How To Make Money Blogging In The First Month? (3 Strategies)

Last Updated on May 16, 2023 by Jordan Alexo

Yes and No! Probably, not what you wanted to hear, or you might feel confused. However, making money with a blog in the first month is possible. But perhaps not in the way you think.

The fact is until your site sees traffic from Google and other search engines, it may take six months or more. And without traffic, it’s challenging to make money.

Anyway, not everything is lost.

In this guide, you’ll discover several reasons your blog traffic sucks in your first months and what to do about it.

But more importantly, here are three actionable tips to help you start generating income from your blog right away.

Key Takeaways

• Bloggers often make zero dollars in their first month.
• It can take 6+ months to see significant traffic from search engines.
• Lack of content, overly competitive search terms, and the Google Sandbox can limit traffic in the first few months.
• Freelance writing, affiliate marketing, and paid advertisement are ways to make money quickly.
• Consistent content creation and patience are necessary for long-term success.

How Much Money Do Bloggers Make Their First Month?

Often most bloggers make nada, zilch, zero dollars in their first month of blogging. Pss… still keep reading because I’ll reveal some strategies to help you make your first dollars online.

In a way, making money online isn’t hard. I mean, the concept is simple. You get people to an offer that interests them, and they buy whatever you’re promoting.

But the problem is right there *** getting people.***

See, to get traffic from search engines; you need to have content ranking high in search engine results pages. 

So, whenever Joe Smoe Googles for something related to your niche, they’ll find your content and click on it.

However, when starting, most of your content won’t rank, which means nobody and their mom and dog will find your blog.

And why is that? Well, there are a few reasons.

3 Reasons: Why Your Blog Traffic Sucks In The First Months?

Here’s the biggest one:

Problem #1: Welcome To The Google’s Sandbox

Nobody escapes the infamous Google Sandbox. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (well, not really), bloggers could make money from their blogs almost immediately. 

But Google noticed that low-quality websites ranked high in search results, and they wanted to prevent that from happening.

As a result, Google introduced the Sandbox, a period of time when your blog is not ranked high in search results.

In other words, your new site won’t immediately show up in search results.

So, no matter how good your content is, you still haven’t gained the trust of Google. See, it’s like meeting someone for the first time, and they need to get to know you before trusting you completely—the same thing with Google.

For this reason, it may take several weeks or months before you start seeing significant traffic to your blog. Some bloggers claim it took them nine months to get out of the Google Sandbox.

Besides, this isn’t months of waiting! So, don’t think you can post ten articles in a day and return after six months and your blog is receiving thousands of visitors.

No, you should spend all this time building your blog, creating consistently high-quality content around a specific niche, improving your site’s SEO, and possibly promoting your blog through social media or other channels.

If you keep doing this and don’t burn your head off from writing, you’ll eventually start seeing traffic and making money.

For this reason, you should see your blog as a long-term investment rather than an overnight money-making machine. It may become a money machine one day, but it will require effort and patience.

But wait, “-Jordan, I thought this post was about making money in my first month of blogging!” 

Yes, and I haven’t forgotten! But I wanted first to paint a realistic picture of what blogging is like in the beginning. 

Problem #2: Lack of Content 

Google loves content! The more content your site has, the more pages get indexed, the more keywords your site can rank for, and the more traffic you can potentially get.

Even if your prison time has ended (Google no longer sandboxes you), your blog won’t attract many readers without enough content. 

Often it takes twenty or thirty posts before you start noticing some trickles of traffic. So, in your first months (and let’s say forever), you must consistently focus on pumping content.

Also, make sure the content you provide is:

• Better than the one your competitors offer (provides more value, is more informative, or entertaining)
• Relevant to your niche
• And “No,” don’t promote your products excessively.

Recently, Google has been cracking down on sites that only market products excessively. So, you want to provide mainly:

• How-to guides, tutorials, and other informative content
• And once in and while, promote your product or from someone else as an affiliate.

