This is most definitely one of the most commonly asked questions I get. I can almost always guarantee I'll wake up to a DM asking 'Hi, just a quick question! How long does it take to making money blogging?' 😉

Truthfully, I don't mind the question at all! It's a very valid question to ask before diving into a whole new project which requires some time and money commitment. This blog post aims to answer this question in full detail, so I can signpost people who want to know more about this.

You want the short answer? In my experience of working on 6 of my own blogs and helping countless others, about 12-18 months, if you play all your cards right.

The long answer: it depends on a couple of things. It can be pretty soon. Or not. It's complicated.

Before I dive into the factors which impact how quick you can start to make money blogging, let me share a few stats that will help you understand why there's a long answer to the question.

On average, it takes bloggers 20 months before they start to make money from blogging (please bear in mind this statistic comes from a survey of over 4000 bloggers, many of which may not have started with the right strategies, guidance or even any desire to earn an income initially). The same study found that 27% of bloggers start earning money from their blogs within 6 months and 38% are making a full-time income within 2 years of starting their blog (source: The Productive Blogger).

The takeaway from these facts? Blogging can take time to start earning you money, but there are ways you can accelerate that timeline.

Factors that impact how long it takes to make money blogging:

How Competitive Your Niche is

When it comes to making money through blogging, the niche you choose plays a huge role in determining how long it may take to start building an audience and an income.

If you opt for a highly competitive niche, such as fitness or personal finance, be prepared to invest more time and effort to stand out from the crowd. There are numerous established blogs and industry experts already catering to these niches, so it may take longer to get noticed and build a loyal audience. However, don't let this discourage you. By consistently putting out engaging, comprehensive, helpful content that fills in the gaps in your market, you can carve out a space in even the most competitive niches. I've personally seen new bloggers break into competitive niches purely because of how well written their content was.

On the other hand, choosing a niche market with less competition can offer quicker opportunities for monetisation. These niches may have a smaller audience but the reduced competition can mean good news for you. With fewer competitors vying for attention, you have a higher chance of standing out and establishing yourself as an authority figure in that particular niche. This can really quicken the process of attracting readers, building an audience, and monetizing your blog. Think of it like this - it's easier to stand out at a cake sale when there's just 5 competing stalls vs 30.

In order to assess how competitive your niche is, I highly recommend you dive into some keyword research. I talk about how you can do this here.

How Long It Takes To You Build an Audience

I'll say it in the simplest way possible: your readers will drive in the money. More readers = more money. It's the simplest finance equation I've ever heard.

Whether you monetise your blog through ads, affiliate marketing or by selling product, it's just logic that the more readers your blog gets, the more income you'll be able to generate.

Ultimately, your power will be in driving new readers to your blog AND gaining returning readers (like repeat customers in a business).

Like with all good things, building an audience takes some time. Here's why:

• It takes time to build enough content on your blog to bring them in, hook them and make them a returning reader. It's quite difficult to get a returning, loyal reader if your blog only has 5 posts. Comparatively, it'd be easier if you had 105 posts. And getting up posts take time, understandably!
• It takes time to foster a connection with them. Think of it like when you meet a new person - you won't always click with them immediately. It may take a couple times, a couple of meetings, a few conversations. Trust just doesn't happen overnight. Studies actually show it takes 7 encounters before you consider yourself a friend - and studies have also shown this principle applies to online figures too!
• It's a crowded digital space and it takes time to figure out how to leverage things like SEO, content writing and social media to help you stand out!

How Well You Maximise SEO

To prime anyone who may not know what I'm talking about, SEO is an abbreviation for 'search engine optimisation'. It refers to optimising your blog to ensure it's liked by search engines like Google. If your blog is favoured by search engines, you are rewarded by showing up higher in the search results whenever someone searches about your topic. So whenever someone Googles your niche, your name comes up - woo!

SEO is pretty much the king for bringing in blog traffic - happy to fight anyone on this. Without search engine traffic, it's very difficult to bring in a sizeable blog readership. I'm sure there are unicorn blogs which are nuances to this, but for the most part, a strong and stable blog is built on the foundations of solid SEO.

