The blog you are currently reading earns 120-150 thousand CZK per month. And it wasn’t always like that. Even in 2023, we were generating only 6,600 CZK per month.
How did we achieve a sixfold increase in just one year?
We made a simple decision. What we had been doing for our clients for 12 years, we would finally start doing for ourselves. To close off any retreat, we publicly bet on Patreon that we would reach this goal (it was originally 60 thousand by the end of the year, but we achieved that in a few months). And then we started showing people, step by step, exactly what we do and how.
Today, we teach our know-how to hundreds of people annually. Many now successful bloggers have gone through our Blogging Challenge, quitting their jobs to fully dedicate themselves to blogging.
Making Money with a Blog is Completely Normal
Making money by writing a blog is not a bad thing. Especially for blogs that make their readers’ lives easier and teach them something new that helps them in the long run.
For example, here at Loudavým krokem, we write about travel, giving people tips on what to see, do, and what to watch out for. Our information is free; you don’t have to pay for it. Our greatest joy is when you write to us saying we’ve helped you. 🙂
However, to do it properly, we need to dedicate time to it. And as we all know, time isn’t free, so it’s good when your blog earns you something.
But why not Earn Extra Income in a Way that Ultimately Helps your Readers?
There are many ways to make money with blogs. We’ll discuss those you can use on your blog from day one.
- Affiliate Marketing
- Selling Ads
- Payments for Articles
- Individual Collaborations
- Selling Your Own Products
How much You Can Realistically Earn with your Blog
Blogging for fun is enjoyable, but if you plan to earn money with your blog, it’s hard work. Income from blogging is not constant, which makes it absolutely essential to build multiple revenue streams. However, you need to know how. To make money with a blog, you must not only know how to write but also understand marketing. That’s exactly what we teach in the Blogging Challenge.
Blog as a Hobby
If you treat your blog as a hobby and write articles in the evenings, you can build an income of 1,000 CZK – 10,000 CZK per month, within approximately one year.
Blog as a Primary Income Source
If you dedicate yourself to blogging full-time, you can earn between 10,000 CZK – 300,000 CZK per month within one year. Truly successful bloggers, however, combine all earning methods and often have 15-20 different income streams.
1) Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing represents one of the most stable income sources for our blog. There are months when it accounts for 90% of our income. The principle is simple – we recommend products or services that we use ourselves, and we receive a commission for every successful conversion.
Product Reviews as Conversion Magnets
Reviews are one of the most effective ways to generate affiliate income. People who come across quality reviews are generally more likely to convert – they are more likely to purchase the recommended product through your link.
Thanks to product reviews, we gain three main benefits:
- Free product for testing
- Converting traffic
- Sales commissions
How to get Products for Review
Over the years, thanks to reviews, we have acquired products worth tens to hundreds of thousands of CZK. For example, complete long-distance cycling gear (everything from helmets to sleeping bags, except bikes), children’s products, and much more.
To successfully obtain products for review, it’s good to:
- Prepare a Media Kit with information about your website
- Target topics that people actually search for (using SEO tools)
- Contact manufacturers or sellers directly, not through intermediaries
- Be patient – a response can take 2-3 weeks
- Try reaching out via social media if email doesn’t work
#Example No. 1: Article on Travel Insurance
With Lucka, we are constantly traveling, and we were always dealing with travel insurance. Every now and then, we would go through insurance terms, compare experiences, prices, and coverage. Most insurance companies also insure you for a maximum of three months, and then you either have to return to the Czech Republic or pay a lot more money.
So I decided to do proper research and write an article about it. From day one, the article has had decent traffic, and commissions for insurance sales started pouring in. How is this possible? AXA and True Traveller, the two insurance companies mentioned in the article, have a partner program. We agreed on the terms with them, and we received a 50% discount from AXA.
See? We solved our own problem, shared the solution with our readers, and even earned something from it. For every person who clicks through from our article to one of the insurance companies and makes a purchase within 30 days, we receive an 8-15% commission.
#Example No. 2: Article on Grammarly
When we lived in Canada, communication with our surroundings was only in English. We didn’t want to look foolish (if we made mistakes), so we found the Grammarly app, which helped us (and still helps us) improve our written expression.
The basic version of the app, which is free, corrects word errors, checks grammar, and style. It works in Word, on the web, and on your phone – simply amazing.
But it was a completely new app, and we were the first among our acquaintances to discover it. So we wrote an article about it! Free English Grammar Check was the second Czech article on the blog, and it earned us $83 within two weeks.
We published the article on June 4, 2017, shared it on all social media, and sent it to all our friends. In one day, we managed to generate an incredible 3,630 visits, and conversions started coming in.
At that time, for Grammarly, we received $0.2 (approximately 4 CZK) for everyone who downloaded the free app and $20 for every purchase of an annual premium version subscription. This means that:
- We advised readers on a great app for English correction
- The app costs readers nothing, but it brings them great benefit
- We get 4 CZK for everyone who tries the app
Over the next two weeks, we had a total of 219 app downloads, and two people purchased an annual subscription from those, earning us a total of $83. Since then, the article generates between $0 – $2 every day. That’s several hundred CZK per month. Considering we haven’t touched the article for a year, that’s pretty good 🙂
2) Publishing Ads on your Blog
The most well-known way to earn money is by placing ads on your blog. With such advertising, you receive a reward ranging from 0.3 CZK – 5 CZK per click, but at the expense of reader comfort.
