Gone are the days when having a website and making money online were reserved only for the tech-savvy population. Making money off websites no longer requires a degree or tech experience, and many entrepreneurs, small business owners, and even students enjoy making money online.
Instead, a little know-how and a free WordPress blog can provide the building blocks you need to make a decent profit. With those pieces in hand, you can build revenue by:
- Offering digital products and/or online services
- Writing sponsored blog posts
- Selling direct ads
- Participating with ad networks and promoting affiliate products
- Generating leads for other businesses
So, can you make a profit from a free WordPress site?
The short answer is yes, you can make money blogging on free WordPress websites. But, there are a few caveats to remember when using WordPress’s free hosting platform. All websites require some form of hosting service to function; and, a web hosting service offers file storage, maintenance, and other content services for online businesses and content creators.
When working with a self-hosted blog, you are given more freedom over your website and monetization strategy. But you’re also required to pay a monthly or annual fee. Even though free blogs are a bit more limited, you can still make money. Four avenues through which you can build revenue include:
Selling digital products and/or offering online services
An easy income-generating method is to offer digital products and/or services online. A digital product can be an eBook, paid guide, premium template, or tool. A big bonus of selling digital products over physical ones is that they generally require less effort, and you can sell them an infinite number of times. That can ultimately translate to less work and more money for you!)
Writing sponsored blog posts
You can also make money from your free WordPress site by soliciting sponsorship for your blog post content. This is done by charging the partnering company a fee to write about their products or services on your site and giving your positive opinion. This can be a win-win: Exposing the sponsored company’s buyers to your site and giving the product a spotlight and good brand exposure through your write-up and product review.
With sponsored posts and reviews, a blogger charges a company a fee to write about their product and give their opinion. The product is exposed to the blogger’s audience, and the brand gets more exposure and new customers.
You can cut back on blogging costs by using platforms like Blogger or WordPress to create a website. (WordPress websites employ plugins that allow pay-per-view monetization (PPV) and offer various free options and themes that both look good and perform well.)
No matter the strategy you use to monetize your website, traffic will always be a leading factor in how much money you’ll be able to earn. To increase your traffic, you’ll want to stay current on trends and focus your content-creation efforts on those topics and themes. Content on topics of interest is much more likely to attract good traffic, boost your rank on search result pages, and increase your website’s visibility and discoverability.
You’ll also need to build strong SEO rankings to make your website successful. In addition to knowing your niche topics and staying on point with trending content themes, you should also consider your social media presence. This is particularly helpful in growing your affiliate links. You can also develop even more social branding and reach by answering questions about your niche on Quora and creating niche-based YouTube content. (Quality video content on YouTube can increase traffic to your website quickly and effectively–boosting numbers in as little as a few months.)
You can also create viral WhatsApp scripts to share your affiliate links. Similarly, sharing your affiliate links in Facebook groups matching your niche can yield good results.
Learn more about how to build a free website.
Using PPV
Pay-per-view (PPV) monetization, or offering purchase, rental, or subscription-based video streaming, is a great way to monetize your site. (Note: Requirements to host video PPV change often, so you’ll want to research this option carefully.)
Using plugins, you can either partially or completely transform your blog into a PPV blog. Different features can also be added to your website at any time, and you can set up content blocking by making certain sections of your site PPV or only accessible through a subscription.
The most popular and effective options for PPV include:
- WordPress plug-in: A pay-for-post option with WooCommerce
- Memberpress: Perhaps the most utilitarian of all PPV plugins
- WpStream WordPress Plugin: A pay-per-view live stream plugin
- WordPress Membership & Content Restriction: A paid, subscription-based PPV plugin
Selling direct ads
This option has some notable pros and cons. Direct ads allow you to skip dealing with affiliates, ad networks, and ad exchanges and work directly with potential advertisers. As a website publisher, this option is preferable because you can make more money selling direct ads to an advertiser without paying any fees.
But selling ads directly also requires you to do all the heavy lifting. You must identify and work with potential advertisers to market your website. The terms and conditions of the ad also require careful negotiation with the potential advertisers. This can often mean you’ll need help–like hiring a dedicated sales staff–to manage the business. This is usually an option that’s just not viable for individuals or small businesses.
Consider affiliate marketing if you’re a small business owner overwhelmed by selling direct ads. Sign up for a free trial of Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool https://www.semrush.com/lp/product-keyword-magic-tool-7/en/ to find profitable keywords and build a content strategy that attracts advertisers organically!
