Cut through the spam to find out what really works, and how much work it really takes.

How many times have you seen those ads promising you an escape from your 9 to 5 job, living a life of luxury while you make tons of money online using only a laptop and an internet connection? It’s safe to say that no one is immune to these kinds of messages coming across their social media feeds almost daily. At this point, we aren’t fooled. People running those ads are just selling something and we aren’t “buying” it. But it does make you wonder…

Aside from the sensationalist advertising that bombards us with the promise of financial freedom, is it actually possible? Can you really make money online? Can you really make enough to quit your job and travel the world?

Well, actually, yes, you can, but to understand how, you need to let go of all those ideas you’ve been given and discover what it really takes. You also need to change your perception about the time commitment necessary to do it.

So, forget about all the survey-taking and network marketing and let’s focus on a value-based way of making money: blogging. Starting and running a blog is one of the best ways to provide value to the world and make money online…if you do it right.

In short, here is the most common way to make money online by blogging in 3 steps:

1. Start a blog
2. Run ads on your blog
3. Sell something through your blog

(Again, this is the most common way. There are hundreds of other ways, but for the sake of simplicity let’s focus on this method.)

That’s really all you need to do. However, making a list like that simplifies the formula too much. In reality, here is a more honest approach:

1. Start a blog about something you care a lot about and that other people are interested in, too. The more defined the topic, the better.
2. Learn the basics of writing for SEO (search engine optimization) and write articles that rank high on Google. It will take 3-6 months or longer to start seeing ranking results.
3. Start an email list of subscribers and email them new, highly valuable content consistently.
4. Depending on the size of your audience and the amount of competition, you will need to write 50-100 articles or more before you start to run ads. Basically, when your monthly traffic numbers exceed 10,000 visitors, you can start to make money through ads on your website.
5. Write and publish consistently for 2 years, minimum.
6. Add affiliate links to your blog (like Amazon Affiliates) and send readers to those links through articles and resource pages.
7. Create your own product or write a book and start selling it.

If you follow those steps you will make money online, guaranteed. If you continue this process for 5-10 years, you could eventually make a lot of money every month. However, you must know that it will take time to start seeing results, like real money in your bank account. Also, when you do start making money, it will be small amounts that trickle in. It will snowball into a lot more money over time…if you stick with it month after month for several years.

Before you go searching online for how to start a blog, please consider the following advice:

1. If you’re just after the money, don’t do it.

If your sole goal is to make money, then I strongly suggest not doing it. Why? There is a good chance you will get burnt out when things don’t happen soon enough and you’ll likely stop and start something else instead. You will make money when you provide value consistently for a while. That means you need to focus on something that you care about yourself – something that you consider valuable.

• Commit to two years…minimum.

It takes time to rank on Google and to build trust with an audience. People start and stop blogs all the time. Your potential audience will pay more attention to you after they have seen you for a while and you’ve earned their trust by providing real value to their lives. This is the biggest reason people quit their blog. They don’t see results fast enough and start to wonder if they are doing things wrong or if their content isn’t very good. Ignore those thoughts and keep going.

• You will have to grow as a person.

Committing to something for two years or more takes a lot of self-discipline and self-motivation. If you’re the type of person who wants a quick fix, easy approach, then you will struggle. Commit to changing your habits and breaking out of old ways of thinking. Start a writing routine that ensures you publish consistently. Set goals and work hard to reach them. Get crystal clear on why you want to make extra money and what you plan to do with it.

Most importantly, you will need to let go of your expectations about how long it should take and how much money you should make.

So, do you have a passion that you love learning about? Are you an expert about something that you could help others get better at? Do you have a hobby that you spend a lot of time on? If you have something valuable to share with the world and are willing to devote a few years to sharing it, then yes, you can make money online. If you want to (eventually) make money online and start sharing your wisdom or curiosity with the world through a blog, we’ve got you covered! At Dock Line Magazine, we have compiled a comprehensive guide on starting a blog, called “How to Start a Blog”. Check it out and commit to the process. Good luck!