If you put in a lot of effort on your blog, you probably want to know if you could make money from it. Unfortunately, people love talking about the exceptional amounts money they’ve earned with unusually successful blogs, but few ever offer realistic earning estimates for typical bloggers.
There are a number of ways you can monetize your blog. Not all are equal, and few (if any) are truly passive. I’ve tried my hand at monetization a few times, and while I’ve yet to strike gold, I’ve learned a lot in the process. These experiences gave me a good understanding of what it takes to earn money blogging.
In this article, I’ll reveal exactly what kind of blogging income you an expect. Influencing factors include the amount of content you have, as well as how you monetize. Then, we’ll talk about how long it took Leaving Work Behind to become profitable, to give you a real-life example. Let’s crunch some numbers!
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How Much Money Can a Blog Earn?
Technically, there’s no cap on how much money a single blog can earn you. Some people bring in thousands of dollars a month, but those are the outliers. Everyone wants to get to that position, but hardly anyone has the time or drive to put in the necessary work.
It’s not all about pure grit either. Before I first took a crack at affiliate marketing, I went over dozens of case studies. In most scenarios, two visible factors correlate directly with earnings, and those are the amount of content on your site, and its age.
Generally speaking, a blog with 100,000 words of articles is going to bring in more traffic than one with a tenth of that. In most cases, the people who get that far have the opportunity to start earning a decent income, depending on how they monetize their websites. Here are some of the most popular methods:
- Affiliate marketing.
- Promoting in-house services.
- Advertising.
- Sponsored content.
In my opinion, the two best ways to earn money blogging nowadays are affiliate marketing and in-house services. A lot of people use ad-blockers, and as someone who has built a lot of sites, I can’t stand ads. Sponsored content, on the other hand, has some decent potential, but it’s not a reliable way of earning money. Plus, you put your blog’s reputation on the line if you let anyone pay you in exchange for publishing their content.
Let’s take a look at some examples from real case studies, courtesy of the Just Start subreddit. Armed with their data, we can make some extrapolations about how much money blogs earn on average (with a focus on affiliate marketing).
Worst Case Blogging Scenario: $0-100
An extra hundred bucks per month is nothing to sneeze at. That is, unless you’ve put in months and months of work into your blog and you still can’t crack that barrier.
A starting blog with about 10,000 words, for example, can potentially earn a few dollars during its first couple of months. If you keep publishing content, you should creep closer to the 100$ mark in less than half a year. That’s a lot of time invested for a small reward, but in my experience, traffic and conversions tend to increase exponentially once you pass the 50,000 words mark.
Of course, for that to work, you need to choose your keywords carefully and optimize your blog. If you’re still writing regularly after the half-year mark and you still can’t climb out of this range of earnings, then you may have chosen the wrong niche. At that point, I’d recommend cutting your losses.
Average Case Blogging Scenario: $100-500
If you have a blog that’s earning approximately $500 per month, you’re practically already an outlier. Very few people get to that point, and if you do, you can start re-investing some decent cash into your blog, outsource content, and reduce your workload. However, it is ‘average’ in the sense that successful bloggers tend to stay within this income range per blog.
According to several case studies, between 50,000 and 100,000 words of content are often enough to get you in this range of earnings. That being said, most blogs don’t hit this milestone until they’re a few months in, even if you write day in and out like a madman.
There’s some speculation that Google ‘sandboxes’ new sites for a few months until they’ve proven themselves. That means that even with the right content, you might not see significant traffic for a while, so it’s crucial to keep your nose to the grindstone.
Best Case Blogging Scenario: >$500
If you reach over $500 per month, you’re definitely doing something right. More importantly, you’ve learned how to scale your blog, which means there’s no cap on your potential earnings.
In most cases, blogs don’t get to this level until after a year (and that’s if they’re outstanding) and over 100,000 words of content. Keep in mind, there is a tenuous correlation between how many articles you publish and your earnings. The quality of your posts and your target keywords are more important than quantity.
However, after months of working on your blog, you probably know what you’re doing. If you have any doubts, you can always check out the Blogging Mentorship Program to help you along.
How Long It Took for Leaving Work Behind to Become Profitable
Leaving Work Behind was born in mid-2011, but it wasn’t monetized until the start of 2012. Even back then, monetization only meant adding a few affiliate links.
It wasn’t until mid-2012 that Leaving Work Behind started earning a few hundred dollars per month, putting it squarely in within our successful blogging scenario. Take note that it took that first year to lay a good foundation of content and build a following. It was a natural next step to experiment with monetization.
