How To Make Money Blogging? 10 Ways to Make Money Blogging

What comes to mind when you hear about writing a blog or doing copywriting? Does the idea of making money by writing blogs sound like a magical way to earn money from the comfort of your own home? Do you think that writing a blog is the easiest job in the world? And do bloggers have any idea about it?

If you think that writing a blog is the easiest job in the world or if you believe that bloggers make a lot of money easily, and that’s why you want to start blogging, let’s talk a little about blogging and making money by writing blogs.

As a copywriter, in this article, I will tell you how making money by writing blogs seems like something and what it actually is. After clarifying the nature of blogging, I will show you the intricacies of making money by writing blogs and give you some suggestions on how to generate income from your blog.

If you are ready, let’s get started with the guide on making money by writing blogs and doing copywriting!

What is blogging?

Blogging is a popular form of online content creation where individuals or organizations share their thoughts, experiences, and expertise on a specific topic through regular written entries called blog posts. It serves as a platform for self-expression, information sharing, and building a community of readers. Blogging allows individuals to showcase their creativity, establish their online presence, and engage with a wider audience.

Is it possible to make money blogging?

Without beating around the bush, let me give you the answer to the most curious question right away. Yes, it is possible! You can make money by writing a blog, by doing copywriting, yes. Wasn’t this the job and lifestyle that many of us wanted to have? Didn’t we want to become bloggers and make money easily by writing articles? So let’s relax, making money by writing a blog is truly possible!

You can make money by writing a blog anywhere you have your computer and internet connection, whether you’re sitting at home, traveling, or on vacation. This means that every time you write an article or make a blog post, money won’t automatically be deposited into your account, but you can earn money by writing through various methods.

There may have been misconceptions about how this money is earned and the level of difficulty involved, but don’t worry, we will discuss them in this article. You are about to take a big step into the world of “perceptions vs realities.” If you’re ready, let’s get started.

How long does it take to make money blogging?

A blogger conducts a small-scale survey among fellow bloggers to learn how long it takes to make money by blogging in 2023. Gathering the income statistics of bloggers, the following result emerges: Blogging is not a tool for quick wealth, but it is possible to earn a full-time income with the right techniques!

According to the research, it takes an average of 20 months to start making money from a blog and an average of 4 years and 1 month of effort to earn a full-time income through blogging. However, it is important to note that many bloggers who participated in the survey did not know how to monetize their blogs. So, by applying the strategies discussed in this article and in “Digital Nomads” category, you can turn your blog into a profitable platform in a shorter period.

My experience aligns closely with these findings. As an inexperienced blogger, it took me four years to start generating income from my blog, which I began in 2016. Opening a blog is a good start, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the blog will make money. Let’s delve into the details a bit further.

Are you ready for freelance work?

First and foremost, let’s agree that blogging for money and doing freelance writing are distinct professions. You can continue running your blog as a hobby effortlessly, from the comfort of your home, for years. However, when it comes to blogging for income, it goes beyond being just a hobby.

Like any other job, becoming a blogger or a freelance writer requires effort and hard work. However, since you’ll be working as a freelancer, it may require a bit more than average dedication. Therefore, before deciding to start blogging, you should be aware that most bloggers work as freelancers.

To summarize briefly, some of the challenges of freelance work include highly flexible working hours (flexibility is like the poisoned apple in the story of Snow White; it seems attractive at first, but after taking a bite, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth), irregular income, being responsible for finding clients, and experiencing periods of abundance and scarcity throughout different months.

Nothing is as difficult as being stuck in a job you don’t want. I’m not telling you that freelance work is hard to scare you. On the contrary, I’m sharing this information so that you don’t start without knowing these realities, only to be disappointed, give up with an “Oh well, it didn’t work out,” and then return to that undesired job. The more you know about what you’re getting into, the more resilient you’ll be during the process.

What should you do to make money blogging? 10 Tips How to make money by blogging?

“Hello, I love writing and I want to start a blog. I want to do it as a job. What should I do to make money by blogging?” This message is one of the most common messages I receive.

I’m happy to be asked this question; it means I’m doing something good enough to be asked this question. But at the same time, I get a bit annoyed, I must admit. Because there is no short answer to this! It’s a subject that requires an entire course. It could take months to explain everything I know, are you ready for that? I’m someone who can’t feel at ease if I don’t share all the information I have. Please don’t ask me such questions, otherwise, I’ll immediately start writing lengthy articles. (See Figure 1A)

Anyway, long story short, it annoys me that I don’t have a short answer to this question. I wish things were as simple as this: “First, you open a blog, okay? Then you write a few posts, add visuals to the articles, of course, visuals are essential, and then, after two months, you start making money.” But unfortunately, it’s not that straightforward. In fact, I’m quite confident that a significant portion of those who ask me this question will change their minds after reading this article.

