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How does making money from a blog sound without having to do much work?!
For me, this is fantastic. I’m a mom of three and recently quit my job to blog full-time and stay at home with my girls. I started my blog in September 2014 and have been consistently making money off of it since January of last year. Passive income from blogging does NOT come right away. It comes after months (or years) of consistent, hard work.
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If you’re willing to put in the time now, I can guarantee you will be making money an income (some passive) eventually. Outside of marrying my husband and having my girls, starting a blog was by far one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
As you’ll see in my June Income Report below, I don’t make a full-time income off of my blog. I truly believe if I wanted a full-time income, I would need to be putting in way more hours than I currently do. However, I’m more than happy with my current, part-time income that my blog is making.
June Income Report
June was a good month for me, and July will be even better! I record payments when they actually hit my account, not when I “earn” them. The number you see below is the exact amount that hit my bank account in June. I know July will be higher because I expect to be paid out on a couple of things.
June Blogging Income: $668.66
Breakdown of my income:
- $137.23: Ads! I recently removed all Google Adsense ads and joined The Blogger Network. My ad income has tripled since then, even though my traffic has actually taken a nose-dive. If you can get in (I think the requirement is 20,000 pageviews/month), I highly recommend it! They install all the ads for you, too!
- $33.45: Book sales. I wrote my very first book – The Beginners Guide to Blogging – in January. While I no longer sell a ton, it’s still a nice form of passive income for me. (Note: If you start a blog through my Bluehost link, I’ll send you my book for free!)
- $497.98: Affiliate income. Affiliate income is my absolute favorite way to make money online. Basically, if you purchase something through my blog (such as Bluehost, 30 Days or Less to Freelance Writing Success, Tailwind, Make Over Your Mornings, etc.), I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
How to Make Passive Income from Your Blog
First, you have to get the courage to actually start a blog! I have a tutorial on how to start a profitable blog that you can use, and again I’ll give you a free copy of my book for purchasing Bluehost. My book will walk you through how to get your blog up and running on WordPress so you can focus on creating content.
Then, you need start creating quality content and growing your social media profiles. This all takes time and will not happen overnight. I know we’re all busy, but I promise you if you can just spend 30 minutes per day on your blog at the beginning, you will start to see results over time. (If you’re not sure how to do this, my book will help out!!)
In June, I published two new blog posts that took roughly one hour each (including making the image). In addition to that, all I did was use Tailwind to pin older posts once a week for the entire week (about 15 minutes per session) for a total of one hour for the month. That’s THREE HOURS of work in June for $668.66!!
Tailwind is super, super easy to use. Basically, once you have your Pinterest page set up (you’ll want to create your own boards and join group boards; you can view my page here), Tailwind will allow you to schedule out pins weeks in advance so you don’t have to pin your posts everyday. It’s been a lifesaver for me. Not only has it streamlined my business, but it’s also allowed me to grow my blog tenfold!
My good friend, Kristin Larson of Believe in a Budget, even created a course – Pinterest Presence – on growing your blog with Pinterest! If Pinterest seems a little confusing to you, I highly recommend her course. I have been using Pinterest for years, yet still learned a bunch of brand new information from her course.
The Biggest Ways I Make Money Blogging
As you can see from my income report, the two biggest ways I make money blogging are through ads and affiliate sales. Ads are by far (to me) the most passive form of income. You can sign up for Google Adsense (it’s free) when you first start your blog and install your ads. The more traffic your blog gets, the more money you’ll make. As your blog grows, you’ll want to sign up for ad networks – such as The Blogger Network or Adthrive – to make even more money from your ads.
And finally, affiliate sales. My blog is primarily focused on blogging and personal finance, so you won’t find me mentioning products on Amazon or other “material”-type purchases. However, that is a FANTASTIC niche to be in!! If you’re a mommy blogger, you can mention toys your kids play with, no-spill sippy cups, potty training tools, homeschooling resources, and more. If you’re a fashion blogger, the skies the limit on the amount of products you can mention and sell to your readers. Whatever your niche, trust me, there are affiliate programs out there for you to join and make money off of.
*Don’t worry too much about affiliates yet. Instead, focus on creating great content! Once your blog grows, you can go back into your top posts and add in affiliate links to products you think your readers will like!
Does anyone have any questions?! If so, feel free to email me directly or leave me a comment! I’m more than willing to help anyone out!
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