search results can be difficult especially if it is a popular product you pick. But if you are able to do so, you will be well set to receive consistent traffic to your website for as long as you can sustain your ranking.
Unlike social media and paid traffic, you do not have to keep constantly putting in effort on a daily basis to drive traffic from a particular article. You will always have to maintain your website and continue to add content regularly but it is not as demanding as other forms of driving traffic.
How Do You Know Which Is The Best Product or Service? `
Selecting the best product category or service when you are first starting out can seem like picking a needle out of a haystack. There’s so much choice out there and it can be hard to know what to pick.
If you already have something your interested in that may be a good starting point. For example if you love cycling then that could be a good place to start as there are tons of products you could blog about.
If not, Amazon for example will tell you directly what their best sellers are on their website. Have a look at their data and then think about what you’d find interesting writing about from their best performers.
You also want to make sure that you can stand to make enough commission to make it worth your while. To do this make sure the products you choose sell for a reasonable price taking into account Amazon’s fee schedule.
Final Thoughts
Starting your own blog, if done well, presents a great opportunity for you to make some side income. Affiliate marketing represents one of the best ways to make money from a blog in the UK.
There are a number of other ways to make an income from a blog including advertising and selling products directly however, affiliate marketing has next to no start-up costs (aside from paying for a website and hosting for which we would recommend Bluehost).