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You stumbled upon this blog post because you want to learn how to become a full-time blogger.
Why do you want to become a full-time blogger?
I ask you this question because it’s important to know why before you jump into it.
There are many reasons why you want to become a blogger and here are some of the common ones.
- You are a stay-at-home parent who wants to earn a full-time income while taking care of your kids.
- You want to escape your unfulfilling 9-5 job and become your own boss.
- You are passionate about a certain topic and would love to teach people more about it.
- You just want to give blogging a try and see what it’s like because it’s extremely cheap to get started.
Everyone is different and we all have our ultimate “why.”
Before we jump into the step-by-step guide, I will share my story of how I started a blog and became a full-time blogger.
At the end of the post, I’ve included a list of frequently asked questions about becoming a blogger, in addition to the timeline of how Finsavvy Panda blog progressed in the first 2 years. This will give you an idea of what to expect and how I went from earning $0 to $10,000 per month in 18 months.
But before we answer all of your burning questions like “how to become a full-time blogger” and “how much can a blogger make”, allow me to introduce myself and my personal story of how I turned my blog from hobby to blogging full-time.
UPDATE: Wondering how to become a blogger and get paid? You can also check out my updated blog income report on how I am earning over $20,000 per month blogging here.
How I Became a Full-Time Blogger
Ok, as I am typing this out on my laptop, it blows my mind that I actually quit my job and made blogging my “full-time job” (although it doesn’t really feel like a job to me).
Several years ago before, the idea of becoming a full-time blogger never crossed my mind.
Just like any normal person, I was reading popular websites/blogs and consuming information to learn something new and inspiring each day. Gosh, I didn’t even know that I was reading “blogs”. What the heck is a “blog” anyway?
I just thought the stuff I was reading were articles written by freelancers on a website. Yeah, I just called them “websites”.
BTW, I didn’t even know how websites were making money online (nor did that thought cross my mind either).
With that said, if you told me a few years ago to start a website blog and make a full-time income, I would’ve laughed out loud, showed no interest, and said something along the lines…
“Hah, yeah right! I ain’t no writer. I’ve never written an article before. Uh, and do I look like a tech expert? I don’t know how to build a website! Plus, you probably need to become popular and huge in order for it to work out.”
I soon realized that this is not true.
I learned that you don’t have to be a writer or a techie to start a profitable blog.
Overall, I didn’t know what I was thinking but I started a blog on a whim because I liked the idea of earning extra money by writing about topics I enjoy talking about.
All my friends, family and coworkers always ask me for money tips, so I wanted to see if I could make money online by blogging about personal finance and money. I thought this would be a great topic for me to write about because, for one, I enjoy giving tips and helping people. Secondly, it would be pretty cool if I could make money while doing something I enjoy on the side!
On top of that, I thought in the back of my head that it would be nice if this blog could eventually turn into a passive income stream giving me the option to work fewer hours in the future!
I value my family and friends so being able to spend more time with them is very important to me.
While working a full-time job, I poured my heart and soul into learning how to make money blogging in 2018! Eventually, when I saw growth in my blog income, the thought of becoming a full-time blogger crossed my mind.
After being able to earn a full-time income online, I decided to quit my day job to become a full-time blogger in 2019.
UPDATE: Due to the high number of e-mails and requests I received from my readers over the years, I created this very comprehensive step-by-step e-book guide, The Treasure Map To Blogging Success in 30 Days. It teaches beginners, in very plain and simple English language, how to build a profitable blog from scratch without going through overwhelm. This guide is perfect for you if you are NOT tech-savvy, NOT a professional writer, and have absolutely ZERO experience with building a blog. I am very confident that you’ll find this affordable e-book extremely helpful in getting your blog launched and ready in the next 30 days!
How much can a blogger make? What is a full-time blogger’s salary?
This is not a straightforward answer because it really depends.
According to ZipRecruiter, the average blogger’s salary is $45,082 as of 2023. But this is just for reference and I wholeheartedly believe that you could earn more than the average!
You may hear about my personal story and how I earn over net six figures per year, however, this may be different for everyone. You could earn more or less. It really depends on a variety of factors such as your:
- Blog niche (make sure to choose a profitable niche you’re passionate about)
- Size of the audience
- Type of monetization strategies used (combo of display ads, affiliates, sponsors, products, services, etc.)
- How consistent you are with your publishing your content
As you can see, there are a lot of factors that determine a blogger’s earnings.
But one thing I can tell you is that those who are passionate, motivated, and willing to learn will become successful earning more than what they could imagine!
Aside from those factors, a more “high-level” and general answer would be that a full time blogger’s salary can range from a few thousand dollars per month to six figures or more.
Some bloggers, who turn it into a full-blown business, are able to make multi six-figures or even north of one million dollars per year! But if you want to keep it small and personal, earning six figures with your blog is definitely achievable.
It is important to remember that blogging can be a full time job and requires dedication, hard work, and consistency in order to generate a substantial income. Additionally, it may take months or even years before you start seeing results with your blog.
Ultimately, how much money you earn as a blogger depends on your willingness to persevere and the strategies you use.
How To Become a Full-Time Blogger
Today, I’m going to go through all the questions you have about becoming a full-time blogger.
Again, at the end of the post, I show you the timeline of how this blog progressed in the first 2 years — it’s something I wouldn’t have imagined happening even just a year ago!
I hope you find this article useful and inspiring!
Step 1: Start your blog
When I first started my blog, I chose to go with Bluehost as a beginner.
I even created this easy step-by-step tutorial on how you can start your blog today.
You can start your blog as low as $2.95 USD per month plus get a FREE domain name when you purchase at least the 12-month plan. This low price and free domain name is an exclusive deal only when you use this Bluehost link.
When I was done registering for my blog, I selected a free theme from their selection. I’m still using the Oslen light-free theme but I am in the progress of investing in a paid theme.
