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If there is one question every blogger wonders at one point (or many!) along their journey it’s “Can you really make money blogging?” which is then closely followed by “How much do bloggers make?” and “How do bloggers make money?”
If you are a reader of Digital Nomad Wannabe, I hope the answer to the first question, whether it’s possible to be making money off a blog, is clear.
“100% yes.
Many, many people earn money blogging just like you will see in the survey results below. Do you really think we are all lying? Trust me, I wouldn’t work full-time on this if I didn’t get paid to blog. I have three kids and they need to be fed!
I decided it was time to answer the last two questions around how to make money off a blog and how much money can you make blogging.
To this end, I set up a quick survey and asked my email list, my DNW Facebook group and some other Facebook groups to complete it. We had 600 responses.
Although there were a million questions I wanted to ask, I made sure it only took one minute to fill it in to maximise the responses.
So here you can find all the answers to the questions on how to get paid for blogging and how much money bloggers make.
The full survey on how much money to bloggers make is below as well as how many hours bloggers work a week and how long they have been working on their blogs.
We have also used this data to answer some further questions, like how long will it be before you start earning $200 a month? And more!
Keep reading for the fascinating results!
You will learn...
- How much do bloggers make blogging?
- How do bloggers make money from blogging?
- How much time did bloggers work last month?
- How many years have bloggers been trying to monetise their blogs?
- All the other juicy answers from this survey
- Can you make money blogging?
How much do bloggers make blogging?
Let’s jump straight in with the answer to how much do bloggers earn.
The following are the results of the survey. Note that all figures are profits in USD (so after costs) in the previous month.
The question was “How much money did you make from blogging last month in USD? Profits only, exclude costs.”
I’m going to start by saying that 11% of bloggers who responded to the survey said that they do NOT try to make money from blogging, they’re using their blog for other purposes.
But a whopping 49.9% of respondents answered the question of how much money do you make blogging with a figure of more than $200 a month. Remember these numbers are profits – so after costs.
While in most economies a profit $200 a month isn’t going to pay all the bills, it’s a great start towards becoming financially independent.
This isn’t an average, this is the actual amount that bloggers are making as a profit. Each month.
So let’s look at both ends of the spectrum of income from blogging, from those who said they earned nothing last month, to those that are earning a LOT of money from blogging.
27% of those who answered the question how much do you make from blogging said that they did not earn anything in the previous month. However, 11% of respondents do not monetise their blog.
“14.5% of bloggers are making $5,000 a month or more
At the high end, 14.5% of bloggers are making more than $5,000 per month from blogging – with 1.9% of bloggers surveyed making more than $20,000.
As you’ll see from the other answers given in this blogging survey, income doesn’t depend on the length of time that you’ve been blogging, nor does it always depend on how you monetise your site. It’s about working smart.
How do bloggers make money from blogging?
In my survey on bloggers income, I asked what their primary source of income was. Most bloggers will make money from a variety of different sources, after all, diversifying is a less risky way of earning.
So how do bloggers earn money?
- Affiliate Marketing
- Advertising
- Sponsorship
- Own Digital Products
- Own Physical Products
- Lead Generation
- Freelancing
- Donations
- Live Events
- Other Services
The question being answered here is “how do you monetise your blog?”
The question being asked here was “How do you monetise your blog?”
71% of those who monetise their blog and who are making money from their blog use multiple methods. And this is a sensible approach – it means that your risk is reduced if there is a problem with an area of income.
10% of those who responded to the survey and who are making money from their blog use a single method to generate revenue.
We took it a step further to look at how bloggers are making money and asked them to state what the primary source of income was for their blog.
The question being asked here is “What is the primary source of your blogging income?”
The most popular of the ways to make money blogging is affiliate marketing, with 32.9% of bloggers citing this as their primary income source. This was closely followed by advertising at 30.9%.
From my perspective, these are excellent results – I love affiliate marketing. You’ll know if you’re a regular reader of this blog that affiliate marketing has helped to change my life. And if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’re probably one of those people who use affiliate marketing to monetise your blog too!
Read more about getting started with affiliate marketing here.
After that, the biggest method of monetisation was freelancing with 12%.
