Monetizing a Blog: January Income Report

If you’re a casual reader, feel free to ignore this post. But if you’ve been bit by the blogging bug like me, you just eat up post like this. This post also contains affiliate links for your convenience. Read the full disclosure policy here. 

A little background on this blog…

I’m not really sure how long I’ve be blogging. I started 2-3 years ago, but only posted every 4-6 months and didn’t try to do anything with it. In January of 2014, a personal friend and experienced blogger said she thought I had what it takes to be a “real” blogger. I was stoked. I love to write and the idea that I might actually be successful at it was thrilling.

Little did I know the rabbit hole I had jumped in.

Blogging is a big big world and I’m just scratching the surface.

From January to June, I tried to post more consistently. I started social media pages. And I finally discovered the free editing tool Picmonkey. I also joined the Kid Blogger Network. I would have given up LONG ago if not for those amazing ladies!

The only thing I had done to monetize was become an affiliate of Amazon (I get a very small percentage for every sale that comes through my links. It doesn’t effect the cost to the consumer.) and implement Adsense ads (I was making pennies a day).

Then in June, I got serious.

I moved my blog from “Blogger” to WordPress.ORG (you can’t monetize a .COM site). I changed the name of the blogger to something far more “me”. I committed to posting 3 times a week. I upped my game on social media.

In December, I started networking. Without the generosity of other more established bloggers, most of you probably wouldn’t even be reading this! Bloggers started sharing my stuff and one post in particular really took off, first on Pinterest, then StumbleUpon, then a BIG Facebook share that nearly crashed my site. It was crazy exciting. My pageviews quadrupled and I felt like I’d finally broken into the big time. Things have since calmed down, but it gave me a considerable boost (especially in ad revenue and social media followers.)

 

So here’s what I earned in the month of January (not what was paid out):

Amazon Affiliate links: $82.27

Izea: $76.12 (One sponsored post and one tweet.)

Adsense: $226.22

Total: 384.61

This month I’m sure things will drop considerably. The traffic craze is over, but a few significant lasting changes give me hope.

1. My social media follow doubled, so more faithful readers! Woot!

2. I’ve joined a lot of other 3rd party companies that connect bloggers with brands for sponsored posts. So hopefully I’ll land some of those!

3. I’ve switched my ads from Adsense to a premium ad network. While they take a cut of my profits, they optimize the ads specifically to my site and I’m already seeing a significant increase in MY pocket!

 

Wanna start blogging now? I must warn you, it’s addictive.

Already a blogger? Any suggestions for me? I could certainly use some!