Many people today use ad-blocking applications, and honestly – who isn’t annoyed when three ads load in the middle of an article?
In the Czech Republic, ads from Sklik (a service by seznam.cz) are most commonly used. Compared to other ad providers, Sklik has several advantages:
- You don’t need a trade license
- Inserting ad code is simple
- You can insert ads using WordPress plugins
A more effective option is to use ads directly from Google, for which the Adsense service is used. However, for that, you need to have a trade license, officially pay VAT, and fill out a lot of paperwork. Google AdSense is reportedly 10-30% more effective than Sklik, but due to the administration, most bloggers start with Sklik.
3) Selling Articles and Links
One of the subtle but effective ways to monetize a blog is by selling articles and links. In the last two months, this method has brought us a solid 20,500 CZK across three of our websites with varying traffic.
Why your Blog is a Sought-After Commodity
In the Czech environment, there are hundreds of marketing agencies that need to build quality backlinks for their clients every month. And this is where you and your carefully built blog come in.
Quality websites without unethical practices are increasingly valuable in today’s market. Especially as Google has clearly shown in the last six months that it prefers strong brands with a community both on and off their websites.
How to Start Selling
There are specialized platforms where advertisers (those looking for publication space) and publishers (you with your blog) meet. Just register and create offers.
For successful sales, it’s important to:
- Respond quickly to inquiries (ideally within a few hours)
- Set clear rules for what content you accept
- Check the quality of websites you link to
More on Patreon.
What to Watch out For
Not every offer is worth accepting. Pay special attention to:
- Offers from gambling, erotic, or non-bank loan sectors
- Inquiries from direct competitors that could weaken your position
Even if someone offers you, say, 300 EUR for one article, consider whether the short-term gain is worth long-term damage to your website’s reputation.
4) Individual Collaborations
Establishing individual collaborations with various brands is not as difficult as it might seem. We secured our biggest collaborations simply by reaching out to them.
For example, we embarked on a month-long trip to magical places in the Czech Republic with Amazing Places, and it all started with one bold email. We saw that our friend was posting photos from a beautiful castle and wrote that she got there through Amazing Places. It seemed like a great way to travel around the Czech Republic, so I sat down, wrote an email, and that was it. This is what it looked like:
So don’t be afraid to reach out. At worst, they’ll trash your email 🙂
5) Selling your Own Products
One of the most effective ways to monetize a blog, often overlooked by many creators, is selling your own products. While most bloggers focus on affiliate marketing or ads, we also pursue creating valuable content that readers can purchase.
Our Successful Digital Products
E-book “How to Make Money Online” – We poured our complete know-how from years of experience in online business into it. It’s for people who want to start earning online but have no idea how. This e-book was purchased by 30 people in a single day (approx. 9,000 CZK).
Cestovníček – A workbook for children that we created in collaboration with an illustrator and a kindergarten teacher. It helps parents keep children entertained while traveling and became an instant hit among our readers.
MEGA WORKSHOP– Our most successful product! The workshop “How to Earn 100,000 CZK Per Month from the Comfort of Your Home on Autopilot” became an absolute blockbuster. During a 1.5-hour online session, we revealed how we earn up to 100,000 CZK per month with our blog. This single workshop earned us an incredible 84,000 CZK!
How We Create our Products
We create all our digital products in Canva. You don’t need graphic design education or expensive programs – just a clear idea of what you want to create.
For sales, we use the simple system SimpleShop.cz, which easily integrates into our blog. The customer purchases the product and can download it immediately – the entire process is automated.
Why Selling your Own Products Works
People are willing to pay for expertise. Our experience shows that readers prefer to pay for comprehensive, high-quality content that saves them time and energy searching for information across the internet. When you offer them real value, they are willing to invest.
The biggest advantage of your own products is their potential for passive income. You create it once, and you sell it repeatedly – without additional costs.
Tips and Tricks for Your Vacation
Don’t Overpay for Flights
Search for flights on Kayak. It’s our favorite search engine because it scans the websites of all airlines and always finds the cheapest connection.
Book Your Accommodation Smartly
The best experiences we’ve had when looking for accommodation (from Alaska to Morocco) are with Booking.com, where hotels, apartments, and entire houses are usually the cheapest and most widely available.
Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Good travel insurance will protect you against illness, accidents, theft, or flight cancellations. We’ve had a few hospital visits abroad, so we know how important it is to have proper insurance arranged.
Where we insure ourselves: SafetyWing (best for everyone) and TrueTraveller (for extra-long trips).
Why don’t we recommend any Czech insurance company? Because they have too many restrictions. They set limits on the number of days abroad, travel insurance via a credit card often requires you to pay medical expenses only with that card, and they frequently limit the number of returns to the Czech Republic.
Find the Best Experiences
Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can book guided walks, trips, skip-the-line tickets, tours, and much more. We always find some extra fun there!
