May 2016 Income Report

This post contains affiliate links. See affiliate disclaimer here.

POST UPDATE APRIL 4, 2019 – Since having written this post back in May of 2016, I have now started making over $10,000 a month. If you want to know HOW I do it, then you can check read how here!

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We were below the poverty line.

And my husband was working a soul-sucking corporate job as we struggled to get by.

To be honest, it was hard to imagine a future where we could really prosper and actually reach our dreams.

And our dreams were to travel the world full-time and see amazing sites and meet wonderful people.

We wanted to experience life outside of our tiny, dark apartment, and a car that kept on breaking down in the middle of WINTER.

My husband was searching for hours for ways to work online. There were so many ideas out there, but there were no great fits. Some of them required skills we didn’t have or VAST AMOUNTS of time to make it work… and we didn’t want to wait years.

But then it all changed. One day, my husband finally ran across an amazing interview with a blogger named Rosemarie Groner from The Busy Budgeter who was making over $5,000 a MONTH from blogging! And it didn’t take her years! In fact… it took her months.

We were immediately hooked and after 3 months of prepping and following her advice, launching our blog, and then 3 months of actual blogging…

We were making MORE than my husband’s corporate job!

$3,000 in 3 months after launching... we were stunned and we know we couldn’t have done it without God’s help (seriously). Launching a blog was one of the best things we could have ever done!

And since we’ve started blogging, things in our lives have looked completely different. We went from living below the poverty line and living paycheck-to-paycheck, to making over $10,000 a month and traveling to countries like Morocco, Japan, and France. I’ve been able to wake up when I want to and see parts of the world I would never have gotten to see otherwise.

Paris is pretty in the Fall,  you should go!

And I know that it will give YOU the ability to quit your dead end job, spend more time with your family and friends, and give you incredible time and money freedom. There are honestly so many opportunities blogging will give you.

Now Why Post an Income Report?

Full Disclosure: If you click through one of my referral links for Bluehost web hosting and make a purchase, I will receive a commission at no extra cost to you. This helps me keep Chasing Foxes up and running and providing new content weekly.

For a while, we’ve seen other bloggers talk about why they write income reports, so we thought we’d share why we do it too.

Income reports were a part of our success in blogging from anywhere. They were a place where bloggers opened up about how they made their income and the steps they took to get where they were today. So instead of just keeping their success to themselves, they laid it out for newer (and not so new) bloggers. And we wanted to do that too!

They showed us how we could make income from ads and affiliates and how to easily sign up for hosting. These bloggers went out of their way to give us great tips on how to get started and what social media sites were needed to get great traffic. So of course, we wanted to show people how to have success blogging as well.

And down below, we’ll be giving you the steps and resources you need to get started!

But Wait… Is Blogging for Me?

Now you might be in the same spot I was when first starting out (or something similar). Feeling desperate for a way to make money from home so that you can…

• Have more time with your children and/or spouse.
• Have more time with family and friends.
• STOP living paycheck-to-paycheck.
• Get out of debt.
• Be able to travel and work wherever you want.
• Fire your boss and work for yourself… and determine when YOU want to get up. 😉

We have SO MANY reasons for wanting to find a great way to work from home. But.. is blogging the right way for you?

Now you might have looked into other work from home options only to find they required things you didn’t have: a certain degree, specific skills, a few years of experience, hours you couldn’t work, etc.

But that’s NOT your fault! 

We all have different paths we took in life and if you decided to not go to college (like me) or the hours aren’t reasonable for you, then you don’t have to feel bad about that.

And that’s why I love blogging so much!

With blogging you’re able to set your own hours, you DON’T need a degree, and the only thing it requires to start is a computer, some writing skills, time, and a minimal investment of money.

And the best part is that YOU are in control of how much you make. There’s no boss saying how much of a raise you can have this quarter or what kind of pay you can start off with. It’s all up to you and the amount of time and money you invest into your blog.

SIDE NOTE: Also, I’m here to help you out when first getting started! So feel free to join my readership at the bottom of the page to get exclusive tips every week AND the tools I use to have a successful blog!

BUT, if writing is something you really don’t like doing, then I would definitely not start something you aren’t going to enjoy.

Also, if you’re needing to make more income very quickly, then I would not consider blogging as an option. There are companies that offer online jobs and start paying within a couple weeks.

But What if I Have Time Constraints? 

Well that’s why blogging is so amazing! There’s NO ONE telling you at what time to start and stop; your schedule and pace is all up to you!

And one of the best parts is that I’ve seen single mothers like Sarah Titus start a blog and start making $10,000 A MONTH IN A YEAR! She decided that she wanted to work later hours so that she could get to a higher income faster. And it just goes to show you that no matter what your life circumstances are, there are always ways to make it work.

PS – Even if you shoot for $10k/mo by the end of 12 months and work hard, but don’t make it, think of where you’ll be! Will you STILL be making a full-time income of $3,000 or $5,000 a month with your blog?

Now onto May’s income report!

The Income Report

To be honest, Silas and I have only been trying to focus on a couple of income sources since we’re just starting out and don’t want to overwhelm ourselves. So for the first two months of blogging, our income source came from two places:

Google Adsense – $478.28

Amazon Affiliates – $36.57

Total: $514.85

Expenses

Now this doesn’t really count as an expense, but in the first week of May, our computer was down due to cord issues, which meant no content, which meant hardly any traffic, which meant basically no revenue. I know we could have reached $600 if the computer problems hadn’t come up.

But technology is what it is, and having a brother and father-in-law that are good with tech issues is a huge plus. So things worked out and we were making income again (still, it wasn’t a fun loss).

