September 26, 2019

How to Make Money From a Blog Quickly: Blog Income Reports Study in 7 Niches

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This Blog Income Reports Study on how to make money from a blog quickly has no affiliate links on it. It was made with the sole purpose of helping new bloggers go from 0 to 4 figures a month quickly by using the proven path already laid out for you.

How to Make Money From a Blog

You probably already know that it’s possible to make money blogging.

But for most people, it is hard to know how to monetise your blog at the start. Every “guru” you turn to tells you something different… you should do more freelancing, or use adverts, or affiliate marketing or write an ebook.

Here’s the truth…

Every niche has a slightly different trend in making money within the first year or so.

I’d like to tell you that hard work and dedication will make you money online in the end. But the fact is if you don’t see results quickly, you’re more likely to give up.

This blog income reports study will show you how to make money from a blog quickly in 7 different niches. It is a proven road map for you to take a blog from zero to 4 figures a month… and beyond!

This has the proven path to make 4 figures a month so it is split up into 3 parts:

  1. The Income Distribution of 7 Niches
  2. The Blueprint to Make $1000+ Per Month
  3. The Key Findings

Infographic


How to Make Money From a Blog- New Blog's Income Report Study in 7 Niches. How new blogs start making money using ads, affiliate marketing, their own courses and freelancing or services

Use Visual.ly if you would like to get the code to embed this infographic and link back to this page.

How is This Blog Income Report Study Different?


Brandon Gaille produced a lot of amazing facts in his 2018 blog income report study.

However, one important thing was missing…

How does each niche make money?

More importantly, how does each blog niche make money in the early days?

The generic advice doesn’t work for every niche, as you are about to find out.

For example, if you have a food blog is there any point in looking for affiliate programs to promote? Or if you have a marketing blog, should you bother using adverts?

The more you read this study, the more you will see the proven path that is laid out for how to make money from a blog in your niche.

The 7 Niches in This Blog Income Reports Study

There are 7 niches researched in this blog income reports study:

  1. Food
  2. Health and Fitness
  3. Lifestyle
  4. Mommy
  5. Marketing
  6. Personal Finance
  7. Travel

And if you look into the majority of successful blog niches they will normally fit under one of these categories.

The lifestyle niche includes blogs that write about a variety of interests but could have an emphasis on DIY crafts, home decor, journaling etc.

The health & fitness or Mommy niches are closely linked to lifestyle but there was a clear focus on these blogs.

The Blog Income Reports Study Criteria

This study had a few criteria that had to be met:

  • At least 5 blog income reports in each niche
  • All income reports also need to be over $1,700 per month (most reports below this amount are just “a bit of this and that”)
  • All income reports are below 6 figures a month (51 out of 57 were under 5 figures per month with the highest at $19,889)
  • Income reports must also have a break down of where the income was from

Why use these criteria?

We wanted to find blogs that are making money from their own niche. Not just making money “blogging about blogging”.

Just think about it… have you seen those headlines on how to make money blogging like this?…

How I Made $1.5 Million Blogging Last Year... With my Eyes Closed on a Beach

Disclaimer- the “eyes closed and beach” part is totally made up!

These are great for motivation but when you see a Mommy blog with these numbers it’s almost always because of one thing…

It has expanded into blogging about blogging.

Therefore, it’s not an accurate representation of how that niche makes money anymore…

It’s really just another marketing blog.

For this reason, many of the income reports used were not the blogger’s most recent income report.

The farther back you look, the farther forward you are likely to see.

Winston Churchill

By finding the income reports towards the start of the blogger’s journey we are able to see how to blog for money in the early stages.

Key Terms for the Study

So here are some key terms that you will need to be aware of for this study to make sense:

  • Ads: The amount of income from ad networks.
  • Affiliate: Affiliate marketing income (being paid a commission if someone buys something through a link on your website for someone else’s product).
  • Own Products: Any products that the owner creates and sells. This includes ebooks, courses, physical products and apps.
  • Other: Any other income. This includes freelance work, sponsored posts, sponsorship for their website or podcast, coaching or other services they provide.
  • Start Year: The year the website was created.

Important Disclaimers

There are also some things to take into consideration with this study.

1. Some blogs overlap 2 or more different niches i.e. Fit Mom Journey is part Mommy and part Fitness.

However, the main niche that is written about is the one recorded in this study (hence, Fit Mom Journey is more about health and fitness).

2. Mommy bloggers often fall under the lifestyle niche but there were enough blogs that clearly had a focus on Moms and parenting.

3. It’s hard to find blog income reports from websites that are not blogging about blogging!!

And there is a big reason why people make income reports…

Most income reports promote more affiliate links.

Yes, they can be educational, motivating and helpful. I’m grateful for them just doing this- research! But, 99 times out of 100, they are used to recommend more affiliate products.

But the truth is, many successful blogs will never produce a detailed income report.

This makes finding income reports that fit the purpose of this study quite challenging!

Part 1- How to Make Money From a Blog: The Income Distribution of 7 Niches


You can find all of the blog income reports used in this study towards the bottom of this page.

