Okay, so if you don’t wanna scroll through some giant guide, I’ll just spill it here. The fastest ways bloggers usually earn money blogging? Ads, affiliates, sponsors, your own stuff (ebooks, templates, whatever), and services. That’s it. Five buckets. Everyone makes it sound fancier, but honestly, most “monetization strategies” just sit somewhere in those lanes.
Now… if you’re starting out, don’t overthink it. Ads? Forget it until you’ve got traffic (like, more than your mom clicking refresh). Services? You can offer those from day one—write for someone else, do design, coaching, tutoring, idk, whatever you’re half-good at. Affiliates are kinda fun too, slap a link into a post you were already writing, maybe you make \$3, maybe nothing. Sponsors? They’ll ghost you until you’ve got numbers worth bragging about. And products… yeah, cool idea, but unless you’ve got an audience, you’re just selling an ebook to your cat.
So if you’re like me—impatient, broke, kinda hoping this blog thing pays off before your landlord texts again—start with services or a little affiliate hustle. The rest comes when traffic does. Simple. Messy. But it works.
1) What Actually Makes Money in Blogging (The 5 Big Buckets)
Alright, so if you’re asking me what actually makes money in blogging… it’s not some secret hack hiding behind a \$997 course, it’s basically five boring-sounding buckets. Ads, affiliates, sponsors, your own stuff, and services. That’s it. Every “ways to make money blogging” list you see on Google? Same five, shuffled around.
I remember when I first started, I thought ads were gonna buy me a beach house. Slapped AdSense on my site with like… what, 200 views a day? I made seventeen cents that month. Not even enough for a samosa. Ads only start feeling “real” when your traffic is in the tens of thousands, and even then the RPM can make you cry.
Affiliates though—those sneaky little links—actually paid my rent one time. I wrote this messy comparison post about two email tools. I wasn’t even good at writing, just ranting about what annoyed me. Someone clicked. I got \$30. I remember refreshing the dashboard like a lunatic. So yeah, affiliates are one of the most beginner friendly “blog monetization models” because you don’t need a million readers, just the right ones who actually care.
Sponsors? Those are weird. You need guts to pitch, but brands will literally pay you to write about them if your niche matches. The first time I got a deal, I undercharged so badly I think they still laugh about it. But it felt like winning the lottery.
Then there’s your own products—ebooks, templates, courses, even printables if you’re crafty. That’s where big money hides, because you set the rules. But it’s scary, you know? People might not buy.
And services… basically selling yourself. Coaching, consulting, design, whatever skill you’ve got. Honestly, that was my safety net when ads and affiliates weren’t paying.
So yeah, those five are the main “blog income streams.” Which one’s best for beginners? I’d say affiliates + a service to start. Can small blogs make money? Yep, just not the way YouTubers make it sound. It’s slower, messy, but possible.
2) Pick Your Monetization Path by Stage (0–3 mo, 3–9 mo, 9–18 mo)
Alright, so—this is the part nobody tells you straight, right? Everyone’s like “Start a blog, post good content, the money will come.” Nah. It’s messy. There’s a timeline. And depending on your traffic (or lack of it), you can or can’t do certain things. I learned that the hard way, staring at my dashboard with 27 views in a whole week and wondering if AdSense was broken or if my blog was just invisible (spoiler: it was the second one).
0–3 months: survival mode
Think of this phase like… planting seeds but in soil you’re not even sure is fertile. You don’t have traffic yet. You don’t even know what “traffic thresholds” mean in practice. So forget ads. If you throw up Google AdSense here, you’ll make literal cents and maybe ruin your vibe with clunky banners.
What does matter? Two things:
- Content hub. Pick a cluster of posts around one topic (don’t scatter). It’s your way of telling Google, “hey I’m not just randomly yelling into the void, I actually know this stuff.”
- Lead magnet. Even if it’s ugly—a checklist, a PDF, a little Notion template—just put something out there and start grabbing emails.
And, yeah, experiment with one or two affiliate basics. Don’t overthink it. I used Amazon Associates at first because it was easy, even though the payouts were laughable (like \$1.47 for a week). But that \$1.47 felt like proof.
