WordPress is the most used content management system and website builder in the world.

WordPress comes with numerous features when associated with other supportive themes and plugins. Thus, the WordPress ecosystem has evolved into a massive empire that has been contributing to the economic wellbeing of thousands of people worldwide. 

WordPress empowers all kinds of websites, whether it’s just a personal portfolio or a billion-dollar eCommerce website. Yes, it’s not difficult to make money with WordPress, but it’s not easy either. 

You need to have a plan upfront and execute the strategies the right way to earn money from WordPress. Keep in mind that there are already many skilled people earning money through WordPress. You have to compete with them and make a unique identity of your own. 

Want to dig deep? We’ve got you covered. Keep reading to learn how you can make money with WordPress. 

How to Make Money with WordPress: 25 Proven Ways

There are several ways of making money with WordPress. It will be difficult for you to choose from a wide range of options. We’ve grouped all available options under four categories to help you decide conveniently.

The leading four methods of earning money with WordPress are as follows-

1. Blogging or Writing
2. eCommerce Websites
3. Themes & Plugins Development
4. WordPress Maintenance Services

Each of these four options has several other earning opportunities under their names. The following sections will guide you through all proven methods of making money with WordPress. 

Earn by Blogging or Writing

Blogging refers to a set of activities such as writing, editing, SEO practices, photo editing, designing, social media posting, and anything more related to the online presence of a writer.

Writing for an online medium is considered blogging. That’s why we’ve kept these two options in the same category.

1. Join Affiliate Marketing

According to Google, 53% of shoppers say they always do research before they buy to ensure they are making the best possible choice.

You can cash in on this opportunity and target a potential niche to make money with affiliate marketing. Choose a specific industry you’re interested in, and write informative articles and product reviews.

If you can gain credibility and drive traffic to your website, people are most likely to rely on your verdicts and buy through the affiliate links on the website. 

You will earn a sales commission against each sale generated through your website. This form of affiliate marketing works best for Amazon, AliExpress, eBay, and other popular marketplaces around the world. 

You can learn the Process of Affiliate Marketing. 

2. Partner with Google AdSense

If you have massive traffic visiting your website regularly, the chances are high that you can earn a substantial amount of money through Google AdSense. All you have to do is sign up with a Google account and use the script provided by Google.

You will get paid for every click on the ads. Get a detailed guide on Google AdSense on WordPress from this article. 

3. Publish Sponsored Blog Posts

If you have a notable number of followers across social media and exposure to the internet, you can earn through sponsored posts. Business owners will happily collaborate with you if you can help them reach their target audience.

Note that you need to add a disclaimer regarding the sponsorship program to avoid potential lawsuits. 

4. Write Paid Reviews

This monetization model shares a close connection with affiliate marketing and sponsored blog posts. Manufacturers may reach out to you, or you can approach them to build a partnership.

You can write paid reviews and also insert affiliate links in the article to earn sales commissions. 

5. Accept Guest Posts

Websites with heavy traffic, high domain authority, and reputation often get partnership offers from other guest bloggers or websites. You can charge an amount in exchange for the place you’re giving them.

They’ll get a backlink from your website and make use of your visitors. This is a win-win partnership for both sides. 

Learn more about the Effective Ways to Make Money with Guest Posts from here. 

6. Create Members Only Content

If you have a loyal fanbase desperate to get the best value from your content, creating a members-only blog section is an excellent way to make money with WordPress.

You can keep the blog partially public for all visitors and restrict the rest to normal visitors. 

Only subscribers who paid for the post can unlock the remaining part of the blog post. This is another effective method of earning money from blogging. You can use WP User Frontend to manage such members-only blog websites. 

7. Build a Private Forum/ Q&A Website

Forums and online communities are extremely popular among professionals. If you’re an expert at what you do, people of the same industry will be ready to pay you to get access to your private forum or question and answer website.

The members will keep paying till your shared knowledge adds value to peoples’ lives.

Earn with eCommerce Websites

The e-commerce industry has been booming since the last decade. During the Corona pandemic, more brick and mortar stores have converted to online shops to sustain themselves in the new normal situations.

