Ever wondered how much you can make blogging? I’m talking about my favorite income-generating idea today. Here are real numbers from real case studies, plus how to start a blog of your own in under 10 minutes.
When I started this blog a little over a year ago, I was just enjoying a hobby. I loved reading about money and I wanted to share my own ideas about what has worked for me. As I slowly waded into the waters of blogging, I realized there were a host of highly successful people from all walks of life – teachers, stay-at-home moms, former finance professionals, doctors, etc. – who were making more than a full-time living from blogs they started as a hobby. Many of them have gone on to put a ton of professional effort into their blogs, and it’s impressive what they have been able to achieve. If you’re wondering how you can increase your own earning potential, I’m now convinced blogging is one of the best ways to do it, because it works for all kinds of interests and fits people from all walks of life.
Let’s talk numbers.
How much can you actually make blogging? Here are a few success stories from a diverse set of subjects.
Cue wolf whistle. Those are some ridiculous numbers. Will you hit these figures if you start a blog?
Wrong question.
If you read last week’s Harvard Education in Ten Minutes, your reaction should be “Why not me?” Or a variant: “If I can achieve even 1/10 or 1/20 of the success, would that have a material impact on my life? How can I do this?”
Because the exciting truth is there are a ton of bloggers below the major headline grabbers above who are able to earn significant income in the $20k-$150k range in addition (and sometimes eventual substitution of) their normal working lives. The beauty of being your own boss as a blogger is you set the limits of how blogging will fit into your life. Even several of us retired folks are able to generate meaningful money while distinctly not working.
Root of Good is retired and makes on average $2,500-$3,000 a month from his blog. He was recently blogging from a 9-week trip with his family in Europe. That’s fan-freaking-tastic. At this point in his blogging career he writes one to two posts per month (mainly just his monthly check-up), so the blog is mostly on autopilot.
Even slacker JP Livingston probably makes a happy case study for this group. When I started blogging, my purpose was – and still is – to enjoy what I’m doing. I highly valued what I learned from self-improvement and finance books when I was just starting out, and I wanted to be able to share what I have learned. I like writing. I like talking about money. And along came this hobby – blogging – that encompassed both.
In 2017, this blog generated $62,326. I have pretty hard caps on what I’m willing to do and not do at this point in my life, and they’re optimized around enjoyment. You could say my blog reached this level of income despite me rather than because of me. I write 3-5 hours a week. I regularly walk away from big press opportunities because they want my face in the limelight, or they want to follow me around with a video camera for a weekend. I am the most technically unsavvy millennial ever to grace the planet, with no plans to improve that in order to further my blog. There are a thousand resources on how to better market one’s blog and grow one’s traffic, but I’d rather walk my dog and daydream about fish sandwich lunch specials. That means I leave a lot on the table. And even a slacker like me is pulling in meaningful dollars less than a year into my dream hobby.
Again, there’s a large spectrum between slacker JP and the major heavy hitters above, and you might find a nice niche for yourself in between. From my research in the space and discussion with other bloggers, this is a rough guide to how much you can make based on your traffic levels. Categories like personal finance and entrepreneurship tend to be on the more lucrative side of the spectrum vs. sites that are focused on teenagers and gifs and cartoons, but you can see that anywhere in this range can still yield you a healthy side income.
Blog Income Estimates By Traffic
Most bloggers I’ve talked to generally end up averaging about 4-6 cents per pageview. By year two, I’ve seen a healthy number of blogs hit 50,000 to 100,000 page views (The Money Habit is at 50,000 pageviews a month less than a year in with only 3-5 hours of investment per week). Successful blogs seem to be able to get into the 100,000-250,000 pageviews per month category 3-5 years in.
Because of this, I’ve highlighted what I feel are conservative, realistic bands in green. With some dedication and steady improvement, it is conceivable to realistically be pulling in approximately $18k-$150k per year from blogging. And that’s for us regular Average Joe bloggers, not the ridiculous breakout successes we covered earlier who are working full time on their blogs. If you eventually make it your full-time job, you could easily be making $250k+ per year.
You Can Win All Along The Spectrum
The most exciting thing I’ve learned about blogging is that it is not a winner-take-all activity. There are wins all along the spectrum.
Say you are just looking for a hobby on the weekend that lets you have a creative outlet. Blogging is a horizontal medium, which means you can talk about anything that interests you be it growing azaleas, building e-commerce stores, or perfecting the best shortbread recipe in the state of South Carolina. That’s a win because it adds value to your life. You are a producer, and that’s the best way to enjoy life and curb your appetite for expensive things to fill the void of meaning.
As you spend time doing what you love, you might find you want to expand your reach as well as generate some side income. You can do that, too.
And perhaps your blog continues to skyrocket. Now you can quit your job and travel the world while writing and earning a full-time income.
Whatever your version of success, it all starts with a simple first step. Start your blog. Don’t wait for the perfect time. Don’t spend hundreds of hours locked in a closet trying to craft the perfect message. You will get better by doing. Your first subject may not be the one you stick with, but you will refine and hone your message the quickest by launching fast and incrementing steadily and consistently.
What Will I Write About?
Blogging allows you to write about any interest, no matter how obscure. But if you’re struggling for inspiration, I can think of one subject about which I know you have a lot to say: personal finance.
If you’re reading this blog, you’re clearly interested in money management. Some of the field’s biggest success stories basically started as an online journal for folks to track their monthly progress towards financial independence. Originally created to keep their owners accountable and checking in monthly, those blogs eventually expanded with all the wisdom those folks gained on their FIRE journeys. Michelle at Making Sense of Cents earns over a million dollars a year from her blog, which was started to help her track her student loan debt. Mrs. Frugalwoods of Frugalwoods also began writing to share their perspective on how frugality was going to get them to their dream of a rural homestead in Vermont (spoiler: they’ve made it, and the stories from the homestead are super fun to follow).