Because being a blogger, being a content writer, for those who want to pursue it as a business model, just like any other job, it’s a demanding and labor-intensive path. You need to improve yourself, constantly learn, acquire technical knowledge (which I will explain shortly), and have the patience to perform certain tasks in search engines.

Writing a blog, and doing content writing, can be a perfect therapy for those who love writing and research. But do you think loving to write is enough to make money by blogging? Let’s put a big NO right here. To make money by blogging, you need more than just desire. And mere desire is not even half the job. So, how are we going to do this?

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1. Determining the right topic and domain name

Before you start writing a blog and delve into technical aspects related to blogs, the first thing you need to determine is the topic of your blog. Who are you? What do you do? What topic will you write about? Determining the topic of your blog is relatively simple compared to many other things because it is primarily based on your interests. So, enjoy this step as much as you can because the rest will be a bit challenging.

After determining the topic of your blog, you also need to acquire a domain name. From a technical perspective, having a successful domain name is one of the factors that influence the future of your blog. Therefore, you can include high-search volume keywords related to the subject you want to write about in your domain name. Since many domain names in the market are already taken, you may need to be creative here. As an example of being uncreative, if you want to write about “shoes,” “eniyiayakkabilar.com” (which means “bestshoes.com”) is a much better choice than “melikeninayakkabilari.com” (which means “melike’sshoes.com”).

For instance, my choice of blog name was a complete failure. If I knew what I know now in the past, I would never have chosen that name. For example, if my blog name was something like “travelingisgood,” I could have had a better chance of appearing more in topics related to “travel” on Google. Right now, I’m actually talking about something very technical, and if you didn’t understand what I mean, don’t worry. You will understand better as your technical knowledge increases. For now, keep reading.

2. Creating a blog | How to start a blog?

After determining the topic of your blog and acquiring a domain name, you can create a blog. Although creating a blog has become very easy nowadays thanks to platforms like WordPress, Wix, and others, there are still some technical details to consider, and above all, you need to spend some money on things like domain and hosting.

If you cannot handle these technical tasks on your own, consider seeking support from a friend who understands these matters or an expert. Something that may take you days to accomplish can be as simple as a few minutes for someone knowledgeable in this area.

Those who want to create a blog site professionally can find step-by-step guides on blog setup, blog settings, and the necessary tasks to be done afterward by searching “how to start a blog” on Google. It is such a detailed topic that I can’t include it here. Because if I do, the article will become five times longer, and nobody will read it.

3. Technical details you need to learn for blogging

Let’s assume you have successfully set up your blog. Do you think the technical aspects are over? No, they’re not. Writing a blog is not just about entering the blog, writing a post, and leaving. If you want to make money from this, you need to continuously observe user behavior on your blog and make it more accessible and understandable with each post. Ranking high on Google should be your most important goal. Otherwise, you won’t achieve successful navigation, and making money by blogging will remain a dream.

If you want to make money by blogging, engrave these words in your mind: website traffic, original content, keywords, search volume, search engine visibility, backlinks, and optimization. Anyone who wants to make money by blogging must learn search engine optimization (SEO). LEARN SEO! Understanding website traffic requires technical literacy. Learn to use GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE! You need to be able to track certain metrics! Learn to use online SEO tools!

Whether you want to make money through copywriting or by writing for your own blog, you must know these things to be able to say that you are good at this. It’s not possible for me to write and explain each of them here. I plan to create a training program for SEO in the future, but for now, you can learn each of them from Google and YouTube. There is a wealth of information, especially from foreign sources.

You can access the detailed guide on writing SEO-friendly articles that I have written to help you stand out from your competitors and rank higher on Google by clicking here: How to Write SEO-Friendly Articles?

4. How often will you write articles? | Be ready to write morning and evening!

Being a successful blogger and earning money through blogging requires consistently creating content. This means you should be able to write at least 2-3 articles per week. Even if you don’t write in the morning and evening, you will still need to dedicate a considerable amount of time to writing.

There is an important point here. Your articles should not be random or haphazard. This doesn’t mean you cannot write from your heart. Of course, you can write what comes from within you, there is no barrier to that. However, if you want to make money by blogging, your articles should also adhere to certain rules.

So what are these rules? Originality, length, optimization, readability, and interesting content. A blog post that is prepared with attention to these characteristics can lead you to success. We will take a closer look at these characteristics in the following points.

