How I Made $4,612 From Blogging In October – Blogging Income Report

How I Made $4,612 From Blogging In October – Blogging Income Report

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I started this blog in 2013 for fun. I never thought I’d make any money from it. 

In 2016, I decided to take this blog seriously. It wasn’t easy. In fact, blogging has been one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever had. I’m my own boss which has a lot of responsibility attached to it. I worked for free for a long time before I ever made any real money.

I’m happy I stuck it out for the long haul because I’m now a full-time blogger. I was even recently featured on Forbes for my unique story. I made $80,000 my senior year of college with blogging and side hustles.

Are you interested in starting a blog and becoming a full-time blogger?

If so, check out my FREE 7-day course that will tell you everything you need to know, including how to create your own blog from scratch, essential blogging tools successful bloggers use, how to monetize your blog, grow a loyal audience, and so much more!

Previous income reports:

How much time do you spend on your blog?

I spend around 20-30 hours a week on my blog.

When traveling, the hours tend to be all over the place.

During Fincon, I only spent maybe 5-10 hours on my blog due to being at the conference all week.

I also bought my pass for #Fincon18 in Orlando, which I’m super excited about!!

How to make money blogging

There are many ways you can make money blogging. Some of these are:

  • Sponsored posts
  • Affiliate income
  • Ad revenue
  • Creating and selling your own products

How much did you make in October of 2017?

Sponsored posts: $2,178

Affiliate Income: $859

Virtual Assistant: $900

Ad Revenue: $675

My first product: Making Sense of Sponsored Posts 

Learn everything there is to know about sponsored posts with my course Making Sense of Sponsored Posts.

Sponsored posts helped me become a full-time blogger and is my favorite way to make money blogging!

Over 600 students have taken my course so far and have landed major brand sponsorships, charged 3x what they’d usually charge, and worked with brands multiple times.

You also get access to a private mastermind group where you can ask any blogging questions and get help from me and other successful bloggers.

Take action now: Before we begin, get access to How To Send An Email Pitch To Land Sponsorships checklist. This quick checklist will help you stand out from other influencers and increase your brand sponsorships. 

Top affiliate companies

What worked

  • Creating infographics and savings plans have been a game changer for Pinterest. My most seen pin (very different from most clicked on, but regardless, great for my Pinterest profile) is a travel savings plan which has been doing amazing for months.
  • Creating a free resource library has increased my email list dramatically. People love free stuff! I add printables to this monthly, and they’re also a lot of fun to make.
  • I also created a How To Start A Blog free email course, which has done tremendously well, too. This email course is my highest converting opt-in on my blog.
  • I also decreased the number of ads that are on my blog. My website has too many ads, and I feel like this is hurting my affiliate income. No idea if this helped, but my ad income almost tripled, which is awesome!
  • My Instagram is improving! I am now posting an inspiring quote every 3rd picture, along with my fitness and travel posts. Follow me here!
  • I also added a Pinterest sidebar to my blog, which (I believe) has helped me increase my followers! You can follow me on Pinterest here.

What failed

  • I’ve been wasting too much time on Twitter. I’ve been attempting to gain traction on this platform, and it’s proving to be useless, haha. I have 4,000 followers, yet my views from Twitter are very little. I think this is because people don’t usually go on Twitter to read articles, but instead read tweets.

What I’ll be working on next month

  • I also started a free Facebook community. There are currently around 70 members, which is awesome! However, there is very little interaction between readers, and I need to work on this.
  • My affiliate marketing strategy needs some work. Though I managed to double my affiliate income this month, I still believe there is a lot of work to do in this area.
  • My digital product is finished, and now I need to create a sales page for it. Super excited about this!
  • A few of you have been telling me to create a digital product related to scoring sponsored posts. I’ve been considering this, so I might start working on it!

Blog related posts

New posts from FITnancials this month

Future Plans

  • Since I started full-time blogging, I made approximately $30,000 in the past 12 months. I’d love to double that income to $60,000 in the next 12 months. I’ve been making a steady $4-5K the past few months, so I feel good about this!
  • Work more. Yep, you heard that right! I need to work on being more productive. I’ve only been working around 20 hours a week. Although, I dedicate the entire day of Monday to school work and that burns me out pretty hard.
  • Stay above 100,000 page views. I just hit 100,000 page views last month, but I know keeping it up is going to be hard!
  • Improve my Facebook strategy. I’m stuck at 3,000 likes and would love to increase this and reach more people.