The beauty of writing a personal finance/FIRE blog is that it will attract folks who share your vision in life. It’s amazing when you get to interact with others who want what you want; it gives you courage to be different amongst your real life contemporaries, because you have an online community where you are sharing ideas and getting encouragement. So if you’re wondering what to write about, consider a personal finance blog of your own. It will have monetary benefits in many ways: as a way to keep you motivated toward your FIRE goals as well as a potential income generator one day down the road.
How To Start A Blog – Get Up And Rolling in 10 Minutes
It’s amazing how simple and cheap it is to build your own little corner on the internet. I remember the absolutely shitty geocities pages back in the late 90’s. All it takes to build a professional, inviting website of your own is a hosting company, a domain name, and a wordpress template.
I recommend getting started with a Bluehost account for $2.95 a month. They are one of the largest hosting options within the blogging space, which means the ecosystem for tutorials and support further down the road is one of the most robust. This promo specifically for Money Habit readers will give you pricing of $2.95/month vs the regular $7.99/month. Bluehost will also register your domain name for you for free, a $10+ value. Your hosting service is where you house all the files for your blog, and it is the connection point for users and their servers all across the world to access your site.
Step 1: Select a Plan
If you’re just starting out, I see no reason to go with anything other than the basic plan for $2.95 a month (note: for The Money Habit readers only, the link will offer you pricing of $2.95/month). You can always upgrade as your needs grow.
Step 2: Select A Domain Name
This is the fun part! I admit I spent more time than strictly necessary brainstorming names for my blog. If you already have a domain name kicking around somewhere, there’s an option to transfer that url over to your new plan. The system will come up with some suggestions if the domain you entered is taken, but I actually really got a lot of value of consulting NameMesh for name inspiration. It will combine similar conceptual words for you as inspiration, and you can just take the available one you like back to the registration workflow at Bluehost.
Step 3: Finish Registration
You will go through a couple of screens asking for payment and address information. You’ll be presented with several options for add-ons like site back-up and search engine jumpstart. I find these to be mostly unnecessary. When you install wordpress, there’ll be lots of free plug-ins to get you started which do basically the same things. The only service I chose to add was domain privacy protection. You are legally required to keep a true name and physical address on file with ICANN. I don’t know about you, but it’s weird to think my name and home address are floating around out there for anyone who visits the website to find. Plenty of people eschew the service, so it’s really a personal comfort thing.
Step 4: Install WordPress
Once you finish registering, log into your new Bluehost account and find the ‘Wordpress’ button. WordPress is a free, open-source blogging platform. It is the single largest blogging platform in the world and powers over 20% of the world’s sites. WordPress is what makes it magically easy to run your own blog.
Step 5: Pick a WordPress Template
The WordPress installation guide will walk you through the basics of how to use WordPress, and one of the first things it will do is show you a selection of free templates. Pick one that appeals to you, and that’s it! You’re live on the internet and off to the races.
Conclusion
If you’ve ever had any interest in trying out blogging as a hobby or a side hustle, I can’t think of a better time. The cost is low and the rewards are high. I’ve met a ton of interesting people through this project, which is yet another bonus of the time I spend blogging. Give yourself a chance to live your dreams just a little bit. Put at least one more frying pan in the fire that could add value to your life, both in fulfillment and in a financial capacity. Start today.
Want more detail on how to monetize your new blog? We cover that here. Have you thought about starting your own blog? What are you interested in writing about?
Diana says
July 11, 2017 at 2:20 pmWow! This is incredible! Thank you for posting these insights. I’ve dabbled in blog writing before, but I figured it would take years and years to make even little money; this has changed my perspective.
JP Livingston says
July 11, 2017 at 2:27 pmHey Diana. It’s the best kept secret. I’ve really enjoyed it and I think you can win on multiple levels – from staying on track by writing about your own financial goals, to generating real income that can contribute to your FIRE goals. There’s a wide spectrum of success for any commitment level. Let us know how it goes if you do decide to give it a try! As a new retiree I was hesitant to commit to anything large myself, but even I couldn’t turn down a $4 commitment with a 30-day guarantee. Just don’t get sucked too far into brainstorming domain name and templates. That stuff is so fun, but I promise you the writing is even better.
Yuv says
July 11, 2017 at 2:21 pmthat was so inspiring! As always. You actually got me considering doing this.. Was just wondering – in what part of the process do you put ads in your blog? And how? And how did you Adverse your own blog? Thanks.
JP Livingston says
July 11, 2017 at 2:29 pmHey Yuv, glad it’s got you noodling on it for yourself. I actually don’t post ads on my blog – I find them annoying and suspect my readers do, too. Many blogs these days make significantly more income from affiliate commissions than they do from advertising. Affiliate relationships are where you get a link from the vendor for a product you like and want to explain to your readers. When they click your link and make a purchase, the vendor will pay the blogger a commission for the sale. Advertisement the way we traditionally think about it are banner ads that appear along the side of the website or in the middle of the post. I don’t do those at all, but you can easily implement things like Adsense at any stage of your blogging career. It generally doesn’t generate significant income unless you are creating high amounts of traffic, say 250k pageviews a month or more. Hope that helps.
Yuv says
July 11, 2017 at 3:14 pmThank you for replying (and so quickly as well!). So you’d say the two main ways to earn money from blogging are ads and affiliates? Are there any other? Is there a website /article concentrating ways to earn money from blogging that you’d recommend?
