So, 25 years after it launched, I finally read House of Leaves.

This is a very good (satirical) article:

How To Monetize a Blog

Maintaining a blog can be a lot of work. A single article can take weeks of research, drafting and editing, collecting and producing included materials, etc. It’s not unusual to seek some form of compensation for it, and those rewards require initiative. With a good monetization strategy, it can become a fairly lucrative venture.