3–9 months: the “okay, maybe this isn’t hopeless” stage
By now, if you’ve stuck around, you’ve probably got… I don’t know, a couple thousand monthly views? Maybe more if you’re aggressive with SEO. Once you’re seeing at least 10–15k pageviews a month, ads become worth it. AdSense is the starter pack, but if you can grow to Mediavine eligibility (they want something like 50k sessions/month), that’s where you see real RPMs—like, actual \$10–\$20 per thousand views. That’s beer money turning into rent money.
Also, this is when I wish I’d pitched my first sponsor. Don’t wait until you’re “big enough.” One sponsor at \$100–200 can feel like oxygen when you’re still struggling. Brands don’t always care about your size, sometimes they just want someone who sounds human and fits their niche.
And for the love of everything, launch a tiny digital product. Doesn’t need to be a whole online course. Sell a \$9 template, a \$19 ebook, a \$29 mini-guide. I hesitated for months thinking “who would buy this from me?” Turns out… a handful of people did. And that handful gave me more confidence than 50 affiliate clicks.
9–18 months: the “oh crap, this is real” phase
If you’ve pushed this far, you’re not a tourist anymore. You’re building. Your traffic should be consistent—maybe 30k, maybe 100k if you’ve really nailed it—and your monetization mix opens up.
This is when memberships, courses, and consulting aren’t just ideas anymore. They’re doable. A \$7/month community or a \$99 course can scale in ways that \$2 affiliate clicks never will. Services, too—consulting calls, coaching, even freelancing gigs that come because of your blog.
I’ll be honest though: it’s exhausting. At 12 months in, I tried juggling affiliates, ads, sponsors, and launching a mini-course. Burned myself out so badly I stopped posting for weeks. So maybe… stagger it. Build one channel solid before layering the next.
So, yeah, if you’re Googling “how long to make money blogging”—it’s not overnight. Some people get lucky with a viral post, but most of us crawl: first \$5 from an affiliate, then \$50 from ads, then maybe \$500 from sponsors or products. And those traffic thresholds? They matter. Ads aren’t worth it until you’ve got decent numbers. Affiliates can work small, but scale with more readers. Courses and memberships? They only make sense once you’ve got trust built over months.
It’s not glamorous, but if you stick with the path—0–3 months building foundation, 3–9 months layering ads/affiliates/small products, 9–18 months adding bigger plays—you’ll have something real. Not just a blog, but a business.
3) Traffic First: What Moves the Needle in 2025
So… everyone wants to “monetize” their blog (fancy word, huh?), but then you look at your analytics and it’s like—12 people visited today, half of them are probably your cousins, and one is you refreshing the page. Ads? Sponsors? Forget it. If nobody’s showing up, there’s no money. Period.
I used to think posting random articles would magically pull in readers. Like, write a post called “10 Ways to Stay Motivated” and boom—viral. Nope. Crickets. What I wish someone told me: traffic is a system, not luck. And the first piece of that system is making a map. Yeah, like a nerdy topical map. Basically you pick one area and go deep, not wide. I once wrote about blogging tips, Netflix shows, and—don’t laugh—mango pickle recipes, all on the same site. Google didn’t know what the hell I was about. Neither did readers. Once I focused on SEO for blogs, keyword clustering, little silos of related posts—traffic started to crawl in. Not sprint, crawl, but hey, better than zero.
Then there’s internal linking. God, I used to ignore this because it felt boring. But connecting your posts like a spider web is weirdly powerful. Readers click around longer, and Google’s like, “oh, this site knows its stuff.” Sometimes I literally go back to old posts at 1 a.m. and shove in links like I’m patching holes in a leaky boat. Doesn’t look glamorous, but it works.
Long-tail posts are the unsung heroes. Everyone fights for “make money blogging,” but people are secretly Googling “how to get traffic to a new blog with no money” or “is Pinterest still good for blogs in 2025.” That’s where you slide in. I wrote one scrappy article targeting a weird long-tail like “best free email list growth tools for students,” and it outranked sites 100x bigger than mine. Low competition + desperate searchers = gold.
Now, programmatic content—I have a love/hate relationship. The idea of generating hundreds of pages with templates is tempting. Like, “best cafés in [city]” style. But if you’re sloppy, it looks like a spam farm. Google’s not stupid. If you go down that path, you gotta keep quality in check, or you’ll burn your whole domain. Trust me, I tanked one site with junky programmatic garbage. Felt like watching a plant die in fast-forward.
And don’t get me started on repurposing. I used to think Pinterest was for moms planning weddings. Wrong. It still drives blog traffic in 2025, especially if you make snackable graphics. YouTube Shorts? Reels? I’m awkward on camera, but even a 30-second clip of me rambling about a blog post pulls in strangers who’d never find me on Google. Multi-channel is annoying because, yes, more work, but it builds traffic resilience. One algorithm slap won’t wipe you out.
Last bit—email list growth. Every guru screams it, but it’s because when traffic does come, you need to keep it. Otherwise it’s like filling a bucket with holes. I slapped a janky newsletter box on my site, gave away a dumb PDF checklist, and suddenly I wasn’t just begging Google. I had 300 people to yell at directly in their inbox. Not huge, but enough to feel like I wasn’t screaming into the void.
So yeah, forget the “get rich quick” noise. Traffic first. Build the map, connect the dots, aim for weird little searches, repurpose like a scavenger, and collect emails like a hoarder. That’s what moves the needle.
4) Display Ads (RPM Math + When It’s Worth It)
Alright, so… display ads. Let me just say it straight: I used to think “oh cool, ads = free money.” Like slap a couple banners on the blog and I’ll be rolling in passive income. Spoiler: it doesn’t really work like that, unless you’ve got traffic that isn’t just your mom and your college roommate clicking once out of pity.
Anyway, the basics. If you’re starting out, you’re probably looking at AdSense. It’s the easy entry—pretty much the McDonald’s of ad networks. Low barrier, low payout, and sometimes it feels like pennies dribbling in. You get approved (hopefully), paste the code, and boom, your site looks like Times Square. Except the RPM (that’s “revenue per thousand impressions,” and no, I didn’t know what that meant the first year either) might be like \$2–\$5. Do the math:
- 10,000 pageviews × \$3 RPM ÷ 1000 = \$30.
Yep. That’s a pizza and maybe gas for the week.
Now, if you grow a bit—like 50k sessions/month—you can apply for the “fancy” networks like Mediavine or AdThrive. They actually care about quality traffic (read: not bots, not your friends refreshing your homepage). And the payout can jump big—like \$15–\$25 RPM in some niches. Which suddenly makes 50k pageviews = \$750–\$1250. That’s not yacht money, but it’s “hey, this could cover rent” money.
Here’s the simple formula that made me stop guessing:
| Pageviews | RPM | Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | \$3 | \$30 |
| 50,000 | \$15 | \$750 |
| 100,000 | \$20 | \$2000 |
Looks good on paper, right? But—there’s always a but—ads mess with user experience. Your site slows down, readers get annoyed, bounce rates climb. And the worst? If you’re in a “cheap” niche like poetry or parenting rants (yep, guilty), your RPM might tank. While finance or tech bloggers laugh their way to the bank because advertisers fight over those eyeballs. It’s kinda unfair but hey, that’s the ad game.
So… is it worth it? Depends. If you’ve got solid traffic, ads are like background noise income—you set them and forget them. But if you’re under 10k visits a month, honestly? It’s like celebrating over pocket change. I wasted too much time obsessing over my AdSense dashboard back then. Should’ve focused on writing posts people actually wanted to read.
Point is—blog RPM and networks like AdSense vs Mediavine matter, but don’t let them distract you from the obvious: no traffic, no ads, no money. Simple, dumb, painful truth.
5) Affiliate Marketing (Picking Offers + Content That Converts)
Alright, so affiliate marketing… man, this one messed me up in the beginning. Everyone online was like “it’s the best way for bloggers to make money” and I believed it, but I had no clue what I was doing. I signed up for five random programs, plastered links everywhere like confetti, and then got mad when I made, what, \$2.40 in three months. Yeah. Two bucks and change. I couldn’t even buy a bad coffee with that.
The thing nobody explained to me at first: you don’t need every affiliate program under the sun. You just need a couple that actually fit what you’re already writing about. Like, if your blog is about budget cooking, don’t go slapping Amazon links for \$800 cameras. People aren’t there for that. They’re there for pots, pans, air fryers, groceries… you know, stuff they’ll actually buy. That’s the whole “buyer intent” thing people keep throwing around. Took me way too long to figure out.
And the content part? Oh god, don’t just write “this is a great product” and call it a day. It won’t convert. What worked for me was writing those messy comparison posts — like “best cheap laptops for college students who hate carrying bricks in their backpack.” Weirdly specific, but that’s why it works. Folks type stuff like that into Google. Those are your “comparison keywords,” and if you line them up with affiliate links, cha-ching. Product roundups work too. I used to binge those “10 best ___” posts myself before buying anything, so yeah, write the kind of post you would actually Google when you’re desperate at 2 a.m. before payday.
