*This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases or sign-ups at certainly no additional cost to you! Thanks!*
Despite numerous stumbling blocks, I was able to grow my blog in 2021 and earned enough to replace my full-time job.
However, going there wasn’t easy peasy.
The whole blogging process from Day 1 to 6 months jabbed me with frustrations. especially on monetizing my blog.
I wanted to earn as soon as I can. I bet many bloggers share the same sentiment!
Thus, it led me to questions like, “When can I monetize a blog? How long does it take to monetize a blog? How soon after starting a blog can you make money?”
And the most doubtful question I had was, “Will this really work?”
You’re probably in the same boat as I was — confused.
If you’re asking the same questions, then keep on reading as I share my journey on how I started monetizing my blog, tips, along with the important dos, and don’ts to remember.
When can I monetize a blog?
Simply put, you can monetize a blog as soon as you started publishing content.
The easiest way to monetize your blog is to place affiliate links, your own products, and offer your services. Some ad networks like Google AdSense and Ezoic also accept emerging websites that have low, but consistent traffic for monetization.
But remember, monetizing your blog doesn’t immediately equate to huge earnings from sales and ad revenue.
You can’t just apply for monetization and immediately expect six-figure earnings.
Monetizing simply means you’re opening your site to business models such as ads, affiliate marketing, sponsorships, and your own services.
But to earn is a different story that encompasses multiple strategies.
The bottom line is, to earn, you have to have a strategy that makes customers visit your blog, engage with your content, and buy products from you.
You need to drive blog traffic.
At the end of this post, we’ll have an overview of the effective strategies I use to help you drive traffic to your blog.
How many views do you need to monetize a blog?
Google AdSense
How many views do I need for Google AdSense?
Google AdSense is one of the easiest ad networks new bloggers can apply for. From my experience, one can get approved with at least 600 pageviews a month as long as your blog provides original, quality content and audience-attracting pages.
As per their eligibility requirements, your website must:
- have unique, interesting, and high-quality content that drives visitors. Here’s how to make your pages AdSense-ready
- comply with AdSense program policies
- you must be 18 years old or above
My Experience with Google AdSense Application
Google AdSense mentions how your blog must drive an audience. But they haven’t mentioned the specific stats to get you accepted. Here’s my own experience with Google AdSense:
My lifestyle blog was 4 months old when I had Google AdSense running through my blog.
In the image below, I only had 693 monthly pageviews in April 2021, but I assure you I only had 37 unique visitors for that entire month.
The views were most likely from me, too, because I tinkered and refreshed my blog a lot when I was still starting. (I know I’m not the only one).
By this time, I only posted 14 blog posts and got accepted by Google AdSense.
Google AdSense approved my blog at:
- 693 monthly pageviews
- 37 unique visitors
- 14 blog posts
- 4 months old domain age
If your current stats in Google Analytics are higher than this, then you’re in a better position than I was when I first applied to AdSense. Try applying for monetization!
If you want more monetization options other than AdSense, this may interest you: 5 Ways to Monetize a Blog without Google AdSense
A Better Google AdSense Alternative: Ezoic
After getting accepted to Google AdSense, I stumbled on another network that pays way better — it was Ezoic.
I shifted to Ezoic and got accepted halfway through my 7th month of blogging. The process was easier since Ezoic accepts websites with a minimum of zero traffic with their Access Now Program.
To my surprise, Ezoic increased my ad revenue 23x so I highly recommend applying to them especially when you’re a budding website.
But here’s some advice.
Now that you know about Ezoic, it’s probably tempting to apply your website right off the bat.
But Ezoic is not only an ad network. It’s also an AI that collects website data through your visitor’s behaviors.
That said, I suggest that you have at least 500 consistent pageviews to give Ezoic a considerable amount of data for effective ad placements and optimization.
Without enough traffic and data, Ezoic may take time to do tests and trials with your website. Thus you will see your pages bombarded with ads more than you want to and hurting the overall user experience.
We must aim to help our readers, not overwhelm them with ads.
That said, although Ezoic accepts websites at zero traffic, the best time to join is when your content-rich site hits at least 500 monthly pageviews on your website.
Monetize Your Blog through Affiliate Marketing
Got a product you genuinely like and use? Promote them through affiliates!
Affiliate marketing allows you to earn a commission when a reader clicks on your uniquely generated affiliate link and buys the product you recommended.
Here are the 2 Affiliate networks I mostly use:
What do I like about these two?
Amazon offers an Amazon Associates program where you can promote a wide range of physical items, Kindle books, and audiobook subscriptions. You can promote everything on Amazon.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a more prominent affiliate network, Shareasale is a pool for high-ticket products and services with higher commissions. So far, I haven’t had any issues with them. Great deals!
When Can I Apply to Amazon Affiliate program?
If you plan to do affiliate marketing, sign up for Amazon Associates right in the beginning and immediately set affiliate links in your blog.
However, as per Amazon’s Application Review Process, you have to make at least 3 sales within 180 days of signing up, or else they’ll decline your application and close your account.
I’d be honest. As someone who was still learning the dos and don’ts on my first blog, I only made 2 sales within 180 days.
And so my account was closed.
But should this scare you?
Of course not. Amazon still sent me the commissions I earned from the closed account. And I easily signed up for another Amazon Affiliate account.
The only trouble I dealt with was replacing the old affiliate links with newer ones all over the blog.