Inspiredblogger says
July 11, 2017 at 2:42 pmI have never hear anyone speak about the financial upside of having a blog in so much details. Your posts are always so honest and genuine. I feel inspired to start my own post now! Thank you so much!
JP Livingston says
July 11, 2017 at 2:48 pmI’m glad to hear it – I have no idea why it’s still such a secret, but I was also blown away when I started hearing about those numbers. Why were people harping on about multi-level-marketing schemes and other bizarre money-making ventures instead of legitimately interesting opportunities like this? There’s more than enough opportunity to go around. Hoping you and the other Money Habiters are able to use it as yet another tool in your FIRE arsenal. And very interested to hear what you come up with!
Bianca Simms says
July 11, 2017 at 2:55 pmDoes this only for US citizens? Is this offer extended to The Bahamas? Would I have to get a US account? And how does the blog actually gain income? This is a bit new to me but I would want more info. You can email me personally. Very Much Interested.
SK says
July 11, 2017 at 3:06 pmI’ve been thinking a lot about blogging as well. I just can’t hone in on what I want to write about.
JP Livingston says
July 11, 2017 at 5:07 pmHey SK. I personally found that it helped just to get started. When I first started writing, I wrote about a lot of self-improvement topics that were interesting to me. Relationships, communication, career advancement. I was able to “try on” a bunch of different topics until I found one that clicked. The process took probably two months for me. Perhaps brainstorming a list of 3-5 things that are interesting to you and then sitting down to write about at least one of them each day will help you cycle through topics until you hit on one that really works.
Tim Wallis says
July 11, 2017 at 3:54 pmJP, this was a timely post for me. At this very moment, I’m choosing an ikigai (“reason to get up” as introduced by The Happiness Equation) on which to focus my efforts.
I’m the kind of person who has a ton of interests and a backlog of ideas I’d love to turn into products. Historically, I’ve bounced around from one area of interest to another without yet bringing any products to market. I know that when I choose to focus for years on just one thing, its success will drive a deep sense of fulfillment for me… and hopefully some dollas. : )
This post has me leaning toward the product that I can leverage the best. Thanks for being an inspiration at the right moment.
JP Livingston says
July 11, 2017 at 5:05 pmHey Tim, glad to hear it. If for whatever reason the product you begin with is not the one you want to continue with, hopefully your platform (be it a blog, video channel, or whatever is appropriate for that product) can be re-purposed for future products. Perfection is the enemy of a good start-up – I applaud you getting out there and making it happen. You’ll figure out the right combination through trial and error.
Finance Crusader says
July 11, 2017 at 3:56 pmThis article was certainly an eye-opener. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that anyone was earning such high figures from blogging alone. As you accurately point out, even earning a fraction of those lofty amounts sounds appealing. Thank you for the insight.
C says
July 11, 2017 at 4:15 pmThank you JP, your post inspired me to finally sign up for my own site after thinking about it for several years!
Janet says
July 11, 2017 at 5:51 pmThank you For an insightful post. I had no idea bloggers made so much. I might give it a try if I can come up with a good topic.
Gina says
July 11, 2017 at 6:21 pmThank you so much for your article on blogging. It was very useful and informative. I always enjoy reading your posts. They’re down to earth, genuine, straight forward, tell it like you see it writing. I’ve owned an e-commerce shop many years ago when the concept was fairly new. I thought of starting a blog many times, but probably like you, I treasure my privacy. Any advice on how I can have a blog while protecting my identity? Besides the Domain Privacy Protection, which I also highly recommend to everyone. Thanks again!
JP Livingston says
July 11, 2017 at 6:38 pmHey Gina, kudos to you. I’ve thought about starting an e-commerce shop but it’s got a few more moving parts than I’m currently up for dealing with. I think that blogging while maintaining privacy is eminently achievable. I write all my stuff with the paranoid thought that I should of course be comfortable if for whatever reason my identity became common knowledge, but in the almost year that I’ve been blogging I’ve been very happy with the balance I’ve been able to strike between my privacy and my desire to blog. Mostly it comes down to saying no to opportunities which ask for more of your privacy than you’re comfortable with and adding a step in your editing process to think about whether the details you’re using could be particularly revealing of your identity. I’m not an expert by any means, but if this is your only concern I’d encourage you to give it a chance.
Gina says
July 12, 2017 at 5:16 pmThank you for your response! The e-commerce business taught me more than I had expected and proved to be valuable lessons for a lifetime. Although it was fun, I was working much harder than I had planned. I’m grateful for your thoughts and can relate to what you are saying. This definitely gives me something to seriously think about and make a decision. It comes down to you “the blogger” to maintain and have full control of the blog.
Mark says
July 11, 2017 at 8:20 pmthankyou for the great article!
JP Livingston says
July 12, 2017 at 12:12 pmGlad you liked it!
KD says
July 11, 2017 at 9:08 pmI have been blogging since 2001 but I never thought of generating an income from it, mainly because when I started, I only posted teen angst and whatnots. But around 2009 I started to take things seriously. Posted reviews, travel hacks, etc… all original content. I don’t think I have spam comments on my blog nor had copyright infringement of some sort. I’d like to believe my record is clean. Yet, Google won’t allow me in their AdSense pool. This saddens me. I’ve tried another ad-serving company but they gave me like $6 in 2 years. I really need help in this area. 🙁
JP Livingston says
July 12, 2017 at 12:07 pmHey KD. Your comment among others have inspired me to write a post some time soon about different monetization strategies. Check out a reply I made in the comments sections about the four main ways bloggers monetize. I actually don’t use Adsense or any display advertising networks on my site. I find them bothersome and worry my readers would find them distracting too (banner ads, boxes of ads on the sidebar, etc.). Most blogs that I know of who are very successful are primarily generating income through affiliate marketing or through sales of their own products like relevant courses or e-books. Hope you consider giving it another shot.
