12 Serious Reasons Your Blog Isn’t Making Any Money Right NOW

April 23, 2018
56 Comments

Last Updated on November 25, 2020 by NandiNN

How to earn money through blogging

If you run a blog and it is simply not making any money then you might be doing something wrong.

I would rather you stop now, re-evaluate and make another strategic blog plan to improve your chances of making money with a blog.

It takes about 9 to 18 months to start seeing money with your blog realistically.

You can make money blogging in many different ways.

So if aren’t making money from your blog around this stage, let’s look at what could be wrong.

Are bloggers still making money?

I can tell you for a fact that yes bloggers are still making a decent income from their blogs.

It is harder to do it these days, but it is completely possible.

That is why we wanted to take the time today to share with you 12 reasons why we think your blog isn’t making money and how you can change that today!

With consistency and a lot of upfront hard work, it is definitely possible to make a couple of thousands of dollars from your blog!

But you really have to put in the hard work.

Nothing is easy these days.

Even Pinterest which I used to love is getting harder and harder to impress.

But how do you get started making money with your blog if you are just not seeing results?

I had the same question a long time ago.

And when one of my top email subscribers emailed me with this:

“Please take a look at my blog, I have done everything and I feel like I am failing!

Why is my blog not making money?”

I knew it was finally time to address this.

First I want you to grab this epic freebie I created just for you my friend.

I share 12 great tips to do if your blog is not making any money.

With so many questions lately about blogs making money online, we really wanted to dive in to see what the real issues were.

Time is one issue that most bloggers do not have.

And not having patience.

Here are other popular questions I got about why blogs just don’t make money:

Is it hard to make money blogging?
Can I really make a living by blogging?
Why is my blog not making any money?
What type of blogs makes the most money?

We are hoping to answer those questions and more in order to get you on the right path to making money with your blog today.

If you have been blogging for a while and you are seeing little to no results with your blog, we need to fix that today.

I shared my top tips on how to make money online blogging right here. But if your blog isn’t making money.

So why exactly is your blog not making money?

But before we get started on the top reasons your blog isn’t making money, we would love for you to join our growing Facebook group right here! Be sure to give us a quick follow on Instagram as well!

We also wanted to take the opportunity to let you know that we use Affiliate links on some of our blog posts. This means that we could make a commission if you click on an affiliate link and purchase something. Please check out our full disclaimer and policy page here.

Is it Possible to Make Money Blogging?

You can definitely make money blogging if you have a good strategy. The first step is to treat your blog as a business and get serious about blogging if you wish to make money blogging.

Blogging seriously means blogging more consistently, investing in tools that will take your blog to the next level such as this blogging tool or even this one.

Treating your blog as a business will ensure that you start making money blogging sooner than later.

If you do not already have a blog, consider starting one today for as low as $3.95 per month at Siteground.

And feel free to join this FREE 7-day e-mail course here where I share my personal experience and teach beginners how to start a profitable blog all from scratch.

—> You can also read my strategy of I make $5000 a month from home with my blog every month right here!

Related:

Possible reasons why your blog isn’t just making money

Without really knowing about your overall blogging and marketing strategy, we can’t really pinpoint the real reasons your blog isn’t making any money.

But if you are blogging for money here are a few reasons why it just may not be working out for you.

1. Not enough content that matter

You may not be making money because your content is just not good enough or it may be that people are just not connecting with your blog.

If you are considering blogging for money, you need to produce high-quality content that will relate to your readers.

If you are not meeting the demand for what people are truly searching for, you will not make it.

This entrepreneur wrote a very interesting blog post that explained why content marketing is king.

You might want to read it.

The more quality content you produce, the more people will start relating with you and maybe come back for more amazing tips.

People have questions and they go online to look for answers.

Find out what these questions are in your niche and write about it. Ensure you are answering their questions as thoroughly as possible.

This is the only way to gain repeat readers.

Do you have repeat readers?

If not, then you may struggle to make money with your blog.

You want to write great articles that will brand your online business, connect you with your readers as well as help your readers take action on your blog such as signing up for your email list or buying from you.

The best way to make money blogging is by producing and writing quality blog posts that are valuable, longer posts that really tell your story and it must be extremely interesting.