Also, you want to focus on a single niche. If your main topic is “bacon recipes,” it doesn’t make sense to start posting movie reviews or fashion tips.

More than ever, Google provides better rankings to sites specializing in a particular niche. 

So, if your site has 200 posts about several bacon recipes, your site has a higher chance of ranking high for bacon-related keywords than a site with 20 posts about bacon recipes, movie reviews, and fashion tips combined.

Problem #3 – Overly Competitive Search Terms

I admit I screwed up on this one. When I started my blog, I went for the big players and tried to rank for overly competitive keywords. As a result, I didn’t see any organic traffic.

Once again, this is a huge mistake because Google doesn’t trust your site at the beginning. For this reason, you should forget about ranking for competitive search terms.

So, when you start your blog to get some easy wins, aim for long-tail keywords and less competitive search terms. In fact, I wrote a fantastic article explaining this, and you should read it here.

Note: Now you clearly understand some of the common problems new bloggers face and how to avoid them. Hence, don’t expect to make money from search engine traffic.

How Fast Can You Make Money Blogging?

As a rule of thumb, most bloggers don’t make money in their first month of blogging. Often it takes around 6-12 months before they start seeing significant income from their blog.

However, this doesn’t mean you can’t make money before. Also, you should your first months; you should establish proper work habits, build a solid foundation for your blog, and focus on creating high-quality content that will attract readers.

So I’m going to share with you a few ways to start making money immediately. And next, what you should do to put your blog on the right track for long-term success and profitability.

3 Fastest Ways To Make Money Blogging

Now let’s take a look at the fastest ways to make money out of your blog:

#1 – Freelance Writing

One of the quickest ways to burst onto the blogging scene and start making money is through freelance writing.

See, you can use your blog as a platform to showcase your writing skills and attract clients who need content for their own blogs or websites.

So here’s what I recommend:

Step 1 – Write 10 Posts

Your site needs content, or otherwise, why would anyone want to hire you as a writer? So, I guess at this point, you already chose a niche.

If not, read up on “11 Best Low-Competition Niches.”

Once you have a topic, you’d like to spend months spitting content out. Make sure to do keyword research and pick ten or more low-competitive search terms related to your niche.

Now go ahead and write posts about those topics and publish them on your blog. Also, you want to make this content as useful and informative as possible. Remember you want to attract customers initially and, of course, later readers.

You should structure your articles correctly, make them easy to skim, and use headings, subheadings, and bullet points to highlight important information. And don’t forget to include some images to split up the text and make your posts more visually appealing.

Step 2 – Get Work As A Freelance Writer

You have multiple options for finding work as a freelance writer. You can either use job boards like:

• Contently 
• Skyword
• ClearVoice
• nDash
• Upwork

 If you decide to choose a platform like Upwork, make sure to create a professional-looking profile.

Your profile should have a high-quality photo, a strong headline highlighting your writing skills, and a summary showcasing your expertise. You can showcase your blog posts on your profile to show off your writing style and abilities.

Another solution you can try is to cold-pitch potential clients directly. You can create a list of websites or blogs related to your niche.

Afterward, you can reach out to the owners or editors and offer your writing services. Once again, you can show some of your blog posts.

#2 – Go Aggro With Affiliate Marketing

I still remember how I made my first money online, and it was through affiliate marketing. Back a few years ago, blogging was a bit different than nowadays. You could build a small niche website with only ten pages. 

Most of these pages were product reviews, and all contained affiliate links. If you don’t know, affiliate marketing is when you promote someone else’s product. And you earn a commission whenever someone purchases through your unique affiliate link.

My first sale was $17.98, and I think it was a lemon detox 30-day cleanse – don’t judge. It was a long time ago!

Now even back then, it took some time for your site to gain traffic. So, what I did was I built these niche websites in a few days. 

Next, I’d aggressively promote my product review pages through several:

• Related Forums
• Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter groups

This strategy still works today, although it’s not something you want to do long-term. Let’s say it’s a decent way to make your first money only, but stupidly spammy and boring.

