How Long It Takes to Make Money with Your Blog

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I want to be completely honest about how long it takes to make money with your blog. I think some people are under the impression that you can start a blog and within a few months, be able to quit your full-time job. Sure, that DOES happen, but I honestly don’t think it’s the norm. If you’re working full-time, you’re already strapped for time. Add kids into that mix and you’ve got very little time.

Here’s a realistic look at how long it takes to make money with your blog, plus how to earn an income from your blog.

I’m a mom to three little girls. I started my blog in September 2014 when my two oldest girls were just two and one. I was freelancing at the time, not a full-time employee. My blog, however, launched me into the awesome world of personal finance freelance writing. So while my blog itself may not have made much money, I actually made quite a bit my first year of blogging thanks to freelancing.

From September 2014 when I started my blog to August 2015, I made $18,066.44.

You can view all of these earning on my income reports page.

How Blogging Lead to Freelance Jobs

I started my blog with the intent of turning it into a small business. But with two little girls and tons of freelancing work rolling in, I knew it was going to take some time. Let’s face it, we’re all busy. I want this post to help you paint an accurate picture of how long it takes to make money with your blog. If you’re debating starting a blog, I want to this to be a resource for you.

I made my first $100 blogging within the first five months of starting it. I did it through ads, and you can read more about that here. However, the money didn’t just start increasing at that point. It wasn’t for another 2-3 months that I made another $100 through ads. It takes time. Now, almost three years in, I’m making ~$300/month in ads. Slowwww growth, but I’ll take it!

I’m also making over $1,000/month in affiliate sales. You can view my latest income report here.

If you’re interested in freelance writing, becoming a VA, or landing any online work from home, though, I highly highly highly recommend starting a blog. Before starting my blog, I was freelancing for two main companies. The first was a women’s website which I enjoyed, but I mostly wrote about health, relationships and food. Personal finance was my passion, and while I did get a few personal finance assignments within that site, it definitely wasn’t my “niche.”

The other company was a content mill. That’s right – I was writing tons of articles on a bajillion different subjects for a whopping $25/article. While yes, we all have to start somewhere, why not create your own platform (ie your blog) in the niche of your choice to showcase your work? My blog was now my portfolio of personal finance writing samples, and it landed me tons of clients.

Interested in starting a blog? Check out my tutorial on how to start a profitable blog here! Use my link and receive my book on blogging – The Beginner’s Guide to Blogging – for free! You’ll also receive a special discount on Bluehost for using my link! Win, win!

While you can make a living writing for content mills and other low-paying sites, you’re going to work more than full-time. I don’t know about you, but my goal has always been to maximize my income while minimizing my time 🙂 Having a niche allowed me to portray myself as an expert, and the companies that hired me paid significantly better than the sites I wrote for without having a niche.

A few months after starting my blog, I was working less yet making more. I got emails frequently regarding freelance assignments and had a much easier time applying for freelance jobs and hearing back. Again, I made over $18,000 the first year of starting my blog through freelancing. You can, too!

How Long It Takes to Make Money with Your Blog

Now, almost three years in, I am so happy to say that it’s my blog that is making me the most amount of money (not freelancing!). In fact, for the most part, I don’t freelance anymore unless it’s an awesome company for an awesome rate.

This month, my blog will take in close to $3,000. Want to know how much time I spent blogging? Oh, about 10 hours.

But, let’s please not forget that I’ve been blogging for almost three years now. If you start a blog now, you’re not doing it so you can make thousands within a few months, but rather so you can create a better future for you and your family (and pick up some awesome freelancing jobs in the interim!).

To help my blog grow, I’ve been using Tailwind to schedule my pins on Pinterest. You guys, Tailwind is a game-changer. I pin 100+ times per day, and there is just no way I could do that manually. Use my link to get started for free!

I think it can be deceiving (perhaps that’s not the right word…) to see blogging income reports where the blogger is making five figures per month. It makes it seem “too easy,” if that makes sense. The thing that most people don’t think about, though, is that these high-earning bloggers have been at it for years (most likely 4-5 years, minimum). They’ve learned so much along the way and made tons of mistakes, but the reason they got to where they are today is simply because they didn’t give up.

