How Much Money Do Bloggers Make? The Truth About Blogging

As a seasoned blogger and digital marketing expert, I can attest to the immense earning potential within the blogging sphere. Bloggers’ incomes can span a broad spectrum, ranging from a modest few hundred dollars to astonishing millions per year.

On average, a diligent blogger can earn approximately $3,137 per month. However, the most proficient bloggers boast monthly earnings exceeding $100,000.

These impressive figures hinge on factors such as the blog’s niche, traffic volume, and monetization strategies.

In this comprehensive guide, we will demystify the process of earning money through blogging, analyze the income potential of bloggers, and provide actionable insights on launching a thriving blog.

Additionally, we will evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of pursuing a blogging career, empowering you to make an informed decision about your online endeavor.

How Do Blogs Make Money?

1. Affiliate Deals

Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways for many bloggers to make money.

Essentially, affiliate marketing is a commission-based system where you (the blogger) recommend products or services to your readers, and if they purchase those products or services through your affiliate link, you earn a commission.

For example, let’s say you have a blog about fashion.

You could sign up for an affiliate program with a clothing retailer and promote their products on your blog.

If one of your readers clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase, you will earn a commission from the sale.

The commission rates for affiliate programs vary widely, depending on the niche, the retailer, and the specific product or service being promoted.

In general, however, most affiliate programs will pay out between 2 and 50 percent of the sale price.

So, if you recommend a $100 dress on your blog and someone purchases it through your affiliate link, you would earn anywhere from $2 to $50 from the sale.

2. Ads

Another popular way for bloggers to monetize their blogs is through display advertising.

Display advertising is when you allow companies to place ads on your blog.

These ads can be in the form of banner ads, text links, or even product recommendations.

Typically, you will be paid based on either a per-click or per-impression basis.

For example, you may be paid $0.5 for every time someone clicks on an ad or $5 for every 1000 times an ad is displayed on your WordPress blog.

So, if you have a lot of traffic to your blog, you can potentially make quite a bit of money from display advertising.

Of course, the amount of money you can make from Google AdSense will also depend on the niche of your blog and the quality of your traffic.

For example, a blog about bodybuilding is likely to generate more blogging income from google ads than a blog about baking because the bodybuilding niche is much more expensive and there are many more products to promote.

Additionally, a blog with 100,000 unique visitors per month is going to generate more income from ads than a blog with 1000 unique visitors per month, even if they are in the same niche.

This is because advertisers are willing to pay more for exposure to a larger audience.

3. Sponsored Posts

Sponsored content is when a company pays you to promote their product or service on your blog.

This can take the form of a review, an interview, or even just a simple mention in a post.

For example, let’s say you have a blog about pet supplies.

A pet food company may reach out to you and offer to pay you to write a review of their new product.

If you agree, you would then write a blog post about pet food and include a link to the company’s website.

Sponsored content can be a great way to make more money because you are essentially being paid to promote a product or service that you are already talking about on your blog.

You can also sell backlinks within the sponsored content. A backlink is when you include a link to other blogs in your post.

For example, if you have a blog about search engine optimization, you could sell a backlink to an SEO company. This link will help them rank higher on Google, and they will pay you for the privilege.

The amount of money you can make from sponsored content will depend on a number of factors, including the niche of your blog, the DR or authority of your blog, and the quality of your traffic.

4. Social Media Promotion

Similar to posts that are sponsored, social media marketing is when a company pays you to promote their product or service on your social media accounts.

This can be done by posting about the product on your account, or by running a sponsored ad.

For example, let’s say you have a blog about pet supplies and you also have an Instagram account with 10,000 followers.

A pet food company may reach out to you and offer to pay you to post a photo of their new product on your Instagram account.

If you agree, you would then post a photo of the pet food on your Instagram, and include a link to the company’s website in the caption.

5. Create Courses Or eBooks

If you have a lot of knowledge about a particular topic, you can create online classes or eBooks and sell them on your blog.

This is a great way to monetize your blog because you can sell these products over and over again.

For example, let’s say you have a blog about graphic design.

You could create a course teaching people how to use Photoshop, and sell it on your blog for $50.

There is a lot of money to be made in creating online classes and eBooks, but it does require a lot of work and effort upfront.

You will need to create the content, design the course or eBook, and then market it to your audience.

And to be honest, not everyone is cut out for it.

But if you are, it can be a great way to monetize your blog.

6. Consulting

Another way to make more money from your blog is by offering consulting services.

This can be done in a number of ways, but often involves helping people with a specific problem or teaching them how to do something.

For example, let’s say you have a blog about SEO.

You could offer consulting services to businesses who want help improving their ranking on Google.

Or, you could offer coaching services to people who want to learn how to do SEO themselves.

Consulting is a great way to make more money from your blog because you can often charge a premium for your services.

