Are you wondering how long does it take to make money blogging? You are not the only one, as many people were already searching for an answer. Let’s learn now.
We all know that blogging is a lucrative business for all people. One common question among bloggers is how long does it take to make money blogging.
Well, the straight answer is – you can start creating revenue after 6 months (or) reaching 10,000 monthly pageviews.
Blogging is a professional business – if you are focused and ready to put in the effort, you can start making money in less than a year.
It is the only business where you can transform your writing skill into money. There is no magic number to determine how long will it take to make money from blogging.
Many factors influence the time taken to generate money from a blog. We will see those in this article.
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The most common factor that determines how fast you can make money from your blog is;
- How much time do you put daily to complete various blogging activities?
- The monetization method you choose to generate income.
Further, the answer may vary from blogger to blogger. I started this blog, “onlinehomeincome.in” in the year 2013.
I was working as a Junior Maintenance Engineer, and my monthly income was Rs. 4000 only. It means I was a part-time blogger spending 3 to 5 hours a day.
It took me around 5 months to see my first blogging income. Though it was small, it made me proud of myself.
As I told you earlier, the income from your blog depends on several factors. We will discuss them one by one in this article.
1. How Long Does It Take to Make Money Blogging?
Many bloggers around us are earning a 6 to 7-figure monthly income. On average, budding bloggers may earn within 6 months from the day they started to blog. Less than 2 years is enough to create a full-time passive income from the blog.
I saw a few bloggers in my journey quit blogging earlier. When I ask them why they say they do not have enough patience to see results.
Blogging is not for those who look for overnight success. It could even take more than a year to start seeing revenue from it. Why because Google and other search engines want to understand your blog structure.
On another side, you want to promote your blog virally and get it in front of these millions of eyes manually. Yes, no one other than you is going to market your blog.
Follow the 80/20 rule for blogging success to plan and prepare yourself for the hard part of blogging. Once people start visiting your blog, search engines will start noticing you.
Gradually, your blog will climb up in the organic position. Normally, it takes nearly 2 to 3 months for Google and other search engines to understand your blog.
Then another 2 to 3 months to start indexing those blog posts for search queries (keywords).
Finally, in total, you need 5 to 6 months to make money from your blog. And you need at least 1 to 2 years to earn a full-time income from blogging.
2. Factors Affecting the Time to Make Money from a Blog
Blogging can be lucrative if you plan for the long term. I have been blogging since 2013. In the span of 10 years, I have earned a lot from my blogs.
To date, I am creating a decent 6-digit monthly income from blogging. How much time it takes to earn from blogging depends on several factors.
In this article, we will learn the various factors influencing the time to earn from blogging, what steps are needed to make your blog a full-time business, and how long it will take to earn your first income.
Do not forget to read how to rank your blog posts higher on Google. SEO and digital marketing are essential in driving more traffic – more traffic means more revenue.
2.1. Niche (Blogging Topic) – Choose it Wisely
The first and foremost important step in starting a blog is choosing the right and suitable niche based on your interest and passion.
I keep myself saying this often in every post I write – because blogging is about writing for people to help them solve a problem (or find a solution).
Think of how you can write on the topic if you are not interested and are knowledgeable.
- Your passion keeps you stay motivated.
- Your interest pushes you to write interesting blog posts.
Do not worry about the blog topics to choose from. Some popular blogging topics are money making, affiliate marketing, food and review, travel and entertainment, finance, and lifestyle niches.
I can see many bloggers struggling to write because of the lack of interest. They just started a blog on a random topic followed by the advice of some random blogger.
Later, they quit blogging very early and say, blogging is difficult. Don’t make this mistake.
2.2. Number of Blog Posts (Maintain Consistency)
After completing the blog setup, write and publish articles frequently. You need to perform a lot of research to write more blog posts.
Many studies have proved that bloggers who write and publish blog posts several times a week earn more money. A content calendar can be your best friend to creating a schedule and helps you stay focused on your blogging goal.
Are you thinking about how long does it take to make money blogging – aim for publishing at least 2 blog posts every week?
The biggest downfall for every blogger is getting new ideas, and I suggest reading the article on how to find new blog post ideas. Finally, to start making money from your blog faster – write at least 1000 words daily and prepare two new blog posts every week (i.e. 8 posts a month).
2.3. Blog Post Quality (Write In-depth Long Articles)
Before, I said the number of blog posts affects how much time it takes to earn from a blog. And as a solution, we have decided to publish more blog posts (2 posts a week) frequently.
Wait! More does not mean that you can write about anything and publish everything. Writing high-quality SEO-friendly blog posts only can help you gain trust and build a high-authority blog.
