A question I get asked a lot is, “How long does it take to make money blogging?”
I wish there were an easy answer to this question.
Success isn’t going to happen overnight, that’s for certain. I can’t give a definitive timeframe, either. What I CAN do is provide a general idea of what milestones to expect in the coming weeks and months.
Knowing what milestones to prepare for will make it easier to set realistic goals, even when you’re not certain when exactly those milestones will occur.
Realistic goals are extremely important. Setting unrealistic goals makes it more likely that they won’t be achieved. The more goals you miss, the more deterred you become, and that makes you more likely to give up. I don’t want that for you.
The Most Universal Internet Marketing Track
The track described below is one that virtually anyone can do, which means:
• It has the lowest startup costs. Starting a business with no budget isn’t possible in today’s search engine climate. However, unlike a brick and mortar business, you can manage to keep a low startup cost for an Internet Marketing business.
• It has the fewest moving parts. Think of a toy robot: the more complicated it is, the more parts it has, and the greater the possibility that one of the parts doesn’t line up correctly. After some time, the toy robot is broken, and there’s no way to know what went wrong.
The more moving parts a business has, the more likely it is for something to go awry. In the end, it’s difficult to assess exactly what went wrong. What I’m going to teach has the fewest moving parts possible to help maintain a degree of control over the outcome.
• It’s one of the most forgiving. There are tracks where, even if you do everything exactly right, you can lose thousands of dollars. That’s not something you have to worry about with this track.
There are faster and more advanced ways to make money in Internet Marketing. However, they require more investment that is typically spent on advertising, as well as tools to maximize that advertising budget. If you have a lot of money to put into your business, then you’ll be able to get results faster.
For now, I want to teach the most cost-efficient and foolproof way to start a profitable internet business.
Time Requirement
Expect to dedicate at least 10 hours of work per week to your business.
*GASPS*
Let me do you a solid and get some of those initial thoughts out of the way:
“That’s way too much time.”
“But I have a full-time job!”
“There’s so much on my plate right now.”
The brutal truth is this: if you can’t give your business at least 10 hours a week, then you don’t have any business building a business right now.
I genuinely mean no offense by that. It’s my obligation to tell you the truth, and the truth is that if you can only dedicate three to five hours a week to this business, you’re VERY unlikely to see success.
If you’re serious and actually want to succeed in this industry, it’s time to reprioritize a few things in your life and find 10 hours each week to put into your business. If that’s not possible, or you’d rather be doing other things with that time, then just do those other things. Spend those hours in a way that is going to be more beneficial to you.
For everyone else: how does 10 hours a week sound to you? Does that sound doable? Haven’t closed this training yet? Then let’s continue.
Most people are concerned with when they will begin to see successful results from their efforts. So how long does it take to make money blogging? Plan to see results in AT LEAST six to 12 months. And by “results,” I mean income.
Early signs of success include seeing traffic a bit earlier, organic comments on your blog or videos, or people sharing your content on social media.
Spending more hours on quality work will get you results much faster. For example, if you work 20 hours a week, you’re going to see results twice as fast as someone who’s putting in the bare minimum of 10 hours a week.
The other thing people are concerned with is how much money they’re going to be making.
Realistically, aim to see $800 to $1,000 per month at the end of 12 months if you work 10 hours per week. Again, working twice as many hours means you can aim a bit higher, such as $1,500 to $2,000 a month.
I hope I’m not making it seem as if 10 hours a week isn’t valuable, because dedicating that much time to something is nothing to scoff at. Working at the bare minimum just means it will take a little bit longer to reach your goals. Keep that in mind as you anticipate the road ahead.
“How Much Money Do I Need to Get Started?”
Earlier I stated that it’s impossible to start a business with no money in today’s search engine climate, so a reasonable question to ask is: how much money will be needed to start?
During the first year, you’ll need somewhere between $70 to $110 for startup capital. This isn’t negotiable.
This capital goes mostly towards your website, which is another non-negotiable. You’ll need to buy a domain name, which can cost somewhere between $10 to $15 a year, and quality web hosting for your site, which can cost between $60 to $96 a year.
If “web hosting” is an alien phrase to you, I dive deeper into this topic in a later lesson. Long story short, web hosting allows you to publish a website on the internet.
A desktop or laptop computer is something you’ll need to invest in as well. Unfortunately, you can’t build an internet business from a tablet or mobile phone. The technology just isn’t there yet. It’s like trying to build a house with a shoe instead of a hammer.
Lamp and plant optional
You may also consider investing in premium tools that will make this journey easier. Premium tools aren’t necessary because there are free tools available, however, premium tools can save you a lot of time and money at the end of the day. Personally, any chance I get to save time for my business by investing in a premium tool for a reasonable cost, I do it.
If you don’t have the means to invest in these essentials, I recommend holding off on pursuing Internet Marketing for now because these are the bare minimum requirements to get started.
“How Long Does It Take To Make Money Blogging?” – Quarterly Milestones
These milestones are a guideline for anyone committing about 15 to 20 hours per week.
