There are a lot of people blogging today – millions in fact – some of whom make money blogging. We probably all have at least a few blogger friends and maybe you’re a blogger too like me. (Or maybe you still think bloggers are weird – I used to too, so I forgive you.) 😉
As you’ve read blogs or just observed all your friends writing them, you’ve probably wondered how easy (or hard) it is to make money blogging. Well, I’m writing today’s post for you! Here’s my answer to the question: “Can you make money blogging??”
{This blog contains affiliate links. See my disclosure statement here.}
Can You Make Money Blogging? My Thoughts . . .
If you get on Pinterest and type in “make money blogging” you’ll come up with a ton of pins making a whole lot of BIG promises.
Here’s a quick screenshot:
(yes, I had to google “how to take a screenshot” haha)
Is making money blogging really as easy as all those articles say it is?
What about this quote from Millennial Money?
It’s not unrealistic to make at least $25,000-$50,000 your first year of blogging, $100,000+ your second year, $250,000+ your third year of blogging, and $500,000+ in your fourth year.”
Ha! That sounds pretty awesome, am I right?
Well, guess what folks, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
There are a lot of big promises out there, but here’s the truth. Can you make money blogging? YES! But it’s NOT as easy as many articles imply and there’s a 99% chance that it won’t happen as quickly as they say either. 😉
(Little side note: the bloggers talking about making thousands of dollars a month after only blogging for a year? They’re almost all trying to sell you something. Just FYI.)
Here an excerpt from an article that’s much more realistic (read the whole article here!)
A survey of 1,000 bloggers by Blogging.com in 2012 found that 17% are able to sustain their lifestyle or support their family with their blogs, while 81% never make even $100 from blogging. The other 2% spend less than 2 hours a day blogging but make more than $150K . . . .
Another survey, this one of 1,500 ProBlogger readers who said they’re trying to make money by blogging, found that 9% make between $1,000 and $10,000 a month and 4% make over $10,000 a month. But the vast majority makes less than $3.50 per day.
Now that we’ve gotten our expectations grounded a bit more in reality, let’s talk about how you can make money blogging.
The main ways you can make money blogging
There are four main ways that bloggers can make money. (If I’m missing something big let me know!)
1. Ads
Ads are a great way for bloggers to earn residual income on their sites. Once the ads are up and running, you can earn money while you’re sleeping. However, you need thousands and thousands of pageviews to make much of an income through ads.
To give you an example, I’ve had ads with Google AdSense running on my blog for several years now and only just recently reached the $100 threshold in order to receive my first paycheck.
I would say that in general you need to be getting at least 30,000 pageviews a month in order to be able to apply for better ad companies (such as Mediavine) and generate more income.
Update: I qualified for Mediavine ads a month after writing this post. Joining Mediavine really took me to the next level in making a side income through my blog. I HIGHLY recommend them.
2. Affiliate links
You’ve seen me use affiliate links here on the blog. They’re kind of a no-brainer as a blogger. If you like something a lot, why not share it and earn a small commission if one of your readers wants to buy it too?
Many bloggers (including me) share Amazon affiliate links because they are super easy to use and everyone buys from Amazon, but there are tons of other options too.
Again though, like ads, affiliate links won’t generally generate much income for you until your blog has a pretty decent amount of monthly pageviews.
3. Sponsored posts
Companies pay blogger’s for sponsored posts all the time. They’re a win-win because the company gets their product advertised by a blogger who can give it a more personal appeal and the blogger is able to share something that they think their audience will love while getting paid to do it!
Did you see this sponsored post I wrote last week?
4. Selling a product
A lot of bloggers make some or most of their money from selling their own products. From simple printables to extensive e-courses, there are all sorts of things that blogger’s are selling (and doing really well selling!)
I haven’t dipped my toes into this area of blogging at all yet . . . maybe someday!
Does this blog make money?
I know some of you are curious, so here’s my story:
I started blogging four years ago on February 21, 2015. (Here’s my first ever post – Why I Changed My Mind About Blogging.)
The first year I had a free WordPress.com site. After a year I took the plunge and switched over to a self-hosted site with WordPress.org and Bluehost. (You need a self-hosted site by the way if you want to make money at some point.)
Though I started blogging in early 2015, it wasn’t until the fall of 2016 that I started to take it more seriously and worked to publish posts more regularly. I’m not the least bit “techie” so I’ve just been slowly teaching myself as I go.
Keeping that in mind, last year, 2018, was my first year to make any income from blogging. It was around $75 and trust me, I was *quite* excited.
This year my blog stats have seen a lot of growth and I’ve surpassed last year’s $75 several times over. However, I’m definitely still in the baby stages of truly earning a side income through blogging.
Update: As mentioned above, a month after writing this post I got started with Mediavine ads and was able to see a big increase in the blog’s income as a result.
If earning money was the only reason I started blogging, I would’ve burnt out and stopped a long time ago. But I’ve found blogging to be such a fun hobby and a really cool way of connecting with other women in my stage of life. I love it! And being able to make some money from it now is a really cool bonus!
Now I want to hear from you! If you’re a blogger, do you make money blogging? If so, how long did it take you to get to that point? Share in the comments!
Thanks for stopping by the blog today!
Psst . . . thinking of starting a blog? Check out all my FAVORITE resources for bloggers here! And also go check out Your Blogging Mentor for tons of great blogging info.
