Welcome to March’s blogging income report! I started my blog in September of 2014 and have shared every single income report since then. You can see them all here!
For the first year, most of my income came from freelance writing. Slowly but surely, though, my blog income started increasing and I was able to drop nearly all of my freelance work. I’m currently earning $2,500+ per month strictly from my blog and don’t see it slowing down any time soon!
Now, this did not happen overnight. I thought about starting a blog and finally about one month later took the plunge. I then worked on one thing every single evening after my kids were in bed. Sometimes I’d spend five minutes on it, sometimes five hours. But every night, I did something.
You can access my free guide to starting a blog here >>
If you’re thinking of starting a blog but aren’t quite sure what your niche would be, I recommend just using your own name as your domain name. With Bluehost, you’ll get your domain name for free! By using your name, YOU are your brand and you can change your blog as you please. You aren’t trapped in a niche because you chose “Sarahscookingblog.com” or something like that 🙂
Now, onto March’s blogging income report.
March Blogging Income Report: $2,615.73
In March, I took in $2,615.73 from blogging! For me, this is incredible!!! I know, I’m definitely no where near a five-figure blogger, but hey, I take things slow and steady. And as a mom to three little girls ages four and under, I really don’t have a ton of time to devote to my blog. I do what I can when I can, and over time little things have added up to produce a consistent income.
A Breakdown of My Blogging Income
- Ads: $162.10
- Products: $138.85 (The Beginner’s Guide to Blogging and How to Make Money as a Web Hosting Affiliate)
- Affiliate Sales: $2,314.78
Let’s Talk Affiliate Sales…
Affiliate sales are by far my biggest money maker. And that’s a good thing, because affiliate sales are my favorite way to make money blogging!
You can see a detailed guide on how to make money blogging here >>
Basically, I recommend products to my readers that I use and love. If someone makes a purchase, I make a commission at no extra expense to the reader. This is how many fashion bloggers, lifestyle bloggers, and even food bloggers make money. You can recommend a product directly as an affiliate (such as Bluehost), or you can use a program to get affiliate links (like Amazon Associates or FlexOffers), and then recommend those products to your readers.
Why I Share Income Reports
I share income reports for two reasons: 1) To keep myself accountable and motivated, and 2) To help other bloggers. It was reading others’ income reports that made me realize blogging could be profitable. For me, it’s been a slow journey, but that’s OK! I have three little kids, a house and a husband. Those are my priorities and always will be.
If you’re interested in starting your own blog, check out my tutorial on How to Start a Profitable Blog. Blogging will not make you money right away, but I truly believe that if you stick with it for a good year, you’ll start to see your hard work pay off (big time!). Right now, I’m spending just 10 hours per month on my blog (and again, I’m making over $2,000 on average). If I can do this, so can you!
*If you do decide to start a blog through my Bluehost link, you’ll receive a special discount from Bluehost for my readers only! And, I’ll send you my blogging ebook – The Beginner’s Guide to Blogging – for free!
Already have a blog name in mind? See if it’s available here:
I Quit My Job to Blog: One Month In
I shared some big news last month and that was that I quit my full-time job! It’s officially been just a little over a month since I haven’t had a 9-5 so I thought I’d share an update!
Why I quit: First off, I didn’t exactly quit to blog FULL-TIME. I quit to stay at home with my kids and devote more time to them 🙂 I was able to quit because my blog has consistently been making money. This extra income allowed me to quit without worrying about how we’d pay our bills. I also knew in order to continuing growing my blog, it needed to be my only focus outside of my family.
How I spend my days: I did a whole post on life as a stay-at-home/blogger. To sum up, I spend my mornings blogging, cleaning and spending time with my baby while my older two girls are in daycare. In the afternoon, I completely stop working and hang out with the kiddos. We may go to the park, meet up with friends, bake something, clean together, watch a movie, do a craft, etc. It’s been awesome having more quality time with my girls!
How the blog is doing: I’m only one month in, so it’s hard to say for sure, but I think the blog is doing a lot better 🙂 My traffic has increased and my income has been going up ever-so-slightly. I won’t be able to fully measure income until at least a few more months because I track what hits my bank account, not what I earn. In March’s income report, for example, most of this money was earned in January, but it didn’t hit my account until March.
