How To Make Money From WordPress.com Blog?

Are you blogging on WordPress.com platform and wondering how you can make money from it? If yes, this is a detailed guide for you to look at various options to monetize your WordPress.com blog. Those who are new to blogging and just started with a blog, you ought to know about different varieties of WordPress.

WordPress offers two ways to create your blog:

WordPress.com : Free platform which is easy for anyone to start a blog instantly. It’s a good platform to start your first blog but I wouldn’t recommend to stick to it for long, as there are many limitations of this platform. I will talk about that in a minute, let’s have a look at other variation.
WordPress.org : This is also known as self hosted platform where you host your blog on your own server. It requires a bit of technical knowledge (Though not much) and the advantage here is; there is no limitations here.

You should check out this guide on WordPress.com Vs. WordPress.org to learn everything about both the platform and understand the limitations and advantage of both the platform.

Now, if you are done understanding about both the platform and ready to monetize your existing WordPress.com blog, read on…

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Page Contents

Different ways to make money from Free WordPress.com blog:

Before I share all the available options, you should know that you can’t use AdSense on your WordPress.com blog. Google AdSense is the popular ad program for hobby and professional bloggers. You can learn about AdSense here, and now let’s look at other options which are permitted and being used by others to monetize their blog.

Note: If you are WordPress.com enterprise of VIP user, you can run your own ads including AdSense ads.

This is the newest addition by WordPress.com team, where you can lock your content behind a paywall, which can be unlocked by paying a monthly fee. Premium Content memberships fees are something that has been long offered by Medium, and now WordPress.com has brought to their platform. To use this feature, you need to have a Stripe account.

Moreover, using this feature is easy, and all you need to do is; add the premium content block to a content that you want to be locked. Your membership payments are processed by a WordPress.com feature called Recurring Payments, which powers seamless credit and debit card processing for the Premium Content block.

2. WordAds:

WordAds is the advertising solution for WordPress.com. It’s available for every WordPress.com user but you need to apply for it to get accepted for WordAds. I believe every WordPress.com user should apply for WordAds, otherwise WordPress already shows ads at times to cover the cost of hosting your free blog. By using WordAds, you will be showing ads and earning money from your blog. It’s simple and easy. You can request an invitation from here. (Make sure you are logged into your WordPress.com account). Here are two articles which I found on the internet which talks in detail about their experience with WordAds.

Important points about WordAds:

You can check your WordAds earning from Settings -> WordAds in your Dashboard.
WordAds pays you for impression and not for click. So more traffic you will get, you will earn more.
WordAds would work better for bloggers who have traffic from U.S or European countries.
You need to earn minimum of $100 to get paid and payment mode is PayPal. If you don’t have a PayPal Id, create one for free here. Also don’t get disappointed if it takes time to reach $100 threshold. Remember something is better than nothing.
Getting WordAds approval depends on monthly traffic your blog is getting and what kind of blog (Topic) you are running.
You need to have custom domain name for your WordPress.com blog to use WordAds. (Why not get a self hosted blog instead?)
Useful link: WordAds themes. These are theme which are officially recommended for WordPress.com blog running WordAds.

So this was about WordAds which you can apply for now and once approved, it will start earning money for you without doing and leg work.

3. Affiliate marketing:

This might be surprising for you, but WordPress.com let you use Affiliate links. The only thing is, you need to be using Affiliate links for reputable stored and legit stores. You cannot link to sources like pornography, gambling sites, get rich schemes, multi-level marketing and any other sites which can’t be called legit.

You can use Affiliate links within your article using hyperlinks (Image with an affiliate link is not allowed). Affiliate marketing can do wonder for you, as it’s the best method to earn huge in short-time. Below are resources which will guide you to get started with Affiliate marketing and earn your first few dollars:

4. Sponsored posts:

This is another method which you can use on your WordPress.com to earn money. This will work better if you have an established blog and there are advertisers who would love to pay you for writing a sponsored story.

Though either you need to get in touch with advertisers who are willing to sponsor a blog post on your blog or you can simply create a page call advertisement and mention that you are accepting the sponsored post.

You should check out ShoutMeLoud advertisement page to get an idea of what your advertisement page should look like. WordPress.com have certain restrictions on Sponsored posts which you can find here. Here are few resources for learning more about sponsored post:

What is sponsored review and how to get started?
Everything you need to know about Sponsored content (This is a detailed guide for experienced blogger)

Things to know:

WordPress official recommends users to use self-hosted WordPress platform if you want to run a 3rd party advertising program (Ex: AdSense, Monetag).
If you are violating WordPress.com advertising guidelines by using 3rd party ads or linking out to illegal sites, your blog will be suspended.

Conclusion: Think beyond simple ads monetization

If you have a high traffic free WordPress.com blog, you should add a custom domain and apply for WordAds to show an advertisement on your blog. At any point, if you wish to take your blog to the next level, you should migrate your WordPress.com blog to self-hosted WordPress blog .

Take advantage of affiliate marketing to earn passive income from your blog. None the less, focus on driving targeted traffic to your blog to increase your earning. None the less, sponsored posts can be a great resource for you to earn money from your blog. Learn a bit about Native advertising and sponsored articles, and this could be your gold-mine to earn enough from your WordPress.com blog.