5. Why is original and unique content important?

We are now living in the 2020s. Years have passed since 1993 when internet connection was first established in Turkey. This means that there are already hundreds of thousands of pre-existing content in every category and language that you can write on the internet. What will differentiate your content from these contents?

This is exactly why all the content you include in your blog should be original and unique. To increase the chances of internet users finding your site when they search for a specific topic, your content should be different from the content on competitor sites and meet various technical requirements.

Creating original content requires time and effort. It is not enough to determine the topics on which you will create content. If you truly want to be a successful blogger, you may need to spend hours researching for each piece of content. Otherwise, your content may turn into poorly written, repetitive articles created by mediocre media organizations just to appear in Google searches for frequently searched keywords. This not only reduces your readability but also undermines your credibility.

So what happens if you don’t create original content? Google will quickly notice this and, so to speak, mark your site negatively. Moreover, at this point, you don’t even need to copy an entire article from another site for this to happen. Even sentences taken from a site previously indexed by Google can cause this. Similarly, AI-generated content can also put your site at risk.

Therefore, regardless of the nature of your content, it should be original, and this is not an exception but a rule.

Spelling rules and fluent narration are essential

One of the unwritten rules of being a successful blogger is to have a command of spelling rules and possess a rich narrative. You may think that the Turkish language lessons you have taken throughout your education are sufficient, but readers may prefer a slightly better narrative than what you think.

Who wants to be interrupted with a fragmented sentence or a wrong conjunction at the most exciting part of an article? That’s why, regardless of the language in which you write your blog, you need to have a command of the rules of that language.

Turkish language rules are very important. You must know the spelling rules. Many people may not point out the mistakes you make and may never come back to your blog. It is very difficult to make money by blogging in such cases. Those who want to make money by blogging should pay attention to this or perhaps consider giving up blogging altogether. Of course, this is a decision that the person should make after looking at themselves.

Did the above paragraph frustrate you? Can you imagine this entire article being written like that? If I had started the article with such an introduction, do you think you would still continue reading? I don’t think so. This is a small experiment that leaves no doubt about the importance of narration. (If you didn’t notice any problems in the italicized part of this title, you can comfortably give up blogging.)

7. You cannot write your content randomly: Technic is everything!

Yes, you heard it right. If you want to make money by blogging, you need to do more than just produce original content. Every article you write, and every category on your blog should have proper search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is everything once you decide to start blogging. Learn how to write SEO-friendly articles here: How to Write SEO-Friendly Articles?

The good thing is that SEO can be learned through training, experience, and research. The bad thing is that the SEO world is an incredibly vast world, and its rewards can only be achieved through genuine effort. So if you want to be a successful blogger or if you don’t want to start a blog but want to make money by writing, you must learn SEO!

How to do SEO? SEO is truly a comprehensive topic. You can learn the basic things about SEO by searching on Google. But to do good search engine optimization requires more than what you learn from Google. And remember, everyone can learn the basics. To stand out from others, you can explore more resources, conduct more experiments, examine successful bloggers’ blogs, and be patient.

When it comes to copywriting, every moment you don’t learn or improve your SEO skills works against you. So if you are considering entering this field, start improving your SEO skills without fail.

8. The importance of having a high blog ranking

The key to earning money through blogging is reaching a wide audience with your content. The more visible your content is on Google and the more people find it interesting and click on it, the higher your potential to earn money. Similarly, the more you share your blog posts with your social media audience and the more time they spend on your site, the greater your chances of making money.

Creating regular and original content and paying attention to SEO are crucial factors that boost your blog’s ranking. Having a high blog ranking means your blog will have more visibility in search results, leading to increased site traffic. However, consistency, unique content, and SEO optimization alone are not enough for growth.

To ensure your blog ranking continues to rise (and doesn’t drop), you need to do more. Activities such as backlinking, collaborations, and promotional efforts are just a few examples. These activities require either a budget or time investment, and since new blogs are constantly being added to the internet with new content, the competition never stops.

9. Keep updated

After coming this far, you may want to take a break, but Google doesn’t let you off the hook. They always add new features, reduce the impact of certain features, and increase the importance of others. As someone who is learning SEO, you will start to have a rough idea about certain topics. By simply identifying and following trustworthy accounts that specialize in SEO, you can stay informed about the latest developments. So, first find channels that enhance your knowledge, and then examine their content thoroughly.

10. Use the power of social media

Writing a blog is one thing, but promoting it is another. After all, a blog that sits idle with no visitors won’t earn you any money, right? You need to turn your blog into a bustling street. To achieve this, you need to appear on the first pages of search results (through proper SEO practices), get clicks after appearing in search engine results (by creating compelling headlines), and ultimately, ensure that readers stay on your page after clicking (by providing valuable information and using effective writing techniques).