Tips To Become A Blogger:

Are you not sure where to start on creating a profitable blog? I recommend checking out this course roadmap to figure out where you should get started first!

I recommend the Pro Blogger Bundle which includes 4 of the best blogging courses. I’ve personally taken all 4 courses and they’re exactly what took me from newbie blogger to full-time business owner on Fitnancials. I was getting little page views before one of the courses called Pinterest Traffic Avalanche. Now I’m getting enough traffic from Pinterest alone to make my blog a full-time career. You learn absolutely everything you need to know to start and run a profitable blog and business. These 4 courses were created by bloggers who made $100,000+ in their first year running a health and fitness blog.

Are you not sure where to start on creating a profitable blog? I recommend checking out this course roadmap to figure out where you should get started first!

Recap

I hit over 107,000 page views this month, which is soooooo awesome!

I also just got back from Fincon. Fincon is a 4-day conference targeted to online influencers in the personal finance niche.

I met so many people that I’m going to miss SO much over the next 11 months.

If you’re in the personal finance niche, you must go to this conference.

This was a great month for me and I’m loving where the blog is headed. I also feel like I’m in such a good place mentally.

Conclusion: Start a blog that makes money

If your dream is to become a full-time blogger and start a blog, I recommend starting a blog with Bluehost.

I started this blog in college and graduated my senior year making $80,000 a year. Now, I work from home, spend time with my family and dogs, and I get to take my family on nice trips and donate to my favorite charities. 

Bluehost has 24/7 support, a money-back guarantee, and makes it as easy as possible to start a blog. 

Start a blog today for just $2.95/month with my step-by-step tutorial here. It’s easy, painless, and takes less than 20 minutes to start a blog of your own. With my link, you get a discount from $7.99/month to $2.95/month.

If you need a little more help starting your blog, I even have a free How To Start A Successful Blog quick 5-day course that shows you step-by-step what to do AFTER you started your blog. This quick course is filled with a TON of value giving you everything you need to get started the best way.

What to read next: How I Made $80,000 My Second Year Blogging Full-Time In College

What else would you like to see in my next blogging income report?

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This Post Has 19 Comments

  1. Karen

    13 Nov 2017 Reply

    Thank You, Alexis, for the very informative post! I don’t usually comment but reading your article is something I can relate to.

    I am a 51-year-old Mom who just began a food blog back in June! I can relate to Special Needs and your burnout. My teen son has Autism. So I have been there done that. He had ABA Rx for years. But you are inspiring and trying to run a blog while in school? Impressive! I am struggling with visitors to my website. One day at a time I guess. Twitter? Haven’t found it to be useful for social media at all.

    1. Alexis

      15 Nov 2017 Reply

      Oh wow, that’s so cool! Yes! It has been tough and I can’t wait to graduate so I can totally focus on my blog.

  2. Holly

    14 Nov 2017 Reply

    I just recently decided to stop bothering with Twitter (for now). I realized only like 2% of my traffic comes from Twitter and I just don’t have the bandwith to work on it right now.

    1. Alexis

      15 Nov 2017 Reply

      Yeah, same here.

  3. Lily @ The Frugal Gene

    15 Nov 2017 Reply

    Twitter is the worst place for conversions but I go on the hang out and waste my time with other blogger friends…so bad ;( I need to start being more serious.

    I totally shared this on Twitter for irony by the way 😀

    1. Alexis

      11 Feb 2018 Reply

      You are too funny! Haha

  4. Daniella

    6 Jan 2018 Reply

    Congratulations on all success you have had with this blog so far! I love this blog and can’t wait to see more from you! I have thought of doing income reports but I think my blog still may be too new. We shall see. Cheers!

    1. Alexis

      7 Jan 2018 Reply

      Thank you so much!

