I just got my 1st niche blog payout — Here’s how long it took

And how much I earned

My niche blog is a bit like a puppy: Misbehaved, new to the world, and always getting into trouble.

If you have followed my posts over the last year or so, you might’ve read about my rants regarding my niche blog. Also, if you’re still reading my post all this time later, thank you for sticking with me. I know it’s been a while, friends.

Before diving into my first niche blog payout, let’s take a trip down a painful memory lane:

• In August 2022, I published a story about how Google Adsense canceled my account for no reason. It explains, in detail, how Big G (Google) did me dirty after crossing the payment threshold for my first payout.
• I spent the next 9 months crying…
• Just kidding! I only spent the next 3 months crying!
• After reflecting on this huge loss, I researched other routes of monetization.
• I tried flooding my site with Amazon affiliate links. Wrote about it. Earned some money. But my greedy self still wanted more.
• A little more research — and crying — and here we are today. I received my first payout for ads on my website. Here’s how.

The “Who”

Adsterra. I flippin' love Adsterra. Or maybe I hate Google Adsense so much that I’ve developed a love for Adsterra?

Regardless, this is not a paid promotion or anything like that. It’s a free promotion they deserve.

It was easy to sign up for. Easy to use. And guess what? Easy to get paid for my work.

If you’re a writer who’s looking for a way to monetize your site, I strongly suggest trying Adsterra. It worked for me.

The “When”

It took me 3 months to cross Adsterra’s $100 payout threshold. My site averaged about $35 a month, and it was pretty passive.

My blog doesn’t receive too much traffic each month (around 8,000 clicks/month), but the money piled up quickly. Way faster than Google Adsense.

The “Why”

Besides my hatred for Google Adsense, monetizing your own blog gives you more power over your blogging income. There is no “boosting” of specific articles and no favoritism.

It’s just search algorithms picking the best articles on the web and ranking them in order. It gives me the power to say what I want, when I want and how I want — and get paid for it.

The “How”

Basically, I added Adsterra’s ad code to my Wordpress niche blog via an ad widget. That’s how easy it was.

Then, after I crossed the payout threshold, I entered my payout information and was paid via PayPal.

It’s important to note the “Entered my payout information” part. I should’ve known something was wrong with Google Adsense when I crossed their payout threshold and they never asked for any kind of payment information. Silly me.

So, how much did I earn?

That’s the big question everyone wants to know, right? Am I bringing in the big bucks on a level where I can quit all my other projects and side hustles to focus on blogging?

While I’m not quite at the level where I can drop everything to become a digital blogging nomad, I did earn a cool $121.76 in 3 months.

I know it’s not like THAT much money, but if you couple it with the income I earned from Amazon affiliate links, my niche blog has broken even for the year. For me, that’s all the motivation I need to keep writing.

Takeaways: Next steps

So now that I know I can actually monetize my blog and earn money via Adsterra, the obvious next step is to rev it up.

More optimized posts > More clicks > More money

^That’s the winning formula for me right now.

If you’re a writer who’s looking for a new money-making avenue, consider starting a niche blog. It takes some time for the income to start rolling in, but it’s worth having all of the control in your hands.