10+1 Lessons from My First $100 Blogging Income (2026 Update)
How long does it take to earn your first $100 blogging? Guest author Basant Narayan Singh, an IT professional blogging part-time about cloud computing, reached the Google AdSense $100 payment threshold in about six months in 2010, with just 40 articles, 160 to 200 daily visitors and a $10 investment in a domain. His 10+1 lessons from that journey are still a realistic guide for new bloggers in 2026.
Quick answer: Basant’s first $100 came from AdSense after six months of part-time blogging. His key lessons: buy your own domain, credit sources honestly, write in-depth posts, value quality over quantity, find your niche early, associate with respected brands, don’t obsess over stats, reach out through social media, and be patient with AdSense verification. Today, add affiliate links and an email list for faster, more diverse income.
Table of Contents
Basant’s starting point
- Investment: about $10 for a domain name on a free Blogger blog.
- Time: part-time, alongside a full-time IT job.
- Result: $100 AdSense threshold reached in about six months (one month lost to a PIN verification delay).
- Traffic: 160 to 200+ daily visits on weekdays from about 40 articles.
10+1 lessons from the first $100 of blogging income
- Own your domain. Whatever platform you use, a custom domain prevents lock-in and keeps your reputation if you move. See our tips to buy domain names.
- Be honest and credit sources. His very first post caused a copyright issue. Always link to and credit what you use.
- Write in-depth posts. Detailed, analytical articles attract search traffic far better than short notes.
- Quality beats quantity. Forty good posts can outperform hundreds of thin ones.
- Affiliate marketing isn’t for every blog. It worked poorly for his technical niche at first. Match monetisation to your readers’ intent.
- Don’t miss opportunities. Apply to programmes and publications even if you’re new; guidelines mainly filter out junk.
- Associate with good brands. Guest posting on respected sites (including QuickOnlineTips) built credibility and links.
- Don’t obsess over stats. Constant checking wastes time early on; write instead.
- Find your niche early. His focus on cloud computing gave the blog direction.
- Reach out to the world. Social media lets you connect with readers and experts anywhere.
- Be patient with AdSense verification. Google mails a PIN to verify your address once you reach the verification threshold; follow the instructions in your account if it doesn’t arrive.
Bonus lesson: English wasn’t his first language, yet most readers came from the US, UK and Australia. Clear, correct writing matters more than perfect style.
What’s different in 2026?
- AdSense payments now go by bank transfer; cheques are largely gone.
- Getting approved for AdSense needs a site with substantial original content and clear policies.
- Many bloggers earn their first $100 faster from affiliate links or a small digital product.
- Search is more competitive, so niche focus and first-hand expertise matter even more.
Next steps: learn how to increase AdSense revenue and get your first affiliate sale.
FAQ
How long does it take to make $100 from a blog?
Often 6 to 12 months for a new part-time blog, though it varies widely by niche and effort.
What is the AdSense payment threshold?
Usually $100 or the equivalent in your local currency. Google pays once your balance passes it.
Can a free Blogger blog make money?
Yes. Blogger supports AdSense, and a custom domain makes it look professional.
Originally written by guest author Basant Narayan Singh, who blogged about cloud computing and web technologies at Techno-Pulse. Updated for 2026 by QuickOnlineTips.
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Thanks for the post. It really motivate me and looking forward to take action rather than wishing
What platform should be used to create a blog?
Google adsense requires you to have enough contents for your adsense to be approved. That is always my problem when I started. I already gave up with adsense, but I don’t wanna give up blogging!
So I signed up with WordPress. I was not aware before whether there is an opportunity to make money at WordPress but I got significant traffic. around 50 to 100 views a day. When I learned about WordAds, I signed up and fortunately approved. It’s my first month and I am having just 100+ visits a day so I am not sure how much will I earn. Do you have any idea?
The problem with wordpress is just that you need your own domain to be able to run advertisements. You are not allowed to have affiliate links.
Hi Basant! Your article is really interesting! I think I don’t need to go to other blog reading more of “how did they do that etc etc” because all of my questions are answered in your article. Truly, your article is very easy to understand and direct to the point. I really really love your writing. Please post more!!!
Great tip of a newbie in blogging . This is always hard to get you first payout in blogging . It always take time because we don’t know more about blogging
A great article on your blogging story. Great lessons too. I will surely remember those lessons and use them.
great tips for me, and i try some trick my site for get traffic but unfortunately resut not bad, so i think for tips good for me.
It is really good artical to teach any newbie about blogging step by step . Thanks for writing this pillar artical
Good to learn that blogger has a customized Domain name option. The information shared is really good, I too am trying to find my segment. Good to see more Indian prospecting out … Better than the best of Luck
excellent guide for anyone who wants to manage a decent blog..thank you
this is really really a great post
i hope you can tell me more about link building and promotion on how you get PR 2 easily after 3 months
Hi,
i also wan to be a part of this.
This is really great. I would have done the same thing if, my friend did not show me how to make money on the internet. I like all the help that people give and I try to give them help, too. I think that if, I help enough people get what they want, I will get what I want.
According to your experience, which one is better. Blogging about what you like or blogging about ‘hot’ topic or trend? thx
IMO – Blogging about what you like is always better…cause trend keeps changing. But icing on the cake is when you like what is in-trend :)
A lot of great tips, and stuff that I learned on my own before I found sites like yours.
I made very similar experiences. My main blog is in German, i.e. my potential market is much smaller. I still manage to have some small income with local affiliates. And yes, Amazon hasn’t panned out for me, either.
See, no matter where we are, there is something that we can always learn. I was in the same position ;)
2200 on 14 posts ?
that’s awesome
it’s a good start for new blog
Yes 2200 unique views for 14 articles in 2.5months. Thanks Google for showing affinity to quality :) Now only 40 articles are fetching almost 5000 unique views per month.
Great post Basant. My blog is about 5 months old and does not do nearly as well as yours did at the time, but I suspect you had a more defined niche than mine, which is general personal development. You have really made me think about zooming in to specific niches in personal development to start building traffic. I am feeling that PD is too large to be a niche, it is more like a subject.
And yes, it is very easy to get sucked into promotion. I have divided my days into either a writing day or a marketing day to combat that overwhelming urge to just write forum posts :)
@Michelle, @Vandana: Thanks.
@Vikash: Yes, I do get 70% of my traffic from Google & it’s on an increasing trend. I’ve noticed a considerable increase after launch of Google-Caffeine. I am planning a post on that as well.
70% from search engines ???
thats awesome … really great
give me some tip how your articles are so much google friendly