How to Start a Coupon Blog and Make Money: Step-by-Step

Coupon blogs have been killin’ it in the affiliate marketing space, so it’s no wonder why you’ve taken an interest. We all search Google for coupons before confirming our purchases. Some savvy shoppers have toolbars, browser extensions, and apps to automate their coupon clipping.

Why not be a coupon provider and earn a bit of money from your referrals?

You see sites like RetailMeNot and KrazyCouponLady, wondering how they add hundreds of coupons every day. That’s got to be a hassle, right? Not really when you join coupon affiliate programs. Starting a coupon blog is easier than you think thanks to tools provided by coupon brands.

Coupon affiliate programs provide:

  • Coupon feeds
  • Coupon widgets

You also gain access to custom codes if you prefer tailored & curated promotions.

Still interested? Let’s get into it!

 

Why You Should Start a Coupon Blog

Coupons get people buying:

  • Coupon users spend 24% more than regular shoppers [1]
  • 27% of consumers look for deals before buying something [2]
  • 90% of consumers will use coupons online and offline [3]

If that doesn’t perk your interest than I don’t know what would!

Simply put: People want coupons.

Coupon Blog

A coupon blog is a perfect intermediary when someone is about to buy. They’ve got money in-hand but check for extra deals. Your coupon blog could be the in-between when they search for deals. If they buy using your affiliate link and coupon, then you earn the commission on the sale!

How do coupon websites make money?

Coupon websites make money a few ways:

  • Affiliated sales with the brand’s website
  • Sponsored listings from brand promotions
  • Google AdSense and other advertising opportunities
  • Referrals to couponing apps and services

Many coupon partnerships offer percentage-based commissions for each sale an affiliate delivers. This is usually 5 – 10% of the sale. Though, some programs offer a little less because the consumer uses a coupon.

coupon affiliate programs

There are also referral systems with many cash-back and coupon brands. Programs through Ibotta and TopCashBack are two of the popular ones. Some of these pay $10+ per referral!

 

How to Create a Coupon Blog with WordPress

Coupon blogs are easy to create because they mostly rely on automated listings. There’s still a lot of work involved if you’re curating the deals sections. But overall a coupon blog is generally a passive income opportunity – minus your promotions and content marketing.

Here’s what you’d do:

Step 1: Get a Domain and Hosting

The coupon blog should have a memorable domain name.

  • Yes: ThriftingAdventures
  • No: CouponBlogHub

There’s nothing wrong with the later but what happens if you later decide to expand beyond coupons? A memorable domain name keeps people coming back. It’s why you easily remember sites like RetailMeNot or CamelCamelCamel.

Bluehost (affiliate link) includes a free domain name when you set up web hosting through them. Use the domain search when setting up to see if your idea is available. If not, go back to the drawing board or get some creativity by looking at popular coupon blogs.

Select the Bluehost Plan

Hosting with Bluehost costs about $10 a month if you buy the 12-month package. Fill in the basic details and you’ll get a confirmation with login information a few minutes after checkout.

 

?  Get started with Bluehost

 

Step 2: Install WordPress and Theme

Bluehost includes an automated WordPress installation in its backend. All you need to do is set the domain name and basic information. Click install and you’ll have a basic installation of WordPress.

Once WordPress is installed, you’ll want to install a theme.

There are thousands of free and premium themes within the WordPress theme directory. Or, you could buy premium themes through marketplaces like Themeforest. We recommend you search for “coupon WordPress themes” when doing so as they have a prebuilt structure and design for sharing coupons.

Install WP Themes

Install the new theme by going to Appearance -> Themes -> Add New Theme.

Congratulations! You now have the coupon blog ready to configure. The next step is configuring the site, so it displays the content and deals in an easy-to-use manner. And, to make sure your content and coupons are showing up in search engines.

Step 3: Configure the Site and Structure

The basic WordPress installation leaves a lot to be desired. It doesn’t default the settings we want, so you’ll want to make a few changes before publishing content and doing promotions.

The main WordPress features to change include:

  • URL Structure – Go to Settings -> Permalinks and change it to Post Name
  • Home Page – Go to Settings -> Reading and change it to Homepage: (Home)
  • Categories – Brainstorm blog categories and set them under Post -> Categories
  • Basic Pages – Set up the Contact, About, and Privacy pages

These let you later change things without breaking the site (usually). We recommend using the coupon themes documentation to make additional changes. Or, hire a designer if you need customization.

Other pages you may want:

  • Deals – A page listing the best deals
  • Start Here – A page collecting foundational or best-of content

These two are great for helping introduce people to the site. And, provide people a quick way to find awesome deals without digging into the content.

Step 4: Start Creating Thrifty Content

You need content because there are hundreds of coupon sites. Most of them take automated feeds and rely on domain authority to leverage the coupon use. Adding great content is how you’ll break in this coupon niche – and create a community coming back for more (and maybe contributing!).

What kind of content works on a coupon blog?

  • Reviews – Collect things you own and create reviews
  • Lists – Do a roundup of the best items in your categories
  • Deals – Highlight and share awesome finds and deals
  • Hauls – Share your recent couponing hauls and which coupons/apps you used
  • Savings – Do a weekly or monthly savings report to reaffirm coupon use
  • Interviews – Let people share their couponing experiences and haul

You could also add a ton of personal blog posting in there, too. People like personalities behind coupon blogs because so many are faceless. You could become that extreme couponer in their eyes.

Step 5: Network and Promote the Blog

Your “competition” in the blog space isn’t really your competition because there are enough couponing and deals to go around. You should network with the fellow coupon, frugal, and thrifty bloggers to forge relationships and promotional “in groups”.

  1. Guest Posting – Do a search for “Coupon Blog” + “Guest Post” and see which sites are open to guest posting. Pitch ideas like your hauls or how you saved money. You’ll get a backlink helping your site rank and drive a few, interested people over.
  2. FB Groups – Create a Facebook group where people can share their coupon finds and post their hauls. This group can get super active because there are new deals daily. Some of those active members may ask to post on your site, too, letting you offer more content!
  3. Newsletters – Sign up for an email marketing service and collect emails. The newsletter could share daily deals and hot coupons. Or, promote new blog posts. You can send emails to followers as often as you like – it’s a great way to bump up traffic and potential sales.
  4. Social – Get active on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest sharing your best content and creating connections with fellow couponers and thrifty-types. Start discussions, post pictures of your hauls, and interesting finds.

Check out some of these other traffic generation tips from our blog once you have these four going.

Coupon Website SEO Tips

We wanted to include one extra section because a lot of coupon blogs get it wrong with SEO. They tend to let automated feeds and plugins create listings – but this makes a jumbled mess with the title, URL, description, and content structure.

Here’s what we recommend:

  1. Install the Yoast SEO plugin so you can edit each blog post’s meta information
  2. Aim to use the primary keyword for the brand’s coupon (ex. Macy’s Coupon)
  3. Write an enticing description about what users can save (including the brand information)
  4. Set the URL short and sweet and good for SEO (Ex. /macy-coupon/)
  5. Add a bit of curated and hand-crafted content to each coupon listing

You could have hundreds (or thousands) of these pages. Use your site analytics (see: Google Analytics Intro) to determine which ones you’ll optimize. Look for the popular pages, optimize, then work your way down the list.

 

How to Make Money with a Coupon Website

A lot of the coupon blog is about making passive income by listing deals and coupons. Or, creating awesome reviews and lists people keep finding in Google searches or social media.

Those putting in extra effort can make more money with a coupon website.

Here are some tips you should follow:

  1. Find Your Niche – Pick a couponing niche that hasn’t been done to death by refining what you cover. Instead of going after every coupon… make a blog about a certain product category like baby supplies or maybe computer mice. This helps you stand out and keeps the content and networked connections tight – ultimately improving relevancy and rankings.
  2. Do Your Research – Use Google Trends and keyword tools to find what people look for when couponing. Look for hot and trending products you could create reviews about. Check with your partner program to see if they have new coupon listings and ideas.
  3. List and Optimize Deals – Pick 5 – 10 awesome deals you can get behind and get them listed on their individual pages. Then, create content around these items. The content will prop the deals listings in search and continually send people when they click its link in the content.
  4. Use a Coupon Plugin – Use a WordPress coupon plugin to tab the destination site when they reveal the coupon code. This automatically adds your tracking information increasing your odds to earn a commission.
  5. Get Unique Codes – Work with the brand to see if they’ll provide a unique coupon. People using the coupon will default its sale to you versus someone else who may get the last affiliate click.
  6. Giveaways – Use giveaways and contests as an opportunity to spread your brand. These are also great to get people clicking your coupon and affiliate links!

Keep experimenting with different monetization strategies until you’ve hit the one working best for you.

 

Couponing and the Frugal Niche: It’s Thrilling and Thrifty!

Helping people save more while creating challenges in who can find the best deals makes the frugal and couponing niches fun. Every day presents new finds and challenges. It’s one of the few niches you directly benefit since you’re actively saving money with your activities!

In a way, couponing is like a neat hobby while frugal finance is a rewarding lifestyle. Combine the two and you have the recipe for a great coupon blog. Add coupon affiliate and referral offers and you’ll turn that savings savvy activity into a business opportunity!

What do you say… will you start a coupon blog?