My Journey to Earning from Blogging
Hello there! I’m about 4 years into my blogging journey now, and I’m thrilled I gave it a go back in 2013. Recently, my blog, brokeGIRLrich, pulled in $667.10, and I earned an additional $315 from freelance writing – all thanks to kickstarting this blog.
Over the last year, my blog has typically brought in about $500 extra each month, while my freelance writing has added another $200 to my earnings. These figures fluctuate, sometimes it’s more and other times less.
Now, if you’re wondering about my schedule – I work on this for roughly 15 hours a week, crafting my own timetable. With my evening work shifts, my blog work is squeezed into the morning hours a few days a week.
In my blogging journey, I’ve picked up a few priceless pieces of wisdom:
1. It often takes around a year before you start earning anything.
2. Regular posting keeps readers coming back for more.
3. Always strive to write content that helps people.
Moving on, here’s how I transformed my blogging passion into profit:
Firstly, I made my blog more professional. While free-to-use platforms are a great place to start, I quickly realized I needed my own hosting to add monetization tools like Google Adsense. If you’re interested, I found a great deal with Bluehost, which has a special offer currently running for just $3.95 a month.
Now, if you want to earn from your blog, you need to increase your readership and social media followers. Write content that caters to your audience’s interests, and publish consistently to keep them coming back. Social media growth tools like Tweepi, Tweetdeck, and Boardbooster can be immensely helpful.
For website monetization purposes, I added a ‘Work with Me’ page and created a ‘Media Kit’. Here, I highlighted my guest posts, website stats, a bit about me and my readers, and my charging rates. In terms of income, I began with $100 for a sponsored post, $200 for writing content, and $20/month for sidebar ads.
Also, I joined networks such as Accubpub, Massive Sway, Cooperatize, and Link Vehicle that linked me with companies seeking bloggers for promoting their products.
Signing up with affiliate networks like Google Adsense and Amazon Affiliates has also been a fruitful venture for me. Although the payout isn’t immediate, earning from advertising requires almost no effort after initial setup.
It’s crucial for your ‘Contact info’ to be easily recognizable. Around a year into my blogging journey, I started receiving email offers for sponsored posts and advertisers interested in sidebar adverts. A large portion of my blogging income now comes from these opportunities.
Networking with other bloggers has also opened up fresh opportunities for sponsored content.
I launched brokeGIRLrich merely hoping to recoup my initial investment within three years. I was stunned when I exceeded my goal almost two years ahead of schedule. My blog even afforded all its renewal fees when they came due in October 2016.
Though it took effort to monetize my blog, I loved it. I got to write about whatever I wanted and simultaneously sharpened my knowledge of personal finance. For me, blogging has been an absolute win-win situation. Why not give it a try?