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Blog Income Report:
How much money I made blogging in May
Alright folks, it’s time for another blog income report. I won’t be doing these every month, but since this past month has been my highest earning blogging month so far, I thought I would share.
Especially since I got so many good responses on my previous blog income report!
Please know that these are not meant to be braggy in any way. I am simply sharing these to show other bloggers that it is possible to make money if you set your mind to it. It’s hard work, but if I can do it, so can you.
Also, I’m not making thousands of dollars blogging yet, but any money I make from my blog is a nice side income to have to put towards my savings.
If you’re not a blogger yet or are new to blogging, why not take my FREE 7-day blogging course to jumpstart your blogging journey?
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A little background information.. I started my blog in March 2019, so it’s been a little over a year already. I had no knowledge of blogging when I started, and I just learned everything as I went along by reading other blog posts, investing in courses, and simply by asking other bloggers.
Before I dive into my earnings, I thought it would be a good idea to break down my expenses first. I do invest in my blog and have invested in it since the very beginning, way before I even started making any money.
In fact, the first 6 months I barely made anything. I think I made $75 back then and that was from one affiliate sale, which I wrote about here.
My expenses in May
Skystra blog hosting $10/month: I use Skystra for my blog hosting and I love them. I recently had a lot of issues when transferring my site from Bluehost to another host, and the team over at Skystra kindly helped fix my site and get me up and running on their servers.
Canva Pro $12.95/month: I recently switched from the free Canva account to the paid membership, and I love it so much more. It’s definitely not a necessity, but I love their images for all the different pins I create all the time.
ConvertKit $49/month: I use ConvertKit for my opt-in forms and to send emails to my mailing list subscribers. ConvertKit recently changed their plans a little. I used to pay $29/month for up to 1000 email subscribers, but they now have made completely free. I totally recommend getting this offer. I gladly paid $29 for up to 1000 subscribers because of how easy to use their platform is, but getting it for free is absolutely amazing. I now have close to 2000 subscribers, so I’m on the $49/month plan.
Keyword Research For Bloggers $22: This isn’t a recurring purchase, however, some months I invest in a course or two to broaden my blogging knowledge. In the past month, I have purchased the Keyword Research For Bloggers ebook because I’m desperate to learn about SEO.
Total expenses for the month of May: $93.95
Breakdown of my income streams
As a blogger, I make money a few different ways. This past month I have been fortunate enough to add two more income streams to my online earnings which I’ve been really happy about.
If you want a whole list of ways you can make money blogging, you should check out my how to make money blogging post.
Here are my online income streams, which I will go into detail about in a second:
- Displaying ads
- Affiliate marketing
- Sponsored content
- Blog advertising
- Digital sales
Let’s break this down…
Displaying ads
I have ads placed on my blog by Mediavine. Mediavine are an amazing ad network which pay a lot more than places like Google Adsense. Before I got into Mediavine, I held off from applying to Google Adsense because I knew I would only be making pennies with them.
To apply for Mediavine you need to hit 25K sessions/month. I hit that in January of this year, and started with Mediavine in February.
In May, my blog got 67,029 views and 53,403 sessions.
Total earnings in ad revenue: $525.31
Affiliate marketing
I am an affiliate for many things, but most of my money comes from Amazon Associates and being a Gumroad affiliate for a few different products.
This month I made $73.52 from Amazon Associates and $14.22 in Gumroad sales.
If you want a list of affiliate marketing programs you could join, here’s a post on that you can find handy. One of the affiliate programs on this list can make you $2000 per referral, so definitely check it out!
Total earnings from affiliate marketing: $87.74
Sponsored content
I worked on my first sponsored post last month, which made me $130. In the future, I will be charging more than I did this month.
Total earnings from sponsored content: $130
Blog advertising
I’m starting advertising for other bloggers in July, and a few have already sent over their payments. I charge $9.99 per advertisement, and if you’d like a spot for any of the upcoming few months, please contact me here.
