Making Money Through Blogging From Even Just Cents

A Special Article: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

u/Money_Tough

How Easy Is It To Make Money On Blogs… Even A Fractional Amount?

Curious, liked to try creating a small stream of revenue that will continue to generate even when I'm not always putting out content. Thinking of video game blogs, I know it's a crowded space. I don't need anything major in terms of revenue, but I don't want to lose money while doing it (losing some time is okay). Thoughts on how to move forward with something like this and thoughts on level of complexity?

Doing my own research right now, just thought I'd double dip and ask the question in advance. Thanks!
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Making Money Through Blogging From Even Just Cents
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NinjaBoy
I started a blog 4 months ago in a crowded space and just turned on ads a month ago. Made $16 first month. I expect it will keep growing. Just learn how to do keyword research.
ScreenHype
I have an entertainment blog that primarily focuses on gaming, and even though I make 10-12k views a month, I only get around £20 a month, as it's pretty low rpm, unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure why it's as low as it is. But that's mainly passive income, as most of my views come from guides I've already written. Although I do get a boost for a couple of days when I put out a new article.

It can take a couple of months to get your blog approved for Adsense as you have to have a decent number of high quality articles before they approve you, probably between 30 and 40. But after that, you'll start making money, even if it's just a small amount.

With a gaming blog, my favourite perk is the free codes to review new games, haha. Plus I'm continually growing, and having the experience can help you land a paid job (as it did with me, I now earn 5 cents a word with a larger company whilst still maintaining my own blog).

logan
Is it a specific game? Or guides to more than one game?

ScreenHype
More than one 🙂 I cover a range of different games, but I find the sweet spot is if I can produce a guide on day one of the release for a new indie game. That tends to get me to top of the Google rankings, and then from there it depends on how well that game does. For example, I spent 12 hours making a comprehensive guide to the DLC that Spiritfarer released about this time last year, and even now, it draws in around 200 views per day.

Recent_Height
You could have low rpms due to articles and keywords with very low buyer intent. I was in a similar situation as yours (I've even written a case study that you can check on my profile) I was getting rpm of slightly more than a dollar but for me It wasn't a hobby, So I sold my site.

You can increase your rpms by targeting keywords with higher buyer intent but they will obviously have more competition, considering you're already producing guides, You must've some authority in your niche. You should give it a try.

ScreenHype
Thanks, that's helpful 🙂 This is probably a stupid question, but how do I find out which keywords have high buyer intent
Recent_Height
Keywords that users search to assist them in buying something or making some decisions. like If you're publishing guides on how to play a game or how to push your rank in a game then people who're searching these things aren't planning to buy something and If they aren't buying, advertisers can't sell to them, So less money.

But let's take a situation where you publish a guide on things to know before buying your first gaming chair now those who are reading this article are probably planning to buy a gaming chair, So advertisers pay more to Google because now they can earn from your ad space and In turn You too get paid more. That's Buyer Intent and no it's not a stupid question.
ScreenHype
Thank you so much, I'd never heard of that before, but it makes so much sense! That was really helpful 🙂

suckme
I've been at this for close to a year and have made zilch.

If anyone has SEO tips I'd love to connect!

Chill
Is your content good? If your articles aren't valuable to people, then Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is pointless.

If your content is good:

– benchmark your loading speed. Optimize if it's slow, and/or get better hosting.

– stick with a niche, even better to micro niche but make sure the topic has decent search traffic.

– run your article through the free versions of Yoast or RankMath

– target low competition keywords and content

– build backlinks by networking with other bloggers in your niche and offering guest posts

– use alt text on your images (keywords)

– use videos in your articles to increase "on page" time

– make sure your articles have proper inbound and outbound links

– make sure your heading structure and titles are good, use a free headline analyzer tool

– run a free tool that checks for duplicate content, noindex any duplicate content

– compress and/or resize your images

– keep your plugins updated, and use as few of them as you can

– cache with something free like Cloudflare

– share your content and build backlinks on your social media profiles

– use a table of contents in your articles to break down sections

– make sure you are using your keywords the correct number of times (based of the size of your article)

– hire writers to produce more content so that you rank in more searches

– publish articles on a consistent basis

– edit articles consistently

– use Google Trends to find article ideas

– create "pillar" content like mega guides and smaller articles that reference/link to the pillar content

– become an expert in your niche so that other people link to and reference your content

Hubby
It is possible to make (good) money with a blog, as long as your niche selection is solid. But more importantly, something you have interest in already and want to learn more about it. Else you'll be bored/burn out quickly.

I started mine in August < year > – travel niche. As to be expected, I made barely anything in < year >. < year > was better but still pocket change honestly (especially with lockdowns still in place/reinstated/long quarantine periods, making some countriesl unattractive to travel to), especially for the hours I spent on it daily (graduated college in January < year > and basically spent all my time on the blog while exhausting my savings).

