Making Over 100k Monthly on Xiaohongshu: One Person, One Company

Can’t believe it! A person who barely writes code saw comments on Xiaohongshu saying “I need a method” or “I need a tool,” so they built a small thing to fill that gap. It took one month to go from 0 to 100 users. Six months later, monthly revenue went from 6,000 to over 1 million.

An account with 17,000 followers just sells resume templates. One link. Made over 100,000.

Another example: a new store owner. First month, 100 followers. 29 orders closed. Revenue of over 8,000.

That last number looks tiny next to the first two, but I want to put it out there first, because for most newbies, that first cash inflow looks exactly like this. Not a million. A few thousand. Maybe even just a few hundred.

None of these three people were born internet celebrities. The things they did, when you break them down, are surprisingly ordinary: find a direction people are willing to pay for, set up an account, repeat posts that work, and channel traffic to where you can collect money.

The hard part is never some esoteric secret. It’s that most people never take the first step.

Where do newbies fail to make money on Xiaohongshu?

Type one: Post notes, but nobody sees them. View counts stuck at 100–200. Lose motivation after a month. Give up.

Type two: People see them, but nobody buys. There’s traffic, comments are lively, but it’s just chit-chat. No one pays.

Type three: Finally get some traffic, but can’t catch it. That windfall of opportunity slips away.

Behind these three failure modes is the same misunderstanding — jumping straight to ‘how do I get more followers’ or ‘how do I write a viral post,’ without knowing the real question: Who am I selling to, and how am I getting paid?

This article walks through the entire path from zero to the first dollar earned. No relying on inspiration, no luck, no gut feelings. Just step-by-step.

First, let’s clarify who this is for: people already doing Xiaohongshu, or planning to, but who can’t figure out how to get consistent growth or turn traffic into money. If you have a skill, a product, or have run other projects before, Xiaohongshu is almost unavoidable. Its users’ spending power is #1 in the Chinese internet.

1. First, Understand How the Platform Promotes You

Many people post notes like throwing rocks into a river — they toss and wait, not knowing what’s happening underwater. Let’s figure out the mechanism first, so every action you take later has a basis.

Xiaohongshu’s traffic comes from three main sources: organic recommendations, search, and shares. Search accounts for nearly half of traffic, and we’ll use it repeatedly.

How new notes get promoted. The system gives new notes a guaranteed amount of exposure, aiming for about 1,000 impressions within 24 hours. If initial click-through is good, it increases; if nobody clicks, it gradually slows down. Pay attention: guaranteed exposure means impressions. Whether people click in depends on your cover image and title.

What makes a note go viral. The system scores each note. Higher score = bigger traffic pool. Industry veterans have found a pattern: among all interactions, comments and shares are worth more than likes and saves, and follows carry the highest weight. In other words, a note that sparks discussion and gets people to follow you will go further than a note with many likes but no conversation. (This weighting is an industry-wide summary of algorithmic logic. The official algorithm will never be released. Use it as a direction, not gospel.)

What counts as a hit. Generally, notes with likes + saves + comments over 1,000 are small hits; over 10,000 are big hits. Different categories vary. A hit also boosts other notes on your account — one person gets promoted, the whole household benefits.

Factors affecting account authority. Mainly: verticality (don’t post pets one day and outfits the next), originality, content quality, activity. Xiaohongshu has a level system, from the lowest “Diaper Potato” to the highest “Golden Crown Potato.” Higher levels = higher authority. Deleting notes or violating rules can cause you to level down.

One last thing, most important for newbies: Take it slow. It’s completely normal for a new account to have only 100–200 views in the first month. About 80% of people don’t get their first breakout until the second or third month. Poor early data doesn’t mean your method is wrong. Many people quit after two weeks of nothing. Why rush?

2. Topic Selection Isn’t About Inspiration, It’s About “Search”

This is important. Very important. Extremely important. I said it three times. You get it.

When newbies create content, their first reaction is “what should I post?” They think and think, either write what they’re good at (but nobody wants it), or ride a trending topic (but unrelated to monetization).

The real approach is the opposite: Opportunities aren’t thought up; they’re searched out.

Let go of “what can I do?” Instead, look at “what are people asking for?”

Open Xiaohongshu’s search box and type these terms one by one:

• “Recommend me”
• “How to”
• “Need materials”
• “Need guide”
• “Does anyone know”
• “Newbie asking for help”

Look at the autocomplete suggestions. Look at how many posts come up and how many replies those posts have. Posts with many entries but few replies, and no obvious sellers — bingo.

Two examples: Search “weight loss method” — most results are generic advice, no one sells “office worker weight loss plan.” Search “baby recipe” — random shares, no one sells “non-repeating weekly meal plan.” These gaps are opportunities.

Let me tell a real story that illustrates this logic.

Remember the first person mentioned at the start? They scrolled Xiaohongshu and saw posts about social anxiety. In the comments, tons of people were asking for methods, tools, recommendations. They made a decision: build a small tool around these real pain points in the comments. Note: they barely knew how to code. Result — went from 0 to 100 users in one month, expanded to 8,000 users in four months via Xiaohongshu, then blew up on Douyin. Six months later, monthly revenue from 6,000 to over 1 million.

The key to this case isn’t their technical skill. It’s that they found a real demand where people were asking but nobody was selling. Xiaohongshu is one of the best places to dig for and validate demand. Behind every “please” stands a group of people ready to pay to solve their problem.

After finding a direction, don’t rush to build a product. First, do one step: validate.

Go to Xianyu or Xiaohongshu. Search your chosen direction, e.g., “meal plan 9.9 yuan.” See if anyone is selling it and how the sales look:

• Someone selling it with decent sales → Demand is real. You can differentiate.
• Someone selling it with okay sales → Demand exists, but the selling point might be off. You can improve.
• Nobody selling it → Could be too niche, or nobody thought of it. You could be the first.

This step takes ten minutes. Cost is zero. Don’t skip it. Confirm someone will pay before you build. Otherwise you’re just guessing, and your head will spin.

3. Set Up Your Account (Basic but Unavoidable)

Direction is set. Now the account needs to stand firm. Don’t cut corners, or later you’ll…

Hardware and registration: One device, one SIM, one account. Register using a data-only SIM card. Don’t connect to WiFi during registration (especially important for multi-account operations). After registration, use the account normally for 3–5 days before changing any profile info.

Account nurturing for 3–5 days: After registration, don’t rush to post. First, “nurture” yourself into a normal user. Scrape for 30 minutes to an hour daily. Search keywords in your niche, look at competitor accounts. Like, comment, save appropriately — but be restrained. No more than 5 likes per day, 5–10 saves, 6 comments, 2–5 follows. Keep a natural rhythm. Some niches require 10–15 days of nurturing.

Profile settings: Your nickname should ideally include your niche keyword and target audience. Your bio should clearly state what you offer in one sentence. Choose a career option that matches your content direction — it helps the system tag you.

Two points:

• If you don’t want to be seen by acquaintances, turn off Xiaohongshu’s contacts permission. Also, in privacy settings, turn off “Recommend me to people you might know.”
• In the first few days, don’t include links in notes or use words like “traffic.” Let the account stabilize first.

4. Consistent Output: Benchmarking Is More Important Than Originality

Newbies’ biggest waste is spending tons of time creating original content, producing a self-indulgent note, and then getting zero views. Yes, you can exhaust yourself, and still nobody watches.

In the early stage, core isn’t originality; it’s benchmarking. Remember this: on Xiaohongshu, finding the right benchmark account is 70% of the work. The rest is repeat, repeat, repeat. Say it again!

How to find benchmark accounts. Criteria: under 10,000 followers (ignore bigger ones), likes outnumber followers (especially accounts with just a few hundred followers but high likes), viral posts in the last three months, similar covers appearing repeatedly on the homepage (indicating the format is replicable).

Once found, dissect their four components: topic selection, cover design, title writing, content structure. Something went viral because it hit a pain point. You don’t need to understand deeply why. Just copy it first.

Titles are just combinations. Search your keywords, filter by “hottest,” extract keywords from the top 10 titles, and recombine them. Xiaohongshu’s viral titles roughly fall into four categories, each targeting a different psychology:

• Curiosity: What’s it like working at Alibaba?
• Pain point: If you also suffer from insomnia, you must click in and see.
• Extreme: 99% of people don’t know this money-saving trick, anyone can use it.
• Fear: Never say these 4 sentences to your child. The consequences are severe.

Spread out your keywords. Since search accounts for half of traffic, your notes need to be “searchable.” Place keywords in five places: title, text in images (the system can read it), body text, comments section, and hashtags (under 10, don’t add irrelevant ones). Distribute naturally. Don’t stuff — it lowers completion rate and hurts data. Also, don’t add unrelated words just to ride traffic. Mismatched titles and content make users feel cheated, hurting conversion even more.