Placement matters too. I used to bury links at the bottom like a secret treasure map. Nobody clicked. Then I shoved them right at the top, and people clicked… but it felt gross, like I was yelling “BUY THIS NOW.” Eventually, I figured a balance: sprinkle links in the middle of your story or tutorial. You’re talking about how you solved a problem, and bam — here’s the tool you used, here’s a link if you want it. It feels natural, because it is.
Oh, and disclosure. Ugh. I avoided it at first because I thought people wouldn’t click if I admitted I was making money. Spoiler: you’re legally required to say it. And honestly, readers don’t care as long as you’re honest. Now I just slap a line at the top like, “Heads up: some links here are affiliates, meaning I might earn coffee money if you buy. No extra cost to you.” Done. People appreciate it. Makes you look less like a shady internet gremlin.
One more thing I wish someone had told me: look for recurring commission programs. Like software tools, memberships, anything where you get paid every month the customer sticks around. It feels like magic when that first recurring payout hits. Suddenly you’re not chasing one-off sales, you’re building a tiny snowball that keeps rolling.
So yeah. Affiliate marketing for bloggers can be amazing, but it’s not a “get rich by Friday” button. Pick programs that fit your niche, write content that actually solves problems (tutorials, comparisons, roundups), place links like you’re talking to a friend not a billboard, and don’t forget that awkward little disclosure. Do that long enough, and the \$2.40 months turn into \$240… then maybe \$2,400 if you stick it out.
Anyway, that’s my rant. If you’re Googling “best affiliate programs for beginners” right now, don’t overthink it. Start with one or two that make sense for your readers. Write one ugly, honest post. Test. Tweak. Repeat. It’s messy, but it works.
6) Sponsored Posts & Brand Deals (Pitch Template + Pricing)
Alright, so sponsored posts. Brand deals. Honestly, this part of blogging felt like dating for money. Awkward, exciting, kinda sleazy if you do it wrong, but also the first time you realize, oh crap—people are willing to pay me to write about stuff on my site. Wild.
I remember the first time a brand emailed me. They wanted me to write about some eco-friendly notebook (which, btw, I never used—I’m a Google Docs gremlin). I had no “media kit,” no clue what to charge, so I just threw out \$50 because it sounded… polite? They said yes immediately. Which obviously meant I’d underpriced myself by like 10x. Lesson learned: if a brand doesn’t flinch, you’re too cheap.
So, yeah, you need a media kit. Don’t overthink it. Mine started as a Canva PDF with:
- A decent headshot (not the one with beer bottles in the background).
- My blog stats (pageviews, socials, email subs—even if the numbers are embarrassing, dress them up).
- Audience vibe: who reads your stuff, why they care.
- Past collabs, if you have any (if not, fake it till you make it—just list “topics covered”).
Pricing is where I still second-guess myself. People Google “how much to charge for sponsored blog posts” like it’s some neat table—spoiler: it’s not. But rough ballpark? If you’re under 10k views, maybe \$50–\$150 a post. At 50k+, you’re in the \$500+ zone. Add extras: post + IG story + email mention = bundle it. That way you’re not nickel-and-diming. I literally tell brands, “Package deal or nothing.” Half the time, they go for it.
And the pitch… god, the pitch. Mine is basically a slightly desperate email template:
Hey [Brand],
I’ve been using/loving [product] (insert true or at least believable detail).
My readers [describe them] would be into this.
Here’s my media kit. Let me know if you’re open to collabing—pricing starts at [\$X].
Short, messy, human. No need to write like LinkedIn. Brands don’t want a TED Talk, they want eyeballs.
One more thing: don’t say yes to every brand. I once almost agreed to promote a crypto scammy thing just because the money was tempting. My gut was screaming “nah.” If it feels gross, skip it. Your readers will sniff it out faster than you think.
Anyway, sponsored posts and brand partnerships aren’t rocket science. It’s literally: make a one-pager (media kit template is everywhere online), set your pricing tiers, bundle stuff, and send the awkward email. Then wait. And yeah, sometimes you’ll get ghosted. But sometimes, you’ll get paid for doing what you were already doing—writing words.