For example, if someone has already blogged about chocolate cake, why not hit a different angle like 10 reasons why you should eat chocolate cake for a happy life.

Include examples, graphics, and proof.

I found that one of the reasons my blog was not making any money was because of the lack of quality content.

And once I updated my posts with quality content, my comment section was flooded with readers that were inspired by it.

I personally use this epic gold mine to write amazing blog posts every time and quickly.

It has an amazing step by step process that you can follow to write blog posts that rank well in SEO and keep your readers engaged on each blog post they land on!

Since making a change to my blogging strategy my content now attracts readers and those readers often buy from me.

Related:

2. You do not have an email list

Wondering why your blog is not making any money?

It’s probably because you do not have an email list or an engaging email list.

I know that they are so many bloggers making money with or without a list, but honestly, the money is in your email list.

Everyone on your list is a potential buyer and client.

If you are not collecting emails to continue the communication between yourself and your readers outside of your blog, then you are potentially missing out on good money.

The more engaged and bigger your list is, the more money you will make.

Blogging for money requires a great strategy and building your email list is the best strategy you could ever do for your blog.

Don’t rely on social media for possible traffic.

I mean, we all know how much Pinterest is loving bloggers these days don’t we (insert sarcastic voice with a side of eye-rolling)!

And even if social media does work for you, doesn’t always last.

This will get you temporary gain but won’t make you money in the long run.

Make money blogging today by starting an engaged email list and nurture your list by sending great emails packed with value that will make them stick around.

If you are not sure what to send your email list, Kate Doster has an epic list of over 2 years worth of emails you can send your list starting right now.

It’s free and I use that list weekly.

My email list is my money maker.

When I have offers and good things to share, I email it directly to my list,

They trust me and they will eventually purchase my products or connect with a product that I highly recommend.

Related:

3. You are inconsistent with your blog

Before you can even think about how to make money blogging, you need to build a trust factor with your readers.

If your readers do not trust you, they will not make a move towards anything you may recommend to them. It is just that simple.

The best way for earning trust is to provide value to those that read your blog.

Guys, I am telling you that trust is everything these days.

Your trusted reader might frequently look up your blog to get more tips, ideas, inspiration and if they find that you do not frequently update your work, they will either not return or forget about you.

Another great way to stay connected with your readers and still provide value is to send them weekly or monthly newsletters.

Once they trust you, they will make purchases or look through your recommendations.

Only then will you start to make money blogging.

Do you know that Google loves fresh content?

The more consistent you are, the more chances you give Google to crawl your site.

This is a way to also build a relationship with Google (if you wish).

This doesn’t mean that you always need new content, you could also simply just update older content.

Check Melyssa Griffin’s post about ways to increase blog traffic by updating old posts.

The more readers you are able to attract the more chances you have to make money blogging.

This means you can make more money as you will have more people to sell to.

Related post to read:

4. You are not unique enough

Your blog isn’t making money because you are probably doing what everyone else is doing.

Just because a pro-blogger is suggesting you do steps 1 to 10 to be successful doesn’t mean you have to copy those steps word for word.

Put your personal touches on it so it speaks to you and relatable.

This way your readers will connect more with you because you are true to yourself.

Whether you are using email copy, or Pinterest templates, be sure to brand it so it reflects your personality.

People should be able to see a graphic design from you and immediately think “Ladies Make Money Online”!

If you are not creating epic content with a twist, then you are just like everyone else and readers won’t stick around much to read your post let alone purchase from you.

Here are a few ways to stand out especially if your blog isn’t making money:

Pick a unique niche – I know a blogger that I admire and she blogs about having grey hair
Use unique photos that you won’t see in other blogs
Share your unique experiences
You can create a brand around your business that people will instantly recognize

Take the time to see how you can be unique and provide the same valuable information in your niche from a different perspective.

If you CAN hit your readers’ pain points from a different angle, you will have a very successful blog.

Don’t forget to grab this freebie if you are having a hard time monetizing your blog!

5. You are spending time chasing blog traffic

If you are spending all your time in Facebook groups trying to find ways to get traffic to your blog, you are doing it all wrong.

