By Samuel Shepherd

The proliferation of the internet over the past several decades has brought with it an absolute cornucopia of opportunities for those who want to expand their horizons and use their skills in unique ways. We’ve seen the rise of jobs like YouTubers, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) specialists, and website developers as purely online career paths with no true counterpart outside of the digital sphere, and it has shifted our idea of what a business can be.

The Shifting Tides of Online Work

During the 2000s, this flurry of online innovations led to the rise of the blogger as a viable option for those looking to make money from their writing, opinions, and insights. Although there were certainly bloggers in the 1990s, the growing adoption of the internet post-Y2K meant that there was more of a chance than ever before to grow an audience, gain influence, and earn a living from your work, often through a mix of large online publications and personal blogging websites which could get hundreds of thousands of clicks a week.

Cut to 2024, and the landscape for bloggers is not what it once was. Whilst personal blogs and websites do exist, their place as the primary way users find information on the internet has long been usurped by the major social media platforms. According to Statistica, the amount of time users spend on social media has grown from an average of 90 minutes a day in 2012 to a peak of 151 minutes in 2023. This leaves less time for other forms of online data sharing, meaning that while approximately 5.35 billion people have access to the internet out of a global population of approximately 8 billion, it’s far less likely overall for a blog to grow a following quickly.

Conventional Wisdom Vs Data

Everything that we’ve said would push towards the idea that blogging is less of an option for those looking to make money in 2024, but is that really true? The public perception of blogging appears to suggest so, and yet news publications, blogs and online resources continue to thrive and grow financially.

Whether it be through allowing link building for SEO agencies, or through affiliate linking, paid promotions, donations, or Patreon, those who wish to blog may technically have a smaller percentage of eyes on their work. However, that doesn’t mean much when the overall number of people online has risen so dramatically, as we can see in this graph detailing internet access per 100 people in the developed vs developing world from 1996 to 2018:

Source: ResearchGate

The pool is larger, and whilst that pool is more divided in its interests and attention than it was in say 2008, it is offset by the number of ways that a person can reliably create a source of income if they manage to build an audience. That said, you don’t need to take my word for it. Instead, why don’t we look to the people who are succeeding at blogging on their own platforms and see what they have to say?

The Blogging Income Survey: 2024 Edition

During my travels as a blogger and freelance writer, I have been aware of a site called Productive Blogging, which is run by Eb Gargano as a resource on different aspects of the blogging experience from starting a blog to monetising it. As one of these resources, Productive Blogging has an annual post breaking down the results of The Blogging Income Survey, and the 2024 results are invaluable for our discussion today.

Take this graph on the average monthly blog income based on age:

2024

Source: https://www.productiveblogging.com/how-much-do-bloggers-earn/

As we can see, there is a big difference between blogs that have existed for 0-3 years and blogs that have existed for 3-5 years. Additionally, we can also see that whilst there has been a drastic increase from 5-10 years, it has dropped down again for blogs that have existed for over 10 years. The data suggests that there is a sweet spot for a quality blog’s ability to earn money from its work, but comparing this data to the data from 2023 shows a different story entirely:

2023

Source: https://www.productiveblogging.com/how-much-do-bloggers-earn-2023/

The largest discrepancies between 2023 and 2024 are the 1-3 year bracket, which dropped from almost USD 1400 per month to under USD 80 a month, and the 10+ year bracket which dropped by around half. My takeaway from this data is that blogging is becoming a more competitive space, and that while the age of your blog is a strong factor in its earning potential, there isn’t going to be a single metric that determines what you’re earning.

With that said, translating this data’s currency from USD to AUD, your average 5-10-year-old blog in 2024 is earning approximately $8,312.17 monthly, whilst the average monthly wage in Australia is $7,427. In other words, a blog like that is earning more than your average Australian, and that is assuming the blogger only has a single blog that they are working on.

The Road to Remuneration: How Do Blogs Generate Income?

Naturally, all of this leads to the question of how blogs actually earn money. Well, there are many different options for monetising your work, depending on your preferences and the nature of the blog you’re trying to run.

Earn Your Income From Running Ads

As the most simple and well-known form of earning money from a website, running ads is a sure way to generate some basic passive income from your website as people browse and explore your published works. The most common form of this is likely Google AdSense.

Request Money, Donations, or Patreon Subscriptions From Readers

If you have a loyal readership that enjoys what you do, it’s not uncommon to ask for support directly. Sites like Patreon make it easy to get regular donations, and even a Kofi link on the page can be a good way to get a few extra dollars from a happy reader.

Share Your Writing As a Freelancer

If you’re still in the early stages of your blog, and you want to earn some extra money whilst also promoting yourself as a writer of interest, consider working as a freelancer. The per-article rate for a new freelancer writer is generally quite low, but it is a good way to get your name out there and hone your writing skills for other people’s audiences.

Consider Affiliate Marketing

Along with running ads, this is one of the more well-known ways in which blogs make money. If you have an audience in a particular field, it’s quite common to have businesses approach you to share links to their products for money. Alternatively, you can also set up affiliate marketing systems that will pay you for clicks and conversions through your website.

Sponsorships

Whether it’s writing sponsored posts or just broadly being sponsored by a brand, sponsorships are a well-tread way to stay financially taken care of by a brand while you promote their products, services, or brand in general. So, if you have a decent following and want to earn some extra money, consider shopping your blog around to brands.

What to Take From All of This

As I feel we have established quite well, it is entirely possible to earn a living from blogging, but it also isn’t a guarantee. Would I recommend you start a blog? Yes, but I wouldn’t quite quit your day job given that most people won’t start earning a full wage from it for at least a half-decade. So, if you’re passionate, it’s a worthwhile endeavour, but don’t rely on it as the way that you’re going to make your fortune. The internet is an ocean of information, and if you have an extra drop to contribute, then it’s a worthwhile endeavour.