One of my goals for the year was to start earning money on my blog. I’ve been working towards this goal for several months, and it actually started to happen back in April! I thought it would be nice to make a bit of money through ads since I’m already spending so much time on my blog. In the past few months I’ve gone from hoping to make a bit of money, to starting to see my blog as a part time job! I love that I can do this from home, and squeeze in a few hours each day while the kids are asleep. I didn’t want to keep all the secrets to myself, so I decided to share a few of the ways I’m making money with you, so that you can start exploring some new options as well!

*Disclaimer* Many of the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning I may get some compensation or reward if you click through them and/or sign up. – Also, this post was originally written in July of 2013, many things have changed since that time and some of the original companies I mentioned in this post are no longer around. This was pointed out to me by another blogger (I had forgotten about this post!) and so I decided to give it an update today (December 2015)!

You can read more about my journey to business blogging here, where I share how I went from earning nothing on my blog to earning over $1,000 a month in a year. Now, I’m earning almost triple that and I am excited to help you get on your way to earning money as a blogger as well!
Each of these sites I have personal experience and success with, and love using!

I plan to write a new post soon with even MORE ways I’ve found to make money blogging, but until then, I also wanted to share the sites SVERVE  and Linqia with all of you. It’s free to join, and a great way to connect with other bloggers and find some awesome sponsored post/product review opportunities. I’ve been using them for months now and had really great experiences! Sign up by clicking the link above!

1. Google Adsense – This is where I started. Adsense is a simple program, once accepted, you put their ads on your site and then get paid when people click on them! When I first started I was making pennies every day, but I decided to stick with it a few weeks and see what happens. Right now, I’m averaging almost $2 a day. (That’s with pageviews being between 1,000-1,800 every day). That’s not a lot for a day’s wages, but if you add it up throughout the year, and consider that I’m not putting out any extra effort, I’m just blogging like I’ve always blogged, it’s not too bad! I’m literally getting paid to do what I was already doing, as long as their ads are on my site. (update 2015 – As my page views went up so did my adsense earnings until I was earning between $5 and $30 a day there.)

2. Social Spark – This is a really neat company that helps bloggers get connected with brands for sponsored posts. You sign up for the program (it’s free) and fill out some information about your blog. Then Social Spark will let you know when you get ‘leads’. You can read information about each lead and decide whether or not to accept them. Once you’ve accepted, the company that provided the lead may select you to preform the sponsored post for them. Oftentimes they will have a specific topic for you to write about, and they will ask that you include certain information about their company or specific links to their site. This is a great way to get writing inspiration AND be paid for writing! My first sponsored post was published in July 2013 and it was a lot of fun!

3. Izea – This is new as of 2014, last year I was working with sponsored tweets, which is merging in to Izea, along with Social spark. I’ve been working with them for several months now and have had a really positive experience. They are still working out some kinks as it is a new site, but they have always been quick to respond to my emails when I have questions or issues. Payout is after 30 days, just like it was with social spark and sponsored tweets. I’ve been paid multiple times with them and end up making hundreds a month with this company. They do have a paid upgrade for $1 a month. I’ve upgraded and it is more than worth the $1. I definitely suggest trying it out for a month, and seeing what you can do! In my opinion $1 is nothing compared with the opportunities supplied through izea!

4. Linqia – I’ve worked on a few campaigns with Linqia, and had a great experience. They are not a brand that I work with monthly, like the ones above since there are just not as many opportunities, it’s still a great company and I enjoy it when I do get campaigns with them! I know several bloggers who have had more success with it than I have, so I definitely think it is worth trying out!

5. Social Fabric – For about a year this was my go-to site for sponsored posts! I am not using it as much now, because the application process is a bit more intense than some of the others and I am already a part of a few consistent ambassador type programs. It is a great place to find brands to work with and my experience there has been about 89-90% positive.

These are programs with which I’ve had personal and positive experience. While many of the above links are affiliates, I would be sharing each of these programs with or without referral links. These are brands I believe in and that have helped me reach many of my dreams as a blogger. There are other programs that will even pay me for every sign up I get from them, but I am not mentioning them here as I disagree with the way they run things and no referral code is worth that!