How To Make Money Blogging As A Complete Beginner in 2021

A popular piece of advice for those looking to make money online is to start your own blog. Blogging is very accessible and you don’t need very much to get started. Webhosting is getting more and more affordable and there are very user-friendly free blog sites out there for beginners who might not be ready to invest.

Anyone can start a blog but the truth is that not all beginner bloggers will eventually make money from blogging. Making a profit will take time and hard work and won’t happen overnight. As a beginner blogger, you most likely won’t make any money from blogging initially. Most beginner bloggers take between 6 months to a year to earn any money at all and even then it will most likely only be small amounts under 100$ per month.

Blogging is not a consistent stream of income from the beginning and it can take years to make enough to sustain yourself. One month you might make 300$ and the next it will only be 30$. However, if you continue to work hard and push your business your income will increase over time and blogging will eventually become profitable. You might just be surprised by how much money beginner bloggers can actually make.

Why should you start blogging and make an income from it?

Blogging is a very flexible way of making money online. Once you’ve created high-quality content you could be earning from it for years without any additional effort. This is called passive income and will free up your time to either create new content or work on other projects. Having a passive income could help you become a digital nomad for example and work remotely while you travel the world. This is a motivator for many beginner bloggers to make enough money to fund a lifestyle of full time travel and become digital nomads.

You might be surprised how long blog posts and articles can actually be profitable. It is said that the average lifespan of a blog post is around 700 days, so almost two years. And even after the two years are over you could take some time to update your old blog post making them relevant again. Blogging and running your own blog is, therefore, a great way to make money online even for beginners. Simply focus on creating unique and helpful content with a long lifespan which your audience will love.

There are many different ways to monetise your blog posts and make money even for beginner bloggers. Some good tips for complete beginners who want to make money with blogging are to get into affiliate marketing or promote products on your blog. You could also start your own YouTube channel, sell ebooks or courses, get into email marketing or even e-commerce. The possibilities are endless and as long as you build an engaged audience you’ll be able to monetise your blog effectively.

How not to blog as a beginner – Blogging tips

Here are our top 5 blogging tips for beginners who want to make money online.

Beginner mistakes to avoid #1 – Blogging about anything

Probably the most important thing beginner bloggers need to do to eventually earn money is narrow down their niche and only blog about one specific topic. Simply writing about anything that comes to mind will not work and you need to distinguish between what interests you and what interests your audience.

Identify your niche early on before you begin writing and don’t post unrelated articles to your blog. Have a look over our this extensive article about the best niches you can blog about in 2021.

Beginner mistakes to avoid #2 – Just blog regularly and money will come

Blogs are not monetised by default. If you don’t make a conscious effort to make money from your blog as a beginner you won’t make an income from just writing. Even if you blog consistently for years that doesn’t mean you’ll automatically make money. Research carefully how you can monetise your blog and be patient. It won’t happen overnight.

There are several ways to monetize your blog even from the very beginning. However, there is no guarantee or secret recipe for success. Every blog, niche and monetization marketing strategy are different. You will have to experiement with different types of revenue streams, from emailing to cold approach, affiliates and selling products on your blog maybe. Trial and error is the process. Try all the possible avenues until you find the one that works best for your blog and niche.

This is hard work and you will hit moments of frustration, but if you are thorough enough with your “tests” you will find your way to success.

Beginner mistakes to avoid #3 – Not investing any money in your blog

Starting a business always comes with some sort of investment. Luckily a blog won’t be nearly as expensive as a traditional business but there will be some investments needed to make it successful. If you want to make money as soon as possible as a blogging beginner you need to invest in high-quality webhosting and things like a WordPress theme, hiring a social media manager and ghost writers or SEO and audit tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs.

Free options will only get you so far so don’t make the mistake of thinking you will be able to make an income with blogging without putting some money in first.

Beginner mistakes to avoid #4 – Focusing only on traffic

Traffic is very important in the blogging world but it’s not everything. Building an audience is key for your blog so there is no use in trying to drive up the numbers and encouraging people to click your links if the traffic will simply drop again afterwards.

Instead, focus on creating high-quality content and invest time in things like your email list or social media to create a community around your blog. As a beginner blogger, your traffic will be low in the beginning and that’s okay. You’ll see a steady increase over time if you work on improving your blog every day. Instead of only focusing on traffic you should be investing time into keyword research and SEO. By paying attention to search intent and adjusting your keywords accordingly you’ll be seeing long term and sustainable growth in traffic.

Beginner mistakes to avoid #5 – Not having social media channels for your blog

Social media is incredibly important for blogging and making money online and so many beginner bloggers neglect it in the beginning. You might not post a blog every day so it’s important to give your audience a place to find you and interact on days where you’re not publishing on your website. Utilise channels like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to create an active presence, promote your posts and build a relationship with your readers.

So how much money can a beginner blogger make?

Although you won’t make money from your blog from day one it is very realistic to make blogging your full-time occupation and main source of income. As long as you approach it in the right way blogging can be incredibly lucrative even after only a short time.

It is a common misconception that the most lucrative years of blogging are over and that the industry is oversaturated at his point. Of course, it was much easier to establish yourself as a blogger in the early 2000s when there was next to no competition. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t make money from blogging as a beginner in 2021.