There are tons of themes to choose from, both free and paid, but I decided to go for a free one because I was more focused on learning than spending time on choosing the “perfect” paid theme.
You can also join my free 7-day e-mail course where I go into more detail to show you step by step what I did to eventually become a full-time blogger. Sign up below to get the scoop! 🙂
Step 2: Decide what to blog about
Now, you may be asking, “what should I blog about?”
Take a step back and figure out who your target audience is.
I always recommend choosing something you enjoy talking about while being able to help or serve your readers.
Don’t choose a topic just because you think it will make money. Sure, it may work out, but can you really keep writing about something you don’t have any interest in?
Trust me, you don’t want your blog to feel like a chore or another 9-5 job just solely for money.
Here, I encourage you to use this diagram to help you hit your sweet spot!
- Passion: What is one topic you could talk about all day long without feeling tired about it? Could it be fashion, travel, home decor, renovations, gaming, crafts, parenthood, budgeting, personal finance, money matters, entrepreneurship, marketing, etc.?
- Skills: What are you good at? What do you usually get compliments on?
- Market demand: Is your topic very popular? Is it highly searched for? For example, fashion, home organization, decor, personal finance, money matters, business, tech, marketing, and more are extremely topics that get searched for every single day! Billions of people out there want answers and solutions to their problems!
Remember that readers need your help with something.
Most of them aren’t here to read about your life problems (unless they are used as examples to demonstrate a point you’re making to solve their problem).
When they land on your page, they want to know how your post can help them solve their problems!
For example, when you turn to Google for answers, you may be searching for a lot of “how-tos” such as:
- how to make extra money online
- how to save $1,000 a month
- how to plan a wedding in 6 months
- how to lose 15 pounds in 1 month
- how to tile a kitchen backsplash like a pro
- how to plan a trip to new york city
- how to put your baby to sleep
You search for questions like that because you’re looking for help, right?
You get the idea.
Anyway, my point is if you want to enjoy blogging while being able to earn an income, your ideal spot is to hit all these 3 elements — passion, skills, and market demand.
I know it’s easier said than done, but if you really put the time and effort into figuring this out, you will be rewarded!
💡PRO TIP: You don’t have to be an expert in your field to be considered skilled. For example, you could document your learning journey and teach others your mistakes and what you’ve learned. Lessons add a ton of value to your readers (as long as it’s what people are searching for A LOT)!
Step 3: Write 5 to 10 blog posts
I didn’t know what the heck I was doing when I started my blog, but now that I learned a lot from my mistakes, I would recommend preparing at least 5 blog posts before launching your blog.
I also recommend using Grammarly. This app helps correct your grammar and spelling errors. There is a premium version available, however, I’ve been using the free version here which does the job for new bloggers.
To be honest, I had a hard time figuring out what to write about when I first started my blog.
I personally wrote many topics within my broader niche to see what I enjoy writing about. At the same time, testing the waters allowed me to see which blog posts were doing better.
This gave me an idea of what my readers wanted to hear from me, so I focused and created more of that type of content.
Step 4: Launch your blog and drive traffic
When I was a brand new blogger, I immediately focused my efforts on Pinterest to drive traffic to my blog. And yes, this is 100% free traffic!
Until this date, I haven’t used any paid advertising or other social media platforms to drive traffic to my blog. I focused 100% of my efforts on Pinterest at that time.
You can learn how I use Pinterest traffic to make money with my small blog here. I also have a separate blog post on how you can get explosive Pinterest traffic to your blog as a beginner.
It’s important to diversify your traffic, so I recommend learning how to rank on Google’s search engines so you can be found. In my second year of blogging, I’ve been focusing my efforts on improving my Google traffic.
The Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic: This comprehensive guide gives you my extract strategies on how I exploded my traffic from 0 to over 100,000 monthly pageviews on Pinterest. If you want to get more traffic to your blog, then I highly recommend The Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic. This Pinterest curriculum is filled with many valuable lessons along with tried-and-true strategies that show you exactly what I’ve done to get into Mediavine for two blogs. Getting all that traffic opened the doors for me to monetize my blog with display ads, affiliate marketing, and so on. This is seriously the Pinterest guide I wish I had when I started my blog!
Step 5: Learn how to make money blogging
It’s crazy, but so many people search for “how to make money blogging fast”.
If you are looking to make quick and big money, then learning how to become a blogger isn’t going to instantly solve your problem.
As I already mentioned, building a profitable blog doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time and effort.
As a beginner, you can learn how to earn money online with Google for free by using Adsense on your blog.
I also wrote a full blog post on how you can earn your first $1,000 per month as a part-time blogger here.
At the beginning of that post, I talk about the types of blogs that make money along with some of the top money-making blogs.
I also address the question, can you really make money blogging?
Step 6: Keep learning and implementing strategies
Even after learning and implementing some strategies onto my blog in my first few months, I barely saw any results.
Despite that fact, I still treated this whole thing as a learning experience so I kept going and going until I started to see some wins.
I realized that being negative or upset about the situation wasn’t going to get me anywhere, so I persisted and embraced every single thing I learned throughout my blogging journey.
Since launching this blog, I’ve always treated it like a learning journey regardless of the ups and downs.
Being able to move on when your blog isn’t generating the results you like is the hardest part, but you really need to try hard to get past that stage.
My Blogging Earnings Proof
Here’s proof that you can really earn a full-time income blogging.
If you’re interested to see how my overall blog income is broken down, feel free to take a look at my previous blog income reports here for details.
UPDATE: I stopped publishing income reports since I don’t have time to make them. Most of my efforts are spent on learning and applying monetization strategies onto my other blogs. Yes, I have more than just 1 blog today and I’ve learned A LOT more since I wrote the blog post you’re reading here. My latest income report was from March 2021 ($27,689.76 for the month) along with my blog lessons learned.