Another way to increase your site traffic is by sharing your content on social media. If you want your blog to reach higher levels, take advantage of the power of social media as much as possible. It doesn’t matter if your follower count is low or high. The key is to attract the attention of people who are interested and entice them to read your blog.

Of course, if you want to grow your social media account, it can have additional benefits. Although I believe that social media no longer guarantees gaining followers, there may still be some ways to increase your visibility. You can find my own experience with social media growth in an article I wrote. Even though I think social media no longer enables gaining followers, there may still be some ways to increase your visibility. You can find my article where I share my own experiences here: How I Grew My Social Media Account and What I Recommend.

When can you start earning money by blogging?

You can only start making money through blogging when your blog reaches a certain level. This level involves both technical aspects and the monthly visitor traffic to your site. Although you can speed up reaching this level by strengthening your knowledge, it will never happen in just three months.

So, let’s say you’ve opened your blog, learned SEO, started writing engaging content, and established a routine of publishing three posts per week or 12 posts in three months. Over time, you’ve accumulated over 70 articles on your site, and its technical visibility is excellent—everything is in place. After six months, you begin to see the benefits. Even though you may not yet compete with established sites, your high-profile social media shares bring traffic to your site. Or let’s say years have passed, and your blog has become a platform that appears on the first page of Google.

Once you reach this stage, what can you do to make money? There are multiple methods to earn money through blogging. You can engage in collaborations, place ads on your site, publish articles on high-traffic websites to attract visitors, sell products, or incorporate affiliate links.

Here are some of the methods to earn money by blogging:

Sponsored posts: You can publish sponsored posts for brands, websites, social media users, or any entity that wants to reach your audience.

Provide backlinks: If your site has high authority, you can sell backlinks to other websites (place links leading to their sites on your blog).

Display banner ads: If your site receives a high number of visitors, you can place banner ads on your homepage. It’s like renting a billboard.

Product Reviews: You can collaborate with various brands to review their products and create written or video reviews.

Affiliate marketing: You can include affiliate marketing links from online marketplaces on your site or collaborate with brands for affiliate marketing. This way, you can earn commissions from users who make purchases through the links in your articles.

Adsense ads: If you want to display ads on your site, the easiest way is through Adsense ads. By registering for the Google Adsense program and placing their code on your blog, Google will use your platform to display their ads. The more traffic you have, the more money you can earn through pay-per-click advertising. Even if you have low traffic, you can still earn a budget that covers your annual expenses.

Digital products: You can sell various digital products on your website, such as e-books, guides, designs, and more.

Online courses: You can provide online courses or create video-recorded courses on subjects you are professional at.

Wouldn’t it be possible to earn money by copywriting without starting a blog?

Of course, why not? Moreover, this way you will be free from the additional burdens that come with being a blog owner. For example, you won’t have to deal with the hassle of opening a blog, maintaining it regularly, or paying for domain and hosting every year.

However, to earn money by doing copywriting, you still need to create interesting and original articles, have knowledge of SEO, have some marketing skills to attract attention to your articles on sales websites, and spend time finding jobs where you can do copywriting. For this, you can join online platforms where you can find freelance jobs.

I should also mention one advantage of being a blogger at this point. When you have your own blog, you have the opportunity to try everything firsthand and see the results. For example, when you publish an article on your blog with your SEO knowledge, after 3 months, you can see the effects of that article firsthand and prepare your next article based on the lessons you learned from it. Therefore, over time, your chances of becoming a sought-after copywriter increase.

As you can see, making money by blogging is not a quick and easy way to fill your pockets like crazy. Especially not a method where you can earn money sitting where you are.

To keep your blog active and ensure it ranks high in search engines, you need to work continuously and allocate a considerable portion of your time to it. So if you want to make money from blogging, you need to research, learn, receive training, and allocate some capital to this endeavor, even if it’s small. (Just like any other job)

I want you to reconsider blog writing after reading this article. Does it resemble what you had in mind about blog writing before reading it? After reading all of this, do you still think that starting a blog is right for you?

As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, nothing is as difficult as getting stuck in a job you don’t want. So if you truly want to earn money through blog writing or copywriting, give it a try. The things I’ve described above might seem intimidating, and you might not know any of them, but you can learn.

Don’t think that I’m presenting you with a comprehensive guide with this article. Years ago, I didn’t know any of the things I described here either. I learned them over the years, not in just a couple of months. You can do it too.

If you are determined to start a blog, I wish you success with your new blog in advance. I hope you enjoy doing this work and find plenty of opportunities to earn money. Good luck to everyone!