Take Adam Enfroy, an American blogger who only started his blog in 2019. In the year 2020, he made over 800,000$ with over 500,000 monthly visitors on his website. He managed to revolutionise his niche in less than two years and earn an income that most people will work towards their whole life.

Then there is Ryan Robinson, one of the most well-known bloggers there is who regularly makes over 40,000$ per month just with his blog. He also runs a successful podcast and with over 4 million readers per year is a great example of a blogger who managed to build an incredible business around his blog. You can find his income statement from June 2020 here.

These are just some examples and tips to show you that it’s very realistic for blogging beginners to make money even with free blog sites. Even if it’s just a few hundred dollars per month initially you’ll be surprised by how quickly your blog can grow if you approach it the correct way.

What is the Fastest and Easiest Way To Make Money Blogging For Beginners?

Consultancy and mentorship services

If you have knowledge in a specific field or niche you should consider offering mentorship services or work as a freelance consultant. This is one of the top tips to make money and a steady income from blogging even for complete beginners. By using your blog as a way to advertise your services and drive traffic to your website you can promote what you do and gain new clients quickly.

Many people are looking for advice online on how to start their own blog and work remotely. This is a great niche for consultancy and you do not need to be one of the top bloggers worldwide to offer these services. Even as a small to medium-sized blogger you can help others get started in the industry and provide guidance and advice. This could even be through an online course, personalised sessions or blog audits. There are endless possibilities and the demand for these services is growing.

Think about some of the skills you have and can share. Are you a good writer?

How about SEO? Maybe Data Analytics? Do you have your own podcast and maybe you can teach other how to start one? Have you gone far in your career and you want to mentor other people who need help to do that?

Make a list of skills you could pass over to other people and try to get leads from yoru blog. Write articles about this skills to attract the right audience so you can then sell your services to the people who need. The process is simple – They google a need, you offer a service on the search results page – you make an income from selling your services and blogging. Here is a short list of types of consultancy you be offering as a services via your free blog as a beginner:

Consulting with companies on an hourly basis
Designing logos on sites like 99 Designs or Dribbble
Coaching individuals on a monthly retainer
Writing copy or blog content for brands
Editing podcasts and using your audio engineering skills
Doing search engine optimization projects for online brands
Making websites or software tools for established companies

Here is a full guide on the strategy you should adopt on how to build a name on the market for yourself and how to find clients using social media and your blog.

Promote Other People’s Digital Products

Even beginner bloggers can offer digital products to their readers which are easy to access and download. This could include anything from ebooks, printables, presets, courses, templates and much more.

Even if you do not have your own digital products yet you could make a conservable amount of money as a beginner blogger just by promoting the digital products of others. Another optionis to use affiliate links to earn a commission from every sale or contact other bloggers to come up with collaborations. If you promote digital products that are actually helpful to your audience you’ll soon see a profit with this strategy.

Affiliate Marketing

Implementing affiliate marketing links on your own blog is one of the best tips for beginners who want to make money with blogging. You could join an affiliate marketing network or promote individual brands and products that you actually use.

There are opportunities for affiliate marketing for almost every niche and the potential for earning money is great. Even as a new blogger with not much traffic you can be accepted into affiliate marketing programs for large brands. Just make sure you only promote products and services that will be helpful and relevant to your audience.

The easiest way to start with affiliate marketing is to join an affiliate network like the ones below. They connect publishers like you with brands looking for places online to sell their products. The onboarding process is very easy and the offerings are grouped by industry so it’s easy to find the one that matches your blog niche.

The best free blog builder sites for beginners

If you want to make an income with blogging the best blog builder out there is arguably WordPress. This is a great choice for blogging beginners since the platform is technically free but you do need to pay for your own webhosting. WordPress can be a bit tricky to use for beginners who are trying to build a website but in contrast to many other free blog builder sites out there you own all of your own content and making money through monetisation is quite straightforward. If you want to make blogging a career and longterm income stream then WordPress is most likely the best option for you.

Summary and Final thoughts

Here are the first steps you should be taking if you want to make an income from blogging.

Identify blogging niches you are passionate about and research their traffic and demand on the market. Pick one that you enjoy and that has potential in the blogging world
Research the top blogs in your chosen niche and find out how they monetise and what they blog about. Use this as an example for your own website
Choose your blog name, branding and buy hosting. Design a recognisable logo to build a brand identity
Add WordPress, or Wix to your site
Write a few articles before you publish your blog. Pick topics that are specific to your niche and not too broad.
Pick a theme and customise it to fit your needs. You can use a free one in the beginning but paid ones tend to be more useful longterm
Add plugins to your site for things like site security, load speed, SEO and analytics. Keep track of your statistics to identify what’s working and what isn’t
Write compelling and niched content to create a blog that your readers love. Try to create content that will be useful to your readers and make sure to optimise it for SEO so your articles can be found on Google
Build a follower base on social media and share your content with them on a regular basis. Keep your audience engaged and provide value to them through social media and your blog posts
Monetise your blog by adding affiliate links, selling digital products, promoting the products and services of others or implementing ads on your site.