Total earnings from blog advertising: $46.25
Digital sales
My guide on Pinterest marketing for bloggers has made me a couple of sales last month, adding to the total number of earnings for May.
Total earnings from digital sales: $32.34
Added up, my total earnings in May were $821.64
I definitely see a steady growth in my income over the next few months, especially since my blog views are increasing every month. More views means, at the very least, more money in ad revenue which I’m happy about!
With the increase of affiliate sales and sponsored content, which I’m planning on doing a few more a month, I am going to be making 4-figures pretty soon I think.
Final thoughts
Even though I’m not making thousands of dollars yet, it doesn’t bother me. I can honestly say that working on my blog has been the best project I’d ever undertaken, and I’m not planning on quitting my day job any time soon.
For those of you who don’t know, I work as a teacher in a school in the Middle East, so I do get a monthly salary on top of my blog earnings.
Which is why I’m not in a rush to get more, more, more. I’m very grateful that in one short year I have been able to turn my blog into a side hustle which keeps growing every month.
I hope this gives you a realistic insight into how much money you can make blogging. Some bloggers make thousands of dollars their first few month, but that wasn’t the case for me.
It seems like a lot of bloggers want to start making money right away from their blogs and that doesn’t always happen. Please don’t get discouraged. It has taken me a while to get to this point, and it might take you the same or longer.
As long as you implement good strategies and work your butt off, you WILL see results at some point!
I would love to hear from you down below, and before you go make sure you grab your free Pinterest cheat sheet to help you grow your blog!
If you enjoyed this blog income report post, please pin it to share with other bloggers! 📌
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Hayley says
These posts really inspire me! It’s great to see realistic figures because you can see that it is possible to build this kind of income
Hayley || hayleyxmartin
Mariam says
Absolutely! It took me some time to start seeing some money coming in but it’s been great so far!
Jaya Avendel says
I absolutely love reading earnings’ report posts, especially ones that are easy to follow and break everything down into simple terms. I am currently not making any money blogging, but I love what I do, so maybe it will turn into something as I keep at it.
I hope you keep growing! 🙂
Mariam says
Thank you so much!
Epifania says
This is great! Keep it up!
Jenny says
These income reports always make me more and more determined to get those views up and get on mediavine! My income would be incredible with that extra £500 from ADs! There isn’t really any other ad programme that matches up to it, is there?
Mariam says
Monumetric is also a great one to be a part of! It requires less than Mediavine’s 25,000/month sessions.
Teresa says
Thank you so much for sharing this information so openly! More people should share this info because it gives us all such a good overall image of our possibilities to earn with our platforms. One can easily think that if they aren’t making thousands after having a blog up for over a year they’re failing. But that’s absolutely not the case!
Super super interesting post! xx
Teresa Maria | Outlandish Blog
Mariam says
The way I look at it, everybody is on their own journey. It takes some of us a little longer but that doesn’t mean that we’re failing at all. 😊
Natasha Evans says
Wow, these types of posts inspire me so much to want to work on my blog a lot more! Thanks for sharing.
Tash – http://www.agirlwithview.co.uk
Mariam says
I’m so glad! Thanks for stopping by!
Clarissa Zhu says
I love reading posts like this and it definitely encourages me to continue blogging. I started blogging back in 2014 but stopped ages ago only picking it back up now since everyone is at home. It makes me wonder how much money and progress I could have made had I kept going.
Congrats on your hard work Mariam!!
splasheswithfabulosity.blogspot.com
Mariam says
Definitely continue blogging, it can lead you to so many great opportunities. Best of luck!
lifestyleseason says
Great post! I found this very interesting to read and helpful for the future!
Mariam says
Happy to hear that! 😊
Renee says
Love seeing income reports! Honesty in the blogging community is so important, especially for newbie bloggers to see.
Thanks for sharing. Also congrats on Mediavine!