But if you’re like me, you’ll be pretty excited to see the difference between each niche.

How to Make Money From a Food Blog- Income Distribution

There is a clear monetisation method for food bloggers.

How to Make Money From a Blog. How Food Bloggers Make Money Quickly From Blogging

Ads for food blogs are crucial.

This is why getting onto the best ad networks and understanding what the requirements are to do this is so important for them. You can learn more about this on The Best 5 Ad Networks for Blogs.

Food Blogs Focus on Ads

Well duh!

But let’s think about why and what this means…

The obvious reason for this is that food blogs tend to get a lot of traffic because everyone needs to cook.

When the typical “house chef” (AKA Mom… please don’t shoot me for the stereotype!) struggles for ideas they do one of two things, in 2019:

  • Google recipe ideas
  • Search Pinterest for recipes

This means that new blogs can get hundreds of thousands of page views from Pinterest alone if they use it right.

Pinterest still has a high majority of active users that are aged between 25-45 and female. Hootsuite shows there has been an increase in male sign-ups since 2018, but they are still not as active on the platform.

Therefore, Pinterest is crucial for how to make money blogging about food. If you have a new food blog, all of your efforts should be spent on Pinterest promotion at the start.

Check out “5 Pinterest Hacks to Explode Your Traffic” if you want to get more pinning traffic tips.

How to Make Money From a Health & Fitness Blog- Income Distribution

There is again a clear method that health and fitness blogs use…

Advertising networks.

How Health & Fitness Bloggers Make Money From a Blog Quickly

However, it’s important to note this doesn’t have to be the case.

For example, Avocadu didn’t use any ads on the website at the start and focused much more on affiliate marketing and selling their own products quickly.

Health & Fitness Bloggers Get the Least Income from “Other” Means

Out of the 5 blogs in this study, Only Root and Revel started making any money from sponsored content.

None of these websites reported income from freelance or coaching work.

So how did health & fitness blogs make money from a blog?

Common Affiliate Opportunities for Health and Fitness Blogs

In a moment you’ll notice there are a range of products promoted on each website without any real common trends.

Here are the main money earners for health and fitness websites (excluding ads):

  • Xukkhini- Weight loss products on Clickbank
  • Avocadu- Yoga products on Amazon Associates (note they even admit you won’t be able to make much from here) plus Clickbank and their own products.
  • Root and Revel- Affiliate for Butcher box (organic meat products)
  • Fit Mom Journey- Affiliate for Perfect Keto
  • Organize Yourself Skinny- Own products i.e. ebook and meal plans

Remember these are not affiliate links, but the links for you to join the affiliate programs.

Using Pinterest is again where the majority of your time should be spent if you have a new Health and Fitness blog.

Once you see what articles your readers are interested in, then you can look for appropriate affiliate products to promote.

How to Make Money From a Lifestyle Blog- Income Distribution

So how do lifestyle websites make money from a blog?

As you can see below, ads are also super important to lifestyle blogs when they first start to make money blogging.

How Lifestyle Bloggers Make Money From a Blog Quickly

However, due to the large range of topics lifestyle blogs cover there really is no right or wrong way to monetise these types of websites.

Lifestyle Blogs Use Different Income Streams

You can see from Chasing Foxes that it’s possible to get an insane amount of traffic quickly to your blog. Silas and Grace pumped out 50 posts before they even launched their website and had over 2 million page views in a single month… within their first year!

This is obviously going to bring in some great income from ads. They relied heavily on Pinterest for this again.

Whereas Let’s Reach Success focused on freelance work and sponsored posts in the early days.

Lifestyle Blog Formula

Despite there being many ways lifestyle blogs can earn money there is a general theme across the blogs in this study.

The main focus was on making money from a blog with ads and affiliate marketing:

  1. Typically the websites built up traffic to monetise with some ads.
  2. They used Amazon Associates to place links for products they were writing about. See this example from Sharpshaft on best crossbows;  they link to many different crossbows on Amazon and other affiliate programs in the same article.
  3. This way they could test out what their audience was interested in.
  4. Eventually, they could create their own product tailored to their readers wants.

To be honest this is not just a lifestyle blog formula.

It’s also really the trend across the majority of these successful blogs as you are about to find out.

How to Make Money From a Mommy Blog- Income Distribution

Mommy’s make money blogging in a very similar way to lifestyle blogs.

How Mommy Bloggers Make Money From a Blog Quickly

But again ads stand out as the main way to make money from a Mommy blog at the start.

There was an interesting finding from this study…

Mommy Blogs Quickly Blog About Blogging

Maybe this isn’t always the case.

But…

Every one of the Mommy blogs (with Easy Baby Life less so) in this study started “blogging about blogging” or promoting some of their favourite blogging tools.

This kind of makes sense as a lot of Mom’s will be interested in making some money from home so they can spend more time with their kids.

However, these income reports prove it is possible to make money without doing that as none of them had really monetised in this way… yet!