7) Your Own Products (Digital First), Services, and Memberships
Alright, so—products, services, memberships. This is where blogging stops being “just writing stuff on the internet” and starts feeling like an actual business. And honestly, it’s also where I tripped over myself more times than I want to admit.
I remember the first “digital product” I ever tried to sell. It was an ebook. Except, calling it an ebook is generous—it was basically a glorified PDF of my blog posts stitched together in Canva. I was so proud of it. Thought I’d sell, idk, a few hundred copies easy. Spoiler: I sold three. One to my cousin, one to some random stranger in Canada (bless them), and one refund because the person thought it had “templates” in it. Ouch. But that’s the thing: ebooks, templates, printables, micro-courses, whatever—you don’t have to get it perfect. You just have to start. People actually do buy messy little things if it saves them time.
And then there’s templates and printables. God, these are like the holy grail if you’re in the right niche. Budget sheets, meal planners, workout trackers. I once spent an entire Saturday making a “Content Calendar Excel Sheet” that I thought was genius. I charged \$7. I didn’t even know how to set up a proper checkout page, so I literally emailed the file after someone PayPal’d me. Yeah. Don’t recommend. But still, people paid. That’s when it hit me: folks will pay for shortcuts. They don’t care if it looks fancy; they care if it works.
Now, courses and workshops—this is the scary part. Everyone and their dog is launching an online course now. The bar feels so high. I sat on my “course idea” for a year because I thought I needed pro video equipment, a \$500 mic, some perfect studio setup. Reality check? People will take a “micro-course” shot on Zoom if it solves their problem in 90 minutes. And they’ll pay way more than you’d think. I once paid \$97 for a two-hour workshop that was basically a guy sharing his Notion dashboard. No fancy slides. Just screen-sharing and rambling. But it saved me weeks of trial and error. Worth it.
Then there’s the whole coaching/consulting thing. This one makes me laugh because I resisted it for so long. I was like, “Who would pay to talk to me? I’m not an expert.” And then one day, I put up a dumb “1:1 coaching” link for \$50/hour. Someone booked. I panicked, chugged coffee, and over-prepared for two days straight. That call went… surprisingly well. The person even thanked me like ten times. And I realized—people aren’t buying perfection. They’re buying a shortcut, your brain, your perspective. If you’ve done the thing they want to do, you’re ahead of them, and that’s enough. Coaching offers don’t have to be complicated. Just a Zoom link and some notes.
And finally, memberships/communities. This is the big scary dream for a lot of bloggers. Imagine: steady monthly income, your own little corner of the internet with people who actually want to hang out. I tried once, half-assed, set up a \$5/month “exclusive group.” I had no plan, no real content pipeline, just vibes. People joined anyway. And then I burned out after two months because I hadn’t thought about sustainability. If you’re gonna start a membership site, think small—like one live Q\&A a month, or one fresh template. Don’t promise the moon. Just something people can look forward to.
Anyway, the point is—you don’t need to wait until you’re “ready” to sell digital products or start a membership. You figure it out as you go. Start with the smallest thing you can ship—an ebook, a template, a 90-minute workshop. Test if anyone cares. Then maybe add a coaching offer or grow into an online course. If it clicks, maybe a community.
And yeah, people will judge, people will refund, sometimes nobody buys. But sometimes… they do. And that first Stripe notification? Pure adrenaline. That’s when you realize your blog isn’t just “writing posts”—it’s a business that can spin off ebooks, templates, courses, coaching, even a membership site if you’ve got the stamina. And you built it from your words. That’s wild.
8) The Money Math: Simple Forecasts You Can Copy
Alright, so let’s just be messy about this because nobody really talks about it straight. Everyone says “you can make money blogging!” but like… how much? When? Doing what? I remember staring at my analytics at 2 a.m. thinking, “Cool, 10 pageviews today, guess I’ll retire early.” Spoiler: I didn’t.
The thing that finally clicked for me was putting actual numbers on paper. Not those motivational “six-figure blogger” screenshots floating around—just dumb, ugly math. So, let me throw it at you the way I wish someone had done for me:
| Income Stream | Formula | Rough Monthly \$ |
|---|---|---|
| Ads | 50k pageviews × \$12 RPM ÷ 1000 | ≈ \$600 |
| Affiliates | 3,000 clicks × 2% convert × \$4 EPC | ≈ \$240 |
| Sponsors | 2 posts × \$300 each | ≈ \$600 |
| Products | 30 sales × \$19 | ≈ \$570 |
Yeah, not life-changing yet, but stack them and suddenly you’re at like two grand a month. Which—idk about you—but that’s rent + groceries + maybe a dumb impulse gadget from Amazon.
