How To Start A Blog In 2024 [Step-By-Step] The Basics Of Blogging [Start Here] How Much Money Do Bloggers Make? [& 100+ Income Reports]

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How Much Money Do Bloggers Make? [& 100+ Income Reports]

Brett

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Before getting into blogging, I didn’t think people could make a living from writing blogs. It turns out that blogging can provide a steady income, but you need to put in a lot of work.

image showing how much money do bloggers make - illustration on a screen for this post on bloggingtips.com

Is It Realistic to Make Money Blogging?

Making money with blogging is a realistic goal. The highest-paid bloggers earn millions of dollars per year. However, a survey from iBlog Magazine found that only about 5% to 8% of bloggers earn the equivalent of a full-time income.

Replacing your day job with income from blogging may also take a year or longer. You can realistically earn a living with blogging, but it requires patience and perseverance.

So, how much money do bloggers make?

How Much Money Do Bloggers Make?

On average, bloggers typically earn around $45,000 a year, with potential variations depending on the source, ranging between $38,440 and $51,906.

However, this number is greatly influenced by experience. Earnings can start from $30,000 in the first year and may significantly increase each year, potentially reaching over $400,000 by the fourth year.

Bloggers typically see growth year by year as the blog becomes more established, with the possibility of transitioning from a side hustle to a full-time income.

Successful bloggers can achieve financial independence through effective scaling and monetization strategies.

Different niches can also lead to varying income levels:

Travel Bloggers: Approximately $63,173 annually.
Lifestyle Bloggers: Around $52,382 annually.
Beauty Bloggers: About $43,800 annually.
Food Bloggers: Typically $41,058 annually.
Fashion Bloggers: Roughly $37,534 annually.

The amount of income depends heavily on the popularity of the blog. More views equal more income from ad revenue, which is the main source of income for bloggers.

How Much Money Do Beginner Bloggers Make?

A beginner blogger may make between $0 and $1,000 or more each month during the first year of blogging.

It is very important to understand that blogging is a long-term game. When you’re first starting out, don’t expect to make much money. Most bloggers give up at this point.

I blogged for roughly 16 months before I saw any income at all. But let me remind you that consistent growth pays off.

As you can see from the chart below, this is what a year of consistent blogging without expectation can achieve:

screenshot of how to increase website traffic

How Much Money Do Professional Bloggers Make?

Glassdoor lists the average pay for a blogger with one to three years of experience as $86,737 per year.

A blogger with up to six years of experience earns an average of $96,641 annually.

How Much Do Bloggers Make Per 1,000 Views?

While the amount of money that bloggers can make varies widely depending on the niche, industry, and quality of the website, bloggers with 1,000 views usually make an RPM of $20-35 on average.

A blog that receives 10,000 views per day may generate about $20 to $50 in income. Here’s an ad revenue calculator to see how much a website could earn with ads.

Who is the Highest Paid Blogger?

The HuffPost generates over $140 million annually, making it the most successful blog. However, it is run by a team of people, employs dozens of writers and editors, and outsources to an endless list of freelancers.

The highest paid bloggers with their own blogs include:

Tim Sykes (TimothySykes.com): $1,000,000/month
Chiara Ferragni (TheBlondeSalad.com): $250,000/month
Melyssa Griffin (MelyssaGriffin.com): $238,000/month
Sarah Titus (SarahTitus.com): $200,000/month
Pat Flynn (SmartPassiveIncome.com): $200,000/month

Can Blogging Be a Full-Time Job?

Blogging can be a full-time job. Some bloggers spend three hours writing each new post. If you spend 40 hours per week on your blog, with about 30 hours spent on writing, you may generate up to 10 new posts per week.

How Long Does It Take to Make Money from a Blog?

Successful bloggers may start generating income within a few months of publishing their first blog posts. However, with just $2 to $5 per 1,000 page views, your earnings are limited early on.

First Year Blogging Income

You may make little to nothing the first year of blogging, as generating a sizable income requires thousands of page views each day.

However, those that keep at it are more likely to receive a healthy income. Your odds of success drastically rise as time progresses.

As the size of your audience grows, it becomes easier to attract new readers through online marketing and organic search queries.