Benj Sempio says
July 11, 2017 at 10:25 pmIs this available for blogspot as well? Nice insights by the way.
JP Livingston says
July 12, 2017 at 12:05 pmHey Ben, Blogspot is its own blogging platform. You can definitely start a blog with blogspot, but you’ll have domain name which includes blogspot in the title. It’s generally hard to project a serious/professional look when you’re http://www.blogspot.com/blogger15432. Depending on your purposes, though, that may suit your needs just fine. For example, if you just want to start a blog to track your progress for yourself, a blogspot blog probably works. If you envision potentially building a larger community or monetizing seriously one day, I’d highly recommend against a blogspot or other service where your url is a subdomain (i.e. people are typing http://www.blogspot.com/_____ to find you). It’s hard to build brand recognition and searchability with that. You could, of course, start with blogspot first and then switch to your own hosted domain name with a service like Bluehost in the future, but you lose all the valuable backlinks to your site when you do that, which is why most people who are somewhat serious about their blogging prospects bite the bullet and go with a private domain and a professional hosting company. Luckily it’s pretty cheap these days to start.
Dia says
July 12, 2017 at 7:35 amI used to have a blog but I was having trouble monetizing it so after a few months, I shut it down. If you don’t mind me asking, from which sources did you generate $1,724.25? This is really tempting me to get back into blogging! I always love reading your posts so keep up the good work! I aspire to be like you one day! x
JP Livingston says
July 12, 2017 at 12:01 pmHey Dia. Were you doing display advertising at the time? That’s what I associated with blogs before I started writing and why I definitely didn’t go into it hoping to make money. Most bloggers I know are able to monetize better through affiliate marketing, where you are paid a commission if you recommend a product that results in a sale. That’s the only monetization I have on the blog today, and honestly I’ve been super lazy about it. I basically only think about products I want to recommend and then check to see if they have an affiliate system set up. I don’t go out of my way to try and find new products that would pay me to recommend them. It means I really only have maybe half a dozen things I’ve recommended in over 10 months that potentially could generate anything for the site (sites like Amazon). I’m happy keeping the monetization genuine and limited, though. It’s my hope that it keeps the community about an authentic focus on how folks can FIRE.
The real motivation I have for monetization on the site is that I’d love to create a system where readers bettering their lives results in a positive ripple effects in the world. If I can monetize the site at no cost to readers and turn around and donate the money to charities that help others set themselves up financially (I’m eyeing Heifer, which provides livestock to help families in developing areas have a livelihood), that would be the ultimate win. If you were more in the display advertising bucket with your original blog, I’d consider giving it another shot. I wouldn’t say blogging is a get rich fast enterprise – it’ll still take time to build a community and find the right products for your community – but it could be a real long-term valuable addition. Hope that helps.
Joe says
July 12, 2017 at 11:20 amGreat post – but still not sure I quite understand the revenue stream. If you don’t have ads on your site, where does the monthly revenue come from? Who is writing the checks? Could you explain in a bit more detail?
JP Livingston says
July 12, 2017 at 11:54 amSure. The four main forms of revenue generation for blogs are 1) display ads on the site (the one you mentioned which I do not use) 2) affiliate commissions – the blogger receives a commission when they promote a product that a reader ends up purchasing through a trackable link (not usually through display ads – usually a product the blogger talks about in a blog post) 3) sales of the blogger’s own products such as e-courses or e-books 4) sponsored posts, where a company pays a blogger some amount of money to write a post on a subject that is relevant to their space and may include mention of the name of the sponsor.
This blog currently only monetizes through affiliate relationships. Some of the things I recommend I am able to discover have a standing affiliate partnership arrangement where I can get a special link that tracks any sales I help the company generate. Sometimes I have products I really like and want to recommend and they don’t have affiliate relationships, and I recommend them anyway. Hope that helps! An example of an affiliate relationship you’ll see on the site is if you go to my post on my favorite personal finance books, the links will take you to amazon, and if you purchase there I may a commission. An example of something I’ve promoted that doesn’t generate any commission but is just a good product is the AARP Credit Card which offers 3% back on restaurants. Hope that helps!
Jeff says
October 2, 2018 at 7:40 pmThis sounds great JP, but is also a little confusing. As I type this, I’m seeing a banner ad on the right side for Lexus, and have another static banner across the bottom of the screen as well. (now it’s for AARP lol). Has something changed on your blog since July of 2017? Thanks!
Fred in PA says
July 12, 2017 at 11:34 pmThanks JP for sharing this info! I may do it, as I have all types of interests, am early retired, and can write halfway decently. Hmmm…
Michael says
July 13, 2017 at 6:23 pmHi JP,
sounds like a fun project … even it just becomes a reflection diary, it will help the blogger focus on their goals which is a great productive tool … and way to track personal progress and maybe gain some insights/new perspectives from like minded readers … I was curious is there a point in the bloggers development where they need to register as a business? and or doesn’t income generated from a blog come under the likes of self employment or something like that … ? Also is there a point in the development of the blog where one needs to apply for a kinda copyright application …. or do most bloggers not need to worry about that? ….. from the far side … 🙂 Beijing, China 🙂
Kenji says
July 29, 2017 at 9:39 pmI was thinking of starting a blog first on the free WordPress site with eventually migrating to something like bluehost/WordPress if I was able to consistently contribute to it. How exactly do you go about obtaining/negotiating affiliate relationships/marketing? Do you approach each company directly and negotiate a deal or do they have some standard payment program and you just link to a specific site? Thanks
Cindy says
August 2, 2017 at 3:01 pmI follow a few personal finance blogs and was inspired to start my own blog. What I didnt know was that you had to pay a monthly fee so that your private information would be kept private. I was getting spam emails and phone calls out of the blue from all over the world who wanted to help build my website or help keep my info private. I ended up canceling the website because I was frustrated by all the spam calls and emails. I wish someone would post a step by step guide to starting a blog which included tips like not putting your real phone number or even email on the account.
JP Livingston says
August 2, 2017 at 4:50 pmHey Cindy. Ouch, that sounds like a nightmare. Yes, I mentioned that the one add-on service I paid for was the privacy option but I didn’t actually know that spammers collected the WhoIs contact data. I can definitely think of a few other things that it would have helped to know early on; you make a great suggestion for another post. Do you think you’ll ever considering starting another blog, particularly if you can elect to add the private registration agent option?
Jason says
August 2, 2017 at 8:36 pmWhen you register a domain, you give yourself the ability to create an infinite number of email addresses as well. (Or get a yahoo/google address for public display). So you might have myfinblog.com and publicize admin@myfinblog.com for whois, and use cindy@myfinblog.com for a more restricted audience, and money@ for questions….as many as you like.
The public ones will eventually get overrun with spam. Then you create a new one and retire the old. I used to have all my bills go to bills@ and my finance email go to invest@. Now they’re “nobills@ and investment@.”
You can have multiple addresses all go to the same end place, so you might end up with a mail spool you check all the time, and one you check every week.
JP Livingston says
August 2, 2017 at 9:09 pmHey Jason. Great tip, thanks.
Callie says
August 2, 2017 at 6:42 pmThis is great! I was curious on your thoughts about a blog about weight loss surgery journey? Good idea? They whole body image thing is making me a little scared and I need to finally talk about it.
Mark says
August 2, 2017 at 7:54 pmI enjoyed your article. But one thing I find you left out…is how do you actually make money from a blog? You discuss how to setup a blog site, domain name, and that you can make money…but you never explain how money is generated. Do you have to sale your own advertising on your blog, do you just magically get money when someone visits your page…etc? A little more clarity on that would be great.
Thanks!
JP Livingston says
August 2, 2017 at 9:12 pmHey Mark. Sure thing – of the four types of monetization described the only one I use is affiliate marketing – I find products I like and some of them have an affiliate program set up, which means if I provide a link to the product and a reader purchases something, the company will send me a commission at no cost to the reader. An example of one I use is Amazon. If you go to my Resources page, you’ll see some of my favorite books, which will take you to a page on Amazon where you can buy a copy for yourself. I’ve gotten several requests from readers emailing in asking for a more in-depth walk through of how to find these affiliate programs, what they generally pay, how hard it is to get set-up and that sort of thing. I expect to write something more in-depth in the next week or two on the subject. Hope that helps.
Kira says
August 2, 2017 at 10:07 pmJust found your blog and loved this article. I’m so inspired by your story of retiring at 28 ~ you go girl! I understand how blogs generate income through affiliate programs, what I’m not clear about is how one drives traffic and increases page views on the blog over time? What are some ways that ‘lazy’ bloggers get enough people viewing their blog to make affiliate programs able to generate a reasonable income? Thanks JP!
JP Livingston says
August 3, 2017 at 12:28 amHey Kira, glad you found the site! There are definitely strategies to drive traffic and increase page views. I will say that all of them take real upfront effort to set up, and they probably require more space and description than I can give them in the comments section here. You’ve inspire a post on the topic! If you want to do some digging while waiting for the post, you can look up Pinterest strategies to drive traffic to one’s blog. Guest posting is another oft-repeated strategy. It takes a bit of description to really help you understand what that means and how to target subjects that will have a wide audience. Hope that gives you somewhere to start and stay tuned for an article on the topic coming soon.
Millennial Boss says
August 3, 2017 at 1:47 amI started making money on my site and it was a game changer for me. I feel like I have a safety net and an extra boost to FI. Awesome that your making money with so little input. Congrats!
JP Livingston says
August 3, 2017 at 12:54 pmHey Julie! I love your site – you do everything right when it comes to design and infrastructure. I hope to get my blog to the same place from a systems perspective but I guess I’m going to guess I’ll be inching there very, very slowly. Glad to see you on the blog.
Jason says
August 3, 2017 at 7:02 amI really do need to do more with my blog for monetization. I have had it for almost 3 years and make little to no money. I think that should be one of my goals in the near future thinking about affiliate links and increase page views (the former might be easier than the latter).
Cósmica says
August 3, 2017 at 7:00 pmAs a 24 year old who has saved a significant amount living in NYC as well, I have never been so inspired and felt so connected with another woman around my age.
Prior to finding your page, I felt alienated due to the fact that I am one of the few of my associates/family/friends who has saved more then just to have an emergency savings. Not that we have disclosed how much has been saved; but from the conversations of struggling to pay credit card debt and onward, it is evident that many people struggle with budgeting and cannot even think about Saving.
I have been utterly motivated to begin my blog/website. It is something that I actually created at the beginning of the year and stopped just 3 days after its “birthday” because I lacked confidence in knowing whether my blog would succeed.
Now, I know that it can succeed but this shouldn’t be my motivator. I love writing and I LOVE sharing information as well as helping other people.
Thank you, gracias, & merci beacoup. You have truly made an impact on my life.