The catch? The formulas look simple, but they’re sneaky. Like RPM (revenue per thousand views)… sounds nice, right? Except “\$12 RPM” can be \$4 if your niche is, idk, “hamster nail care,” or \$30 if it’s finance or software. Same with EPC (earnings per click). That \$4 average? I’ve had programs pay me 20 cents a click and others drop \$50 in one shot. You can’t really predict it, but you can run the math with what you have instead of just hoping.
And sponsors? Lol. I underpriced myself so bad the first time. Charged \$75 because I was scared they’d ghost me. They didn’t. They literally said, “oh wow, that’s cheap.” Gut punch. Should’ve asked for \$300 minimum. If you’ve got an engaged audience—even small—you’re worth more than you think.
Products are the weirdest. Thirty sales of a \$19 ebook doesn’t sound like much. But imagine if you tweak it—raise the price, add a bundle, upsell a coaching call—and suddenly your “blog income” isn’t tied to pageviews anymore. That was the first time I realized, oh… I don’t have to chase traffic like a maniac forever.
Anyway, all this rambling just to say: don’t let the big shiny blog income reports mess with your head. Do your own ugly math. Plug in your own numbers. If your blog has 5k pageviews and \$6 RPM, cool—that’s \$30. Sad? Maybe. But it’s real. And once you see the mechanics, you can fiddle with them—like raising RPM, finding higher-paying affiliate offers, nudging your conversion rate from 2% to 3%. That tiny percent bump? Feels boring but it doubles your income sometimes.
So yeah. Grab a notebook, scribble your formulas. Think of it as your personal RPM calculator, your private little “blog income forecast.” It won’t be perfect. Hell, it’ll probably be wrong. But it’ll keep you grounded while everyone else is flexing their six-figure screenshots.
Would you like me to also sketch out a “best vs worst case” blog income calculator table (like low RPM, mid RPM, high RPM side-by-side) so you can see how the swings actually look?
9) Legal, Ethics & Trust (E-E-A-T Builders)
Alright, so… legal crap. This is the part I avoided for years because it felt boring and I thought, eh, who’s really gonna care if I don’t have some “affiliate disclosure example” on my blog? Spoiler: Google cares. Brands care. And if you’re in the U.S.? The FTC definitely cares. I remember the first time I got an email from a reader that said, “Wait, are you getting paid for this?” and my stomach just… dropped. Like, oh crap, I probably should’ve put that one line that says “I may earn a small commission.” It’s not rocket science, but ignoring it makes you look shady fast.
And then there’s the whole privacy policy thing. Ugh. I once tried to copy-paste one from some random site, thinking nobody would notice. Bad move. Some plugin broke, a cookie banner popped up, and suddenly my inbox was filled with those “do you comply with GDPR?” spam emails. Honestly? Just slap a basic policy on there. Readers don’t usually read it, but ad networks will literally reject you without it.
Sponsored tags too. I used to feel awkward writing “this post is sponsored” like I was admitting to selling out. But then I realized, people actually trust you more if you’re upfront. No one’s mad that you got paid—what pisses them off is feeling tricked. Same goes with refund terms if you’re selling your own stuff. Set them. Write them down. Otherwise, one angry buyer can drain your energy for weeks.
Taxes? Oh boy. I threw all my receipts in a shoebox one year, and when tax season came, I wanted to cry. Blogging income is taxable. Period. Doesn’t matter if it’s \$50 from AdSense or \$5,000 from affiliates. Track it. Spreadsheets, apps, idk, even a notebook is better than nothing. Future-you will thank you.
Now the E-E-A-T signals—that’s just fancy Google language for “prove you’re a real human and not some faceless content farm.” Add your author bio. Put your photo there, even if you hate how you look in it. Share your experience: why you write about this, what mistakes you made, what you learned. Throw in trust badges if you have them (SSL, media features, testimonials). Basically, make it impossible for someone to say “this is just AI garbage.”
I know it’s not the sexy side of blogging, but this is the stuff that keeps you safe, trustworthy, and honestly… still in the game.
