Starting a blog: how to begin and what a blog earns from

track.lt editorial team · 2026-10-11 · 5 min read

On this page · 8

The topic: three questions
The platform: a rented room or your own house
How long until visitors come
What a blog earns from
What Google expects
A plan for the first 30 days
Frequently asked questions
Sources

A blog is the slowest of the popular ways to earn online and one of the few where what you have created belongs to you, not to a platform. An article you write today may still be read three years from now. But in the first months almost nobody will read it, and you need to know that before you start.

This part of the guide covers how to choose a topic and a platform, how long it takes until visitors appear, what a blog earns from and what Google expects from content, because most of your readers will come from search.

In short

The topic matters more than the platform: write about what you know from experience and what people search for.
It usually takes months to get a steady flow of visitors from search – count in half-years, not weeks.
You earn from advertising, affiliate links and your own products. For a small blog, affiliate marketing pays off earlier than advertising.

The topic: three questions

Can I write 30 articles about this from my own experience? If the ideas run out after five, the topic is too narrow or not yours.
Do people search for it? Type the question into Google and see what autocomplete and “People also ask” suggest.
Does the reader buy anything? Topics in which people choose goods or services earn more easily than those where they only read.

In its guidelines, Google asks the same thing in other words: does the site have a primary purpose or focus, does the content clearly demonstrate first-hand experience – for example, from having actually used a product or visited a place. And it warns about the opposite path: did you choose a niche without having the knowledge, merely because you expected search traffic.

The platform: a rented room or your own house

	A ready-made platform	Your own website with your own domain
Getting started	Within an hour, with no technical knowledge	You need a domain, hosting and a content management system
Price	Free or a monthly plan	Domain and hosting – an annual fee
Control	The rules and advertising options are set by the platform	You decide everything yourself
Earnings	Often limited on free plans	Advertising, affiliate links, your own products – without restrictions
Risk	The platform may change its terms or shut down	You are responsible for maintenance and backups yourself

We do not give prices here, because they depend on the provider and the plan – compare several price lists and pay attention to the price after the first year, which is often higher. If you are building a blog to earn, your own domain pays off from day one: the address stays yours even if you change the platform.

How long until visitors come

Search engines do not rank new websites highly straight away. A realistic sequence looks like this:

Time	What happens	What to do
Months 1–3	Almost no visitors, mostly posts you have shared yourself	Write regularly, build a base of 15–20 articles
Months 4–6	The first visitors from search for narrow, specific queries	See which articles are being found and write more in that direction
After half a year	If the content is useful – traffic starts to grow	Update old articles, add sources of earnings

This is not a rule but a common scenario – nobody gives guarantees that traffic will appear. One thing is certain: if you write three articles in the first months, there will be nothing to evaluate.

What a blog earns from

Advertising

The most popular advertising system is Google AdSense: you insert the code, Google shows ads and you are paid a share of the revenue. You can join if you have content you created yourself, it complies with the programme policies and you are 18. Payment is made once 70 € has accumulated in the account.

Advertising revenue depends directly on the number of visitors, so for a small blog the 70 € threshold may be reached not in a month but in many months. In addition, advertising slows the page down and distracts the reader – it is worth waiting until the traffic justifies the cost.

Affiliate links

You recommend a product you describe and get a commission for a sale. Unlike advertising, you do not need thousands of visitors here: a few who came looking for exactly what you write about are enough. Reviews, comparisons and “how to choose” articles work best. The links must be labelled as advertising.

Your own products and services

An e-book, a template, a consultation, a course. Here the blog works as a shop window: the reader first gets value for free and then buys from someone they already trust. The highest margin, but also the most work.

What Google expects

Google publishes a list of questions by which it suggests you assess your content yourself. In essence it distinguishes two ways of writing.

Content for people	Content for search engines
Shows experience and in-depth knowledge	Lots of texts on all sorts of topics in the hope that one of them will “work”
After reading, a person has learned enough to achieve their goal	After reading, a person has to search again elsewhere
The site has a clear focus	Mostly retelling what others have said without adding anything
You write what you would write even without search	You write to a particular word count because “Google likes it that way”

On word count Google answers directly: there is no preferred length. On artificial intelligence – likewise: generative AI may be used, but creating many pages without added value may violate the rules, and all generated content has to be checked before publishing. For topics that can affect a person's health or finances, the bar for trustworthiness is higher still.

A plan for the first 30 days

What to do in a month

Week 1: topic, name, domain, platform. Write down 30 questions you can answer.
Week 2: three detailed articles about what people ask most often.
Week 3: “About” and “Contact” pages, a privacy policy, cookie consent if you are going to use analytics or advertising.
Week 4: three more articles; registering the site in Google Search Console so that you can see what you are found by.

Connect sources of earnings when there is something to read. An empty blog with ads does not earn and does not look trustworthy.

When income appears, it is self-employment (individuali veikla). Which form suits you is explained in the ACS.lt article “Self-employment: a certificate or a business certificate”.

Frequently asked questions

Is it still worth starting a blog?

It is, if you have a topic you know from experience and the patience to write for at least half a year without income. A blog is not suitable as fast earnings.

How much does it cost to start a blog?

You can start for free on a ready-made platform. Your own website needs a domain and hosting – these are annual fees whose amount depends on the provider.

When can I join AdSense?

When you have content you created yourself that complies with the policies and you are 18. The payment threshold is 70 €.

Can I write a blog with artificial intelligence?

You can use it as an assistant, but Google warns about mass-generated content without added value and requires facts to be checked.