JP Livingston says
August 3, 2017 at 7:34 pmA fellow NYCer! Glad you found the blog and I’m so happy you’re restarting your blog. I have found it to be a fantastic way to interact with like-minded folks and hope it helps you achieve the same. I’ll be rooting for you.
Karina says
August 3, 2017 at 10:09 pmI found your site through an article I read. Thank you! I have wanted to start a blog and this was the push I needed.
JP Livingston says
August 4, 2017 at 2:24 pmWishing you the best of luck!
JZ says
August 3, 2017 at 10:18 pmHi JP, exactly one month ago, and after almost a year of persuasion from my friends, I finally started my very first blog – activities and life outlook, starting with my goal of visiting all 79 museums in DC ). Today a friend of mine forwarded a CNN Money article that sited your blog and I’m super excited that you’re also retiring early and pursuing your own projects! I’m inspired by your achievements and determination, and your desire to help others achieve financial independence as well! I’m very new to blogging and am looking forward to learning from you about how to make the most out it! Thanks!
Shannon M says
August 3, 2017 at 10:27 pmThis post was jut what I needed today! I’ve been blogging for a bit and feel like I’ve got something…knowing that I actually might be able to make a few bucks at it along the way gives me just the kick I need!!!
And, while completely outside your sphere, I’d love it if you would check out my blog!
JP Livingston says
August 4, 2017 at 2:23 pmHey Shannon, that’s fantastic. And I have a feeling I’ll want to build myself a list of parenting/mom blogs, so expect another reader on your site soon.
CC says
August 3, 2017 at 11:26 pmHi
How do you find if a particular product has an affiliate program?
Thanks
JP Livingston says
August 4, 2017 at 2:22 pmHey CC, generally there will be a link somewhere on the company’s website or you can Google “[Company] Affiliate Program” or “[Company] Referral Program” and see if anythings comes up. For a few products I’ve really liked where I couldn’t find information, I’ve emailed their general email desk for clarification and gotten pretty fast responses.
melba says
August 4, 2017 at 6:15 amThank you so much JP for this very insightful reading. I have been thinking of what to do for a side gig and this is a great idea. Just need to decide on the topic, but like you side playing around with some topics initially might be my best bet.
JP Livingston says
August 4, 2017 at 2:20 pmHey Melba. I highly recommend the “put a few pans in the fire” approach to finding a topic. I generally like to be a careful planner but it’s amazing how actually jumping in will let you see what actually feels like a sustainable topic for you. I thought I had a few like I mentioned in the article, and realized a couple of posts in I would be absolutely bored of X and Y, but Z just kept generating new ideas. If you’re a planner type, it may help to make it the deliberate plan: for example say “the next 3 months are the diverse topic writing period after which I’ll make a final decision”. That way you have the comfort of a concrete timeline to push yourself forward. Hope that helps!
Mary says
August 4, 2017 at 4:12 pmGreat article! Is there a limit to how many pictures you can post with your blog on the basic BlueHost blog?
JP Livingston says
August 4, 2017 at 5:59 pmHey Mary. You get 50 GB of website space which, depending on photo size would hold 16,000+ photos. So yes every hosting company technically includes a storage limit per plan, but the basic Bluehost package has enough storage included that it should functionally look and feel unlimited to you.
Mary says
August 4, 2017 at 7:34 pmThank you! My daughter is interested in getting started. Your website is so helpful.
Justin says
August 4, 2017 at 8:28 pmHowdy JP from the great state of Texas! Loved the article on CNN and have binge read all your blog posts in 2 days. I see the haters have already come out. Don’t let it bother you. Thanks for being an inspiration in an age where everyone seems obsessed with material things and “keeping up with the joneses”. I think you’re spawning a whole new generation of bloggers! I started my site this morning and am working on structuring. Can’t wait to write about my life experiences,l and hopefully help others enrich their lives like what you are doing. Yee Haw! 🙂
Greg says
August 6, 2017 at 12:47 amJP-
Just echoing others’ sentiments that this is a great article. I am interested in getting into blogging, and I know what I want to talk about, but I am not confident in my writing. I think I can write clearly, but I want to write in an engaging manner. This is something I will either need to learn or get help with. Do you think the best start is to take some courses on writing or perhaps find an editor who charges by the hour? I think the next step for me, after training and getting some help lined up, is to put together my seed content for launching the page and just putting it out there.
I would love any advice. Thanks.
JP Livingston says
August 6, 2017 at 1:09 pmHey Greg. My personal view is that the best way to get better at writing is just to start writing. If you start reading any of the major books on writing (On Writing Well by William Zissner, etc.) you will find that it is a very common fear of many writes that their stuff isn’t “good” enough, followed by a desire to seek legitimacy through training or certification. I’d encourage you to get started right away. There’s nothing precluding you from taking some courses as you write, but taking a course without writing regularly means you may just make you feel like somebody with training wheels on rather than an actual do-er. If you’re going to be a writer, you’re going to have to get used to writing things you make public and looking back and deciding it was actually a steaming heap of trash. No preliminary writing course will prevent you from dealing with that and may in fact make you feel like the stakes are higher for when you do eventually start. Just one opinion. Will be rooting for you!
Nadia says
August 8, 2017 at 12:15 pmReading this article has really inspired me to go head and give blogging a try. I’m not the greatest writer but maybe by doing it I can get better. Also how do you get paid? Like do they send you a check… curious
JP Livingston says
August 8, 2017 at 6:55 pmHey Nadia, that’s fantastic. A more detailed post on monetization is on the way. Usually affiiate programs will pay you by check or direct deposit.