Again, you can grab a copy of my singature e-book, The Treasure Map To Blogging Success in 30 Days, if you want to follow the steps I took to build my second blog (and the list of things I wish I had knew when I started my first blog). It contains all the things I would do all over agian if I knew what I know now. I’ve had so many readers who e-mailed me to tell me that they were surprised by the amount of information along with things that they had no clue about when they started their blogs!
My income has been increasing but the percentage mix has remained pretty consistent, and I am currently looking for new ways to monetize this blog.
Blogger income report
Below are just a few screenshots of how I make money online with my blog, which is all from display advertising and affiliate marketing.
This is an example of how much I made from just ONE affiliate network (using these affiliate marketing strategies) within the last 3-month period — $8,064.31!
This is another example of one of my affiliate earnings in a month:
And here is another example…
And here are a few examples of how money gets paid directly to my bank account.
Most of my other earnings go into my PayPal account.
This is an example of how much I earned in March 2019 just by displaying ads on my blog with Mediavine. Payments get paid out in 90 days and that’s why you see June 3, 2019, in the screenshot.
Here are a few examples of PayPal payments I received…
Here is an example of a quarterly payment from both Rakuten/Ebates US and Ebates Canada.
Here are a few examples of my monthly PayPal earnings.
Now, I’m not here to say that your results in blogging are guaranteed. You may earn very little in your first year.
Starting a business or any form of self-employment isn’t a walk in the park.
When you start a blog, you ultimately take full responsibility and ownership of everything you do.
Still, what I love about blogging is you can potentially earn more than your traditional 9-5! There is absolutely no limit to how much money you could make with your blog!
The hardest part is staying motivated especially at the beginning when you see almost no results. But regardless of the ups or downs, I kept persisting and moving forward — that’s how I saw results!
I Made Almost $30,000 in 3 Months Blogging
I want to bring up again what I said in my last blog income report from February 2019.
I mentioned I was going to stop my blog income reports because they can cloud our vision chasing numbers plus I was afraid they weren’t adding much value for my readers.
But so many of you sent me personal e-mails within the last few months asking me if I’d consider bringing them back because you find them helpful and inspiring — thank you so much for your kind words and support!
I was firm on stopping them entirely and there was absolutely NO way I was going to take back my words. But, one important thing I learned from the blogging experts is that you should not neglect what your readers want.
I lost sleep because I felt that I was neglecting a segment of my readers’ request.
So, instead of publishing a monthly “blog income report”, I thought perhaps I could write about the things I learned in a blog post like this one.
This gives me the perfect opportunity to provide you my blogging tips and tricks while showing you my blogging progress.
At the end of the day, I want to pass on what I learned.
So, here’s how my blog has been doing in the last 3 months since I stopped publishing my numbers…
I feel shaken and uncomfortable saying this, but I honestly never expected to suddenly jump from $7,000 in February 2019 to $9,471.62 blogging in March 2019.
I hit my first $10,000 blogging in April 2019!
I earned over $10,000 again in May 2019 ($10,304.91). This is a milestone worth celebrating considering how much I struggled at the beginning when you read my first blog income report.
Not to mention, I always tend to have self-doubts and lack confidence in myself. This is the hardest part of blogging (for me at least) and it’s something I’m trying SO hard to improve on but it’s not easy.
I’m very ecstatic with hitting $10,000 per month!
I couldn’t believe that my personal small blog was earning that!
I’d be more than happy if I could maintain this blog to even earn $7,000+ going forward because there is a TON of blogging stuff that I still don’t know about!
I’m really just focused on learning and whatever happens, good or bad, IT happens! With any type of business, you just don’t know what will happen the next day but you just have to keep swimming!
Are you a beginner who wants to start a blog? Join my FREE 7-day course on how to start your blog the right way! 🙂
I created this free 7-day e-mail course that teaches beginners how to start a profitable blog!
I am really excited to share this with those who have been looking to start their blogs. If you want guidance and more info, feel free to sign up below! 🙂
What is it Like To Be a Blogger? What Does it Take To Be a Blogger?
What does it take to be a blogger?
Once I was into my first and second year of blogging, I could tell you that making money online with a blog is NOT a get-rich-quick thing!
I started off blogging part-time on the side on top of my full-time job and I didn’t realize that I actually learned a TON within my first year!
There’s a misconception that bloggers would just sit in front of their computers and write blog posts off the top of their heads about “a day in my life” or document a personal diary. This is perfectly fine if you start your blog for fun.
But if your intention is to earn some extra money or a full-time income, then you may want to focus on a niche that you genuinely have an interest in and find a way to offer value and help to your readers.
For example, my niche focuses on all money matters whether it’s about saving money, making money, budgeting, or investing. I tend to talk about myself a lot (not because I want to), but I use my personal stories as examples to tell them what I did to save money or make money.
However, sometimes I don’t even talk about myself or use my personal experience as an example — I may just inform my readers on “how to” do something although I find that telling a story helps a lot more!
What does a blogger do?
Bloggers are creators
With all that said, being a blogger means you are a “creator.” With your unique experience and voice, you will offer a solution or some form of value (i.e. that could also mean entertainment) to your audience!
Being a creator is not easy because it requires the blogger to really think about how they can add value to their readers’ lives. However, this is also the most rewarding part of blogging.
It helps when you put yourself in the shoes of a typical reader or “consumer.” We’re humans and we all love to consume, right?
So, think about the things you like to read about or consume. Or better yet, think hard about your struggles and problems. What did you do to fix it? What product or service did you use to solve your problem?
At the end of the day, people come to your blog and they will subconsciously think, “Did this post add any value to my life? Did I learn anything? Was it entertaining? Did it inspire me?”
Just like getting a promotion at your day job or starting a side business, blogging requires real work and effort to earn a living!
Follow a blogging schedule that works for you
If you work a full-time day job, and really want your blog to work, then you will have to be serious about it (while having fun along the way too, of course).
I personally started my blog while working a full-time job and was able to quit my job within a year.