Freelancing is often how many new bloggers augment their income.
If you have, like me, decided that blogging is going to be your method of supporting your lifestyle then you will focus on what makes you money. The right mindset is absolutely key and my students will testify that mindset is a key focus when we are goal setting and focusing on actions that need to be taken.
How much time did bloggers work last month?
When I ask bloggers why they want to earn an income from blogging the answer is usually to escape their cubicle or to work less, so finding out how many hours people are working is particularly interesting to me.
There is a huge tendency for bloggers to work all the hours that they can. This isn’t healthy, There is, in my view, no point in swapping one set of chains for another set of chains. You need to work smart. You should focus on the important tasks, and avoid making busy work.
Working more hours doesn’t necessarily mean you will earn more money.
The whole idea of passive income is that you put the smart work in and your blog earns you the money.
The question being asked here was “How much time did you spend on your blog last month?”
Just 5% of bloggers spent more than 161 hours working. That’s at least 40 hours a week. And that’s what you’ll put in if you do a desk job. But look at that number. Only 5%. Wow, guys, I’m really pleased to see that this number is low – work-life balance is SO important!
The largest bracket of time that bloggers spent working was the 21% who are working for between 21-40 hours a month. That’s each month, which means less than 10 hours a week! I have friends who work in IT, and they can work 10 hours in a single day. Six, sometimes, seven days a week.
“Don’t just work harder. Work smarter.
What would you rather do? If you’re ready to get serious about your blogging income check out my SEO Fast Track and get your blogging income started now.
I’ve got WAY more detail further in this post about which niche is working the most hours and I think you’ll find it really interesting – so keep reading!
How many years have bloggers been trying to monetise their blogs?
Let’s start this section by saying that 11% of those who responded to the blogger income survey do not monetise their blog.
26.7% have been working on monetising their blog for just a year or less. The biggest percentage of respondents, 21% of bloggers have been working on monetising their blog for between 1 and 2 years.
The question was “How long have you been blogging.”
There are more insights about the length of time people have been blogging further in this post, so keep reading.
What Niche Are Blogging Survey Respondents From?
Before I jump into some fabulous juicy detail and further answers about how do people make money blogging, I want to go through the details of what niches bloggers focus on.
It was of no surprise to me that the largest sector to respond to this survey on blogging income was travel bloggers. Many of the inaugural members of the DNW group came from the travel blogging industry. We now have so many more niches represented in the Digital Nomad Wannabe community and I’m loving to see all the sectors growing.
The question here is “What is your blogging niche?”
67% of respondents to the survey are travel bloggers, this is by far the largest niche represented. The next largest niche is that of lifestyle blogging with 7% of the responses. The third largest is parenting with 4% of the blogging responses. You can see the other sectors represented in the charts shown above.
Those were the main questions and answers in the survey about how much can you earn from blogging, but there is SO much more data to share – here are some seriously juicy answers below.
It was possible to segment the data and further analyse it to answer some specific questions which I’m going to share with you now!
All the other juicy answers from this survey
How long have people been blogging before they make money?
32% of bloggers who have been blogging for less than 6 months are making at least $200 a month, but 66% have made nothing. My view is that the 66% were probably focusing on the WRONG things.
Want to know the right things to focus on and make like the 32%? Read more about my student’s success in SEO Fast Track.
43% of bloggers who have been blogging (and monetising) for 6-12 months are making at least $200 a month. Imagine that – before Christmas (I’m writing this at the beginning of June) your blog could be earning at least $200 a month.
You don’t need to do this for a long time – you just need to do it right!
But what about BIG money? How long have the top earners been blogging?
One respondent making $20,000 a month has been blogging for less than a year. Let that sink in. And do the maths as to what that means for an annual income. Stunning isn’t it?
The average amount of time, however, that bloggers making $20,000 a month have been blogging is 3.45 years.
What is the most common method of monetisation that bloggers use?
The most common method of monetisation is affiliate marketing, with 83% of bloggers using this method to monetise their blog. I LOVE this!
56% of bloggers use advertising to make money and remember 11% of bloggers who responded to the survey do not monetise their blog.
