Can You Really Make Money From Blogging in 2019 and Beyond

Introduction

You’ve seen so many blogs online that promote various niches and products, but you’re still not convinced that there’s money to be made, and if YOU’RE clever enough to achieve it. Well, let me tell you something. I don’t only make money through this blog here, but I also know of relative newbies that have started blogging in 2018, and are now earning a full time income 18 months later.

So, can you really make money from blogging in 2019 and beyond, absolutely. In fact there’s just as much opportunity now as there was 10 years ago. Why? Keep reading and I’ll let you know why affiliate marketing is here to stay, and is only rising in popularity.

There’s no reason why you can’t grab hold of this opportunity yourself, especially if you have many years of employment left. Not everyone enjoys their current workplace, with over 70% of people considering a career change. It’s up to you to determine whether you prefer working for someone else, or free up more time by starting your own affiliate marketing blog.

Here’s some facts and knowledge you may not know about affiliate marketing, which may have you thinking whether this type of online presence is for you.

Are You Made For Blogging

Before venturing down the affiliate marketing path, you may want to consider a few things. There’s several reasons people begin making money from a blog. Freedom from employment, more disposable income or being in charge of your own destiny being just some.

But some people are not made for creating wealth from a blog. To begin with, it takes time and effort to get a blog off the ground. Gaining traction through organic free website traffic takes time, and you’ll need to focus on the good times ahead.

Also, being an employee is more suited to many, with the thought of running your own business daunting. Yes, blogging may start of small, but can turn into a thriving entity all of its own. If you follow the correct rules for ranking in search engines, post consistently, and constantly learn marketing methods, you will have success.

I’m going to talk more about what it takes to become successful, but I want to make the point that successful blogging to build wealth takes work.

The Facts About Affiliate Marketing

Here’s some facts about affiliate marketing that you may, or may not want to hear. I’ve got to lay this out to you, because I don’t want you going into this blind. You also need to understand the truth. So, here goes.

Fact #1. There’s no getting rich quick in affiliate marketing. I told you that you may not want to hear it. Oh, there’s plenty of programs out there that say you can, and will be making thousands of dollars cash within a few weeks. Do you really believe them? If so, you shouldn’t.

Here’s just one example of Best Cash Job, and how they are only after your money. ALL affiliate marketers have to work for their earnings. However, the early foundation work pays off in spades after Google sees your website as authoritative.

Fact #2. Not one person has gone from $90k in debt, to $196,246 in 14 days with dodgy software invented by a blackhat underworld figure. Similar to above, illegitimate programs just don’t work. If they sound too good to be true, THEY ARE!

Now Some Actual Facts & Predictions.

Fact #3. By 2022, the affiliate marketing industry is expected to grow to almost $7 billion.

Fact #4. Affiliate marketing counts for more than 15% of the industry’s generated revenue.

Fact #5. To increase sales, more than 80% of brands leverage affiliate marketing.

Fact #6. By 2017, a quarter of the world’s population had bought a product online.

Fact #7. 74% of affiliate marketers use SEO techniques as their primary promotional method. It’s considered the most efficient form of marketing to get the best results.

Why Affiliate Marketing is Here to Stay

What’s the first thing you notice when you jump on public transport, see people in coffee shops, or whenever anyone has spare time these days? They browse on their smartphones. Not many are doing anything else but, just searching Google or social media.

This is not just the way people communicate these days, it’s also how people purchase their products and accessories. Security has become more accurate, assured and trustworthy, so people will not think twice about sending a payment over their smartphone.

With millions of people now purchasing online, this trend will not go into reverse. The online eCommerce business is only growing, and this is your chance to get in on this industry.

Other Online Income Options

As I just mentioned, eCommerce stores are rising at a rapid rate. So you don’t only have the affiliate marketing opportunity that comes with these. You could also create your own eCommerce store yourself.

Whilst I found this is not for me, it’s growing in popularity because of the drop shipping method. This allows you to begin an online store without having to store your own inventory. It’s a great opportunity and there are courses that can help you grow your online business, such as eCom Success Academy.

Another online option you may choose to consider, is creating an online course. Many people will pay for your knowledge if laid out in video format through a course. It may take you a little time to create but will offer you passive income once live. You can either offer your course on your own website, or upload it to Udemy or another online training platform.

You Need a Strong Mindset

I’ve spoken about this before, but keeping motivated through a strong mindset is the key to organic affiliate marketing. It’s possible to pay for website traffic, but if you don’t see the results you’re after, you will end up turning to SEO traffic later. Either that, or you’ll quit.

Using SEO tactics to have your website content rank highly in search engines such as Google is the best kind of traffic you can get. It’s sustainable because as long as you keep producing good content, you’ll constantly be ranked in Google. As long as you’re ranked highly in Google, you have a long term sustainable asset.

But, to attain this, you will need to work for it. It’s not difficult to learn, but can be difficult to keep motivated when doing all the initial foundation work on your website, whilst not making any initial income. This is because gaining the required website traffic takes time. You can read more about keeping motivation for a website here.

How Do You Get Started Today

There’s a number of options to get started in affiliate marketing. I’ve reviewed several affiliate marketing courses which, for a fee, can teach you much of what’s required. Many of these courses are simply that, just courses which can teach you how it’s done. It’s then up to you to implement the training, sign up to a hosting provider, purchase a domain name, and join the other programs they suggest, such as a keyword tool program. Here’s a couple that I’ve reviewed that are quite good.

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
Online Marketing Classroom

Another great course you may be unaware of is called Blog Simple Framework. A friend of mine, Christina Piccoli, has recently reviewed this course, which you can read here. You’ll learn from a unique perspective of Paul Scrivens and how he generates 6 figures from blogging.

All the above courses are extremely good, and will provide enough information to be a successful blogger.

There is however, a more robust platform called Wealthy Affiliate. Here you can not only learn all the correct affiliate marketing techniques, but also have a hosted website built for you with the WA website builder. Get stuck in immediately by following the training as you build out your new website.

You’ll be able to login directly from within WA, write your content on the WA platform, publish it to your website and use all the available WA resources. You can read more about Wealthy Affiliate, and their incorporated tools and resources here.

Wrapping Up

Blogging for a living is not something that can be achieved overnight, no matter who tells you it can be. All good things take time, so give yourself a year to build your asset thoroughly, and you will have a sustainable blogging future.

Make this your year, take it on and create your own successful profitable blog by getting the education to succeed. It’s possible to achieve success as a blogger by studying YouTube videos, but you need to know what your searching for.

Signing up to an affiliate marketing course will give you guidance, and walk you step-by-step through the various aspects of affiliate marketing that you’ll need to navigate. Joining the best course will also offer you great support, and a community of like-minded bloggers attempting the same goal.

I hope you’ve found this article helpful, and it’s answered the question in regards to ‘can you really make money from blogging’. The answer is yes, so get stuck in and be prepared to work for it.