Can You Make Money In Your First Month Blogging? The Truth!

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This has to be one of the most common questions new bloggers have!

And with good reason. The answer is never fully clear!

I touched on this in my post here about blogging myths!

Everyone wants to make extra money. Whether it’s a lot or a little is up to you!

Starting a blog purely to make money is never a good idea. It takes a long time to see results and make good money back online.

You need the passion for the topic you are talking about to keep your momentum going. It will also help you really enjoy the journey while it takes its time to grow!

There are no limits on the earning potential when it comes to blogging.

As long as you have set yourself up properly for success, keep growing and learning, and enjoy the journey, you will stay consistent. Consistency is critical with blogging!

Let’s dive in and take a look at whether you really can make money in your first month blogging.

The Confusion Over “Making Money” Blogging

Firstly I want to clarify something for anyone new to making money with their blog.

I do believe there’s a misconception I think when it comes to blogging, social media, youtube etc and that’s when people use the term “making money”.

This may sound simple, but I think at times people interchangeably use the terms “making money”, “making money online” or “making money blogging”.

There’s a big difference between making the money from your blog, and actually seeing the money in your bank account!

What I mean by that is, say for example you have a blog. You choose to monetise it so you get yourself set up with your first adverts and affiliate program. I’ll use AdSense and Amazon as the examples here!

(These are rough guides, just to give you the picture of what I mean. Plus different countries will have different thresholds and timeframes.)

Now – for example – let’s say you “made” £20 with AdSense that month and made £10 from Amazon sales! This is amazing as you’ve just made your first £30 online!

Will that then go straight into your bank?

No.

Most platforms have a threshold you need to meet to get paid out. PLUS they often only send out the payment a month or so behind.

So to use the above example;

Say you made that £30 in January (£20 Adsense and £10 Amazon), and then in February made £40 with Adsense and £20 with Amazon. This gets you over the (current) threshold for each! But they often only pay out at least one month behind.

(Amazon can be a couple of months behind due to the 30 day return window on products.)

So for Adsense you would get paid your £60 from Jan and Feb – in March. The £30 from Amazon in Jan and Feb would most likely come to you in April or May.

You can see from the above that you can absolutely MAKE money straight away/as soon as you monetise, but getting money into your bank will take longer.

I think this is where people can get disheartened when they see images on pinterest saying they made all this money in their first month. They may well have done and that’s amazing! But that money won’t have actually gone into their account yet.

Everyone is on their journey when it comes to making money from blogging.

When you see people talking about how much they made in their first month blogging, they will have made that amount, but only into an online account at that stage! They most likely won’t have received any actual payments yet.

How Long Does It ACTUALLY Take To Make Money Blogging?

You may now be wondering “well how long does it take to make money from blogging?”.

Realistically, to get money into your bank, you can do it in just a couple of months.

You can MAKE money from the beginning (you don’t have to, but you can), but it won’t come to you until after a couple of months.

I’d say it all depends on your experience and your strategy.

If you start a brand new blog but know what you’re doing and already have a following on social media, you will be able to make money a lot quicker.

If you are a completely brand new blogger, it will take a little longer, but you can absolutely do it!

A lot of the people you see who make money blogging in their first month just have more experience initially.

This doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong if it takes a few months to start earning money from your blog!

Those with experience in Affiliate marketing or Online marketing may have an advantage in how fast they can grow an audience and make money from their blogs.

Quick side note – some people build a website and launch it with only their first post on. Others keep it out of the public eye until their blog is full of posts, pages, and information. So for 2 “brand new” blogs that could have launched on the same day, they are already at very different stages!

This is why it’s so important to never compare yourself and your blog to other blogs!

Skills can be learned. Your blog and audience will grow and so will your income.

Blogging is a long term game. If you keep going, keep growing and keep learning, the money will follow.

How you choose to make money will (in part) determine how quickly you will see money in your account.

There’s a full post here on 7 different ways to make money blogging if you are looking for more information!

Every advertising network, affiliate program, brand deal/sponsorship etc all have different criteria, different payment thresholds and different timescales as to as and when you get paid.

Most often when it comes to affiliate programs and advertising, there is a minimum threshold and if you are below this for the month, they don’t pay out but roll your earnings over into the next month.

If you reach the payment threshold the next month then the payment will get processed to reach your bank! If you don’t reach the payment threshold again, not a problem, it will add on to any previous earnings and all roll over into the next month.

Some thresholds you may hit month on month so get paid every month from.

Others may take years to see any payouts. It will all depend on the program.

One other thing to note here is that some affiliate programs like you have hit a certain number of sales before they pay out too. So even if you are over the threshold, if you haven’t hit the qualifying number of sales yet, you won’t get the money through just yet.

Usually by the time you have reached the payment threshold you are over your qualifying sales, but just something to keep in mind!

This will be different from program to program.

How To Make Money In Your First Month Blogging – Money In Your Bank!

One option around this is for any freelancing work where you would get paid directly. In this case you absolutely can get money into your bank from blogging in your first month if you already had the experience!

This way you would have a contract with another blogger or a brand and once you provide them with the posts they require, you would get paid.

Depending on the terms of the deal, you may get paid really quickly.

If you get paid fast then you can absolutely say you have made “actual” money, in your first month blogging!

This may be via blogs directly, or on platforms such as Fiverr or Upwork.

You can sell your services and earn money from writing posts for other blogs.

If you are qualified in a subject or a professional in your chosen field, this can be a great option to make some money before the other streams of income properly kick in.

This won’t be the case for a lot of people though. Never worry or feel bad that you haven’t made any money for at least the first few months!

Everyone, every situation and every blog is different.

Never worry that someone else seems to be growing their blog quicker than you.

We all go at our own pace, with our own set of skills, knowledge and our own experience.

There is absolutely nothing stopping you from reaching whatever heights you have set out for yourself and your blog!

It will take time to get there – but that’s okay!