March Blog Earnings Update
So, you might have noticed it’s been quiet around here. I’ve not posted since the earnings update last month. Part of that has been deliberate, but part has just been because my attention has been elsewhere and I had plans to post but they never worked out. I’ve noticed over time, that interaction and commenting has been declining on the site.
I’ve settled into a routine of the advertisers, networks, schemes and sites I’ve used and haven’t had any new recommendations to make. I could continue to make endless reviews and recommendations for sites that will pay me a small commission or percentage if you sign up with them, but in all honesty, having tried most of them, I simply can’t recommend them as suitable for most bloggers in my target audience. My conscience only allows me to advertise products and networks I actually use myself. This site might be all about how to make money from blogging, but not at the expense of others.
Over the time the site has been running, I have made recommendations for products that I think are awesome and do use personally, and they aren’t expensive. But does anyone buy them? No. No one it seems take up my recommendation on these things, so I’m thinking my advice isn’t any use to you. Perhaps you are all doing wonderfully with your sites and are already making all the money you want to or will ever need and therefore don’t need Moms Make Money any more. {Sad face}
I could be posting some blogging tips, WordPress plugins etc, but as time goes by there are simply so many other fabulous sites out there that are offering this advice, that I feel like nothing is new any more, there are no new ideas, unique perspectives, we are all beating the same drum.
Maybe I’m just down in the dumps this month and will perk back up now Spring is here.
So let’s just look at March and get it over with.
March Blog Earnings
- Google Adsense – $417.39
- Sverve – $to follow
- Infolinks – $101.01
- Blogher – $286.65
- ShareASale – $4,209.99
- Commission Junction – $110.97
- Escalate Network ads – $
- E-book Sales – $85.14
- Sponsored Tweets – $2.67
- Social Spark – $69.58
- Amazon – $91.69
- Direct advertising – $219.77
- Blogvault – $12.00
- Sewing pattern sales – $676.84
- Other small affiliate sales – $103.24
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Total – $6,386.94
Expenses during the month were:
- Blogvault Back up (3 sites) – $19.00
- MadMimi Mailing List – $42.00
- Tech support – $35.00
- Advertising – $50.00
- Graphic design – $10.00
You can find previous month’s figures under the My Income tab above. Traffic (both sites):
- March 2013 = 69,850
- April= 129,872
- May = 138, 752
- June = 147,100
- July = 149,000
- August =141,990
- September =140,933
- October = 158,710
- November = 164,092
- December = 132,559
- January 2014 = 165,222
- February = 190,266
- March = 203,989
Targets for April
- I hired my lovely Virtual Assistant and things are working out just perfectly. As a result I would like to get my first 200k + page views months on the sewing site.
- My review of the click-bombing is still on-going and several people have been banned from the site. I’d like to get the adverts back up and running by the end of April.
- Consider the future of Moms Make Money. Has it served its purpose and shared all there is to share? Is it worth my time continuing here when it doesn’t make any money? Should I simply continue because it provides a service to others?
- Perhaps use my VA to start working on another sewing site I’ve had on the back-burner for some time.
That’s it, all I’ve got to share for this month. Hopefully I’ll be bringing you some more blogging tips and recommendations over the next 4 weeks.
Authored by: Deby at Moms Make Money
April 15, 2014 @ 11:24 am
Do not be so discouraged! I have taken much advice from you! I went from making practically nothing to around 30-80 a month- just by adding some Shareasale sponsors to my list. I listen;) I am slowly adding other details every month, but have been so busy with my freelance job ( a fantastic problem to have.)
I am toying with getting my own domain and such soon, and I will be back to read up on that.
I look forward to the updates every month and share them with my boyfriend who always thought the blogging was a waste of time. He knows better now!
Thank you so much!
April 15, 2014 @ 5:24 pm
Thank you for your words of encouragement. I’m glad to hear you’ve found some of the articles useful, and I hope you’ll continue to visit and read some of the new ones in the future.
April 15, 2014 @ 2:09 pm
Hi Deby, I check your sit regularly and have found it really useful!! Any more tips on SAS would be lovely! Plus how to take it too the next level!! I stuck on 100 to 150 pageviews a day and would love information on how to increase my pageviews.
