I want to be totally up front when it comes to my income from this blog.
This isn’t a commercial blog, I don’t sell ads, I don’t charge for guest posts, I don’t offer sponsored content. I don’t do any of the income generating stuff that you would expect with a commercial blog.
But with that being said, of course I do need to earn money.
Creating original and valuable content takes time, time is money. Bloggers need to pay the bills & put food on the table just like everyone else does, so I do need to earn from the blog.
Many blogs are full of sponsored posts, brands pay bloggers to publish marketing material in the form of blog posts.
I don’t agree with this, because I feel that blogs should be unadulterated by any form of marketing bias. As a blogger, if a client pays me to publish a post about their brand, I would find it very difficult to be 100% honest, given that they would be paying me, and would obviously not be too happy to read anything negative.
So how do I make money with the blog?
A few years ago when I started blogging, I stumbled upon this thing called affiliate marketing.
You’re probably familiar with it, it’s a great way for companies to market their products with with a fixed cost per sale. They recruit affiliates, offer them a commission, and then for each sale the affiliate makes, they pay them the agreed commission.
What I found amazing about affiliate marketing, is it is a way for bloggers to earn via their blog while being completely honest.
I accept that affiliate marketing doesn’t have to be honest, and I know there are affiliates out there who just promote affiliate products for the $, without having any clue what the product even is that they’re recommending.
But for honest bloggers like me, affiliate marketing gives us a method for earning from our blogs while being completely honest.
When I’m talking about any product, I am completely honest about it. I create “warts and all” reviews which give the reader real value, by sharing my experience including all of the good and the bad, so they can make their mind.
I don’t have to smooth over the cracks and pretend that every product I’m reviewing or commenting on is completely perfect for everyone, because really there’s no such thing.
All I have to do is to be completely honest about what I feel are the strengths and weaknesses of each product I’m discussing, and my readers will get a good understanding of whether or not this is the right product for them.
Affiliate marketing allows me to blog completely naturally, and then to plug in affiliate links where natural.
For example, if I am talking about a specific piece of equipment, if I can see that this equipment is for sale on eBay, I will link to the item with my eBay affiliate link, so that if someone does buy that item via my link, I earn a small commission.
If I’m talking about a specific piece of equipment, and I can see that it offered on Amazon for a competitive price, then again, I’ll link to this item using my Amazon associates affiliate I.D, so that if someone buys that item via my link, I earn a small commission.
If I’m talking about a heat press or another piece of equipment, and I see that the supplier or manufacturer has an affiliate program, then I can link to the product via an affiliate link rather than a standard link.
The buyer still pays the exact same amount for the equipment, and the seller still pays the exact same fee when it comes to Amazon and eBay.
When it comes to direct affiliate partnerships, the company gets to make a set margin on their items by fixing the cost of sale. In other words, instead of making the sale via regular advertising where there is no set cost, meaning their margin is variable, with affiliate marketing they set the commission and they pay the same every time, so it just works.
But, I have morals. I do actually, really care about my readers.
For instance, if I see that something I’m writing about is available on Amazon, or Ebay, or anywhere else offering an affiliate program, but I don’t think it’s being offered by a reputable company, or at a competitive price – I will link to a more reliable and/or more competitive source for this item, even though this means no affiliate income.
Some will read this and say “yeah, right”, but I can assure you, this is exactly what I do. If I can point my readers in the right direction and earn a commission in doing so, I will. If pointing my readers in the right direction means no commission, then I’ll do that rather than point them in the wrong direction just for the affiliate commission.
Now that’s covered, here are a few disclosure statements:
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
I am participant of the eBay partner network, and may earn commissions and / or advertising fees by linking to eBay.
I may share links to products which will result in financial compensation.