Affiliate network marketing
Suppose direct ads are too expensive or complicated for you to manage (which is understandable). In that case, there is a far more accessible alternative to get ads on your website: Working with an affiliate network.
Affiliate network marketing is one of the most prevalent forms of marketing today. It works by referring your website visitors to a digital or physical product. You receive a paid commission when someone purchases using your affiliate link. It’s a good idea to sign up for an affiliate program or ad network, like Ezoic, to generate good revenue even with free websites.
Here’s how it works: After you set up your website with an advertising network, you don’t have to worry about finding affiliates or making cold calls. Instead, you’ll enlist the help of an advertising network that can automatically match you with an affiliate for a small fee–and trade payment for ads on your website.
Some popular ad services, like Google’s AdSense, are good affiliate network options but have some complexities. For example, as your website grows, you might discover that alternate premium networks pay higher CPMs or Client Process Monitoring Systems, which can lead to bigger paychecks for you. An additional drawback to AdSense is that their banner ads are not superior to native, interstitials, or video ads and may limit your revenue potential. Due to these reasons, we recommend other network options, such as the following.
Ezoic
Ezoic uses artificial intelligence to automate your ad revenue choices, and it only implements video when it provides specific value to the subject. Ezoic can help you generate more site traffic through your video content, as videos can be indexed in search engines. The placement of the video and the player on your website doesn’t require additional tools—and Ezoic does all the work for you, saving time and effort. Additional features that we like about Ezoic include:
The platform’s video player, Ezoic Video, is simple to use and allows advertisers to compete for your website’s ad space. There is no need for third-party video hosting platforms to amplify your reach, allowing you to maximize your ad revenue quickly (even in minutes).
Ad Tester, a tool powered by Ezoic, offers additional benefits: You can automatically perform thousands of simultaneous tests to see if your current website setup can be improved. Ad Tester’s free Google Chrome extension allows you to drag and drop dummy ads to test and select the best location for the ads on your site. This will enable you to set realistic goals for each website visitor.
With Ezoic you can also implement other ad exchanges and premium networks on your website, like Google Ad Exchange. Using the A.I. Advertisement Inventory you can substantially drive your bids higher than ever. Ezoic offers pre-configured header bidding and access to various high-paying ad networks.
Ezoic also gives you valuable insights and tools to analyze your current traffic. These allow users to link revenue with specific landing pages, distinguish the value of different types of content, and show you examples of the most engaging and profitable content. You can also accurately measure how well your ROI and SEO efforts have worked. Ezoic Levels also allows you to access the best ad affiliates that guarantee the highest revenue per ad.
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Amazon native ads
Amazon is currently the world’s largest store and deals in millions of products daily. If your website frequently reviews or suggests products, there is a good chance those products are available on Amazon. If that is the case, you can sign up for Amazon’s affiliate marketing program , or Amazon Associates.
You can use native ads, affiliate links, carousel ads, and more to promote Amazon products on your blog. You receive a commission every time someone makes a purchase using your unique affiliate link. Usually, the commission is dependent upon the transaction amount, which can be a sizable payoff if you review expensive products like laptops and smartphones.
You can also promote local products and get paid via wire transfer. Amazon native ads can be used in conjunction with AdSense and other networks, too.
Amazon is great for individuals or brands with many followers, and currently, many YouTubers and social media influencers use this monetization strategy.
Other ad network options
Beyond AdSense, Ezoic, and Amazon, there are some additional good alternatives to consider. Our favorites include:
- PropellerAds
- Infolinks
- She Media
- PopAds
- Evadav
- RevContent
- Media.net
- Adsterra
Generate leads for other businesses
If you can generate email lists from your blog audience, you can sell those lists to companies interested in your blog’s themes and topics. For example, if you own a tech-related blog, you can sell your email list leads to companies like Samsung, Apple, or OnePlus, and they can find new customers through your list to generate leads.
A few final words regarding free web hosting
The above approaches offer innovative ways to monetize your free WordPress blog. One thing to remember: Free hosting will get you started with monetization, but purchasing your web hosting as a long-term solution is always a good investment. Free hosting services can decide to shut your website down (for any reason). So, it can be smarter and safer to purchase a private domain when your site starts to generate at least $30 monthly.
With these WordPress basics in your back pocket, you’ll be well on your way to successfully monetizing your free site. For even more tips and resources, read our ultimate website monetization guide.