Overall, I suggest that you sign up to Amazon fast and promote products you believe in right in the beginning.
Use Shareasale
If you’re looking for better deals and higher commission rates, I highly recommend Shareasale.
Shareasale is an affiliate network that connects publishers like us to brands. There are pools of companies there that offer competitive commissions, too.
Moreover, unlike Amazon, Shareasale won’t close your account within a specific period if you haven’t got any sales.
It’s an awesome affiliate network that offers high-ticket products, too!
How soon after starting a blog can you make money?
A two-year-old blog can be earning $100 a month while younger websites could rake in thousands.
There are no one-size-fits-all figures about how much a blog can earn. It all depends on your niche, your monetization, business models, ad networks, and strategies.
But how soon after starting a blog can you make money?
The rule of the thumb is to wait for 3-6 months for your first blog posts to rank on Google and pick up organic traffic.
After 3-6 months, you could expect the first trickles of “coffee money” from ad revenue and affiliates. Worry not because it will grow exponentially in the following months.
Why the long wait?
Yeah, why the long wait? Why does traffic seem to stagnate in the first few months? Why does my website get only 1 to 2 visits every day despite publishing 15 blog posts already?
In blogging, let’s face a harsh truth.
Little to none will visit (and read) your blog posts for the first 3 to 6 months of launching your website.
While traditional businesses launch with grand openings, blogs are the entire opposite. You only get crickets, unfortunately.
But don’t worry because that’s normal for every new website.
The reason is that new websites still:
- Need more quality blog posts to build authority
- Take time to be indexed and ranked on Google
- Your website needs to age
Indexing means Google bots start to crawl onto your blog and analyze the content. After indexing, your blog posts will then start to appear in Google searches.
Yup, ranking and indexing can take at least 3 months for a new website. But from my experience, when you target low competition keywords, Google may index your blog post faster.
So while waiting, spend your time publishing more content.
It takes time. But surely, your blog will take off as long as you consistently publish blog posts.
Here’s the traction I gained in my blog after 6 months of publishing content. Then, in the next 6 months, you could see consistent growth from July to December 2021.
How do you speed up the process of getting traffic?
1. Publish more content early on.
One terrible mistake I did back then was to idly wait for my website to age before consistently publishing content. However, the Google algorithm doesn’t work that way.
If you want Google to recognize your blog posts, appear on Google search results, and drive traffic to your blog, you have to publish more quality content.
Google can see if your content is really helpful to the reader or not. Simply put, if it’s helpful, they’ll suggest it to the searcher.
Publish say, 20-30 blog posts on your first month of blogging and let them simultaneously rank on Google after 3 to 6 months.
If you want to speed up your growth, that is.
In my first 6 months, I have only written 27 blog posts. But my blog traffic could’ve catapulted earlier if I had more content waiting to be simultaneously indexed and ranked.
2. Use Pinterest to drive traffic.
Why Pinterest?
Another way to gather traffic early on is through Pinterest.
Among all the social media platforms I used to promote my blog posts, Pinterest drives most of my traffic.
It’s not a mere social media platform. It’s a Search Engine itself where users find answers to their queries.
Unlike social media like Facebook and Twitter where your posts and promotions die down after weeks, Pinterest suggests your pins, like forever, if they deem them helpful to searchers.
And if you’ll notice it, pins appear on Google searches, too!
How to use Pinterest?
Every image on Pinterest is called a “pin”.
To generate traffic to your blog, you have to create visually appealing “pins” and regularly publish them on Pinterest.
I use Canva to create attractive-looking pins.
Most bloggers recommend Tailwind to schedule pins.
However, not everyone, especially budding bloggers can pay for a Tailwind subscription.
So instead of using Tailwind, I utilize Pinterest’s built-in scheduler and manually pin my images one by one.
Does manual pinning on Pinterest work?
Regular manual pinning on Pinterest work and the recommended amount of pins to publish every day is 2-5 pins. With this strategy, your Pinterest account can reach thousands of impressions after at least 3 months.
However, I’m a one-man army so I started publishing only 1-2 pins every day in January 2022.
Again, I paid no Tailwind subscriptions and did the pinning manually using Pinterest’s built-in scheduler.
But with proper keyword analysis and regular pinning for 4 months, my Pinterest grew to 58,000 impressions in May 2022.
As of writing, organic traffic from Google searches and Pinterest are my best sources of traffic.
WRAP UP
If you’re planning to monetize your blog on Day 1, it’s highly possible especially when you have a monetization strategy in mind.
You sign up for affiliate programs and set up affiliate links as early as publishing your first-ever blog post.
As for ads, I recommend you generate at least 300-500 pageviews first before applying to ad networks. Make sure you provide original and quality content, no Google AdSense policy violations, and audience-attracting pages to guarantee approval.
Be patient enough to wait at least 3-6 months to see how your hard work on publishing content pays off.
Hope this gave you insights. God bless you on your blogging journey!
BLOGGING RESOURCES I RECOMMEND:
Grammarly – Detects misspelled words and grammatical errors. It gives your piece an overall performance score based on correctness, clarity, engagement, and the delivery of your blog. All free!
Ezoic – Aside from ad monetization, Ezoic also offers SEO, Analytics, and Site Speed tools. With Ezoic, my ad revenue increased 23x more than Google Adsense. Thankfully, they now offer an Access Now Program that accepts new blog websites with a minimum of zero – again – zero traffic!