How to make money without doing a sponsored post (some specific ideas)

There are a lot of ways to make money on your blog, even if you aren’t doing sponsored posts. Some of the biggest bloggers don’t do many sponsored posts, because they are making so much through affiliate links.

1- Sign up through companies like Share-a-sale.  You may have seen on Saturday how I showed you to make $10 just through referring someone! That’s a huge (& quick) money maker! Gymboree is a great company, among many, on Share-a-sale.   Deby, from Sew-so-Easy  shared with me that Share-a-sale will send you all of the sales that affiliates are having once you are signed up with that specific affiliate. If you notice certain bloggers sharing about a great Wooden Cross on sale for Easter or a beautiful Vase on sale, it is because they have just gotten an e-mail notification from their affiliate company. Now the reader will save money and you will make money. It is a win-win!

Another one that I use a lot are commission junction.

So–how does this work?  Say I am signed up with York Photo or Shutterfly through one of these websites.   Now, every time that they have a sale, I am the first to know! They tell me to promote a sale like this one (P.S. This is a real sale happening right now & here is my image from my blog with my affiliate link):

Ok- so what will happen? Your reader will buy this for $2 and they will pay the shipping. That will happen no matter who they go through (me or someone else). From the money that is being paid, by the purchaser/reader, YORK photo is going to give the person that made the sale (for example, on my page, it would be me) $3-$4. If I sell just three of these on Facebook, I have just made $9-$12. You can see more about signing up with York Photo here.

With a deal like this one (another real sale with my affiliate link), I would make $9 on it if the person buying it is a new customer. If they are a repeat customer, I make 3% of the sale. If the item is free, I make that percentage of the shipping. Their goal is to drive new customers. You can sign up to be an affiliate here.

Another company that I like to work with is Mabels Labels.   They will send an email, usually around the holidays, to tell you that if you post the sale that they are having, they will send you $5. I normally just write a post & include my top 5 best sales or deals of the week and have that one included. You can find out more about Mabels Labels here.

I live in NC, so I can’t sign up with Amazon Affiliate, but if I could, I would be posting great products that I use in every single post. I was just approved to be an affiliate of Wal-mart, so I plan on linking my products to their page. Paula just listed her book, When Baby Becomes Big Sibling, on Amazon, so she will be posting all about Amazon Affiliates in the next few weeks.

Selling e-books is a huge money-maker on my blog. If I need a book about cookies, I usually can find one on a blogger’s page, find their affiliate program, sign up and post it within minutes. So, if you sign up to sell my Potty Train in a Weekend book and make 50% of the sale, or sign up to be an affiliate of You Can be a Stay at Home Mom on One Income, and make 40% of the sale. (these links are to sign up at e-junkie, the affiliate company that I use).

P.S. Remember that if you ever BUY an ebook, become an affiliate FIRST and buy the book through your own affiliate link… This way you making back some of your money.   That was a tip that I was given when I first started blogging.

These are just a FEW ways that you can make money without writing a sponsored post. Next week, I will share how I approach companies. You don’t have to wait for the sponsored posts to come to you… Go to them!