How I Make Money as a Blogger

Have you ever wondered how bloggers make money? There are a lot of different ways, including selling their own products or services, writing sponsored posts, putting posts behind a paywall, selling advertising space on the site, working with an ad network, or simply asking readers to donate to support the site. I don’t do any of these. I earn money through affiliate marketing. 

What does this mean? I have a relationship with specific manufacturers (Ohuhu, Leisure Arts, Tombow...) and online stores (Michaels, Blick, Scrapbook.com...) that I love and use regularly. When I make supply lists for tutorials or do product reviews, I use a special link (including the ones in this post). When a reader clicks the link and then makes a purchase within a certain time period, I receive a percentage of the sales price from that manufacturer or store. I can also use their brand assets (banner ads, graphics, promotions..) to drive traffic to their sites. I get credit for any purchase made by the customer I referred; it doesn’t have to be the specific product I recommend. 

That's a really good thing. Most of what I recommend is really inexpensive stuff, like craft sticks and googly eyes. When someone buys something expensive, my profit is much, much higher. (Anyone want to buy a REALLY expensive, intelligent, inflatable boat on Amazon? Or maybe REALLY expensive furniture that looks like it's made of marshmallow?) With a single sale I could make more than I do on commissions on a year's worth of googly eyes and craft sticks!

With few exceptions, I only promote things that I like and use. Sometimes I link children’s books I don’t own to a post to complement a theme, or I link to the closest substitute I can find if something I use is discontinued. 

Below you'll find banners for some of the companies I promote - check them out! I definitely recommend their products. 

If you can't find this post in the future but want me to get credit for a referral, you'll find a link to my affiliates right under my photo, where is says "Support This Site." Thank you! I really appreciate you using my affiliate links for your purchases.