Last month, the site made 13 600 USD. I have one fulltime Virtual Assistant (VA). One parttime VA (hired this week), Two parttime designers, two parttime writers & one parttime video editor.

If you'd tell me I'd go from 2000 USD in January < year >, which was already incredible, especially after being in the red for more than two years, to 13k last month, I'd ask you what you're smoking… But here we are.

Now, I know that I was lucky that I had savings to rely on while working fulltime on the site – not everyone has that opportunity. But remember when I said you should pick a niche you have interest in already and want to learn more about? If I picked a random "profitable" niche, like finance, I'd probably quit early in as I have no real interest in finance (or real estate for that matter). Instead, I chose something I already knew something about and became an "expert" in.

And I still work on the site will full commitment and passion as back in August < year >… With a bit less writing and more managing 'cause I have seven people to deal with – let alone affiliate managers/contacts

I believe in you!

cathbe
This is really interesting and congratulations! Do you/your writers actually travel to cover this or do you write about articles that come out in the media about different places? It's very impressive. "Pick a niche that you're interested in and want to learn more about." I like that. I've written a blog for a long time. It wasn't to make money and it's very niche – almost a community service, so to speak, about a well known park – but I've put so much work into it and it's depressing to not have made more money via donations/Google ads because I do think it has provided value. But maybe too niche. Not sure I could start another one tho'. I'd be interested in writing about animals/the environment but that doesn't seem profitable. I do a lot in that area already so it would be nice to be financially sustainable. Trying to put my skills to good use. Thx for sharing your experience.

Hubby
I missed this reply 😔

I'm the only one who travels regularly (I think two or three of my staff have never set foot abroad 😭). But it's not your standard "best things you do in Croatia" blog because there are too many of them (Especially when established news sites doing the same). Instead, it's related to travel but focused on some travel related services that I have used extensively (physical and digital) but don't have the time to write about myself (too big of a backlog), so I give the writers very detailed instructions on what to do (which has worked out well so far).

One pro of my niche is that no other sure focuses solely on the thing I focus on (except for an outdated wiki). Other bloggers may cover the topic here and there (briefly, to sell an affiliate product, but sometimes so in depth that it impresses me), which has helped a lot.

While writing about animals is possible, you better niche it down because of crazy competition. Perhaps something related to taking animals to said park or parks in your city/state/country (depending on how small your country is)? I'm just throwing something now, but you'd have a better chance competing when niched down like that than just writing about animals in general – think about it 😉
cathbe
Thank you. That's so interesting. Appreciate it. I've been pretty niche writing about a park that is pretty famous but not just fluffy stories, sometimes controversial ones. Probably if I just did only happy or news stories, I'd get more traffic. I think I've run out of steam on that one tho'. So, I meant issues related to animals and environment – better world type things – the ways some things are improving and some things are not without being depressing. Probably not explaining it well. I appreciate your thoughts!

shmsc
Great story!! Does most of that income come from affiliates rather than ads, and how many visitors do you have per month roughly?

Also, did you put a lot of effort into link building over that time, or mainly Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Sorry for all the questions haha

Hubby
I missed this reply 😔

7.3k was from Mediavine. The remainder (6.6k or something) came from affiliates alone (paying between 10%-20% commissions). October is on track to be the month where affiliate earnings overtake as earnings 😳

While it's controversial to say, but I spent 0 time link building. I don't even know how my backlink profile looks, but I do know some other travel bloggers, forums & two universities linked to an article before (the universities wrote articles about what to do/know before international students head to their countries).

One is my main competitors has been a blogger for ten years and is very active on social media and has links from established news sites before. So whenever we cover the same country, he often ranks 1 (me on 2), even though my article is objectively better (more on depth and up to date instead of from five years ago). Luckily, I outrank him sometimes too. Even then, a handful of articles get 10k+ views/month on #2, so I'm not too bothered 😉

No_Table
this is so inspirational.

if you feel comfortable answering i was wondering how broad is your niche?

Hubby
It's very specific. From what I know, I'm the only English blog who dedicates a whole site to the niche (except for a somewhat outdated wifi). other travel bloggers sometimes cover what I do as well, but it's usually one off, very basic (to sell an affiliate product), or in-depth for one or two countries only (whereas I do worldwide)
No_Table
appreciate it!

LeapingFish
My site is a bit over two years old and is currently making between $1800-2200 per month.

For the first twelve months, I did not run ads, just affiliates. Made cents for the first 6 months, then affiliate income slowly grew from around $30 a month to around $190 a month over the next year and a half.

Advertising was the big money earner, once I was getting steady views I signed up and from around month 16 ad earnings were around $600, it then quickly jumped to around $2000 a month where it has been quite steady.

So if you write a lot of good helpful content in a niche hungry for information, Google will reward you.

