How I Made $3,180 in My Fourth Month Blogging

Today, I want to share my second income report. Although my blogging journey started back in 2015, I  made the decision earlier this year to blog full-time! So, this is my second income report on my fourth month as a full-time blogger!

Last month, I shared my first income report and I was very happy I did it. This is because I truly believe that many people,  including myself, benefit from income reports in many ways. There are many things to learn from everyone that post an update of their blog income.

This is my second income report and honestly, I couldn’t be more excited to see how much my blog is growing and all the potential it has! Starting a blog was definitely one of the best decisions I made. I enjoy doing what I do and the best part is that I can make money from it!

If you’re still on the fence to start your blog, just do it! In one way or another, I believe that everyone has something to say and blogging is the perfect way to do it. Blogging has many benefits! You just need to take the first leap.

(This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you purchase an item through these links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Please read the full disclosure policy for more info.)

If you want to start your blogging journey and make money from it, I’ve put together an easy step-by-step tutorial on how to start a profitable blog the right way! It is super easy to start a blog and the best part is it’s cheap! So, do not hesitate and just do it, you will be glad to start your money-making blog sooner than later. You can find the step-by-step guide to start a profitable blog here.

Why do I  want to share my online income report?

1. I decided to write my first online income report because I believe it will help me to be more accountable for my blogging goals.
2. Also, I know that by sharing my updates many of you will benefit by learning that it’s possible to make money from blogging!
3. However, my main goal in sharing my online income report is to inspire others and let them know that it’s possible to earn money from home. I was once that person sitting in a  chair reading income reports from other bloggers and asking myself … why not me?  I finally decided that I waited long enough and that I needed to put things into action if I wanted to spend more time with my kid. I’m so glad I made that decision! Now, I am able to spend more time with my family, I manage how many hours I spend on my blog, and I have a flexible schedule, so no more 9 to 5 hassle!

One more thing, you don’t need to be tech-savvy or be an expert in any field to start blogging. In fact, anyone can start a blog and earn a passive income from it. You just need to have the right tools and strategies to implement and start making money from your blog. It may be overwhelming at the beginning, but trust me, with time, blogging will get easier.

So, without further ado, let’s get into the details:

My Income and Stats for the month of July 2017

Total Income Report July 2017

I earned $3,180.42 in July from blogging (before expenses). My page views were 27,154 (almost the same as June).

 Blog Income Broken Down:

• Affiliate Networks (MaxBounty, iGain, Blue Media): $1,242.30
• Impact Radius: $1,438
• Commission Junction: $110
• ShareaSale: $2.00
• Ibotta: $321.00
• Amazon: $2.42
• Others: $11.40
• Ads: $40.01
• Affiliate courses: $12.80

Blog expenses

• Courses and Materials: $983.42
• BoardBooster: $10
• ConvertKit: $29
• Depositphotos: $29

Total expenses: $1,051.42

Net Income: $2,129

July’s Top Posts:

• How to Pay Off Debt Fast, Even With a Low Income
• 15 Smart Ways to Save Money in College
• How This Couple Made $133,000 a Year by Flipping Items
• 10 Easy Ways to Save Money On Your Electric Bill

Things I did:

For Pageviews

My blog’s traffic was pretty similar to last month and this was because there were days I didn’t spend too much time on Pinterest manual pinning. The reason (if you are interested): We are moving to another state pretty soon, so things are crazy at home! This is why it is good to have a backup scheduling tool. However,  I still think 27K page views on my fourth month blogging is pretty good!

Again, my main source of traffic is Pinterest and I need to say that Carly’s e-book: Pinteresting Strategies; is the main reason for my page views’ number. Carly’s strategies definitely work and if you ’re still trying to figure out how to increase your Pinterest traffic, I highly encourage you to get her <a href=”https://www.blogginglikeyoumeanit.com/courses/pinteresting-strategies?ref=fa987d””>e-book and apply her strategies. You will sin a big difference on your Pinterest traffic.

For Income

Even though my blog’s traffic for July was almost similar to June, the increased on income amazed me! I am so thankful that I purchased this great course where I learned the right strategies to successfully monetize my blog!

Similar to my last income report, a big part of my blog’s income comes from affiliate marketing. I definitely owe this to  Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. If you are really serious about how to make money by blogging, then you NEED this course!

You can find out more about Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing here 

Also, as you noticed,  I have some expenses this month. I believe courses are necessary if you really want to take blogging to the next level.

 

For Email Subscribers

I continue to use Sumo and ConvertKit and I think the combination of both are responsible for my growth in email subscribers. In July, my subscribers increased to more than 400! Although I didn’t reach my goal of 500 for July, I take this as a big step. Also, it tells me that there is more room to implement new things!

