How I Made 91 cents in my First Month Blogging

**This page contains affiliate links to products I recommend. If you purchase something from this page, I may receive a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you**

So You Want to Become a Blogger?

I know, I know pretty impressive right? My 91 cents blew your mind! It blew mines too! So you had to find out How I made 91 cents in my first month blogging right? We all know their are a lot of blog post out there “telling” you how they made $3,000 their first month blogging. But when you go to their site and read what they had to say, did you REALLY get a breakdown of how they made their $3,000 step by step OR did they skim the surface?

I mean really? How did you make $3,000 in a month and I can barely keep 10 people on my page a day?! Let’s be clear, when you start out it’s soooo hard for people to find your new material. Because the market it over-saturated with bloggers that lie to new entrepreneurs like myself and you.

When I first started to seriously think about starting my blog I legit read a minimum of 10 different blog post a day telling me how they made their first thousands of dollars in the first month. I mean I seriously read all these post and got sooo hype with the thought of actually being able to quit my second job that I took the plunge and got hosted right away!

The Lies!

At first I fed into the dream that I too could make thousands in my first month of blogging. It wasn’t until later (a whole month) that I realized how those post were legit a total waste of time and full of LIES! As I look back on it now, one after another gave me a whole lot of bs on how “hard” it was for them to break a thousand dollars, but in the same breath they totally contradicted themselves and said how it’s not AS hard as everyone makes it seem and that it was “very much possible“.

HA! I call bullshit! They just wanted to get my click aka a view on their blog page, they weren’t REALLY giving out any valuable information. Thinking back on it now, hell they lead me on long enough to get a good bounce rate. (I’ll discuss what a bounce rate is, in another post at another time). I mean they are definitely smart and very strategic on how they get you to read their long ass post on “How to make no damn money real fast“. Oh I’m sorry, I meant that’s what they should have titled it!

Wake Up and Welcome to REALity

I wasn’t going to let their LIES detour me from starting my blog though. Hell how could they? I already bought hosting for two years. 😂 (If you’re looking to get self hosted I promote Bluehost.) Your alarm clock has went off ladies and gentlemen, wake up and welcome to reality.

I told myself that when I took this journey I would do a income report myself and post it for the world. My stance was to give FACTS to my new blogger friends and/or for anyone wanting to start a website. I wouldn’t lead my viewers on and I would screen shot my reports so my viewers could see the truth for themselves!

The Ugly Truth

The truth is, starting a blog is NOT easy. Nor is it a whole bunch of rainbows and sunshine, and if you read any post that gives you the “five easy steps to starting a blog” or “how I started my blog for free” just remember it’s NEVER as easy as one portrays it to be! Becoming a blogger is hard work! You will not launch your site and automatically make $100 within the first day, or week. (Hell you’ll probably spend that much starting the website up) It doesn’t work like that when you’re starting from ground zero. For those bloggers who claim that it does, I seriously call bullshit. (Excuse my French) 🤬

You will not wake up after a week of blogging and see thousands of visitors on your website. People won’t always comment on all your post. (Although they may have read it) Your blog will legit feel lonely in the beginning. Like you’re writing your own personal journal except at some point someone in the universe could and will stumble upon it and actually read it. And if you feel like no one is reading your blog in the beginning, it’s probably because you’re right.

Getting Started…

In the beginning you may start out with one to two visitors a day. Or you could be semi-popular and have a great support system who checks out your blog everyday because they love you and support you no matter what. (Like my awesome friends and family 😁)

Please know that I am in no way trying to discourage you to move forward and start this amazingly crazy journey of entrepreneurship. I actually encourage it! Honestly I believe you can do whatever you put your mind to, I just want you to be more realistic about your goals and ambitions. Plus I want my struggles as a new blogger to be very clear.

Thoughts behind Starting a Blog

Why do most people start to a blog? I can give you a few ideas. 

1. Maybe they have something that they feel will be of some use to society. 
2. They have something to say and need a platform to say it. 
3.  Maybe they are selling something? (Or just want to make some money off ads)

Whatever the reason is that brought YOU here please make sure you’re doing it because it makes you HAPPY and it’s fun! If you are blogging with the idea that you will make $25,000 like some of these other bloggers portray in the first few months, then you might want to reconsider this new venture. 

Being Honest 

I personally started my blog with the idea of taking my influencing and brand ambassador venture to the next level. On Instagram you are only allowed to place ONE website on your page and when you’re representing a lot of different brands it’s hard.