In our case, the best monetization turned out to be marketing our in-house services. Since I joined the team a while back, we have been researching and publishing even more value-packed content than ever before, all to help you along your journey as a freelance blogger.
It’s a win-win situation for us and our readers. The better the content we provide, the higher income potential we reach! That’s the naked truth behind every strategy to earn money blogging.
Conclusion
Anyone can earn money blogging, but it’s no get-rich-quick scheme. If you’re starting a blog from zero, it may take months before you see any money at all, and even more until you reach a decent income. Building and monetizing a blog is effectively a part-time job, and you think about the long-term if you want to be successful.
Take Leaving Work Behind, for example. Now, several people work on the blog and its services, but that wasn’t always the case. When the blog started, it was just a single guy doing all the work, and it took years to get to this point.
Do you have any questions about how to earn money blogging? Let’s talk about them in the comments section below!
Image credit: Pixabay.
Your article hits the nail on the head in terms of how long it takes to start making money and the growth curve.
I have read way too many articles that make it sound like they started making hundreds of dollars overnight. They may not say it outright but they certainly imply it and to somebody starting out, it can be very depressing when you just cannot seem to replicate that overnight success.
I started my blog http://www.aromatherapyanywhere.com in Dec 2016 and your article reflects my journey from the time I launched the blog and the hours I put in working on it to the slow but steady increase in traffic and revenue.
Thank you for being so honest in your article. It gives me hope that keeps me motivated to go on.
Diana
Thanks Diana! I think it’s important for people to know this stuff upfront so they can decide if they can really invest that much time and work into it.
You’ve already got almost one year of work in, the site looks good, and it’s a very interesting niche. I’m sure traffic is going to keep growing!
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Your article gets the job done perfectly as far as to what extent it takes to begin profiting and the development bend.
I have perused much an excessive number of articles that influence it to seem like they began making many dollars overnight. They may not state it out and out but rather they absolutely infer it and to some person beginning, it can be exceptionally discouraging when you just can’t appear to reproduce that overnight achievement.
Thanks 🙂 it was those types of articles that got me to try out affiliate marketing and it was a wake-up call when I found out how much work it actually took.
I think a lot of people that are at the top of the food chain now got their start when the competition wasn’t as fierce, which allowed them to grow faster. Kudos for them for jumping in early, but it sure takes a lot of work now!
i am a new here i really want to know how can i get the money through Blogging,anyone who can teach me….please
You have shared an Inspiring Post here!
Affiliate programs helps you to earn money by marketing or selling products in online. You can promote any type of product in your web/Blog if you own one.Ad networks are kind of like the middle men. They work with brands and companies to create ad campaigns and sponsorships with bloggers.
which are the best options for earning form blogging, for instance affiliate marketing or only AdSense? help me.
Hi Alexender, I have read a lot of articles, which shows fast earning process, mostly are using affiliate links and selling their products or ebooks. This is true that it takes time to grow your blog, but there are a lot of ways to attract traffic, like pinterest or social sites. I think niche and content quality plays a major role to make a blog success but earning is depends on the selling skills of a blogger. I have seen a lot of blogs, which are written only for selling affiliate products.
This is a great article , thanks for sharing
how we know in which topic we have to write a blog or a trending topic to get more traffic?
I have also a blog but didn’t getting any traffic please suggest me the ways to increase traffic.
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Hello sir,
I am Raju Nanda from India I am a student of Bible college. Just now I opened a blog by mobile. I don’t have mobile. So I can earn money by mobile. I am looking forward for your response thanks..
We have a website called the meeting wall and we want to create a blog for this site (not to earn the money) to educate the people about the meetings and our meeting management software. Please tell me your opinion, is it good to have a blog or not? Thanks in advance. Here is the website link – http://themeetingwall.com/
Hi Sir,
This a nice post. Thanks for sharing such information with us.
I am facing a problem while changing permalink because in my blog setting, it is not showing custom permalink. What should I do?
Could you please suggest me some solution of this problem?
Regards,
Bilal
Hi Alexander,
Very impressive and precise information you have put through your personal experience. I really appreciate that.
Thanks a ton for sharing this.
Regards
Pawan
nice post
Great motivation it is. I have an Idea on how to earn money through blogging but don’t know the main traffic source which should I use for it. SEO is a long-term process and will work on that but looking to start with adwords as well so I got a zero cost adword course on internet. Should I join it or not?
