The answer to most common question, ‘how long does it to make money from blogging’ varies from blogger to blogger. When I started my blog, it was just part-time work so my journey was different to those bloggers who were spending 45+ hours every week on blogging.
Just like you, I was curious to find out how much time does it take to make income from blogging. It depends on various factors. And, I will be share each with you below.

Normally, it takes at least 6 months to 1 year to make money from blogging. Yes, you can make money in your first or third year of blogging if you have good knowledge about blogging, or strong experience in building websites.
I’m saying it from my personal experience. If I start a new blog now, I will make a plan for it.
Just to give you an idea, my plan would be somewhat like this;
- Choose a blog niche
- Build a website
- Choose 2 monetisation methods (ads or affiliate marketing)
- Plan content strategy
- Create a content calendar
- Focus on traffic channels and email list
- Apply for 5 affiliate programs
- Apply for ad network
- Make money, and keep growing my income
But, in real, most new bloggers have no guidance on how to start a money making blog.
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When to Finally Expect Blogging Income?
You should expect to make some income in your 4 or 6 month of blogging. It can be $0.32 cents or $50. If you are blogging full time, you can expect to make money sooner. It also depends on how you have monetised your blog?
Let’s say, you want to make money from ads. Your blog should get certain amount of traffic or views to make your first $50/month.
Or, consider selling digital products. You create an ebook and sell it for $15. You should target ideal readers who are interested in your reader-centric content, and will buy your ebook. In this case, you sell 5 copies to make $75/m.
Why Most Bloggers Make No Money
Why most bloggers make no money? Honestly, most bloggers don’t give their best to blogging. In order to make significant income from blogging, you need to give full time to your blog. It requires time, creativity, planning, consistency, and hard work. Only then, you reap your reward.
Some blogs have poor content with no strategy and planning. If you are just creating content for the sake of blogging, you are just doing what you like. In real, blogging for money is different. You need to have a business mindset for your blog.
In real, blogging for money is different. You need to have a business mindset for your blog.
Look at some prominent reasons why most bloggers make no money;
- You don’t invest money in creating a blog. Don’t just create a free blog and expect to make money. Understand what is a self hosted blog, and why you must need it. Get a domain, and hosting to start a blog. You can follow this most comprehensive guide on starting a blog to make money.
This is literally the first small investment to launch a blog. You will have to need a good premium theme, legal pages and other things. But, if you are a college student or don’t have enough funds then just start a blog as low as $3/month with a free theme.
2. You don’t have a blog plan. Think about how you want to make money? What are your goals for next 6 months? What is your content strategy? How you plan to promote your blog? Sort out everything beforehand.
3. You don’t have enough website traffic. Accept it or not, every established blog have a targeted audience. It gets almost difficult for new bloggers to make money without established traffic. That is why it’s important to write intentional content and promote it to build consistent traffic.
I explain tons of strategies and hacks to boost your blog traffic. This is a perfect weekend for bloggers who are struggling with website traffic. Click below to check out the ebook ‘Fast track your blog traffic’.
How Long Does it take to Make Money From Blogging?
Earning a profitable income from blogging depends on lots of factors including;
How much time you are willing to give your time?
How much money you invest in your blog?
How much content you publish on your blog?
What are your top 2-3 monetisation methods?
How big is your email list?
You cannot compare your blogging journey to someone else. That is why I always tell bloggers to focus on their own journeys. And, don’t fall into comparison traps. Seriously! 🙂
Now, how long does it take to make money from blogging?
Before writing this post, I asked the same question in my facebook group to get different responses.
Cortney Edwards: I’m just now making about $100 per month with affiliates and ads. I started my site six months ago.
Roamy: As crazy as it sounds, it took me less than 2 weeks when I started with zero experience, but I consider it a beginners luck, when youre not afraid to spam any place you find with your affiliate links lol because you don’t even know it`s not appreciated. my second sale was about 2 months later and it went on from there.
Some even said that they make zero money from their blogs but they also confess that they didn’t give their full best to growing their blogs.
Generally speaking, it takes somewhere from 6 months to 1 year to make income from blogging. But, if you are blogging full-time from the beginning, then you can expect to make money in first 3-4 months.
