My January Blog Income Report

Welcome to January’sbusiness incomereport where I show you how Imade money online last month. It’s time to look at this month’s updateand seehow I did. If you’re new to Making Sense of Cents, you may be wondering why I would want to publish my income report each month. You can simply skip to the next…

Welcome to January’sbusiness incomereport where I show you how Imade money online last month. It’s time to look at this month’s updateand seehow I did.

If you’re new to Making Sense of Cents, you may be wondering why I would want to publish my income report each month. You can simply skip to the next section if you’re not new here.

Thisall started out as myextraincome reportbecause in the beginning, it was all about the money I was earning from my side jobs.In my sideincome reports from the beginning, I included all of the income I made except for what I madeatmy day job.

However,I left my day job as a financial analystin Octoberof2013 and nowmy monthly income reports consist of the manyways I earna living.

Many have asked why I would ever want to publicly post my income each month. Some think I’mcrazy, whereassome are glad I’m open about what I’m doing. Whatever you think, I enjoy publishing mymonthly online income reportsand I share them publiclyfor threemainreasons:

Before I started blogging, I knew nothing about side hustling and making money online. I didn’t think side jobswere worth the effort and I thought the onlyway to significantlyincrease your income was through raises at your full-time job. If it weren’t forothers publishingtheir monthly income reports, I don’t know if I would have ever triedside hustling. I want to help show others the positives in side hustling and how it can change a person’slife. There are many different ways to make money online, and I like to share my story each month to help motivate others to improvetheir financial situation by making more money.
Secondly, I like to publish my income reports because it’s a way for me to look back, learn from my mistakes and actually see what areas need improvement. I use my monthly income reports as a way to track how I’ve done and I treat it sort of like a journal.
Lastly, I like to show others thatmaking sidemoney ispossibleand that there are many legitimate ways to make money from your home. If you are looking for information on the manyways to make money online, I publishedthe articleMonthly Income Report Roundupthat showcases many successfulbloggers who are kind enough to share their income with the public each month.

I know I say this every month, but it’s the truth. Life is great now that I’m my own boss and a full-time blogger. I look forward to each and every day and it’s a wonderful feeling. I truly love waking up every single morning.

Aboveare just a few of the reasons forwhy I enjoy publishing my monthly income reports. I like to show others that you don’t have to hate your job and hate your life. You can make changes to your life and make money in a way that allows you to truly enjoy the life you are living. I’m not sayingthat you have to LOVEyour job, I’m just sayingthat your job should, at least, allowyou to do what you like to do outside of work (whether that be spending time with loved ones, painting, hiking, etc.).

How was businessincome in January of 2017?

I earned $139,233.11 blogging and onlinein January,before expenses.

This is my highest income month so far formy blogging business and it was a great month all around.

This was due to a few different things that happened and that I’ve been working on lately:

January is a great month for traffic for personal finance. Everyone wants to start the new year off by learning how to manage their financial situation better, which means that page views and visitors are always up. I received around 790,000 page views in January, which is the best month ever for Making Sense of Cents.
I had a feature in Forbes which generated over 50,000 new visitors to Making Sense of Cents (amazing!). This feature led to many new email subscribers, many great emails from new readers, and more.
I’m focusing on diversifying my income.In 2016, I finally created my first for-sale product, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. This helped me to diversify my business and try a new form of income. Now, my business income primarily consists of affiliate marketing, a product, sponsorships, and advertising, which is a mix that I’m very happy with. Also, I’m making a better effort at diversifying my affiliate income as well, so that I earn a larger share of income from different companies.
I’m focusing on my email list.I didn’t start taking my email list seriously until around April of 2016 when I switched to Convertkit.Convertkit makes sending an effective and efficient newsletter so much easier and better. I never really understood email marketing before, but ConvertKit makes it so easy and now I feel like I’m an expert! I now have around 40,000 email subscribers. One of my biggest blogging mistakes was waiting years to start my email list. If you don’t have one yet, you should start ASAP!
I’m spending more time on Facebook.I started 2016 with just around 6,500 Facebook followers and ended it with 38,000. At the end of January, I was already at 46,000. I owe a lot of that to the ebook Facebook Strategies Worth Sharing. Growing my Facebook page has allowed me to reach new readers, improve my blogging income, grow my email list, and more.

I’m very excited for 2017. I know it will be another great year!The business is doing well and I’m very happy with it. I’ve been catching myself saying “Life is really good” a LOT. And, I truly mean it. Life is really good!

My business is growing, income is increasing, I have tons of amazingideas for 2017, and I am very excited about everything. I really love my business and I don’t know where I would be without it.

Anyway, Januarywas another great month. It was great on all fronts – blogging, course-wise, life, and everything else.

