The Unsuccessful Blogger’s Income Report
Okay, maybe unsuccessful is a little harsh. After all, this blog has opened me up to all kinds of opportunities. For those of you that do not know how this blog originally came about you are welcome to stop by my “About Me” page. Soon after I started this blog in 2009 I was offered a social media community manager position. I worked in that position up until somewhat recently. I learned a lot and it was great income during that time but because I am also a homeschooling mom of four and there are only so many hours in the day, my blog was usually neglected in exchange for the paying gig. I have also been offered freelance writing jobs because of my blog, some of which I still do to this day. Really I have been very blessed. Sometimes, though when I see all the blogger’s income reports floating around from bloggers who have been blogging for a lot less time than I have then I start thinking about the potential income I could have generated if I had been able to spend my time focused on my blog instead of other company blogs.
Right now this blog is monetized through Google ads, Yahoo ads, affiliate sales, and a rare sponsored post here and there. I am not going to include income made through freelance gigs, even though they were obtained because of this blog. You will notice that I only posted twice in February and once in January so no, I have not been doing much to bring in visitors to the blog. Just for comparison I am including the last five months worth of income from Google Adsense because obviously this amount varies depending on how much I post.
Google Adsense for
February $18.58(posted twice)
January $22.67 (posted once)
December $27.30 (posted four times)
November $30.95 (posted five times)
October $46.90 (posted twice)
February $43.47
January $41.11
December $36.83
November $36.94
October $29.95
Pretty dismal, right? Add it all up and each month I made between $60-$80. Considering I maybe spent an hour or two working on my blog those months it really isn’t as bad as it seems. But remember, we are making some changes around here and besides improving my blog, hopefully I can help you improve yours along the way too. Besides moving to wordpress and doing the redesign, my first step in increasing my income was to generate a very comprehensive list of all of the blog networks, brand opportunities, and blogger ad networks that I know of. I will be checking all of those to make sure my blog is listed with them or to see which opportunities will work best for me. You can check out that list on the “Blogging for Money” tab. Stay tuned for more info on what affiliates I use and other ways to monetize your blog.
Abby Flynn
March 27, 2015 at 4:39 amAlaina thank you for sharing, seriously! Saw this on Pinterest and it caught my eye because I feel like most bloggers only really show you their shiny, amazing stats and numbers. Thank you for talking about this on the real!
I’m just learning about monetization, so it’s a long way down the road, but I’m excited to learn and hear more.
Alaina Forbes
March 27, 2015 at 7:14 pmAwww, thanks! I know sometimes those income reports can be motivating but other times they are kind of intimidating
Star Traci
March 27, 2015 at 4:18 pmThanks for being honest. I have been blogging for about the same length of time and while many opportunities have come my way, I have not reached anything near the numbers that others have. I feel very blessed for what I’ve received but I, too, am trying to grow. I look forward to your journey.
🙂
Traci
Julie
March 27, 2015 at 5:08 pmThanks for the realistic numbers! I need to implement Google AdSense on my blog. And I’m looking forward to the affiliates tips!
Jaime
March 27, 2015 at 6:27 pmThat’s still very impressive! Granted, my blog has only been up for less than a month, but I’d love to see income like yours. 🙂 Is that ad income from people clicking the ads, or just from the traffic of all the people visiting your blog?
Kristen @ Practical Mommy
March 28, 2015 at 1:05 pmI actually think that’s pretty good for only posting once or twice a month! Good luck with the blog 🙂
Andi
March 28, 2015 at 11:10 pmYou made more than me with a lot less effort, great job! I need to get better at Affiliate links!
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April 17, 2015 at 4:12 amAmanda
September 17, 2015 at 3:16 pmI’m you and you are me. I have had blogs for years (Like 1998-ish) and used them as a diary. Sometimes I posted and sometimes I didn’t. They were all blogger style. I finally created a blog a few years back on WordPress and sporadically posted on it. Now I am trying to rebrand myself and make some cash at this. At this point I’d be happy if things paid my hosting.
I’ll be back for more tips and to know that the money I’m making is realistic.
Manidipa
November 7, 2015 at 5:38 pmHi Alaina,
I was going through some awesome Pins when this title compelled me to land to your site. I must say this one is a really innovative way to see the bloggers’ income report.
As you said, most of the newbie bloggers get intimidated by seeing some huge numbers in bloggers income report. It becomes hard to realize that it is not the result of a single day.
Thanks for showing the real picture for the beginners. Take care 🙂