When I first learned that you can make money blogging, I was astounded. “How is this possible?!?” I wondered and began learning as much as I could. With a lot of time with Google and YouTube and the help of fabulous bloggers who generously invested their time and information in me, I have successfully doubled our family’s income. To prove that you can do this too, I share my blog income reports each month.
Since my income is diversified between two types of blogs, I divide my income and expense report so you can see that it is not just bloggers who teach blogging that make money. Lifestyle, homeschool, DIY, food, fashion… whatever your niche, you can be a profitable blogger.
As a matter of fact, if you look closely at the numbers below, you will notice that my “regular” blog brings in almost the same amount of income as my “how to blog” blog.
Multiple streams of income
When you study a blogger’s income report, look for where the income originates.
I have mentioned before that profitable bloggers have multiple streams of income. For me, those avenues include:
- Self-publishing to Amazon Kindle
- Passive sidebar advertising with Adsense and 3rd party networks
- Creating my own products and connecting them to sales funnels with ConvertKit
- Maintaining affiliate relationships with others who have created awesome products
- Soliciting sponsors through direct relationships
- Accepting sponsored campaigns through 3rd parties like TapInfluence
- and more…
If my income streams were meshed into a flowchart, my revenue sources would be buckets and under each would be multiple contributors to help fill each bucket.
Just in case you were wondering why I do not use affiliate income to generate revenue from Inspired Bloggers… I want you to purchase my products and not someone else’s stuff that might appear in 3rd party advertising on my website.
Blog Income Report – May 2016
InspiredBU represents Inspired Bloggers properties including this website, Inspired Bloggers University and the associated Facebook communities.
Meet Penny is the group of blogs I write under a pseudo-name, Penny. These blogs are lifestyle and food focused.
INCOME
InspiredBU Affiliate Earnings $8
InspiredBU Product Sales $3,730.75
Meet Penny Affiliate Earnings $328.44
Meet Penny Advertising $2,669.24
Meet Penny Product Sales $108.02
Total Income = $6,845.44
May Goal = $6,000
Difference = +$845.44
EXPENSES
Advertising $97.62 (Facebook Ads)
Contractors $413.90
Paypal Fees $140.69
Email Service $149.00 (ConvertKit)
Internet Service $194.13
Cell Phone Service $183.08
Stock Image Membership $99 (GraphicStock)
Audible Subscription $14.95
Office $207.25 (GoDaddy domain renewals, Canva, PicMonkey, etc.)
Total Expenses = $1,499.62
Net Profit = +$5,345.82
My business mistakes
- My products perform really well but I think I am probably missing income potential with affiliate sales. Don’t be surprised if you see more of my affiliate links coming soon… in a completely non-spammy way, of course.
My business successes
- FOUR sponsored posts through TapInfluence. I love this company so much! They allow you to choose your fee for sponsored content and only send you offers from brands willing to pay your asking price.
- I went back to the business plan that I knew worked. It’s okay to try new things. It’s also okay to go back and do what you know will work with your audience when new plans fail.
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Looks very inspiring to me. I had never heard about TapInfluence. But love you made the money with sponsor post. It is very challenging to make money from blog.
It shows blogger should not reply on one income source. You are having multiple streams of income. I would also try to replicate it on my blog 😉