Is Blogging Still Profitable in 2025? (Honest Truth)

I’ve been blogging since 2012.

My first blog was a niche blog that I used to drive traffic to my ecom store.

Since then, things have massively changed:

SEO competition is fierce
AI is disrupting the whole industry
And people spend more and more time on social media

And you might be wondering if blogging is still profitable?

According to Google Trends, we’re going down.

But that’s not the full truth here…

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Is blogging too saturated to be profitable in 2025?

Blogging isn’t dead. But most people are doing it wrong.

I’ve been making a full-time income since 2014, and I keep hearing the same lame excuses:

“There are too many blogs.”
“It’s impossible to stand out.”
“The market is too saturated.”

Here’s the truth: While everyone is chasing viral social media posts and quick TikTok fame, blogging has quietly become more profitable than ever.

I still make a fair chunk of my income from long-form content that builds my email list.

According to recent data, 77% of internet users still read blogs regularly. The content marketing industry is projected to reach $600 billion this year.

This ain’t a dying market.

But here’s what most people miss: The saturation isn’t in blogging itself. It’s in mediocre, generic content that doesn’t serve a specific audience.

Take my niche in content creation and online business.

When I started, everyone (including myself) said it was “too saturated.”

But I found my angle: helping experts turn their knowledge into digital products. More precisely, I focused on one sub-problem: turning notes into content.

Instead of competing with giant marketing blogs, I focused on serving a specific audience with specific problems.

Want to carve out your own space?

Here’s what actually works right now:

Pick a profitable sub-niche (not just “fitness” but “strength training for busy professionals over 40”)
Create content that solves specific problems (not just “how to make money online” but “how to package consulting expertise into a $2000 course”)
Build an email list from day one (this is how you actually monetize your blog)

You don’t need millions of readers.

I built a six-figure business with less than 5,000 email subscribers because they were the right subscribers.

How to monetize a blog 101 (the real secret)

Let me share something that took me years to figure out.

A profitable blog sits at the intersection of two critical elements:

Something you’re interested in (else you won’t be consistent)
Understanding real problems you can solve (because people only care about that)
Making sure your audience has the money to buy solutions (it’s easier to sell to people with money.)

I learned this after burning through 2 failed blogs.

When you nail this intersection, everything else becomes easier.

Your content resonates more deeply, your email list grows faster, and your offers convert better.

You can’t build a skyscraper on shaky foundations.

How to make sure your blogging niche is profitable

First, head over to Amazon and see what books people are actually buying in your area of interest.

I use this trick personally when creating my online courses, and it’s surprisingly effective.

Here’s exactly what to do:

Type in your broad topic (like “keto diet”)
Look at the best-selling books

If there are books that sell, it means people are willing to buy information products.

This research is free, and you’re seeing exactly what people spend money on. If they’ll buy a $20 book about a problem, they’ll likely buy a $200 course that solves it more comprehensively.

Another tactic you can use is to look up competition.

I see many people pissing their pants and getting demotivated from looking at their competitors. But you know what? Having competitors is a good sign because it shows that the market is profitable (nobody competes on peanuts):

Do a Google search
Look up YouTube
Or find them on X

Are they selling stuff? Do they have testimonials? Good. It means there’s money to be made.

Now that you got your niche, let’s see how to drive traffic to it.

🚌 How to get traffic to your blog

Blogging is not limited to your WordPress website.

So where should you actually blog in 2025?

Here’s what I’ve learned about driving traffic: You need to either buy it, borrow it, or build it.

Buying traffic for your blog

Sure, you could burn money on Meta or Google ads.

But if you’re anything like me, making Zuckerberg a richer man doesn’t excite you. Nor do you want to deal with setting up all that crap.

After all, media buying is a full-time job in itself.

One way to buy traffic to your blog is a bit counterintuitive, and it’s called sponsorships.

So basically, what you do is you’re going to sponsor other creators’ newsletters and then build your email list that way.

When you’re publishing new articles, what you can do is simply send an email to your audience that you just published that blog post. This will send good signals to Google and then help you get more traffic.

Some of your audience might also share this on their social media, which adds more social proof to it.

That is the “buy” part of it.

Let me break down your three best options to borrow and build traffic.

Option 1: Blogging on Medium (borrowed audience)

I started blogging on Medium in 2022 because they already had millions of readers. The platform does the heavy lifting of finding your audience.

Here’s what actually works on Medium:

Write emotional headlines (they matter more than the content itself)
Get into top publications (they can 10x your exposure)
Post consistently (2-3 times per week minimum)

But there’s a catch: Medium’s algorithm is a moody teenager. One day it loves you, the next it ignores you.

Option 2: Blogging on Substack (growing platform)

Substack is my current favorite platform. Think of it as Twitter meets email. You can:

Write short-form notes
Publish long-form articles
Build your email list simultaneously

The best part? Substack readers are used to signing up for email lists. My conversion rates are consistently higher there than on Medium.

Option 3: Blogging on your own blog (complete control)

This is where you want to end up eventually. Why? Because you own it. No algorithm changes can kill your business overnight.

But here’s the truth about driving traffic to your own blog – you need to master the basics of SEO:

Keyword research

Use free tools like AnswerThePublic
Find keywords with low competition
Focus on long-tail keywords when starting (easier to rank for)

Content structure

Put your keyword in your title, first paragraph, and a few headings
Write comprehensive content (1,500+ words)
Use proper heading hierarchy (H1, H2, H3)

Backlink building

Guest post on relevant blogs
Create linkable assets (original research, case studies)
Build relationships with other bloggers

This ain’t a full SEO tutorial. So if you want to know more about how to get more traffic to your blog with SEO, grab my free email course 👉 here.