Yes, you can make money blogging with little to no blog traffic.

You just need to focus on the right things.

So how exactly do you make money blogging if you have no traffic?

This is where your email list comes into a big play.

As we mentioned earlier, the more email subscribers you have, the more money you can make when you stay in constant contact with your readers.

How your email makes you money:

You can nurture and build trust with your readers
Your email is the best way to share valuable content with your readers
They are likely to open up your email because they signed up in the first place
Once they begin to trust you, you can sell products or recommend affiliate products directly to them via email
Conversion rates are much higher if you nurtured them properly

But if you are thinking of blogging for money using other methods such as using ads like media.net or sponsored blog posts, then traffic will need to be your main priority.

Brands want to work with established bloggers that have a big following on social media and lots of blog traffic.

And this may be the reason your blog isn’t making money.

If brand work is what you really want to do, then get that traffic.

Most of these brands are extremely established and they want to work with bloggers and influencers that can expand them even more.

In that case, I suggest growing your blog traffic using this free 7-Day Blog Traffic mini-course.

And the more weight you bring to the table, the more money you can make with your blog.

Blogging for money using other diverse methods should be part of your on-going strategy.

Other Ways to Increase Blog Traffic:

6. Your blog is not making any money because you have no traffic

Yes, I already mentioned that you do not need blog traffic to make money.

And honestly, you don’t.

Here is a blog that makes over 10K per month with a blog with just 10, 000 page views!

Now I am sure you can manage to get 10, 000 page views and if you are not, you should probably sign up for this free blog traffic course today from Lena or my course which I mentioned earlier: free 7-Day Blog Traffic mini-course.

Either one will get you amazing results in no time if your blog isn’t making money due to a lack of blog traffic.

As I was saying, it’s not really a big deal to have blog traffic in order to make money, but you do need a bit of traffic.

What you do with that traffic is what is important and it is what counts the most.

That traffic should ideally be directed to your lead magnet for example or some sort of call to action that will eventually lead to income.

It could even lead to a paid course or an affiliate link.

But you should never chase traffic just for the sake of it or for ad networks.

What if the ad network decides to cut off the money for example due to World economics?

Or remember how Mediavine increased its traffic threshold for bloggers to join?

You will have no other way to reach your readers or even a way to diversify your income to them.

Be prepared my friends.

Nothing is promised.

In fact, I know a blogger that lost most of her full-time income over the last month or so because Pinterest changed its algorithm and she lost all her blog traffic from the platform.

7. You are not marketing your blog enough

Are you writing a lot more blog posts than you are marketing them?

How are people supposed to know about your blog posts if you are not marketing and sharing your posts?

You want to spend 20% of the time creating really amazing content and then spend the rest of the time promoting it.

That is the only way you are ever going to make money with your blog.

We wrote a great post about the different things you can do to promote your blog.

You can read the full post here and implement the strategies right away: 10 Places to promote your blog after you hit the publish button!

If you are not promoting your blog nearly enough, then you will not see the results you wish for.

How are new readers supposed to find you?

This doesn’t mean that you need to be on every social media platform, you just need to promote effectively for better results.

The more people that know about you, the more chances you have to make money blogging.

I love the article “the EveryGirl” has about the different ways to market your new blog.

It is so easy to follow and you will definitely find some useful tips that you can put into play right away.

I can assure you that your blog is not making money because you are not promoting it efficiently.

I use Pinterest to market and to get my blogs out there.

This is where my audience is and that’s where I get the most results.

I use usually use Carly’s Pinterest method to attract massive blog traffic from Pinterest in order to make money blogging.

I find her method very effective and it is the main reason why my blog is currently successful among other things I do to make money online with my blog.

The more people I can pull in, the more money I can definitely make with my blog.

If Facebook is your jam and you want to know how to effectively use it to attract more readers and make money blogging, then you might want to read my blog on how to do that effectively.

Did you know that you could also generate massive blog traffic with Instagram?

Helene from Helene in Between is your girl.

The ultimate guide to consistent blog traffic is a must-read.

Please note that you do need thousands of blog traffic to make money blogging.

You just need a strategic plan.

As you already know, I make the majority of my money when I email my email list every month.

