Friday, October 16, 2009

Can You Make Money Blogging? - Month Two

It is my two month blog anniversary. I think a monthly blogging update will become regular. To read first month's anniversary post, check out Can You Make Money Blogging? It goes over why I got started and how much I made in that first month.

I want to reveal a little more of why I got started, because why is so important. My husband and I moved to where we are now to be closer to his school. We moved without a job lined up. He was getting $1200 per month in his old job. Our apartment was $400, utilities included, and we had one kid.

When we moved, I had just had our second kid. Our new apartment was $600 and my husband's job, at that time, was bringing in about $900. I was offered a job I could do with my kids and worked for the first few months. I was breastfeeding, but my baby was slowly needing more and more formula. He was being weaned. I was horrified when I realized what I had done, so around the New Year, I quit, wanting to build up my milk production. It was then we realized we were pregnant again. I wasn't going to go back to work, so, I started looking over our budget.

I have worked passionately since then to cut our budget further and further. I have learned a lot about living on a small budget, and I have a lot to say about it. So, two months ago, I started a blog. Earning money wasn't the sole focus of this blog; sharing my ideas was. But I wanted to see if I could earn money blogging.

So, how have I done this month?

Amazon referrals: $3.35
Swagbucks: 1040 bucks, or about $115.00 in Amazon.com gift cards
Adsense: $96.97

For swagbucks, if anyone has a blog out there, promote swagbucks. Their referral program is amazing. For everyone who signs up and uses swagbucks, they match you their first 100 search and win swagbucks. I didn't know it was such a sweet deal when I recommended it. I thought I would get some kind of a sign up bonus. You get nothing off of a referral that doesn't use it, you get nothing past the first 100 swagbucks, and you don't benefit if your referrals refer others. The Amazon gift cards are going to go a little to Christmas, but mostly to my husband's school books for next semester.
For those of you who don't know, swagbucks is a search engine that pays you back a part of the profit they get when you search. I wrote a whole post about it, Everyone Should Use Swagbucks.

Adsense has done real good, too. Next month I'll be getting a payout, which you need $100 for. That will be going directly into savings, which has been depleted from the midwifery expenses.

I only use an Amazon promotional link on something I own and use myself, and actually recommend other people buying. I prefer using Adsense and swagbucks, as I earn without you spending, and with swagbucks, we earn together.

My blog has grown in publicity, although I have halted putting my name out there as I once did. I've discovered my blog on many blogrolls and am tickled to find a few reviews about myself. Here are some of my favorite reviews:

Dogfood Provider referred to me as "real renegade".
The Art of The Take Down gave an amusing and pretty balanced view of my perspective.

So, can you make money blogging? Absolutely. The growth of this blog has astounded me, and it has been a challenging juggle with my family and regular routines. I still love doing it, and have plenty of unpublished ideas, so I have no plans to stop soon.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry, I know its probably preggy-brain but your title reads "Can you make money BOGGING"

I don't know about the USA but here in Africa that means doing something not of liquid origin in the toilet ;-)

Thanks for the laugh!
(Tracy in SA))

Emily said...

Yes, my "L" is jammed on the keyboard and I have to press real hard to get it. Spell check doesn't do the title, but it's fixed now. (:

Linda said...

Nice to see that you are making some money just months into the game :) I would suggest you check out some of the other affiliate programmes out there to help push your earning even much higher.

I've go a few to the right side of my blog, check them out and see if they work for you.

Good luck with blogging and hope you continue earning.

Helen Neely

http://valashiya.blogspot.com

natalie said...

Congrats!

Maybe its my adblockplus, but I don't see the adsense ads. Where are they on the blog?

FMAM said...

Hi Emily,

I read your blog in England, Europe and just wanted to say congratulations on the new arrival and how much I enjoy what you say !! We live in a very expensive area near London and I do not have neighbours or friends who think like you and I about frugality !! Like you I stay at home with children to make ends meet so my husband can do a job we both believe in, which is low paid.

Keep writing and good luck with everything !

Best wishes,
Fiona

Anonymous said...

Just curious, your first post for this blog is dated July 1st. That would have made October 1st your three month anniversary. How are you coming up with October 16 as your two month anniversary?