Here is a quick example of a daily blogging schedule PDF template that may work for you while working a full-time job. It’s not something you need to follow exactly since you can adjust the hours up or down based on your situation.
This schedule is similar to mine except I got off work much later (I think most of us do nowadays)!
Mind you, a lot of my time was spent on learning (i.e. reading from blogging resources) at the beginning!
Anyway, this was my blogging routine and what I did…
- Wake up earlier than usual to spend 1 hour on it on the weekdays.
- Spend time on it during my commute to and back from work (1 hour to work, and 1 hour back). It helps when you put on your headphones and listen to music on your subway ride.
- Read some blogging resources during my 1-hour lunch break at work.
- Squeeze in another 30 minutes during my break time at work (I usually like to review something I learned so it sticks in my head).
- Spend 1-2 hour hours after work (it’s exhausting after work and that’s when I do easy tasks like casual reading or creating pins to promote on Pinterest).
- I took most Friday evenings off because we could all use a chill day.
- Spend up to 7 hours each day on the weekend or sometimes more depending on my mood (I made sure I woke up early so that I could just chill for the rest of the day… seriously, we still need to spend some fun times with our friends and family!)
If you think about it, a few hours here and there really add up, especially when it’s done consistently over the months! This is how I managed to build my blog from scratch without burning myself out. Notice my keyword — “consistently”!
Trust me, YOU’LL BE SURPRISED at how much you can achieve when you put in the consistent effort!
Plus, I found that exercising helps A LOT with improving your productivity! :O
I personally feel much better and energized after running on my treadmill with music…
My current full-time blogging routine
After transitioning to a full-time blogger, I still follow a similar schedule. I spend anywhere between 20 to 40 hours a week depending on my mood and other life matters.
One of the perks of being a full-time blogger is that you get to set your own hours.
For example, I mentioned back in December 2018 that my father-in-law was diagnosed with lung cancer. Also, my grandfather who I was very close to became extremely ill over the last 5 months and passed away recently.
Being my own boss allowed me to take time away from the blog and focus on things that were important to me.
Blogging as a Career
Many people ask the question, is blogging a good career?
Almost any job or position can be considered a good career choice as long as you enjoy what you do while being able to earn an income that satisfies a lifestyle you are happy with.
For example, I did NOT consider my previous job in the financial sector as a good career regardless of the growth opportunities, great pay, and great benefits.
Why?
Although it was enough to fund my desired lifestyle, and honestly, I felt grateful, but I just didn’t feel happy or ecstatic to be there. I felt empty, sad, and REALLY disliked the office politics and overall toxic environment.
My emotional health (ultimately my life) is worth more than staying at a “comfortable” job that I hate.
As mentioned earlier, I never in this world imagined that I’d quit my job to blog full-time — it was a scary move!
I honestly don’t know what’s coming next, but I am very excited to learn more new things within the online and blogging world!
So, based on what I’m doing so far, I really do think blogging is a great career choice!
Why choose blogging as a career?
Blogging offers A LOT of great opportunities and there are many ways to earn a full-time living online!
Here are reasons why you may want to choose to become a blogger.
You can make an impact on people’s lives
As a creator, I have the choice to “create” things (whether it be a blog post or a digital product) that offers help to my readers.
It makes me incredibly happy when readers e-mail me to tell me that they found something I provided helpful!
What makes it even better is I get to learn and teach something that I genuinely have an interest in! This is what keeps me going each and every day!
Unlike my previous day job, I didn’t feel I was making an impact on anyone’s life in any real way… other than making a small impact on my company’s bottom line who in turn doesn’t even care about me.
Blogging is really cheap to get started
What I also like about blogging is that it’s incredibly cheap to get started — it’s less than a cup of latte and you honestly can’t beat that!
It only costs as low as $2.95 USD per month to start your blog when you sign up with Bluehost today. That’s up to 60% off! You also get a FREE domain name ($15) when you sign up for at least the 12-month plan through my link. This low pricing is exclusive to Finsavvy Panda readers!
If you are interested in starting a profitable blog, you can also visit my simple step-by-step tutorial here.
I personally consider blogging as something that is extremely low risk compared to many other investment opportunities.
First of all, I could try it out to see how I like it without spending a lot of money.
Secondly, the low upfront investment doesn’t even compare to other business ideas such as opening a physical storefront, franchise or investing in a bunch of real estate properties.
I’m using some of my own personal experience here as examples, but when I was researching long and hard about opening a small physical store, a few suppliers came back to me and told me I must invest at least $1,000,000 USD worth of inventory in the first year to work with them! That didn’t even include the monthly lease for space and other operating costs! Say goodbye to that idea…
On the other hand, real estate (RE) properties can be great, and it can feel passive when you have good tenants or someone managing it for you. However, the initial investment (even if you’re paying a small downpayment) costs WAY more than starting a blog for cheap. Not to mention, people most likely borrow money to invest in RE which makes it a riskier form of investment.
When I started my blogging journey, I knew that I wanted to earn extra money but I didn’t know what to expect.
I was working at my blog consistently at my own pace.
I was just focused on learning and I didn’t have to stress because it’s not like I borrowed a huge amount of money for it. Plus, I had a full-time job to help with my living expenses. Even if it didn’t make any money for 2 years, I was fine with that!
Worst comes to worst, if it didn’t work out, I would’ve moved on with no hard feelings.
My thoughts were… if it doesn’t work out, at least I know I tried it — it’s WAY better than wondering and not taking the leap.
I’ve always told myself that life is too short to keep wondering! You just gotta do it, or you never will!
Blogging resources are affordable
You can read my post on how to start a blog on a budget for total beginners here for a rough estimate.
This blog took time and effort to build at first, and in my 5th month, I realized that I needed to invest in more blogging resources to see results.
Most of my results at the beginner were thanks to these tools I talk about on my blogging recommendations page:
- Following The Treasure Map To Blogging Success in 30 Days e-book guide that I created after going through a HUGE learning curve. If you don’t have a copy, I highly recommend grabbing one and following this comprehensive guide made just for beginners like you!