On the other note, if you have blogging knowledge and experience, it’s reasonable to say that you can start making money from first week of blogging.
When any blogger shares that they made $200 or $300 money in first week of blogging, it’s highly possible because it’s not his/her first blog.
How long it took me to make money from blogging?
When I started my blog, it was just a hobby and a part-time thing while I was doing freelance writing for clients. I figured that blogging has potential but due to time restraints, I couldn’t give enough time. But, I still made $69 in first two months of blogging.
If you would like to learn more, I discuss how I made my first $100 from blogging, and how you can too.
How Long Does it take to Make $500 Per Month from Blogging?
This is a good question. How long does it take to earn $500 every month from blogging? Making $500 every month is a good goal for new bloggers.
It takes at least a year or more to start making $500/month or more from your blog. You can make money faster if you track back to your first $50. Let’s say, you made $50 from affiliate marketing then you can speed up your affiliate marketing campaigns or create more product reviews to make more money.
Or, if you monetised your website with ad networks and you are only making $100 with your blog. Then, focus on creating more content to increase website traffic. More page views, means more money.
Bloggers who publish daily get 57% better results than those who publish multiple times per week.
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This mommy blogger made $4157 with mediavine of RPM $16.
As you publish more content, you can make more money with ad networks. Many blogging sites are built on this one strategy and they are making thousands of dollars every month.
#bloggingtips #blogging
How to Make Money from your Blog Faster?
Is there any way to make money from blogging quickly? I don’t want to disappoint you but blogging is not quick rich scheme. But, if you grow your blog to certain levels, you can become millionaire and generate lots of money.
No lies in that.
- Do freelance writing. Write for other blogs in your niche, and make a good income. Some stats conclude that 65% of bloggers make money from freelance writing. This post shows how to kickstart your freelance writing career.
- Sell digital products. If you have any skills that you can use to create products, do that. You can start with printables, templates, birthday cards, and short ebooks. Don’t forget to check out 51 best digital product ideas that make most money.
- Start affiliate marketing. It works for almost every niche but only smart bloggers make banks with affiliate marketing. Do your product research, and create affiliate marketing strategy. Set a goal of making at least $50 every month with affiliate programs. If you are looking for a good resource, then I highly recommend reading this ebook on affiliate marketing. It will change your perception on affiliate marketing and how to do it the right way.
Don’t forget to download this list of free 250+ affiliate partner list. There are so many programs you can join for free. - Do paid collaborations. When you have an engaged blog audience, you have high chances for getting paid collaborations and offers. Most businesses and brands approach bloggers and content creators for collaborations, reviews and sponsored content.
- Give paid social media shoutouts.
- Build an engaged email list and make money with it. This is how you can start an email list from scratch.
I am into the blogging field from 4 years now and I know several bloggers who are making easy money with their websites. But, most of them are not actively blogging like you or I are doing. They have content teams, editors, seo experts and what not to grow their sites. That means, they are also investing their money into their websites to generate more income.
Yes, blogging is like that. You have to invest in your blog to grow it faster, make it professional and convenient.
For example, we invest in social media scheduling tools to automate our content on different social media channels. You can start using coschedule to schedule content across all social media channels.
Similarly, we invest in different blogging tools to speed up our blogging process. However, some tools help us grow our blogs.
For example, investing in a keyword research tool is essential for organic traffic. Why not find a keyword search volume before writing a post?
I recommend this keyword research tool for new bloggers as it’s more affordable and do the job. However, if have a more established blogs then use SEMrush or ahrefs. Both are advanced tools with so much data.
Use Money To Make More Money Blogging
Many bloggers make less than $100 every month with their blogs because they underestimate SEO. Organic traffic has potential to drive ideal readers to your blog. If you are writing about ‘chicken meals for dinner’ so anyone who is interested in recipes for chicken meals would find your content, read it and save it.
If you have a recipe ebook, they will probably buy from you. Or, if you use any pots to make delicious meals at home, people will buy the same pot from your affiliate link and you make money.