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Side note, here’s a list of the tools I used to make money with my blog:

If you want to quickly start up your own blog for a cheap price (only $2.95/mo through my special link here), then I would definitely recommend Bluehost. It’s what I used when I first started out, and you need a hosting service if you want to make money through your blog more easily.

Check out my step-by-step guide here that shows you how to sign up quickly.

One of the most important things you can do as a new blogger is to start up your email list right away. It’s what I wish I would have done when I first started out because then I would have a LOT more subscribers (and having an email list is the biggest way to make money blogging). 

The email provider I use is Convertkit since they’re SUPER easy to use.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is one of the most important ways to get traffic to your blog. It’s basically optimizing each blog post so that it shows up in people’s search results on Google. And if you’d like to learn more on how to do that, then check out Stupid Simple SEO. It’s a course that opens up a few times a year and has REALLY helped us out!

Read the review of the course here!

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Quick Side Tip: One of The Most Important Things We Did When Starting Our Blog…

Getting hosting for my blog is one of the BEST things I could have ever done.

Now many people think that they can easily start a blog for free on WordPress.com or Blogger. But you DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS. If you start a blog on a free blogging site, you won’t be able to make income from them. Signing up for ad networks and affiliates will be impossible.

SIDE NOTE: It’s also dangerous since they can take down your site for no reason AT ALL and you’ll lose all of your hard work (this isn’t a joke!).

So what do you want to do? You want to sign up for hosting. Hosting is basically like renting a space on the internet so you can have your own site. It allows you a lot of flexibility to work with companies and not have to worry about a site like Blogger kicking you off for no reason at all (I’ve known bloggers who’ve had this happen to them).

Bluehost is what I use, and I wouldn’t recommend them if they weren’t a good company. They’re helpful and will guide you through the process if you have any trouble. Also, if you click through my personal link, you’ll get the special deal for $2.95 a month, ALONG with a free domain name (which is really awesome)! However, I don’t know how long this deal will last, so you’ll want to jump on this!

You can get the special deal for hosting here!

Now some people might be worried that they have to pay for hosting because they’re on a tight budget. I was at the EXACT same place when I first purchased hosting with Bluehost. But I realized something; if I put money in now, I was going to be able to pay myself back multiple times over later. And I have; because I went with Bluehost for my hosting, I can now make enough to support two people and travel full-time.

You can sign up for Bluehost here and get hosting for just $2.95 a month.

PS – If you want a step by step tutorial for setting up a blog with Bluehost, then check out my post that’ll show you exactly how. It’s super easy!

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Click here to download my free printable checklist for creating a VIRAL blog post!

A Quick Rundown on Adsense and Affiliates

Now there are plenty of you who know what these two things are, but for those you who don’t, I’ll tell you.

Google Adsense: This is one of the most widely known and used ad networks. Basically Google places ads on your site and you get revenue from how many people see or click them.

Amazon Affiliates: Basically, you have to sign up to be an Amazon Associate, and once you do, you can start referring products (preferably ones you’ve used and like), to your audience in posts. And if they use your link, you’ll make a small percentage if they buy the product. This comes at no extra cost to the reader, so it’s a pretty friendly way to make income.

What Worked With Google Adsense

Placing most of our ads above the fold (at the top of the page where people are most likely to see them), helped keep our income rising.

What Didn’t Work

It’s only month two of our blog being up and running so we still have yet to see what is and isn’t working.

What Worked With Amazon Affiliates

Helpful books for lifestyle changes got quite a few click throughs and purchases, which pleasantly surprised us. Usually books are a bit of a commitment, so when we saw that people were excited about them, we were happy that we could provide them with something valuable to read.

What Didn’t Work

Affiliate links spread throughout. We found that if we just quickly mentioned a product (that we had used) and then suggested a link to buy it online (Amazon), people were less likely to click through and buy. We assume this is because there wasn’t a lot of time and effort put into telling our readers about it.  

Another Important We Learned: Email List

We’ve been learning a lot lately that an email list is essential for your blog’s success.

Now many people wonder if they should start their email list right after they launch their blog. But guys… those first few subscribers are the most important ones you’ll have. It’s been shown that the ones that stick with you even when you’re just beginning will be your most loyal readers and they’ll be more likely to buy from you when you offer them a product.

So Which Email List Builder Should I Use?

Well, you could use a free service like Mail Chimp, but there are a couple of things you should know.

First, there have been so many times where I’ve heard bloggers complain about how they regret starting out with free services like Mail Chimp. Because when they decide to switch over to a more efficient email list builder like Convertkit, it takes hours for them to transfer their entire list. It’s a complete headache and takes DAYS to do.

Now the reason why I suggest Convertkit is because their services are SO EASY to use! I am not tech-savvy… at all. In fact, I get seriously frustrated when something takes way to long to figure out. But with just one video tutorial, I was able to easily understand everything. Convertkit is seriously intuitive and simple.

Now the monthly cost for Convertkit is $29.99 a month which is basically 5-6 Starbucks drinks in a month. I get it, it’s so much easier to sign up for something free when you’re first starting out, but the ease of using Convertkit is so worth it (and you won’t have to deal with moving all your subscribers over later)!

You can check Convertkit out here and if you have any questions about it, feel free to ask me!

PS – Feel free to check out my post on how to start an email list! It’s super important for having a successful blog!

So… What Are We Going To Do With All of This Money?

That about sums it up! We were able to work hard at creating great content and putting ourselves out there on Pinterest for people to click through and see our site. It really was fun to watch viewership grow like crazy.

Now, what are we going to do with all this money? Probably buy like… 20 of these (because apparently, that’s a thing).

Alright, so we’ll actually end up saving the money for future travels and dreams… but it was a nice thought.

Well we hope to see you guys at the beginning of next month again so you can see how much our income has grown and what’s changed.

Until then!