I fricken love blogging. I get to help people with their personal finance challenges every day AND I actually get paid to do it. Some months are better than others, but every time I report my earnings I feel like I’m figuring out how to better help all of you, and in turn make more money.
It really is amazing how life works. The more of a blessing you are to others, the more likely it is that you’ll be blessed. This blog is no different. The more people I’m willing to help and inspire, the more likely it is that they’ll tell their friends, which means my visitor numbers shoot through the roof. With a crazy number of visitors, the more likely it is that this blog makes money. It’s pretty simple stuff really.
Here are my latest blog income reports. I started low and then thankfully experienced a ramp up. Hopefully this month’s report is as good or better than last month!
Oct 2016 Income: $293.04
Nov 2016 Income: $589.24
Dec 2016 Income: $1,085.98
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My January 2017 Blog Income Report
My December earnings were pretty exciting (since I breached the $1,000 mark), but it also left me a bit anxious. Would I be able to replicate this success, or was it just a one hit wonder? I’m hoping for the former and not the latter…
So what’s the actual story for January? Well so far…. it’s the latter, but I honestly don’t think I’ll be a one-hit wonder for long. Things are still chugging in the right direction. In January, I earned $486.76.
Pay Per Click Ads
In my left sidebar, I’ve got a Google ad and a Media.net ad. Both are 160×600 and are near the bottom left of the page. I tuck them away a bit because #1) I don’t want to spam the heck out of you, and #2) I’m not able to control the content of the ad. They still earn me a decent income each month though, so I keep them around for the occasional click and the $100+ payout at the end of the month.
This past month, I spoke with a company called MyFinance. They started out just like me – a personal finance website – and they quickly discovered the need for quality ads that don’t promote sex, drugs, or politics. What they came up with is genius and I’m totally happy to host on my site.
Here’s what I’m talking about. As of now, every post has these helpful articles at the bottom. Readers click on them and benefit from the read, and I get paid a small sum for each click.
Google Adsense = $71.93
The month before last, Google Adsense netted me $56.92. This past month topped that quite handily with earnings of $71.93. Like I said, all I have to do is keep the traffic coming and my earnings will take care of themselves. Now I just have to think of some more awesome posts for February!
Media.net Ads = $40.68
With Media.net, my earnings started out EXTREMELY slow. Like, in the entire first year I earned $50 total. Then in November alone I earned $38.70 and in December I landed another $59.06. Pretty good! In January, I earned another decent sum of $40.68. Again, not too shabby!
MyFinance = $63.15
I had this ad structure live on my site for 10 days and I earned $63.15. That rate of income is better than Google and Media.net combined! Heck, if this keeps up, maybe I’ll do away with the other pay-per-click options and just focus on my affiliate marketing!
Affiliate Marketing
I keep saying it again and again, but Michelle from Making Sense of Sense earns over $100,000 a month (I’m dead serious by the way – check it out here: My September 2016 Blog Income Report: $102,911), so why can’t I up my game and make just a small portion of that?
Seriously. If she earns $100k each month, then why can’t I earn $10k? Is she 10x better than me. I don’t think so!
If you read her post and dig into the details, you’ll see that she gets paid from companies she believes in and refers tons of traffic to, and then they kindly pay her a portion of the sales to say ‘thanks’. BOOM, that’s it! Well I can do THAT! Right??
Right.
Below are the companies I love and can’t wait to refer my readers to each and every day.
iPage Affiliate Income =
$0.00
$65.00
Sooo….nobody signed up for a blog through iPage this past month, but there is a bit of silver lining on this rain cloud.
I have been so effective at building relationships and helping my readers that I actually had a woman contact me via email, thank me for my great writing and recommendations, and then ask me if I had an affiliate link for BlueHost (another webhost company).
As it turns out, I DID have an affiliate link for her to use. I passed it along and she immediately signed up through their service, netting me $65 in the process.
Even through I didn’t make an iPage sale in January, I still consider this month a win.
October – 142 clicks, $105.00
November – 126 clicks, $0.00
December – 158 clicks, $210.00
January – 176 clicks, $0.00 (well, $65 with a BlueHost conversion)
At least the clicks are heading in the right direction! If I keep that up, the purchases should follow!
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Motif Investing Affiliate Income = $46.00
I absolutely love Motif Investing. In fact, they’ve got an awesome silver and gold motif that I’m invested in.
One other person shared my love affair with them this past month and officially started trading. Congrats!! Way to invest in your future!
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Valore Books Affiliate Income = $0
As much as I love Valore Books, this affiliate link just isn’t earning me anything. I don’t think my personal finance site topic is related closely enough to books. So, in the next few days I’ll likely be taking down the “Cheap Books” page on my site and will no longer be pushing this link. If you ever need a cheap book in the future though, I’ll still lead you to Valore Books. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.2.1/72x72/1f642.png" alt="