This is because you are offering a service that is in high demand and that can help people achieve their goals.

You can also work as a consultant for a company to help them with their blog or website.

This can involve anything from teaching them how to use WordPress and how to improve their content strategy to giving them feedback on their website design or product.

7. Private 1 On 1 Coaching

This is similar to consulting, but it is usually done on a more personal level.

With private coaching, you are working with someone one-on-one to help them achieve a specific goal.

This can be done in person, over the phone, or even through video chat.

Private coaching is a great way to make money from your blog because you can charge a higher rate for your services.

This is because you are offering a more personal service that is tailored to the needs of the individual.

8. Conference Speaking

Speaking at conferences isn’t only a great way to get your name out there and to build credibility and network with more people in your industry – it can also be a great way to make money.

Of course, you won’t get paid just to show up and speak – you need to be invited as a keynote speaker or panelist first.

But, once you’ve been asked to speak at a conference, you can typically expect to receive a speaking fee as well as have your travel and accommodation covered.

In some cases, you may also be able to sell products or services at the conference – which can further increase your earnings.

9. Book Deals

If you’ve built up a large enough following, you may be able to score a book deal.

While this won’t happen overnight, it is something that you can strive for if you want to make money from your blog.

Book deals usually involve an advance, which is an upfront payment that you receive from the publisher.

You will then earn royalties on each book sold.

The amount of money you can make from a book deal will vary depending on the publisher, the type of book, and how many books are sold.

10. Freelance Writing

Starting a blog is a great way to get your name out there and build up your portfolio as a freelance writer.

If you’re looking to make money from your blog, one of the best ways to do it is by offering your freelance writing services.

There are a number of ways to do this, but one of the most common is to create a portfolio on your blog and offer your services to businesses that are looking for successful bloggers.

Examples Of Successful Bloggers And How Much They Make

1. Huff Post

Huff Post is a news website that was founded in 2005. The site covers a wide range of topics and is one of the most popular news sites on the internet.

The site is owned by AOL and generates an estimated revenue of $500 million per year.
Huff Post has a large team of writers, but it is unknown how much they pay their contributors.

However, it is safe to say that the site generates a significant amount of income from advertising and other forms of revenue.

2. Moz

Moz is an SEO software company that offers tools and resources for businesses to improve their online marketing.

The company was founded in 2004 by Rand Fishkin and Gillian Muessig and it generates an estimated revenue of $45 million per year.

3. Copyblogger

Copyblogger is a website that helps people improve their writing skills.

The site was founded in 2006 by Brian Clark and it generates an estimated revenue of $35 million per year.

4. Timothy Sykes

Timothy Sykes is a penny stock trader who turned $12,415 of bar mitzvah money into over $5 million through day trading.

He now teaches people how to do the same through his website and online courses.
Sykes generates an estimated revenue of $15 million per year from his website and online classes.

5. TechCrunch

TechCrunch is a website that covers the latest news in the tech industry.

The site was founded in 2005 and it generates an estimated revenue of $22.5 million per year.

6. Perez Hilton

Perez Hilton is a celebrity gossip website that was founded in 2004 by Mario Lavandeira.

The site covers celebrity news and gossip and believe it or not, this blog generates an estimated revenue of $41.3 million per year.

7. The Blonde Salad

The Blonde Salad is a fashion and lifestyle website founded by Chiara Ferragni in 2009.

The site covers a wide range of topics including fashion, beauty, travel, and lifestyle.
The Blonde Salad generates an estimated revenue of $35 million per year.

How To Make Money Blogging For Beginners?

1. Choose A Niche

The first thing you need to do is to find a “good” niche.

The perfect profitable blog niche would be:

In reality, it’s very rare to find a niche that ticks all four boxes but if you’re just starting out, you shouldn’t worry too much about finding the “perfect” niche.

And as you start to grow your blog and build an audience, you can always expand into other blog niches that are more profitable.

For example, if you are passionate about personal finance or dogs (who isn’t, right?), you can start a small website about a very specific breed of dog like Golden Retrievers and cover every aspect of their care, including health, nutrition, grooming, training, and exercise.

As your blog grows, you can start adding other dog breeds to your site and eventually become the go-to website for all things dogs.

The key is to start small and then expand as your blog grows.

What Are The Most Profitable Blog Niches?

 

Some of the most profitable blog niches are:

What Are The Least Profitable Blog Niches?

2. Create The Main Website Categories

Now that you’ve chosen your niche, it’s time to start outlining your blog.

The first thing you need to do is to set up the main website categories and pages.

This will give your blog a basic structure and make it easier for people to find the information they’re looking for.

For example, let’s say you choose to start a website about dogs.

Your main categories might be something like:

Each of these categories will then have subcategories.

For example, the “Dog Breeds” category might have subcategories for popular breeds like Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, and German Shepherds.

The “Dog Care” category might have subcategories for topics like grooming and nutrition.

And so on.

In this step, we just want to get a basic structure in place so that we can start filling in the content later on.

You can always add or remove categories as you go along but it’s important to have a basic outline from the start.

One thing that I like to do is to reverse engineer the competition.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel!

Just take a look at other websites in your niche and see what kinds of categories and subcategories they have.

This can give you a good idea of what topics you need to cover on your own website.

3. Do Keyword Research

So you picked your blogging niche, you created a basic site structure, and you’re ready to start making money blogging.

But how would you know what topics to write about? What do people need to know and what do they search for?

This is where keyword research comes in.

Keyword research is the process of finding words and phrases that people are searching for on the internet.

You can then use these keywords to create blog posts around them, which will help you rank higher on Google and get more traffic to your blog.

Doing proper keyword research is crucial if you want your blog to be a successful online business.

If you don’t do it, you’ll likely be writing about topics that nobody cares about. And unless you did an extremely good job at marketing them on social media, nobody will ever find your posts.

There are a few different ways to do keyword research but my favorite ones are using:

4. Start Your Blog

Now that you know what niche you’re going to be blogging about and what topics will you cover, it’s time to start your actual blog!

To start a blog you need 3 things:

For beginners, I’d recommend using WordPress as your CMS. It’s free to use, it’s easy to set up, and there are tons of resources and tutorials available online.

For hosting, I’d go with Siteground. They’re one of the most popular and well-respected hosting companies in the world. And they have WordPress plans for beginners where they’ll set everything up for you.

As for your domain name, I have a full guide on how to choose the perfect domain name for your blog.

Once you have all three of these things, you’re ready to make money blogging!

5. Write Your First Blog Post

Now that your blog is set up, it’s time to start writing some blog content.

This is the most important and most time-consuming part of creating a blog.

Being an expert in your niche is important but it’s not enough.

You also need to be able to communicate your ideas clearly and concisely so that people can understand them.

You also have to learn how to do keyword research, how to analyze the search intent, how to write SEO-friendly content, how to format your posts, and many more.

All of this takes time and there’s no way around it.

The only way to get better at writing is to write more. And the only way to write more is to start writing.

6. Create Social Media Accounts

Creating social media accounts for your blog is a must.

Not only will it help you promote your content and get more traffic to your blog, but it will also help you build a community around your brand.

The most important social media platforms for bloggers are:

There are other social media platforms out there but these are the ones that will give you the most bang for your buck.

And if you’re just starting out, I’d recommend only creating accounts on these four platforms.

7. Do Some Linkbuilding

If ranking on search engines is a goal for you, then you’re going to need to do some link building.

Linkbuilding is the process of getting other websites to link to your blog.

Generally speaking, the more links you have, the higher your blog will rank on Google.

There are a lot of different ways to build links but some of the most popular methods are:

Link building can be a time-consuming process but it’s definitely worth it if you’re looking to rank higher on Google.

And the good news is, once you start getting some traffic to your blog, link building will become a lot easier.

To be honest, link building is quite hard and takes a lot of time and effort to do it effectively.

Most bloggers decide to focus on creating amazing content and outsource the link-building process to professionals like Authority Builders.

This is a perfectly valid strategy and one that I recommend if you don’t have the time or skills to do it yourself.

8. Promote Your Blog

There are a lot of different ways to promote your blog but some of the most popular methods are:

The best way to promote your blog is to use a combination of all of these methods.

You’ll get the best results if you diversify your traffic sources and promote your blog on as many different platforms as possible.

9. Rinse And Repeat

The final step is to rinse and repeat.

Creating a profitable blog takes time, effort, and consistency.

You need to be willing to put in the work and stick with it for the long haul.

Most bloggers give up after a few months because they don’t see any results.

But the truth is, it takes a lot longer than that to build an audience and start seeing real results.

If you’re willing to stick with it, though, I promise it will be worth it in the end.

How Long Will It Take You To Make Money Blogging?

How long it will take you to make money blogging will depend on many factors.

There are a lot of different factors that go into how long it will take you to start earning money from your blog.

Some of these factors include:

On average, it takes new bloggers 6-12 months to start earning some money.

That’s why it’s always recommended to start blogging about something you’re passionate about.

Because if you’re not passionate about it, you’ll likely give up before you ever see any results.

The key is to just keep at it and don’t give up.

At the Affiliate Lab, we have a saying:

If you can keep writing, and keep promoting your blog, eventually you’ll start to see some traffic and blogging income come in.

And once you do, it will all be worth it.

What Are The Benefits Of Working As A Blogger?

The main benefit of working as a professional blogger is that you can make money from anywhere in the world.

All you need is a laptop and an internet connection. This means you can travel and work at the same time, which is something a lot of people find very appealing.

