It’s no secret that making money from your website can take time. A lot of time. But it’s also no secret that it’s entirely possible to do so. The most important thing is to have a plan and stay focused on your goals. In this post, we will walk you through how to make money blogging from start to finish. We’ll cover everything from how long it takes to make money blogging to the different ways you can monetize your website and everything in between! So whether you’re just starting out as a blogger or you’ve been at it for a while and are looking for ways to earn money every month consistently, this guide is for you!
How Long Does It Take to Make Money Blogging?
This is a question we often hear, and it’s tough to answer because it varies from person to person. Some people make money within their first few months of blogging, while others take years. The most important thing is to have a plan and be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a successful blog!
There are a lot of factors that will affect how long it takes to make money blogging. These include things like:
- The niche you’re in
- The quality of your content
- How often you’re posting
- Your email subscriber list
- Your social media following
- And more!
The best way to start making money from your blog is to focus on creating high-quality content that helps people solve a problem. If you can do that, the rest will fall into place!
Once you have a steady trickle of traffic, you can start monetizing your blog in several ways.
How To Set Income Goals
As a new business owner, it’s essential to calculate how much time you have to invest in your blog and how much you want to make per visitor.
1) The first step is to calculate how much time you can realistically invest in your website each week. Remember to include SEO research, writing content, and promoting your site.
If you can dedicate 10 to 15 hours per week to your blogging efforts, that’s great! Just be realistic about what you can accomplish in that amount of time.
2) The second step is to set a goal for how much you want to make per visitor. Depending on your niche and audience, this will vary, but a good rule of thumb is to aim for $0.20-$0.50 per visitor.
If you are a relatively new blogger and have started to get 5,000 visitors per month, your goal is to make $1,000-$2,500 from your website. Then as your traffic increases, your income will grow along with it!
3) The final step is to develop a monetization strategy to help you reach your goals. There are several ways to do this, and we’ll cover some of the most popular methods below.
4) Once you have your monetization strategy in place, it’s time to start implementing it! Now is when the rubber meets the road, and you’ll start seeing results from all your hard work.
Different Ways to Monetize Your Website
When monetizing your website, you can take a few different routes. The best way to monetize your site will depend on your niche, audience, and goals. The four most common ways to monetize a website include:
- Advertising
- Affiliate Marketing
- Offer Services
- Sell Digital Products
Let’s take a closer look at each of these methods.
Advertising
Advertising is one of the most common ways bloggers make money. You can do this in a few ways, but the most common is through an Ad Network.
Ad income is a dream come true because there is little work on your end. Once you’re approved for an Ad Network, they will provide you with the code to insert into your website. Then they will serve the ads, and you’ll earn money; it’s genuinely easy-peasy.
The Problem With Ad Networks
Mediavine and Ad Thrive require a minimum amount of traffic before you can be accepted. The current minimum is 50,000 monthly sessions. That’s a LOT of traffic and can be very difficult to achieve if you start with less than 100 blog posts.
The other issue with ads is that they can be very intrusive and annoying for your readers.
If you’ve ever been to a website where the ads are constantly popping up and blocking the content, you know how frustrating this can be. As a result, many people use ad blockers, which means they won’t see your ads.
(And as a website designer, I have all kinds of feelings about how some sites are designed with advertising income in mind, rather than the user experience. But that’s a story for another day…)
The bottom line is that ads can be a great way to monetize your website, but they’re only sometimes the best option – especially when you’re a new blogger wondering how long it takes to make money.
Monumetric, Ezoic, and SHE Media are ad networks with a lower minimum traffic requirement, so they may be a better option if you’re starting out.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways bloggers make money. And for good reason! Affiliate marketing is a great way to make passive income.
With affiliate marketing, you promote other people’s products or services on your website. You earn a commission when someone clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase.
We recommend using Conversion Callouts in every blog post. We also recommend updating your blog Resource Page quarterly. An example of a high converting resource page can be seen in our Create Theme Demo.
But, the key to making money with Affiliate Marketing is establishing and nurturing your email list. When you are a blogger with an email list, your opportunities are endless.
A thought about Amazon Associates
Amazon Associates is one of the most accessible programs to get accepted into, however, it’s also relatively easy for a new blogger to get kicked out of the program!
Getting kicked out of Amazon Associates is horrible. The shock, the overwhelm, the feeling of failure and rejection. It’s enough to make a new blogger want to give up.
But here’s the thing.
Amazon is allowed to enforce its rules. They require at least three sales within the first 180 days. Getting those sales may be more challenging than you think because their tracking cookie is only 24 hours. That’s not enough time to generate a high income if you don’t have the traffic numbers to match.