Here are the steps to get started with affiliate marketing:

Step 1 – Find Relevant Products 

You have several options to find relevant products. For instance:

Affiliate Networks

You have several affiliate networks like Clickbank, Amazon Associates, and Commission Junction. These platforms connect you with the brands or companies that offer affiliate programs.

You want to choose two to three products you can possibly test and write reviews on. 

In other words, you want to write a post where you talk about the product’s features, benefits, pricing, and your own experience using it. You should provide as much detail as possible to help your readers decide whether or not to buy the product.

Companies Affiliate Programs

You can directly go to companies and see if they offer an affiliate program you can join. Often you may easily find these programs by typing “company name + affiliate program” on Google.

Afterward, you need to apply to become an affiliate, and if approved, you’ll receive your unique affiliate link. 

Step 2 – Write A Product Review

You want to write a product review that genuinely covers the product’s features, benefits, and drawbacks. Also, make sure to include your personal experience using the product. 

I often like to have a section in my reviews explaining how the product has helped me and how it can potentially help others. 

Make sure to include images so it won’t look boring, like looking at a paint drying. Oh… and adding affiliate links to the post is also essential!

Step 3 – Go Crazy With Promotion

One of the best ways is to make a video reviewing your product and sharing it on YouTube. Not only do you get another way for people to find your information, but you may also include this video in your blog post.

Often, people prefer to watch your video rather than read the whole blog post. As a result, you give your visitors two options to consume your content.

Another way to promote your affiliate products is through social media. For instance:

• Facebook Groups: Find Facebook groups relevant to your niche and share your product review there. Also, make sure these groups let you share affiliate links – some groups don’t allow it.
• Pinterest: Create pins related to your product review and share them on Pinterest.
• Twitter: Share your review on Twitter and include relevant hashtags to reach a wider audience.
• Instagram: Share your product review through Instagram by creating an eye-catching image or short video and including hashtags related to your niche.

It may take some effort to market your affiliate products this way. But that’s how I made my first sales online.

#3 – Paid Advertisement

Now we’re entering dangerous territory. But after all, you want to make money, right? One of the quickest ways to get eyeballs on your affiliate products is through paid advertisement.

You have Facebook ads, Instagram ads, Google ads, and more. However, the problem is if you don’t know what you’re doing; you can easily empty your wallet before you even make a sale.

Often marketers build a landing page to send traffic from their ad. This landing page offers something for free – like an ebook or a quick video course – in exchange for someone’s email address.

Once someone subscribes, they receive several follow-up emails that offer information and others that promote an affiliate or their own product. 

Sometimes, these emails start with cheaper offers and gradually move up to more expensive ones. For example, the more expensive offer can be an online course or coaching program. In comparison, the cheapest offer could be an eBook or app.

The idea is, “If someone enjoyed your low-cost offer, they’re more likely to purchase your higher-priced product.”

Anyway, marketers who successfully use paid ads invest time in optimizing their campaigns and tracking their results.

It is one of the quickest ways to make money online but also one of the riskiest. I suggest you research and learn as much as possible before diving into paid advertising.

Furthermore, I suggest using AI writer tools to help you produce content much faster. One software I enjoy using is Writesonic. You can read the full review here.

Last Thoughts

So, it’s a “Yes” you can make money in your first month but “Not” with search engine traffic alone.

As mentioned above, you can review and promote products on social media or invest in paid advertisement.

However, freelance writing is one of the safest ways to make some quick cash. You can write ten or more posts on your blog and use those as writing samples to pitch to clients.

Next, you can search for work on websites like Upwork or Contently. Or simply go ahead with a cold outreach to websites and businesses in your niche offering your services.

It’s always a great motivation to see some money come in, even if it’s not a massive amount.

But remember that building a successful blog takes time, consistent content creation, and patience. Yep, patience until Google indexes and ranks your website higher and starts flooding your website with organic traffic.

If you have any questions, please share them right below. Jordan Alexo will reply to you as soon as possible. Thanks for reading!