- Affiliate marketing e-course
- Pinterest traffic resource
- Tailwind Pinterest scheduler
- A Blogging Bundle Package
- Canva
- MailChimp (build up to 2,000 subscribers for free with this provider) but I switched to a ConvertKit monthly plan after earning an income with my blog.
Your earning potential in blogging is unlimited.
Again, I’m NOT at all saying that you’re going to get rich from blogging.
It’s not easy and it actually requires work!
I also have to admit that most traditional day jobs are comfortable.
I received a stable paycheck with great benefits, but I was just a spec of dust making my company richer. This is why I wrote one of my first heart-felt blog posts, This Quote By Warren Buffett Will Inspire You To Become Rich. This quote really inspired me to start my blog, so I could become my own boss!
Regardless of the number of hours I put into helping the company grow, I wasn’t getting my fair share of the pie. At the end of the day, I was on a fixed schedule and fixed paycheck.
There are even times when you are required to stay back to do overtime (or even log into work from home) and you won’t get compensated because depending on your manager, “it looks bad” to log in those extra hours.
However, when I made the shift to blogging, I reap all the rewards for the work I put in and that is something I can control.
For example, the $29,800 revenue (net profit of about $29,400) I earned within the last 3 months (March to May 2019) was a result of 100% of the effort that I put into this blog!
FAQs: How To Become a Blogger and Earn Money
I originally wrote this post after blogging for two years.
I’ve updated the content to ensure what I say still applies today. So many great memories, but boy, can I say time flies by?
Over the years of being a full-time blogger, I’ve received tons of questions from people who are serious about becoming an online blogger, so I decided to add more information in this FAQs section here.
1. Can blogging be a full time job?
Yes, blogging can be a full time job as long as you are willing to put in the work and effort.
Here’s a simple analogy for you.
Similar to working out at the gym and staying fit, you can’t be on a yo-yo diet. That just doesn’t work when you’re on and off.
Whether you want to be fit for a lifetime, or earn money with your blog as a full-time blogger, it’s all about designing the lifestyle you want and building good habits over time.
Good habits of a full time blogger include being:
- A curious George (you are willing to learn and even admit to any of your past mistakes, so you can correct them)
- Consistent with your blogging schedule
- Persistent regardless of the ups and downs
- Adaptable to any changes
- Realistic about your results (e.g. acknowledge this is not “fast money”)
- Positive about your blogging goals and outcome (get rid of any negative or toxic mindset)
- Authentic with your readers and most importantly, yourself
If you have a few or more of these traits, then blogging could be your full-time job.
Even if you don’t have all these traits, don’t fret! You can learn and implement them over time. It’s never too early or too late. I wasn’t perfect when I started my blog. I’m still not perfect (FAR from it), but I am always open to making improvements in my long-term blogging career.
2. How to become a blogger and get paid?
To get started and become a blogger, you can follow my checklist on how to start a profitable blog for more information.
Once you’ve learned how to set up your blog, your next step is to learn how to get traffic. I have a post on how I get over 100,000 monthly pageviews from Pinterest with two of my blogs. Yes, I started a second blog so I could diversify my blog income stream. Update: I have a total of four blogs that are all earning money today!
Without traffic, you won’t be able to get paid as a blogger because no traffic pretty much means no income.
When you start getting readers and pageviews, you can get paid by implementing the following monetization strategies:
- Display ads
- Affiliate marketing
- Sponsored content
- Selling your own products (physical and/or digital)
- Selling your own services (e.g. if you’re a certified personal finance expert, you could coach people on how to manage their money)
You can learn more about how blogs make money here.
Depending on the brands, affiliates, and companies you work with, you get paid by setting up payments that go directly into your bank (direct deposit) or PayPal. International wire transfers, physical cheques, etc. are other forms of payments too.
For me, direct deposit and PayPal are my most common forms of payment as a blogger who gets paid. I have more information about how bloggers get paid here.
3. What is the fastest way to get a blog earning income?
My friend, I hate to burst your bubble, but there is no fast track to earning income from blogging.
What bothers me is that people think you can just start a blog, slap on some ads and affiliate links, and then earn $3,000, $5,000, or even $10,000 per month overnight.
Blogging requires a lot of hard work, dedication, and perseverance before you will see any kind of financial return. As I always say, it is not a “get rich quick” scheme!
That said, there are steps you can take to increase your chances of success when it comes to monetizing your blog.
Based on my experience with creating 3 successful blogs, here are my tips for getting a blog up and running, and earning income:
- Create great content – Content is key when it comes to blogging success. You need to create content that engages readers and encourages them to come back for more. Invest time into researching topics, writing compelling copy, and optimizing for search engine optimization. You can learn how to write your first blog post here.
- Make sure your content is keyword targeted – Aside from creating great content, you also need to make sure that the content you write is highly searched. That means you need to do some keyword research and understand what users are actually searching for. If you start a blog and blindly write whatever you want just because you “feel” like it, then you’ll be in for a big surprise. I made that mistake and that is why I dive into the importance of keyword research and writing highly-sought after content in my comprehensive traffic guide, The Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic. This is one of the MOST crucial parts of blogging and you can’t afford to ignore this step.
- Build an audience – You need to focus on building a loyal readership for your blog in order to generate income from it. Make sure to use different channels to promote your blog (I personally love Pinterest and I use Google as a secondary), and e-mail marketing to promote your blog and grow its following.
- Monetize your blog – Once you have a steady readership, you can start monetizing your blog by offering advertising space, selling digital products or services, and/or becoming an affiliate for other products.
With hard work and dedication, it is possible to get your blog to earn a full-time income.
Since I understand how badly you want to earn money as fast as possible with your website, I wrote a separate post that answers the question, how long does it take to make money blogging? I go into detail and uncover some truths that many bloggers don’t really talk about.
