It is important to explore options on how to monetize this blogging project as it would not only broaden my knowledge on marketing and commercial ventures but it would act as a reward to earn profit from it.
WordPress itself gives good advice on how to do this.
“Six proven ways to monetize a blog”
1. Advertising
“Website ads primarily work in one of two ways:
- Selling your ad space directly to advertising agencies.
- Working with an advertising network, which will provide ads directly to you.
The downside of the first option is that if you’re a relatively new and unknown website, appealing to advertising agencies can prove difficult. Selling ads directly is only a viable solution for established sites with recognizable brands and large audiences.
Working with an ad network solves this issue, as the network will find advertisers and provide you with some ready-made ads that you can place on your site. In this scenario, you receive a cut of the advertising profits, and the network also gets a share.
If you have a Premium or Business plan with WordPress.com, the easiest way for you to get started with the network model is with WordAds. WordAds works with some of the biggest ad publishers, including Google AdSense, Facebook Audience Network, Amazon A9, and others.”
I felt this was the most realistic way to monetize my blog so I signed up for WordAds, which informed me Foody Travels would have to reach the minimum traffic requirements. Another concern was how the aesthetic of the blog would be ruined as it would no longer be as slick and tidy in appearance.
2. Affiliate marketing
“You promote other people’s products or services and in return, receive commissions whenever your recommendations lead to sales. With affiliate marketing, no classic ads are involved. Instead, you’re given personal links to use when promoting a product on your site. If your site visitors click on these links and make a purchase, you get a commission. You are responsible for placing those links somewhere on your site. You can embed them within a blog post, along the sidebar, or wherever you prefer. Currently, the most popular affiliate program is Amazon’s, which has a base commission of 4 percent.”
This was another option which may be more integrated into the site and be more relevant as I could relate the products somehow to food and travel, although this could create a false purpose to the blog and appear to be advertising to make money. I am currently looking into the Amazon affiliate program.
3. Selling your own products
This would not work as I do not intend to sell a product on the blog.
4. Selling services
Again, this did not appeal to me.
5. Sponsored content
“This monetization method is about finding people who are willing to pay you for publishing content on their behalf. This can involve paid reviews, editorial pieces, branded publicity articles, and so on. Basically, anything that can, in some way, benefit a client who is paying for the content. This approach isn’t necessarily for everyone. For this to be a viable option, your blog needs to have some authority in a niche space so that brands perceive value in receiving your publicity. If you decide to try this path, read more about WordPress.com’s guidelines for publishing sponsored content.”
6. Donations
This works best for loyal readership which I do not have at this early developmental stage.
The Amazon affiliate program stood out as a good option as there are no requirements for traffic and seemed quite straight forward.