Common Mommy Blog Affiliate Ideas

There was one platform which dominated in all of these reports:

Amazon Associates.

That’s a bit vague, so here are some common ideas they promoted:

  • Baby gifts
  • Baby gear- buggies/ prams/ car seat etc.
  • Breastfeeding stuff
  • Nursery ideas- cribs/ lamps etc.

There tend to be lots of different items promoted. But the “comparisons”, “reviews” or “how to use” posts did well.

How to Make Money From a Marketing Blog- Income Distribution

This niche is where you see the biggest difference to every other niche!

How Marketing Bloggers Make Money From a Blog Quickly

This is why you need to take “blogging about blogging” websites with a. pinch of salt.

Have you noticed yet that the things that work for these blogs may not work in your niche?

There are 2 key findings from this blog income reports study….

#1 Marketing Blogs Rely Less on Pinterest- They Do Not Focus on Ads

Readers on marketing websites (i.e. blogging about blogging or podcasting or how to use affiliate marketing etc.) do not want to see a load of pop-ups or ads everywhere.

There are two main reasons for this:

  1. They want readers to click on their products and affiliate links, not the ads!
  2. It slows the website down.

Simply put:

  • Ads are annoying and readers on marketing websites are more aware of them, unlike the typical readers in other niches.

Therefore, the last thing the readers on marketing websites want is to be interrupted every two seconds.

…Or struggle to scroll down without the website glitching.

#2 Marketing Blogs Make Money From Their Own Products Quickly

This was another interesting finding.

Even when I put in Pat Flynn, Melyssa Griffin and JLD’s super high incomes ($150,000 a month+) the income distribution hardly changes…

How to Make Money From a Marketing Blog- High Income Distribution ($150k/ Month+)

This just shows that it is possible to make money from your own products even with a new website.

However, you are about to find out that the income distribution changes a lot for other niches.

This is why it’s good not to include these kinds of blog income reports in this study.

The Best Marketing Blogs Have Less Traffic and a Smaller Audience… But Build Better Relationships

Just take Pete McPherson’s Do You Even Blog as an example.

With a relatively new website, Pete generates 60% of his income from his own courses. You can listen to my chat with Pete on the Make Time Online podcast about what he sees as the “Future of Digital Marketing“.

Also, Ana from The She Approach has already had a lot of success from her own ebooks and courses, with 47% of her income coming from them.

Common Affiliate Networks for Marketing Blogs

There are some common networks for marketing blogs:

Remember these are not affiliate links, but the links for you to join the affiliate programs.

Every marketing website promotes individual affiliate programs too.

Ranging from Pinterest ebooks to full-on 6 Figure Blogging courses.

Click here to see my personal favourite blogging tools and courses.

How to Make Money From a Personal Finance Blog- Income Distribution

Another different looking graph!

How Personal Finance Bloggers Make Money From a Blog Quickly

As you can see personal finance bloggers make a higher percentage of their income from affiliate marketing than any other monetisation method.

So if you’re a personal finance blogger, chances are you should be looking at affiliate programs to make money blogging.

Personal Finance Blogs Focus More on Affiliate Income Than Any Other Niche

Even in the early days, you can see personal finance websites focussing on affiliate marketing.

Affiliate programs such as survey sites (i.e. Survey Junkie) or reward sites (i.e. Ebates, now Rakuten) will make up a large portion of this income.

You can even see what Jeff and Ben from Dollarsprout recommend…

Example Affiliate Setup

These type of affiliate links are easiest to convert (AKA low cost, free or even provide a sign-up bonus for people to join).

Are you beginning to see how getting someone to pay $10 to join is not as easy as paying someone $10 to join?

This is much easier to sell in the early days compared to $1,000+ courses that marketing websites may be offering, where trust is key.

Common Affiliate Programs for Personal Finance Blogs

Here are some of the common programs that personal finance bloggers use to make money from a blog at the start:

Remember these are not affiliate links, but the links for you to join the affiliate programs.

There are also loads of different affiliates depending on your specific focus i.e. credit card sign-ups or stock trading programs etc.

Plus, here’s a little bonus look inside Jeff’s income-generating platforms (this is super useful if you’ve never seen the backend of affiliate programs before)…

This was from their October 2018 Income report at $61,915, after Dollarsprout was more established.

You can check out our chat on the podcast if you’d like to hear how these guys created a $240k/ month online business in 3 years.

How to Make Money From a Travel Blog- Income Distribution

Again another different looking graph.

How Travel Bloggers Make Money From a Blog Quickly

This time you can see that travel blogs typically get their income in a variety of ways.

Some sites such as Once in a Lifetime Journey make money blogging mainly from consulting. Others, such as External Expat do quite a bit of freelance work.

The fact is, travel blogs will have to hustle more to find these opportunities.

Travel Blogs Make Money With Sponsors and Freelance Income

If you’re like me you may find this really helpful to know.

If you were starting a travel website the majority of them make money from other monetisation methods, such as sponsors and freelance writing.