100+ Blog Income Reports to Inspire Your Blogging Journey

vector graphic showing an illustration of blog income reports

Back in the day, a lot of bloggers published blog income reports to show what kind of money their blog made. It doesn’t seem as popular now as it did a few years ago, but there are still plenty of income reports floating around that you can learn from as a budding or even experienced blogger.

In my experience, blog income reports are helpful for two main reasons: motivation and strategy. The first one is easy to understand: if you follow a mom blogger making $2,000 each month through her income report, that’s good motivation to keep goin’ at your own blog.

The second reason is based on reverse-engineering what you see in a blog income report. For example, if you follow 5 income reports in your niche, and each of them are using the same affiliate program or ad network to monetize their blogs, maybe that’s a program or network you should look into.

You can also see what kind of content drives revenue, if they link to their top pages from an income report. A lot of bloggers have “how to blog” type posts, in any niche, and those are often pages that make money from affiliate earnings. If you see an income report with content like that, learn from what they’re doing to see what’s working and what you could improve.

At the end of the day, blog income reports are limited in their usefulness, but it is interesting to get a behind-the-scene look at other bloggers’ operations. They can offer inspiration, uncover monetization ideas (are ebooks popular in your niche?) and help you figure out what kind of content actually produces traffic and revenue in your niche.

Here are some common questions about blog income reports that better explain how they work.

What is a blog income report?

A blog income report shows the revenue, expenses and profits brought in by a blog. Usually bloggers include a story about what they worked on that month, what’s been working overall and goals they have for the future.

Detailed blog income reports include where their revenue came from, broken down by source – ads, affiliate earnings, consulting, freelancing, courses, ebooks, etc. They also sometimes include their top-earning affiliate programs, which is really helpful if you’re looking for ideas on how to monetize your blog.

Why do bloggers post income reports?

Some bloggers like to show how much they make to motivate others and themselves: when you’re showing off how much you make, it’s good motivation to keep going if you know you have an audience. Other than that, it doesn’t really matter why bloggers post income reports.

If they’re doing it to show off, who cares? Take away the insight you can and don’t worry about their motivations.

How much does a beginning blogger make?

If you stumble across “early” blog income reports from bloggers, you’ll find a lot of months that result in little or no blogging income. A beginning blogger might only make $20 per month on ads and affiliate earnings, but with the right strategy and enough time and effort, a beginning blogger can also make a few hundred dollars or more. It all depends on your niche, content strategy and monetization methods.

Can you really make money from a blog?

Yep! Thousands of bloggers make money from their blog. The majority likely don’t make much, but there’s a percentage of bloggers making full-time incomes with their blogs. Over the years, my blogging revenue’s been in the six figures, and even more if you consider the blogs I’ve sold after building them over time. So yes, you can definitely make money from a blog.

Should I publish a blog income report on my site?

That’s up to you – if you find it to be a good external motivating factor in your blogging, go for it! It can also be helpful if you eventually find a supportive community who cheers you on each month as they follow your income reports.

That said, there are plenty of people who don’t love blog income reports, and don’t offer them. This camp includes Tracie Fobes, who believes there are more drawbacks than advantages to blog income reports.

“I also feel that all too often the reports are a way just to market other courses for readers to buy,” Tracie says. “It is a way to get more sales, which makes them more affiliate income, so next month’s report shows more money.”

Something else to consider: blog income reports take time to write, and if your blogging time is limited, it’s probably better spent creating evergreen content that’ll bring in quality, consistent traffic over time.

If you do make blog income reports, or just want to research income reports in your niche, here’s a list of 100 blog income reports organized by niche: personal finance, travel, food, blogging and lifestyle. Enjoy.

100 Blog Income Reports

Growing Your Blog Income

Seeing these income reports should be great motivation to start your own blog. If you need help getting started, here’s what to write about with your first blog post, here are some travel blog post ideas and here are some solid mom blog name ideas.

Blog Income Infographic: Amounts Explained in Detail

To get an even better understanding of how much bloggers make, check out this infographic from Ryan Robinson:

infographic showing an illustration of how much do bloggers make

How To Start A Blog In 2024 [Step-By-Step]