How I Made $1700 Blogging in December 2018

I thought long and hard about doing this. If you follow me you’ll know that most of my blogs are geared towards self help and personal development but you’ll also know I like to be open and honest with you guys too! I’ve been reading so many blogs lately about how to make money blogging and I find them very inspirational. So why not write one too? I figured it was time to share my online income report!

(this post contains affiliate links so if you make a purchase I make a small commission)

But first this…

How to make money blogging

Before we begin, let me say that it’s not easy and there’s no fast track to it. Making money blogging takes dedication, hard work and perseverance. Consistency is key. You probably will see a lot of blogs about making money and “How I Earned $1,000,000 in my first 6 months of blogging. Well they probably did but it wasn’t without seriously hard work. Trust me on that one.

Nothing good comes easy, especially online income. There is much to learn about it. I’ve been blogging for almost 4 years now and I’m just starting to see the fruits of my labour but that’s my own damn fault. I spent the first 3 years not having a clue what I was doing. Don’t be like Iva. Learn learn and learn some more.

Before I dive into my online income and how to make money blogging I want to talk about a few things that helped me get to where I am now with finally making money blogging. Without these key things I doubt I’d be where I am today with my online earnings.

Keyword, SEO and blog formatting

These were all Chinese things to me. I had no clue what any of them were, how to do them properly or what to do with them. In 2018 I kicked things up and set aside time to learn new things, almost daily. You never stop learning really.

Though I’m still learning SEO and keywords, my blog formatting has gotten much better. Yay me. If I had to give you any advice of great value it’s this: learn SEO and keywords, how and where to use them. Remember, people search things using questions. How do I bla bla bla… Your blog is about teaching people how to do these things. Make sure it’s keyword rich so people can find you.

I learn a ton of stuff from Neil Patel. You can find him here, sign up for his freebies and watch his videos. He’s amazing. I love his unique way of delivering valuable and top notch information. Seriously, check him out.

Pinterest

I’d be nowhere without Pinterest. True story. Pinterest drives about 90% of my traffic to my website right now. I know I shouldn’t solely rely on this and neither should you. I’m not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth but you should also be working on driving traffic organically through Google with the help of SEO and keywords.

When I started with Pinterest in January of 2018 I didn’t have a single solitary clue what I was doing. My account was a ghost town and I think I had maybe 15 followers. After reading and learning hard core for about a month this is what happened:

Pin

You can see how I started at almost 0 and grew in two months by applying all the things I learned from reading blogs and taking free Pinterest courses. Find people who know what they’re doing, what they’re talking about and are genuine. I sniffed around a lot and found a couple of peeps who I admire. I also watched some webinars about how to master Pinterest. You should do this too.

I discovered this girl and she’s the bomb. Tracie Fobes not only knows her stuff but she’s just amazing. She’s so helpful and sincere. She’s helped me over quite a few hurdles already. Find her, follow her, love her up! This girl knows her stuff and truly wants to help. If she doesn’t know the answers she’ll find them for you or help you while you do. I can’t say enough good stuff about her.

So after all the hard work I have put into my Pinterest account this is where I sit now, quite comfortably I might add:

I am now sitting at a little over 12K followers (yup in under a year), my monthly views are a little over 5 million (don’t get too wrapped up in that number but it sure is nice to look at) and my monthly engaged (that’s the important number) is around 350K. This all happened in one year by learning and applying and learning more. If I can do it, anyone can.

Not only did Pinterest help drive traffic to my site but so did this amazing tool:

Tailwind

So many people are on the fence still about Tailwind. Should I or shouldn’t I? Yes!! You should. I don’t care what anyone says, it’s so worth it. Just the fact that the scheduler takes hours off my work load is enough for me! Joining tribes in Tailwind is key. Without going on and on for days about Tailwind go ahead and take it for a free spin and see if you like it. I can almost guarantee you will.

Freelance writing and guest posting

Though it’s not hard to find freelance writing jobs, it doesn’t come without it’s frustrations either. I’ve looked at Upwork and all those other content sites but I had the most luck actually reaching out to other bloggers in my niche who already run high authority sites. That’s where most of my freelance writing income comes from to be honest.

The answer will always be no if you never ask. This is why it’s so important to make key connections and form relationships with fellow bloggers. Sometimes there is gold to be found if you just take the time to dig deep enough.

And don’t underestimate the value of guest posting as well. Though I have to be honest, I don’t do it near as much as I should, it does bring a good amount of traffic to my site when I submit one. My goal for 2019 is to submit at the very least one a month.