Over to you — Are you ready to learn how to become a full-time blogger? Did this post inspire you to start your blog so you can see what it’s like to become a blogger too?
Don’t forget to pin and share this post and follow me on Pinterest! 🙂
Hi Ling
Wow I am truly impressed with your concern to make sure we “newbies” are doing ok. To tell the truth, I am still struggling on what to write for my lifestyle blog. The bad thing is, I moved to a new state and have been trying to adjust and look for work (cuz I am not making any money on my blog yet that’s for sure! lol). I kinda wanted a few blogs written and then of course figure out how to post them on my business pinterest. I do crafts but again, because of the move and living in “temporary while we find a home” I have not even been able to do that 😫. It has been, for sure, a struggle.
I am notorious for thinking that whatever I may write or create is not good enough to post. I have gotten better and posting my crafts on my business facebook account etc. but the writing??? Ugh, I was the same in college.
I am just sort of “stuck”
Michelle
@Michelle – crafts blog is an amazing idea! I’m excited to see how it will turn out once it’s built!
I can’t comment on FB because I don’t use it for traffic so I won’t be able to speak about it. I mainly use Pinterest and Google.
But I do recommend writing 5 to 10 posts up front if you haven’t yet (then do 15 to 20). Once you’ve done that, make room in your schedule to post every week to maintain your blog.
I took a look at your blog a while ago and I saw you were not implementing keyword research, Google or any Pinterest traffic strategies. You will also want to make sure you do keyword research because that’s important for both Google and Pinterest searches.
I also have a post here on how to get Pinterest Traffic: https://www.finsavvypanda.com/how-to-get-traffic-from-pinterest/
You may also want to refer to this post on how to write your blog post because I saw your articles were missing structure along with the basic foundations: https://www.blogsavvypanda.com/first-blog-post/
I hope this helps! Let me know how everything goes.
Hello Ling,
My name is Olivia, and I have been in the blogging space for a little over 2 years. I have certainly learned alot along the way, however I have not been able to translate this into higher engagement and revenue.
The name of my blog is MedCute.com, and it is a medical student and health worker site giving information, study tips, med student articles and life experiences as well as a TeeSring linked store where one can purchase branded material. While I have sought feedback from other bloggers and have been assured that the quality of the blog entries are up to standard, page views do not translate well, and I have not been able to secure regular readership.
In terms of SEO, the majority of my entries are SEO optimized using the Yoast plugin, however I still have trouble with selecting SEO trending topics that will rank on Google and I get confused with Keyword websites and the like. I do have a few posts that consistently rank number 1 and above 5, but in niche areas.
In reading a few of your chain emails, I saw where Pinterest was a major traffic driver for your site, and although my page does have an associated Pinterest, I haven’t been able to garner much followers, muchless revenue.
My apologies for the long email, but I am at the point where I don’t know whether or not I should continue my blog or not, because it isn’t time or cost effective, especially with my schedule (I’m a medical intern) and without the motivation of viewership or revenue, there isn’t much encouragement for me to continue.
I look forward to your reply. Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Olivia the discouraged blogger
Hi Olivia – it’s fascinating to see you started a medical blog for students.
SEO is more than just using the Yoast plugin. To be honest, I don’t even pay attention to that plugin – I use it too, but that’s just the bare minimum and doesn’t help if you aren’t doing keyword research or “optimizing” your posts.
I’m not sure which bloggers you sought feedback from, but I would take what they say to you with a grain of salt because I visited your page and I can see a few of the several issues why your blog isn’t getting the traction you’d like:
1. your posts aren’t keyword targeted (e.g. you haven’t done keyword research) – I can tell based on how you named and wrote your posts.
2. you have less than 100 pages since you started your blog over 2 years ago (I see you published around 25 to 30, but 17 are only indexed by Google)
3. since you are blogging about medical school for students, I recommend your about me page to mention that you are a medical student yourself (something called E-A-T – google ranking factor you should be aware of especially when you’re writing about medical-related topics for students in school)
Your type of blog, topics about medical school for students, doesn’t seem “Pinterest” friendly so I would spend most of the efforts on learning SEO. I recommend going through this Moz beginner’s guide and learning the basic foundations first: https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo
If I were you, I wouldn’t feel discouraged. I am sure you have valuable information for medical students, but your blog hasn’t followed the right SEO practice to reach its potential!
I hope this advice helps.
Thanks so much!
Hey ling
How do you get ideas for your blogs and how often do you have to write them now for upkeep?
@Jacqui – I do keyword research and look at major publications to draw inspiration and ideas from them. And once I do get a general keyword for my post, I would incorporate some of my own personal experience.
I am currently maintaining this blog by posting once a week. But if you’re a beginner, you can batch write 5 to 10 upfront (or even up to 15 or 20 whenever you have time) and then start maintaining it by publishing once a week. If you’re a fast writer, you could even do 2 times a week. Lastly, you can use ChatGPT or other AI tools to assist you with writing and keeping up to speed with your content.
Hello Ling! First of all i wanted to thank you because your newsletter was an eye opening! I was so overwhelmed with the idea of making my blog and your help was a relief like i already have a plan! I haven’t yet started my blog because i cannot still find my niche.
My dilemma is that i like A LOT of things but can’t put them all of course.
So I narrowed them down to two. I really like arts ,crafts and DIYs but i also like cooking (not fancy stuff) and i was thinking to put them together but i am not so sure. I read that it’s not ideal to have many niches in a blog page and these two i like don’t align in the same or close “category”.
So i would really appreciate your advise if it is possible. Should i choose one? Should i do them both? Or something else?
Anyway i would really like to thank you again for all your help.
Hi Nick!
This is a great question! I do generally recommend narrowing it down to one category but there are exceptions with lifestyle blogs that cover everything the sun. Niched down blogs vs lifestyle have very different strategies and it’s so hard to compare.
