How much can a blog make?
Traffic alone does not decide what a blog earns; the way it makes money counts just as much. Enter monthly pageviews, your ad rate, how readers use affiliate links, any sponsorships or products, and your running costs, and the calculator rolls everything into one monthly profit. A table further down shows the same blog at smaller and bigger traffic numbers.
Income by source
What each source brings in over one month at the traffic you have now.
Your blog at other traffic levels
Ad and affiliate income scale with traffic, while sponsorships, products and costs stay as entered. That is on the safe side, since larger blogs can usually ask sponsors for more.
| Pageviews a month | Ads | Affiliate | Revenue | Profit |
|---|
How the blog's income is totalled
Ad money and affiliate commissions rise and fall with traffic. Sponsorships and your own products depend more on how much readers trust you than on pageviews, so you type those in yourself.
Costs are taken off at the end, so the big number is profit, not turnover.
Income from ads
Pageviews divided by 1,000, multiplied by your ad page RPM.
ads = pageviews ÷ 1,000 × RPM
Affiliate sales
Only pages that carry affiliate links count, and only a share of their readers click and then buy.
sales = pageviews × affiliate share × click-through × conversion
Affiliate income
Every sale earns your average commission.
affiliate = sales × commission per sale
Sponsorships and products
Included exactly as you enter them.
other = sponsored posts × rate + product sales × price
What is left
All income minus the monthly costs.
profit = ads + affiliate + other − costs
Blog income FAQ
What does a typical blog earn per month?
The honest answer is very little for most, since most blogs never get past a few thousand visits a month. A focused blog with 50,000 to 100,000 monthly pageviews often brings in a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. The big earners make far more, nearly always from several sources together.
What traffic does $1,000 a month from a blog take?
From ads alone at a $20 page RPM, about 50,000 pageviews a month. Add affiliate links or your own product and you can get there with much less traffic, provided your readers are in a buying mood. The table shows the traffic your own mix needs.
Do ads or affiliate links pay more?
It comes down to the topic. Recipe and entertainment blogs usually earn most from ads because readers seldom buy. Review, software and money blogs often earn more from commissions because readers show up looking for something to buy.
How soon does a new blog start earning?
Search traffic is slow to arrive. Many bloggers see almost nothing in the first 6 to 12 months while posts climb the rankings, then quicker growth as older posts gather visitors. Posting regularly in one niche shortens the wait.
Which costs should a blogger budget for?
Hosting, a domain, an email service, keyword research software and some design work cover the basics. As blogs grow, many also pay writers or an editor. Enter them so the result is real profit.
Should a blogger sell their own product?
Often, once there is an email list. A short guide, template or course keeps most of the price for you, unlike a commission. Even a small slice of subscribers buying can match a month of ad income.
Can I count on these figures?
No, they are estimates built from your inputs. Start cautiously and swap in real numbers from your analytics and dashboards as they come in.