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

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

This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I receive a commission for purchases made through these links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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.

Before we get started, make sure to sign up for my free resource library and get access to exclusive printables all about saving money and building wealth, meal planning, and 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 21 Comments

  1. Natalie Say

    11 Mar 2020 Reply

    What are the requirements to have sponsored posts on my blog? Do I need to hit a certain threshold or milestone (say, 10,000 visitors per month)?

    Do you reach out to people or do they come to you for sponsored posts?

    Thank you for the transparency and for sharing your income. 🙂

    1. Alexis

      12 Mar 2020 Reply

      Hey Natalie! There are no set requirements and it truly depends on your niche and the brand you want to work with. For example, a major brand like Target will want someone with a massive audience, while a smaller, newer brand will be open to working with brands with a small audience.

      I reach out to brands for sponsored posts, but many brands contact me.

      You’re welcome! 🙂

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  • Has personal development changed anyone else’s life? 🌿 Here are 5 things you can incorporate into your life that can also make you wealthier.⁣ ⁣ 1️⃣ Create a morning and evening routine. An example of a morning routine can look like this: coffee, journal, quick exercise, saying affirmations out loud, meditate. When I follow a routine, my productivity is up and I get way more done. ⁣ ⁣ 2️⃣ Learn a new skill. Doing this increases your confidence and can even help you make more money. I recently taught myself how to crochet and it’s been a major confidence booster! I notice that things that I thought were really hard are things that I feel like I can actually do now. ⁣ ⁣ 3️⃣ Invest in yourself and your education by taking courses or growing yourself as a person. ⁣ ⁣ 4️⃣ Listen to a podcast daily when you’re walking your dogs or driving to and from work. Podcasts have a ton of helpful info! ⁣ ⁣ 5️⃣ Read 1 book a month. That’s 12 books a year. It’s amazing how much free info we have in books that can actually change our lives. I check out books at the library and Overdrive (free ebooks). I also sometimes used @scribd and @blinkist. ⁣ ⁣ Do you work on personal development?
  • I love all of these ideas. ❤️ Today’s such a beautiful day and I’m taking advantage of it by taking my dogs on a walk. I hope you guys are doing good and if you’re not, I’m thinking of you.
  • Thinking of you all in these crazy times. I’ve gotten back to working and doing my usual routine. My boyfriend and I are very blessed to have stable jobs. We are doing what we can to tip well and support restaurants and small businesses. ⁣ ⁣ Feelings of sadness come and go. I’m thinking about my community and small businesses. To make things better, I’ve written a list of things I’m going to do the day things go back to normal.⁣ ⁣ - Book a cruise for boyfriend and I ⁣ - Plan Wizarding World of Harry Potter trip ⁣ - Go to my favorite restaurants in town and tip double than usual ⁣ - Support local small businesses any chance I can ⁣ - Plan trip to visit family ⁣ - Get back to volunteering and supporting community. Reach out to nursing homes, homes for people with disabilities, animal shelters, farm sanctuaries, etc. ⁣ ⁣ I recommend making a list of things you plan on doing once life goes back to normal. It makes me really excited. I’m still living in the present and enjoying each day, but doing this exercise makes me optimistic and excited for the future. ⁣ ⁣ Love you guys.
  • I’d be lying if I said I’ve been feeling overall positive the past couple weeks. There’s been many ups and downs and so many unknowns. I didn’t work for a week. I shut down mentally. I had a panic attack today after not having one for almost a decade. I feel for so many people in the world struggling right now. It’s so easy for me to post something about what to do to stay positive and hopeful during this time, but it doesn’t feel genuine at this moment. I wanted to share this because I think it’s okay to feel crappy and feel all the feelings. I’ve been watching a ton of Netflix. Eating more than I usually would. This is a time I’m learning to forgive myself and learn it’s not always about trying to be happy and positive all the time. I feel sad right now and that’s okay. Thinking of all of you. P.S. Dogs make life so much better!
  • It's not news that small businesses are taking a huge hit right now. There are so many ways to support small businesses even if you have no money or a little to spend.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ You can:⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ - Leave 5 star reviews on Google (builds credibility to businesses and gets more people coming in!) Only leave 5-stars if you actually love the business, of course!⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ - Read blog posts and YouTube videos with ads ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ - Share your favorite small business with others ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ - Order at restaurants (to-go) or order gift certificates⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ - Purchase something if you have the means to⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ - Donate if you can. My gym membership is putting our membership on hold, but I have decided to donate this months amount anyway. You can also donate money to food banks like Feeding America and No Kid Hungry.⁣ ⁣ P.S. I have free resources you should take advantage of right now. Go to my bio and click "Free Resources" and you can get access to my free resource library, which I've recently updated! There are budget planners, meal planners, daily planners, and other fun printables.
  • There’s a lot of panic and fear going around the world right now for obvious reasons, but I’m choosing to feel calm AND also do my part as a younger person by not going to any public places. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Many of us have no choice but to stay at home right now. Here are some things to do during this time.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ 1. Now is a great time to start reading books. Libraries are closing down for a few weeks, but that doesn’t mean you can’t check out books. Download Overdrive or the Libby app and check out eBooks for free.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ 2. Reach out to loved ones, especially loved ones who are older and may feel a little fearful or not sure what is going on.⁣ ⁣ ⁣⁣ 3. Clean and organize your home. Put on Tidying Up with Marie Kondo and binge watch the series. It’s so good. ⁣ ⁣⁣ 4. Learn new skills that can reduce stress. I’m personally using this time to crochet, train my dogs via Udemy course, and taking advantage of other courses on Skillshare/Udemy.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ 5. Plays with the pups. Enough said.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ 6. Most importantly, focus on mental health by consuming less news media. Take advantage of free meditation and yoga videos on YouTube. I personally love Yoga With Adriene. This is also the best time to focus on personal development. Check out my last post for podcast recommendations.⁣⁣
  • Looking for a new podcast to listen to? Here are some of my favs. I listen to podcasts when I’m walking my dogs, riding my bike, or at the gym. I always find time to sneak in some podcast time. What are you currently listening to?
  • Saving $1,000 may be a lot easier than you think. Here’s a process to make it easier. ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣ 1. Find a motivating reason to hit your $1,000 goal⁣⁣⁣⁣ 2. Cut out unnecessary expenses (possibly fun subscriptions that you don't necessarily need, ex. fabfitfun boxes)⁣⁣⁣⁣ 3. Maximize discounts (ex. insurance companies offer many discounts that people don't know about)⁣⁣⁣⁣ 4. Negotiate bills like your cell phone and internet bill⁣⁣⁣⁣ 5. Earn more money with a side hustle ⁣⁣⁣⁣ 6. Automate savings by setting up an automatic transfer to go from checking > savings on payday⁣⁣⁣⁣ 7. Be intentional with your purchases. Will you be happy with this purchase 1 week from now? ⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣ I’m very intentional about what I’m spending money on, I have a motivating reason why I’m saving, and I check in and give attention & love to my money at least once a week.

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