I have this post about choosing a profitable niche that will help you so much. I also cover about multiple niches too. I really recommend you going through it:
https://www.blogsavvypanda.com/how-to-choose-a-profitable-blog-niche/
My word for you though. I recommend sticking to just arts, diy, etc and not mixing that with recipes since they don’t have anything to do with each other. I’m not saying that this won’t work if you mix them but it’s safe for beginners to stick to one niche and then expand it over time if you feel the need to.
I hope this advice helps!
OK, Ling. I want to start a blog and monetize it. My interest is self-help teachings and New Thought works from the late 1800’s to now. I have read a lot of books, done a lot of group and one-on-one work, and facilitated groups about healing and self-growth. In your experience, is this a niche? I was even thinking of doing courses on Udemy to also earn money over time. I am currently unemployed and getting ready to start a 20 week IT Networking and Security course from home to make me more marketable in those fields while I try to get to the point you are at – making good money, paying the bills, and hopefully really inspiring and helping people. Please let me know your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Matthew
Hi Matthew – I’m really ecstatic to see you start your blog. Let me know once you’ve figured out what you want to blog about!
Are you asking if healing and self-growth a niche? If so, then yes it definitely is a niche! It’s a great area to get into and based on my experience with my keyword research in this niche, I see a lot of people who are very interested in reading and learning about healing, self-grow and self-development. Lots of it!
You’ll just need to know which audience you’re targeting (age, gender, knowing their current struggle in life, etc). But it’s still ok to start and not know exactly (honestly no one knows exactly) since you can only find once you start getting traffic to your website. Then, you use that data to determine what to do next. Like what types of blog posts you’ll need to write more of and what types of products you may want to offer your audience based on their behaviour on your website. That all comes later though in your 6th month to 1 year of blogging.
I actually have a post that will teach you how to choose a profitable niche here and I know you’ll find it really helpful:
https://www.blogsavvypanda.com/how-to-choose-a-profitable-blog-niche/
Please fill me in and let me know if you have any questions about starting your blog. I also have that tutorial here:
https://www.finsavvypanda.com/how-to-start-a-blog/
Hi Ling
I just wanted to say thank you for sharing a lot of free precious info. I love reading your income reports and posts.
You inspired me to start bethaguide.com, a home and lifestyle blog. I priotize Pinterest of all social media platforms.
However, the platform has changed a lot. Do you still recommend one to focus on it.
Hi Betha!
I’m so happy to hear that I inspired you and that you started your blog!
Because your niche is home and lifestyle, I highly recommend taking advantage of Pinterest. The platform is really well known for those types of topics and I strongly believe you can do well if you learn how to leverage it. Just make sure you do Pinterest SEO, target keywords, and write posts on topics that ppl actually search for. I can’t emphasize enough on how important that is!
I have a post here about Pinterest Traffic:
https://www.finsavvypanda.com/how-to-get-traffic-from-pinterest/
In that post, you’ll also find that I offer a free Pinterest course in addition to The Golden Compass To Pinterest Traffic resource.
I still recommend focusing on Pinterest in addition to Google. You’ll never hear me tell anyone neglect one or to choose one over the other. I believe it’s crucial to diversify your traffic sources. Pinterest is still an under rated source of traffic today despite their changes over the years. And honestly speaking, every platform changes including Google, FB, IG, etc. Like with any platform or source you use, the key to seeing success on Pinterest is consistency, understanding your audience, and adapting to any changes.
Hi Ling!
I enrolled in your email course a few days ago and have a few concerns.
First, no matter how long and hard I think about what niche to choose, I keep returning to psychology.
It’s something I love and always want to learn more about. Considering I make it my niche, I will get to learn plenty about it and hopefully, a lot of people will learn some valuable things too.
I will also be enrolling in university this year with psychology as my major.
But the thing is, I have a lot of self-doubts about choosing my niche. I want it to be something I’m passionate about so that my readers could enjoy it too.
Secondly, can I even blog about something I’m not professionally involved in yet?
I appreciate any help you can provide.
@Shania – yes! You could definitely blog about a topic you’re not professionally involved yet.
Since you are pursuing your degree, you can learn, blog and implement it at the same time you’re teaching your readers. You can walk through a journey with your readers.
I do recommend minimizing any medical advice related to psychology until you become certified. In the mean time, there are so many non health and non medical topics related to psychology that you can talk about. As long as you don’t give out any treatments or medical advice (again, until you become certified), then it’s good to go!
I am excited to see you start your blog. I have this post about choosing a profitable niche for your blog that will help:
https://www.blogsavvypanda.com/how-to-choose-a-profitable-blog-niche/
Let me know once you start!
You are very inspiring.
Thank you! ❤️
Hi Ling, I absolutely love your content. It is very insightful and inspiring. I wanted to ask however, I started my blog initially but something always stopped me half way from moving on with it. I thought I wouldn’t have enough content for my blog or the content wouldn’t appeal to my readers. I also believed the niche I am trying to work with, which is travel, was quite saturated so how do you get your voice heard in the midst of it all? How does one get passed this and just continue going?
Hi Paullate. Great question!
Many beginners think just because a topic is written a lot means it’s over saturated but this is far from the truth.
The more the topic gets written about means the more demand for it! Readers are constantly demanding for more content and they can even have enough. They’ll continue looking for more travel information no matter what.
As content creator, it’s also important to write and structure your blog posts based on keyword research so that you’ll be found on Google or Pinterest when users are searching for a particular phrase or keyword. That’s one key to getting traffic. I see many beginners miss out on this important component when they start their blogs which is why they don’t see success.
I don’t know how much keywords you targeted for each of your blog posts or how many blog posts you have thus far but it’s important to keep writing based on what ppl are searching online for instead of just winging it and writing whatever you want. There are strategies behind building a successful blog that will get seen by people. If you’re a beginner and have no clue about any strategies or how a blog really makes money behind the scenes, I recommend this comprehensive guide:
https://www.finsavvypanda.com/blogging-success-ebook/
It will help you build a solid foundation and have a true understanding of how things work in the backend. It’s not just about “being unique” or “having a unique voice”. It’s so much more than that. I actually know so many blogs that aren’t unique at all (in other words very plain, simple and nothing groundbreaking) but they are wildly successful because they know what strategies to implement to get found online.