Mariam says
Thank you so much! That was definitely a goal for 2020. 😊
Alice Mola says
I find your figures to be really impressive! I currently don’t have many ads on my site just because GoogleAds kind of confuse me, but with all the sessions you have I see it’s such a massive revenue source. thank you for breaking it all down!
Mariam says
Thank you so much! Having Mediavine ads on my site definitely contributes to a nice income every month!
erika says
That’s amazing! I hope I can make some money with blogging, but I’m not entirely sure how to monetize mine yet! Congrats on your earnings!
Mariam says
You’ll get there! Just do a lot of research and try out different things. 🙂
Noemi says
Thank you so much for sharing! I love to see income reports as it keeps me motivated and reminds me you can earn money online if you work hard at it!
Mariam says
So happy that it’s motivated you! Can’t wait to celebrate your earnings with you soon!
Christa says
This is so inspiring! Thank you for sharing!
http://www.thelewicreative.com
Mariam says
My pleasure!
Britt K says
Congratulations! It looks like you’re definitely heading in the right direction! This blog (a pet blog) launched in Feb 2020 and I hit enough views to apply for Monumetric last month. I know that they take a while for approval/setting up ads but I am SUPER excited to be taking that step! I still have my eye on Mediavine someday though!!
Mariam says
Congratulations on getting approved for Monumetric! That’s awesome 🙂
Lauren says
I always find these kinds of posts really interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Lauren | https://www.laurenyloves.co.uk/
Mariam says
Thank you so much!
Bethany Jane says
Wow, you’re absolutely killing it! That’s an amazing income to be making from a side-hustle. I am miles off 25k sessions a month but that’s incredible that you’ve achieved it after less than a year! You’re definitely motivating me to work harder x
Mariam says
Thank you so much! You’ll get there soon, Bethany. Your content is so good! 🙂
Sharif says
Great job! I’m also happy to see that I’m not the only one who sees piddly Amazon affiliate money for the number of blog views. My biggest source of blogging income comes from sponsored links & articles. I removed all my display ads (Adsense) from my 2 most popular sites because I felt like the revenue wasn’t worth the compromise on the site UX & load speed.
Mariam says
I don’t know anybody who things AdSense is worth it! Mediavine is a much better option if you ever think of adding ads back to your sites!
Hannah says
Wow that’s amazing, well done! Crazy that you make so much from ads as well. I’m getting there with creating multiple income streams but definitely haven’t got the numbers yet! (I will, though)
Mariam says
The ad revenue puts me at a really good number every month so I’m very happy about that! I can’t wait til your blog views explode one of these days 🙂
Travel Addicted Unicorn says
Wow this is sooo impressive!!! Especially getting to Mediavine in less than a year of launching that is amazing. Keep up the good work.
Mariam says
Thank you so much!
eishstudentbudget™ says
I came to your blog after reading your interview in 9ijalazyblog. It was really informative and I learnt more about using Pinterest to drive blog views!
Mariam says
So happy you were able to learn from my interview! Please do reach out if you have any questions!
Rosie Ireland says
Wow I love how candid you’ve been with your incomings and outgoings! I want to look more into Amazon as a way of earning revenue for my channel!
Rosie
Mariam says
I think it would work wonders for your channel!
Krista says
Thank you so much for sharing! Income Reports are my favourite, and I don’t see a whole lot of talk out there about how to figure out how much to charge for sponsored posts so I’m glad that you mentioned it!
Mariam says
You are so welcome! 🙂
Sarah says
This is so encouraging. I love reading posts like this because they encourage me to keep going.
Cheers!
Sarah.
Angela says
Great post. Interesting to see an honest breakdown of how you earn from different things. I’ve just started paying for hosting again for my website which I hope will help gain more views and then eventually some pennies but as you say it takes time and patience x
Mylene I Be Empowered says
Thank you for sharing!!
Abby Lazarus says
I found great positivity in this post, i’ll be following along on your blogging journey! Your post was honest and refreshing! i’ll keep going!