Blogging for money just requires a lot of planning on your part.

The Busy Budgeter explains how many page views you need to make money blogging that you may find interesting.

8. Your blog isn’t making money because you rely on free

You want to make money but you refuse to invest?

Is that even possible?

Or you are going to wait to invest because you are waiting to see some money first?

You are doing it all wrong my, friends.

I know this for a fact – I will not go see a car mechanic if I know they do not have some form of education.

So why would anyone use your affiliate link to purchase anything if you can not invest in your own business?

Let me say this, when I first started out as a wedding planner a few years ago, I did exactly that.

I DIYed my website, my business cards were literally printed at home, and my logo was just awful.

At the time, I thought everything about my site and my new business was great.

I created flyers to pass out and when I sat down to truly look at those flyers last year, they were just bad.

As in embarrassingly bad.

Fast forward 1 year later and no clients later, I was about to give up.

Then I hired a website designer, a graphic artist to do my logo and I got my business card reprinted.

I then spent money to attend a bridal show and that year I got a whopping 8 clients.

And it only tripled and grew after that. I know for a fact if you do NOT invest in yourself, no one will invest in you.

Investments you should probably make to start are:

A hosting company like Siteground or Bigscoots
A self-hosted site for sure
A blog theme so your ideal client can connect with you better
Better photos so you don’t look like an amateur unless you are a photographer
Legal templates for your blog which every blog needs before they can monetize legally

Without some of these, your blog isn’t going to make good money.

And when you finally start to make a bit of money, I swear by these blogging courses.

9. You do not have a plan for making money with your blog

What plan do you have in place for monetizing your blog?

Making money from a blog is not as hard as you really think, you just need a plan. In fact, if you have the right plan place in place, you can easily automate the process.

Are you planning on monetizing your blog with sponsorship?

Then what have you done to join and form partnerships that offer sponsorship opportunities such as Linqia?

And after joining these companies?

How often do you check for opportunities? Where else are you looking for opportunities?

If you really want to increase your chances of landing sponsored blog post opportunities like this one, you should consider looking into this.

In order to make money blogging, you need a solid money-making plan.

That is the only way you will succeed.

Create a goal every month and work towards getting things done. You can grab my full plan of how I make money with my blog every month right here.

As long as your plan is not to make money blogging, you will not make money.

Most bloggers are passionate about blogging whether they are in the travel niche, beauty, or any other niche.

If these bloggers are passionate and also looking to monetize their blogs, they will achieve just that.

It takes a lot of commitment, time, and passion to make money blogging.

You also truly need to understand your readers and attract them each time you have a new post.

The only way to do this is by writing compelling content that people want to read.

The more people you attract to your blog, the more page views you get and this can equal money.

But the only way to make that money is to set your blog up for success.

A successful blogger, Paul, owner of multiple blogs, wrote a great article on 7 blog niches that get good traffic and make good money.

If you want to make money blogging and wondering if your blog can make money, check out to see if your blog niche is on the list.

Consider joining my 30-day fast track blogging challenge if your blog is not making money right now:

Related:

10. You are not selling your own products

Your blog may not be making money because you are not selling your own products.

Some of the top female bloggers are making money blogging because they have created their own epic products to sell to their clients.

You can create simple products to offer your readers which are inexpensive but worth your time and effort.

The fee will depend on how much work you put into your product.

My biggest seller is Pin Templates “Canva Feminine Pinterest Templates.” With these templates, you can fast track your Pinterest game by using the templates that get me over 150, 000 page views a month.

They are simple to use and are truly stunning.

To make money blogging, you need a plan and that is what we share with our students.

You can also check out my Blog Income Strategies ebook where I focus on teaching ways multiple niches can monetize their blogs.

We discuss and give solid examples you can use on your own blog to make money with it.

My students love the section where I break down exactly how to make $5000 per month with your blog.

So if you have an idea, go ahead and sell them using either Teachable, SendOwl or Shopify.

Blogging for money in order to make massive profits really requires you to sell some sort of your own product.

Although Affiliate marketing is also just fine.

A very well known affiliate marketer did not own a product for a few years.

And she was still able to make money blogging strictly by using ads and Affiliate marketing.