So if your traffic is sporadic, and you ignore your blog for weeks, then getting booted makes total sense.
Again, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t join Amazon Associates, but it is essential to realize that you should put only some of your eggs into one basket as a new blogger.
Services
If you need to start making money quickly, use your blogging skills as the pathway to becoming a service provider.
For example, offer to write blog posts for other people in your niche. Once you get a few clients and can showcase your work on your own blog, start charging more money. Your freelance writing career will take off in no time!
Or offer social media consulting services. Many small businesses need help managing their social media accounts but don’t have the time or knowledge to do it themselves. You can quickly charge $50-$100 per hour for your services. (Our Olivia Theme is ready to go for this offer!)
Another option is to offer email marketing services. Our Email Marketing Sprint is an action-oriented and results-driven course that blends strategy, design, tech, and copywriting to help content marketers build an email list. You can use The Email Marketing Sprint to launch your business and earn an extra $1,000 per month as a side hustle while you continue to work on your blog.
All you need is two or three clients willing to pay you a flat fee of $350 per month for email marketing services.
If you want to find small business owners that need help with their email marketing, LinkedIn is a great place to start. Small business owners are always looking for ways to get more leads and sales from their websites, and LinkedIn is a great place to network with them.
If you want to avoid using LinkedIn or networking with people you know, there are plenty of other ways to find clients. You can start by scouring job boards like Upwork, Freelancer, and People Per Hour.
You could also go offline and network with small business owners in your community. If you reached out to your local Chamber of Commerce or Community Services Director at your local Church, you would find a few people interested in your services.
And, of course, there are always Facebook groups.
The bottom line is that you can make some quick cash while working on your blog.
(You can check out all our themes here and search by Service-Based Businesses.)
Sell Digital Products
If you’re not interested in becoming a service provider, you can sell digital products from your blog. This could be in the form of an eBook, an online mini-course, or a printable.
The nice thing about digital products is that you can create them once and then sell them over and over again. The profit margins are usually very high.
I love encouraging new bloggers to do the math and dream!
Here is a great article with some tips about figuring out what to sell on your website!
Let’s Do The Math Together To Calculate Your Income Goals & Get Inspired!
Let’s say you’re a relatively new blogger, and you are finally starting to see a trickle of steady traffic. (Congrats!)
You’re averaging 1,000 visitors per month, and you are ready to finally earn an income from your blog.
(I mean, really, how long can you go without earning any money from your blog before you get frustrated and give up? Not very long, I’m guessing…)
If you aim to earn $.20 per visitor and you have 1,000 visitors per month, that’s a passive income of $200 per month. That’s more than enough to cover your hosting, email service provider, SEO tools, etc. Your business is breaking even!
Let’s say that it takes a while to get your traffic up; for whatever reason, learning SEO is harder than you thought. Or maybe Pinterest isn’t showing you any love. But you’ve perfected your digital products, and you’re using a combination of our Conversion Callouts and Shop Page templates to professionally display your products on your site.
Now, you’re averaging $.30 to $.50 per visitor, and at just 1,000 visitors per month, that’s $300 – $500 per month.
What’s possible when you get to 5,000 visitors per month? $1,500 – $2,500 per month!
How about 10,000 visitors per month? $3,000 – $5,000 per month!
Now you’re starting to see how this could work out for you long term. You can expect to earn a full-time income from your blog rather quickly.
The best part is that this is all semi-passive income. You’re not trading your time for dollars; you’re creating something once and selling it over and over again – with little to no additional effort on your part.
Now, how does that compare to some of your other income goals? What would it mean for you and your family if you were earning $3,000 – $5,000 per month in semi-passive income?
If you’re anything like me, it would mean a lot.
It would mean being able to pick up your kiddos from school and attend their sports games and activities. It would mean being able to take a real vacation without worrying about how you’re going to buy groceries when you get home. And it would also mean being able to spend more time with your parents as they age and not having regrets later.
So, if you’re ready to earn an income from your blog but need to know where to start, consider selling digital products. Not only is it a great way to make some quick cash while you’re working on growing your traffic, but it’s also a fantastic long-term strategy for earning a semi-pass
And that’s why I’m so passionate about helping people achieve their income goals from blogging; I know how life-changing it can be!
If you’re ready to network with other bloggers and learn how to monetize your website, join us in our free Facebook group, Restored 316 Community. We would love to have you!
But before you go, sign up for your 10% off coupon. Building your brand and making money blogging is hard work, but it’s easier with our Kadence Themes, Block Collections, and Courses.
