How Bloggers Make Money (& How Much They Actually Earn!)

In 2011, we launched our online business. Now, we’re sharing how bloggers make money and how much bloggers make in 2020!

If you’ve ever wondered:

Do bloggers even make money?
Can you still make money blogging in 2020?
How much do bloggers really make?

The answer is yes, and that the amount bloggers make varies greatly.

On our latest episode of The Kim and Kalee Show, we shared What We Learned by Starting an Online Business, but we wanted to break down these 3 questions even more on the blog.

Are you considering blogging in order to have a little mad money or quit your day job?

You’ve probably seen the success stories not only in blogging but from YouTube personalities and Instagram influencers, but is it a real way to make an income?

The honest truth is blogging, as well as, creating videos and Instagram photos, is a hobby for most people.

This means it can be hard for your family and friends to understand how a website could be a substantial income.

Even years later, our family still really doesn’t understand what we do or how we make money, but we’re proof it’s possible.

Can you still make money blogging in 2020?

There are still plenty of opportunities to make money blogging in 2020. Unlike anytime before, brands are looking to influencers (even those with small followers) to help engage and connect with their ideal customers.

Influencers also have more flexibility and options to supply brands including but not limited to: blog posts, videos, live broadcasts, email campaigns, and social amplifications through Instagram Live, Instagram Stories, and static photos on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and more.

Brands are also recognizing how much power there is in word of mouth and the connection bloggers and influencers develop with their audience.

How Much Money Do Bloggers Make?

The amount of money bloggers make varies greatly, but this because the amount of work and experience of bloggers varies.

A blogger’s content, traffic, consistency, branding, and niche can also affect his or her income.

Glassdoor reports that bloggers earn between $19K to $79K a year.

Another survey (done by ProBlogger) found that 9% of bloggers make between $1,000 and $9,999 a month and an additional 4% make over $10,000 a month.

When we first started blogging in 2011, we were super happy to make a hundred dollars or so each month.

As our blog and skills grew, we saw our income continue to increase. We’ve now been full-time bloggers and coaches since 2013, and we’ve continued to be in the top 4% for several years now.

Blogger Income Reports

Most of the time you’ll only see these from bloggers in the blogging niche. While these income reports are great to see and inspiring usually, they might not be very reflective of other niches. The reason I believe this to be true is that people in the blogging niche usually have their income coming from their product about blogging or affiliates relating to blogging.

While all niches will have the ability to have products and affiliates, they might not be as straight forward. Other niches may also not be as enticed to share their earnings since it doesn’t necessarily boost their creditability like a blogger sharing about making money online.

With that said, we did some research across different topics, and we found a few interesting blogger income reports you might like!

The Clean Eating Couple (Food) – $150k a year
Living the Dream (Travel) – $7,750 a month
Went Here 8 This (Food) – $4,770 a month
Momma Makes Joy (Parenting) – $1,698 a month
Crochetpreneur (Craft) – $7,000 a month
High Five Dad (Parenting and Money) – $3399 a month
Two Wandering Souls (Travel) – $17,811 a month
Italian Polish Momma (Lifestyle) – $3398 a month

Blogging.com also put together a list of monthly incomes from the top bloggers.

The top blog is HuffPost at $18million! Number #50 was Millennial Money Man at $15,500, but I know there are other bloggers making more than that per month. It really comes down to how much a blogger is willing to share about their income though.

You may also like our post about the 17 Things We Wish We Knew Before Starting a Lifestyle Blog.

How Bloggers Make Money

Bloggers make money through advertisements, products, sponsored work, affiliate relationships, and coaching typically. The amount a blogger will make from each piece will vary on his or her goals, traffic, and following.

As you saw above, bloggers are making significant amounts of money across different topics as well.

What are advertisements, products, sponsored work, affiliate relationships, and coaching?

Affiliates

If a blogger uses a product, tool, or course, he or she may become an affiliate for it. Each affiliate relationship will vary in the percentage that the blogger earns. We earn as little as 1% on some products and as much as 50% on others.

These affiliate opportunities can be placed as a link on blog and accessed anytime. So if the blogger has a lot of people coming to that post and compels the reader to buy, that amount of income can be pretty significant!

Products

A blogger may also choose to sell a product – either a digitally or physically.

Digital products are really popular because once they’re created, they can be promoted for as long as the blogger wants and can act as a passive income after the initial launch. A digital product could be something like an e-book, course, or printable.

There is also no hassle of printing or shipping a physical product.

As for physical products, drop-shipping has become easier than ever. This is where a blogger can have an online store of customized items through a third party, and the third party ships the product to the consumer.

Coaching & Virtual Assistant Work

Some bloggers also offer service-oriented work like coaching and virtual assistant work.

Are you considering blogging?

If so – you should definitely check out our: