How to Make Passive Income Blogging

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Oh my goodness! Blogging is so overwhelming.

Writing posts, getting traffic, trying to make money. Can someone normal like me just give me some hope?

Is there anyone out there that has a small blog but makes a decent amount of money?

If that’s you, then you’re going to love this post!

Here is a mom blogger with a small blog who makes bank with her blog using the Amazon affiliate program!

I am so happy to feature my first ever guest post by Carolina from MamaInstincts.com. She is a blogger and mom just like many of you. And she makes over $1,000 per month with her blog. And the best part is she did this even when her page views were under 10,000! That is truly amazing!

She shared her tips with me in a Facebook group and I begged her to allow me to post it. I will be implementing her tips and I hope you do too! Read on to find out how you can make money passively through affiliates.

What is affiliate marketing?

In the blogging world it’s common to hear other bloggers talking about ways to make income. One of those ways is by using affiliate links. An affiliate link is a link with a tracking code; when a person clicks on that link and buys the product you get a commission on that purchase. Affiliate links are a great way to make passive income (see how much I make with affiliate income per month.)

Need more ideas? Here are 5 Different Ways to Make Money With a Blog

 Quickest Method to Start with Amazon Affiliate Marketing

One of the most popular affiliate programs is Amazon affiliates. It is very easy to sign up and you can start using it on your site right away. I set up my Amazon affiliate account around the same time I launched my blog. I didn’t make money the first year, but as my posts starting gaining views and better spots on google results, my affiliate income started increasing.

Amazon has one perk and is that you get a commission from whatever the person buys within the next 24 hours after clicking on your link, which means that most of your income might not even come from products you recommend but from purchases people decide to make once they’re on Amazon.

During my second year of blogging I started making enough money to pay for our Amazon purchases and by my third year I was making over $1000 a month in affiliate income. Some might reach this goal sooner, but I wasn’t blogging to make a profit, only as a hobby and to be honest, I didn’t know what I was doing at first.

These are my blog views + Amazon earnings for January of this year. My views have grown a lot since then but you can see here that I was making a little over $1000 a month and not even hitting 10 000 page views.

Sign up for the Amazon Affiliate Program

Under 10,000 Page Views to My Blog

Over $1,000 in Amazon Affiliate Comission

Over the course of the last three years I learned a few lessons that I want to share with you so you can maximize your Amazon income.

Use Affiliate Links Every Time You Can

Use affiliate links every time you can and not just for the obvious stuff but for everything you mention that can be found on Amazon. Have a recipe that uses salt? Link to that (see this example). You can link to the actual name of the product or use type: “I like to use this salt” so people actually click on the link to see what it is. I wouldn’t use this method on all links but I do use it especially when I’m listing several items.

As a person that reads blogs I love it when people add affiliate links of the products they’re talking about because I don’t have to search for them. For example, when I’m deciding which crafts I’ll make with my kids it saves me a lot of time to click on the affiliate links of the products so you’re helping out your reader as well as making side income. See here how I link to products in crafts.

Amazon Pays You Commission On Anything The Reader Purchases

Most of the stuff I see sold on the report is not stuff I’ve recommended. What this has taught me is that you want people to click on an Amazon link because you have a high chance that they will buy something within the next 24 hours that will get credited to you. So your goal is for people to click on your links and not necessarily to buy what you’re recommending.

Related: Read how this mom makes $20,000 with her fashion blog for moms or this mom with her kids activity blog!

Keep It Classy

Add the links on your blog posts without sounding salesy. I don’t just say buy this or that, I usually write about something useful that happens to mention a product or I write about something I’ve researched about and link the product to Amazon. For example, when it comes to a recipe (which I rarely do) I say “now put the mix in a 9in pan” – 9in pan is a link to Amazon. People probably don’t need one but some might click on the link to see what I use and that might generate some money if they buy something else.

Don’t Just Use Your Blog

Share affiliate links on your social media, with proper disclosure. I have to be honest, I don’t do this daily and this is not the bulk of my income but I know this has been successful for a lot of bloggers.