In fact, 6 out of 8 of the travel websites in this study has some income from sponsored posts or freelance work.

So if you are trying to make money blogging with a travel blog by creating your own course, you may find it’s an uphill battle.

Remember, don’t reinvent the wheel!

Use the map that others have left you to copy their success.

Some Useful Marketplaces for Travel Blogs

Here are some of the places for how to make money from a travel blog:

Remember these are not affiliate links, but the links for you to join the affiliate programs or use the platform.

Freelancing and sponsored income comes in such a variety.

However, the best opportunities tend to not actually come from sites like Fiverr and Upwork.

This makes it harder to set out a blueprint for the best ways to do it.

For example, Will from Travel Blog Breakthrough got a big chunk of his income from a Trekking company after they saw his work on the Inca Trail Guide.

He jumped on a skype call to make that happen.

Make sure you check out the income reports below to find other ways of how blogger’s make money from a travel blog.

Part 2- The Blueprint to Make $1,000+


Now, I bet you’re looking at all of these pretty charts thinking…

So what?

Well, let’s summarise the key takeaways and more importantly…

Let’s work out an action plan moving forward.

#1 Every Blog Needs Traffic

First of all, let’s start with the obvious.

If you want to make money from your website you have to get traffic.

Period.

5 out of 7 niches have a large chunk of their initial income from using ad networks.

Yes, Google Adsense is easy enough to get onto and start the ball rolling.

But the majority of these bloggers were getting most joy by using Mediavine or AdThrive.

Ad Income For New Blog's to Monetise. 88% of Total ad revenue comes from MediaVine and AdThrive.
Note only 34 out of 57 bloggers used AdThrive or MediaVine, but they earnt the vast majority of the ad income.

So it would be wise to aim for this.

Agreed?

Now, I can almost hear your mind saying…

But How do I Get This Traffic?

If you’re like me, this is THE question you want to be answered!

This short video will explain exactly how many of the bloggers in this study have made sure they are writing content that people are actively searching for.

AKA how they get more traffic…

So if you use these techniques rather than just guessing, you will notice your articles will start getting much more attention quickly.

Click these links to try it out right now:

  1. Pinterest
  2. Ubersuggest

#2 Aim for 25,000 Sessions a Month (Unless You Have a Marketing Blog)

I know what you’re thinking!

That sounds like a lot, right?

But there are 57 blog income reports that show you this is 100% possible for you to do.

Why 25,000 monthly sessions?

Simple because Mediavine requires 25,000 monthly sessions to allow a blog to use their network.

Therefore, aim for that!

AdThrive, which tends to pay a bit better on average requires 100,000 monthly page views.

(Note 100k page views means if 25,000 people click on 4 pages each you’d achieve that!)

This means to make some good money from ads on your blog, you need to focus on getting 25,000 monthly sessions…

Quickly!

Check out “The 5 Best Ad Networks for Blogs” to see more details about the ad networks.

Even the bloggers that did not focus on ads still needed the traffic to work out what affiliate programs or products their audience wants.

If you aren’t getting 5,000 monthly sessions yet then check out “How to Use Pinterest for Beginners“. As many of these income reports prove… Pinterest is still the fastest free way to get traffic to your website.

The most successful niches on Pinterest are still:

  • Recipes
  • Home decor
  • Fashion
  • DIY (crafts, decor etc.)

Followed closely by:

  • Kids and Parenting
  • Travel
  • Health & Fitness

Many other niches can be successful, but these are still the most widely pinned and active niches.

#3 Use Affiliate Products to Match Your Readers Interests

Once you get traffic from Pinterest (at least 5,000 page views a month) you can use Google Analytics to see what posts most of your readers are reading.

How to Find Your Most Popular Blog Posts

This proves exactly what the people reading your blog are most interested in. And are you beginning to notice you don’t need to guess?

Use the data!

Once you know this, you can start to recommend great products that fit with these articles.

Plus, you can write more posts on these topics to get even more traffic!

There are plenty of niche-specific affiliate marketplaces in the sections above if you want some ideas of where to find these affiliate products.

#4 Create Your Own Product (Optional)

If you really want to start making a big income then this is the next step to take.

As you can see from this study already, it is possible to make well over $1,000 per month blogging without even thinking about this stage. (*Cough cough Chasing Foxes with $15k/ month from ads alone!*)

But if you make a better version of the affiliate product that you are promoting, you will get to keep all the profit instead of a per cent of the sale.

Hence, instead of making $5 commission on a $30 ebook, you can make the full $30 (or whatever you choose to charge for it).

This is the proven path that has already been laid out for how to make money from a blog.

Part 3- The Key Findings


There were some important and some unexpected findings from doing this blog income reports research.

#1 It is Possible to Make Money Blogging… Without Writing About Blogging

This could well be the biggest takeaway from this blog income reports study.

It is possible to make money in other niches than marketing.

All of the income reports below will show you how these blogs made money without talking about blogging.

You can tell that some of them (i.e. The Busy Budgeter) have clearly started to blog about blogging. But there was very little money made from “blogging about blogging” in these income reports.