Breakout of January 2017income – $139,233.11:

In January of 2017, I earned$139,233.11 from my blog. Below is how my income breaks apart in the different blogging income categories:

Affiliate income –$69,878.11total:
- Bluehost (check out my tutorial on how to start a blog) – $47,060.00
- Survey companies – $14,098.50
- MOTIF Investing– $1,472.00
- SEO Training Course– $1,207.80
- How To Work From Home Selling On Amazon FBA –$1,161.50
- Ebates– $1,000.00 (estimated as this is a tiered affiliate program)
- Bookkeeper Business Academy –$740.75
- How I Grew My Facebook Page From 2,000 to 100,000 in Five Months– $444.00
- Izea/SponsoredTweets–$320.00
- Make Money Proofreading By Becoming A Freelance Proofreader–$302.56
- Personal Capital – $300.00
- Uber – $240.00
- $5 Meal Plan– $224.70
- Digit – $195.00
- Ibotta – $180.00
- ConvertKit – $147.90
- 30 Days Or Less To Freelance Writing Success – $124.80
- Amazon – $121.60
- 17 Strategies Used to Go From 17K to 350K+ Page Views in 9 Months – $70.00
- Miscellaneous affiliates – $467.00
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course – $49,078.00
Sponsorships and advertising-$17,000.00
Display advertising – $3,277.00

Total: $139,233.11

The income amountabove isfor the month of Januaryand before any fees orexpenses (some fees and expenses that lower the amount above total around$4,500 (rounded up), which include virtual assistants, Teachable course platform fee, technical assistance,newsletter expenses, PayPal fees, Stripe fees, etc., however, this does not include taxes) being taken out. I also had expenses for the affiliates promoting my course, which totaled $3,563.60.After expenses and fees,I made approximately $131,169.

Please keep in mind that I work for myself when you readmy monthly income report. This means I have to cover taxes (which are over30%), health insurance, and all other benefits/expenses that an employer mayprovide.

Check outThe Ultimate Guide To Making Money Blogging for all of the different ways you can make money through a blog.

Below are some of my other monthly online income reports. I publish an online income update everymonth but only included some of them below as it would be a very long list. If you head on overto myincome pageyou can findall of my monthly income reports from the past few years.

$672 extra in May(2012)
$6,523 in January Extra Income(2013)
$11,927 in October Income – I Finally Left My Job(2013)
$12,640 in January Income(2014)
$23,758 in February Income – My Monthly Online Income Report (2015)
How I Made $300,000 Online In 2015
How I Made $979,321 In 2016

Comparisons and 2017 online income total:

Total income in Januaryof 2017:$139,233
Total income in Decemberof 2016:$91,765
Difference from the previous month: +47,468
Total in 2017: $139,233

Blog news

Making Sense of Cents is doing very well and I’m happy with everything.

In January, I started a small blog redesign. The designer has mainly changed the color theme and the logo for Making Sense of Cents and she’s currently working on a few other things. I wanted a moreminimalist logo and design, so I am verypleased with how things turned out.

I hada HUGE feature last month in Forbes. You can read it at How This 27 Year Old Made Nearly $1,000,000 in 2016.

This brought a ton of new readers and I’m still extremely excited about this feature. I’m definitely ready to start 2017 out with a bang now!

Featured Question: What are easy affiliate programs for new bloggers?

I feature onequestion from a reader in eachmonthly income report. Please leave a comment below if you have a question that you would like me to answer.

As a new blogger, you may be interested in affiliate marketing. However, many people believethat a blogger needs to have a lot of blog posts and a high amount of followers before they will be accepted into an affiliate program.

That isn’t true at all!

There are many affiliate programs that you may be able to join right when you start your blog. Some affiliate programs don’t have many requirements, such as traffic statistics or the age of the blog that is applying for the affiliate program.

Some of my favorite affiliate programs that you may want to look into trying out as a new blogger include (of course, this depends on your specific niche):

Amazon Associates –This is always the first affiliate program that I recommend a new blogger sign up for. This is because you can find nearly anything and everything for sale on Amazon, so there is probably something that you’d be able to promote on your blog from this affiliate program.
Awin– This is one of the largest affiliate networks in the world (with over 6,000 possibleaffiliate programs to join), so I’m sure any blogger could find something to promote.
Ebates – Anyone with an Ebates account can promote this service,so you don’t even need a blog. Ebates can be great for many niches, such as finance, parenting, lifestyle, travel, and more, as Ebates can be used for many different types of purchases.
Digit –Anyone with a Digit account can promote this service, so you don’t even need a blog. Digit is more for finance and parenting niches as it’s a savings app. You could use it for a travel blog as well and promote it to your readers as a way to save for avacation.
MaxBounty – Maxbounty is an affiliate network, but you are paired with an affiliate manager who may be able to find some affiliate programs for you, even as a new blogger. Remember, if you succeed, then they do as well, so they want to help!
Shareasale –Shareasale is another affiliate network, and it’s one of my favorites. There are many, many companies that are listed within Shareasale and you can probably find at least a few companies within your niche that will allow you to promote their product, even as a brand new blogger.
Courses and ebooks – If there are any courses or ebooks that you took in preparation of launching your blog, then you may be able to sign up as an affiliate for those right away and start promoting them. After all, someone like you is exactly who potential buyers want to hear from on this specific product!