The reason why I love search engine traffic is that once your post is on the first page of Google, you're SET. Sit back, enjoy that iced coffee and rejoice in the knowledge that you will continue to get traffic to your post even if you spend the next few weeks sleeping, on holiday, having a baby - anything!

SEO magic is precisely the reason why I was able to bring in a full-time income from my blog after my son was born despite not posting on my food blog for 10 months! In fact, the day he was born was my all-time highest earning day for that year!

Google gets 8.5 billion searches every single day. That's a whole load of potential exposure for you and your blog! Getting onto the first page of Google is when the traffic starts getting real. In fact, for all my blogs, Google has always been my number one traffic driver, bringing in over 90% of my total traffic for each of them!

The thing about SEO is it takes a bit of time to kick in for new blogs - 12-18 months being the timeframe in my experience. Ultimately, this is why my short answer to the question 'How long does it take to make money blogging' is 12-18 months.

However, how well you execute your SEO prowess will also impact how quickly you can begin to monetise your blog. The better you are at implementing SEO, the quicker and more likely you are to rank higher on Google, and therefore the quicker you can start making money from your blog. If your SEO efforts are half-hearted, it can take longer than the 12-18 month timeline.

I delve into SEO practices in my book Blogging IS A Real Job! which I've applied to my blogs with HUGE success. If you're new to blogging and SEO, I'd highly recommend reading my book to introduce you to essential SEO concepts.

Whether You Tap Into the Power of Social Media

Waiting 12-18 months for SEO practices to kick in can suck. I know, it's a long time and wouldn't we all love results quicker?

I often get asked what's the best workaround to that wait time and my response always includes leveraging social media to build an audience.

Social media in today's age is POWERFUL. A single post going viral can bring in hundreds (even thousands) of followers who you can now connect with and direct over to your blog! When utilised in the right way, social media can really fast-track your blogging success whilst you wait for that SEO magic to kick in!

And it's not only just a platform to leverage with the sole intention of going viral. It's probably one of the best mediums to connect and build a relationship with people who are interested in your niche on a more personal level. It's called SOCIAL media for a good reason!

My two favourite platforms for driving traffic to your blog (based on my experience being active on both these platforms since 2014) are Pinterest and Instagram. Pinterest has been a solid traffic driver to my blog Fatima Cooks despite me not actually posting very much new content on the platform, so I'm a really huge advocate for using Pinterest as a blogger!

Research suggests Pinterest takes the cake when it comes to getting traffic to your blog, followed by Instagram. It appears that Pinterest users are very willing to click on links to read more information on other blogs and websites, whereas users on Instagram (and other platforms such as TikTok) are much more reluctant and prefer to get any information they want directly on the app.

Truthfully, even if the readership you build on social media does not translate into masses of blog page views, it's okay because having a presence on social media builds awareness of you and your brand, creates a connection point between you and your readers and it helps solidify your authority in the niche as we spoke about earlier. It's a win/win situation!

Usually, the best practice is to select one (or an absolute maximum of two) social media platforms you're comfortable with and focus all your audience-building energy on that platform, as opposed to spreading yourself thin between 4 different platforms.

Whether You Build an Email List Effectively

Starting an email list is usually the second course of action I recommend to those who ask me about the best workaround to driving traffic in the early days. This is a particularly great option for those who may not be so willing to have a very active presence on social media.

The purpose of an email list is to build a catalogue of people who are super interested in you, your blog and what you write about. Because you have their email, you'll be able to keep in touch with them, write to them about new posts or updates and foster a longer-term connection with them.

Building an email list is an excellent way to :

1. Entice readers onto your blog, usually by offering them an attractive freebie (e.g., 'Download My Free Guide to Decluttering Your Home in 5 Days' for a blog about minimalism). They'll input their email in order to gain access to the freebie, and then just like magic you'll have their email!
2. Retain those readers: Once you have their email, it's clear that your blog topic is of interest to them - there's no other reason why they'd have downloaded your freebie! Therefore, you can really capitalise on this by strategically sending them email newsletters and/or updates on new posts to both foster a connection with them AND keep them coming back to your blog for more! This relationship will be mutually beneficial - you keep sending them relevant, helpful stuff, they keep coming back to your blog! 🥳
3. Nurture readers into buying: With an email list, you have a direct line of communication with your audience, allowing you to build trust and credibility over time. By consistently providing value through your email content, you can gradually introduce your products, services, or affiliate recommendations that align with their interests and needs. Remember, the key is to provide genuine value and address their issues, problems and concerns, making your offers a natural extension of their journey with your blog.