Content mix. A practical ratio: 80% marketing notes + 20% pure value notes. Value notes bring traffic. People who read value notes will likely see your marketing notes later.

5. Turning Traffic into Money: Four Paths

Traffic is up. Now the key: how to collect money. On Xiaohongshu, typical monetization paths for ordinary people are these four, from light to heavy:

Path one: Accept ads. The most traditional and stable. When you reach 1,000 followers, you can join the official Dandelion platform to take orders (some verticals require 5,000, but 1,000-follower approval rates aren’t low). A 1,000-follower blogger’s rate per post is roughly 200–800 yuan. Niche and precise accounts can charge more. The platform also recently rolled out paid note features, with a threshold as low as 100 followers. This path suits people who can consistently produce vertical content — rental, baby, car, career, side hustle — every direction has brands spending.

Path two: Affiliate sales for commission. No need to stock or ship. When you reach a certain follower threshold (usually around 1,000 followers, or after real-name verification), you can enable e-commerce permissions. Post notes with product links or go live with a cart. Xiaohongshu users have strong purchasing power. High-ticket items offer great commissions.

Path three: Sell virtual products or services. This is especially good for newbies. No packaging or shipping. Cost nearly zero. Includes: templates, presets, consulting, coaching, custom plans. The earlier example of a 17,000-follower account selling resume templates and making over 100,000 from one link? Or the photography blogger earning over 100,000 a month selling camera presets? Both follow this path. The barrier isn’t delivery; it’s trust and quality — you need people to believe your stuff is worth the price. Xiaohongshu’s virtual goods transaction volume has grown fast recently, with over 90% being personal stores.

Path four: Drive traffic to private domain for high-ticket services. Channel public traffic to WeChat, offering courses, consulting, communities, coaching, etc. High ceiling, but has red lines. We’ll cover it separately.

Which to start with? For pure newbies, the most recommended sequence is NOT to open a store first. Instead: first create vertical content, test demand, then decide whether to accept ads, do affiliate sales, sell materials, or open a store. Content is foundation. Don’t try to build a skyscraper without a base. That’s a castle in the air.

6. Red Lines for Traffic Diversion: What You Can and Cannot Do

Path four is unavoidable: directing people to WeChat. And this is exactly where newbies trip up and even get accounts banned. Let’s be upfront.

Many online tutorials teach edge-case methods: using homophones like “enter qun” to bypass detection, using alt accounts to pretend to be customers in comments, changing keyboard nickname to WeChat ID, hiding QR codes in corners of note images… All these are essentially guerrilla warfare against the platform’s off-platform traffic detection. The platform constantly checks. Accounts at any time risk being restricted or banned.

Relatively safe and tolerated methods include:

• Change your Xiaohongshu ID to your WeChat ID (or similar). When someone messages you privately, reply: “Check my Xiaohongshu ID.”
• Create a fan group. In the group announcement, subtly place contact info (make sure group name and intro don’t contain traffic-diversion keywords).
• Use “Moments” or pinned notes for subtle guidance.

Regardless of method, remember three life-saving principles:

• Never real-name verify the account you use for diversion. Once real-name verified and banned, it’s very hard to recover.
• Don’t hardcode contact info on your main account. Use a secondary account for diversion. Isolate risk.
• Safety first. Don’t fight the rules head-on. An account that can consistently produce content is far more valuable than one you drain dry in one go.

7. Manage Expectations: Your First Money Might Be Tiny

One last honest word.

Your first dollar might be so small it makes you question everything. But the amount isn’t the point. The point is the process works. Once it works, everything else is scaling.

So don’t start by staring at 10,000 a month. Set a micro-goal: earn your first 100 yuan in commission, or your first ad fee. Walk through the entire chain — from topic selection, posting, growth, to collection — once. You’ve already beaten most people still wandering around.

One more reminder: 80% of viral hits happen in the second or third month. Early silence is normal. It’s not a death sentence. You can’t rush good results.

Making money on Xiaohongshu is no longer a game of luck. It’s a detailed, executable business.

Topic selection matters more than writing skill. Validation matters more than head-down work. Safety matters more than aggression.

Memorize these three sentences. The rest, leave to time and repetition.

Got it? Give me a follow!

I’m Song Song, a backend game developer. I keep sharing AI info, AI tools, learning paths, side hustles — things ordinary people can reach. Twitter: @lollongsongs