How to Start a Blog That Makes Money (And Gets Free Traffic)
Of those who make money, not all make a living. And not even all make a decent side income.
But what’s also true is that a lot of bloggers succeed.
The opportunity you’re looking at is:
- Joining 31% of bloggers who make a decent side income of $6K a year.
- Joining the 15% who make at least $30K a year.
- Joining the 6%–10% of bloggers who make over $10K a month.
- $100K a month? That’s also possible with blogging, but only the most hardworking and patient bloggers get there.
Without further ado, let’s get you started in creating a profitable blog. We’ll also look at some ways to attract free traffic from search engines.
Here are some niches proven to be profitable:
| Niche | Typical content | Blog example | Last monthly income report | Pageviews (from last income report) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food and cooking | Recipes categorized by type of meal and diet, cookware reviews, tips and tricks, listicles | Pinch of Yum | $95,196 (source) | 4.245M |
| Health and wellness | Food, relationships, fitness, beauty, psychology | Hot Beauty Health | $9,655 (source) | 208.6K |
| Parenting | Pregnancy, child-raising advice, product reviews, food recipes, stay-at-home parent jobs, kid activities, household tips | The Soccer Mom Blog | $11,288 (source) | 500K |
| News | Anything newsworthy in one niche or multiple niches (also gossip) | HuffPost | Acquired by AOL in 2011 for $315M, then acquired by BuzzFeed (source). According to this source, it generates $14M/mo. | 5.8M (monthly organic traffic March 2023, via Ahrefs) |
| Tech | Software and hardware reviews, exclusive deals, how to use software tools, comparisons, listicles, making money online, tech news, buying guides, gaming | 99signals | $5,242 (source) | 18K (monthly organic traffic on the date of the report, via Ahrefs) |
| Personal development | Life hacks, financial freedom, wellness, psychology, motivation, spirituality, fitness | Let’s Reach Success | $6,652 (source) | 115.5K |
| Pets | Pet health, product reviews, activities for pets, traveling with pets, pet adoption, training, tips, listicles | You Did What With Your Weiner | $7,720 (includes income outside of the content, source) | 40K (monthly organic traffic on the date of the report, via Ahrefs) |
| Entrepreneurship | Making money online, starting a business, interviews, complete courses, how-tos, inspiration | Smart Passive Income | $166,559 (source) | 68K (monthly organic traffic on the date of the report, all blogs, via Ahrefs) |
| Finance | Investing, saving money, retirement, financial product reviews, buying guides, family finance, mortgages, gig economy, debt, career advice, entrepreneurship, financial freedom | Millennial Money | $33,473 on average (source) | 1.5M visits in 2017 |
| Fashion | Outfit ideas, home decor, beauty, style tips, gift ideas, listicles, buyer guides | Chic Pursuit | $11,376 (source) | 135.3K |
| Lifestyle | Anything related to solving life’s problems and living a happier life | Abby Organizes | $41.7K (source) | Over 400K |
| Travel | City guides, listicles, traveling tips, gear and location reviews, life on the road, digital nomadism | Local Adventurer | $41K (source) | 541.8K |
| DIY/crafts | DIY decorations, DIY weekend projects, handcraft tutorials, life hacks, product reviews, food recipes, DIY repairs, renovations | Jennifer Maker | $15,158 (source) | 125.4K |
Is your ideal niche not on the list? Check these things:
- Search for affiliate programs in your niche. A simple search like “board games affiliate program” should do it.
- See if there are enough products on Amazon you could recommend through an affiliate program (that are not excluded by the program).
- Look at other blogs in the niche and see if they run ads. If they do, check their organic traffic with our free website traffic checker. Their income will range from $0.01 to $0.25 per pageview from organic traffic per month. If they’re active on other channels, that’s additional pageviews.
- Go to a similar product in your preferred niche and use a tool like Ahrefs’ Site Explorer to see sponsored links—these will be the deals you could potentially get as well.
But what about blogging about something you’re actually passionate about?
Obviously, the best scenario is that your interests or hobbies match a profitable niche. Otherwise, it’s easy to lose interest in your blog.
But you can also look at it in a different way. If you treat your blog merely as a business, you don’t need to be passionate about the niche in order to succeed. You can, for example, set up blogs in all of those niches and hire someone to create content.
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