#2 Some Niches Tend to Reach an Upper Limit

For example, Mommy & lifestyle blogs only have so many affiliates they can promote and only so many pageviews they can get in a month.

At this stage, it’s hard for them to create a specific “Mommy product” so many of these blogs tend to start “blogging about blogging”.

This opens up many more affiliate programs and provides an opportunity to create their own courses.

Just as I eluded (ooo posh word from me!) to earlier, most blog income reports will exist to provide motivation for others. But they also promote more affiliate links i.e. Bluehost hosting or an autoresponder or favourite theme to use etc.

Therefore, it is hard to find income reports that are based solely on a “non-blogging” niche. Many of the websites featured in this blog income reports study will eventually have affiliate links to blogging tools or courses.

#3 Income Distribution Changes Over Time

The graph below shows the average income distribution of 7 blogs, one from each niche.

The second graph is from the same 7 blogs. But they have since kicked on and made at least $40,000 a month.

How Successful Bloggers Income Distribution Changes Once They Make More Money

As you can see there is a much heavier reliance from their own products and affiliate marketing.

All 7 of these websites now have a focus on blogging about blogging (Show Me The Yummy has a course on how to make videos for food bloggers, which is sort of related).

Simply put…

Once you start making good money from your blog, focus on automating with affiliate marketing and funnels selling your own products.

The most successful blogs tend to have affiliate opportunities for their own products meaning it becomes even more passive.

The 7 Blogs Used For This

Blog NameNicheFirst Income ReportMonthly IncomeSecond Income ReportMonthly Income
Just a Girl and her BlogLifestyleFeb 2014$2,446Dec 2016$41,700
Show me the YummyFoodJun 2016$4,781Dec 2016$46,366
The Realistic MamaMommyMar 2016$5,891Aug 2018$48,162
Avocadu*Health & FitnessApr 2016$4,244Aug 2019$111,929
Making Sense of CentsPersonal FinanceJan 2015$15,396May 2018$136,808
It’s a Lovely LifeTravelMar 2017$37,810Dec 2018$147,833
Melyssa GriffinMarketingJul 2015$9,226Dec 2016$283,680

The Most Important Finding of All

Every single blogger that has started making $2,000 per month or more has done this one thing.

There are ZERO exceptions.

I bet you want to know what it is, don’t you?

But you won’t like it…

Seriously though you won’t…

Hustle.

I told you, you weren’t going to like it.

There’s no magic sauce that made these blogs earn money.

They all hustled at the start.

They all found “other” ways to make money or put in an incredible amount of effort to make money through the more “passive” ads, affiliate marketing and own products.

As you can see… content creation is key!

But you don’t need to reinvent the wheel (in fact, it’s better that you don’t because if it hasn’t been written about before, there is probably a reason!)

Find what works for others and make better versions of them.

57 Blog Income Reports in 7 Different Niches


So here are the blog income reports that were used in this study.

Feel free to click on the blog name and look into any of the reports in more detail.

Food Blog Income Reports

Blog NameNicheIncome Report MonthStart YearTotal Income
Yup Its VeganFoodFeb 20172013$1,708
Pinch of YumFoodMay 20122010$2,970
The Endless MealFoodNov 20162011$4,118
Pickled PlumFoodNov 20162013$4,330
Show me the YummyFoodJun 20162013$4,781
Butternut BakeryFoodMay 20192018$5,041
Piping Pot CurryFoodAug 20182017$5,110
The Bewitchin Kitchen FoodJan 20172010$5,362

Health & Fitness Blog Income Reports

Blog NameNicheIncome Report MonthStart YearTotal Income
XukkhiniHealth & FitnessMar 20182017$1,732
Avocadu*Health & FitnessApr 20162015$4,244
Root and RevelHealth & FitnessJan 20182015$7,534
Organize Yourself SkinnyHealth & Fitness20152013$8,726
Fit Mom JourneyHealth & FitnessDec 20182016$10,123

*Income report was taken from Alex and Lauren’s book “How to Make Money Blogging”. Their income on Create & Go is updated every month.

Lifestyle Blog Income Reports

Blog NameNicheIncome Report MonthStart YearTotal Income
Vigor It OutLifestyleMay 20182017$1,907
Anastasia BloggerLifestyleJan 20182017$2,085
Just a Girl and her BlogLifestyleFeb 20142013$2,446
Jessicas LaughterLifestyleJul 20162016$2,569
Gathering DreamsLifestyleJan 20182017$3,836
Chasing a Better LifeLifestyleJun 20182017$4,274
Let’s Reach SuccessLifestyleJun 20192013$4,305
SewrellaLifestyleMay 20182016$10,180
Chasing FoxesLifestyleAug 20172016$19,889