When she eventually created her course, her income increased to making over $50, 000 each month.

That’s insane, right?

Related:

Here are 7 steps to launch your own profitable online course

11. Your blog is not making money because you are just doing it wrong

And by wrong, we mean you are promoting what you think will make you the most money.

And you are right to think like that but that is not the way to do it. You will simply not make money blogging that way.

Here is what I mean, if you are a beauty blogger, you should be using beauty or makeup affiliate programs when it comes to promoting affiliate links.

If as a beauty blogger you are promoting online courses or hosting companies just to make $50, you will lose your readers.

You want to stick to your niche and not jump board.

And trust me, just because someone in your niche is doing this, doesn’t mean you should.

At this point, I would just start another blog.

Don’t confuse your readers by blogging about topics that make no sense on your platform.

12. Simply giving up when the blog is not making money

For those that are giving up, I urge you not to give up.

Simply pivoting and changing your mindset can do so much.

Join Facebook groups for bloggers like these ones and ask questions, there are so many pro bloggers that are willing to help.

Hell, shoot me an email, because I want you to succeed as much as anyone else.

Follow those in your niche and learn from them, take a break from your own blog and really connect with other bloggers.

People will help you.

And by implementing these 12 simple things on your blog, you could be making money in no time.

There you have it, a list of reasons why your blog is not making any money.

How to make money blogging for beginners

For those that are seriously having a hard time making any money online, you might want to grab my 12 tip freebie.

I share a few epic things I have personally done to troubleshoot and boost income when things seem to go down.

Do you make money blogging?

Are you struggling to make money blogging?

We would love to hear from you. Share your income reports below or tell us about your money-making strategies.

Leave us a comment below and you can check out all other blogging tips here.

We had to end this post by sharing tools and resources that help us make over 6K with our blog each month!

Shareasale affiliate program– This easy and free program is great for those looking into earning extra income with affiliate marketing. It’s free to join and has a lot of great products you can promote as a blogger in any niche.

Qualify for Mediavine Challenge – If you are ready to take your blog business to the next level and you are looking for ways to quickly qualify and get into Mediavine, then this challenge is really for you! Give it a try today – It’s free!

Make money using affiliate marketing in the next 24 hours– An amazing course that will help you make money using Affiliate marketing within the first 24 hours of purchasing. I am still getting emails every day about affiliate sales that are coming through. It specifically focuses on using Pinterest as a way to promote your affiliate link.

Get your first 1,000 Email Subscribers with convert kit – Are you hoping to get your first 1, 000 email subscribers? You might want to sign up for the convert kit free webinar! Get an actionable list building plan you can start implementing today with Convert Kit!

Tailwind for FREE – Tailwind is one automation that has doubled my traffic with Pinterest in the last few weeks of using it. If you are not ready to invest yet, try it out for free and see how beneficial it can be for your online business. Pinterest is so much easier using Tailwind!

Grammarly – is the tool I use to edit my blog posts. It’s the best proofreading tool I have ever come across and it is worth your while to sign up for it.

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing– Want an in-depth knowledge of how to make money using affiliate marketing? This course covers everything you need to know about affiliate marketing, including the different rules that apply to make your affiliate links legal. Learn the right way to promote your links on social media and more.

5 The SEO Starter Pack (Free video Training)– Join 1000’s other bloggers who’ve finally conquered SEO & confidently hit “publish” with each new post! Get your blog to the top of Google and cash more Mediavine & Amazon checks than ever before! Join this stupid simple SEO course that takes you through each topic step-by-step on improving your rankings.

We hope you enjoyed our post on why your blog is not making money has been helpful and that you find ways to tweak things.

If you enjoyed our blog we would like to have you join our email list and receive weekly money-making tips, you can join now! Don’t forget to join our Private Facebook page. The page is created to share your work, pitch your services and learn from other experienced bloggers!

***We would like to note that this post and most posts on our blog may contain affiliate links. This means that if you purchase something that has an affiliate link, we will get a commission from it. Not all items recommended on our site are affiliate links. We only recommend items that we have used and tried. These items have brought us much success and we highly recommend them to you in order to be successful. Thank you for your trust!