Turning my blog into a full-time income has been a journey of hard work, strategy, and perseverance. It's not a get-rich-quick scheme, but it's definitely possible to earn a living through blogging with dedication and effort.

It took me three years to monetise my first blog, I didn't even know it was possible at first, but once I did, it only took six months to build it to a full-time income, I already had the foundations there which helped!

My husband shadowed me once I started making money to see what to do, and managed it himself in one year, and my subsequent blogs took even less time.

But success isn't guaranteed, and my later blogs haven't yet matched the earnings of the first. If you want the honest, less rosy side of this too, I've also written about why so many bloggers quit their blogs, it's not for everyone.

With determination and a love for writing and independence, making a full-time income from blogging is entirely achievable, and it can be a fulfilling career path. Let's dive in and explore ten ways you can monetise your blog.

1. Accept and write paid sponsored blog posts

One of the most popular methods bloggers use to make money is writing paid sponsored blog posts. A company pays you to create a post on your own blog, usually including a link to them or their client.

Most companies now ask for a specific Domain Rating (the Ahrefs metric) or a minimum amount of traffic, though frustratingly they usually work from Ahrefs or Semrush's own estimates rather than your actual traffic numbers. Some still look at Domain Authority (Moz), and a few even go by Semrush's Authority Score or Majestic's Trust Flow instead, so it's worth knowing your numbers across a few of these tools. Read how to increase your domain authority for tips.

Once your blog is established, many of these opportunities land in your inbox directly from PRs and digital marketing agencies who've found your website. Having a work with me page and a contact page on your blog makes it much easier for brands to reach you.

You can also find opportunities by searching hashtags on Twitter/X such as #bloggerswanted and #bloggerrequest, though be warned, these feeds are filled with spam, so mute or block the repeat offenders.

Paid work like this can also be found in Facebook blogging groups, blogger networking groups, and dedicated platforms and marketplaces built specifically to connect bloggers with paid opportunities. Check out my full list of websites to find paid blogging opportunities and sign up to as many as suit you for maximum exposure.

2. Accept pre-written paid blog posts

Sometimes companies offer pre-written paid blog posts instead, usually referred to as guest posts or content marketing. They'll often try to write it in the tone of your website, and usually don't mind if you edit the content, so long as the links stay in place.

I'd suggest having your own set of terms and conditions for this, covering your own content guidelines for what's acceptable on your blog, things like word count, tone, language, whether you hold the copyright, and whether you have the right to edit the content before it goes live.

These are usually found the same way as above. Sometimes they're disguised by people pretending to be bloggers wanting to place a "guest post" or offering their "awesome free content" for your blog.

Usually there's a link to their client hidden inside, so it's not genuinely a guest post from another blogger. If you're a new blogger, watch out for these, some call them blogger scam emails, or the senders "SEO sharks."

3. Host giveaways for brands

Hosting giveaways on your blog or social media is another way to make money. I used to run lots of giveaways for companies, giving them exposure, and building my own following at the same time, and, once I was more established, I started to charge since they took a lot of time and effort to set up and manage.

I don't run paid giveaways for brands anymore, these days I use giveaways purely as a tool for my own personal brand marketing, like my monthly cash giveaway.

Giveaways can be time consuming to create and promote, and the brand gets exposure, advertising, and often new followers from your hard work and resources. It usually takes more time to run a giveaway than to simply write a blog post, since you'll likely spend time promoting it on social media to maximise entries.

Always charge for your time and the resources it's taken you years to build up, if you do decide to take this on for a brand.

4. Write reviews and charge for your time (or sell the items)

Many bloggers review items for free, but you can also charge a fee for your time and access to your platforms. Receiving a gifted item to review plus a fee isn't unusual in the blogging world, especially as the RRP of the gifted item is taxable anyway.

If an item is very high value and genuinely useful, you may decide not to charge. But consider the time and effort involved, are you happy to give that away for free in exchange only for the value of the item? Can you afford to pay the tax on the item without a fee attached, depending on your tax status, in the UK this will be 20% or 40% of the item's value.

How long will the post, the photos, and the research take? If it's several hours, factor that into your decision.

If the blog post stays live forever, that's advertising and SEO benefit for the brand indefinitely, or for as long as you guarantee the exposure. Put a value on your time, platforms, and effort unless it's a product that's genuinely of value to you personally.

Some bloggers sell review items on eBay or Facebook Marketplace afterwards too, another extra income source from the same review work.

A funny gifted story for you, before we move onto the next point: I remember in the early days a brand wanting to send me some crisps to feature on social media, back when I was still trying to be active on socials (I don't use them now). I assumed they'd send a box, a multipack, plenty to try.

Instead, I kid you not, they sent one single bag of crisps in a normal paper envelope, and it arrived crushed and deflated. Needless to say I didn't post about them, but it says everything about the cheek of some companies, expecting bloggers to post to thousands of followers they've spent years building, in exchange for one crushed bag of crisps!

