Monday, November 16, 2009

Can You Make Money Blogging - Month Three

It feels like I just did the one and two month anniversary posts, and now it's month three. Happy Anniversary to me!

I've heard that most bloggers quit before three months. I've thought of quitting a few times, but I knew I'd regret it and I'm glad I didn't. Overall, this has been a lot of fun to me. I've hit some big mile stones this month, too. I got to hold my first giveaway and I topped 200 Google followers, $200 in Adsense, and 200,000 page views.

I thought I would slow down blogging when Thomas came, and I've cut out some Sundays, but for as long as I write more posts in a week than there are days in the week, I will continue to publish at least six times a week.

I do wonder if I can go on forever. I mean, will I have something new to say about life on a little budget every day for the rest of my life? Probably not. At some point, I'm sure I'll be writing just a few times a week.

Okay, so what have I made this month?

Adsense: $81.06
Swagbucks: 2310 swagbucks, or roughly $210 in Amazon.com gift cards
Amazon: $8.42

These are my totals for all three months combined:

Adsense: $226.53
Swagbucks: 3415 swagbucks, or roughly $310 in Amazon.com gift cards
Amazon: $11.77

According to problogger.net, most of the bloggers who earn money from their blogs earn less than $100 per month.

I've got to say, I'm pretty impressed with my earnings, but we haven't seen most of this money yet. My first Adsense payout will be mailed at the end of November. Some Amazon gift cards have been spent. We got a book for our upcoming anniversary, When Sinners Say "I Do", chosen by my romantic husband and we've gotten a few Christmas presents. There are many gift cards sitting in my swagbucks account, taunting me, trying to entice me into spending them on something I don't want or need. Yes, money does that to me, too.

Seriously, swagbucks is something I promote not just because I make a killing off of it, but because my readers do, too. For the 3415 swagbucks that I have made, my readers have won that same amount of swagbucks. Swagbucks is simply a search engine, powered by Google, that pays you back a part of their advertising revenue. They have a good thing going, and a generous referral program.

So that's my monthly earnings. It hasn't really effected our monthly spending. As long as our spending stays "Under $1000 Per Month," I don't feel like I need to change the blog's title. Is that fair? This blog has kind of become a catch-22 for me. Ooops. Why didn't I anticipate that this would be an abnormally popular blog before I named it?

Also, now that I'm over 90 days old, I qualify for BlogHer advertising, but they're not looking for new bloggers right now. I'm on the notification list for when they are, though. They are quite different from Adsense, and I think they would be a better fit for my blog, since Adsense hasn't figured out what it is I am blogging about. If I got in with BlogHer, which has colored advertisements, you may see more colored pictures, too. I even found this background from Shabby Blogs that is so pretty, I am considering going to part color anyway. Seriously, looking at this background may make my eyes happier than looking at my current background.

So, how do you make money blogging?

The concept is simple: write an interesting blog that others want to read, then tell others it exists. The execution can be a little trickier. I outlined how I did it in this post and this post.

21 comments:

Simple in France said...

Hah! That's kind of funny. What will you do if you start to rake in even more than you already have? You'll have to start a second blog: the frugal milionnaire, perhaps. . .Besides, you could always put the extra income into an account for your kiddos--in case they need books for college or a musical instrument or something beyond the budget later on in life.

It sounds like you're still being very frugal and haven't let your extra income go to your head. I know you inspire me to keep snipping back at our budget.

nbjenni said...

Wow, it took me aout 4 months to reach the $100 mark on Adsense. Make sure you put them on your feeds, too.

I've made roughly $90 from Amazon, and just started this last month. I recommend stuff that I use for photography, and have had a few people purchase some pricey equipment using my referral link.

And from Swagbucks I've earned about $50 in giftcards. I think I have about 80 friends on there.

Keep up the good work!

Patty said...

Congrats on your blog success thus far. A couple of months ago I thought about starting one but figured "there are too many out there as it is". I build my own road block and you've shown (and said in one of your other posts) that if I believe there are too many businesses or too many recipes out there its harder to start one and really be become a success at my passion.
As far as color. I like what you have now but you've shown that your ideas and practices aren't always black and white so maybe a little color would jazz it up.

Anonymous said...

I do like your blog. You live a life very different from mine, but I am always looking for ways to save. I think I like reading you too because you have opinions but you aren't a know-it-all and you have a good attitude. Keep it up!

