February 2018 Income Report: How I made $4.79 blogging
I know that a lot of you have been really loving the monthly income reports, so I think I’m going to make them a regular thing on here! I’m obviously not making a whole bunch of money right now, but it is more than some people and it is crazy that I’m making money just from sharing my ideas on the internet!
This post contains affiliate links. Read my disclaimer here.
Previous income reports:
December 2017: How I made $4.25 blogging
January 2018: How I made $6.02 blogging
Why I’m sharing how I make money blogging
I know that a lot of people are curious as to how people can make money blogging, so I’m doing this not only to show people that it is possible, but also to be transparent about where my income is coming from.
I for one have spent so much time reading other bloggers’ income reports in hopes of finding ways to monetize my small blog. I’ve seen a lot of bigger bloggers say that you can’t make money until your blog gets a bunch of traffic, but the income reports that I have read from other small bloggers (and my own income report) prove that isn’t true. After reading other small bloggers income reports, it has made me feel hopeful for my small blog! So if this helps or encourages even one person, that’s good enough for me.
I also think that income reports are a great way to track how well my blog does over time. Now that you know all that, let’s get into how I made money blogging during February!
February 2018 Blog Income Report
January 2018
Money made: $6.02
Total page views: 3,323
February 2018
Money made: $4.79
Total page views: 3,345
As you can see, I actually made less money during February than I did in January. BUT I don’t exactly see that as a loss because I got an increase in page views in February. I know that there is only a 22 page view difference, but it is still an increase and is nice especially because February is 3 days shorter than January. (If they were the same length I would’ve had about 300 more page views in February).
So yeah, even though I didn’t make as much money, it was still a success in my mind! 🙂
Programs:
Google Adsense: $3.80
So far, google Adsense has been the primary way that I monetize my blog. You just post ads on your website and generate income per view or when someone clicks the ad.
Amazon affiliates: $.99
In January I made $.67 from Amazon affiliates, and this month I made $.99, so–success! I would honestly like to focus a lot more on amazon affiliates because I know that it is definitely a way that I could monetize my blog.
Amazon has pretty much anything anyone could ever want, and the way that the affiliate program works is you link a product in a post and get a commission when someone makes a purchase through your link. The cool thing about this program is that you get a commission from anything that the person buys within the next 24 hours, even if it’s not the product that you linked!
Awin: $0
I didn’t really spend a lot of time focusing on Awin this month, but I have heard that a lot of bloggers have had great success making money with this program. Awin is an affiliate program that features over 200 brands including Etsy, Hyatt, and HP. If you’re trying to monetize your blog, Awin is definitely a program that you should sign up for! When I put more time into using this program, I am sure that I will start making income from it.
Sponsorships
I have signed up with some sponsorship programs that basically act as the middle man between influencers and brands.
I’ve been working really hard on gaining Instagram followers this past month so that I could have a better chance of qualifying for some sponsored posts, I gained a little over 200 followers! If you wanna follow me on Instagram, click here. 🙂
Brandbacker: I finally got my first sponsorship this month! I applied for a campaign with Clean and Clear and I got accepted, so that’s really exciting. If you are looking for some sponsorship programs to sign up for, definitely sign up for Brandbacker. In my experience so far, it is the easiest to use and has given me plenty of campaigns to apply to.
Pantene: This one doesn’t really count as a sponsorship, but in February Pantene sent me a huge box of goodies (Kate spade school supplies and a bunch of hair stuff) and it was SO AWESOME! I have loved Pantene since I was little, so I was so excited when they messaged me on Instagram and told me that they were going to send me some stuff. So, yeah, that was definitely a highlight of February.
Expenses
Boardbooster plan: $5:00
Boardbooster is a necessity if you have a blog. It has helped SO much with getting more traffic. Pinterest is the main source of traffic for my blog, and Boardbooster has gotten me from 30K monthly views on Pinterest to 80K monthly views in the 2 months I’ve been using it!
The more that you post pins on Pinterest, the more likely it is that your posts will be seen. The awesome thing about Boardbooster is that it posts pins for you. It has saved me so much time and has helped my blog traffic so much that I gladly pay $5.00 a month for it. If you click my link you can get a month free of boardbooster services! At the very least you should try it and watch how much it helps your blog. You have nothing to lose–you get the first month free! Click here to start your board booster free trail.
Overall income: -$.21
I’m back in the negatives again this month, which kind of sucks, but it’s fine because that is less than a quarter lol. I honestly think that if I work a little bit harder on affiliate marketing that I will start making a lot more income from it. I have been considering taking a course on it, so if any of you have courses to suggest or blog posts about how to get better at affiliate marketing, please comment below!
If you’re looking to start a money making blog, the first step is getting web hosting. I personally use BlueHost, and I love it! The service is awesome and reliable. Setting up a website using BlueHost is painless, quick, and affordable, and if you sign up using my link, you can get a free domain name! Click here to join me and the numerous other bloggers using BlueHost for their money making blogs.
Blogging goals for March
Keep posting twice a week
I’m so proud of myself because I posted twice a week during all of February. I have a super busy schedule and getting good grades is really important to me, so I’m really proud of the fact that I managed to keep my grades up and post twice a week.
Hopefully I continue to be able to post twice a week!
Work on affiliate marketing
This has been on my goals list for the past two months, and I’m getting better, but I think that I could potentially be making a lot more from affiliate marketing than I am right now. I just don’t really have the time to research and pick through which blog posts are actually giving good tips, because there are SO many blog posts that are like “how to make money from affiliate marketing” and the whole post is just explaining what affiliate marketing is instead of giving tips of how to get better at it. So yeah, I’m definitely going to try to get better at affiliate marketing.
Get to 2000 Instagram followers
As I said earlier in this post, I’ve been working really hard on my Instagram and right now I am at 955 followers, and I would really like to hit 2000 followers by the end of the month. If you want to follow me, click here!
Okay, that’s the end of my February Income report! I hope to see you next month for my March income report!
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