10) Tech Stack & Workflow (Fast Setup That Scales)
Alright, let me just be blunt with this one because I’ve wasted so much time in the past obsessing over “the perfect tech stack for blogging” like it was some holy grail. Spoiler: it isn’t. But yeah, you still need a setup that doesn’t break every two weeks and doesn’t make readers bounce because your site takes longer to load than instant noodles.
So, CMS first. Everyone will tell you WordPress, and honestly… they’re right. I tried Wix once. Looked pretty until I realized I couldn’t do half the monetization stuff I wanted. Plugins and ad networks were like, “nope, not here.” WordPress gives you control. Self-hosted. And get a lightweight theme—don’t fall for the shiny “all-in-one multipurpose theme” bloatware. I once installed one that came with like 23 sliders (why? no one asked for that). Killed my site speed so badly even my mom wouldn’t wait for it to load.
Then email. Please don’t skip this. I did. Biggest mistake. Had 5k visitors one month, thought, “nah, I’ll start a list later.” Guess what—later never came, and those readers never came back either. Pick something. ConvertKit, MailerLite, whatever. Doesn’t matter, just start collecting emails before you get cute with other “blogging tools.”
Link cloaker? Yeah, feels nerdy, but it matters once you start affiliate stuff. I remember copy-pasting a 200-character ugly affiliate URL into a post… looked like spam. Readers clicked zero. Pretty links fix that. Plus, you can track clicks.
Analytics. Don’t just install Google Analytics and never look at it (I did that too). At least check once a week: which posts are getting traffic, where people are dropping. Otherwise, you’re basically blogging blindfolded.
A/B testing? Okay, truth—I don’t do it religiously. I tried testing headlines once, ended up confusing myself more than anything. But when you’re running offers or trying new opt-ins, yeah, it’s worth experimenting. Even a simple “does this button color get more clicks” is smarter than guessing.
And site speed. Ugh. I used to stuff my posts with stock images in HD because they looked “professional.” All I got was a site that loaded like dial-up. Compress images. Use caching. That’s it. Don’t overthink.
So yeah—fast, clean CMS (WordPress), lean theme, email platform, link cloaker, analytics, maybe some A/B testing later, and site speed basics. That’s it. Don’t let the shiny “essential blogging tools” lists trick you into thinking you need 47 subscriptions before you’ve written 10 posts. Start scrappy, scale when it hurts.
11) Case Studies & First-30-Day Plan (Make It Real)
Alright, so this is the messy part nobody talks about. That first month where you’re sitting there staring at your empty dashboard, refreshing traffic numbers like a lunatic, thinking wow… I really thought strangers would just show up and shower me with clicks. Nope. Anyway—this is the 30-day blogging plan I wish someone had shoved in my face when I started instead of those shiny “make \$10k in 30 days” lies.
Week 1 – Just… start
- Write 3 posts. Doesn’t matter if they’re clunky. Get words online.
- Install Google Analytics/GA4 so you don’t have to guess later.
- Open 2 affiliate accounts (Amazon + one niche-specific). Even if you have no traffic yet—it’s like signing up for a gym, just do it.
- Sketch a super-basic lead magnet idea (PDF checklist, a cheat sheet, whatever). Mine was literally a one-page Word doc with typos.
I remember crying into my tea because the first post took me 6 hours. Don’t do that. Done > perfect.
Week 2 – Push, even when it’s ugly
- Publish 3 more posts (that’s 6 total).
- Slide 1 affiliate link in where it naturally fits. Don’t overthink.
- Draft the lead magnet. It’ll feel silly because no one’s signing up yet. Do it anyway.
- Start an email list (ConvertKit, Mailchimp, even a free Google Form if you’re broke).
I was convinced nobody would ever read my stuff—then one random stranger left a comment. I printed it out and taped it to my wall. Yeah, desperate times.
Week 3 – Get out of your bubble
- Publish 2 posts (8 total).
- Write 1 guest post pitch. You’ll probably get ignored. Send it anyway.
- Do a roundup post (“10 bloggers I stalk every morning with coffee”). People love being mentioned. A few might even share it.
- Add a second affiliate product mention somewhere.
At this point you’ll hate your theme, your writing, your face—normal. Just keep pressing publish.
Week 4 – Build tiny signals
- Publish 2 posts (10 total for the month).
- Launch the lead magnet, even if it’s embarrassing. Just slap a “Download Free” button.
- Send your first baby email (doesn’t matter if it’s 2 subscribers and one of them is your mom).
