Can you really make money from blogging? This is the age-old question most bloggers, and those contemplating blogging, ask. The simple answer is yes, but how much you make and when will depend on you.
I created my first blog many years ago on a free Blogger account. It was a way for me to share and journal my mommy life. I’ve always enjoyed writing and reading blogs, so what better way to combine the two than writing for my own space on the web. At the time, I was busy with work and trying to finish my degree, so that blog didn’t last very long. Two years ago I decided to set up another blog. I purchased a domain name, set up hosting and learned all that I could about starting a blog.
That blog yielded me a few dollars. Nothing serious, but enough to realize that I could turn my hobby into a legitimate business. So earlier this year I decided to take this blogging thing a bit more serious and this blog was created. Within two months I was able to monetize it. How did I do it? Here are a few key things that I focused my efforts on and I believe made a big difference:
I created evergreen content with great SEO
I wanted content that would not only help my audience now, but could be helpful even years from when it was published. Why? Because I could continue to promote my content. Why write several posts and hope to reach 1000 people with each post, when you can write one amazing post and reach hundreds of thousands? I also made sure that it was optimized for the search engines. I knew this would not only help bring in continuous traffic, but would also help my blog rank higher in the search engines.
Read more about how I reached 100,000 pageviews in less than 6 months!
It’s not all about me
I’m not opposed to connecting with readers and sharing personal insights into my life. However, I know that if every post revolves around my family, it will get boring really fast. Readers want to know how you can make their lives easier or help them solve a problem. So while I think it’s great to have a personal/journal blog, you have to think about who your audience is and what they need help with. Just like any other business you want to: “Find a need and fill it.”
I diversified
Here’s the biggest mistake bloggers make. They hear that a blogger is making 10K+ per month in ad revenue so they slap a few ad codes on their site with the hope of doing the same. Yes, you can make money from ads, but in order to make some significant income you also need to need to have great traffic and a great fill rate (more on this in the future). That takes time and effort. I knew that I wouldn’t be making much ad revenue (if at all) right away so I focused my efforts on other income generating opportunities.
In July I made $1,245 from blogging. Here’s a breakdown of where it came from:
- 75% sponsored posts
- 20% ad revenue
- 5% was affiliate
I did even better in August, but decided not to share it since the numbers are not the norm. I had two pretty big bloggers share one of my posts that brought in extra revenue that I wouldn’t have normally made.
Do you currently blog? Are you hoping to monetize it? What are some barriers that you have faced when trying to do so? I would love to hear from you so that I can write future posts based on your feedback and questions. Thanks in advance for sharing!
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The thing I would most love more information about is advertising – what the options are, your recommendations (and those of other bloggers) and even the nitty gritty of setting up the ads from a technical standpoint. 🙂
Excellent tips and great job laying them out clearly. I started my blog about 2 years ago and let it flounder this year because I found it hard to maintain. I’ve just started blogging again but I realized that as much as I loved sharing the day-in-day-out journey of my life, it wasn’t always what generated the most engagement from my audience. So i split off the personal stuff in a private blog and so far so good! Great point about waiting until your traffic builds before you open up the site to ads. I’m still in that phase and then hope to get to that down the road. Thanks so much for the pointers!
I’m considering converting my business website into a blog. I, too, and a homemaker. I started my little enterprise when my husband was deployed last time, and I have had people ask me to start a blog with tips and insight. I’ve looked around your blog and read your tips. You are great! I’ll definitely be checking back for further advice. Thanks!
Very informative! When I started this blog as a hobby, I had no intentions of monetizing it! After 3 months, I had already started making money. I totally agree that diversifying contributed to this!
Finally, I read something that was straight to the point on blogging. I blog, but I’m not sure why or where I’m going with it. I just really enjoy doing it. But reading this was a bit inspiring in where I might want to go with it and my main reason is for people to get something out of it. I don;t really care what it is. Whether they’ve learned something or got a laugh. But I’m so shy with it, I’m scared people would think I’m weird…even though I am.
Point is, I loved this haha enough of my rambling 🙁 haha