First, you need to identify the common problems in the market, research for a solution, and write an article from your experience (& knowledge). Concentrate on producing quality content to grow your audience and keep them coming back.
2.4. Total Pageviews (More Pageviews = More Traffic)
I have written a piece of detailed information in another article on How many pageviews you need to make money blogging.
Why is it important now? Because if no one is there to visit your blog, who will click Adsense ads (or) buy your affiliate products (or services)? Hence, you need to apply various digital marketing methods to get daily blog traffic.
When you start a blog for the first time, set your goal of reaching 10,000 monthly pageviews in the first 6 months.
However, you can immediately begin monetizing your blog when you get 1000 to 2000 pageviews. Here, I am talking about earning a decent income from a blog (not just for pennies).
2.5. Monetization Methods (Choose the reliable method)
The monetization methods also determine how long does it take to make money from blogging?
Let me explain to you with an example;
Condition: The blog is getting 1000 daily pageviews.
Use case 1: Monetization with Adsense – If the ads get $0.05 per click, the daily earnings will be 1000 pageviews X $0.05 = $50 per day.
Use case 2: Monetization with Affiliate Marketing – A SAAS product worth $100 with 40% affiliate commission pays $40 per sale. 1000 daily pageviews bring a minimum of 5 sales. The daily income will be 5 sales X $40 per sale = $200 per day.
Disclaimer: The above calculation is just to give you an idea, and it does not provide any means of guaranteed blogging income.
2.6. SEO and Digital Marketing (Don’t fail in promoting your blog)
SEO is the continuous process involving blogging activities to rank a blog for search queries. As a blogger, to make money from your blog faster, rank your blog posts as quickly as possible.
SEO helps search engine bots understand your blog structure and evaluate your content relevancy with the search keywords.
Applying digital marketing methods get people’s attention and increases the visibility of your blog on all digital platforms.
It includes social media posting, guest blogging, participating in online forums, etc.
The combined effect of SEO and digital marketing greatly influences how long does it take to make money blogging.
3. How Long it Took for Me to Make Money Blogging?
I started blogging in 2013, and before that, I was planning from 2010. My first blog was on the Blogger platform, and it doesn’t last long.
It got suspended for no valid reason. I learned a lot, and I did not lose hope. Finally, I started my own blog in 2013. Learn which is the best blogging platform – WordPress vs Blogger?
I started this blog “onlinehomeincome.in” part-time while working as a junior maintenance engineer. I spent early morning and late evening writing blog posts and promoting them online.
It took me 4 months to see the first income from my blog. It was just $10 earned from showing display advertisements. Google Adsense’s minimum payout is $100. So, I added Adhitz network ads for some quick little income.
In 2022, I am a full-time blogger running 5+ blogs successfully over 5 + different niches.
Those blogs were making revenue with several monetization methods. Create a strong desire to earn a fruitful income from the blogging business.
4. When to Make a Fulltime Income from Blogging?
Another question that pops into your mind when you think of how long does it take to make money blogging is – when I convert my blog into a full-time income source?
After you start the blog, keep publishing valuable articles consistently. On seeing this, Google and other search engines will begin to index your blog for user search queries.
Your organic traffic starts to grow. It means that the Pageviews will increase. Initially, start blogging in your free time and focus on growing it gradually.
When is a good time to turn the blog into a full-time income source?
- You can become a full-time blogger after 2 to 3 years (or) once your blog starts getting 1,00,000 monthly pageviews.
- Treat your blog as a professional business by investing time, creating a plan, and executing it.
I started this blog “onlinehomeincome.in” in the year 2013, and exactly after two years, I left my full-time job. On January 1, 2015 – I started blogging full-time.
5. 11 Tips to Take Your Blog Full-time in One Year
If you are focused and determined, you can become a full-time blogger in one year or less. Though the blogging business is all about writing more content and promoting it – there is something more required to become a whole-time blogger.
Create strong goals (daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly) and prepare a plan to work. Ensure to complete daily goals at any cause without procrastinating the activities. I bet you will definitely reach success.
5.1. Create an Email Subscribers List from the First Day
At the beginning stages of your blogging career – no one knows about you. Your friends, family, and colleagues only visit your blog.
Do not let them go without subscribing to your blog. Ask them to share a word on their network. Right from the first day of your blog, start collecting the emails of your blog readers.
Your email subscribers are your dedicated fans. Keep them engaged with frequent value-packed emails.
Send emails to those subscribers with interesting and useful information regularly (without spamming).
I use my internal email marketing system and thrive leads to collect emails from my blog. I send newsletters using Mailgun SMTP services. You can try Aweber, Getresponse, Sendgrid, etc.