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Very helpfull….thank you:)
Your article gets the job done perfectly as far as to what extent it takes to begin profiting and the development bend.I have also a blog but didn’t getting any traffic please suggest me the ways to increase traffic.
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Great post that you shared with us..it was very nice and informative for me and others thanks dear.. for the sharing this post.. awesome post
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Hey Alexander Amazing Tips, Thank You For Sharing this sir really this is awesome tips sir
It was very informative article.Thanks for sharing
I started a blog offering Free Stories To Read Aloud To Kids At Bedtime. I started blogging as a part-time hobby and later learned about AdSense and affiliate marketing. I used ads to make some small revenues. I’m earning about $2200/month from affiliate marketing at present.
if you are a newbie and you are looking forward to starting a blog with the intention of making money, AdSense should be among your priorities.
Hi I am a fourteen year old girl who is interested in becoming an influencer for other teens through sharing my experiences with bullies as well as mental health and ways to change your emotions and mindset. I would appreciate if you could give me any feedback as to whether this topic is viable.
Millie,
I love the idea. But, only if a parent or guardian helps you to manage it. A site like the one you’re suggesting could attract online bullies. You could also get in over your head if visitors to your site discuss topics you weren’t prepared to discuss or delve more deeply into a topic that you are not well-versed in. A even better idea would be you (as a teen influencer) pairing with a mental health professional to provide the content together.
Work from home
Hi Alexendar,i have read your blog,it helps me a lot and i also bookmarked your site so that i keep visiting your site in future.Thanks a lot.
full time Blogging is for those who want to work like digital nomad.
Why my men blog earn so little?
Thanks much to you for such an awesome blog. What other places might one be able to get these sorts of information written in such an insightful way? I have an demonstration that I am currently working on, and I have been searching for such guidance.
By the way, I am under worst case blogging scenario haha
nice article…but i still cannot understand how money is being made……how much can i make from a thousand views on my blog?…In what way is the money made……..if you can explain this for me, i’ll be very happy…thanks alot
Well, like I discovered, a thousand views (which in explanation means one thousand people spending more than thirty seconds viewing your post) could give you any amount ranging from a dollar to ten depending on the countries your viewers are located as some currencies are higher than others ( if the thousand views all come from countries using dollar as their currency then you can expect to make even more, but, if any variation of countries then you can either expect to make more or less depending on your viewers’ locations). Thus, if you aim to make ten thousand dollars then you need a hundred thousand views ( sometimes a half of this figure can hit the bull’s eye if the countries that viewed your post[s] have high currency value ), it’s just like comparing the Indian currency to dollars of cause dollars tend to make more revenue as it’s higher in value. But honestly, relying on views alone might not get you very far so you might want to do a continuous interaction with your audience to build their trust and therefore make yourself their favorite teacher on that topic so that they get to subscribe to your blog and get notified each time you post something new, you won’t only make money from their subscription but you will also be guaranteed their views in your blog so you see that interaction with them fetches you double money the only thing just you knowing to an extent what you are enlightening them about which is your blog topic. That’s the best way It could be explained anything missing outside this is just other ways you could monetize your blog which the owner of this blog post has clearly trashed out above
I like the post which is very encouraging and speaks from real experience which is very helpful. I’ve been blogging at https://www.Christianview.blog and have 100 or so followers after many months and cannot find a way to monetize the site. I’m thinking what I can do or sell to make money on this blog. I have started a sister site where I want to offer free downloads then sell an ebook. Any ideas because of my niche topic would be appreciated, thanks.
Nice information, I have been looking to start blogging in my niche to earn money. So after reading this article, I have got to know how much time should keep it for blogging. I like this post it’s very honest content.
Thank you for sharing
Good to learn progress ideas and progress solutions to make money here.
thanks for this, I’m brand shiney new at this, but at the moment am heading in the right direction, I’m sure that can change quickly tho. only 25 articles and some resources, but I’m hitting my stride and it’s becoming easier. quality wise I think its pretty good, jsut hope I can maintain that. I went from about 300 views amonth to a out 10k in the last few days. so my aim is to maintain that!
Great tip for making money. I have been doing blogging since 2019.
Hey, What’s up, I’m Shivani. I’m an application developer living in Noida, INDIA. I am a fan of technology. I’m also interested in programming and web development. You can download my app with a click on the link. Asatro guru online