People are also now comfortable buying things from online stores. You can take advantage of this new buying habit of the consumers. Here, we’ve gathered the best three types of e-commerce businesses you can start with WordPress.

8. Start an eCommerce Business

In 2020, retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to 4.28 trillion US dollars and e-retail revenues are projected to grow to 5.4 trillion US dollars in 2022.

This constant growth of eCommerce businesses speaks volumes about the possibilities of e-commerce websites. WordPress is one of the most popular platforms for both single-vendor and multi-vendor eCommerce websites. 

You can also make an auctions website. If that becomes popular, vendors will pay you to list their products, or you can sell your unique products through the auction site. 

WooCommerce is the best WordPress plugin for e-commerce. You can add products and sell them through your WordPress website. There are other eCommerce plugins based on WooCommerce, such as Dokan multivendor to turn your single store into a multivendor marketplace.

This plugin is the best tool for creating multi-vendor marketplaces. Dokan helps users earn commissions from each sale the vendors make.

9. Create a Dropshipping Store

Dropshipping business model allows you to sell products without having to manage an inventory. Customers order their products through your storefront, and the respective supplier directly ships products to the buyer. You can make a profit by setting your own price that is higher than the original price. 

WordPress is a suitable platform to create a dropshipping store. We have a detailed guide on how dropshipping works. Have a read for more details.  

10. Sell Online Courses & Ebooks

The excellence of WordPress isn’t confined to only eCommerce, and you can sell digital products like ebooks and online courses through WordPress websites.

Simply upload your products and integrate compatible payment gateways to receive the course fee. You can easily Create An Online Course Website In WordPress. 

Themes & Plugins Development

You’ll get only the basic features of WordPress without installing any plugin. These default modules aren’t enough to run a website smoothly. That’s why you need plugins to make your website experience flexible, hassle-free, and powerful. 

WordPress’s dependency on external themes and plugins opened a vast source of employment for developers and designers around the world. You can use your skills to earn a substantial amount of money by developing themes and plugins for WordPress.

11. Develop WordPress Plugins

If you have professional-level expertise in PHP, CSS, HTML, and other coding languages, you can build plugins that work for WordPress. A useful plugin can successfully generate millions of dollars for you if you market it well through proper channels. 

To earn money with WordPress plugins, you need to identify a problem at first, then come up with an effective solution. If your invention truly puts an end to the specific problems of WordPress users, you will see success within a few months. 

You can have a look at weDevs’ journey to becoming a happy company. Our origin story will surely motivate you. 

12. Sell WordPress Themes

If you’re an expert at both design and development, this earning opportunity is for you. Design aesthetically pleasing themes and make them functional for the WordPress framework using your technical skills.

A beautiful and responsive theme has the potential to earn a considerable amount of money. 

13. Customize WordPress Themes 

Most people use WordPress because they don’t have enough technical knowledge to build a website on their own. They install themes and start using them right away. But sometimes, people need to tailor the themes to their needs.

If you have the skills to create custom designs, layouts, custom post types, and more, you can try providing theme customization services to earn some extra bucks. 

Earn by WordPress Maintenance Services

Since a great number of WordPress users are not experts at coding, they fail to handle the technical aspects of a website. Here comes the need for experts who can manage domains and hosting servers, fix bugs (if any), and offer other maintenance services. Check the following list for more.

14. Provide Domain & Hosting Services 

WordPress is mainly a website-building platform. One needs to buy a domain and subscribe to a hosting service to keep the site up and running without disruptions. You can offer domain and hosting services and earn money indirectly from WordPress. 

There are two types of hosting currently popular among WordPress users. You can offer both shared and managed hosting services. 

15. Maintain Websites Built on WordPress

Setting up the website with the right set of plugins and correct configuration is crucial to the success of a website. 

A good number of WordPress users are beginners with no development experience. They find it difficult to set up a blog site on their own. You can help them download, install, and configure WordPress, activate the necessary plugins and themes, manage hosting and CDN setup for their needs. 

You can have ideas about such services from weCare. 