Are you monetising your free WordPress blog? What methods you are using and how’s your experience with it so far?

For further reading:

How to monetize a WordPress blog (With examples)
How to create your self hosted WordPress blog

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Thanks for your feedback!

27 thoughts on “How To Make Money From WordPress.com Blog?”

Harpreet Kumar
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Thank you SO very much! I just started blogging about 6 weeks ago and am really happy to have found this article. Super helpful!

Yashovardhan
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Thanks. you just mention images with affiliate links are not allowed, can you elaborate? I’ve been using banners on the side bar for some time now without any issues. If it’s not allowed, do I need to remove them?

Kishore Jangid
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Thanks for the info about WordAds.. Harsh

Kathy Johnson
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Another great roundup post harsh!

WordPress consulting, SEO services and affiliate marketing have worked for me. I’ve tried some of the others like theme design with not so great results.

Shankharaj
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Thanks Harsh for this awesome article. I am just a beginner and a regular follower of shoutmeloud. At present I have a blogspot blog which I have started recently. I do also have a WordPress blog but I do not post there regularly as I was unaware of WordAds.
Thanks for the detailed article.

shrey sonavale
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I am a premium member of WordPress site and i have just started blogging now if i want to use google Adsense nd other lucrative monetizing methods then what i should do??

1. Harsh Agrawal
  at
  
  Hey Shrey,
  
  Read these post.
  https://www.shoutmeloud.com/earn-money-from-blog.html
  https://www.shoutmeloud.com/how-i-make-money-with-shoutmeloud.html
  
Avishek
at

Sir, I am having a free account in wordpress, can I earn there in the ways stated above or only those who have opted for a paid page can opt for the same?

1. Harsh Agrawal
  at
  
  @Avishek
  Yes, you can start earning by the method stated above.
  
Jhed
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I think signing up with WordPress’ wordAds requires payment. So, can I use affiliate links on wordpress without using wordAds? I’m confused.

haseeb
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HARSH AGRAWAL
i am very confused please guide me which is the best for earning blogger or wordpress?

1. Harsh Agrawal
  at
  
  @Haseeb
  It’s better to have a self hosted WordPress blog. You can download popular ShoutMeLoud WordPress eBook https://www.shoutmeloud.com/downloads/wordpress-ebook
  
Mrigendra Patel
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Thanks harsh, This post is very helpful for me. Should i apply for wordads if i am getting 2500 daily views?

Hitesh
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I have checked for WordAds but they have written that
“To be eligible for this program, your blog needs to have a custom domain.”
So how I can earn with my wordpress blog.

Vimlesh Singh
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But WordAds Not Easy For Making Money.

1. Harsh Agrawal
  at
  
  @Vimlesh
  It might not be as profitable as other networks like AdSense or Amazon CPM ads, but I’m sure if things goes right, it would catch up soon!
  
Ravisankar
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Hello Harsh,
Nice article(s) you have provided. I am a beginner into blogging. I occasionally come to shoutmeloud.com for refrences & tips on adsense, seo etc.
Best Wishes
Ravisankar

1. Harsh Agrawal
  at
  
  Glad to hear Ravi! Thank you for your comment.
  
Yavan Kumar
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Hi Harsh,

A year ago when I blogging on WordPress.com, I thought that there is no way of monetising it except affiliate marketing. Due to this reason I switch to WordPress.org from .com.
But thanks to you for sharing the ways to earn via WordPress.com in an easy way.

Pinki Chaurasia
at

Hello Harsh,

What a great article.Wordpress is a platform which is easy for anyone to start a blog instantly.I was searching that how to make money with WordPress from a sometimes and you solve my problem.You described different ways to Make money from Free in very good way and It is very helpful for me.Thanks to share this nice post with us.

Have a good day!

Regards,
Pinki

Nitin
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Hello Harsh, I appreciate you for such great article. As, I wanted to do Sponsored posts but couldn’t understand how it works and its basic idea. But here I come to know all about Sponsored posts. I will definitely try it.
Thank again for updating us about such nice information.
-Nitin

Iman
at

I highly recommend you to have an own domain name and paid web hosting with WordPress blogging software, instead of the WordPress.com free version. Think it as investment for an online business in long term. So you can to brand your own domain name. Each domain name is only $10 – 15 per year and paid web hosting is around $10 monthly.

It is up to you to choose between the own domain name or the WordPress.com free version.

sahith
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That was really nice post, however I think making money from wordpress.com is very tough compared to wordpress.org. I recommend bloggers to go with .org for better customization, control over your blog.

1. Mon
  at
  
  Is wordpress.org free? I’m a newbie and i want to test the waters first..
  
Ajit
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Hi Harsh,

First of all thanks for sharing this ads network. It’s really a detail guide not only about WordAds but also on How to Make money with WordPress.com blog.

Thanks & Regards ~
~Ajit Kumar~

rahul
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Thanks Harsh for this great article.. till now i thought we cant monetize wordpress.com blogs and hence i used it just to get into terms with wordpress before i start my self hosted wordpress blog. I wish i knew it before but thanks anyways.. i will be helpful for future for sure… keep up the good work mate…