Where to start blogging to get fast traffic (my recommendations)

Start on Medium or Substack while building your own blog on the side. Why?

You get immediate exposure
You can test what resonates
You build your email list faster

But remember: Your email list is your insurance policy. Whether you’re on Medium, Substack, or your own blog, focus on converting readers into subscribers.

The platform you choose matters less than your consistency and ability to convert readers into subscribers. Pick one and master it before expanding.

🤑 What are the best ways to monetize a blog today?

Most bloggers are leaving money on the table.

They’re still stuck in 2010, trying to make a living from:

AdSense pennies
$19.99 ebooks
or $5 affiliate commissions

Give me a break.

I’ve seen almost every blog monetization strategy over the past decade, and I’ll tell you what actually works right now (and still will in 10 years from now): selling your own stuff.

1. Digital products & online courses ($100-$1,000 per sale)

This is my bread and butter. Instead of selling $20 ebooks, I package my expertise into comprehensive courses that solve specific problems. The math is simple: It’s easier to find 10 people to buy a $1,000 course than 500 people to buy a $20 ebook.

2. Coaching & consulting ($1,000+ per month)

Your blog builds authority in your niche.

Use this credibility to offer high-ticket coaching.

The best way to promote this is by nurturing people who join your email list.

I charge $1,000 per month for coaching, which means I only need a handful of clients.

3. Recurring (or higher ticket) affiliate marketing ($100+ per sale)

Don’t waste time promoting $7 Amazon products that pay 2% per sale.

LOL.

Focus on premium tools and services your audience actually needs.

I only promote software and courses I personally use or can recommend.

I also LOVE when the tools I’m promoting offer a recurring percentage.

As an example, there are a few blog articles where I promote email marketing software like Kit or Beehiiv.

Either you privilege: recurring revenue (e.g., 20% on each payment) OR higher percentage at a higher price point (50% of $200).

Does it work in any market? No.

That’s why you want to pick the right market (more on that, later).

4. Sponsorships & brand deals ($500+ per post)

This works once you have traffic, but don’t count on it early on.

Most bloggers chase sponsorships too soon and end up compromising their content quality.

Once you start ranking on Google, you’ll get emails from brands looking to sponsor your content.

I prefer this rather than having to chase and cold message brands. The dynamics when someone approaches you are totally different and 100 times more in your favor.

The deals could be:

Writing an article/review about a tool and getting paid in exchange
Including a backlink to the site in one of your articles

5. Paid newsletters & subscriptions

I’m not a huge fan of this model.

As I tell my clients, paid newsletters have an invisible price ceiling – most people won’t pay more than $10-20 per month. You need massive volume to make it work.

Here’s what I’ve learned about choosing the right monetization strategy:

Start with the end in mind. What’s your target monthly income? Work backward from there.
Focus on solving expensive problems. The more painful the problem, the more people will pay for the solution.
Build an email list from day one. Direct access to your audience is worth more than any ad revenue.

The biggest mistake? Trying to monetize too many ways at once. Pick one primary method and master it before adding others.

Remember: A blog is not a business – it’s a platform to build an audience. The real money comes from what you sell to that audience.

Want to make real money blogging? Stop thinking about monetization tactics and start thinking about transformation. What change can you create for your readers that they’d gladly pay for?

🤦 Do you need tens of thousands of visitors to make money blogging?

Let me destroy this myth right now:

You don’t need massive traffic to make serious money blogging.

Like everyone, I was obsessed with traffic numbers. I’d refresh my analytics daily, hoping to see those visitor counts climb.

But here’s the reality check I got: I was making more money with 8,000 monthly visitors in 2023 than I did with 20,000 visitors in 2016.

Let me break down the actual math of my blog back then:

8,000 monthly visitors
3.75% conversion rate to my email list
That’s 300 new subscribers every month
Once I hit 2,000-3,000 subscribers, I was making $5,000/month

This isn’t some unicorn story. It’s simple math and smart positioning.

How to make money with a small blog

The strategy I use (and teach my clients) is simple:

Create highly targeted content for a specific audience
Build an email list (aim for 3-5% conversion rate from blog visitors)
Sell premium solutions ($997+ courses, coaching packages)

The math works out better than chasing massive traffic:

8,000 visitors → 300 new subscribers
After 6-8 months = 2,000+ subscribers
Sell a $997 course to just 2% = $10,000

This is why I laugh when people say blogging is dead or you need millions of visitors. You don’t. You need the right visitors.

Focus on building a small, loyal audience that trusts you enough to buy your premium offerings. That’s how you build a sustainable blogging business now.

Revenue comes from relationship, not reach.

Stop obsessing over traffic and start obsessing over serving your audience deeply.

⏳ How long does it take to build a profitable blog?

If someone promises you’ll make money blogging in 30 days, they’re either lying or selling you garbage.

I’ve been in this game for some time. I watched dozens of creators come and go.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth about the timeline to profitability.

The (real) numbers

Based on my experience building multiple blogs and helping clients do the same, here’s what you can realistically expect:

3-6 months to see consistent organic traffic
12-16 months to build a large enough email list

This assumes you’re doing things right:

You write stuff people want to read
You know the basics of SEO
You write at least 50+ posts

Most people quit in month 3 when they’re not seeing instant results.

Chasing instant gratification doesn’t work here.

One thing that’ll accelerate your blog monetization

The biggest factor in how quickly you make money with blogging?

Getting them on your email list, and then having something to sell.

I wasted my first year trying to make money with ads or low-margin products.

When I finally created my first $500 course, I made more in one month than the previous 12 combined.

Don’t blog for pennies. Blog to build an audience you can serve with premium solutions.

It’s better to set realistic expectations and exceed them than to believe in fairy tales and quit when reality hits. Focus on building something sustainable rather than chasing quick wins.