5.2. Blog For the People (Not for You)
The most crucial factor for successful blogging is the commitment with dedicated passion and interest.
Do you know why many people hesitate to blog? Because the blogging business demands commitment which most people cannot put in.
Along with that, a blog for the people. Write articles by keeping your audience’s needs in your mind.
Look for possibilities on how your content can help them solve a problem (or) make a decision.
Use your experience and knowledge in the particular blogging niche to help the community and not just showcase your expertise.
5.3. Choose a Niche on Your Interest (& Passion)
Basically, I am an Electrical and Electronics Engineer who worked as a maintenance engineer in the Electrical department of a private company in Tamilnadu, India.
Then, I left this secured 9 to 5 job to continue my full-time blogging career. As I kept searching for different online money-making opportunities, my interest in discovering these methods was grown.
Life is not a smooth journey, and it taught me a lot. I selected this blogging niche (money-making) out of my interest and passion to achieve something great in my life.
And here is my outcome today, and it is all possible only because I had chosen the niche based on my interest.
5.4. Create Long In-depth Articles (Evergreen Content)
A big debate is happening in the blogging ecosystem discussing how long a blog post should be in these days.
From my experience, I advise my followers to write long in-depth content (each post should not be less than 2000 words).
Google and other search engines believe that long-form articles have more value. Always choose to write evergreen content that people will always want to read.
Write how-to articles, listicles, and comparison types of the article’s to drive consistent traffic to your blog. As said, maintain a content calendar to stop running out of content ideas.
5.5. Treat Blogging as a Professional Business
Every business on earth has the purpose of helping people in one way or other. Similarly, a blogging business should also have a purpose.
You are responsible for helping others by producing valuable content. The moment when you start your first blog, your responsibility kicks in.
In my early stages, I use to think about how long does it take to make money blogging? I kept thinking as I do not have any strategic plans.
Then I realized my blogging mistake and started creating a business plan. It includes market analysis, keyword research, content writing, and digital marketing.
With consistent effort, I pushed my blog organic position and started enjoying the gains.
5.6. Identify the Target Audience
To make money blogging faster, you need to drive recurring traffic regularly.
One way to do this is by identifying the right audience (readers) and putting your blog as an authoritative source of information.
The blogging business is all about writing, but that doesn’t mean that you can write about anything and everything.
You need to identify a particular set of audiences and create everything on your blog for them. Help them find a solution (or) learn something to make a decision.
As a blogger, you cannot please everyone on earth. So it is essential to find the target audience to determine how much time it takes to earn from a blog.
5.7. Network with Fellow Bloggers and Influencers
One main reason why most bloggers fail is they are not active in networking and engaging with other bloggers and influencers.
They think that just writing articles based on keyword research is enough to make money blogging.
It was an old-school practice, and the blogging profession is different now. Apart from just writing and publishing fascinating content, you may want to establish a strong network.
Promise yourself to meet one new influencer or blogger in your niche daily. Create a friendly connection, share ideas, celebrate victories, and help each other to grow.
5.8. Plan and Delegate Your Blogging Activities
It seems to be easier for you at your beginning to manage all blogging activities. You can be a solopreneur doing keyword research, writing content, and promoting it.
But, once things start to grow, you need to delegate some repetitive tasks. You can outsource a few blogging tasks like creating images, doing keyword research, editing content, and social media.
By delegating these activities, you can save time to focus on creating valuable content. Content is an inevitable part of the blogging sphere, so you need to spend more time daily.
Many blogs fail as they do not post regularly and procrastinate things. Always have a Plan-B to make your blog work for you.
5.9. Write Guest Blogs and Build Links
I commonly see among bloggers who struggle for years to make money blogging is – they are not actively building links.
Link building is an important off-page SEO process and a prime ranking factor. Google and other search engines pay more attention to blogs (or websites) with more links from high-quality sources.
Building links means more websites talk about you and mention you. It means you are seen as an authoritative source.
Read other articles on How to build quality backlinks to your blog? I have shared 12 great tips to help thriving bloggers boost their search ranking.
The most popular link-building technique is Guest Posting – which means you write and publish an article on other blogs in exchange for a link back to your blog.
Make sure you write at least one guest post every week for steady growth.
5.10. Be Social and Promote Your Posts Actively
People spend more time on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. To become a full-time blogger in less than a year, create a stable monthly income from your blog.
To earn income, you need to get traffic to your blog, and social media is one of the finest choices to drive instant traffic.
Join Facebook groups to share your blog articles and engage with other posts. Tweet every hour to share your knowledge and re-tweet influencers and established bloggers.