Related: See Suzi’s Facebook page as she promotes affiliate links and other posts to grow her traffic.

Balance It Out

I have posts that are heavily linked to Amazon and some that aren’t to keep things balanced out. My heavily linked posts are product guides or stuff I was searching for my kids. Some examples are: Non-toxic high chair, 20 non-toxic teething toys, and Gift for 2-3 year olds. My blog is “green” so a lot of my posts are about non-toxic products since this is what I personally look for.

Basically, my money makers are things I was searching for my own kids that I then summarized my findings and turned them into a post. If you’re googling about something, chances are someone else is too so make a post out of it.

Know Your Niche

These posts are also successful because I know my niche. So make sure you narrow down your focus and know who you’re writing for.

Related: Don’t know what to blog about? Use this tool to find out what to blog about!

Amazon Native Ads

Use Amazon native ads, especially on posts where you mention products and/or on popular post that don’t sell anything. For example, I have a very popular post complaining about people holding my baby. This post is read by moms of small babies so I added a native add with baby toys in the middle of post. Check it out.
I usually check what are my top 10 posts and make sure they have Amazon links or native ads.

Bulk Up On Bounties

Once a month check the Amazon bounties, some pay $3-5 per sign up. I chose one or two related to my blog and put them on the sidebar or on a blog post, if it fits that post. For example, this pregnancy post has a link to a baby registry bounty at the end of the post because expecting moms will most likely create a registry.

Recommend the Stuff You’re Passionate About

Try to write one good post about an expensive product or a list of expensive products that you recommend and actually use. Make sure it has good SEO and wait about 6 months for it to start making money. This is what started making me money at first. My Non-toxic play mats posts got on the first page of Google results and it started making me affiliate income.

This post is a topic I’m very passionate about so I’ve spent countless hours researching the topic without even thinking I would make money, and it paid off. I haven’t been able to replicate this, so I can’t say if the success it’s because I poured my heart into this post but I think this could be replicated if you’re passionate about something.

Note from Suzi: Take for example this post, it shows the equipment I use to grow my blog or the best exersaucers for babies. And of course I’m passionate about each item because I use it daily! Even on a cloudy day, the ring light makes my skin shine on Facebook Lives!

Time It Well

Use holidays to sell stuff from Amazon. My highest earning holiday is Easter followed by Christmas. I’ve also noticed that my holiday posts make me more money the following year. So even if you don’t make money this year, don’t be disappointed because it will probably make you good income the following year.

This video will show you step by step how to create amazing gift guides to promote your holiday posts!

Update Your Top Posts

If you started using Amazon affiliates after you started your blog go back to your top 20 posts and try to add affiliate links where they fit. Remember to add them where they naturally fit and don’t sound salesy. If it’s a post getting good traction where affiliate links don’t fit, put Native ads on it.

Those are my tops tips! I really do hope they help you to make more Amazon income and if they do I’d love to hear about it. Leave a comment here or shoot me an email.

Need more proof? This is what happened to one blogger’s income after she implemented these tips!

Sign up for the Amazon Affiliate Program

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Carolina King is a former entrepreneur turned stay-at-home mom of 2 amazing little girls. Surviving parenthood thanks to coffee and cuddles.
Carolina is a writer at Mama Instincts where she blogs about her life as a mom, attachment/gentle parenting, non-toxic products, organic living & fun kid stuff.

She has a passion for traveling, loves to babywear and keeps a hidden stash of chocolates in her pantry.
Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat.

If you want more tips to make money online check out:

• How to Make Your First $22 with your Blog in your First Week
• My June Income Report of Over $1,000 
• How Bloggers Make Over $50,000 per Month
• How 11 Bloggers Made Their First $100
• How to make money with online courses – Teachable Review
• 51 Ways to make money as a stay at home mom
• 47 Work from home jobs

I hope this post inspires you and gives you hope that you too can make money with a blog. Even if you’re a beginning blogger and you have a small blog, just like Carolina (or me), you can make bank too! 😉