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So you want to start a blog? You probably want to make money with this blog right? Most people work for an hourly wage. What do you think is reasonable? $15 an hour? $20 an hour? Or maybe you want to build up to $50 an hour. That would be great right?
I’m sure by now you have stumbled upon income reports. These reports can vary immensely in income and expenses. Some bloggers are out there making $100 a month, while others are making $1000, $10,000, or even $100,000 per month.
Just think about how much they are making per hour of work!
But here is what you don’t always think about. How many hours did they work for free or little to nothing?
Let’s dive into roughly my first year of blogging. How many hours have I spent and how much money have I made?
Research Phase
I started researching blogging sometime around September 2020. It may have been a bit earlier, but I know for sure I was researching in September
During this time my hours were completely casual. Time was spent just scrolling Pinterest taking in information and determining if blogging could really make money. Pinterest and YouTube were the primary sources. For YouTube, I watched Income School’s channel primarily.
I don’t feel the need to count these hours. I wasn’t “working” on anything yet. It would also be very difficult to track them.
After researching for a while, I made the decision to pursue blogging. On October 1st I decided that I would launch my first blog in January 2021. At this point, I started taking steps in preparing to launch my blog. These steps included writing content and a notebook I filled with research.
Preparation for Launch
Like I said October 1st was commitment day. Once I decided to blog it was on!
Every decision I made during this period was based on what I learned while researching.
I set out to create 10 blog posts for the next three months.
October = 10
November = 10
December = 10
My goal was to have content prepared that way the setup phase wouldn’t be bogged down with too many tasks to complete.
November 1st I signed up for Canva so I could start pin creation.
I started to realize I was moving back and forth between working on content and going back to research my launch. Jumping around made me feel unproductive so I committed to focusing on content creation. With the launch of my blog, I learned to research your next step only. Take it one thing at a time. Become an expert and then take the step.
When you are working on creating pins research how to make the best pin titles. Don’t research affiliate income. Keep focused.
In December I set up my Pinterest account and worked on getting it ready.
In October, November, and December my hours working on the blog varied greatly. Most weekdays I was waking up at 6 or 6:30 am to work before my baby woke up. Then I would also work in the evenings from 8-10 pm. This was with the TV on though so not 100% focused work. On occasion, I would squeeze in a bit of work during my daughter’s nap, but this was rare.
I typically did not work on the weekends. If I was motivated I would possibly wake up early to do so. I wanted to still spend time with my husband and daughter though.
There were also days I needed a break, or my daughter was teething or sick. Some days were zero hours of work, which is ok!
On average I am going to say I spent 2 hours a day Monday through Friday which comes out to about 65 days and totals 130 hours.
This is a rough number, but I feel that it is fair.
And guess what during these three months my blog wasn’t even launched so I had zero ability to make money from it.
Zero.
After blogging for some time I have decided The Exact Steps I Would Take If I Launched My Blog Today. Click to check it out!
Month 1 January 2021
Now let’s take a look at my first month blogging. This month started off with the purchase, creation, and launch of my first website. Once I got past the initial setup publishing my articles was the next step.
On January 20th I published my first pin and started my journey with the Pinterest platform to promote my blog.
Based on what I tracked for January I logged about 47 hours of work.
In my first month, I tried to go hard on blogging. There were so many tasks to complete and I was at my peak motivation point.
The Burnout Month
You are going to have months when you are burnt out. In February I quit waking up early in the mornings. It wasn’t working anymore for me. I also had to base a lot of my blogging around my daughter and my work schedule.
I worked as a nanny during this period and took my daughter to work with me. In May she started attending daycare and I could blog more during the day.
In August you will see a decline in hours spent blogging. This was due to my daughter getting sick that month multiple times. The days I stayed home with her I got little to nothing done.
This is ok though. The whole point of blogging is being able to have that flexible schedule. It is being able to care for your child without worrying about running out of PTO. My nanny job is very flexible, but it cannot last forever. The family is going to outgrow the need for me.
I am working to start this blog so it can be making me an income when my nannying comes to an end.
My point here is life happens. Burnout happens.
You just have to keep going.
The thing that kept me going was I prioritized publishing content on a schedule. I batched posts and wrote and scheduled them ahead of time. I would get as far as 4 to 6 posts ready ahead of time. This way if life happened to get in the way my content would still go out on schedule. This always made me feel good about my progress.
In the beginning my schedule was to post every other day, then every third day, and down to every fourth day. This wasn’t because I was slacking! It was the plan. I wanted to get started with a lot of content. This way I had enough to promote on Pinterest and that way they could start getting indexed by Google sooner.
I am currently to the point where I publish on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, and 30th of the month. At some point this may drop again because I need to focus on other tasks.
Pushing content in the beginning has to be a priority though. You can’t expect monetization, an email list, or ads to be successful if you have no content.
Ok done with that tangent.
Back to the hours.
Finding Your Routine
Over the past year of preparing to blog and actually blogging I have worked to find a routine. The problem is different phases of life provide me with different amounts of time to work. The summer season for example is different than the school year. My daughter being with me versus being at daycare has changed things.
You are going to have things in your life that sway the amount of time you can devote to your blog.
I keep waiting to have the perfect week where I don’t have a sick kid, need to get an oil change, or have an appointment. It never happens. You have to find and make the time to blog. It doesn’t fall into your lap.
Below are the hours I worked this first year. My blog is now 8 months old.
| Sept-Dec | 130 |
| January | 47 |
| February | 35 |
| March | 40 |
| April | 42 |
| May | 45 |
| June | 55 |
| July | 64 |
| August | 50 |
The grand total is = 508 hours
I have worked 508 hours approximately on my blog and guess how much money have earned.
Income $5.53
In 508 hours I have earned $5.53…and when I say earned I do not mean received. I have not hit the $100 pay-out threshold. I have not received a penny from this blog.
And on top of my very little earning we can have a look at what I have spent on my blog.
Expenses $239.80
I am in the negative for this blog.
If you want to see my full year income report for my First Year Blogging click here so see my traffic and income.
Conclusion
In my first year blogging, I spent 508 hours working. My hourly rate is $0 per hour, or I guess you could say around -$0.50 per hour.
But I am ok with that.
I love what I am doing.
I am ideally investing time now that will make me money in the future.
I wanted to lay it all out there for you. Do you have this kind of time to commit to something that you may not make money at?
How many hours are you will to devote?
How many mornings are you willing to wake up early?
Blogging is a huge time commitment that you won’t see a return on for some time.
If you do pursue blogging I hope you start to see a return quicker than I have and I hope I haven’t scared you away with my dismal results. Do me a huge favor a consider using my Bluehost link as a thank you for giving you an honest look at what it takes to be a blogger.
Good luck to you on your blogging journey!
Check Out My Articles
Steps to Take to Have a Successful First Month Blogging
How Much Money Can a New Blog Make with Amazon Affiliate Marketing?
Take an Inside Look into a Typical Day in the Life of a New Blogger
Curious How Much Income and Traffic You Can Earn with a First Year Blog