How Long Does It Take To Make Money Blogging
When you first start your blog, you may find yourself asking one question over and over again: how long will it take to make money from blogging?
This is a question that every blogger asks at some point. It’s also not surprising that this is the first thing most bloggers want to know because the thought of earning an income from something they love doing is really attractive.
But let me tell you right now, it doesn’t happen overnight. You have to be willing to work hard for months before you start seeing results in terms of making money online so always remember – there will never be shortcuts or hacks to help drive traffic or generate revenue quickly.
It all takes time but if you’re willing to do the work, you can make it happen.
In this article, we’ll discuss how long it takes to make money from blogging and we’ll also share some tips to speed up the inflow of money.
While money coming in from your blog can be an exciting reason for starting the journey, it shouldn’t be the primary motivation.
There are plenty of people who have blogs that don’t generate enough income to pay rent, let alone food and other stuff.
Most bloggers make less than $100K a year because they were too emotional while setting up their blogging goals; i.e.: making lots of money as quickly as possible (pssst…that never happens).
If you want to succeed at blogging: make sure your main focus is creating valuable content for people and making it easier for them to do what they love doing.
Money must be a by-product of the great value you provide to people, not something you’re after as the end result – it should follow your passion instead of being your motivation.
ways you can make money from blogging:
Adsense, affiliate marketing and selling services (that people really want).
While affiliate marketing is often seen as quicker way to make money from blogging, I prefer offering my own services because I don’t like “selling something that doesn’t add much value for people”. What do you think?
So now let me share the time frame on how long it takes to make good money with each approach:
Affiliate marketing
For this approach, you must find a product or service that people are willing to pay for. Then you promote it in your post and if somebody makes a purchase after reading your guide, you get paid (generally 50%-75%).
The challenge is finding something useful enough to promote – one of the best places where you can discover products/services worth promoting is sites like Warrior Plus .
I don’t recommend promoting low-quality stuff .
If you think of a great way to generate income from selling affiliate services or clickbank products, then put all of your efforts into building authority and becoming an influencer in the niche before trying it out.
It’s important that you’re an influential person in your niche before trying to make affiliate income.
When I pay affiliates, I tell them that they get paid every month on the 15th and 30th of each month for sales that were made during the previous calendar month.
This is a nice steady pace for making money from blogging because it gives me time to evaluate their performance.
It also allows me to budget my earnings so that if something unexpected comes up, I can use my remaining funds to handle it without running out of cash flow (and then delaying payments).
You will probably start off with a small list and not have too much trouble getting traffic at all since you’ll be able to rely on social media recommendations and other bloggers to spread the word about your blog.
From there on, things will only get better and you’ll be able to scale up your income as you gain more readers.
Even with a perfect strategy and knowledge of what works and what doesn’t, it still takes serious time and effort before starting to see results from all the hard work.
One of the best ways to make a lot of money from blogging is by building a blog around your expertise in an area then monetize it.
Advertisement
When you get ready to put ads on your site, I recommend using Adsense because they pay pretty well and have one of the highest click through rates (CTR) compared to other ad networks such as Chitika, Infolinks or Mediavine .
As much as possible I tried to answer their questions from a realistic point of view but one thing I didn’t mention is how long did it take for me to start seeing real results that contributed significantly towards my blogging efforts (and income).
When people ask me – how long does it take to make money blogging ?, I usually mention how long it took for me to reach $1k/month from my blogs.
It’s a pretty impressive number and one that most people don’t believe – but that doesn’t matter .
The exact timeline will vary depending on how much effort you put into your blog and also on your niche, but if you are persistent and don’t give up, it won’t take as long for you to start seeing real results like it did for me .
I know that if you put in the same amount of time and effort into your blog that I have, then you will also be able to enjoy similar or better results than what I had achieved in a much shorter period of time.
How Long Does It Take To Make Money Blogging? Should You Quit Your Job?
So first things first – when you start a blog, you have to remember that it takes time to earn your first dollar online.
No matter what anyone says about making money from blogging in a week or earning $100/day within a month – they are all lies. The truth is – no one makes money from their blogs overnight so don’t fall for marketing scams like these because they’ll just waste your time.
If you want to get started with your blog right away or make money online in a month, I suggest that you stop reading this article now and look for the next best thing but if you’re willing to put in the work, read on.
Let me tell you right up front – it takes anywhere from 6 months to more than a year before you can even start earning anything remotely significant from blogging.
There is no magic formula when it comes to making money online because the whole idea of making money is really based on supply and demand.
If there are no readers who want what you have to offer (your valuable content), then there will also be no one buying anything from you.
It all depends on how much time you’re willing to put into your blog each week or month, what niche you pick, and how many visitors start coming in over time.
And if you really want to know when blogs can actually turn into real businesses that bring home paychecks every two weeks , then keep reading: we’ll lay out a realistic timeline so you know how much time is required to make money blogging .
Here are the basic steps you need to take if you want to make money from blogging:
Select and set up your blog niche. Build your website, traffic, and community. Establish yourself as an authority figure on that topic. Start getting paid.
Here’s what we recommend:
Blogging Goals : Posting Schedule Select and set up your blog niche (2 weeks) This is the hardest part of making money from blogging because there’s no substitute for hard work and patience .
But you can give yourself a higher chance of success by picking the right topic to blog about.
Consider what topics you’re interested in and knowledgeable about . If it’s important to you, then you’ll have an easier time growing an active audience and getting search engine traffic over time.
Then, decide on a long-term plan for your blogging career :
Year 1 (Monthly Income: $0 - $100)
Year 2 (Monthly Income: $100 - $500)
Year 3+ (Monthly Income: $1K+)
Now Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to find a profitable blog topic, what kind of site or brand name you should pick, and we’ll wrap it all up with some hosting + domain suggestions.
