July Blog Earnings

Since I started blogging about how to make money with your blog, I've received dozens of emails asking exactly how much I make by blogging. I know this is a sensitive topic and some bloggers refuse to answer, but if my readers are asking, I feel like I need to give an answer. If others don't, that is their choice, but I'm really just an open book so I figure I might as well.


I'm signed up with several affiliate networks but very few do I devote a lot of time to. My favorite at the moment is Escalate, with Blogsvertise and Logical coming in close seconds.


Your earnings will obviously vary, based on your stats, readers, and the time you put into each, but if you sign up with these networks and actually work, you will make some money. If you are not making money after a month, just email me and I will try to help you figure out what is going on. 




Escalate:


Logical:


Blogsvertise:


Sponsored Tweets:


Disclaimer: I am not an expert on blogging, or even on monetizing your blog. I just love to talk to everyone out there in Blog Land and I happened to stumble upon ways to make money by doing so. Even if I didn't get paid, I would continue to blog. But having somewhat of an income definitely helps justify my blogging addiction, no?

I'm Not a Highly Effective Blogger.

I was reading this nifty article over at BlogHer and have realized I may not be a highly effective blogger. Oops. 


#4 says bloggers are lifelong learners. I've got that covered. I learn something new every day. I learned today that if my 9 year old was an only child, she'd probably weigh about 30 pounds more. Why? Because now that her sisters are on vacation, I am letting her fend for herself and she has eaten frozen pizza 3 days in a row. Bad mommy. 


I've also learned that my readers think (know?) I have ADD. I was looking at my Alexa reviews today and saw this one from Real Mom Reviews. It says: Sadie is a mom to three beautiful girls. Her blog is full of stories on being a same sex parenting couple, coupon deals, and some amazing recipes (marshmallow brownies OMG yum)!!! She does have a bit of what I assume to be ADD, because she switches from subject to subject super fast, but THAT is what makes this site worth reading! :) -- When I read this review, I had to giggle (and call my mom, so she could too). I know I jump from subject to subject all the time. It probably drives some of you crazy! I just can't help it. Forgive me? 


That brings us to #5. It says effective bloggers are focused and consistent. Err... um... oh look, a butterfly! Just kidding. But seriously, I'm rarely consistent. I mean, I am consistent in the fact that I blog almost every day. And I'm also consistent in the fact that I change subjects at least once a week. So, maybe I am consistent after all?? 


#6 says effective bloggers plan ahead. I totally agree with this one, and if you want to be a good blogger you should try to plan ahead. This is one of those "do as I say not as I do" things, because even though I'm a planner in some ways (my budget, grocery list, etc), in other ways I am not (er.. blogging). Did I mention that my designer was up til 5AM configuring my layout because I emailed her saying "The guy from the newspaper is going to look at my blog at 7AM and I need a new layout!"? Yeah, bad blogger. Lack of planning = stress. So, it is best if you plan ahead. It leaves you much more relaxed. Trust me! 


Last but not least, #8 says: effective bloggers are self-starters. This is so true. So many people ask me "how do I start a blog", "how do I make money blogging", "how do I get more followers"? The answer is simple: be a self-starter. The readers are not going to come to you unless you go to them first! Find some blogs and comment on them. Leave genuine comments (not the annoying ones like "Great post come look at mine here ____".) Ones that show the blogger you ACTUALLY read their post! Ones that show true interest in what they have to say.


Overall, the BlogHer article is pretty correct. I am a known rule-breaker though, so of course a few of the points didn't apply to me. If you want to get started blogging, all I can say is just do it. Dive in head first. And if you have any questions at all, just email me or leave a comment! I always answer as soon as I possibly can, and I never charge to help people out. It's just something I love to do. Just remember to pay it forward. :)

Make $$ Blogging: Escalate Tutorial

I've received a few emails asking how to use Escalate. I created a video tutorial. Hope it helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

Making $$ blogging: Affiliates

I already made a post on how to make money with your blog, but I'm still receiving quite a few questions so I'm going to break it down into steps.


