August Blogging Income Report $1,987

August Blogging Income Report

One year blogging down! I still just can’t wrap my mind around how it’s been a full year already. It’s really surreal. Last year, I was thinking about how crazy it would be if I could even make $100 in a month. And here I am making $1,987.

It’s like living in a dream. It’s still not a full-time income, but it’s still more than I thought I could make while working at home with three little ones.

First, a little bit about me…

Just one year ago I had just published my first blog post. My husband was supporting all five of us on his one salary. We were getting by just fine, but I knew that I wanted more for us than to just “get by.”

On a whim (and after reading WAY too many blogging income reports of $20k/ month or more), I started my blog in August 2015. And I finished out the month of my one-year bloggiversary making $1,987 in a month!

Everything that I’ve done in my blog is all thanks to the Elite Blog Academy. All of the training that I’ve ever had as a blogger is thanks to Ruth Soukup’s class. While the class is only available once a year, Ruth gives out free ebooks, training, and webinars all year. It’s free lessons to learn how to really make money blogging!

Income generated

Ad Income: $717

Adthrive is my ad network and I LOVE them! I can’t say enough great things about them. I also used Infolinks, but this was my last month for them before I discontinued their appearance on my site. Not that they were bad, but they didn’t bring in enough income compared to Adthrive.

Affiliate income: $1,270

Amazon – $576: Amazon has always driven a great deal of my affiliate income. Thanks to a few very popular (and slightly obscure to my current niche) posts back from when I first started blogging, Amazon affiliate income has always been very big for me.

Make Over Your Mornings and Make Over Your Evenings – $87: Crystal Paine is my spirit animal and her courses speak so much to me. I love the ability to help others make these courses work for them.

Ultimate Framework – $68: Abby’s book was a big hit this month. It’s an amazing guide to help navigate being an amazing blogger and making money blogging quickly.

Facebook Strategies Worth Sharing – $24: Brittany Ann’s Facebook strategy book goes hand-in-hand with Abby’s Ultimate Framework and Rosemarie’s Pinterest Strategy (see below).

Ultimate Pinterest Strategy – $32: Rosemarie is an amazing example of how big you can get as a blogger. And the fact that she shared her Pinterest strategy is such an amazing trade secret. It goes so well with the Ultimate Framework and Facebook Strategies Worth Sharing.

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – $78: I’m so excited about this course! I’m taking it and I’m so glad that other people like it too.

Swagbucks – $150: I love Swagbucks! This was my biggest month yet for my Swagbucks affiliate.

Ebates – $150: Ebates is another on that I just love. It also helps that the whole “sign up and get $10 gift card for free” helps to sell Ebates quickly.

Bluehost – $65: Bluehost had a flash sale that was too sweet to pass up.

Grocery Budget Makeover – $25: A big sale helped bring in some sales.

Selling my own Essential Oil ebook – $15: I made a mini ebook that I started selling for $0.99 last month and it’s been a nice little way to earn some extra income on my own without needing to worry about affiliate percentages.

What Worked

Mail Chimp

After some hemming and hawing with ConvertKit (see below), I wanted to see what my options were. I ended up giving MailChimp a try again.

They were the first email service I’d used when I started blogging. I only used their free service back then, but since I wanted to start sending out automated “welcome” emails, I ended up paying for the Premium service.

So far, I have no complaints. But I’m really going back and forth about cancelling my ConvertKit (more on that below).

HelloBar

I had been using SumoMe for free to put the bar at the top of my website, but I decided to give HelloBar another try when I switched over to MailChimp. Unlike SumoMe and HelloBar with ConvertKit, both of the email collecting services easily integrate with MailChimp. Another bonus for MailChimp!

Affiliate income

This was my first big month for affiliate income from multiple sources. I earned my first BlueHost commission as well as my first big ticket course affiliate income.

Honestly, I have to say that the biggest difference in my income strategy this month is Michelle’s course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. I know that with Michelle’s guidance, I’m starting on the right path to actually being effective in my affiliate marketing.

What Didn’t Work

Bluehost

I didn’t even have unusually high traffic this month, but my site was down for a total of 3 hours over the course of the month. I needed to update my plan with Bluehost, and I still might switch over to Siteground.

We’ll see. Switching hosts sounds so scary! Moving my whole site… that’s so intimidating! I have some things lined up to make it easier for me, but it’s still scary to pull the trigger!

Before I move on, I want to make this clear: starting out, I still recommend using BlueHost. It’s easy to use, and it’s really inexpensive. If you’re just starting out with your blog or you don’t know if it’s something you really want to do, start with Bluehost. But once you reach more than 100,000 pageviews/ month, it’s time to upgrade.

ConvertKit

I’m so sad that this was iffy for me, at best. I read somewhere that their automation doesn’t work. I didn’t think anything of it… until I checked my email stats for my automated emails. There’s just no way that an email sent to 500 people never once got opened. I always worry that people don’t like me, but not one? I’m not buying those stats. I’m teetering on the edge of cancelling my subscription with them. *Sad face.*

What I’m looking forward to:

The end of the summer slump!

Oh my word, I’m done with summer as a blogger! My traffic is FINALLY starting to pick up (as of writing this in September).

Guest post for Money Saving Mom

I have a guest post for Money Saving Mom that is going to go live in September and I can’t wait! I’m more than a little bit of a fan girl for Crystal Paine, so this is super exciting!

Working on an ecourse

I have my Side Hustles That Work ecourse all set and ready to go! I just have to finish up some last minute details and it’ll be ready to help you earn more money from home. I’m excited about it!

Here’s to another month of growing!