Hey,
I’m excited to say I was recently featured on CNBC and want to welcome all of my new readers.
Read the CNBC feature here – 34-year-old mom dropped $50,000 to cruise the world with her family: ‘It was some of the best money I ever spent’
If you’re visiting for the first time — welcome to Making Sense of Cents!
I’ve received many emails asking how I was able to pay for this trip. If you’re interested in starting a blog and learning how to monetize it, I offer a free How To Start A Blog course. Below I also explain how I’ve earned more than $5,000,000 through blogging over the years.
If you want a detailed recap of my world cruise, check out my write-up: Around-The-World Cruise With A Kid (25+ Countries In 4 Months!).
Here are some posts you may find useful:
- How To Start A Blog in 15 Minutes
- Affiliate Marketing Tips For Bloggers – Free eBook
- 10 Best Things I Did To Build A $5 Million Blog
- 29 Best Stay At Home Jobs (#1 Is My Full Time Job!)
- 18 Passive Income Ideas To Earn $1,000+ Each Month
If you have questions, please leave a comment below or send me an email. Thanks for stopping by.
– Michelle Schroeder-Gardner
—-
Alongside the CNBC piece, I want to share how I built a blog that has generated more than $5,000,000. Many readers ask for details, so I’m laying out the essentials here.
What began as a personal hobby — tracking finances while finishing school and paying off student loans — turned into one of the most transformative decisions I’ve made: starting a blog and learning how to monetize it.
I began blogging in 2011, when monetization was still new to many people. Back then most bloggers relied on display ads and sponsored posts, but monetization options have expanded greatly. Today you can combine display ads, affiliate marketing, sponsored content, and your own products to generate income — much of it passive.
Passive income is my favorite aspect of blogging because it provides flexibility: I can work from home, travel, and choose when to put in effort while older posts continue to earn.
It took persistence and learning, but I started earning after about six months. One year in I was making roughly $1,000 per month; two years later I was earning about $10,000 a month. My income continued to grow from there, and the site still provides a significant income today.
How I earned my first income from blogging
When I launched Making Sense in August 2011, I didn’t plan to make money. I simply wanted to document progress and connect with others. A blogger friend later connected me with an advertiser willing to pay $100 for a placement. That first payment was small, but it was a turning point — it proved a blog could generate income and motivated me to learn how to grow and monetize the site.
From there I researched monetization strategies and steadily increased my earnings. Within a year I reached about $1,000 per month, and within two years I hit roughly $10,000 per month. That early momentum, combined with continued learning and strategy, led to long-term success.
How To Start A Blog FREE Course
If you haven’t started your blog yet and want to learn how to monetize it, my free course is a great starting point. It walks you through the basics across seven days and is delivered by email.
Course outline:
- Day 1: Reasons to start a blog
- Day 2: How to choose your blog topic
- Day 3: How to create a blog (WordPress setup walkthrough)
- Day 4: How to monetize a blog (different income streams)
- Day 5: Tips for earning passive income
- Day 6: How to grow traffic and followers
- Day 7: Miscellaneous practical blogging tips
This course is sent directly to your inbox and is designed to help you build a blog from scratch.
Start with a plan for your blog
While you can begin without a plan, having one speeds progress and helps you focus on niche, goals, and monetization opportunities. I didn’t create a plan until 2015 — four years after starting — and when I did, my income grew significantly. A plan helped me prioritize actions and avoid missed opportunities.
Key questions to answer when planning:
- What will you write about?
- How will you make money?
- How will you reach readers?
- What are your short- and long-term goals?
Write high-quality and engaging blog posts
Content is the foundation of any successful blog. Good content attracts readers, builds trust, and drives monetization. You don’t need formal credentials to write, but you should be knowledgeable or genuinely interested in your topic and always be honest with your audience.
Tips for high-quality content:
- Choose topics you care about and can sustain writing about over time.
- Ask readers what they want to read — many post ideas come from audience questions.
- Research thoroughly using reputable sources and statistics.
- Be personal and transparent when writing personal posts — readers connect with stories.
- Write long, helpful posts when appropriate. Detailed, useful content tends to perform better in search and keeps readers engaged.
- Proofread and edit. I now work with an editor to ensure high standards before publishing.
Network, network, network
Networking is a powerful tool for growth. Connect with other bloggers, attend conferences, share others’ content, follow peers on social media, subscribe to useful newsletters, and join blogging communities. Networking led to my first advertising opportunity and continues to provide support, ideas, and collaborations.
Be prepared to put in a lot of hard work
Starting a blog is simple; growing and monetizing it takes time and effort. Expect to:
- Create and design your site, set up social channels, and build systems
- Write consistent, high-quality posts
- Attract and retain an audience
- Learn monetization strategies and apply them
- Continuously learn and adapt
In the early days I spent over 10 hours a week on the blog while working another job. Later, balancing a full-time job and the blog meant 40–50 extra weekly hours. Now that I blog full-time, hours vary, but the work never fully stops. Loving the process helps a lot.