I hope this helps and gives you some perspective! I’d love to see your travel blog thrive in the upcoming months. Keep me posted with your journey.
Hi!
I have a few questions concerning my topic/niche. As a person who has been trying to start a self-love journey and weight-gain journey, would it work if I were to take my readers along the journey with me? This isn’t a task I have completed yet but I feel like if I were to start to blog about it, I would stick with it.
Hi Markhiyah
That’s a great question! Yes, people love going on the journey with you. From my personal experience, there are readers who are comfortable following your journey when you’re just 1–3 steps ahead of them so don’t lose motivation just because it’s something you’ve just started.
Starting a blog and taking your readers with you on your journey not only helps yourself, but it can change the lives of your readers when you are learning and teaching what you’ve learned.
With weight loss though, I would proceed with caution. Just don’t provide any medical advice if you’re not a trained professional because Pinterest and Google likely won’t show your content if it’s not written by a certified medical pro. This is their way to protect readers from any false or misleading information about exercising, medication, supplements, treatment etc. which could be dangerous.
For those reason, I usually recommend people who are not certified to start a blog about self care, self development, lifestyle, or healthy recipes. You can still blog about your weight loss but do it in a way that’s not providing medical information. Providing motivation and inspiration (in the form of quotes or a story) is an example and just one way. Another way is sharing your healthy recipes, the types of exercises that you’re doing or even sharing the type of workout clothes or products you’re using.
I hope this helps!
Thanks for your effort, great post
Hi Ling,
It is always good to hear from you & I hope you are doing well…! Your encouragement & engagement are both very much appreciated. I FINALLY launched my website/blog in January; although, there is a lot more work for me to do & continue doing…!! I’ve recently gotten some affiliate marketing approvals/partnerships, so I am extremely excited about that…
I am also excited about your upcoming, comprehensive Pinterest Guide and I hope that it will be a part of your affiliate marketing program, as with “The Treasure Map to Blogging Success in Just 30 Days”. I promote your guide on my “Resources” page of my website at https://theplayaclub.com/resources/. I also suggested it to one of my visitors in the comment section of my blog post PLAYAs Beware of Players – https://theplayaclub.com/blog/…
If you have time to visit my website & blog, please let me know your thoughts and any feedback. While I am getting close to retirement, my goal is to walk away from the stress of my job ASAP, with my website, blog and making money online, as my early retirement vehicles…
Thanks for the engagement of the pinning exercise – I needed that to get back focused on pinning and in the process, learned how to create a new board: Pinterest
Thanks again for all of your help & inspiration…!!
Hi Loraine – I’m so glad to hear you started your blog and I’m also pleased to hear you are following my ebook, The Treasure Map To Blogging Success in 30 Days!
Awesome to see you are recommending it to other beginner bloggers too! ❤️
I took a look at your site and it’s making great progress for a brand new blog. You’ve got your beautiful images and some posts ready. I do recommend you to revisit my chapter about naming your blog post titles along with your url settings. A lot of your posts are not exactly “keywords” that people commonly search for. Remember to put yourself in the shoes of a user trying to really search for answers to their solutions. For example, they would probably not search for “playas beware of players”. The goal is to look for “keywords” or “phrases” that ppl are searching online for so they can find your blog post that will help them. It looks like you’re either writing about God or self development topics. When I am a user I will search for things like “how to be happy” or “how to stop negative thoughts”. Users may even search for “what does the Bible say about wearing makeup” or “what does the Bible say about low self esteem”. You’ll want to write blog posts with a url link along with title that contains those keywords.
I also recommend reviewing my section about keywords in my Pinterest Traffic post here:
https://www.finsavvypanda.com/how-to-get-traffic-from-pinterest/
To give better example for you, I recommend changing your url to “healthy-foods” for the post you wrote about healthy foods. This is a good start.
I hope these tips help! I’m glad to see you motivated and back into the game of blogging!!
I’ll be releasing my Pinterest ebook by the end of this summer so I am very excited to see you and my readers learn and implement my exact strategies so you can qualify to get into Mediavine and start monetizing on ads and affiliate marketing! Continue to review The Treasure Map To Blogging Success and pump out intentional and searchable blog posts!
I also have blog post ideas here with a sub section of self improvement:
https://www.blogsavvypanda.com/lifestyle-blog-post-ideas/
Let me know how you’re doing in the next three months! I really want to see you continue and be able to walk away from your stressful job. It would be so exciting to see you retire earlier than the conventional retirement age!! ⭐️
Hello Ling,
I had some time to think about it, i think my main theme would be : Simple living : healthy advices from a normal person (or something like that haha) i like being quirky. I like to guide people into maintaining a simple, healthy and affordable lifestyle. From there, I think I could touch a lot of subjects I love.
One issue for me is my main language is french. I would LOVE to have a bilingual blog (english/french). Do you know if a bilingual blog can be as profitable as only english? I have a very distinctive writing style in my language and would love to explore that.
Thank you again for your help!
Marie
@Marie
I’m really excited to see you start your blog about simple and healthy living!
I usually recommend my readers to stick with English especially if your strategy is to monetize using display ads. I mentioned in my post here (https://www.blogsavvypanda.com/can-i-start-a-blog-outside-us/) that most higher-paying advertisers target North Americans. I also see many people who reside in other countries all around the world write in English. The only thing I can recommend you to do is to try since there is nothing to lose, but I highly encourage you to use English first, and French secondary when you have time to implement it.
I also can’t say whether or not using French or bilingual will be as profitable as English, but I am certain that it’s possible – you just need to focus on your readers and serve them.
I hope this advice helps!