If I had a nickel for each time I saw this question being asked…. Should I start by telling you there is no right answer to that question or save it for the end of the post?
By the way, if you are asking yourself this question you are on the wrong path already. I bet you hate me right now, but hey, putting it right in your face early in the game is for your own good.
Would it help you out if I said that one blog of mine which gets 10,000 impressions a month is making me 200 euros? No it wouldn’t. That is completely irrelevant.
It is all relative
Your earnings depend on lots and lots of factors like how targeted your customers/visitors are, the niche you are in, the layout of your website or blog, the advertisers you are working with, the product you are selling and so on and so forth.
Let’s take AdSense for example, because I know a lot of people are using it. AdSense earnings are calculated based on the number of clicks your ads get. For each click you get a specific amount of money. That amount can vary a lot from one click to another even in the same niche. For example I have got clicks worth 0.04 € and clicks worth 2 € in the same day on the same website. That is quite a big difference.
Another thing that can vary is the click through rate. Today you may get a 2% CTR while tomorrow you can have a 4% CTR.
See? The famous “How many visitors do I need to make money?” question does not make much sense now, does it?
The right approach
Ok, I understand, but how do I know when I should start monetizing by blog?
What I would do before starting to throw ads all over my website is wait to build a returning base of visitors or a nice number of RSS subscribers. There is no magical number in terms of traffic that you need to reach in order to be able to make money online. Just wait until you get positive feedback from your audience. Wait until you see them asking you for a service or product. Don’t just fill your blog with AdSense ads and make it look spammy. It will put everybody off. You can even show ads only to search engine visitors and maximize your earnings.
One of the advices I would give to anyone who is starting a blog or website is: don’t try to make money out of it. Build your reputation first and then, gradually, start monetizing the traffic you are getting. Think of your blog as a long term business and pay respect to your visitors; don’t try to rip them off.
Give before you ask
Your goal as a beginner is to share useful content with the world. That is where all your time and focus should go. Create free content for your visitors and let them know about it. Write an e-book and offer it for free to your subscribers. Don’t ask money for it. People won’t pay for a product created by someone with no authority.
I like to compare a new blog to a product that is going through a free trial period. The trial period is up to you, it might be just 2 months or it might be 2 years. Start asking people money only if they are dying to get fresh content from you. Let them ask for it.
Your comments
I would love to hear you personal experience on this topic. How long did it take you to make your first 1,000 dollars online? How did your readership react when you first started to use ads?
Would love to here from you...