Months 1 to 3: Pushing Through the Trial and Error
During the first quarter, you’re going to spend a lot of time rereading this training and your notes, revisiting the training videos, and tinkering with your website and content. Google will become your best friend as you figure out how to do or fix things on your site. The questions will seem never-ending. You may spend hours tweaking one thing that will make you question the decision to get into Internet Marketing.
Be warned: there’s going to be a lot of trial and error during this early stage, and it’s not going to be easy. The key to push through it is to keep learning, especially the technical stuff, because no one is going to hold your hand later on. An independent mentality is extremely important in this industry.
I’m going to do my best to outline every single step of the way, but, at the end of the day, if you encounter any kind of issue, there are millions of users and website owners out there. You can easily do a quick Google search for a solution to most problems.
The good thing about learning everything for the first time is that you’ll only have to learn it once. The next time you utilize a new skill, it’s going to be a little easier. Beyond that, it will become second nature.
Months 4 to 6: Second Guessing Everything
In the second quarter, you’ll still experience some of the same challenges faced during the first quarter, however, you’ll have the skills necessary to overcome them. This quarter, you’re going to be less worried about the technical stuff and more worried about overall strategy.
Keep in mind that there’s no one to give you feedback and tell you that you’re doing everything right. So, during this period it might seem as if you’re putting in a lot of hard work and not seeing results.
Too often, I’ve seen people in the midst of this stage simply quit. The uncertainty of results weighs heavily on them, so they stop producing quality work. These people go from doing careful keyword research and writing 1,500- to 2,000-word posts of high quality, search engine optimized content, to posting five-minute videos. Then, eight months later, they’re wondering why they’re not seeing results.
The Iron Mindset will play a huge role during this quarter. You’ve learned all the strategies, technical training, and methods. If after 4 months it still feels like you’re not seeing results, having an Iron Mindset will prepare you to overcome and push through.
Continue producing quality content, even when you’re questioning whether you’re doing everything correctly. Trust me: it will pay off.
Months 7 to 9: Early Signs of Traction
Depending on your niche and efforts, you’re probably not seeing a lot results yet, but you may be seeing early signs of traction, such as traffic to your website and comments on posts.
There are cases of people who landed in a really good niche, worked really hard to put out high-quality content, and, at this point, were already seeing some part-time income. These are extremely rare cases. These people are exceptions, not the general rule. The usual trend at this point is seeing some traffic and comments, especially if you’re marketing on social media.
Months 10 to 12: Potentially Generating a Part-Time Income (or More)
If you stuck it out during the most challenging times in the first three quarters, at this point you should start seeing a part-time income. There are people who have begun earning a full-time income by now, but remember: they’re the exceptions. Those people are some of the hardest working in the industry, and, frankly, work harder than I do (and I’m a very hardworking person).
I wish I could guarantee a full-time income at this stage, especially if you gave Internet Marketing 12 months of hard work, but there simply aren’t guarantees in this business. If you followed the training, worked hard, and gave it your best efforts, then you should be earning at least a part-time income after 12 months.
High Competition Niches: A Longer Journey
If you’re in a high competition niche, add six to eight months to your journey.
When you’re in a high competition niche, it takes longer to see results. If you find at month 10 you’re still not seeing traffic to your website, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re screwed. It just means that it’s going to take longer to break through.
High-competition niches include any of the evergreen niches. Evergreen niches are full of buying audience members and tend to have high competition as a result. Even though these niches take longer to monetize, once you do, there’s no lack of monetization opportunities.
The three biggest evergreen niches are:
1. Health and Wellness (including Health and Beauty)
2. Making Money Online (including Business Opportunities, Forex, and Investing)
3. Relationships and Dating
These niches will always have earning potential if you can get the traffic. However, with a lot more competition, it takes longer to get that traffic.
As you work through each quarter, keep in mind that missing these milestones doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing something wrong. As I said before, there are no guarantees in this industry. Push through the difficult moments and continue producing high-quality content. When you’re providing value to your audience and the world you’re going to reap financial reward.
Setting up Realistic Goals
Aside from expecting to work at least 10 hours per week and planning for this journey to take at least 6 to 12 months, here are a couple of other things to prepare for as you set goals:
1. Above all else, aim for traffic during the early stages.
Qualified traffic is the lifeblood of any internet business. How to get qualified traffic is discussed in detail later on because generating traffic is where a lot of people go wrong in this industry.
The design of your website, how much money it’s making, and how you’re integrating affiliate offers or advertising should be secondary to traffic in the beginning. Focus on traffic first and everything else will follow.
Once you receive qualified traffic, it can be turned into part-time income, and part-time income can be built into full-time income.
2. Growth will be unpredictable.
Growth can look like an exponential curve: in the first eight months there’s nothing, and month nine you earn $200. At month 10 you could earn $1,200, and at month 11 you earn $2,300. It’s not always going to look exactly like that, but it’s a typical pattern for those who grind.
There will be months when your earnings suddenly drop. This could be due to loss of traffic or search engine rankings going down unexpectedly. Things like this happen and the sooner you’re prepared for it, the better you’ll handle it.
Make sure to be realistic. You’re not going to immediately start earning $5,000 a month. Growth will be gradual, but it’s amazing how quickly earnings can snowball once they’re initiated.