Which blogging niche makes the most money?
67% of respondents are from the travel niche. Travel bloggers appear to make more money from their blog than other niches, with 7.3% of travel bloggers making more than $10,000 a month.
- 23% of Lifestyle bloggers make more than $2,500 a month
- 33% of Gardening bloggers make more than $2,500 a month
What is the most common form of monetisation in travel blogging?
The biggest niche to respond to the survey was travel, with 67% of the blogging survey, so here are a few more details about travel blogging incomes.
35% of travel bloggers use affiliate marketing as their primary sources of blogging income. Advertising is the number one source of income for 32% of travel bloggers. 13.5% of travel bloggers freelance as their primary income source.
Lifestyle bloggers were the second biggest sector with 7% of the responses. 32% of lifestyle bloggers use affiliate marketing as their primary source of income, with 26% using advertising.
13% have sponsorship as their primary source of income, but only 5% use freelancing as their prime method of earning.
51% of those who cite sponsorship as their primary source of income have been blogging for less than 3 years. You don’t necessarily need a long history of blogging in order to have sponsorship as your primary income source!
Click here to download a FREE guide to how to get started with sponsorship today.
How long have those bloggers who have a primary income source of their own digital product been blogging?
33% of those citing a primary income source of their own digital products have been blogging for 2-3 years.
It’s a relatively new method of monetisation and bloggers are starting to embrace it (if you want to learn more specifically about this method of monetisation for your blog, then my ebook course is perfect for you – read more about that here!)
What is the primary income source of those bloggers that earn the most money?
Affiliate Marketing is the primary income source of 46% of those who earn more than $10,000 a month from blogging, Advertising is the primary income source for 35% of those who earn that level.
Which blogging niche works the most number of hours?
17% of travel bloggers work more than 120 hours a month, but 27% of them work less than 20 hours a month.
10% of lifestyle bloggers work more than 120 hours a month, but 53% work less than 20 hours a month.
46% of parenting bloggers work between 21 and 60 hours a month on their blog.
Which blogging niche works the least number of hours?
Teaching is the niche that spends the least number of hours blogging, with 75% spending 10 hours or less per month.
12% of travel bloggers spend less than 10 hours a month on their blog.
Isn’t all that information just awesome? I was blown away by the responses and the answers given and it helps me answer the next question…
Can you make money blogging?
Now we have gone through all the answers of how much can you make blogging and how do you make money blogging, let’s talk again for a minute about the question you may be asking yourself, can I make money blogging?
As I said above, this is completely possible. When I first considered blogging as a way to make money, I made every excuse under the sun of why others could do it and I couldn’t.
But then one day I decided to stop making excuses and I flipped it around.
Because the reality is that if others can do it then there was no reason why I couldn’t. I knew I wasn’t stupid and I don’t mind hard work.
As long as you feel the same then the answer to can you earn money from blogging? is definitely yes!
Something else to keep in mind...
Something to keep in mind when looking at all figures for how much bloggers make is to combine this with the number of hours. 14.5% of bloggers are making more than $5000 a month while only 5% work full-time hours.
For most jobs that earn this much, we would expect to study for a degree for 3+ years and then work for at least a few years first – and bloggers are hitting those income levels much faster than this… and not working full-time to do it.
But for this to work, for you to end up in the high category of income next time I run this survey, you need to move past thinking of blogging as a hobby and think of it as your business.
You need to make smart business decisions about what you write about and where you focus your time on your blog.
Because, as you can see above, you don’t need 100 hours a week to work on your blog for success. But what you do need to do is spend your time wisely.
I can teach you what to focus on (and what NOT to) so you can make money from blogging in my step-by-step program, SEO Fast Track.
Click here for all the details.
Final Words
I am seriously stoked by all the responses to this blogging income survey. I love that the methods that I teach are working and that bloggers who follow them are making a good income from their blog – I do hope you find the survey interesting and can compare some of the results to YOUR blog income. And then lets all come back in a year and see where we all are and how much further we’ve all grown as a community!
Happy blogging!
Click here for all our best guides for how you can make money blogging or get started with affiliate marketing here now. Join our Facebook group to ask any questions!
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