5. Sign up to a display ad network (or sell your own ad placements)

Some bloggers do very well with ads, for me it's only around 3-5% of my income each year, but for others it's their main or only source. A few of the main options, starting with the most well known:

• Google AdSense: the easiest entry point, most bloggers start here once accepted, and can move on to bigger networks once traffic grows. This is what I use currently, having moved over from WordAds, which I found paid really low
• WordAds: an option if you're on WordPress Premium or above, though the pay is genuinely small
• Ezoic: now generally requires 250,000+ monthly active users for new sign-ups, though sites already using Ezoic before February 2026 get to keep their lower traffic level
• Mediavine: moved away from a flat traffic threshold in 2026 and now qualifies sites based on annual ad revenue (around $5,000), though their newer Journey programme accepts sites with as little as 1,000 monthly sessions, a much more achievable starting point for smaller blogs
• Raptive (formerly AdThrive): generally cited around 100,000 monthly pageviews

They all have different entry requirements and contracts, so read them carefully, some lock you in for 12 months.

Ad revenue varies a lot depending on placement and traffic. You can also charge companies directly for ad placements in your sidebar or footer, for example, offering different rates for 1, 3, 6 months and so on, just add this to your work with me page and media pack.

Have you heard of header bidding?

AdSense and similar networks only let one advertiser bid for your ad space at a time, so you're not always getting the best price. Header bidding lets multiple advertisers bid at once, which usually means better rates. If you hit 30,000 unique visitors a month, Newor Media has been recommended, they can set this up for you and optimise your ad units for competitive rates.

6. Make use of affiliate marketing and referral schemes

Affiliate income is a genuinely good way to make money as a blogger in a more passive way, write a post once and keep generating income from it, though it's never fully passive since websites need constant updating to stay relevant and ranking well.

How much it contributes varies a lot year to year for me, depending on how well I'm performing and which programmes I'm on, as sometimes a good one closes. Some years it's been as low as 10% of my income, other years as high as 40%, this tax year it's currently running at around 29%.

One of the first things I recommended was a matched betting company called Profit Accumulator, now called Outplayed, which I used myself and still recommend. You can read all about how matched betting works and what I made from it. Writing about things you know and have used yourself is the best way to start with affiliate marketing, since you can genuinely recommend the products and write from real experience.

Awin was another of the first affiliate marketplaces I signed up to. They have thousands of well-known brands on their books, and once signed up you can apply to each brand's individual affiliate programme. It costs £5 to join, refunded in your first payout, and the payout threshold is only £20.

You can also share affiliate links on social media to boost revenue further.

Use refer-a-friend schemes to make money blogging too

Signing up to refer-a-friend schemes is another great way to make money blogging. Here are some of the best refer a friend schemes in the UK.

Always read the terms for any refer-a-friend offer you use. Some don't allow public sharing on social media or websites, and will forfeit your earnings if you're found breaking the rules, so check the small print before you promote one.

7. Social media posts

Setting up social media accounts for your blog is always worthwhile. Some bloggers include social shares as standard with partnered blog posts, others treat it as an optional paid add-on, an easy way to boost revenue.

Some companies pay for standalone social media posts too, especially on Instagram if you have an active, engaged account. Just like the blogging platforms mentioned above, there are also dedicated influencer platforms specifically for finding paid social media opportunities, worth signing up to alongside the blogging-focused ones.

Social media is also a great way to be found by companies looking for bloggers to work with, so it pays to stay active and consistent, you don't have to manage it all manually either, there are plenty of schedulers to help.

8. Sell your images

If you're taking great images for your blog, consider selling them as stock images too, you'll be paid each time someone downloads one. There are plenty of stock photo websites you can sell to, worth exploring if you're already taking great photos for your blog posts.

Brands may also want to use images you've created in collaborative posts, so consider charging for image use or for handing over the copyright.

I regularly see bloggers discussing this in blogger groups, and many charge for image use by brands. It's worth checking the fine print of any brand contract too, some automatically claim rights to any images you create as part of a collaboration.

9. Write content for brands and their own websites

Lots of brands look for guest bloggers, usually in exchange for exposure and a link back to your site, but sometimes brands need a regular content writer for their own blog or website instead.

It can feel like a natural progression to offer copywriting services to brands directly. If it's something you want to offer, add it to your work with me page and let people know.

I've done it before myself, but it's not something I focus on now, I prefer concentrating on my own businesses instead, even though I've been approached several times by brands, including ones I've already worked with, asking if I'd write for them.

My husband currently writes 1-2 articles a month for a brand in his niche as a copywriting service though, and it's a natural step if you love writing.

10. Blogger outreach

Sometimes after working with a brand, they'll ask if you know other bloggers who might be interested too. It's great to share these opportunities with your network even without payment, sharing is caring after all, but occasionally a brand will offer a finder's fee, a percentage of any completed work, or a set fee like £5 per blogger you refer.

There's no harm in asking if one's on offer when you're asked to recommend bloggers, and on occasion I've even been sent a finder's fee without even asking for one, amazing!

Some bloggers offer blogger outreach as part of their services too. We have access to private blogger groups that brands don't, and can save brands a lot of time by doing the outreach on their behalf, another way to make money from your blogging skills and contacts if you have the time.

Final word

Hopefully this has shown you there's more than one way blogging can serve you financially, and that it doesn't always have to mean just writing blog posts.

Once you're making money from your blog, it's classed as a business, and you may need to complete a self assessment tax return to declare your earnings and pay any tax due, read my tax tips for bloggers for more on that.

For more general tips on earning from your blog, check out my 6 secrets to make more money from your blog. And if you're looking for other ways to make money from home beyond blogging, here are 60 tried and tested ways to make money online in the UK.