How to Make Money Blogging

I recommend installing ads on your site and focusing on growing your traffic. That’s step number one. Then, as you get a feel for your audience and learn more about what they want, create a product and dive into the world of affiliate sales. Affiliate sales is my favorite way to make money. Basically, if I recommend a product and someone purchases it, I make a commission at no extra cost to the buyer. It’s almost too good to be true!

I quit my job one month ago to focus on my blog! I’m making what I consider to be a part-time income (about $2,500 per month), but I also only work part-time hours. (TBH, I really only work about five hours per week on my blog.) I will consider myself making a full-time income blogging once I hit $5,000 per month.

To sum up, I would say (and I think most bloggers would agree) that it takes a good 1-2 years to start seeing an income, and a good 4-5 years to start seeing substantial income (I’ll make sure to update when I get there, haha!).

Does this help?! Are you a new blogger or thinking of starting a blog? What are some of your goals? I’d love to hear from you!!

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Comments

Francesca - From Pennies to Pounds says
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I started blogging at the end of April and I’ve made a little bit already, it would be nice to get more 🙂 but I am just enjoying blogging at the moment and trying to learn lots!
- Sarah Brooks says
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  You’re already making money?!?! That’s amazing!!! Keep it up; I would love to see where you’re at in a few years 🙂
Missy says
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I’m laughing at the $25 content mill articles – I think we wrote for the same mill. 😉
Glad to hear your blog is doing well!
- Sarah Brooks says
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  Hahaha probably 😉 Luckily, articles like that you can usually do pretty quickly. But, they weren’t fun and speed had to be key to make money (not quality, which I hated having to sacrifice). It’s much more enjoyable to take on high-paying projects that you’re passionate about!
  - Missy says
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    Yes, definitely more enjoyable! 🙂
Holly@ClubThrifty says
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It does take longer than people think. I have a friend/neighbor who just started a website and he is thinking he will make money quickly. I just smile and nod! In my experience, it usually takes a year or more to make real money.
- Sarah Brooks says
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  Yup, I totally agree!! And it takes a LOT of hard work and hours before you start to see anything. But, the good news is, once you DO start making money, it seems like it’s relatively easy to maintain. At least, that’s been the case with me!
Ray says
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Nice! It’s posts like this that inspire me. I plan to keep going anyway, but it’s nice to read stuff that show what the light at the end of the tunnel (blog income!) looks like.
- Sarah Brooks says
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  Thanks, Ray! Yup, I like to make sure people are realistic about blogging. I do think one day this will replace both my husband and mine’s FT income, but being real, I don’t think that day will be anytime soon haha!
Kelly Cox says
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This was a great post, Sarah! I think it was very REAL and honest. I may have been unrealistic in my expectations when I started blogging too. I make more with freelancing than anything but it’s great side money. In fact, I’ve slowed WAY down on my posting to work on other things and it has worked out fine. I’m a year and a half in and it took me a year to start making money.
I’ll go and pin this to help others see that it takes time but is worth it! 🙂
- Sarah Brooks says
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  Thanks, Kelly!! Yup, blogging for sure takes time. Some people can earn faster than others depending on their niche and how much time they have. But, for most of us where we start a blog just for some “Side” money, it can definitely take a while!! So much to learn and do haha!
Paige @ Live, Laugh, Budget says
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I’m hoping to leave my day job within the next two/two and a half-ish years and I need to reach a consistent $1800/ month for that to be possible, so I started last month. Thanks for this post, it gives me hope that as long as I stick with it, that my expectations seem fairly reasonable. So many bloggers make it seem like the minute you start your blog you will have a full time income in a month or two, but if you go through their old income reports it follows more closely to how you describe it.
- Sarah Brooks says
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  I definitely think you can reach $1800/month in two years! Just from your blog I’m sure you can do that! If you freelance too, I bet you can make that happen in six months! Best of luck!!
Alysha says
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I love everything you write! Do you happen to have suggestions on where are good places to find freelance work? I have looked on some sites but it seems difficult to tell what is actually worthwhile or reliable. Thanks!!
- Sarah Brooks says
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  For sure Contently!! Though, it can take a while to actually get work (took me a year, lol). I also would browse Indeed.com (put in “freelance writer” as the subject and leave the location blank), morning coffee newsletter, and contena.com (this site has a paid option, but the free option does list good jobs!). What type of niche are you looking for?