- Re-send that guest post pitch, or another. Persistence feels gross, but it works.
By Day 30 you’ll have: 10 posts, 2 affiliate programs integrated, 1 lead magnet, 1 guest post attempt, 1 roundup. That’s the skeleton. It won’t make you rich yet, but it’s the only way you stand a chance of making money blogging in 3 months. Quick wins blogging isn’t sexy—it’s showing up, throwing spaghetti at the wall, and pretending the empty analytics graph doesn’t hurt your feelings.
I still remember the first affiliate sale—\$2.11. I bought a coffee with it, smiled like an idiot, and thought… okay, maybe this thing isn’t a scam after all.
12) FAQs (for featured snippets)
Alright, so I’ll just shoot it straight. These are the questions people actually Google, and honestly? They’re the same ones I used to whisper to myself at 2am while staring at my sad little WordPress dashboard.
Q: Can you make money blogging without ads?
Yeah, you can. I didn’t believe it either at first. Everyone kept saying “wait until you hit 50k pageviews for Mediavine” and I was like… okay but what do I eat until then? So I tried affiliates. Slapped a link to a \$9 tool I actually used inside a “how-to” post, and—boom—\$27 commission in one weekend. No ads on the page. Felt like stealing. So yeah, affiliates, sponsored posts, selling some scrappy PDF you made at midnight… all of those work before ads even notice you exist.
Q: How much traffic do you need to make \$1000/mo?
This one’s tricky because it depends how you monetize. With just ads? You might need 50k–100k pageviews depending on RPM. With affiliates? I made \$1000 with like 12k visits one month because the niche was high-paying (software). Then the next month it tanked to \$200 because… well, Google slapped me with an update. Point is: don’t get obsessed with some magic number. It’s more about what kind of eyeballs you’re getting than how many.
Q: How long does it take to monetize a blog?
Oh man. I hate this question because the answer makes people quit. Some folks brag “3 months to \$1k/month!” and maybe they’re unicorns. For me? Took 8 months to make my first \$100. I almost quit at month 6. But once you get past that weird dry desert phase, money starts trickling faster. So… expect a year. If it happens sooner, great. If it doesn’t, at least you won’t feel like a failure.
Q: What’s better: affiliates or ads?
Depends on what you want: steady pocket money or unpredictable jackpots. Ads are boring but dependable. Affiliates are like gambling—sometimes you hit a \$300 day, sometimes it’s crickets. Personally? I like affiliates more because I can control it a bit. Ads feel like waiting for Santa. But hey, if you’ve got traffic, ads are easy passive money. Why not do both?
Q: Is blogging still profitable in 2025?
Yep. Different, but still alive. People keep screaming “blogging is dead” while I’m literally cashing checks from posts I wrote two years ago. What’s dead is those clickbait listicles stuffed with 500 words and ten ads. Google’s not buying that anymore. What works now is trust—sharing what you actually know, what you’ve screwed up, what you’ve fixed. Add in some products or consulting, and yeah… it’s profitable. Maybe not everyone’s ticket to millions, but enough to matter.
13) Wrap-Up + Next Step
Alright, so… this is the part where I’m supposed to “wrap things up,” but honestly, wrapping feels too neat. Blogging isn’t neat. It’s messy, unpredictable, like throwing spaghetti at a wall and hoping enough sticks so you don’t feel like an idiot for spending your Saturday night tweaking headlines instead of, idk, actually sleeping.
I’ve tried all the “make money blogging” tricks. Ads that made me literal pennies. Affiliate links that no one clicked for months (except my mom once—thanks, mom). A sponsor who ghosted me after three emails. And then one random PDF I slapped together at 2 a.m. sold more in a week than all that combined. Point is… you don’t really know what’ll work for your blog until you just try. Ugly, half-baked, too-long, too-short, whatever.
So yeah, if you’ve made it this far, I’m guessing you actually care about turning this thing into something. That’s huge. And maybe you’re still thinking, “okay but what’s the very next step?” Honestly? Grab the little monetization checklist I made (because my brain forgets everything unless it’s written down). Or, if you’re more of a “I’ll figure it out as I go” type, at least sign up for my newsletter so I can bug you with reminders and weird stories that might save you a couple of mistakes.
Anyway… I’m done talking. Your turn. Pick one small thing, do it today, even if it’s sloppy. That’s how this whole game works.