If you do not have a blog, you have to start on the other post. :) Also if you check out this page, you'll see all of my blogging tips.


If you do have a blog, but it's not active, sit down for an hour this evening and write 5-10 posts. Schedule them to post every other day for the next week or so. After the week is up, apply at the affiliates below.


If your blog is active, you're ready to start here. This is a message I send people that ask me about blogging for money.

The main way I make money is through EN. They offer $3.50 per referral (if you have 100 followers and get even half of them referred, that's a decent chunk of change), and they also pay really well on ads that you place on your website. The thing I love about EN is that they let you choose the ads, unlike some affiliate places. The link to sign up (it's free) is http://www.escalatenetwork.net​/signup/2828 .  If you have a fairly active blog, you'll be approved. It's harder to get approved for LM but I've earned about $50 from them this month so it's worth a shot to try them as well if you're wanting to make $$ blogging. The link to sign up with LM is (free): http://lm.logicalmedia.com/signup/CD13311

I don't blog just to make money. I blog because I love it. If you start your blog for the right reasons, it will grow. I spend a lot of time on my blog, so I figured I might as well make a little money with it as well, right? 

If you have any questions, leave them in the suggestion box at the top of this page. I will respond as quickly as possible. 

While you're here, be sure to check out some of my other posts! 

The next Making $$ Blogging post will be on how to boost your Alexa rank!

How to Make Money Blogging

This is the first post in a series I am doing. I was going to say 5 part series but it might be more, it might be less, so we are just going to call it a series. I have just started to make money with my blog and am super excited about it, so I wanted to pass some information along to others that might like to make money with blogging as well. If you have any questions at all, just leave a comment and I will answer as soon as possible.

Step 1: Create a blog. If you don't know how to do this, check out my video titled How to Make a Blog in 5 Minutes.

Step 2: Make your blog look professional. You can use a template from Blogger, just make sure it's crisp and clean. A customized header is not a must, but I definitely suggest it. Here is a post on how to make a header.

Step 3: Post. A lot! I don't mean ten times a day, but you must post at least every other day or your blog has a very small chance of being successful. Don't have time to post every day? Neither do I. Take an hour each week to write out 5 posts. Schedule them to post every other day (my blog video shows you how to publish posts at a later date).

Step 4: Visit other blogs! This is just as important as posting. If you are not networking, you are not going to be successful. Readers are not going to run to your blog when there are thousands upon thousands of others out there that are probably similar to yours.

Step 5: Sign up for affiliates. This part is sort of complicated, so I will just list my favorite affiliates here and then will talk more about them in the next post. I know many people use AdSense. I personally do not recommend them but you can always try it out and stop if you don't like the results. All of these affiliates are free to sign up for. If you click on the links rather than just visiting their websites through a search engine, I will also earn money or points for you signing up, so thank you for advance if you do this! :)

Swagbucks: Earn points or swag bucks that can be redeemed for gift cards. I've made about $100 from using their search engine and referring others.

Logical Media: One of my favorite affiliates. You place banners/ads on your blog and earn for people clicking on them.

Escalate Network: My favorite right now. You earn $3.50 off each person that signs up, plus they have decent pay outs for their offers.

LinkWorth: This one is so confusing I don't even know where to begin to explain it, but I've seen folks make upwards of $500 a month or more with this affiliate so I definitely recommend giving them a try.

Blogsvertise: Make $10-$20 per sponsored post. Great way to make big bucks with little work.

Tip: Don't make your blog too spammy. Letting folks know that you are blogging as a way to support your family is a great idea, but they don't want to deal with tons of flashy pop-up ads when visiting your page. So try to keep ads either in a post by themselves or on the side(s) of your blog. If you use my blog as an example, there are probably a few too many ads. I hope to have it reworked before the series is over so you can see what a blog should look like.

I will be posting my earnings with each network some time within the next month, so watch out for that post to get an idea of what type of income is realistic from these companies.