  - Alysha says
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    That’s great thank you! Im a bit flexible as to what I’m looking for. I have a degree in business so I have a bit of background in that. Ideally I would like women’s lifestyle, home decor, diy, or parenting. I don’t mind working for a lesser wage to get more experience and build a network. I definitely want to continue blogging but making something as I get going is important too! Thanks again 🙂
Amanda says
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Great article, Sarah! I am a stay-at-home mom of an 18-month-old and just started blogging in June. I would love to be about to replace the income I was making before deciding to stay home ($2000.) I was really hoping to be about to hit that point in a year or two. Thank you for writing a realistic post about what to expect from a blogging career.
Christina says
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Great blog post! I’m at the beginning stages of blogging (one month in) and even though I am super excited to monetize my blog I know its going to take time. I’ve been reading things like crazy and I’m trying to do plenty of research during nap time and bed time with my two littles! Thanks again!
Taylor W says
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I had a small “blog” I guess you could say lol but I had no idea how to get it out there. Now with baby number 2 due next month I really want to start it back up. Big things are happening in our lives and I’d love to share experiences and make an income! My question is how exactly do you get paid? Who pays you? Google, Amazon, and whatever other company you’re with sends you a check? As I’m reading I keep in mind this is not a get rich quick, I am just curious as to how exactly bloggers receive their income.
Thank you for this awesome blog!
Taylor
- Sarah Brooks says
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  Hi Taylor!! Thanks for the comment 🙂 I get paid by ad networks (like Google Adsense; but now I use Monumetric), affiliate programs (Bluehost, Money Saving Mom, Amazon, etc) and sponsored posts (this is where a company will reach out to see if I want to write a post on them. If I do, we agree on a price, I write and publish the post, then they pay me). The ad networks always paid via direct deposit into my bank account. Google Adsense pays once a month but you have to be over $100 for that month. Monumetric pays twice a month and the amount doesn’t matter!
  All of my affiliate programs and sponsored posts pay me via PayPal 🙂 Affiliates are also once a month and sponsored posts are random! I hope that helped!! Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Julie says
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Wow Sarah, thanks for sharing and keeping it real. I’ve only just started my blog this week and decided to start researching it all this week, (I know cart before the horse lol) I have read soo much in the last few days that has my head spinning and overwhelmed about people making a fortune in their first year and thinking I’ll never manage that, it’s so great to read your story, thank you for sharing reality. 🙂
Gladys says
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It’s nice to come across a post like this and be reminded that it takes time to get to that goal of financial freedom. I’m wanting to start my own blog and while I’m quite overwhelmed by all that it entails, I’m also super excited to share my interests with others and see where it leads.
Gladys says
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Also, this may be a silly question and I think I know the answer but, let’s say you start out your blog on one laptop, then in the future you buy a new one. You wouldn’t lose anything blog-wise that was created correct? Since it’s all online. I’m not super tech savvy lol.
- Sarah Brooks says
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  Hi Gladys!!
  Congratulations on wanting to start a blog!! I pondered the idea for a longgg time before finally biting the bullet. And like I said, since yes – it is overwhelming, especially at first – just commit to doing 30 minutes of blogging per day to start off! It totally takes time and it’s better to go slowly and make money slower rather than rush into it and end up quitting. I truly, truly believe that this is one of the best ways to bring in extra income for your family; and I also believe ANYONE can be successful at it as long as they are committed and don’t give up!
  And nope! You won’t lose anything at all! If you have pictures saved to your old computer or certain files (I have an ongoing “Blogging To Do List,” for example) you’ll want to email yourself those or save them to a hard drive and move them over. But as far as your actual blog, you can access that from any computer. You simply login to your account just as you would your email!
  Let me know if you have any other questions!! Always happy to help 🙂
shy says
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wow what a great accomplishment! I’ve yet to earn from mine though. It’s really not as easy as many people think it is. Good for you though.
- Sarah Brooks says
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  How long have you been blogging for?? Give it time!! Trust me, if you put in effort every day (even just a little bit), you’ll start to make money. It just takes a while! Took me almost two years to be consistent 🙂
Mandy says
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I started my blog this month and would love to just about replace my income within a year. I think that is a high hope, but a girl can dream, set goals, and work toward them. We’ll see. Thanks for the realistic post. My biggest goal (hurdle) right now is building a community and getting followers. I am hopeful.