How I Made Over $4,000 In One Month of Blogging: July Online Income Report

August 3, 2019

Sharing my July 2019 monthly income report today.

How I Made Over $4,000 In One Month of Blogging: July Online Income Report

I haven’t done an income report post since last year! Obviously, things continue to change at such a rapid pace in the blogging industry, and these days I work with even more brands and networks. Speaking of networks, be sure to read up on the Top 8 Best and Worst Influencer Networks if you haven’t already seen my list!

Although I’ve been working nonstop on the weekends capturing blog content, spending hours shooting outside for campaigns, there are months where I have less work to complete. July was busy, but not as busy as June or May for me. Ah, the freelance life! Some months can fly by faster than others because I am loaded up with campaigns to shoot for and create blog posts in collaboration with high profile brands. On the flip side, at times I’ve dealt with a lack of work. Some days all I hear is crickets even though I pitch to brands 2-3 times a day expecting to further the relationship and get started working together.

Dress | Earrings

For July, I was lucky to land quite a few lucrative spots with my favorite influencer networks, Muse and CLEVER. I partnered with Muse on a summer essentials post talking about what items I brought with me on my trip to Chattanooga which earned me a solid payout at the end of July. I also worked with CLEVER a couple of months ago and July is the month I received my payment.

July 2019 Blog Income

Muse: $850
Clever: $800
Social Fabric: $340
BrandBacker: $250
HerCampus InfluenceHer Collective: $335
Affiliate Networks (LIKEtoKNOW.it + ShopStyle) : $350
Direct Campaigns: $1200
Local Boutique Collaborations: $350

Total Blog Income: $4,475

For the month of July, I applied for several campaigns through influencer networks. I was lucky to have a lot of work to keep me busy! I worked on and completed a few Instagram and blog posts as well as posting Instagram Stories for a few of the campaign tasks.

Working with Muse

Muse is a platform I’ve talked about before in my last blog post covering the best and worst influencer platforms. Another reason why I love working with Muse? The blog post I created for the platform actually helped increase my blog page views by 10,000 views! My monthly traffic has skyrocketed thanks to the performance on this blog post. Not only was I provided with exceptional payment in return for my hard work, but the blog post continues to bring more visitors over to Affordable by Amanda. I am grateful for the opportunity I had this month to work with Muse, Neutrogena, and U by Kotex because I benefited from this successful campaign in more ways than one.

Neutrogena, U by Kotex Summer Essentials Campaign with Muse

Working With Social Fabric

I also enjoyed working on a campaign with Social Fabric for the very first time this month. I partnered with Social Fabric on a Purina Cat Food Instagram post and Instagram stories collaboration. It was a challenging post to complete, in the beginning, as I needed to document approximately 4 in-store Instagram stories while out shopping at the suggested retailer!

I was apprehensive to document my experience while talking to myself and recording my voice on my phone for the Instagram stories because there were a lot of customers roaming around the aisles. I was also approached by the store employees several times to ask if I needed assistance! I know the employees were only trying to help me out, but my anxiety totally got the best of me a few times and I took frequent breaks before I picked up my phone again to record my actions for the story portion of this campaign.

Social Fabric Campaign with Purina!

Direct Campaigns

As for a few direct campaigns, I was approached by a few brands to partner together this month. One of the brands I secured a second contract with includes Very Jane. I completed an in-feed Instagram post and blog post styling mom jeans for this brand that wrapped up in July. I felt really good about this direct campaign because I pitched my idea to the brand and they accepted it! I knew I had an idea in my mind to show various ways to style mom jeans, and the marketing team at Jane was excited to see what I could create.

July 2019 Blog Expenses

For the month of July, a couple of my expenses for my business included hiring a professional photographer and investing in a few new editing apps on my iPhone.

Professional Photographer: $150
Instagram/Facebook Advertisements: $200
Props/Additional Products for Campaigns: $100
Adobe Lightroom: $10 per month
Giveaways: $100

Total Blog Expenses: $600

My net income for July 2019 comes out to just shy of $4,000. I am happy that my expenses were not overbearing this month! Of course, when first starting out my blog, I needed to spend a lot more than I was making. It takes money to make money, right? If you are serious about investing in yourself (and your business) then you need to be strategic with where you spend it wisely.

These days I can get away with making more money than spending it which is a smart business move so I can put money into my savings account. In addition to having a successful July, I also have some financial goals to complete by the end of 2019.

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Goals for Next Month

As of right now, I have approximately 36,500 Instagram followers and my goal is to reach 45,000 by the end of the month.

I am planning on incorporating more Instagram Stories into my Instagram routine to engage with my audience and build on the relationships I’ve slowly formed over the years. I also have a goal to hit $5,000 in one month. I am in the process of pitching 2-3 brands each day in hopes to achieve this goal. I am also pitching through my favorite influencer networks to accomplish my $5,000 monthly target.

One tip I can leave you with is to: diversify your income streams.

I no longer depend on just ONE SINGLE platform to secure paid campaigns with. It’s vital to diversify your various income streams so you can pull revenue from all over the place.

July was a fun and exciting time, both personally and professionally. I also scored a complimentary stay at the Sirata Beach Resort on St. Pete Beach where I was able to capture beautiful content to share across my platforms while sitting back and relaxing with my boyfriend and friends for two nights on the beach. I also spent the weekend in Nashville, a seriously neat city, and enjoyed traveling with the money I earned from blogging.