How to Make Money With an Astro Blog (7 Honest Ways)

Let’s be honest first. Most blogs make nothing. The ones that do make money took a year or more of steady posts before anything happened. Astro doesn’t change that. What it changes is your costs, which are about $10 a year, so the first dollar you earn is profit.

Here are seven ways that work, in roughly the order a beginner should try them.

1. Affiliate links

You recommend a product and link to it with a special code. If someone buys, you get a cut. It needs no setup on your site beyond a link.

Where to start: Amazon Associates for physical things, and the referral programs of tools you already use. Most hosts, email services and software have one.

What it needs: honesty. Say it’s an affiliate link, every time. Recommend only what you’d recommend anyway. One guide that genuinely helps earns more over time than ten that push products. See our own disclosure for how we handle it. We don’t run affiliate links yet, and we’ll say so when that changes.

2. Your own digital product

A short ebook, a template, a checklist, a course. You make it once and sell it forever. Services like Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy and Payhip handle payment and delivery, and give you a button or link to paste into a page. No code on your side.

What it needs: a problem your readers have, and the patience to make something that solves it well. The best first product is the thing people keep emailing you about.

3. A newsletter with sponsors or a paid tier

Once you have an email list, two things open up. Sponsors pay to be mentioned to your readers. Or readers pay for extra issues. Buttondown and Kit both support paid subscriptions. How to start a newsletter is the first step.

What it needs: a list of a few hundred engaged readers. Sponsors care about the open rate more than the size.

4. Services

If you write about something, you can probably do it. Web design, writing, consulting, repair, lessons. A blog is proof you know your subject, and a contact form is the whole sales funnel. How to add a contact form.

What it needs: a clear “hire me” page that says what you do, for whom, and what it costs.

5. Ads

Ad networks pay per thousand views. Google AdSense accepts small sites. Networks like Mediavine and Raptive pay much more but want 50,000 or more monthly sessions first.

On Astro, an ad network’s script tag goes in your layout with is:inline, like analytics. Ads slow pages and annoy readers, so most people who try them on small sites remove them again. Treat this as a later option, not a first one.

6. Sponsored posts

A company pays you to write about them. It pays well per post and risks your readers’ trust, so it works best for sites with a clear niche and a strict “we say it’s sponsored” rule.

What it needs: traffic in a niche advertisers care about, and a page that says you take sponsorships and how to ask.

7. Donations and memberships

Buy Me a Coffee, Ko-fi, GitHub Sponsors and Patreon all give you a button to paste. People who like your work give a few dollars. It rarely pays the rent, but it’s real money from real fans, and it costs nothing to add.

What to skip

• “Make money blogging” courses. The people selling them make money from the course.
• Posting daily for the algorithm. One useful guide a week beats seven thin ones.
• Ads before 10,000 visits a month. The money is tiny and the cost in reader goodwill is not.

The order that works

1. Write useful things for a year. Build a list with a newsletter form.
2. Add affiliate links where they genuinely fit.
3. Make one small product from the question you’re asked most.
4. Then look at sponsors, services, or ads, depending on what your readers want.

Astro makes step one cheap and fast. The rest is the same work it’s always been.

Where to go next

• How much does an Astro website cost? The answer is why the math works.
• Astro SEO guide, because none of this works without readers.

Frequently asked questions

Can a static site run ads?

Yes. Ad networks give you a script tag. Paste it in your layout with is:inline, the same way as analytics. Ads pay little until you have a lot of readers, though.

How much traffic do I need?

For ads, tens of thousands of visits a month before it's worth it. For affiliate links or your own product, far fewer. A hundred of the right readers can beat ten thousand random ones.

Does Astro change how I make money?

Only in one way: your costs are near zero, so anything you earn is profit. The ways to earn are the same as any website.