How to monetize a blog: 4 different ways
Common monetization methods include:
- Affiliate marketing
- Advertisements and sponsorships
- Display advertising
- Creating and selling your own products (courses, ebooks, physical goods, memberships)
You can use one or several of these strategies. I prefer diversification and use multiple income streams.
1. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to earn from a blog: review products you use, share honest opinions, and include a unique affiliate link that lets readers buy or sign up. It can be passive because a single post can continue earning over time as readers discover it.
Affiliate tips:
- Use link-cloaking tools to clean up long affiliate URLs so links look professional.
- Provide honest, thorough reviews and disclose any relationships transparently.
- If you perform well with a program, request higher commissions.
- Build a relationship with affiliate managers — they can offer bonuses, coupons, and opportunities.
- Write tutorials that show readers how to use products and the benefits they offer.
- Don’t overuse affiliate links — place them strategically in the beginning, middle, and end.
I also created a course specifically on affiliate marketing for bloggers if you want deeper training.
2. Advertisements and sponsorships
Sponsorships and direct advertising were among the first monetization methods I used. Brands pay for sponsored posts, reviews, or promotions on your site or social channels. These partnerships can be lucrative when your audience matches a brand’s target market.
If you want to focus on sponsored posts, there are courses and resources that teach how to pitch brands, price your work, and create effective sponsored content.
3. Display advertising
Display ads are an easy way to earn with relatively low maintenance. Networks insert ads into your site, and earnings typically scale with page views. Popular ad networks include Google AdSense, MediaVine, and AdThrive. I use AdThrive; display ads provide steady, passive income even if they’re not the highest earner early on.
4. Sell your own products
Creating your own products offers high control and often higher margins. Products can include online courses, coaching, ebooks, printables, memberships, physical goods, or digital tools. I launched my first course about five years after starting the blog, and it became an important income source and a way to help readers succeed faster.
Have an email list
Start an email list from day one. I delayed doing this and regret it — an email list is one of the most valuable assets you can build.
Why email matters:
- Your newsletter is yours: Unlike social platforms, your email list belongs to you. You don’t rely on algorithms to reach subscribers.
- The money is in your list: Email is often the best channel to promote affiliate products and courses because subscribers opted in to hear from you.
- Subscribers are loyal: People who welcome your emails typically trust your recommendations and are more likely to engage and buy.
- Email delivers content reliably: Tools like ConvertKit make it easy to create automated email courses and deliver content on a schedule.
Attract readers
To monetize a blog you need readers, but you don’t necessarily need millions of page views. Some bloggers with relatively modest traffic earn more than larger sites by focusing on a loyal, engaged audience and strong monetization strategies.
Ways to grow readership:
- Write high-quality content that helps and engages readers.
- Be active on the right social platforms for your niche — Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.
- Publish consistently, ideally at least once a week so readers know when to expect new content.
- Guest post to reach new audiences and build backlinks.
- Make sharing easy with visible social icons and clean share metadata so posts look good when shared.
- Write compelling titles — headlines determine click-through rates.
- Apply SEO strategies to earn organic search traffic.
- Keep your site user-friendly so visitors can navigate easily and find more content.
Grow through SEO
SEO (search engine optimization) drives organic traffic from search engines. Ranking content for relevant keywords brings readers who are actively searching for solutions. Learning SEO is essential if you want sustainable, long-term traffic growth.
Some recommended SEO resources include courses and guides focused on on-page SEO, keyword research, and backlink strategies — all of which help articles rank and attract consistent traffic over time.
Common questions about how to monetize a blog
Below are short answers to common questions I receive about blogging:
- How many views do you need to monetize a blog?
- How do beginner bloggers make money?
- Why do bloggers fail?
- How many posts should I have before I launch?
- How many times a week should I post?
How many views do you need to monetize a blog?
There’s no fixed number. Success depends on your monetization methods, niche, audience engagement, email subscribers, and the quality of your content. Some bloggers earn well with 10,000 monthly page views; others need more. Focus on providing value and optimizing monetization rather than chasing a specific page view target.
How do beginner bloggers make money?
Beginners can start with display ads, affiliate marketing, sponsorships, and product creation. Display ads are typically easiest to start with, but other methods often earn more as you grow and specialize.
How many posts should I have before I launch my blog?
Launch as soon as you have one strong post and a simple design. Waiting to build a large backlog can delay progress — it’s better to publish and iterate.
How many times a week should I post on my blog?
Consistency matters. I recommend publishing at least once a week. Regular publishing keeps readers engaged and signals to search engines that your site is active.
Why do bloggers fail?
Common reasons include:
- Giving up too soon: Blogging takes time; results rarely happen overnight.
- Inconsistent publishing: Irregular posts slow growth and reduce reader loyalty.
- Not investing time to learn: Successful blogging requires ongoing education about traffic, monetization, and content strategy.
- Not using your own domain and hosting: Owning your domain and self-hosting gives credibility and control, which are important for long-term monetization.
How do I start a blog?
If you have more questions about starting a blog, check out my guide that explains the basics — choosing a name, designing your site, understanding how blogs make money, and getting noticed by Google. If you’re ready to begin, sign up for the free course linked above to get step-by-step help.
Please leave a comment if you have any questions. Thanks for reading!