Rose W. says
August 11, 2017 at 5:06 pmThank you, J.P. for this post. Like the others, I too am inspired and created my first blog yesterday on Bluehost ! I also strongly encouraged my adult children to read your blogs. I have a request for a followup blog(s), please.
1) Can you please write a blog that discusses how you go about getting sponsors and affiliates for your site? Also, assuming that we are successful in “partnering(?)” with an affiliate, how does the money-end of this get processed? For example, do we set up a paypal account for monies generated to go into?
2) Can you point us to a website , or provide the information, about including links to other sites, articles on our websites and what the rules are governing such so that we don’t inadvertently violate copyright rules, etc.
Again, Thank you so much for sharing so much knowledge. I for one promise (and I never promise unless I intend to honor such) to pay-it-forward when my website is up and running!
Sincerely,
Rose W.
Rose W. says
August 16, 2017 at 4:04 pmHello again JP,
After searching, I found many websites containing the basic steps in blog setup very similar to your article here. What seems to be missing, and what also seems to be asked by your readers here, are the followup activities to establishing affiliates, monetizing, etc. It would be so helpful to have those details on the next steps.
Thanks again for your time.
JP Livingston says
August 17, 2017 at 12:11 pmHey Rose. Thanks for the input. I agree with you, so stay tuned – an article on that should be coming out very shortly.
Raman K says
August 14, 2017 at 7:10 pmI finally did it! I gather the courage and started my own website. You have me convinced. I am a newbie on my quest for financial independence and found your website very intriguing. I hope to learn a lot on this journey.
JP Livingston says
August 15, 2017 at 10:27 amCongrats, Raman! Hope you enjoy the ride.
Ricky says
August 15, 2017 at 12:29 pmI’ve had blogs before but they never generated any substantial buzz and certainly didn’t earn me any money. I did host my own domain once years ago for $99 a year. After 2 years it wasn’t really rewarding me for the money I was putting in so I left that and sought a free option. WordPress.com has a free option but ofcourse your blog will have their domain like yoursite.wordpress.com. My question is does that prevent users from making any money from their blog? I don’t mind paying 2.95 a month but I’ve already got a wordpress blog and I’m just wondering how necessary that step is?
JP Livingston says
August 15, 2017 at 1:52 pmHey Ricky. In my opinion, it’s very important if you want your blog to scale at soeme point. The problem with a wordpress.com site using a subdomain is that you lose almost all the advantages of SEO and searchability. If I look at traffic sources for my blog, I get a ton of queries on different subjects for which I’ve written an article. The search engines use a shadow ranking of the importance and backlinks to my site from other reputable sites to decide whether to show my article in a good position in a user’s search results. As a subdomain in wordpress.com/blogger/etc., you just don’t have that searchability. You can of course switch later on but then you build from scratch – any links other blogs or sites have to your subdomain version of the site won’t register as backlinks to your new domain and help its searchability in the search engines. If someone linked to a specific article on your old blog, you will have to have a sophisticated redirect system to the new site so that the user finds the original article, otherwise you’ll lose all those hard won linked users every time they click on an outdated link to the old site.
There’s also a lot of talk in the blogger community about whether readers take a blog written on a subdomain as seriously as one with its own hosted domain. I haven’t seen hard data on this so I hesitate to come out with a definitive stance on this, but my personal take and experience is that I absolutely judge the seriousness of a blog on whether it has its own hosted domain.
The one caveat I’ll make to the above is that there are plenty of people who /don’t/ plan to have their blog scale or in any way want to monetize it in the future. Maybe they want to post pictures for family members to see. Or they have a nice hobby they want to share with others in their hobby just on a casual basis. If your use case is something like this, you probably don’t need to spend the $2.95 a month for a hosted solution. My view was that an expenditure of $3-4 a month/$36-48 a year was pretty reasonable for this new hobby of mine and gave it optionality down the road. I’m pretty happy with that decision. Hope that helps!
Tony says
August 17, 2017 at 6:42 pmI thought of starting a blog a few years back and dabbled a little as a just for fun thing. I stopped a long time ago. At the time I thought you only made money on blogs from ads. I read your post the other day and found out about affiliate money. I’m extremely interested. I’m stuck on what to call the blog and what to write about. I am thinking finances as my degree is accounting and I enjoy finances. The other is woodworking as I do that on the side right now maybe a little of both. I know you say just jump in there. The other thing is how to get the followers to click on links. Friends and family only get you so many hits. Any words of wisdom on that part of it? Thank you! You are an inspiration in so many ways!
Christi Johnson - All The Niches says
August 20, 2017 at 9:36 amI remember when I was first starting out as a blogger, I was so stressed out about getting to $20k per month and more. In the back of my mind, I really wanted six figures per month…and though that’s not impossible, it’s not likely I will ver make that kind of money from my blog.
I write for a living, and blogging is just not something I do all the time. But after reading this article, I have my sights set a LOT more realistically. THANK YOU for this! It makes blogging look a a lot more normal. (BTW…I’m here because I found you through Making Sense of Sense.)
Love your site!
JP Livingston says
August 21, 2017 at 8:50 pmHey Christi. The nice thing, too, that I remind myself about blogging is that you are building a resource that gets better over time. Whether you hit your initial $20k+ per month or not, if you’re working steadily on it, you’re slowly building traffic, content, etc. that becomes more valuable over time. There’s something pretty cool about that, wherever the final numbers take you. Hope you’re enjoying the journey a lot more and happy blogging.
Veneta @ Becoming Life Smart says
September 11, 2017 at 9:47 amJP, I just wanted to say a quick thank you for posting this. It really gave me that final push to start the blog I’ve been thinking about for a couple of years. While I may not make much money from it, just knowing it’s possible and getting to learn about blogging along the way would be a win in itself.
JP Livingston says
September 11, 2017 at 1:17 pmThat’s fantastic. I only have positive things to say about my own experience and wish you the best of luck. You’re right, there are multiple ways to win with this new venture and you’re almost guaranteed to win in at least one way.
Gofi says
September 14, 2017 at 6:26 pmTimely. Motivated. Just what I needed to make a productive weekend. I recently started my own blog – but it needs a lot of work.
Bernadette says
October 5, 2017 at 3:56 pmHi! Your article on blogging is just what I needed to read today! I have a simple question – how to do get readers to your blog? Is it just a slow-and-steady process? Start with friends and family first? I “retired” last year – well, I actually quit my job at 56 to strike it out on my own as a technical writer. So far, it’s been extremely successful but I’d love to try blogging too. I just don’t know how anyone “finds” a blog. Any suggestions on how to create exposure? My blog will also be on personal finance, but geared towards people who’d like to be where I am today (and I left many of them at my last job!) but have no idea how to get there. I just love seeing 20- and 30-year olds retiring, but I’m betting there are a lot of people of all ages who’d like to know how they can “retire” and who don’t have as much time in front of them to accomplish it as those 20-30 year olds. It’s a question of balance. Thanks for this wonderful and motivating post!
Kyle @ drdiscount.net says
November 5, 2017 at 4:20 pmHi JP,
I want to thank you for inspiring me to start my own blog! Since reading your blogging articles a couple months ago, I’ve been working on my blog, and I launched it recently!
As of now, I have zero traffic. LOL. So I have a couple questions.
I’m curious if you wouldn’t mind visiting my blog very quickly and giving me any feedback or suggestions.
Second, do you have any high level suggestions on how to increase traffic on new blogs? Perhaps this could be another blog article for you. 😉 I’m gonna do some research myself, but any suggestions are welcome. My focus right now is to drive up traffic and write a few more articles before I try to monetize.
I have an idea for another blog (on biotech news and investing), so hopefully this first blog will work out. Thanks in advance for any advice you may have!
Thanks!
Kyle
Yazmin says
November 13, 2017 at 11:19 amThanks for the very meaningful article. The thing that makes me scratch my head is how new blogs get to having views and traffic. And when i read all the SEO articles and whatnot, i already get overwhelmed. All that looks really daunting to a newbie blogger. Any basic tips on how to initially set your new blog to get great traffic ? Many thanks.
David F says
February 2, 2018 at 1:02 pmWhat type of traffic you will need will depend on your blog. But many blogs these days are promoted on social networks such as Facebook (possibly using Facebook boost post feature), Pinterest and Twitter. Two other methods to look into are free and paid guest postings on established sites or youtube ads.
Allyson says
January 17, 2018 at 3:20 pmThank you for not only writing another great post, but taking being so responsive to everyone in the comments. As far as privacy and anonymity goes, I see you have recommended blue hosts domain privacy (done) and say you limit the identifying information included in the posts. How do you handle keeping your affiliate links anonymous? Regarding the back end payouts from the affiliates how do you navigate providing personal information?
JP Livingston says
January 17, 2018 at 4:48 pmHey Allyson! Not sure what you mean about keeping affiliate links anonymous – I don’t generally have privacy concerns so I don’t do anything special with those. As for payouts from affiliates, you do need to provide your personal information. Information collected by other businesses for the purposes of payment aren’t shared publicly and I think for most bloggers the concerns around anonymity are generally on a social/personal level where strangers know who you are rather than a professional business trying to send you your ‘paycheck’. If you were particularly sensitive to the issue, you could incorporate your business, establish a business address, and use that information for affiliate payout info. Incorporated businesses have their own EIN. Hope that helps.
Allyson says
February 24, 2018 at 3:48 pmSomehow you managed to answer without my question being clear! Thank you!
Sandy says
February 2, 2018 at 12:12 pmAt the risk of sounding cynical, very few people who have blogs will ever make serious money from them. It requires a rare combination of talent, drive, content, and monetization that maybe 1 out of 1,000,000 people possess. There is nothing wrong with taking a chance and following your dream. However, I suspect that most of the “successful bloggers” whose numbers you reported are the exception, rather than the rule.
Jason R says
July 10, 2018 at 11:05 amSandy, thanks for sharing. This. is as I recall my first reply or comment to any discussion in such a format. With that said, yes you sound a bit cynical. As for how many people are successful in respects to generating income from a blog, that number is nothing but a guess. I think the key idea here is to share information, stimulate thought/discussion and lead people in a direction of finding their way. Not everyone is going to make the big money and for that matter may jot make anymminey. But, if they have an avenue for privinsinf information and stimulating thoughts and inspiring readers in any positive forum, then goal accomplished. You simply don’t know the impact you might have by sharing. In this case, I have read countless blogs and forums with similar information. Each one giving me some insight and knowledges. But in this case, these articles spoke from a realistic and conservative approach which Inwas able to connect with. Maybe not so much you, but me. For that matter I shared the link with my sons. They have ideas and interest in this and if they get just one thing from the article, then goal met.
Thanks for inspiring me to comment and share. Even you made a difference today and we simply share two different opinions of the article.
Denise says
October 2, 2018 at 9:08 amThis is so well written and informative. I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a vlog on makeup over 50. There are a few women out there doing this, but I see room for improvement. Would these rules still apply if I wanted to do makeup techniques and reviews of products on YouTube all while catering to an older group of women? Thank you.