Blog plans for the remainder of the year: Increase my traffic by focusing more on SEO, Facebook ads, and Pinterest. My traffic has never been stellar (I average 45,000 pageviews/month currently), so that’s my focus. With more traffic will automatically come more income and more readers!
How was your March? Any questions for me?? Feel free to reach out at sbrooks52111 @ gmail.com (no spaces) 🙂
Congrats on your success!! I’ve been following your blog for a while and it’s great to see how well you’re doing. Keep up these reports- super helpful for bloggers like me!
This is one of the first realistic income reports I have come across. I have been blogging for quote some time but due to my irregular posts, I dont get much traffic. You have motivated me to work harder! Thank you!
Congrats! I hope to one day be able to make an impressive income off of my blog as well! I also see that you did really well with affiliate sales! I’ve been doing affiliates for about 4 months now and have yet to earn any money from it! Not even a few cents! So I definitely might have To check out your affiliate tips later on!
This is amazing. You are so inspirational! I hope to be in your position within the next year or two. 🙂
This is so encouraging! I hope to be making this time next year!
Very inspiring. It’s because of income reports like these which get’s me adrenaline pumping! I can’t wait to cross the 50,000 page view mark with my blog.
Having said that, It’s only been a month since I’ve started but as the legend goes, slow and steady wins the race 😉
All the best for the upcoming months!
Exactly!! I want more traffic, too! I hover between 40,000 and 60,000 on average. BUT, the exciting news is I do make $2500+ per month with those pageviews!! Best of luck!! 🙂
Congratulations on a phenomenal month. I have been blogging for over two months now and FINALLY saw my first income about a week ago, both with Amazon and Media.net. I figure I need to get my traffic up before I see any real income.
I am working a full time job but am in the process of engineering my layoff. So therefore, I don’t have sufficient time to promote my blog. I think that will change.
That’s awesome!!! Yes, once you have more time to devote to blogging you will definitely see your income increase. I quit my job about six weeks ago and my income has gone up 🙂 It’s a slow and steady race, but you’ll get there!!!
This is amazing, I just found your blog and spent the last 30 minutes clicking all around!! I haven blogged here and there because its hard to find the time to be consistent. I love your tip to do something every single day even if its only 5 minutes. So I plan to try that!!! What ad networks do you currently use?
Hi!! I am using Monumetric and love them!! However, if you have over 100K pageviews per month, AdThrive is the way to go! Once I hit that number, I plan on switching 🙂
Happy you found my blog!! I will be checking yours out, too!
Congratulations! I can’t wait to start posting income reports. 🙂
You will be before you know it!! My best advice is to do one thing every day that’s blogging related, even if it’s small! Best of luck to you!! 🙂
Congratulations on your success, I have been blogging forever (since I was a teen) but have recently thought about buying a domain and space. I make extra cash online doing other things but not blogging. I bookmarked your site, I’ll be back.
Definitely buy a domain and hosting!! With Bluehost, your domain is free 🙂 Making money blogging definitely takes time, but it’s absolutely worth it. I always think “In two years if this thing is making $5K (or whatever your goal is), I will be SO glad I started it!!” Let me know if you have questions!
Thank-you so much for your awesome and real posts! I just started a North Carolina based mommy life and styles blog and your site has been such an encouragement to me as I start out!
That’s awesome!!! Where in NC are you?! I am in Charlotte!!!
Hi Sarah,
Very motivating post and congrats on your hard work paying off. I love reading people’s income reports as it gives me the motivation to keep working hard on my own blog.
Congrats on leaving our freelance writing gig. I am actually in the process of leaving my WordPress freelancing business. In fact, when a current client calls me and asks me to do something for their site, I hate it.
When I am working for a client, I am NOT working on my own blog. So I’ve definitely made it a point to start focusing on the things that will help me grow my blog.
My blog is still new, I just hit my 6 month with it. I am still trying to get more traffic. I haven’t really started monetizing with ads yet, just affiliate marketing and writing my own ebook.
I make it a point to focus on one thing each and everyday to keep growing. My goal is to be able to walk away from my freelancing business just like you 🙂
Congrats again for your awesome success and thanks for sharing 🙂
Have a great day!
Susan