How To Find A Profitable Blog Topic: let's dig into this!
Step 1 | Brainstorm blog topics that interest you . Then, brainstorm some catchy / descriptive headlines for each one.
Write them down in a Word document so it makes it easy to quickly compare options.
Step 2 | Once you have a list of topics, filter out the ones that aren't worded correctly . So.. remove any broad or vague keywords from the list!
We want potential readers to be able to understand what's it about in 1-2 sentences. Or if you'd rather dive into research mode, move on to Step 3.
Step 3 | Research each topic by looking at top posts in that niche : Use Google Search to find 10+ best resources (blogs & sites) related to your keyword within your industry and see how many social shares they're getting:
Step 4 | Evaluate your list by looking at the number of articles, social shares , and search engine traffic .
How much time does it take for an article / blog post to start ranking? (TEST IT)
The idea here is to determine which topics have the greatest chance of making money because they've already got a following.
The easiest way to do this is to look at each site's "social media" numbers & see how many fans & engagements they're getting through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, StumbleUpon etc...
I'll explain.. [Due to increasing privacy concerns with Google Search Console, I recommend using SEMrush as a quicker alternative. This will give you all the same info: backlinks from popular sites/blogs/sites in that niche.]
Look at the social engagement numbers for each page on your list :
Notice : how many other posts are being indexed (13) from this site? That means when you write an epic piece , you'll see some nice natural search traffic from Google over time.
And finally.. look out for the amount of social shares. It's important that you regularly publish new content to keep things interesting.
How To Pick The BEST Blog Topic: Here Are My Criteria
1. Easy to understand / describe
Ideally, your blog topic should be easy for a stranger to tell someone about within 1-2 sentences of reading your headline and description.
For example: "I help busy moms find free time & money" vs "I help families learn how make more money while spending less." (Too broad!)
2. Sells itself!
You'll need backlinks from other popular industry sites/blogs (in terms of traffic) so you don't have to force your readers into sharing the links with their friends or on Facebook etc..
that means you'll have to do your research and find the right people from day 1 . Then, when they like your blog post, they'll share it with their friends!
Social proof is a psychological trigger that makes us feel more comfortable about following someone / doing something after seeing lots of other people are also doing it.
3. Internet-friendly topics:
Avoid "soft benefits": such as health & fitness (unless there's an online course or e-book attached). Instead look for ways to convince readers why they should spend money on what you're selling.
It could be a book or paid service in which case you need to talk about why it's worth spending money vs free alternatives out there - OR if there isn't one, you'll need to create it!
Example: If your blog posts are about "how to make money online" it's important that the post has a call-to-action at the bottom to encourage the reader to raise their hand and say, "Yes, I'd like your course please!" - There must be an offer attached in order for this kind of content (with soft benefits) to be effective.
On the other hand, if a lot of people want your products and services, then you are bound to earn a lot of money.
The truth is – it all boils down to how many visitors or readers you have which will directly translate into making sales and earning revenue.
It’s that simple so don’t ever forget that traffic determines everything when it comes to blogging.
How Long Does It Take To Earn Your First Dollar From Blogging?
If you’re still interested in starting a blog but are worried about how long it will take before your first dollar comes in the mail, I can tell you this: there is no one-size-fits-all answer for this question because everyone has their own set of goals and circumstances.
For example, if you’re looking to start a blog just as an online journal or for fun, then maybe it won’t take long before you earn your first dollar but if you are serious about making money from blogging, then expect it to take at least 6 months (if not longer) before you start seeing results.
If you do the math right now – the chances of earning even $100/month is very slim so don’t let that be your only motivation in starting a blog.
Instead, focus on creating content that people genuinely want to read because this will help drive more traffic which leads to revenue eventually.
If you keep focusing on affiliate marketing or other quick and easy ways to make money online – you’re just setting yourself up for disappointment.
Does Money Really Come From Blogging?
Yes, But It Takes Time.
If you read most articles on the Internet about how bloggers make money from their blogs, they are usually focused on affiliate marketing or product sales (eBooks, eCourses) and while these things do work, they don’t happen overnight so don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t feel like your blog is making any money at all.
I know that sometimes it can be discouraging but never lose hope because there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel if you keep going even if it feels like you’ve been walking forever.
It’s actually not a bad thing if you start making money from blogging slowly because it gives you time to lay the groundwork and build your blog before anything significant comes in.
It is important, however, that you keep pushing forward even when things don’t work out right away because this will eventually pay off exponentially.
How Long Does It Take To Earn Money Blogging? Tips To Speed Up The Process of Making Money Online From Your Blog
The best way to speed up the process of making money online through blogging is to focus on creating content worth reading which can earn you thousands of readers who are interested in what you have to offer.
Getting traffic to your website or blog isn’t as hard as you think as long as you focus on creating content that is of value.
For example, if your blog talks about fashion and beauty – maybe it’s time to change the direction and create content that caters to people who love baking instead.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be something you like but just remember: blog topics with higher demand will always attract more readers which can eventually lead to making money from blogging.
If you want a lot of revenue coming in – then make sure that your mission is clear right from the start.
Conclusion:
So how long does it take before a blogger makes money? I would say at least 3-6 months but normally takes around 6 while some blogger can make money in 1 or 2 months too.
It’s all about how you build your blog and keep the content worthwhile to read so if you are a beginner blogger, then I would not recommend that you focus on making money from blogging in the beginning but just focus on creating high-quality content.
You will see results faster this way and it saves you time and energy.
Don’t let the pressure of making more money get to your head – instead, just enjoy being a blogger for now. 🙂