It all takes back to targeting the right audience to your blog. To do that, powerful SEO is essential.
‘Bloggers who earn over $50,000 per year rate Google organic traffic as 83% more important than lower-income bloggers do.’
source
Google organic traffic is highly significant for blogging growth.
SEO RESOURCE
I highly recommend serious bloggers to take a course and invest your time following the video lessons inside the course. You will get absolutely surprising results in about 4-6 months of regular blogging. Meanwhile, SIGN UP for free masterclass and learn how to scale your organic traffic.
When to make Full Time Income from Blogging?
You have to turn your blog into business to make full time income from blogging. It takes at least 2-3 years to earn full time blogging income. Also, depends on your business plans and how you intend to expand it every year.
As you wish to make full time income from blogging, you have to treat your blog like a business. A well established blog requires everything including full dedicated time, investments, planning etc. Most importantly, a positive business mindset.
How to Build a Blog to Make Money
Blogging for money is different than hobby blogging. Similarly, creating a hobby blog is free and easy. You can literally start a free blog in a few minutes. But, how to create a blog to make money from blogging is a step by step process. It’s simple DIY to follow 🙂
Let me share all important steps to start a blog for beginners;
Step 1. Choose a blog niche. Think a topic or area of interest you want to blog about.
Step 2. Get a domain name (free) and hosting from here. If you use my link, you get a discount and a free domain name for one year.
Step 3. Follow instructions from your hosting company and create a website.
Step 4. After you follow instructions and install wordpress, upload a theme. Don’t worry for a premium theme. You can always change your themes later.
Step 5. Create blog pages, categories and posts.
This is a brief overview of starting a blog from scratch.
FAQ – Some Other Questions
Most websites start making money in 4-6 months of blogging. Initially, you will make only few bucks but as you grow your blog, you will make more money.
Make a plan first. If you want to monetise your blog with ads, focus on building website traffic. Focus on creating good content from the beginning and build an audience. Once, you have an audience, you can apply for different affiliate programs like sharesale, Flexjobs, Amazon affiliate program etc.
It might be difficult to make money in 3 months, if you are blogging for the first time. You can still make some bucks by offering services. But, if you have experience then it’s realistic and possible.
Thank you for this post. I follow your page on Facebook and I really look forward to your tips both on your website and on Facebook. My blog is still pretty new started January 2021 and getting traffic is quite a hassle. But I will definitely just use ads for the mean time
Thanks so much for following. I really appreciate that! New blog takes some time to build but you can surely do it.
Hi Arfa,
Thanks a lot! I can’t even count how many people have asked me this question. Everyone who starts blogging asks this question first, and sometimes you just get too tired of answering. I will be sharing this article with people whenever they ask this from me. Thank you for covering all the questions including the one about why people can’t make money from blogging. It is a great resource, and I will be sharing it with everyone.
Earning hundreds of dollars within the first 2-3 months is crazy. Certainly, that’s not their first blog.
Thanks, Arfa for being transparent and putting out the most genuine stats.
Thanks Affan!
Great article Arfa! Really loved that! I am working as a freelancer and I also write for my own blog about soccer (used to play as a pro) so it’s nice to see how long it takes. It took me personally around 7 months until I saw some money roll in, but yeah. I think blogging is more about delayed gratification, but once you get the ball rolling than it’s an amzing ride! 🙂 Thanks again!
This is a great article Arfa. I’m in my ninth month of blogging, and I’m still learning new things every day. Although I didn’t make any money yet, that’s not my number one priority. I’m prioritizing growing my blog first and putting good content every week. And I can see that my blog is growing slowly but surely. 🙂
Great read, Arfa!
Guess the bottom line is if you want to make serious money blogging, treat your blog as a serious business. Give it all!
Thanks Tariq!
It has to be like that. Unless you don’t take your blog as a serious business, you cannot expect to make serious money out of it. That’s one big mindset.
Thanks so much! I really like how strong mindset you have and I’m sure you are going in the right direction. One step at a time. There’s so much to learn every single day. Even I have been blogging from years but I still learn something new every day. That’s the constant learning in the blogging world. Good content every week is the best thing!