Hello Medium

For those trying to figure out how to make money blogging you really need to check out Medium. Never heard of it? Go find it, learn what it’s all about and start using it. Also not a fast track to making money online but it sure helps! I’ve grown from 0 followers in March of 2018 to just over 1,000 by December. Here is my Medium page. 

Medium is a different platform in the fact that you can write vulnerably and from the heart. Anything goes there and people love to read all kinds of interesting things. When I first started Medium I was editing blogs from my site and publishing them there. There are tons of categories to write in so surely you will find one that fits your niche. I promise.

Medium is free to join but for $5 a month (paid membership) it’s the best way to make some decent money blogging. In my second month this is what I made.

Pin

I paid $5 to make $93.73. Can’t bitch about that right?! And this was solely from taking my own blogs, copying and pasting them into Medium, editing a wee bit and boom!

Now here I am 10 months later and this is what my online income was from Medium:

Pin

Someone say BOOM! This was my month of December. I have to be honest though, throughout the year, though my earnings remained around $100 monthly, it was the month of December where I really kicked my writing into high gear and applied myself like a true professional writer.

One girl who I have become friends with from Medium makes around $4000 a month there. Yup you read that right. Last month she actually hit $5000. In a month. From freelance writing. Hell-O!!!

It might not be for you but at least go have a peek at it. I’ve read so many blogs on how to make money blogging and not one single blog mentions Medium. This baffles me. In the freelance writing and blogging world you can’t put all in your eggs in one basket! It’s so important to branch out and look into other platforms. If I work my butt off, which I have been doing lately, I will be on track to double my December online income from Medium. Yay me!

Remember nothing good comes easy. Also remember why you are doing what you are doing. Don’t lose sight of your why.

Ad earnings

I have to tell you, I struggled a lot with ad earnings all year and ran into quite a few glitches and disappointments. I started out with Google Adsense but once my traffic increased I applied to MediaVine, 4 times throughout the year to be exact, and got rejected all 4 times. It was heartbreaking as I kept reading all these blogs about how amazing MediaVine is. Apparently not for me.

I then tried out MediaNet. Don’t ever do this. I had nothing but problems with them and lost about $300 in one month because of them. It was a bloody nightmare. I had to fight for my payment of a measly $75 a month. I know some people who have no problems with Medianet. I’m not one of them and would never recommend them. Just my opinion and experience with them.

I went sniffing around for other ad agencies and a friend of mine suggested Ezoic. I can’t say enough about them. They did almost absolutely everything for me to set me up and my account manager was the best in the land. Support is top notch. My earnings almost doubled once I switched to them and I expect them to triple soon. In one weekend I had a pin go viral and made over $250 just in two days with one pin. Can you say BOOM again?

So I’m sure you’re dying to know what my numbers for December were.

I mean, that’s why you’re here right? So let’s get to it then.

Though this is about how to make money blogging you have to know I do have a few other income streams. Multiple online income streams is also key. Besides my freelance writing and my blog, I also made some sales with my self help guide From Hell to Happiness. It’s a really good book. If you are struggling with any part of your life this will help you get back on track.

I also have a Pinterest guide for beginners. Though I hardly promote it at all, it’s there for anyone who wants some tips and actionable advice on how to rock their Pinterest account. The Beginner’s Guide to Pinterest

I also do private Angel Card Readings. If you want more information on that or want to book your own you can check that out here.

Angel Card readings truly are powerful and life changing. I do a little bit of life coaching during and after the reading and you really just get so much out of them. I scaled back in December on doing readings because I didn’t really have much time to commit to them but we’re back up and running full steam ahead with them this year.

Ok let’s get on with it. My online income report for December 2018

Ezoic Ad Earnings- $451.61

Google Adsense- $319.74

Medium earnings – $366.91

Book sales –  $90.00

Freelance blogging income – $197.00

Angel Card Reading – $125.00

Facebook Instant Articles – $106.00

Total: $1656.26

In summary

Pretty cool considering all that online income is from doing something I love doing, writing and helping people. If you’re just in the beginning stages of blogging or have been doing it for awhile and still see no results, have faith. I was there once too. Wondering when was I actually going to start making money doing this. With a lot of hard work and determination, it will surely all come together for you.

Don’t give up.

Peace and Love

xo iva xo

(this post contains affiliate links so if you make a purchase I make a small commission)