Additionally, this allows you to relocate to anywhere in the world and still maintain your blogging income.

Another benefit of starting your own blog is that you set your own hours

You can work whenever you want and take days off whenever you want. This is a huge advantage for people who don’t like the traditional nine-to-five workday.

Further, you can be your own boss. No one is telling you what to do or how to do it. You get complete freedom and autonomy over your blog.

Starting a blog also requires very little start-up capital.

All you need is a domain name and hosting, which will cost you less than $100 per year!

And finally, blogging is a great way to earn passive blogging income.

This means that you can make money even when you’re not actively working on your blog.

For example, if you have a product or course to sell, you can continue to make sales even when you’re not actively promoting it.

This is a huge advantage over traditional jobs, where you only get paid when you’re actively working.

What Are The Disadvantages Of Starting Your Own Blog?

The biggest disadvantage of blogging is that it takes a lot of time and effort to be successful.

This isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. It takes months, sometimes even years, to build an audience and start seeing real results.

Another disadvantage of blogging is that you need to be very self-motivated.

There’s no one there to tell you what to do or when to do it. You need to be able to motivate yourself to keep writing, even when you don’t feel like it.

Additionally, you have a lot of competition.

There are millions of blogs out there, and it can be very difficult to stand out from the crowd.

Finally, blogging can be a lonely job.

If you’re not working with a team, it can be easy to feel isolated and alone.

This is why it’s important to make sure you have a strong support system, both online and offline.

How Can You Increase Traffic To Your Blog And Earn More?

You can increase traffic to your blog and earn more easily with a few tried and true techniques. Naturally, after some time, you will want to expand your audience. Here are some suggestions about how to expand your audience base:

Find Your Target Audience

Meet up with or connect with other individuals who have an interest in your blog’s topic. Find out what information is most desired and study it thoroughly. 

Consider joining relevant social media groups and forums to learn more about your target audience and uncover ideas for future blog posts, distribution strategies, and prospective collaboration opportunities. 

You might, for instance, team up with a recognized figure in your field to write a piece or provide a well-researched blog entry on a hotly debated subject.

Follow Up

Involve yourself in the conversation by routinely replying to comments and interacting with your audience. Do not leave readers hanging by not responding to their questions within a reasonable time frame. If you’re consistently engaging with your readers, you might see a rise in blog traffic and readership. This might help others see you as an authority in your field.

Learn About SEO

If you want more people to visit your blog online, you should learn at least the fundamentals of SEO. Improve your content’s search engines visibility by learning how to optimize it via keyword research, headline and meta description writing, and link building.

Because of this, it’s possible that a random web surfer may stumble into your blog as a result of a search for information on a relevant subject.

Diversify Your Sources Of Income

If you’re just starting out, it can be worth it to stick with the basics in terms of advertising and affiliate programs. You should look for appropriate product endorsements and advertising placements for your site. You might write product reviews or even pitch your own services to your audience.

Frequently Asks Questions (FAQ)

1. How Can I Make $1000 A Month Blogging?

You can make $1000 a month blogging by finding a profitable niche with low competition and high traffic potential.

Then, you need to focus on creating quality content and promoting your blog through effective marketing strategies.

If you can follow through with the tips provided in this article, you should be able to make $1000 a month blogging within your first year.

Keep in mind that it takes time and effort to be successful as a professional blogger, so don’t give up if you don’t see results right away.

The key is to just keep at it and don’t give up.

2. How Much Bloggers Make On Average?

According to ZipRecruiter, bloggers can make $37,652 per year or $3,137 per month on average.

The amount of money a blogger makes depends on a lot of factors, such as their niche, traffic, and revenue streams.

Some make very little money, while other bloggers make millions of dollars per year. It all depends on how much time and effort you’re willing to put into your blog.

3. How Much Do Beginner Bloggers Make?

Most beginner bloggers can expect to make around $100-$200 per month from their blog.

This may not seem like a lot, but it can quickly add up if you’re consistently posting high-quality content and promoting your blog effectively.

There is a lot to learn when you’re first starting out as a blogger, but if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, you can quickly start seeing results.

Remember, the key is to just keep at it and don’t give up. The more you blog, the more chances you have to make money.

4. How Much Bloggers Earn Per Post?

Bloggers can earn anywhere from $0.01 to $100,000 per post, depending on a variety of factors, such as:

Ready to Launch Your Blog?

With some luck and a lot of hard work, you can make a good income from the blogging world.

There is a lot to learn about blogging and it takes a considerable amount of time to learn all the skills you need to be a successful blogger, especially without any guidance.

For this reason, here at the Affiliate Lab, we created a step-by-step course on how to start a successful blog and make money blogging.

This guide covers everything from choosing a niche and setting up WordPress to creating killer content and crushing your competition.

We hope this guide will help you on your blogging journey and that you’ll be able to make a good blogging income from it.