One of the biggest projects that I’m working on in 2018 is monetizing my website(s). Deciding to actively monetize my website was a decision that I struggled with for several years. Initially, I felt kind of guilty because I was a personal finance writer sharing my financial story and I wasn’t sharing it “for gain.” But, over the years it began to make no sense to me that I was looking at every way I could to earn more income in every way available to me in order to reach my financial goals. This year I decided to get serious about growing my passive income and have begun sharing where my blog is generating income. This is my April 2018 blog income report.
By the way, I’m sharing these reports to also show that a ton of long-term bloggers are just starting to focus on monetizing their websites. Yes, I’ve been in the blogosphere for awhile, but I (like a lot of other bloggers) chose not to monetize my site. I was worried that monetizing would change how I felt about blogging. Happily, it hasn’t. In fact, I’ve become a little addicted to the payout notifications. They rock!
*In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please read my disclosure here.*
April 2018 Blog Income Report: $382.87 (cash)
Before we get into it, I need to mention a couple of things. This blog income report does not include freelance writing. The income that I’m really focused on growing is listed below:
- Affiliate income
- Sponsored content (websites/podcasts/in-person events)
- Ad revenue
- Digital Product revenue
- Coaching related services
Also, my reports only include income that has hit my bank accounts. The reason why I do this is because some affiliates take forever to pay out. I’m literally $1.02 away from an affiliate payout. Yep, one freaking dollar. But, it could take awhile for people to interact with that affiliate, so why bother sharing it until it actually happens?
The Breakdown
- $257.60– The 10kVA-Kayla Sloan’s course on how to become a Virtual Assistant. Kayla is averaging $10K a month as a VA. She knows what she’s doing.
- $67.60 –Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing-Michelle Schroeder Gardner’s course on affiliate marketing. She will make around $2 million this year from affiliate marketing. I’m listening to what she has to say LOL!
- $22.05–BombBomb. If you’re like, what in the heck is BombBomb? It’s the tool I use to send video emails. I love it. Love, love it. It’s a great way to share high impact communication with people when you want them to REMEMBER you and what you have to say.
- $12-Gumroad-I created a guide on my Square State website that I sell.
- $23.62 Amazon Affiliates-This is a no-brainer affiliate program to be a part of. Check out a post I wrote about why bloggers should rethink their Amazon Affiliate strategy.
Non-Cash Affiliate Earnings $75
I also earned some non-cash affiliate credits. Here’s the breakdown:
- $40 in ThredUp Clothing Credit-This year I will spend around $100 in cash on clothing. The rest will be via ThredUp an online consignment store that I’m an affiliate of. I do not actively share the link anymore because…how many clothes do you really need?
- $15-Tailwind credit–Tailwind is a tool that I use to schedule tweets. I use it instead of Board Booster and I really like the “Tribes” feature where I can get my pins in front of targeted groups of people who will then schedule and share my content. My Pinterest followers and activity has grown steadily as a result of using Tailwind. LOVE IT!
- $20 HelloFresh-Here is a review that I wrote about HelloFresh. Love getting delicious food for less. New subscribers get $40 off your first order when you sign up with my link.
Food For Thought
- Focus-What you focus on will grow. My page views are mediocre at best. But, my income has grown despite that. Blogs with small page views can make money.
- Core Affiliates-I focus on a core group of affiliates that align 100% with my brand, that I use, LOVE, and trust. Period. Rosemary Groner taught me this lesson. Glad I listened.
- Market Your Expertise-I made money not just with my blog but also in closed Facebook Groups and with my podcast.
- Create Products-It’s possible to sell what you create. The little guide that I created for my Colorado blog sells throughout the year. Because I started selling something small and experienced a “win” with that, I’m comfortable selling something bigger.
- Rinse and Repeat-Once you understand how affiliate marketing works, you can amplify the results. In fact, I just received an affiliate notification as I finish up this post.
By the way, I haven’t even sold to my list yet.
Related Posts
- $455.42–February 2018 Blog Income Report
May Goals-$500
I’m very happy with my progress so far. A couple of months ago I had a goal of earning $2500. I’m in the process of pitching sponsors for in-person events here in Denver. I think I’m going to lower my earnings goals substantially just so that I can achieve a milestone.
- Earn $500 cash affiliates and sponsorships
- Run my first in-person event. I’m running it on Friday, so that should be fine.
- Add 3 more Freelancing Clients-Right now I absolutely LOVE my current clients. They rock (and pay nicely). But, I need to add a few more clients.
- Grow my subscriber list. Weirdly enough, my Colorado blog has a much larger subscriber list than Michelle is Money Hungry. It’s very irritating because I spend a quarter of my time working on that project.
- Overall Income Goal-I do have an income goal that I’m focusing on for the month. But, I’m going to keep that to myself for right now LOL!
Want to Start a Blog?
I love blogging! It has been an incredible experience, transformed my life, and connected me with a ton of amazing people. Blogging is a pretty cheap activity and I recommend hosting your blog with Siteground. Many bloggers have begun leaving HostGator and BlueHost and moving to Siteground. Myself included! Read why I’m leaving HostGator and BlueHost (I have 2 blogs one on each hosting platform) and moving to Siteground. If you’re a new blogger Siteground will cost around $3.95 a month (depending on the size of your audience). They have great customer service and tutorials on how to host your new WordPress blog on Siteground
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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love the fact that you only post income that has made it to your account. So many bloggers don’t do that. I’m in a similar situation as you. I’m five bucks away from an affiliate payment. I’ll get there sooner or later.
I just think that it’s a lot more helpful to say-hey, I’ve been working on growing my affiliate income and it has taken MONTHS to get the payout for this, that or the other. Also, I think it gives people a better idea of how affiliate income flows in…especially in the beginning. I actually have affiliates that I will be receiving payouts for (I’ve reached the payout threshold) but, they may take 30-60 days to actually hit my account. The affiliate payouts that I earn this month will likely payout in July…and yes-I can see that I’ve earned the money. I wish more people would talk about this more.