My income increased from last month, which I'm super proud of!

A little about me.

I started FITnancials back in 2013 as a hobby blog and to document my 60-pound weight loss.

I spent around an hour a week on it and sometimes didn't touch it at all.

One year ago, I decided to go full-time on the blog and also quit my day job that was bringing me great income for someone my age.

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 I Went From $1,000 to $10,000 Per Month On My Blog In 1 Year
• How I Made $5,047 in August 2017 From Blogging
• How I Made $4,018 In September From Blogging

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

• Ibotta
• CreateandGo
• The Selling Family
• Pinecone Research
• Raw Till Whenever
• Maxbounty
• Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
• $5 Meal Plan
• Ebates

My #1 Recommendation For New Bloggers

If you've never taken a blogging course and aren't sure which one to choose, Blog With A Full-Time Job is IT.

Do you want to build a successful blog but have a full-time job?

Do you want a profitable blog but aren't sure what steps to take?

If so, you must check out Blog With A Full-Time Job.

This is THE course to take if you want a step by step plan to build a profitable blog.

Here are just a few of the things you'll get:

• A specific plan for launching, growing and monetizing your blog while working full-time
• The exact strategy to grow and monetize your blog to a six-figure blog
• Learn how to manage your mind, productivity, time management (all VERY important for working at home and running a successful business)
• How to set up a beautiful looking blog that is completely customizable
• How to write blog posts specifically for monetizing
• Sooo much more + tons of bonuses, templates, worksheets, etc.

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

• How To Start A Blog – Beginner Edition
• How I Doubled My Pageviews In 1 Month
• Officially A Full-Time Blogger + Tips For You

New posts from FITnancials this month

• 10 Work From Home Jobs Hiring For The Holidays That Pay Up To $70,000 Per Year
• How Melissa Made $133,000 Flipping Items In 2016
• Find Out How Brian Started A Six Figure Business With A Broom
• How To Make $18+ Per Hour As A Freelance Proofreader
• 15+ Finance Bloggers Share Their Top Money Saving Tips
• How To Make Over $10,000 Per Year By Selling Your Poop

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:

1) Choose a niche that already makes money (personal finance, health, and fitness, travel, etc.) and subniche from there. This means to go even deeper into a niche. Ex. Niche: Personal finance > Subniche: Personal finance for college students or personal finance for moms. 

2) Take a comprehensive blogging course. My #1 recommendation for new bloggers who want to build a profitable blog is Blog With A Full-Time Job. 

Blog With A Full-Time Job consists of:

• A specific plan for launching, growing and monetizing your blog while working full-time
• The exact strategy to grow and monetize your blog to a six-figure blog
• Learn how to manage your mind, productivity, time management (all VERY important for working at home and running a successful business)
• How to set up a beautiful looking blog that is completely customizable
• How to write blog posts specifically for monetizing
• Sooo much more + tons of bonuses, templates, worksheets, etc.

If you've never taken a blogging course and aren't sure which one to choose, Blog With A Full-Time Job is IT. 

3) Learn and absorb as much information about blogging as possible. Pinterest is a gold mine for this. Type in “blogging tips” in Pinterest's search bar and hundreds of helpful articles will come up. You can check all of my popular blogging articles here.

4) Figure out what outlet you want to use for blogging. Do you want to have your own blog? Or do you want to create a YouTube channel? Find out where your audience is and go from there. If you don't know yet, don't sweat it. You'll learn as you go. 

5) Create a blog with this easy tutorial. 

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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