Emily said...

Natalie, there are some on the side, right above the photo of my family.

Anon, I postdated my Welcome page and FAQ to July. I don't know how to set them up as page without making them blog posts, and I didn't want to interrupt the regular flow of posts. I actually started blogging August 16.

Rachel said...

Emily, I think you are smart to use the talents God gave you to help support your family. A friend of mine called me a few days ago. She has been working as a cosmetologist out of a small shop in her laundry room, since her last son was born four years ago. Now that he is in pre-school she looked into moving into a shop in town (she lives in the country), but adding up all the costs, including after school care for the kids, it was going to cost her $800.00 a month just to do that! She has decided to plug along in her shop at home. Of course the economy has affected her business, and her husbands job in construction was cut by $5.00 an hour. So anything a mom can do that puts her kids first is the thing to do.

Lori said...

I think this might be your best post. It is a great explanation of your process and goals.

Elizabeth said...

Emily, have you ever seen the magazine "Countryside"? It seems like something you would love if you haven't...such simple,down to earth articles about saving money, growing your own food, making bread, making clothing, living off the land, and so much more. I have some back issues if you are interested, would gladly mail them to you free. E-mail me if you;d like them. I actually met my hubby through that magazine (after he read an article I wrote and he wrote to me) 9 years ago.

Lyn said...

I'm very glad you don't encourage people to buy stuff - which to me is a total oxymoron for a frugal blog! Personally, blogging for money is not something I do or believe in, but that's just me. God always seems to take care of us.

I see so many blogs that are "all about" the money. It really turns me off. Especially the ones that claim to be so frugal yet they don't share honestly about all they receive, or "truly" earn. Or they are not 100% upfront on what you are clicking on, etc. I am not inspired by people who make $80K or whatever and save thousands or pay off thousands in debt. That's easy! I'd much rather read about someone who is living on less and who is making it. That's the real deal to me.

I just hope that you'll continue to blog for the love of it and to help others. I think God will bless you for that.

What I appreciate about you is that you are honest and share your real numbers. If someone is going to have a frugal blog, then be willing to do the same if you want to really inspire people.

Anonymous said...

Hello, Emily!
I just recently found your blog, and I must say, a lot of your posts have given me some great ideas for living a bit more frugally. This may not be the most appropriate post for this link but I couldn't help but think you would appreciate this woman's youtube channel if you haven't already heard of it.
http://youtube.com/user/Depressioncooking
She has tons of great recipes her family used during the great depression and I can say from experience a lot of them are quite good (and obviously extremely inexpensive). Definitely worth checking out.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I get "reviewed" on one of those sites you mentioned as well. That is how I found your blog. I followed a referal link to one of those sites that I found in my SiteMeter, and I saw you and I being slammed in the same paragraph, so I mosied on over here.

Cool blog you have here.

I emailed you yesterday, don't know if you've gotten a chance to check it yet. It's a general frugality email. :-)

Olivia said...

Congrats on your successes, just two months in! I have a feeling this is just the start of great things for you with this blog :)

Cheers!

Dogfood Provider said...

Hi Emily, thanks for the link! I actually moved my blog from wordpress to blogspot so the new link to that review is at http://2dogcasa.blogspot.com/2009/10/links-on-emergency-funds-frugal.html.

Three cheers, Renegade!

momstheword said...

That is what I enjoy about your blog, you are sharing how you are living frugally. There are lots of great blogs out there that give you coupons and links and things, but I like the more personal blogs too, like yours.

BTW, I am having a free blog makeover giveaway. You have a beautiful design but thought I'd mention it anyway as it's free. Please delete this if my link bothers you, I'm not trying to spam you or anything. Just mentioned in case you were interested!

MamaMay said...

Ok, so I know I am coming late to the game but what is Swag bucks? Is it an Ad thing I add to my blog?

Emily said...

MamaMay, I have loved waking up to your comments this morning! Swagbucks is a search engine, like google, that basically pays you to search. You can earn through referrals, which I do by writing blog posts about it, like this one:

http://under1000permonth.blogspot.com/2009/09/everyone-should-use-swagbucks.html

Post a Comment