All my email lists for all of my blogs are built on Mailerlite - they're free for people with an email list of less than 1,000 which is PLENTY for those starting up!

Disclaimer: email marketing is a pretty ace way of getting readers to keep returning to your blog. The only caveat with using email marketing as a beginner blogger is in getting people onto your blog in the first place. This is usually not such a struggle once that SEO magic has kicked in or if you have an active presence on social media. As a beginner blogger, though, who doesn't have any SEO magic or social media? It'll take longer to build your email list.

How Much You Diversify Your Monetisation Strategies

It takes time to build a readership that's large enough to monetise via ads - in fact, you'll need at least 10,000 page views a month before you can apply to the ad network Monumetric, which is where I recommend bloggers start off.

However, that certainly doesn't mean doom and gloom. There are SO many ways you can start making some money even before you start hitting those kind of traffic numbers.

Diversification is a fancy word that means finding different ways to do something. So when we say we should diversify our blog monetisation strategies, we mean we need to think about the different ways we can make money from our blog.

According to a survey from The Productive Blogger (I quote this survey SO much because I absolutely freaking LOVE how detailed it is), the number of income streams a blogger directly correlates to how much money they make. The more streams of incomes = more money.

Some ways of monetisation you can leverage earlier on include:

• Brand sponsorships or collaborations.
• Affiliate marketing
• Selling digital products - this is an incredibly passive way to make some money online, it's very easy to set up and it's a quick way to bring in some income. For e.g., if you have a blog about minimalism, you could create an e-book about how to go from hoarder to minimalist in 1 month. I began selling printable educational resources very early on on my language blog My Zuban and I was able to begin earning money immediately thanks to it!
• Selling services - this ties in incredibly well with some niches. For e.g., if you run a food blog, you could offer catering services? If you run a blog about starting a business, could you offer consultancy or any other done-for-you service, such as creating business plans?

How Well You Adapt, Learn and Keep Up To Date With The Industry

In the ever-changing digital landscape, adaptability and a willingness to learn are essential traits for success. The online world is dynamic, and trends and technologies evolve rapidly. By staying adaptable, you can navigate these changes well, ensuring your blog is being crafted with the best practices in place, so you're on the right track to making money ASAP.

Being open to learning new strategies and techniques is vital. Embrace a growth mindset early on and be willing to learn about aspects of blogging which may feel new, maybe even counter-intuitive, to you. This may involve learning about search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, content creation, or even venturing into new platforms or mediums. By continuously expanding your skill set, you can adapt to the changing landscape and position yourself for success.

Staying informed about industry trends and developments is one of the best ways you can keep adaptive, learning and growing. Keep a finger on the pulse of the blogging community, follow industry leaders and influencers (my favourite way to do this on the go is by listening to podcasts). This will help you understand the shifts in audience preferences and algorithm changes that could impact your blog's visibility and money-making potential.

Summary

• Blogging is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme. In fact, most blogs done right will take about 12-18 months before some money begins to roll in.
• The niche you pick impacts how quicky you can begin making money blogging. Competitive niches will take longer and more effort than lower-competition niches.
• More readers = more money-making potential, therefore the quicker you can build an audience, the quicker you'll make money.
• SEO is an essential part of blogging, and applying SEO from day 1 will help you monetise quicker.
• Social media is also a powerful tool that can help you build an audience rapidly.
• Email lists are a fantastic way of making readers return to your blog again and again, which helps you build your audience.
• There are MANY ways to make money from blogging - making sure you are diversifying your streams of income is essential.
• Blogging is an ever-evolving world and keeping up with new trends and learning about best practices will really set you apart and help you make money ASAP.

New to the blogging industry and want to learn about how you can start making money from your blog? Of course you do. My free guide, '10 Ways To Make Money Blogging' is an excellent primer to introduce you to a whole new world of money-making potential. Download now and I'll send it over to your inbox!

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