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First of all, thank you for taking the time to read about me. I just want you to know that I am no different than you. Like you – I wanted to start a blog and make money online, to be creative and obtain financial freedom.  What I didn’t want was to trade my time for money anymore.

So, without further ado, here’s my story, and I hope it inspires you to take a chance.

My blogging journey started back in 2004 when I stumbled upon iVillage.com, a website created by a mom that was later sold to NBC for millions. That got me thinking, “If she can do it, why not me?” Then in 2005, I discovered Celebrity Babies, another mom-created blog that really piqued my interest. Mind you, I knew nothing about blogging or computers, but I knew my computer was somehow going to make me money.

So later that year CelebrityBabyScoop.com was born. Within the first year, I realized that I would be able to monetize the blog because there was such an interest in the content that I was producing. Most readers who found the blog became addicted and would return daily, which resulted in a community feel.

There were definitely moments when I felt like throwing in the towel, but I kept pushing myself and eventually all my hard work paid off. After two years I was earning over 20k per month – I convinced my husband to let me quit my nursing job and focus on the blog full-time. Taking that leap of faith helped me take the blog to the next level, and I was even able to hire some amazing staff writers and a marketing pro!

Of course, there were plenty of bumps in the road along the way. I tried out different platforms like Typepad, Drupal, and eventually settled on WordPress. But I learned a ton by doing and making mistakes as I went. If there’s one thing I can say about blogging, it’s that it takes a lot of time, patience, persistence, and good old-fashioned hard work!

By 2014, Celebrity Baby Scoop was the top celebrity baby website in the world! It was such an amazing feeling to finally sell the site for six-figures and have the financial freedom to explore new niches and keep making money online.

If you’re thinking about starting your own blog, know that there’s no one “right” way to do it. But if you’re looking for some inspiration, I’d love to share some of the methods that worked for me when it came to monetizing my site. Let’s dive in!

How I started my Blog and Made Money

1. Choose a Profitable Niche

The celebrity baby niche was booming when I started my blog. Celebrity A-list tots like Suri Cruz and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt were just as famous as their parents. The world was obsessed and couldn’t get enough.  Today, the celebrity baby niche isn’t as strong, but today niches such as the ones below can be extremely profitable:

• Digital marketing.
• Blogging and making money online.
• Health and fitness.
• Personal finance and investing.
• Recipes and food.
• Personal development and self-care.

2. Direct Advertising

One of the first ways I monetized my blog was by selling ad space in the sidebar to small businesses. We had different sponsorship packages that included anything from written reviews, live social media, product placement, correspondence at events, Twitter parties, and social media campaigns. We were also open to any ideas our clients had. Here is a screenshot of my advertising page.

3. Ad Networks

One of the first ad companies I worked with was called blogads, I maybe made $100 each month with them. I also used Google Adsense and started to make to make a little more money. As my site grew, I was able to join a larger ad network called BlogHer. I was thrilled because I started to make decent money with them. My goal was to eventually become part of Federated Media – which I finally did, and that’s when I started making excellent money. I had over 4.5 million pageviews and since ad networks pay on a CPM basis I was doing very well. If you’re looking for good ad networks to join in 2023 – check out MediaNet and Mediavine.

4. Affiliate Marketing

I started utilizing affiliate marketing as a lucrative income stream right from the beginning. When I didn’t have any direct advertisers in the first few months, I filled my ad slots with affiliate marketing ads. This enabled me to potentially earn money while appearing as though other companies were purchasing ad space on my site. I wrote a post on the top 5 paying affiliate programs in 2023.

5. Sell Ebooks

Lot’s of bloggers sell their own products such as an eBook.  While this is something I never did, it can be very profitable. The content you create has to useful and create trust.  Creating a good ebook can be time consuming to put together, but it’s a great way to generate passive income.

Pick a topic in your niche, put the ebook together and sell it on your blog or on Amazon.

While the world of blogging has evolved over the years, it is still a great way to earn money in 2023. The key to succeeding is to choose a profitable niche, focus on direct advertising and ad networks, leverage affiliate marketing, and even consider creating and selling digital products.

Remember guys, blogging takes time, patience, persistence, hard work, and perseverance.

Whatever you do – DON’T GIVE UP! By implementing the strategies I provided and staying committed, YOU can make money through blogging in 2023.

Start you own blog with these 10 easy steps.

Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links