When is it Okay to Start Trying to Make Money from Your Blog?

Whether you have been blogging for a while or are just starting out, the topic of making money from your blog is bound to cross your mind soon. People across the net are making money from their blogs. Some (a select few) are making a living from it, while some people’s blogs earn them a nice extra side-income and some people just enjoy a few extra bucks from theirs.

But what about you?

How can you make money?

More importantly for this article, when is the right time to start trying to make money from your blog?

There’s no exact science to when you should start monetizing. That being said, I don’t recommend hitting it hard really at any point. Too much advertising and affiliate stuff in the beginning will never build your audience. Too much ads going up 6-months into blogging could confuse the readers you do have. However you monetize, it should be a compliment to your content and should never overtake your blog.

Personally, I don’t recommend trying to monetize very much right off the bat. Unless you have a strong reader base from the beginning, your focus should be 100% on producing great content and getting people to your site. Once you have proven to your audience that your words matter and have earned a bit of their trust, start integrating some monetization strategies.

So you’ve decided that it is time to monetize. What’s next?

Don’t ever feel bad for wanting to, or trying to make money from your blog. I see this a lot. Bloggers will say, “people don’t care about (insert money making opportunity here)” or “my readers will get annoyed” if I post that. How do you know? Have you asked them? I doubt you ran it by them… “hey guys, what would you think if when I mentioned a camera, I included a link to that same camera on Amazon?” Most likely you are assuming, and assuming incorrectly.

My next point is a very important one. While making money on your blog is an exciting idea, make sure to never come across as spammy or salesperson-y on your blog. People can see right through falseness, so if you’re calling every single thing under the sun your “favorite” or a “must own”, people are not going to take your words seriously. One of the most successful bloggers on the net right now, Pat from The Smart Passive Income Blog makes a ton of money each month from referrals and affiliate links. How? Because he promotes items and services that he has used and that he is personally satisfied with. His readers know that and are way more inclined to click and buy something that he promotes because they know that his genuine endorsement is behind it.

Don’t look back. Once you start making money on your blog, it’s easy to look back and think of the fact that you should have started earlier. There’s nothing you can do about that now. Focus on your monetization strategy going forward.

Get ready for what is to come. Once you start making money on your blog, things change a bit. Depending on how much you are making, your taxes will change. Depending on how you are making your money, the appearance (ads) of your blog may change. You might have to try to impress sponsors to keep their money coming in. There is a lot to it aside from simply posting and signing checks.

Are you ready to start making money from your blog?

If you are, I recommend joining my free email newsletter below to gain access to my eBook, How to Make Money from Your Blog, which will show you some specific ways to earn an income from your blog.