How I Made $3,713.40 in One Month Blogging – December 2019 Blog Income Report
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This is a super long post! Use the table of contents below to navigate easily, or use the Pinterest pins at the bottom of the post to pin this post to save it for later!
First of all, how do you even make money blogging?
Yeah, blogging isn’t a new thing but it is still booming now more than ever! With trends moving more and more online these days, it is easier now more than ever to make money blogging.
But how the heck do people actually make money with a blog?
I wrote an entire blog post just on this topic here. But in short, bloggers make money multiple ways. And most bloggers will make the sum of their income through incorporating multiple different income streams. Each one falling into one of the five ways bloggers make money:
- Ads (display ads on your site.)
- Affiliates (selling products or services and making a commission off each sale.)
- Private Advertising/Sponsorships (Working directly with a company/brand and being paid to promote their product/service.)
- Products/Services (bloggers selling their own products or services.)
- And Free Gifts (being sent free product or services from brands or companies.)
You’ll see in my blog income report below that I use multiple different income streams to make my total monthly earnings of over $3,700!
For a more detailed breakdown of the methods that bloggers make money, read the full post, How Do Bloggers Make Money? – 5 Ways To Make Money as a Blogger here.
Why do I share my blogging income?
You see back in 2016 I was s new stay at home momma who was so sick of “just” being a stay at home momma. (I say “just” because we all know how much stinkin’ work being a mom is! There’s no “just” about it! It’s hard work that takes more hours and energy than you even have in you. It’s a full-time job in itself.)
But I craved more.
I was stuck in the mom rut of wanting more but also not wanting to sacrifice my ability to be home with my kids. I love those little guys! And being home with them was my #1 priority but still, I hated feeling like just a mom.
I hated feeling like my only purpose in life was to change diapers and make bottles. I hated seeing my husband leave every day for law school getting one step closer to his goals of becoming a lawyer. All while I stay stagnant, never progressing, stuck on my Groundhog’s Day of motherhood.
Then one day I saw a pin on Pinterest that read, “How I Made $12,484.68 in One Month as a Stay at Home Mom“. I clicked over to read a blog income report that told how this stay-at-home mom made a full-time income from home from her blog.
I was so inspired and remembered thinking, this was it!
This was what I needed. I had always been very entrepreneurial growing up so this blogging thing and starting your own low-cost business was right up my alley.
I started my blog a week later. All because of that one income report.
My blog has brought me the greatest purpose and fulfillment along with being a mom. It has pushed me and made me into the best version of myself for me and my boys.
Blogging changed my life. That blog income report changed my life.
So now I share my blogging income as a way to pay it forward. I hope that I can help inspire other moms who are struggling to find themselves in motherhood and help them to build their own successful blogs too.
Get my Free Start a Money Making Blog Guide
So, my friend, if you want to know how to start your own money-making blog, you can get my free guide and checklist below! Plus you’ll have an option to opt-in to my email list where I share my best tips, tactics, and blogging strategies with my community of bloggin’ mommas! Get the start a blog guide below!
Now on to the report. Income breakdown:
Check out my past income reports here:
- June 2019 Blog Income Report – $1,489.35
- $2,532.45 In One Month Blogging without actually blogging!
- How My Blog Made $2,198.24 in September 2019 – Blog Income Report
- I broke $3,000/month! + October Blogging Income Report
Now on to the report!
December 2019 Blog Income Report:
***Note that I only include money that has actually hit my bank account. Not money that I earned this month but hasn’t been paid out yet.
Affiliates
- Amazon Associates: $225.67
- Bluehost: $160
- Ultimate Bundles: $1,215.69
- Pinterest Launch Plan: $43.20
Affiliates Total: $1,644.56
Ads
Ad Total: $1,626.39
My Own Products
Etsy: $199
The Blog Shop/Tripwires: $243.45
(Where I sell my Mom to Momtrepreneur eBook, 47-Page Blog Planner, and 46-Page Ultimate Mom Planner)
Product Total: $442.45
Total December Blog Income: $3,713.40
December Traffic & Stats
Pageviews: 117,549 (Down from 121,340 in November)
Pinterest Followers: 5,549 (+444)
Instagram Followers: 2,150 (+439)
Facebook Likes: 8,907 (+273)
Facebook Group Members: 441 ( +46 –You can join the Blog For Profit group here!)
YouTube Subscribers: 2,640 (+239)
Podcast Downloads: 1,022 (+245)
Full-Time income!
Y’all remember back in my October income report when I was so excited to tell you I had earned over $3,000 that month but it wouldn’t be paid out December? Well here it is!
This month was my best month yet with the blog and I feel like I can finally say I make a full-time income from my blog!
