I heard about the idea of making money on blogging for such a long time. For me, that seems like a fun way to make money considering that I love blogging.
But I never thought that I get to see a similar portrayal in Occultic;Nine where one of the characters, Yuta Gamon, is creating a blog so then he can make money from it.
I can’t say for sure if there are other anime, manga, or light novels that have characters who are trying to make money on blogging.
But Occultic;Nine sure does get my attention because Yuta and I are in a similar boat.
And that leads us to this big kahuna – can you make money on blogging?
The short answer is yes, you can. But not in a way Yuta does, though.
How Yuta in OcculticNine; monetizes his blog
If you watched Occultic;Nine anime or read Occultic;Nine light novels, then you’re already familiar with Yuta Gamon’s method of making money through affiliates.
So, how does it work?
The process is rather simple where Yuta will make money whenever people are clicking on any of the display ads on his blog. The more people click on the links, the more money he’ll make.
The thing about the ad display is that you can’t be the one who clicked on the link. If you do, you’ll be penalized and permanently banned from the program.
It’s because of this reason that Yuta chose to start an occult blog despite not believing in the occult stuff.
After all, that’s one of the topics that tend to generate a large amount of traffic. Well, that’s what he thinks.
Alternatively, he can choose to start a celebrity gossip blog like Perez Hilton since it’s also another type of blog that tends to generate a large amount of traffic.
But hey, the title won’t be Occultic;Nine anymore if he starts a celebrity gossip blog, right?
Can you make money that way?
This is where the author gets it wrong when it comes to making money with affiliates.
Okay, maybe that’s what they called in Japan if you tell people that you’re making money from displaying ads on your blog.
But that’s not what affiliates are all about.
Unlike making money from display ads where you can only make money when people click on your links, you can only make money from affiliates when people buy something through your affiliate links.
Depending on the affiliate program terms, you’ll be paid based on a specific percentage of the sales generated from your affiliate links.
The good thing about affiliates is that you don’t necessarily generate commission through the one product you promote. You can still generate affiliate commission even if that person buys something else thanks to the affiliate cookies.
The duration of the cookies enabled on the website will depend on the affiliate program term itself. Some programs will have 30-day cookies to qualify for the commission. But there are also quite a few of them that has a shorter cookies lifespan.
In a nutshell, that’s what making money from affiliates is all about. The one that Yuta does to make money isn’t affiliate.
What he did is more like slapping Google Adsense all over his blog and hoping that he’ll get to meet the minimum threshold for the payout.
So, can he still make money through display ads on his blog?
To answer that question, yes, he can. But he needs to have a huge amount of traffic coming to his blog if he wants to use the money to buy some yogurt for Ryotasu.
After all, the payout for each click is rather pitiful.
That’s the only way to generate a decent amount of money from display ads. It’s not going to make him much money at all if the traffic coming to his blog is small.
The realistic ways to make money on blogging
If making money from display ads simply won’t cut it, then what are the realistic ways to make money with your blog?
Well, here are some of the ways that can help you with making money on your blog without having to sell your sanity.
And they’re also something that I have experience with.
Affiliate marketing
Okay, I get that it’s not easy to convince people to buy anything through your affiliate links. But it’s still by far the simplest way to generate income for your blog.
That’s how I generate my first online income when I got started.
All you need to do is to place the affiliate links anywhere on your blog and you’re good to go.
Keep in mind that some affiliate programs will only pay you once you meet the minimum threshold for the payout, though.
In case you’re wondering, this website does have affiliate links. While I do get commissions when you buy anything through my links, the amount that you’ll have to pay during checkout will still be the same.
If the print version of the manga is $9.99, that’s the amount you’ll be paying at the checkout. You’re not going to pay any more than that only because you’re buying the manga through my affiliate links.
Okay, maybe you have to pay the shipping cost. But that’s just about it.
Selling products and services
As much as I love generating income from affiliate marketing, I notice that selling my own products and services is by far works the best for me.
After all, it’s the only thing that generate consistent income for me. I still get affiliate commissions from time to time. But it’s only after I meet the minimum threshold for the payout.
For those who are new here, I’m an author first and a blogger second.
Curious about the type of books that I write? You can take a look at all the books that I’ve written so far right here.
If you’re struggling with making money from display ads and also from affiliate marketing, then it doesn’t hurt to offer products and services on your website or your blog.
Sure, creating your own products or selling the products like a retail-style takes a huge amount of work.
Heck, even offering services require a lot of hard work too.
But if you’re aiming to make a full-time living from your blog, selling your own products and services is a lot more reliable than depending on the affiliate commissions.
Asking for donations
This way of making money can be something as simple as putting the Paypal donation button on the website or asking people to support you on Patreon, Ko-Fi, or Buy Me a Coffee.
If you have a sizeable audience who loves what you do, then it may not be such a bad idea to ask them to support you in whichever way is convenient for your audience.
But then again, it still requires you to do some work to let your audience knows that you’re looking for monetary support for your blog.
Your audience isn’t going to open your wallet for you unless you let them know that they can support your website through donation or platforms like Patreon, Ko-Fi and Buy Me a Coffee.
Platform-wise, you can use pretty much any platform you prefer. But my preferred platform is Buy Me a Coffee.
Since we’re talking about supporting the blog here, consider supporting me on Buy Me a Coffee if you find any of my blog posts interesting or useful to you. Your support will help me to continue blogging about books and anime-related topics.
Think that Buy Me a Coffee is perfect for your blog? You can sign up for Buy Me a Coffee right here.
Just to let you know that I’ll get a coffee too when you sign up through my referral link.
Yes, it’s possible to make money with your blog
As someone who has been blogging for a long time, I will say that you can make money with your blog.
But it’s going to take hard work and dedication if you want to generate a full-time living from your blog.
And it’s certainly not an easy thing to do. So, don’t be discouraged if you’re not making any money even after blogging consistently for a few months.
It takes time for your blog to start making money for you.
Once you do, you can probably take some of the income and treat yourself. You deserve it.
Or you can take the money and treat someone else just like what Yuta did when he promised Ryotasu that he would buy her a yogurt from the income that he got from his blog.
P.S I’m happy to announce that my new book, The Virtual Mass Murder will be coming out soon. It’s the third book from the Trigger Locked series.
If you’re into reading original English light novels, particularly in the thriller genre, then you’re going to enjoy reading my Trigger Locked series.
While you don’t have to read from the beginning, it doesn’t hurt to do it if it can help you with understanding the story in the third book better.
Want to give the Trigger Locked series a try? You can take a look at the book page right here:
I'm an author who writes thriller and suspense light novels. But when I'm not writing a book, I love to blog about books that I enjoy reading. Some of these books also become the inspiration for my novel as well.
Most of the books that I talk about on my blog tend to be manga and light novels, with nonfiction books in between. If you're looking for interesting books to read, then you will certainly enjoy reading my blog. 