I didn’t start the blog in hopes of actually blogging. 😏 You can read my post on all that here. I just wanted to showcase the different brands I represented in one link & the only thing I could think of to solve this problem was to own my own website. 

Starting my Brand 

When I decided that I was actually going to go through with the blog thing I did my research. Even if some of the information on Pinterest about starting up a blog is a lot of bs you do find some REALLY good post that not only motivate you but inspire you to push forward. Pinterest is LOVE to ALL bloggers F.Y.I.

I love seeing pretty things and I’m not big on reading a lot. (Unless it’s going to make me money) So I knew I mainly wanted my blog to consist of pretty pictures. When you start your blog make sure you know ahead of time what you want your brand to look like and the type of vibe you want your platform to have.

Monetize your Blog 

Now you can choose to not place a single ad on your website and still live your best life. But if you choose to monetize I would suggest you do it early on. 

What is Monetization?

Monetize – The term “monetization” may also be used informally to refer to exchanging possessions for cash or cash equivalents, including selling a security interest, charging fees for something that used to be free, or attempting to make money on goods or services that were previously unprofitable or had been considered to have the potential to earn profits. And data monetization refers to a spectrum of ways information assets can be converted into economic value.

So in layman terms you make money off your website or blog by posting paid ads on your site. As you can see I did a lot of research when deciding rather or not to monetize my blog. You have a lot of different avenues of getting affiliates for your site and also making money, depending on what type of blog you go with. I have a lifestyle blog but I focus on Fashion and Interior Design.

My Affiliates

Here are some of the places I currently use to monetize my website. 

• ShareaSale
• Shopstyle Collective 
• Google AdSense
• Bluehost
• Ebates
• Influenster
• Ibotta

What’s Next?

Now I decided to monetize early in the game. (Keep in mind before I launched my blog I wrote content for a month so my website wouldn’t look like a newbie blogger (no offense). So it’s good to have a few post on your site before you start looking for affiliates). But like I was saying, I monetized early in the game, like day one, some people say it’s best to wait until you have consistent viewers. I say believe in your business enough to monetize from the very beginning. You never know what information you give your viewers that will make your blog go viral. 

All it takes is one post to catch on fire and you have a million viewers in one month. (Now I’m not saying the first month, but within a few months you could swing a million views. I am a true believer that hard work pays off!) You never know what your viewers are attracted to early on because you’re still trying build your audience.  If you choose to use Google AdSense, that will take all the guessing out of the game, because it automatically post ads on your site that your viewers might be more incline to click. (ie. stuff they have already searched for on Google).

Read Up on Everything!

Most places that you use to monetize will pay you per click and/or give you commission if your viewer actually decides to buy something. So the more eyes on you site the better. Even if they mistakenly click on a ad, that’s a few pennies your way. (Thanks friends 🙌) Granted every affiliate is different so just make sure you read the rules and regulations before joining.

Also when picking your affiliate make sure it correlates with not only your brand but the information you plan on giving your viewers. You don’t want to sign up to be an affiliate for Cinnabon and your a fitness blogger. (This goes more so for the ShareaSale affiliate.) I want to also mention that with ShareaSale the brand you chose to sign up for has to approve you for their brand before you will be able to post banners on your site. So make sure your content proves that you will be a good fit for them.

Leading up to the Money 

During my month I posted consistently on my blog. The more material out there the better when starting out. Shows your viewers that you are consistent and they might be more inclined to become a subscriber, repeat customer or a consistent viewer. 

My Blog Schedule 

Blog Post – Once or twice a month (Guess this post takes care of this month 😜)

Retail Rants – Every Thursday 

Motivational Quotes – Once a week, twice if I’m feeling feisty  😏

Get the Look for Less – Bi-weekly 

Interior Design – Once or Twice a month 

Please remember when you post, don’t post just because your schedule says so. You won’t retain your audience that way. Post great content with valuable information. Your readers want to feel like they are learning something or getting something from your site that can help them RIGHT NOW or in the near future.

Promote your Content 

Now that you have all this amazing content how are you planning on getting these views? Well here are my top four places I promote on. Feel free to follow me. I always follow back! 😊

Instagram

Pinterest

Facebook

Tumblr

Always promote your new material to friends and family members. I am fairly friendly, so I try to mention my site to every new person I come in contact with. Word a mouth is always a good promoter. So if you have some friends that are also thinking about becoming a blogger make sure you share this post with them! Sharing is Caring people.