I’ve had many coaches tell me that full-time income could be making at least $2,000 a month and since considering what other 24 year olds out there without degrees would be making, I’d say $2,000 a month qualifies as full-time. So technically I’ve been making a full-time income from my blog since August 2019!
I am so proud of everything I achieved in 2019 and am excited to push the envelope in 2020 even more!
What Worked this month:
Yes Pinterest, again!
In September and October Pinterest had a big update that affected the traffic of so many! Tons of bloggers were (and still are) taking a big hit and continue to try to bring their traffic back up to where it was before.
My account, however, only continues to grow! For whatever reason, the update that Pinterest made didn’t affect my account negatively at all. In fact, my traffic is only growing. And I continue to believe that is due to the strategies I learned from Jennifer Maker.
I bought Jennifer’s Pinterest Launch Plan eBook back in March and was so impressed by how much it increased my traffic! I always had great success with Pinterest but her strategies are what pushed me over the edge into a higher and faster growth!
And the thing that I just can’t get over is the fact that I didn’t pay a couple hundred dollars for it! I still cannot believe that she is giving away this quality and quantity of information for so little. But I’m 100% certain that as more people find out about it and see success with her strategies, the price will go up.
***Update! The Pinterest Launch Plan is available now for only $27! Snag it here while you can!***
I’ve never gotten so much value out of such a small price before. (Well, except from the Genius Blogger’s Toolkit)
I highly recommend investing in this Pinterest Training. I believe it is the best training out there and you won’t find a value like this at this price anywhere else.
Genius Blogger’s Toolkit
Back in October the Genius Blogger’s Toolkit when on sale for 1 week only like it does every year and I am a HUGE believer in the toolkit. I seriously believe that it is the best blog training out there for the price. You won’t find the same kind of value anywhere else.
So when the toolkit came out, I was so excited to tell my readers about it! And the best part? I get paid for telling my readers about a product I would be promoting even if I wasn’t getting paid! (Guess what? I DID promote it way before I got paid to!)
The GBTK was a big factor in my big income increase this month. But the bad part about this is it’s not a steady stream of income. So I’ll need to continue to find other streams of income to supplement to keep this kind of monthly earnings.
Jenna Kutcher’s Instagram Lab
I had taken Jenna Kutcher’s Instagram Lab a while ago but wasn’t quite impressed by the results. But then she re-did her course in 2019 so I decided to go through it again.
Well, I honestly think having grown as a business and learning more about my purpose and misson, along with who it is I serve combined with Jenna’s strategies make a big impact on my Instagram this month!
In late November I decided I wanted to really hit Instagram hard and cultivate a community for my readers on there. So I started November 19th with 1,711 followers and in just 30 days I had grown my following by 400! And if you look back at any of the last income reports of 2019 where I would see increases of 10-ish followers each month, you know 400 is huge!
I even had a viral (viral for me) post that got over 1,200 likes!
So thanks to Jenna’s Instagram Lab and getting to know my audience and purpose better, Instagram seems to be continually climbing!
Goals for 2020
2019 was MY YEAR! If you follow me on Instagram, you saw just how much I accomplished in 2019 and I’m planning to do even more in 2020.
- Hit 200k pageviews a month!
- Launch my first course!
- Hit $6,000 months!
- Hit 10k Instagram Followers!
- And grow the podcast to 5,000 downloads a month!
Blogging seriously changed my life. And It is my mission to help others have what I have and feel the way I feel. So if you want to learn how to start a blog, you can join my blogger squad and snag my free guide below!
The Comments
Annalisa
Hey Cassie I just found your blog and then your podcast and I just wanted you to know that as a small growing and learning blog I appreciate your authenticity. So many other blog pages haven’t given me real knowledge or advice to actually bring success. But you ACTUALLY explain things and have a raw approach.
Okay I’m done Rambling thank you so much
SideGains
Congratulations Cassie… this is a very detailed and consequently inspiring post!
I always enjoy reading about bloggers’ income successes, it definitely helps to motivate. I think it’s also great to find people blogging about they’re achievements in a relatable way as you’ve done… I’m glad you decided to pay it forward!
I’m presently writing a roundup post about achievable incomes for new bloggers, to help counteract the overwhelming expectations that the +$100k blogging unfortunately create. I love their income reports too, but they are in a minority.
I’m going to include you in this roundup, since I think your report ticks the boxes. I’ll drop you a message when I’ve pressed publish!
Thanks again for being so open with your December stats and good luck in 2020!
Nikki
This is incredible girl!! Just stumbled upon your Podcast and I’m loving it – keep up the great work!!
Kaya
Honestly, reading your blog gives me so much hope! I’ve recently started my blog and really aiming for making a full-time ‘job’ out of it one day!
Thanks for all the information you shared with us!