How long can take for a blog to make a decent income?
Some days ago I received an email asking some questions regarding website monetization strategy, and one question was one that I often get asked: how long can take for a blog to make a decent income?
I already wrote a post titled How much can I make with my blog, that covered the amounts of money that well-know bloggers are making out from their blogs. Now, to definitively close the circle, I have to say how long did those bloggers wait until they start seeing their mini-fortunes growing.The amount of time bloggers out there have waited to see any income from their blogs varies a lot and it depends on when they entered the business, what’s their niche and how talented were they. Now, before seeing any case we have to define decent income as any amount of money enough to pay a dedicated server bill, i.e. a server dedicated exclusively to host your blog that means your blog is self-sustainable. Those plans usually start at $100 so with that in mind let’s see some cases:
- In prehistory (i.e. October 2003), Matth Haughey reported that pvrblog.com’s first day with AdSense brought to him $40 with just 3000 unique visitors. The next day he made something similar, and a few days ago he made a few hundreds. So, in 3 months (he started in mid-July 2003) he was able to make at least $150 just with AdSense.
- Thilak Raj Rao, who I interviewed last monday, said that it took to him 8 months to make a $287 out from Tech-Buzz.net.
- Steve Pavlina reported in January 2006, that the first month he made any money from his blog was February 2005, when he made $53 five months after he launched his blog. In that report, Steve said his income grew at a 50% pace every month so in April 2005 he was able to make at least $119 out from his blog, that’s it he had to wait 7 months to surpass the $100/mo barrier.
- Daniel from Daily Blog Tips has just told me by IM that it took him 2 months to make $100 from AdSense.
- Jhon Chow from JohnChow.com made $352 the first month he tried to make anything from his blog, but that was 9 months after he created.
As you can see it varies from 0 to 8 months the amount of time required to be able to self-sustain your blog in a dedicated server, BUT keep in mind that all those guys are professional bloggers and they devote at least half their time to write quality content.
So what’s a fair guess for an average blogger to be able to make $100 out from their blog? Daniel from Daily Blog Tips thinks it’s 3-6 months, as long as the blogger commits himself to keep a well-done blog, updated at least 5 times a week with good content. What’s my guess? I believe 6-12 months is a more realistic view if you don’t spend at least 2 hours a day blogging. If you devote more than that time, 3-6 months is a good guess, so if you intend to make money from your blog be prepared to work for some months without seeing anything $ignificant.
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April 23rd, 2007 at 11:17 am
I think a blogger should aim to write better content, than make more money. Or he should consider this way “Better Content brings me more money”.
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:35 am
That’s definitively right Thilak. If you want to become a successful blogger the first thing you have to accomplish is to offer good content for your readers.
But this can be seen as a business like many other things, and people interested in this field like to assess what are the difficulties and times involved in the journey before starting it, so they ask.
But as you say: the first and most important thing that a blogger must have in her mind is to write quality content in a consistent basis (and at least 5 times a week).
Thanks for your comment Thilak!
April 23rd, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Good post. Just to clarify my opinion, I think the 3-6 months is feasible if the blog is planned out and if the blogger has experience. A novice blogger starting with his first blog will probably not be able to do this.