Blogging can be a great hobby, and a great way to share your interests and knowledge with the world. But blogging can be so much more than just a hobby: it can also be a great way to make money, without having to invest in stock or premises, making it an incredibly popular low-cost business idea. So how, exactly, do blogs make money? Do you really have the potential to earn six figures simply by writing a blog? And how long might all this take? Here’s everything you need to know:
How Much Can You Earn Blogging?
On average, most new bloggers earn between $500 to $1000 a month within the first year. If you have a strong idea in a popular niche, then your earning potential could be even higher. In reality, your earning potential from blogging can be as limitless as your imagination: When Ariana Huffington established her blog, the Huffington Post, she didn’t imagine that it would become the highest-earning blog in the world and rake in $500 million per year. Other examples of successful and high-earning bloggers include Perez Hilton who earns $41.3 million per year from his celebrity gossip blog and SEO blog Moz, which rakes in $44.9 million a year. Adam Enfoy, who blogs about the business of blogging, generated $1.5 million from his blog in 2021. According to Indeed, the average salary for a blogger in the UK is £30,483. The list of successful blogs generating significant revenue, and in a wide range of niches, is near-endless.
It’s important to note that not every blogger is a successful blogger. Only about 5% of bloggers earn a full-time income from their blogs. Success takes time, determination, and most importantly, strategy. In order to generate an income from your blog you will need:
- A Successful Niche. The topic you choose for your blog (your niche) will be important in determining how much revenue you can make from it. For example, if you choose a niche where people rarely spend money (e.g. the benefits of walking) then it will be harder to monetise than an area where people spend large sums of money on products or services (business software or international holidays are both good examples of this). Your niche should be in a sector where companies want to advertise, are prepared to pay recurring commissions, or where lucrative affiliate links are likely to be utilised.
- Tried and Tested Monetisation Strategies. You should think about the monetisation strategies you are prepared to use, as well as those you won’t. Most bloggers are happy to include affiliate links in their content. But are you prepared to host paid content, even if it’s content you don’t agree with? Think about what your core values are, and what strategies you will and won’t use, as this will impact your ability to monetise your blog.
- Reliable Web Hosting. Many bloggers start their blogs by using free web hosting services, and these can be a great tool for hobby blogs or smaller websites with low traffic numbers. But if you want to grow your blog into a business then you should look for fast and reliable web hosting, such as the service offered by Thames Cloud Services. Focused on providing affordable, high-quality hosting, and great customer support services, to businesses of all sizes, we’re an ideal choice if you want to be prepared for your blog to grow.
How Long Does It Take Before You Start Earning Money Blogging?
It’s easier to make money blogging than you might think, but the speed with which you can earn an income from your blog will depend on how much work you put in. The length of time it takes to generate substantial income varies from blogger to blogger. For most people, a blog will start life as a side hustle: you will need to fit in your content creation around your full-time job, and this will impact the time you have available to devote to your blog. But don’t let that put you off: start including affiliate links in your content from the very first post you create. This will save you from having to go back and add those links later, when your blog is successful, and when it comes to earning an income from your blog, every penny counts!
Whether you’re selling paid posts, subscriptions, or utilising affiliate links, every sale will motivate you to keep creating content and to keep striving to make your dream of blogging full-time a reality.
Ideas to Make Money with Your Blog
If your blog is already established in your chosen niche but you’re just not sure how to monetise it then here are some simple ideas you can start to implement today to help you make money from your blog:
- Build an Email List. A successful blog depends on a loyal readership base, and you can begin building yours as soon as you write your first blog post. When someone opts in to hear from your blog you have the permission you need to land directly in their inbox. This is incredibly valuable because email marketing is a massively lucrative sales channel. You can incentivise your readers to join your email list by offering them bonus content, free checklists in pdf format or other content they will value such as your recommendations for products or services.
- Sell Ad Space Companies are willing to pay bloggers for advertising placements on their websites, and this is a great way to make money from unused space on your blog. You can do this by either approaching advertisers directly or using an advertising network.
- Join an Affiliate Marketing Programme. This is one of the most popular ways to make money from a blog. Affiliate Marketing is the process of including links to products on your website, and then receiving a commission when your readers purchase the product using your custom link. You don’t need to create your own products to make money via affiliate marketing and can include the links organically in content you have already written.
Conclusion
Monetising your blog is much easier than you might think, provided your blog is in a lucrative niche and your website hosting can handle the increased traffic that accompanies a growing readership. Think about what you are prepared to do to make money from your blog and stick to your values and beliefs as you grow, but be open to as many revenue streams as possible. The more ways you monetise your blog, the more money you’re likely to make.