Thanks so much
V xox
April 15, 2014 @ 5:21 pm
I’m really surprised to see your traffic at that level. Your site looks beautiful and you have some great content, along with excellent photos. Some of the comments I made to Travelling Sprout on this post will apply to you too. Are you submitting your content to link parties? This could be all you need to get it started. Look on the link party directory on this site and pick where to submit, check what times they open and get their early for maximum impact. Then try submitting to other sites such as Craftgawker, Tip Junkie etc. You might pick up some new readers there, and once traffic starts, it should carry itself along and gain momentum. You could also try adding some more prominent social media sharing buttons under your posts. The ones you have are small and grey and not very eye-catching. You want to prompt people to share if they liked what they read, and if they are at the bottom of your article, they must have liked it!
April 16, 2014 @ 10:43 am
Thanks so much, Deby! I have made my social media sharing buttons more prominent and will also take a look at Craftgawker and Tip Junkie too. Hope you are feeling more positive today and looking forward to the weekend. xox
April 15, 2014 @ 2:58 pm
I would also like to know how you grew your blog traffic. What are those things that REALLY made a difference. It can’t be just social media and commenting.
April 15, 2014 @ 4:51 pm
I would say that participating in link parties was what really started to get the site noticed. But once the traffic started, people liked what they saw and pinned it. Pinterest is a huge traffic source for me, and some articles have been pinned more than 7,000 times. That sort of pinning brings a lot of traffic. And I don’t even take great photos! I also get a steady stream from search engines, although not as much as I used to, and that is useful because it brings in NEW visitors every day, many of whom sign up for the newsletter or pin an article, which in turn attracts new readers. And so it continues. Once it was up and running, I don’t really do anything further to bring in new traffic, its almost self-perpetuating. But do read the articles recently about getting traffic from Twitter, getting brands to share your content, and Top Social Media to help your site grow.
April 16, 2014 @ 10:39 am
Oh, my goodness, please don’t be discouraged. I read and love your blog every time you post. Many of the things you post get pinned on my Starting My Business board. I am a brand new blogger and am very interested in learning from you, as are others I am sure. Just know that you are touching many of us even though we don’t always give you proper feedback.
April 19, 2014 @ 6:42 am
Deby I love your blog and all the things you share. I would be happy with the fraction of what you make 🙂 I participate in a ton of parties and I’m also still stuck at around 100 views a day. I’m slowly getting more page views a day and have had a few offers to do reviews, but not really getting paid yet. Maybe someday I’ll reach the level of success that you have blogging.
April 20, 2014 @ 7:38 am
It’s true that traffic is the number 1 when it comes to money. If no one visits, no one buys. It sounds like you are promoting really hard, and the site looks great. I loved your post about Link Parties – very well thought out and very thorough. Are you getting much search engine traffic? Maybe time to consider your SEO on the site and plug away at this avenue of new visitors.
April 19, 2014 @ 8:21 am
Oh my goodness, I hope you aren’t serious about throwing in the towel! I always get excited when I see an email from Moms Make Money. I know every time I come to your site I will learn something new – even 9 months after you set me up at Driftwood Gardens on WordPress! If there is anything I can do to help please reach out. I recently mentioned you in a post about blogging as a go-to blogging guru and linked to this here site!
http://driftwood-gardens.com/blogging-basics-using-social-media/
April 20, 2014 @ 8:34 am
Thank you very much for the mention Jen, its a great article. Yes, I’m just temporarily down in the dumps about this site, but still loving the other one. I’m sure I’m not giving up here, but I might post less frequently. I got so disappointed when the hosting company changed their policy and I couldn’t set up all those sites in the same way any more. Asking people to pay $36 up front which I immediately refunded was just too much it seems, and no one will take me up on the offer any more. Even though its still free, no one wants to pay and be refunded. It’s a shame because I really loved doing that and I hope I set up a lot of people on the road to fun and success. So after a few set backs in the last 4 months, I’m glum. But I’ll get it back. We all go through it from time to time I think…Thanks for the words of encouragement.
April 19, 2014 @ 9:38 am
Gosh I hope you are out of the dumps cause I for one need you. I read your blog here even if you aren’t posting anything new. I simply re-read some old stuff. It is true there are tons of other blogs out there that post about improving your blog but I have yet to find one that is as generous as you and will actually show you statistics and numbers to prove it. I find you inspirational and motivating. You are one talented lady. I not only re-pin your posts, I tell people about you. I have my daughter reading your blog and just last week at work, a co-worker said she wanted to quit working, start a blog and stay home with her two young daughters. I said “Read Deb’s blog” she will give you all the tips you need to get started. If you didn’t live so far away I’d have you over for dinner to show my appreciation.