 

For Courses:

Last month I invested in Elite’s Blog Academy course. This specific course only opens once a year, however, they decided to open it for a few days last month. Many successful bloggers have very great things to say about this course, so it was in my plans to get it once available. So, when I knew it was on sale for a few days in July,  I didn’t hesitate to purchase it. I know it is a big course and it will probably take me months to finish it, but I think it will be worth the time spent learning things that will help me in the short and long run with my blogging journey.

My July Goals:

• Trafic to 40K: I had 27k (reason above)
• Subscribers to 500: Almost there.
• Content, 2 Posts per week: I finished July with six blog posts.
• Freebie: I couldn’t but is on the list!

August Goals:

• Increase Page Views: I really want to break the 40k mark
• Creation of content: I am working hard this month to create at least 8 posts!
• Freebies: I will work on that next week.
• Subscribers: Reach 500

I hope this income report was in some way helpful. The blogging journey may be seen as overwhelming because there are so many things to do concerning page views,  monetizing, or managing different platforms. However, when you have the right tools and resources, blogging will get easier!

Resources that are currently helping me on how I monetize and run my blog:

I highly recommend these helpful resources to anyone that wants to take blogging to the next level.

Billionaire Blog Club

From experience, I know when you are relatively new to the blogging world, you may have tons of questions about pageviews, monetizing, Pinterest, or SEO, just to name a few. For these reasons, I highly recommend to any new or seasoned blogger to consider the Billionaire Blogging Club or BBC as a first blogging resource.

BBC is a community of bloggers in all niches run by Paul Scrivens. Paul runs many blogs in different niches, with the sole purpose of showing everyone how it is possible to make money with a blog regardless of the niche.

When you join BBC, you’ll get a lifetime membership. Also, you will have access to Paul’s 9 blogging courses containing a total of 123 lessons (including videos). Here are the courses offered when you join the community:

• SEO
• Niche Selection
• Pinterest
• Affiliate Marketing
• Intro to Email Marketing
• Google Analytics
• WordPress
• Content Creation

What I love about BBC is that Paul is present in the community to give blogging advice. To me, this is very valuable because too many course creators don’t offer this type of live “coaching” as Paul does.

Click here to learn more about the Billionaire Blogging Club. You can also get Paul’s FREE 12 Day Blogging Bootcamp here.

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing

This is the course that is currently helping me make money from affiliate marketing. If you are really serious about how to make money by blogging, then you NEED this course! After completing this course, now I can say that I found the exact way to successfully monetize my blog.

Michelle, who created the course, teaches the exact steps and strategies she took to increase from $0 in affiliate income to $50,000 per month! Yes, you read right, 50K/month!  The biggest bonus in this course is its private Facebook group where you can find tons of help from other bloggers.

Here are some things you will learn:

• What affiliate marketing is and how it works
• The exact steps Michelle took to earn over $300,000 from a single blog post
• How to pick the right affiliate products to promote
• Different strategies to use to promote your affiliate products
• How to use Pinterest to succeed at affiliate marketing.

And much, much more! You can find out more about Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing here 

Traffic Transformation Guide

Lena’s e-book is a great tool to increase your overall traffic. I had such amazing results from this e-book. The traffic transformation guide is packed with TONS of helpful tips for growing your blog readership and income! Besides, this e-book will guide you on the exact steps you need to take to double your blog traffic and your page views within a month. This translates to more page views, meaning more income!

Here are some things you will learn:

• How to Duplicate & Piggybank Blogging Successes
• Social Platform Focus
• Interlinking Secrets
• Optimize for Search Engines
• Split Test Strategies

and so much more!! You can find out more about this e-book here

Pinteresting Strategies

This is the e-book that I  mainly used to drastically increase my Pinterest traffic: Pinteresting Strategies. Since applying the techniques from Carly’s e-book , my Pinterest traffic has increased significantly and therefore my income. I highly recommend this e-book if you want to see big numbers in traffic from Pinterest.

You can learn more about Pinteresting Strategies here.

Bluehost:

I run Smart Cents for Life through Bluehost and I highly recommend it, especially if you are a new blogger. Why choose Bluehost:

• It is super easy to use with their 1-click WordPress installation.
• They have one of the best customer services – 24/7!
• They have one of the lowest prices in the market for new bloggers.
• You can start your own self-hosted blog or website for only $3.95 per month when you sign-up through this link. This includes a FREE domain when signing up for a 12-month plan.

You can learn more about how to start a profitable blog here.

ConvertKit

Since using Convertkit, my subscription rate has increased a lot! If you are one of those people that are still using a free service such as MailChimp, you should switch to Convertkit immediately because this is the main mistake new bloggers make.  You will notice that your email list will grow a lot faster!

You can sign up for Convertkit here.

Tailwind

I use Tailwind to schedule my pins and thrid-party pins. Besides, Tailwind has great features such as its analytics that lets you know what your best performance pins and boards are. Oh, and wait! ….. the best part of Tailwind is that it allows you to join tribes, which can seriously improve your monthly page views!

Click here for a FREE trial with Tailwind.