Making My First $1000 From Blogging

This post may contain affiliate links to items I love, and I am confident you will too! All opinions are my own, however, I may receive a small commission on purchases. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For any health advice I give on nutrition and weight loss, make sure you check with your doctor, as I am not a health professional.

I’ve been blogging for almost a year now, but I haven’t gotten too much into income reports like some of the other bloggers you will find. I just didn’t want to report $20 here and there, and I was more interested in writing. That is my true passion. Writing about motherhood. My goal is to continue to write and develop my writing, but also have my blog provide an income. When the day came that I added up the income streams, and they were over $1,000 I couldn’t believe it! Skip to the bottom of the post for the breakdown of the income streams.

Since I wrote this post a year ago, I have gotten myself in the 5k range in terms of income for my blog, and a lot of that is because of sponsored posts. You don’t have to have just a lot of traffic for sponsored posts, and I highly recommend  you read how I made 10k in sponsored posts my first year blogging.  The strategy that got me this first viral pin, is still the strategy I stand by and use today. I was able to get over 25k page views in my second month of my second blog. Mind blowing!

When I started this journey, I definitely didn’t start the right way to make money. If I did, I would’ve hit this mark a lot sooner. But, I learned and wrote about that to help you all as well.

Most of my exponential growth is due to a couple ebooks that rocked my traffic world. I wrote about that as well. It’s super important to invest in expertise and your blog. I know you don’t want to hear another blogger promoting more affiliate links to products. I don’t promote much in the blogging world, but these two books really changed my blogging life. Let me tell you exactly how they did, then you can decide if you are ready to invest in your blog.

PS! Carly just let me know she re-launched her Pinteresting Strategies book with a discount code just for you guys! MOP15OFF for a 15% discount until the 15th of this month August!!

First, I started rocking Pinterest. I can’t tell you how stupid I feel for not putting more attention here in the beginning. Instagram is my jam, and I even have a small book out on Instagram. But, it doesn’t provide the quality traffic like Pinterest does. When I started, I had no clue what group board was, how to join or even create a viral pin. I’ve created a few viral pins now, and my first one has been saved to almost 5k boards.  I give all the credit to Carly over at Mommy on Purpose. I encourage you to get her book if you can. Its not much, and you will end up earning all of that back. One thing you want to do is create four pins per post. I always do this!! You’ll notice that I don’t have Pinterest images in my posts. I don’t like how they look, but its not good. I have a plan to go back to all my posts and hide Pinterest images. Some day. So, if you want to be smarter than me, add your Pinterest images in your posts right away, and make sure you make four pins. I change up my images and titles a bit, so I have more of an opportunity for one to take off. Usually the other pins do well when one does, so it adds more traffic!

Second, I focused more on traffic. I stuck to the Pinterest method described in the book, and I pushed myself to learn more, specifically with SEO and social media sharing by grabbing this book. I learned some very important SEO lessons. I believe these are a huge part of my traffic increases. I am growing quickly every month, and I am hitting major milestones. I also used the blog structure guide to create a better navigation for my readers. Its important your readers can find more of what you are looking for. I finally made the first page of Google for “craving sugar while breastfeeding.” This helps bring in some extra traffic, and that will grow as I take time to focus more on key words. You can get ideas by typing in a search term, then scroll to the bottom where Google suggests more searches. Use those as your inspiration for post titles! Titles are super important. Like everything. If they aren’t relevant with key words and enticing, the post isn’t worth reading.

Third, I hit the above 20k a month milestone that opens a lot of doors for bloggers. If you can get here, then you can qualify for more ad networks and influencers sites. 

I found this gem of a book that tells you everything you can apply for to make money at all the monthly traffic milestones. She even tells you what to do if you are less than 1,000 pageveiws a month, so you can start bringing in some money.

Because I got her book, my eyes were opened to a world for bloggers at the higher monthly traffic points I didn’t know existed. That’s where I’ve been able to make my 1,000. She goes over everything money related. I signed up for the ad network she suggested because I met the pageview requirements, and I am at $200 in a couple weeks already! I can’t believe it. Her book opened doors I didn’t know were out there. That’s the beauty of investing in bloggers who are farther along than you. They know so much more!

My Massive Traffic Boost: 6k to 40k Page views in Two Months

How I Turned $17.99 Into Over $300 With One Blog Post

Want the real trick to traffic, without any books? Content!!

I continue to use my analytics to see what my readers want, and I create more and more of what they like to read. I used my first viral pin as my foundation. I realized what my readers were looking for, and I continue to write as much as I can on that topic. I love the topic, and I can write on it all day, all the time, so its really a win win. That is really where you are going to ensure you are succeeding. Look at your top post. Why do readers want to read it? What information are they getting from it? Think of as many informative posts as you can surrounding that general topic. Readers are striving to learn more, so give them all the information you can!

Here’s the breakdown of where I made the money. 

Sponsored Posts: $700 (some from the new networks and two from Instagram! I have a small account, yet I still get sponsored post requests from Instagram as well as my blog. Here’s my post on how to connect with brands)

Amazon Affiliate: $65 (this was paid this month, but is actually from two months ago, when traffic was way less. I’m excited for next month’s payment)

Affiliate Income Other Affiliates from bloggers: $300 (I have been very very careful about where I’ve spend my money. There are a couple books I don’t promote because they didn’t help me much. These are the only ones that have actually helped. These three books only cost me $17.99 + $20 + $19.00 (two of the books have increased since I bought them. This usually happens with truly quality products) If you think about it, it’s not that much to spend to learn so much. If you are really serious about blogging, I highly recommend these books. I just bought the Make Money Blogging at Any Level book last month, and It’s helped me more than double my income from last month. I was below $500 last month.

So, what you can take from this is that traffic is important. More traffic opens more doors for income. Brands are willing to pay you more when your traffic is higher. Its just a reality of blogging. You can also realize that buying other bloggers products is a good thing. Bloggers write on what they’ve learned, and what’s worked for them to try and help. That’s exactly what I did in my Instagram book. I believe in supporting other bloggers, as well as capitalizing on their expertise. It’s worth $20-70 in my mind.

I am super interested in the Elite Blogging Academy. I may just find myself enrolled here soon. Let me know in the comments if you are interested as well, and leave an affiliate link to any books that you love! I am always looking to learn more and grow!

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