Leave a Reply

follow @fitnancials on instagram

  • As my income went up, so did my spending! Just because you make more doesn’t mean you’ll start saving more. 💸 I live off of $2,000 a month now and it’s very comfortable, but for many months I was spending $3,000 when I didn’t need to. This year, I’m focusing on buying less stuff, clothes, random Amazon purchases that I don’t use/need. 🙌🏼 I recommend setting up an auto transfer on payday from your bank straight to a high-yield savings account like @ally (who I use as well). Start saving when your income is low (even saving a small amount like $50 a month is a great start!) and saving will become easier when you start making more. 🌸
  • #ad I’ve been talking about credit scores a lot with friends…And what I’m hearing is shocking! I’ve heard horror stories of people co-signing for other people and then the person not paying any part of the loan, destroying the co-signers credit. 🤭⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ If this has happened to you, there are several things you can do to get back on track. ⁣✨⁣ ⁣⁣ 1. Pay off all bills on time either with automatic transfers or setting reminders on your phone.⁣ ⁣ ⁣ 2. Remove any negative items off your credit report.⁣ ⁣ ⁣ 3. Lower your credit utilization rate by paying off debt. Example: If you have a $10,000 max limit on your credit card, keep your balance below $3,000. And better yet, do your best to pay off all credit card debt and in the future, whenever you use your credit card, pay it off immediately.⁣ ⁣ ⁣ 4. Keep track of your credit score. That doesn’t mean checking it every day. Check it once or twice a year.⁣ ⁣ ⁣ 5. Once you have a good credit score, maintain it (obviously).⁣ ⁣ ⁣ 6. If you need more assistance with your credit score, I recommend going to @creditrepair.com. You can call @creditrepair.com for free and get a personalized credit consultation, credit report summary, and score evaluation and game plan.
  • I didn’t start seriously riding a bike until a couple years ago, and now I’m hooked. My boyfriend grew up in Steamboat Springs and was/is a SERIOUS cycler, so I obviously got into it as well. This was the first time I spent more than $100 on a bike and it didn’t come from Walmart. It’s one of my favorite *investments* for my health and “self-care”. We haven’t been in awhile because my boyfriend is taking 6 classes a semester and it’s always snowing everywhere. I can’t wait to ride again soon. This picture was taken going up alongside I-70 in Vail.
  • This statistic is shocking and makes me sad because starting our retirement fund when we’re young is crucial. Have you started saving for your retirement yet? What’s holding you back if you haven’t? What questions do you have about saving for retirement? I’m writing an article on this now.
  • My expenses have changed quite a bit in the past year, so I figured I’d give an update! ⁣💫 If you don’t read any of this caption, at least read the final paragraph. ✨ ⁣ This does NOT include my business expenses, which is sometimes up to $500 a month, some months only $200. Some months I give to family or charities and some months I don’t. Some months my dogs decide they want to go to the emergency vet, and some times they don’t! ⁣ ⁣ Rent, electricity, and internet is split in half of the total bill and the expense is shared with my partner and he pays the other half. Ex. Rent total is $1,100 and I pay $550 and he pays $550. ⁣ ⁣ I love spending money on life coaching and I’ve also thought about starting therapy for the real deep/trauma issues I faced when I was in high school.⁣ ⁣ Last time I shared my expenses, a lot of people got mad. Think about why you’re getting mad. It has nothing to do about me - it’s about you and your thoughts. If you’re one of those “it must be nice…” people, don’t comment. It’s not about me and my budget.⁣ ✌🏼 ⁣ And for the rest of ya… Thanks for the support and kind words! ⁣👍🏼 ⁣ P.S. I know some people spend way less than this - this isn’t a race or a competition. I spend the way I want to spend and I love spending money! Money is a tool that has done so many amazing things for me and my life. I’m not trying to spend the least amount or live as frugally as possible. I’m living and spending the way I want to.
  • I often talk about how to save money, but I don’t talk enough about the things I love spending money on. Money is a tool and I love using it for things that add to my life and make it better. 💕 I love spending money on my dogs, but prefer when it’s not on surgeries or emergency vet visits 😂 What do you like spending money on?
  • Things I’m focusing on in 2020. Love this graphic by @stacieswift 💕 What are you focusing on in 2020?
  • How many books did you read in 2019? ⁣ ⁣ In 2019, I read 50 books. When I was younger, reading was my form of *escaping* and helped me a lot. Now, I read because I truly enjoy it and love seeing life from different perspectives. The books I read in 2019 helped me start and max out my retirement accounts, plan out my year to get the results I want and grow my confidence in my relationships and my business. ⁣ My favorite books are listed in this here. You need to put these on your reading list! ⁣ What was your favorite book of 2019? I’ll put it on my reading list. 📖

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