Tailwind

Tailwind is another GREAT resource to get your new material out with half the effort. Tailwind is the smartest way to manage your presence across the visual web (Pinterest & Instagram), and offers a complete suite of marketing tools including Smart Scheduling, Analytics & Monitoring, Content Discovery, Promotion, Education, Tribes, Hashtag Suggestions and more. 

Tailwind Tribes I’ve Joined

• My Tribe – Bosses on Mission *NEW GROUP*
• Pinterest Growth Group
• Blog Your Life (Lifestyle Bloggers)
• Bloggers Killin It On Pinterest
• Fashion and Beauty Instagram Influencers

I’m actually in one other group but it’s invite only. Sorry guys!

Now to the information you REALLY want! 

How I made my 91 Cents in One Month

My first month blogging was an absolute beast! Let’s make that VERY clear. Not only am I a new blogger trying to get my website off the ground, but ya girl works TWO jobs! Yes, you read that correctly, two. Like I stated earlier I monetized. Being consistent with my posting schedule allowed me to get ad clicks from Google AdSense. Yup you read correctly, all the money I made from one month came from 1 affiliate program.

I can honestly say that I am VERY proud of my 91 cents because that took a lot to gain, even though it doesn’t seem like a lot. I’m going to honest YOU don’t make as much as Google on a sale nor a click. Google does, but in my eyes every little bit helps. Especially in the very beginning. Celebrate the Little Wins!

Just so we are crystal clear on where my numbers came from. Here is my AdSense report for the month of January! 

(For those who might think that I could be lying or fibbing on my numbers, I even included my user face icon 😝)

Google AdSense Report

*Please note that I am sharing my income as it is earned and not paid out.*

Let me explain a little at what you are actually looking at.

The Categories

• Estimated Earrings: Close estimates of your recent account activity from today, yesterday, this month so far, and last month.
• Page Views: A page view is what Google counts in your reports every time a user views a page displaying Google ads. We will count one page view regardless of the number of ads displayed on that page.
  • For example, if you have a page displaying three ad units and it is viewed twice, you will generate two page views.

• Impressions: An impression is counted for each ad request where at least one ad has begun to download to the user’s device. It is the number of ad units (for content ads) or search queries (for search ads) that loaded ads.
• Clicks: For standard content ads, we count a click when a user clicks on an ad.

What are RPM’s

• Page RPM: Page revenue per thousand impressions (RPM) is calculated by dividing your estimated earnings by the number of page views you received, then multiplying by 1000.

Page RPM = (Estimated earnings / Number of page views) * 1000

For example, if you earned an estimated $0.15 from 25 page views, then your page RPM would equal ($0.15 / 25) * 1000, or $6.00.

• Impression RPM:
• Revenue per 1000 impressions (RPM) represents the estimated earnings you’d accrue for every 1000 impressions you receive. RPM doesn’t represent how much you have actually earned; rather, it’s calculated by dividing your estimated earnings by the number of page views, impressions, or queries you received, then multiplying by 1000.

Formula:
RPM = (Estimated earnings / Number of page views) * 1000

For example:

• If you earned an estimated $0.15 from 25 page views, then your page RPM would equal ($0.15 / 25) * 1000, or $6.00.
• If you earned an estimated $180 from 45,000 ad impressions, your ad RPM would equal ($180 / 45,000) * 1000, or $4.00.

Views

• Active View Viewable: The percentage of impressions that were viewable out of all measurable impressions. This metric only includes impressions from regular AdSense for content, AdSense for video and AdSense for games ad units, it doesn’t include data from link units, or data from dynamic allocation in Google Ad Manager.

No sugar coating it here ladies and gentlemen. I did have a lot of viewers my first month blogging but views don’t equate to ad clicks. Keep that in mind when and if you do decide to monetize. You might have great content but it doesn’t mean the ads on your site will be appealing to the masses and in return result in clicks.

Shine Bright

I hope this helped you out a little and brought some major light on starting up a new blog. I wrote this to post to put things into perspective and also to motivate you to get the ball rolling. Either way I feel good about having an honest post reflecting FACTUAL information out in public view.

If you have any questions I will be more than happy to try and answer them. I am no pro (clearly) but I’ve learned a lot from my mistakes. If you want to see my monthly income journey let me know I will be more than happy to post that for you every month. (just add it to my blogging schedule) You’re my audience so I want to post things that you find value in.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think? All opinions welcomed!

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As always,

Thank you so much for your time!