How to Make Money Blogging without a Product to Sell

One thing everyone wants to know these days is…. How to Make Money Online. There are tons of ways to accomplish this, so we are going to dive into a few options. Here’s how to make money blogging without a product to sell.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you buy from my link I might make a small commission. This does not affect the price you pay. See the full affiliate disclosure here.

If you’ve done even a brief search on Google or on Pinterest, you’ve seen all of the blog posts about how much money people have made online.

You’ve likely looked at their blogs, trying to figure out if this is something YOU could do too!

One big way that online businesses of any kind bring in the money is through product sales.

BUT…. what if you don’t have a product?

You have a great ideas for a blog topic, and are ready to start bringing in the cash…. even though you have no product to sell.

Maybe you just haven’t developed your product YET. Or maybe you never plan on developing a product!

Either way, there are still several different ways that your blogging hobby can turn into an income-generating career.

Let’s take a look at the main ways bloggers make money.

6 Ways Bloggers Make Money (without selling a product)

1. Be an affiliate.

You can actually get paid for simply recommending products that you love. Seriously!

The way it works is this:

You find a product that you truly love.
You see if they have an affiliate program.
Sign up to become an affiliate for this product.
The company, business or brand gives you a specific link to use when you recommend them.
Recommend the product to your following, making sure to use your affiliate link.
When people purchase through your link, you get a percentage of the sale.
The business then pays you according to their set terms.

The beauty of this idea is that you get to make money, having absolutely NO product of your own. Plus, you don’t have to deal with any hassle of delivering items purchased. Once you recommend the product, your part of the job is done.

One tip: Make sure you truly believe in the products that you are an affiliate for! People can tell if you are just recommending anything and everything that will make you a buck. It’s better to recommend fewer things more often and heartily, than to recommend everything.

Need some recommendations of things to be an affiliate for?

Ultimate Bundles – this company bundles together digital products and sells them in limited time events. Recommending relevant bundles to your audience is a great way to get them a massive amount of value, and also make money yourself! Head here to get signed up as an affiliate.
Amazon – This is likely the more simple affiliate out there. Though their commissions are not a huge percentage, they can really add up. If you recommend an Amazon product on your site, if the reader clicks through your link – and purchases anything – then you get a commission. Head here to sign up as an affiliate.
Bookshop.org – Do you recommend books? Use a bookshop link, and you get paid when your readers purchase! The beauty of this website is that all purchases are supporting local bookstores. So you can feel really great about impacting small businesses as well. Head here to get signed up as an affiliate.
My products! – I have an affiliate program for every product I sell. If your audience would be interested in my social media membership, graphics packs, or the ebooks that I offer, contact me. =)
Whatever products you use most often – First, look at that product’s website to see if there’s an affiliate program. If you cannot find out, reach out to the brand! Many businesses are willing to provide an affiliate deal of some sort for loyal fans promoting their products.

2. Put ads on your blog.

One of the simplest ways to generate some truly passive revenue is by putting ads on your blog.

Here’s how this works:

Decide on an ad network that you would like to sign up with
Go through their signup process to get your site approved
Once approved, walk through the setup process to get the ads put on your site
The amount of page views you have will generally determine your income
As your page views increase…. sign up for higher paying ad networks!

The most common FIRST ad network to sign up with is Google Adsense. Their requirements are pretty flexible, and they allow those blogs with low page views to sign up in their beginning stages. They are also the lowest paying option, but you have to start somewhere!

Most other ad networks have bigger page view requirements.

Take a look at these options and see which one best fits your blog.

3. Pursue sponsored posts.

As a blogger, you can reach out to companies and pitch the idea of their sponsoring a blog post.

When they agree, you then write a post in line with their product. Often the sponsored post may include a review of their product in some way.

Note that you will need to disclose to your readers that they are sponsoring this post, but that the opinions are your own.

Before writing, you will decide on a pay rate from the company, and discuss what that includes. For example, it’s possible that the company would be interested in adding on social media posts or an email to your list.

Discuss the options and decide on a rate that you are both happy with. Also discuss the expectations. When will the work be done? When and how will you be paid?

Ironing out all of these details helps to protect both you and the company, and makes the process run smoothly.

4. Offer coaching or personalized training.

Though you may not have a physical product you are selling, you do have an area of expertise!

What could you coach your audience about? In what area could you provide them feedback?

Offer some 1 on 1 training or consulting time slots with you.

This idea benefits you and your blog in several ways:

You get a larger chunk of income pretty quickly.
You get a personal insight into your audience and understand their struggles and pain points much more clearly. You are then able to use that information to write more specific blog posts and social media posts. You are then better equipped to develop your coaching slots into something that really addresses your audience’s common pain points.
You develop authority as an expert. As people get coaching from you, you start to be seen as more of an expert in your area. This only helps to drive your blog traffic, and also boosts your confidence!
You can get reviews from the people you coach. You could use these on your blog, on your social media, or anywhere else you are wanting to get the word out!

5. Sell private ad space.

This is a little different from signing up with a company that serves ads on your site.

With this idea, you will reach out to companies, businesses, or brands and ask if they would like to have some set ad space on your site.

You would discuss a rate. Most commonly, they pay a set rate per month.

They provide you with the ad graphic. You put it up on your page where discussed. You link the ad accordingly. And the company pays each month for as long as you serve the ad.

6. Offer freelance services.

In this example, your blog becomes an avenue that you attract leads and customers.

You then offer your expertise in a freelance service that they hire you to do.

The sky is the limit on what these services can be! You could offer anything from technical support, to online decorating advice, to personal training.

Whatever your area of expertise is, offer that as a service for hire.

All of these options allow you to start bringing in blogging income, without having a set product of your own to sell.

You then are free to make future decisions as you go!

Would you like to develop your own product to sell? Great! Go for it. You can either pivot and start getting your income from that product instead, or simply use it to stack your income and grow your business.

Need some help in monetizing your blog? I HIGHLY recommend coaching from Alison Reeves. She has a program that can take your blog from a hobby to a money-making machine.

Don’t want to develop your own product? The good news is – that’s great too! Simply stick with these options above, and use them to grow your blog into a thriving online business.