Jen

♥ JLB said...

Extra income is a positive thing. Especially in the state of the economy we're in - enjoy it, keep blogging like you do, ignore the people who just enjoy arguing with random internet people and.. have fun! Something to look back on.

Clisby said...

Heck, you can buy food from Amazon. True, it's not *frugal* food, but if you want a special treat sometime, at least you can enjoy it without having it clutter up your apartment.

Jena Webber said...

Wow! Good job for you! I've been at this for two years, and I'm not at the level of readers that you are! I don't think I network enough. I just find a few that I like and read them. I do like blogher. You will do great on it. This is the kind of blog they like.

Anyway, I am making yogurt RIGHT now because of You, little chica! I tried before and should have strained it. So, now it is straining in the fridge. I am interested to know if you have made other forms of fermented vegetables, and which ones did you like? (sauerkraut or kimchee, or?) Also, have you tried Piima cream (Sally Fallon method)

Love ya! Jena

Emily said...

Clisby, there is some food on Amazon that we've been considering, particularly kefir, which is an investment food for us.

Org Mommy, I've made the cortido from Nourishing Traditions and LOVE it. I'm going to try some fermented fruit next. I haven't tried Piima cream yet.

Clisby said...

Amazon also has some interesting spice/spice blend items. If you have access to a Whole Foods, or some similar store that sells spices in bulk, it's probably not worthwhile. Otherwise, you could experiment with new flavors.

I'm going to try the cortido. We love kim chi (when I get around to making it), so I'm sure we'd like this. My father-in-law used to make sauerkraut in big ceramic crocks, but I've never tried it. We're big fans of refrigerator pickles - we still have jars of pickled jalapenos and bread-and-butter pickles from the summer.

Blessed said...

I gotta say, while i really like the black and white thing you have going, the "alternatate" background made me say "ooooooooooooooh!"

Jenny @ The Zepf Life said...

How are you making so much with adsense and the Swagbucks? I am not making hardly anything and am hoping for this to supplement my part time income so that I can quit.

Is there anyplace I need to check out to get my blog name out there? Any tips? I would appreciate it.

By the way, I am the one that you gave the information to in an email to get me started!

Thanks!

Emily said...

Jenny, I made very little in my first month. I think I recommended problogger.net to you via email; most of what I know I learned through them. I also found this site:

http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com/

It has a list of blog directories to submit your blog to, as well as a ton of other info. It takes time to make money, and my blog is unusually successful for a new blog, but it can work if you stick with it. Also, if your looking for blogging as a means of income, this tutorial, recommended by one of my readers, may be helpful to you. It was for me.

http://www.aselfsufficientlife.com/make-money-online.html

Unknown said...

Hi! Do a post on how to make kim Chi. I love the flavor but haven't found out much about it. You forgot to add in the $120 in stevia you received as income from your blog! Thanks, Lisa

robyn stires said...

what are you top 3 tips to get a following? and to get adds on your page?

Emily said...

Robyn,
For adds, you just need to sign up with Adsense or whatever ads you want.
For getting a following, I only have two tips:
1) Write something you are passionate about
2) Find like-minded blogs/bloggers and comment on posts that resonate with you, linking back to your blog

Anonymous said...

I used to blog and be fairly popular. I think it was the topics - healing from abuse, world travel. I fell out of it after the kiddo and well my life isn't as exciting maybe;) I'm considering jumping back into it. Keeping it random probably. -Cris

BEAN said...

thanks Emily for your tips and info.. Robyn

Kristin @ Meanbean said...

I want to thank you for a) your blog and b) explaining the ways you're making money in very no-nonesense terms. It has inspired me, and I have signed up for Swagbucks and added Ad Sense to my blog as well.

I don't have the following that you and other bloggers have, but no one's the same! :) I simpy wanted to say thank you again, for all this.

[LJT] said...

I just wanted to congratulate you on your success! It's amazing the results you can see when doing (writing) something you are passionate about!

[LJT] said...

Oh and p.s. i LOVE the other background/theme you are considering. How beautiful!

Carla said...

Congrats!

I checked my AdSense, I have about $5 in it, lol! I plan to get a little more diligent with one of my blogs that I feel has potential (I have a family blog, a homeschooling one, a gluten-free/low carb blog and a simplifying one, which goes to the wayside a lot). I also finally found out Canadians can do swagbucks, whoo! I've been on a roll with that.

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