Mommy Blog Income Reports

Blog NameNicheIncome Report MonthStart YearTotal Income
Moms Make MoneyMommyAug 20132011$2,147
What Mommy DoesMommyJul 20152012$3,391
Single Moms IncomeMommyAug 20152012$3,754
Mommy on PurposeMommyDec 20162010$3,976
Easy Baby LifeMommyApr 20172015$4,310
Rose AtwaterMommyMar 20162013$4,886
The Intentional MomMommyApr 20172008$5,481
The Realistic MamaMommyMar 20162014$5,891
Pulling Curls MommyMay 20172014$6,621

Marketing Blog Income Reports

Blog NameNicheIncome Report MonthStart YearTotal Income
Blogging Her WayMarketingMay 20182017$1,704
Moms Make CentsMarketingOct 20162016$2,127
Do You Even BlogMarketingMar 20192017$2,883
Inspired Blogger University***MarketingMay 20162014$3,738
The She Approach**MarketingJan 20192016$4,230
House of BrazenMarketingMar 20172013$5,219
Her Paper RouteMarketingMar 20182017$8,426
Melyssa GriffinMarketingJul 20152015$9,226

**This is Ana’s first $50,000 income report. The total has been divided by 12 even though it took 2 and a half years to get there because the income has sped up more recently.

***Only the income from Inspired BU was used for this study (not the income from Meet Penny)

Personal Finance Blog Income Reports

Blog NameNicheIncome Report MonthStart YearTotal Income
Millennial BossPersonal FinanceApr 20182016$1,950
The Frugal Millionaire BlogPersonal FinanceJan 20172014$2,171
The Savvy CouplePersonal FinanceJan 20182016$2,412
Retired by 40Personal FinanceDec 20162013$3,328
FitnancialsPersonal FinanceNov 20182013$4,612
Inspired BudgetPersonal FinanceJun 20182017$7,296
Unconventional Prosperity Personal FinanceFeb 20182017$8,221
DollarsproutPersonal FinanceJan 20182016$12,372
Busy BudgeterPersonal FinanceMar 20162014$12,484
Making Sense of CentsPersonal FinanceJan 20152011$15,396

Travel Blog Income Reports

Blog NameNicheIncome Report MonthStart YearTotal Income
Wherever Writer*****TravelFeb 20182012$1,973
External ExpatTravelJan 20182016$2,502
Ali’s AdventuresTravelJun20172007$2,868
Get Away CoupleTravelSep 20182017$3,027
Travel Blog BreakthroughTravelOct 20162014$3,431
Practical WanderlustTravelApr 20182016$5,882
Living the Dream RTW****TravelAug 20192010$8,113
Once in a Lifetime Journey TravelNov 20182014$9,682

***** Only travel related income was reported in this study- not the “blogging about blogging” income.

**** This income report gets updated every month but was used with the figures from August 2019

One Final Note on How to Make Money From a Blog


Remember this…

It is possible to make money in any way in any niche.

Of course, it is possible for food bloggers to create their own course or “monthly meal plans” and sell them in the early days.

Of course, you can make money from ads in any niche.

But what you have above is a proven path that successful blogs have taken to start making good money in different niches.

Use what they have left behind to your advantage.

Once you get that regular income, it then becomes possible to put more time into automating things and generating passive income from affiliate marketing funnels and sales of your own products.

How to Make Money From a Blog Quickly Summary


You can see a clear roadmap that successful blogs have taken to make money blogging in 7 different niches:

  • Food, Lifestyle & Mommy blogs should focus on Pinterest. Ideally creating list posts that people want to read & aim to get on Mediavine or AdThrive ad networks.
  • Health & Fitness blogs should do the same but quickly find affiliate products for their most popular articles.
  • Personal finance should also use Pinterest, noting that budgeting does better on Pinterest closely followed by ways to make money (use low cost or free affiliate products such as survey or cashback sites).
  • Marketing blogs should have an idea of a product they can create i.e. an eBook or Teachable course. The focus is on creating high-quality articles and really connect with the readers.
  • Travel blogs should still use Pinterest to drive traffic. Hustle to find sponsorships and freelance work to make up the income initially.

It doesn’t mean that you have to stick to this, but it does give you an idea of the quickest and proven ways for your niche to start making money.

Feel free to use any of the charts and graphs from this study. All I ask is that you kindly link back to this study from your blog post.

Keep changing for the better,

Mike

P.S. Check out “The Most Profitable Niche” and “The 5 Best Ad Networks for Bloggers“.


About the Author

Mike Beatty has built a passive income online whilst working as a full-time PE teacher without any marketing or technical experience. Learn more about how he's done it here.

Mike Beatty

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  1. Mike what an interesting read. Dialing in on Associates stuff buddy; I sell my 170 plus – I think? LOL – Amazon products as an Associate. Sweet way to earn twice; royalties as an author, affiliate income as an Associate. Tremendous resource here!

    1. Hey Ryan,

      That’s a great idea… become an affiliate of your own products… Genius!

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Btw, if you’re interested in seeing how Ryan has used blogging to island-hop and retire early check out my chat with him here. He has such a cool approach to blogging!

  2. Hi Mike

    This is a wealth of information all in one place – must have taken you forever to research it. Thank you for being so generous and sharing your learnings here for the rest of us to benefit.

