Fall Income Report 2018

I know you are probably curious to know just HOW MUCH money one can profit from blogging.

My friend and fellow blogger Morgan always details her income reports on a monthly basis and I love checking up on her results. She has phenomenal success on some platforms while I’ve seen barely anything in terms of earning a profit from the same sites!

However, I’ve found my own sources of income on other various networks as stated below in my full report.

We have curious minds and the blogging industry is still so new that it can be confusing for most people to understand how to turn blogging into a full-fledged career to those don’t have Internet jobs.

I’ve written a few previous posts on “How to Build a Blog on a Budget” and “Sharing my Blogging Journey” but I’m finally opening up about profits regarding the money I make each month from blogging.

You should also refer back to my latest post describing my daily schedule as a blogger which will pinpoint where I allocate all of my blogging time.

Why Am I Sharing My Income Report?

You may be wondering why I’ve finally decided to open up about getting paid for the content I produce.

Well, ever since my blog turned into something more than just a side hustle, I’ve wanted to become transparent about the industry.

Yes, I use affiliate links to make a small commission from a purchase you make on my blog or Instagram pages. I have a disclosure policy on the top of my blog if you wish to learn more about this process.

How Do You Make Money With Affiliate Links?

However, I don’t rely solely on affiliate links to make an income. I am constantly e-mailing and pitching to brands at all hours of the day to potentially establish new relationships with my favorite designers, department stores, and beauty products.

I want to share my first income report with you to show you an exact break down of my expenses and my revenue. I have been blogging for over four years now, yet I’ve only recently started to see a great return on my investments (hello, Econ degree terminology!).

As someone who also works for an SEO company, I know how important it is to seek multiple revenue streams of income. I am part of many influencer marketing platforms to work with some amazing companies to create beautiful content together.

PRO TIP: Get yourself on any platform you can! All of them! Don’t hesitate to join 5-8 different sites to earn an income from each platform on a monthly basis. Don’t sell yourself short, either.

Be confident with your media rates and STOP. TAKING. FREE. PRODUCTS. 

This is one of my big blogger tips as someone who started out accepting anything and everything. Once you begin accepting free products, you are essentially telling the brand that you don’t need any payment for the hard work you have done for them.

It’s not worth your time if you put in 100% and only receive compensation in the form of a dainty sugar scrub. Trust me. I’ve been there, done that, just don’t succumb to the millions of scams online!

Expenses:

• Giveaways: $60
• Target fall decor shopping: $50
• Facebook ads: $30
• Pinterest ads: $80
• Adobe Lightroom Mobile: $9.99 
• Clothing purchases: $250

Total: $480

Income:

Note: I track my income as it is earned, not as it is paid out.

Most programs that I belong to do not pay out for 30 days or until they hit a certain exact dollar amount.

Even as a campaign finishes, you may not get paid until anywhere from 30-90 days after the campaign is completed.

• BrandBacker sales: $450
• Aspire IQ (formerly known as Revfluence) sales: $115
• Cohley sales: $400
• LIKEtoKNOW.it affiliate sales: $360
• HerCampus Media Campaigns: $600
• ShareASale affiliate links: $400
• HSN blog content: $900
• ShopStyle Collective affiliate sales: $320
• Event Fees: $200
• Blogger Ads: $200
• Target affiliate sales: $150
• Direct Brand Campaigns: $1,000

Total: $5,095

My goals for the next quarter of 2018 are to continue boosting traffic to my site using Pinterest and to grow my Instagram account to 50,000 followers.

I think Pinterest has the potential to make your blog posts go viral if they have the right combination of graphics and content.

I used to let my Pinterest account sit and I would wait around for others to interact with my pins. Simply letting the pins do the work for me is not the answer. I will pin the pretty pictures that I create using Canva onto many of the group boards I am included in.

My Instagram page has some work to be done. Although my page has 27,000 followers, I would like to increase this number by the end of the year. It’s difficult to grow your Instagram page right now, but I am determined to push past the problems with the algorithm and fight on!

I need to make sure my feed looks consistent! I struggle with photo editing that flows and looks cohesive because I am constantly looking at other bloggers’ feeds and feeling inspired to switch things up. Blame it on my creative genes.

I flip-flop between a few editing styles and I hope I can focus on choosing the best edits for my feed in the future. My goal is to hit 50,000 followers by the end of December.