Welcome to November’s online income report. I’m going to show you how I made money from my blog last month.

The blogging world can be very confusing if you are used to working a day job. I know it certainly took me a while to learn the ropes (I’m still learning them ? ) after years of waiting tables and serving in the military. Collecting a paycheck is pretty straightforward while working a job. Making money from a blog can come from many different streams like displaying ads, writing sponsored posts, affiliate marketing, or creating your own product or service.

No two bloggers make money the same way. You could have millions of monthly viewers and make $0 or a hundred thousand monthly viewers and make $10k+ a month. It’s all about how you monetize and how willing you are to learn everything you can.

Past income report: How I Made $1454 In My First Five Months Blogging

This past month I have done the least amount of work since I started my blog and almost made more than I did in the past five months combined. I’m certainly not bragging because I wish I could have worked more but the fact that is even possible is pretty amazing to me! I recently moved across the country and have been extremely busy trying to get my daughter and myself settled in. Plus, dial-up internet is the worst!

Pageviews: 175,450

Income:

• AdThrive ads- $1256
• Affiliates- $128.38

Total income: $1384.38

Expenses:

• Boardbooster– $19.97
• Tailwind– $15
• Vaultpress– $9

Total expenses: $43.97

Total: $1340.41

Increase from last month: $1340.41 – $933.72 = $406.69

Ads

I make most of my income from ads, which is great. But I don’t like relying on it. Most of my ad income comes from a couple posts that I promote on Pinterest. You should never put all of your eggs in one basket like I have been doing. I’d be so upset if Pinterest crashed or something!

I need to focus on getting more traffic from Facebook, which I plan to work on a bit this month. I currently found an ebook on getting more views from Facebook. I don’t want to link to it until I read it and see that the strategies actually work before I refer it to my readers. Hopefully, it’s helpful. I will keep you posted!

If you are fairly new to blogging, you understand the struggle of getting more traffic. Breaking a thousand a month can seem impossible before you actually accomplish it. Find out How I Got 236k Pageviews In 2 Weeks {In My 3rd Month Blogging}.

Affiliates

My affiliate income has almost doubled since last month. I owe my success to taking Michelle’s Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course and I tell every blogger that asks me for advice about it. This woman makes $50K a month just from affiliates! I believe in learning from the best and that’s exactly what she is.

Most bloggers don’t know that when someone clicks on your affiliate links, they actually can buy later and you still make money. It’s called a “cookie”. So depending on how long the cookie for certain affiliate programs is (Amazon’s is 90 days) you’ll can still make money. Don’t give up on affiliate marketing just because people are clicking on your links, but not buying. They could buy at any time! Just make sure they are clicking or else you need to reevaluate your strategy.

Last month’s goals

I totally failed 2 out of 3 of my goals ? I didn’t get more consistent. Worse actually. I only posted two new posts! I didn’t work on planning my future Pinterest course. But I did make more from affiliates.

I did feel pretty terrible about it all month but my other priorities were more important. And hey, it just goes to show that we aren’t perfect and fail sometimes. The only thing that really matters is that we don’t give up and jump right back in when we are able to.

This month will be different. Things are a bit more stable for me so I have no excuse but to do what I am able to do given my present circumstances. It’s best to take baby steps rather than no steps at all. Remember that when you feel overwhelmed by the tasks you have to do. No matter if it’s blogging related or something else.

Goals for December

Write at least one post a week- This is a pretty small goal, but it’s so hard getting back into everything. Plus, I don’t like to set my short-term goals too high. It overwhelms me and I just set myself up for failure. Now, my long-term goals are a different story lol. I’ve got some crazy big goals!

I am also going to write just one post for all of my different categories. I have been slacking on a couple of sections and like my blog content to stay well-rounded.

Earn more from affiliates- I need to write some more affiliate posts, so that’s my first order of business this month. I’m also hoping that people have been letting their purchases sit in their carts and will order this month for Christmas. That’s what I have been doing for all the items I’m going to buy. Lots of seasoned bloggers talk about how November and December are the best months for affiliate income. We shall see.

What’s worked?

Promoting just my best posts. My traffic has went up by almost 20k pageviews since I changed my strategy. I actually need to go through again and make sure only my top posts are being promoted on my Pinterest scheduler (Boadbooster is for my pins, Tailwind for others pins). Your top posts will constantly change depending on if something goes viral (that doesn’t always mean hundred of thousands of views either). My posts go small time viral pretty often.

What didn’t work?

I have my Boardbooster pins always putting out my posts, but I’ve slacked on Tailwind. I haven’t been adding pins to my scheduler like I need to and it’s costing me new Pinterest followers. I was getting 50+ new followers a day and now I’m only getting about 25. I need to just buckle down and schedule one whole month worth on other people’s content. It’s just so time-consuming! But a must do.

Interested in starting your own blog?

Blogging isn’t for everyone. Most people don’t want to put in the time and not make any money in the beginning. Not everyone can be an entrepreneur and that’s okay. But if you want to eventually replace your income or just make some extra money on the side, blogging is a great way to do that.

You can find step by step instructions on how to start a blog here. There is also a quick 4 minute set up video if you decide to go through Bluehost. You can start your own blog with them for as low as $2.95 a month by signing up here (I’ve negotiated with Bluehost to get my readers the best deal possible, so this low pricing is available through my link only!)

You may also enjoy…

• This 1 Thing Will Get You Banned From Applying To Google Adsense
• 8 Simple Things Aspiring Bloggers Can Do Now For Future Success
• Blogging Recommendations
• 9 High Profile Bloggers That Give The Best Blogging Advice
• Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing: How Michelle Makes $50,000 A Month in Affiliate Income With Her Blog

Have questions? Don’t hesitate to ask me in the comments below or you can always send me an email!

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