    I am amazed that the mommy bloggers have enough time to get everything done – that is between being a mother and blogging, wow!

    Blessings
    Louise

    1. Hey Louise,

      Yeah, it certainly amazed me too! It is impressive what so many bloggers have managed to achieve in such a relatively short space of time.

      You can tell how hard they worked at it to get there though.

      I hope it helps

  3. Epic content and a world-class resource Mike!. It is very obscure that the Make Money Online niche only 1% revenue for ads, that is shockingly low!.

    My own take on that is not, particularly that they are seeking to earn more from affiliate marketing or their own product but more not wishing to take traffic away from their site (traffic retention).

    Distribution of income as taught by Authority hacker is a must. Stage 1: Affiliate site Stage 2 Affiliate + Ads, Stage 3: Affiliate, Ads +Own Products.

    1. Hey Derek,

      Yeah, it really surprised me too. This is one of the big takeaways from this research actually. It’s really was different how each niche seemed to focus on making money. And it’s particularly why it’s important for people to take “experts” opinions with a pinch of salt depending on what niche they are blogging about.

      Thanks for stopping by!

  4. Thank you for this detailed post. You really covered everything from beginning untill the end. I only wish I had articles like these when I was starting. I would have much easier time if I knew that it actually took to make money with your blog.
    Enjoyed the infographics as well.

    1. Hopefully, it will help some others at the start of their journey.

      I certainly learnt a lot just from going through the income reports too. Glad you enjoyed the infographics!

  5. Thanks, man! This is a killer read that has to be studied. I was not aware of how many differences there are from niche to niche. I have two blogs for now and both are starting to get traffic so it’s time to think of the best ways to monetize. Thanks again!

    1. Hey Ivan,

      I was exactly the same. After seeing Brandon’s epic research this was the question I really wanted to be answered, so I went and found out!

      I hope it can help your blogs, looks like you’re onto great things.

      Thanks for stopping by again

  6. Blogging is a very lucrative means of making money online but I think most people still don’t understand the concept, I tried it about two years ago but I left, I was in a hurry to make cash cos I was not financially buoyant so I needed something more fast, that was why I came into affiliate marketing. For the dedicated ones out there, blogging is very good, though it requires hard work and dedication, and it tao a while before it starts to pay. One big mistake people make when choosing niche is not considering the most marketable and sorted after of all others, and a blog that is not offering something people wants can’t be successful.

    This article will serve as a proper and good guide to bloggers. It contains valuable content and I’ll share it to some other platforms so they’ll learn from it. 

    1. Thanks for sharing!

      Yeah, I think you’re spot on. If you choose a random niche that has no track record it can be hard to monetise it unless you have a specific strategy to sell a product or experience in online marketing. 

      It’s proven from these income reports that if you write content that people are already searching for you can make good money relatively quickly from blogging. 

  7. Hallo there Mike, 

    This is one blog post I have to say has all I look for on posts like these, humor and helpful, LOTS of helpful content. I have even bookmarked it so that I can read it and study it well alone at night. I am actually in the travel niche and I am looking forward to scale the niche so that I can try and see if I will make more commissions and I have to say that I am going to learn lots from the study. 

    After this, you’ve definitely earned a regular visitor cause these are right up my alley. I will be stopping by every so often to get more valuable information from you. Thanks a lot again for the study, it is just so priceless. Cheers.

    1. Hi Dave, thanks so much for the kind words.

      Super glad it could help too. Do let me know if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to help. The travel niche was one of the ones where I found a lot of differences between blogs, so check out the income reports in the study as there are so many useful gems in there. 

      It’s already laid out for us, we just need to use what these guys have left behind!

  8. Great post, Mike! It must have taken quite a lot of research to put it together. Very interesting to see how different niches can focus on different strategies!

    1. Thanks Sara, I definitely think your income report demonstrates the best way for anyone to make money from blogging quickly. Thanks so much for sharing it!

  9. Hi Mike,

    I wanted to thank you for making it over to my site earlier and found this amazing post. You have really done your homework. I especially like the breakdown for Marketing Blog income as that is exactly my niche.

    I am surprised that more of the income does not come from ad sales but then again maybe not. The old e-zine days are all but gone with the modern fool working on their extinction by sending ad after ad with little to nothing of value.

    What I do see is a 43% reason I need to hurry up and get my book to print. It’s astonishing how much can be made off owning your own unique product to sell can do. I am planning my release on Amazon for early next year and will be looking for a street team out of my readers. Maybe that will give you an idea on your next product release.

    1. Hi Andy,

      Glad it could help. It’s definitely worth checking out some of the income reports in the study as every marketing blog does have a slightly different way of monetising. It may provide you with some inspiration for how to go about marketing and selling the book!

      Thanks for stopping by!

  10. Great post on how to make money from a blog!

    Lots of great info here, Mike and some interesting stats.