Edit: I also feel the need, to add that I wrote 300+ articles in this time. If you treat blogging like a job, it can reward you like one.

kiwixcompo
Thanks for this. It's so inspiring. How many articles do you currently have on the website? Also, do you target informational content a lot or more of affiliate-related content?

LeapingFish
About 310 articles.

I now only include affiliate links in about 10% of my articles, including product heavy ones. I have a gut feeling having too many affiliate links harms traffic.

I am too lazy to count them, but about 25% of my articles are product focused. 25% are more entertaining focus, while the rest are educational including how to articles.
kiwixcompo
Interesting! Thanks for sharing this. I am currently at 83 articles and this is my 5th month. 90% of my articles are informational and I've been getting quite an increase in my Google Search Console (GSC) daily impressions. Recently, I ranked on the first page for a keyword with over 27k search volume and page 2 on a keyword with over 90k search volume. Although they're not affiliate-related, they've helped in raising my monthly traffic.

However, with all these, I'm still yet to see any significant revenue boost in my Adsense or Ezoic dashboards. I know I'm not supposed to bother about that right now anyway.
sg
I would agree. When we started adding more links those articles actually dropped in rankings. Links take people off your page. Often they will clear both the new tab and your page when closing out and then Google search again.

Plus with googles now helpful content update they are likely using number of affiliate links to gauge what type of articles you are pumping out. They know affiliate link loaded articles tend to be crap.

Also, make sure your links are not high up. If too high on the page it's likely to take people away quickly. Thus lowering any on page metrics for Google to judge. Middle to lower half works.

Those who clink links will be interested in the product and having them on the lower half won't hurt too bad but will help your page look less like affiliate junk and more helpful.

jimlopez
It's not easy to make money on blogs. In fact, it's quite difficult.

There are a few ways to make money on blogs, but the most common way is through advertising. However, ad rates have been declining for years, and it's becoming more and more difficult to make a decent income from ads alone.

Another way to make money on blogs is through affiliate marketing. This involves partnering with companies that will pay you a commission for referring customers their way. But again, this can be difficult because you need a large audience in order to generate enough sales to make any meaningful income.

So overall, it's not easy to make money on blogs. But it is possible if you put in the hard work. Also, make sure you are providing value to your audience.

sg
Depends. If you get one premium ad networks the rates are good. Adsense is pennies now bevahse 50000000000 sites have Adsense running. There isn't enough inventory to drive up rates.

Ryan
Making money through your blog won't be the most challenging thing you've ever done nor the easiest. Simply put, this is doing basic things patiently, persistently and generously as your money scarcity fears are triggered again and again. When your money first come up, it feels highly uncomfortable. During these points most bloggers simply quit because they can't tolerate the discomfort. A few see the journey through to a full-time income.

There's no complexity in this process but since most of us have ample money blocks in our mind manifest as fears of poverty, it usually takes quite a while to generate a sizable income as we wade through these fears and doubts. You can make a few pennies or a few dollars fast but doing something with greater scale and consistent passive income takes a lot of work and a long time.
sg
This depends. Some will say you can make $10,000 a month and others will say you won't make a penny and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) blogging is dead.

Well why is that? Well some think blogging is telling their story. What they ate today. How their day at work went. This is early times blogging. Tofay that stuff is designed for tictok in silly 12 second clips.

Blogging is not blogging anymore. It's content creation but retains the name so people understand what you are doing.

For those who write in niches people actually care about there will be space for revenue. Ad companies pay higher in niches people care about and people search for things in those niches.

Others like "Basket weaving for seniors" is probably not a niche that will make much money due to a lack of search volume. Another example is a site covering the world of olive oil. Cool if you love it for some reason but not likely to be a big money maker.

We started our "blog" on our 2 year olds retail website on April 2nd, < year >. It now has 175 post. Most are answer targets with very little affiliate or product promotion or review articles. Most of that is weaves into articles in a very subtle and small way.

We are averaging 3,500 visitors a month and $2-3 in ads per day. Ads went live August 15th.

While we aren't making a killing our traffic is growing daily, revenue is growing daily and rankings are climbing.

When we started our average page rank in Google search was 42.5. Today it is 17.5.

Click Through Rate (CTR) is 0.5% site wide but this is due to the 800 product pages bringing that down as most are not on page one (but the blog is helping them climb).

CTR on blog post is now at 2.9% and climbing weekly as our articles slowly move up.

So at 3500 visitors and $70-90 in ad revenue in Sept our RPM is actually pretty decent and we expect it to climb as traffic climbs.

Sites with large amounts of traffic just seem to attract higher paying ads. Likely it is due to the ability for the ad producer to test and optimize faster.
haasilein
I use Medium. I started in March this year. I make 300$ on avg per month for usual months. Last month was pretty extreme though because I made 1600$ because one blog post sky rocketed

Medium is really cool because you make a smoothie h start right away without worrying about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and traffic generation.



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