16. Offer SEO & Marketing Services

A website calls for intensive teamwork and collaboration to operate successfully and make a profit. Websites won’t rank without proper SEO and marketing efforts, and people won’t find them on search engines.

SEO and digital marketing services are in high demand nowadays. It’s an independent business that you can venture into. 

17. Support Services to Fix Bugs

Almost all plugin and theme developer companies have a dedicated support team of their own. Still, a lot of users look for freelance support engineers who can solve their issues. You can establish yourself as a support service provider and make money with WordPress. 

18. Deliver Security Solutions

Security is a great concern, especially for eCommerce websites. If you have advanced knowledge of coding and security consultation, this is a fantastic earning opportunity. 

Security audit, SSL setup, malware removal, server management, database optimization, data backup, etc., are the components of security solutions.

More Ways to Make Money with WordPress

Apart from the above methods, there are a few more common ways of making money with WordPress. You can adopt any of the following options or create an innovative way that solves any problem of a lot of WordPress users.

19. Collect and Sell Leads 

Many business owners pay to generate leads and prospective clients and then turn them into customers. You can generate leads for a specific niche and sell them to your clients for money. Make sure that the leads are really interested in the niche you’re working with; otherwise, it may result in a complete loss for your client. 

Blog subscription, pop-ups, floating bars, signup forms are a few effective ways of collecting leads. 

20. Offer Freelance Services

Many freelance writing, design, and development services are already making money through WordPress.

You can sell your skills through these freelancing services and make good money. The following WordPress freelance services are most common in recent years. 

• Building WordPress themes and plugins
• Designing WordPress sites
• Writing SEO-friendly content
• Providing graphics design services
• Creating video tutorials for others

21. Become a Coach

If you have a strong portfolio and a good reputation in the industry, it’s very much possible to earn money by becoming a coach. No matter what skills you have, people are eager to pay to learn that till it adds value to their life.

First, gather a few years of hands-o experience on WordPress, then this will become a way of making money. 

22. Start Video/Audio Podcasts/Webinars

With the advent of the Corona pandemic, webinars, podcasts, video streaming have seen a massive spike during the last two years. You can start a subscription-based program and earn money with your WordPress site. This plan isn’t feasible if you don’t have enough recognition in the industry you’re working in. 

23. Create a Directory/ Listing Website 

The only thing internet users want is valid information. If you can accumulate all the information related to a search query in a single place, people will find it convenient without having to do extra legwork. 

Some directories list the best products/professionals on a particular niche, share reviews of local businesses, or list the best companies. If your directory is popular, you can earn money by allocating the spots in your directory. 

Listing websites range from property listings to job listings and more. Platforms like Fiverr, Upwork are examples of job listing sites. And Realtor and Trulia are examples of property listing sites. 

24. Earn Money by Selling Websites

Develop a website on WordPress using an attractive domain name, secure database, quality hosting, and beautiful design. Then drive heavy traffic to your site.

There will be hundreds of buyers interested in purchasing your website at a high price. All you need to do is select a demanding niche and perform well as a website. 

You can build highly-functional websites with HappyAddons from weDevs.

25. Accept Donations

Another way of making money on WordPress is to create a non-profit website and ask for money from the readers of your website. This is the least effective way of earning money since you have to rely entirely on other people’s generosity.

We suggest avoiding this method. Instead, you can give something valuable to your visitors and integrate payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe to receive subscription payments, not in the form of donation. 

Three Most Asked Questions on How to Earn with WordPress

You may have many questions hovering over your mind about the ways of making money with WordPress. We’ve collected three of the most frequently asked questions on the topic to satisfy your curiosity.

Final Words on Make Money with WordPress

As you’ve seen above, there are several ways of making money on WordPress. Regardless of the method you choose, you need to master the skills required to excel in the industry. Have a solid plan ahead of the inception, gather the resources to execute the steps meticulously, and finally wait for the first money withdrawal from WordPress. 

Before starting your journey, you need to develop a deep understanding of the WordPress platform, know how it works, and follow the industry leaders. Knowing WordPress is the first step to making money with it. 

You can subscribe to our blogs or follow top-notch WordPress repositories like WP Hive to grow insights into the WordPress ecosystem.