I am guilty of not always posting comments but in my defense I generally read at 5:00am with my morning coffee and I simply don’t feel like typing before heading to work. I will promise to comment more on your helpful advise if you promise not to give up on us yet. Fair deal? Thanks again for all your very, very, very helpful tips and advise.
Your far away friend,
Debbie
April 20, 2014 @ 8:37 am
It’s a deal Debbie. And its a shame we can’t chat over dinner, I’d like that. Thanks for the kick in the pants and I’m so happy that you have found useful stuff here. I’ll be adding new articles from time to time, just probably not as frequently as I did before, as I’ll be concentrating on the other site that is more successful – at least for now. Damn, fingers crossed that I haven’t jinxed it!
April 19, 2014 @ 12:56 pm
Well, a reflection of how a whole lot of people feel. We are in the trenches there along with you Deby. And feel and share your pain. Just let us know where the pity-party will be held at. Would love to join. At least this way, we know that we are not alone in feeling the way that you expressed here. Thank you for sharing an article like this. Well written.
April 20, 2014 @ 8:09 am
Yes, you are right – one big pity party and I started it! Sorry about that. It is disheartening when we all put so much hard work into our sites and then get no reward, people visit and don’t comment, or like I am dealing with now, those readers go on to attack the site with click-bombing etc. I think it’s that specially that has got me down, finding out it wasn’t even just one isolated incident but several people doing it.
April 19, 2014 @ 6:16 pm
Dear Deby, Please don’t stop writing on this blog. I love to read your earnings. It gives me hope that maybe one day my blog might make some money too. My blog has lost its umph. I’m not sure of my purpose. I’m overwhelmed. I like things explained super simple. Step 1 – do this. Step 2 – do this. That kind of thing would be so helpful. I went to Shareasale when you recommended.
Got turned down. BlogSpot, is not my own domain. So, I purchased a domain but now what?
I’m afraid of wordpress sites, I’ve had one before and it always gets hacked. I hope that you will stick with this site as I really do enjoy it. There are plenty more things to talk about and if you can really simplify things, it will really help me.
April 20, 2014 @ 8:25 am
I totally know what it feels like when you loose your blogging mojo. I’m there too right now. Some ideas in my head, just can’t seem to motivate myself to do it! But all of the lovely comments on this post have been very kind and it’s nice to know there ARE people out there reading, sometimes just quietly taking away ideas and not making a bit song and dance about it. I’m sorry to hear you’ve been hacked in the past, that must be terrible and no wonder you are anxious. Its no easier or harder to hack a WordPress account than a blogger one, all they need is the username and password, but with a self-hosted site, they gain access to the computer power of your server which is what they want, so its just that WP sites are much more likely targeted. In terms of a simple step by step plan to success, I only wish it were that easy. The steps for everyone will be different. But basically -> 1 – have a passion. 2 – read about niche blogging and decide on a niche and target audience. 3 – set up your site with a strong domain name. 4 – write awesome content that people want to read and share or come back to. 5 – publicise that content to relevant readers in other places. 6 – collect email addresses for a mailing list. Repeat steps 4 to 6….But of course we all know its not as easy as that. I hope you bounce back.
April 28, 2014 @ 9:02 pm
Hi Deby; Sorry, I didn’t reply right away. I got sidetracked. Love your advice. Thank you, I will give it a go.
I’m glad you are feeling more supported.
April 29, 2014 @ 10:18 am
lady, you have cojones for posting your earnings and sources. one always fears that doing that would make enemies try to spoil your efforts. thanks for sharing and much success to you.
April 29, 2014 @ 12:08 pm
Yes, it does make enemies, or at least draw in sometimes unwanted attention and cruel comments. I also get a lot of emails asking for money with horrible graphic stories of all sorts of things I don’t want to read about, and doubt very much are true. But if you run a site advising people on how to make money blogging, you have to demonstrate that you do so yourself, otherwise, why should anyone take your advice!
May 10, 2014 @ 4:32 pm
I’ve just discovered your blog this month, and although I’m not a mom I’m looking forward to reading deep into your previous posts and learning all I can from you!
May 12, 2014 @ 11:54 am
I found your own post really interesting. You have a very different approach and different skill set to my own. I only wish I understood SEO 10% as well as you!