Before I launched my blog in April 2023, I remember fiercely reading the best articles on the following question:
“How long does it take to make money from blogging in 2023?”
I was so fascinated by that subject, because I wanted to accelerate my own success as much as I can and learn every mistake by the book to earn money within a few weeks instead of many years traditionally.
I mentioned previously that I regret not having started my blog back in February 2019 when I first heard of people affording to travel the WHOLE world through blogging. Had I started back then, it would have been 4 years by now. I was way too obsessed with absorbing knowledge and advice online and I got so consumed by mentorship that I forgot to take action and actually progress in my life. Up until today, I still deeply regret it, because I could have set myself up for success by now and earn enough living to travel the world on my own terms. Below, you will understand why.
Typical Success Timeframes
Note: Currency is in USD
There are countless articles online, but in this post, I will only refer to three popular ones that I consider worth reading.
I remember one that showed up first on Google from a very successful blogger, Ryan Robinson. Based on his observations:
In most cases, you should expect to take at least 6 to 12 months (minimum) of consistent blogging & promoting your content to start earning something from your blog. When it comes to making $1,000/mo in blog income, expect that to take 1 to 2 years of consistent effort for most people.
Ryan Robinson
The catch?
I know a few bloggers who’ve reached $100,000+ in their first year of blogging. However, I know many more who’ve blogged for 2 to 3 years and are still struggling to reach a consistent $100/mo in blog income.
Ryan Robinson
So basically, he makes the point that because there are just so many factors involved, it is impossible to accurately predict how long it can take for a blog to succeed financially. We should not be fooled by the many extreme success or failure cases and it is important to set realistic expectations for ourselves.
The second most popular article came from Eb Gargano. She stated the following:
According to recent research, it takes an average of 20 months to start making money with a blog. However, that is just the average. The statistics show that 27% of bloggers start earning money from blogging within 6 months and 38% are making a full-time income within 2 years of starting their blog.
Eb Gargano
Without elaborating too much on the research itself, because it can be read from Mrs. Gargano’s post (I don’t recommend overanalyzing it though), it still gave me a rough ballpark of the path ahead of me. Spoiler alert: I don’t belong with the 27% who made money within 6 months 🙃. This article is part of the reason why I am writing this post. I wanted to let anyone know how my situation turned out after six months and contrast it with her statement.
The third article I read mentioned several real blog success case studies and generated the following summary based on them:
On average, it takes 2-4 years to build a successful blog. Around the 2-year mark, you should have enough content and a large enough audience to begin experimenting with different monetization methods. For those who want to become full-time content creators, plan to publish consistently for 3-4 years before being able to comfortably make the transition.
This one is a bit more depressing and stressful, because, in my case, once I hit the road indefinitely, the countdown until my bank account reaches 0 will start. Assuming the article’s statement is true, I will most likely not be seeing any income for the first two years. This also means that I ABSOLUTELY NEED to survive with my limited savings for two years while traveling and blogging intensely. This is also why I mentioned how I wish I had started four years ago to go through that transition now!😡 That is why I am so hard on myself.
My Honest Results Six Months Later…
My Actual Blog Traffic
Here is a chart illustrating the number of users over time during my first six months of blogging:
Keep in mind that at that point, I had published exactly 68 posts. It indicates that barely just 10 people has visited my blog every month since I started (the term visited is even an exaggeration) for less than four minutes and the numbers even include myself visiting it from my phone! So effectively, upon really understanding all of my analytics, only 30 random people IN TOTAL have seen something in my blog during those six months combined.
YouTube Channel
I have uploaded 32 YouTube videos and they totaled 175 views six months later. Through all of this, I have gained only 1 subscriber and only 1 like in a random video that I did not put much effort into. I have no freaking idea who the subscriber is and why anyone even liked that video. Needless to say, results were not staggering, but like MrBeast once said, your first 100 videos will not get any views.
Instagram Page
I made 132 Instagram posts with 12 reel videos that are all the exact same as my YouTube shorts ones. The reel video of my simple trick to make fries crispier reached 1224 views and got two likes. That was ,by far, my best accomplishment 😁. Otherwise, only my three day trip to Pennsylvania got 16 views while the rest received literally 0 views. I gained three followers at some point from my simple trick to make fries crispier, but after I followed them back, they unfollowed me 🤷♂️. So now, I am back to 0 followers.
Final Thoughts
In short, NOTHING spectacular happened to me after six months of blogging. I overestimated the quality of my posts thinking that my writing would be on par with other popular bloggers. However, that was not the case at all. Don’t get me wrong, I was still proud and excited at seeing my videos get some views and one like. However, it is nowhere near where I want to be to earn a living from creating content in general. I am not sure when that will happen, but even when my life sucks and nothing exists, I am still going to get it until the time comes. I am constantly trying to blog smarter and not harder. This will be an experiment for anyone to learn from whether I will give up at some point or not. Stick around to find out if someone like me can make it through it all or not.
If anything, everyone needs a hero and needs to hear it from enough people. Peace ✌️!
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