    Very helpful, thanks 🙂

    1. No probs Jack, glad you liked it.

      Yeah, the main finding really was there is no secret sauce. Hard work, hustle, grit… any successful new business is nearly always the same (scrap that… ALWAYS the same)

  11. Wow, I’m pretty amazed by how detailed this article is. Pretty much everything you need to know summed up into 1 page.

    Making money blogging can take a lot of persistence & dedication, but it can pay off in the long-run if you’re starting out from scratch. But having a guide from the start can help ease the road ahead. So thank you for sharing all the info.

  12. This is a great resource. I love that it highlights the fact that there are different avenues available, and the road to success may look different depending on our niche and our own individual blogs.

  13. Hands down the best article I have ever read on the topic of blogging! Loved that it focused on niche specific blogs rather than the how to blog blogs. I have read this article multiple times and uave learned so much.

  14. This is a very helpful blog. I never thought about the importance of creating niches until I read this article and it underlined the need to be very deliberate about what I write.

    1. Thanks Jackline!

      Yeah it’s so important to be deliberate. You hear from all the successful bloggers these days that old school blogging about anything is dead. People use social media for that now, whereas they use blogs and websites to learn something. The more specific the thing is you write about, the more chances Google will recognise your website as an “authority” and a more specific audience will follow you.

      Hope that helps

      Mike

  15. A study like this provides a GREAT kick-off spot to create an actionable plan for monetizing your blog. This is the kind of data that separates those who are floundering and those who have a clear vision of where they are going and how to get there. Thank you for sharing!

      1. I appreciate the effort put in writing this amazing piece of content on how to make money from a blog.

  16. Frankly, I haven’t yet read a post giving all this info. We take what is here for granted but you’ve proved, Mike, that one can blog without writing about blogging. The tip on making your own product is very well taken in. Many thanks for this detailed post

  17. Love the infographic, it’s very helpful! It makes reading the article and then re-checking the facts much easier

  18. I love this. So many newer bloggers fall into the trap of believing that the only way to make money blogging is to blog about blogging. Trying to jump on that trend, they ditch the niche that they are passionate about and, in many cases, give up blogging when they realize that they just aren’t enjoying it anymore.

    Reading a breakdown like this will help illustrate that you CAN be successful chasing your passions, whatever they may be!

  19. This is great – I would love to see something similar for the chronic illness niche. it seems to be a hard niche to grow and make affiliate income from

    1. Hmmm yeah. What websites come up the most in that niche? I’m guessing they will be mainly big health sites? I think that Google has impacted YMYL Niches (health and money) sites a while back so do you know any “bloggers” that do well in the niche?

  20. Man you really put some work and research into it and it shows! This is VERY helpful info and it’s more than just focusing on blogs that make money blogging. I learned several things from the infographic with the statistics. I can see where personal finance blogs make more money from affiliate marketing since there are a lot of programs and apps they can promote. Great info!

    1. Yep too true about personal finance websites. They tend to be the websites that end up really treating their “blogs” like a full time business more often that other ones (not always). I guess it’s also because of their interests

  21. This is so interesting and incredibly useful information. You’re so great for taking the time to put this together. Thank you so much for sharing this information.

  22. Wow! What a great article. So much information, it’s like a I bought a book. Thank you putting so much work into this and sharing.

  23. Hey Mike, What a fantastically detailed article – I love it! Far too often you can find yourself drawn-in by a click-bait headline and then be disappointed by the actual content … but not here!

    I think some people start blogging to make money and quickly become disheartened. Why? Because blogging isn't easy! Just like anything else that pays you money, you have to put in the work. Sure, you may end up in a position where you have a passive income stream and don't need to do much more than a bit of periodic maintenance – but you need to have put the work in initially.

    Keep up the good work Mike 🙂

  24. WOW ! I feel like I should have paid to read this. No seriously, this is full of extremely useful information. Most blogger would make a 100$ course, so I’m really thankful that you shared your knowledge for free. I am struggling a lot with page views and I didn’t know how to get people to click, and therefore make money. Thanks again for those amazing tips, I’ll be reading more for sure !

  25. Wow, Mike, this was super helpful information! I used to read blogger monthly income reports when I first started blogging because I found them inspiring. The information in your post is much more practical and useful for targeting my efforts to grow my blog. Thank you!

  26. Excellent info! I began to make money last year, with my lifestyleundefinedtravel blog. This year I’ve made more, breaking through the $1000undefinedmonth ceiling finally. Most of my income is through sponsored posts, on the blog and social media, and affiliate sales. You are right on! I don’t do ads at all though.

  27. I had absolutely no idea about anything blogging when I started a few months ago, except that I was supposed to write posts. That I found myself overwhelmed by the magnitude of blogging is the understatement of the decade! Before I lost my mind, I decided to take one thing at a time. Now I'm trying to get it right with Pinterest and see if I can get close to the traffic requirements you mention in this post.
    I also clicked through your links to other posts to get a better idea. By the way, I wanted to pin them since I'm not on Twitter, but there's no way. I do check the pins I save and click o to sites when I need to refresh information.

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