Find bloggers and influencers in your niche on Linkedin and create a long-term connection. Actively engage in their posts to get attention from them and their followers.
Pinterest is a gold mine. Create sharable images and pin such images regularly to drive Pinterest traffic.
Social media has a great advantage to drive quick traffic from day one of your blogging work. Use it wisely to grow your blog in a shorter time.
Do Not Give up Blogging!
Finally, I want to say – do not give up too early. Blogging is a proven successful business, but it takes more time. That is why many people quit blogging, as they don’t see instant results.
If you write a post today, search engines will take a week or two to index your post. Then it will take a few months to rank the blog post for the keyword.
Before ranking these posts, search engines will evaluate many factors before considering your blog.
Hence, put great efforts into SEO and digital marketing to please search engines. All these activities consume more time, and you need to wait patiently.
It is totally normal. Blogging is not a quick-rich income program, but you can create a long-term sustainable passive source of income.
6. How to Build a Blog That Makes Money?
Now, you have some idea of how long does it take to make money blogging, factors influencing the time, and tips to start making money from your blog faster. Now, let me help you learn the essential steps to building a blog.
- Buy a Domain Name: After selecting the niche, buy a “.com” domain name from Raj Softech Solutions ($12 approx. per year).
- Shared Web Hosting: Despite long debates, purchase a shared web hosting. It is enough to run your blog smoothly ($15 to $20 per year).
- Buy a WordPress Theme: Free WP themes come with limited features. Always go for premium themes to create a beautiful blog. I suggest Thrive Themes (click to see recommended blogging tools).
- Now, hire a WordPress developer to complete the setup process. Even you can watch YouTube videos to set up your WordPress blog.
- Connect to Google: Google has two great free tools – a search console and analytics. Connect your blog to check its performance and stats.
- Create Social Media Profiles: It is important to have a social presence to post your blogging updates as is and as when available.
Read this article to know about the cost of starting a blog. It will give you an approximate estimation required in buying all components for your blog.
Finally, start publishing content and implement SEO to drive traffic. Monetize with Google Adsense and/or Affiliate marketing to start generating revenue.
7. How Long Does It Take to Make $500 per Month Blogging?
Newbie Bloggers may take more than a year before earning $500 (Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 50,000) per month. Blogging is highly competitive nowadays as more people are starting their own blogs.
First, you need to drive regular traffic from search engines, social media, and other blogs (or websites). It will take time for search engines to find your blog, index them, and rank for the keywords.
Spend enough time to produce quality content. There will be no or fewer visitors for the first few months of your blogging business. Don’t give up!
Set short-term goals and work to achieve them. Invest in SEO tools to fine-tune your SEO and increase your blog visibility.
As I told you earlier, start building an email list from day one. Send newsletters regularly without spamming.
Aim to publish two to three quality blog posts weekly to earn $500 per month from your blog within a year.
Conclusion
Blogging is a slow-growing business, and bloggers want to put effort into writing regularly for at least 6 months. This time is essential to help search engines and people to understand your blog’s uniqueness.
Consistency and Patience are the two most important qualities to becoming a successful blogger. Aim for publishing two or more quality posts weekly without losing your consistency.
Wait patiently till Google recognize you and ranks your blog. Do not try to monetize your blog earlier. Before that, they are several strategies to implement to make money from your blog faster.
The blogging industry is highly competitive and if you are going to start a new blog, realize that it will take a longer time to see some revenue.
The above tips can help you calculate how long does it take to make money blogging. Create a blogging plan based on the calculation and start executing them daily.
Some bloggers may earn very soon, and a few take more time. The timeline varies based on the niche competition, available monetization method, SEO skills, and commitment.
Do not worry because making money from the blogging business is possible, but the journey is different.
FAQ on How Long Does It Take To Make Money From Blog
On average, a new blogger can generate income within 6 months. However, a full-time income from the blog will take more than a year. The time depends on many factors like niche, competition, monetization method, and your skill, etc.
Before you start making money from your blog, you need to drive traffic daily. Therefore, it is hard to say that you can earn money in 3 months. But it is possible. I had a blog where I generated my first income in two months (it is an affiliate marketing blog).
It will take 5 to 6 months to earn from your blog. Till then, you need to publish a few high-quality blog posts, do SEO, and social media promotion and create backlinks. When you reach a small milestone of 1000 to 2000 monthly pageviews, you can start making money.
I made my first $100 in just two months from Affiliate Marketing Blog. Yes, it is a blog about technology gadgets, and I made 6 sales in the second month. The cumulative affiliate sale commission of $112 was credited to my bank account in India in the third month.
