While there are a whole sleuth of free blogging platforms and hosting solutions, bloggers that care about their craft know how quickly expenses add up. Domain registration and renewals, premium hosting, custom themes, and graphic design work do not come cheap.

Despite the costs, many do it for the love of blogging. Others do it to enhance their personal brand. For example, entrepreneur and digital marketer Neil Patel claims to lose $1,671,120 a year on costs and forgone revenue to preserve and amplify his personal brand. Elite bloggers build multimillion dollar businesses from their content. Jon Morrow of Boost Blog Traffic generates $100,000 each month on his blog.

But for most people, success has a lower minimum threshold — just enough to cover costs and net spare play money. The smartest among them know how to take advantage of the different advertising and monetization options out there to earn enough to be happy and continue blogging.

Turning Passion Into Dollars

To learn how one blogger does it, we heard from Jamie H., who shared how she monetizes ToysInTheDryer.com, effectively turning her passion into dollars.

A Bit About Jamie

During the weekends, Jamie is a pediatric intensive care nurse at her “real job.” But during the week, she operates Toys In The Dryer, a parenting blog which “combines the humorous side of being a mom with my desire to provide fun, cheap, and creative outlets for my children.”

Bringing In The Money

So, in her spare time, Jamie blogs and over the years, she has built a loyal audience of 5,000 readers per month. With her engaged readership, she has found revenue opportunities through advertising networks, paid articles and sponsored social media posts. When she partners with brands, this is what she charges on average:

• $150 – $200 per sponsored article
• $25 per month from advertising networks
• $5-10 per sponsored Instagram post, distributed to her 500+ followers
• $5 for a sponsored tweet, shared with her 1,400+ followers

The bulk of her earnings come from paid posts which often include giveaways and hands-on product reviews. In some cases, Jamie elects to do “paid in product” campaigns. “I have gotten a cell phone, a dishwasher, various kids electronics, and more,” said Jamie. “I definitely think that adds to my income even though it’s not spendable income. A $200 cell phone, $800 dishwasher, and $150 kid’s tablet definitely add up and it’s money that I don’t have to spend out of my own pocket.” For brands, offering free product is incredibly cost effective if they have excess inventory and for bloggers, receiving products as compensation allows you to try a brand’s goods before you decide to promote them.

Building Brand Partnerships

To ease communication with brands and to let them know that your blog is “open for business,” bloggers develop straightforward media kits (here is what Jamie uses for Toys In The Dryer). In any good media kit, you should highlight important demographic information about your readers, audience statistics, industry awards, and advertising offerings. And so brands can reach you directly, remember to include your personal contact information.

How do you drive dollars from your hard-earned pageviews?

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