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Earning Money During My First Year Blogging

I have experienced so many ups and down during my first year blogging, and I’m here to give you the honest details of everything, especially how much money I earn in my first year with a blog!

If you are a new blogger, or are considering blogging, you much realize that it is a process. It will not be an immediate answer to your financial goals and may not be very rewarding at first.

You need to be okay with the idea of delayed gratification. You must be ready to spend countless hours to only see a few visitors on your page. You should be prepared for it being difficult at first.

I am updating this article in August 2020, 1.5 years into blogging. I felt it was necessary to give honest and no-nonsense insight into how a blog can start from the ground up. The reason I say this is that I made almost no money in 2019, my first year blogging, and now have earned thousands! I’m here to provide you with everything I’ve learned! 

Be sure to check out these other articles to boost your blog’s income potential:

• How I Make Money Every Month with Affiliates
• Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Your Blog
• 5 Honest Reasons to Reconsider Being a Blogger

Why Am I Sharing my First Year’s Income Report?

1. Being grateful to see progress

As a new blogger, it is smart to do frequent income reports. Even if it is private and unavailable for anyone to view. Many do it, and it is a great way to be able to see how much your business grows over time!

2. Allows others to understand the realistic expectations of this side hustle

Side hustles are not easy, no matter what method or avenue you choose. It takes significant amount of time and dedication to maintain and improve. However, many bloggers make it seem far too easy to earn money as a blogger, and it sets unrealistic expectations.

3. Central location for documenting growth

This report about my first year blogging shows you what worked and did not work for the blog. It is so satisfying to see how far I have grown over time.

Below is a screenshot of my website’s traffic at the 1.5 year mark. 2019 is hovered over on the left for stat details, and 2020 is clicked on. You can see how drastically different 2019 and 2020 are:

Income Report for My First Year Blogging

In this short section, I will discuss how my first month blogging turned out, and my goals for future months. I will discuss monetization, traffic, and how it changed drastically as months went on.

Goals for my first month blogging: Publish website, have 10-20 articles public, 200 Pinterest followers, 50 Instagram followers

All of these goals were accomplished by the end of our official “one-month mark”. I had over 400 followers on Instagram, and over 400 on Pinterest.

Income for January 2019: $0.00

Seeing no money after that first month was discouraging but I persevered for 12 more months and finally earned my first $100! For those of you who earned far more than this, don’t scoff. It was a huge hurdle after feeling like I was getting nowhere for so long.

I focused on affiliate monetization rather than ads during my first year blogging. I didn’t want to have a “spammy” looking website that would detract my readers.

Pssst!: Come read all about the affiliates I now use to earn $500-$1000 each month!

Income Review for 2019:

I mostly started monetizing about 6 months into blogging. 

I have always been a part-time blogger so I have not dedicated every waking hour to the blog. However, I focused on creating valuable content using these critical SEO strategies to bring in more traffic.

Amazon rejected my application once and I was able to start earning around June 2019. Unfortunately, Amazon literally pays out cents for sales, and so it isn’t one of my main affiliates in 2020. BlueHost was my biggest affiliate during 2019, earning me $65 – with only 1 sale. 

After learning how to increase my traffic using SEO and using Pinterest for free traffic using these strategies, my monetization spiked at the cusp of 2020!

Stay tuned for my end of year income review for 2020!

6 Goals You Need For Your First Year Blogging:

1. The goal should not be about the money

If your plan is to make money fast, you won’t enjoy owning a blog. It doesn’t have immediate, or quick, payout. You’ll see this advice in many blog posts, because it really is the truth. Blogging should be fun. It should be rewarding, even if you aren’t getting paid to do it!

2. The goal should be focused on a slow and steady growth.

Sure, it can be easy to get excited with all the ways to earn, but it is important to provide content that is helpful and useful for the public.

Do not check your vistiors or Google Analytics every few hours. Don’t keep checking to see if one extra person viewed. It is hard not to do this when you’re new, but it is best to check every few days or once a week. Then, reevaluate what worked over the short period of time.

3. Don’t try to do everything at once or you’ll burn out

It is amazing how many accounts and websites that I’ve witnessed die out. Let’s be honest again here: Blogging is like a part-time job.

Setting short term goals is key for combatting this. Make weekly and monthly goals. Work hard to achieve them! This could be setting “follower” goals on Pinterest or a set number of email subscribers.

Be sure to check out this quick article to see if you are cut out to be a blogger! 

4. Set realistic expectations

The most important key to this is to never compare your beginning with someone’s middle! Realize that you are striving to help others while creating a stream of passive income of your own. Set goals that are measurable and attainable.

What has worked for me is setting weekly and monthly goals. If you don’t achieve them, figure out why. It will help you make better goals and help you be more satisfied with your progress!

5. Learn as you go

The only way to success is through failure! This goes along with the idea of not trying to do everything all at once. Never expect to be perfect!

For example, bloggers completely design their website later on after having learned and experienced what works and does not work. You should spend your first month or so learning what your readers like!

Remember: You are doing this to help others. Try to figure out what pins, graphics, and content they enjoy!

6. Focus on long-term growth rather than immediate feedback

What social platforms will your blog thrive in? Do you want to grow a Facebook community, Instagram following, or large Pinterest page?

Instead of focusing on making money, you should look into building the platform you wish to grow. For many, Pinterest is a huge source of traffic, so that may be your place to start. However, you may want to start a YouTube channel, so this time would be important to research the best microphones, graphics, and editing software, for example.

Let’s Summarize!

• Blogging is a long-term commitment! Never compare your beginning with someone’s middle.
• Your focus should be on the content, and finding the best ways to help others in the niche you are in. Let money be the side effect!