As you can see, there are many options for even brand new bloggers when it comes to affiliate marketing. Plus, by starting with these easy options, you can test your affiliate marketing skills and get the hang of affiliate marketing right from the very beginning with your blog.

Past featured questions:

How do I increase my affiliate income?
Do I need millions of page views a month in order to make money blogging?
How do you build websites up to sell them?
Do only celebrities make money through owning websites?
How much money can a person make blogging?
Where does blog income come from?
Is there enough room for new bloggers to make money?
What should a person blog about?
How can a blogger increase their page views?
Should my blog be self-hosted?
How should I launch a new blog?
What blogging tools or resources do you recommend?
What should you do when a blog post goes viral?
What is affiliate marketing?
What did I learn from launching my course?
What should youdo when you’re feeling blogger burnout?
How can a blogging conference help me?
Why does a blogger need to have an email list?
How can I make more blogging income around the holidays?
Where do you get your photos from for your blog?

My plans for my blogand my business.

Plans and goalscan help you to run a successful business. I believe that working towards a goalcan help keep a person motivated too.

Below are some of the areasI am currently working on:

Earn $1,000,000 from my business in 2017.This is a brand new goal for the new year. Many of you have asked why I didn’t increase my goal to $2,000,000 for 2017 since I was so close to $1,000,000 in 2016 already. Well, the main reason for that is because my overall goal for the year is to have a better work-life balance, and instead earn more passive income from my blogging business.
Have a better work-life balance. This is my main goal for the year. While I have an okay work-life balance, I would like to be able to take a break frommy blog without constantly checking my phone or laptop. I love my business, so thatmakes it hard for me to step away from it, even for just a few hours.
Get at least three months ahead on Making Sense of Cents posts.I am currently 2 months ahead in content. Before the end of the month (February 2017), I would like to be at least 3 months ahead in content. Being ahead in content makes life much more enjoyable because I can focus on other things knowing that the majority of my writing work is already done. Weplan on visiting many new places this spring and summer, and we just booked a 2 week sailing trip, so I am trying to get as far ahead as I can in preparation for no internet (or really bad internet service).
Grow Making Sense of Cents to 1,000,000 monthly page views. I would love to help more readers, see even more engagement, have higher traffic, and so on. I love my blog and I would love to see it grow! I’m hoping to see at least 1,000,000 monthly page views by the end of 2017. In January, I saw 790,000 page views which was amazing and very motivating.
Start doing more live interviews, such as podcasts and webinars. I’m not as shy as I used to be, but living in an RV and not always having an internet or a reliable schedule makes podcasts and webinars are a little more difficult. I hope to find a way around that (perhaps planning out a better schedule?) anddedicate more time to this area.
Create one more product to sell. In 2016, I created Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, and that has completely changed my life and my business. I want to think about and create another product to sell in 2017 so that I can continue to diversify my income.
Promote the blog and business better.I am doing much better at promoting my blog and content,and I’m noticing an improvement. I started focusing more on improving mytraffic from Facebook, and I’ve been very pleased with the results. I used to only see around 100 visits a day from Facebook, but for the past few months, I have been seeing around 2,000+ visits a day from Facebook.
Continue learning and improving.I currently have a few blog courses that I’m working through, such as one for Instagram and an SEO coursethat I’m finishing up.

Affiliate income results.

In January of 2017, I earned $69,878.11in affiliate income,as outlined earlier in this blog income report.

I’m a very bigfan of affiliate income, of course.It’ssomething that I enjoydue to how passive it can be. It makes full-time traveling much more enjoyable when I know I can bring in an income while having fun seeing new areas.

As I always say, blogging income is not dependent on page views. Even brand new bloggers can make money through affiliate marketing. If you know the correct way to promote a product, you can succeed at affiliate marketing. This is one of the main thingsI teach in my Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course.

My affiliate marketingcourse went live in July of 2016. I’ve already had over 1,400 peoplepurchase the course, and I’d love to have you as a student too!

InMaking Sense of Affiliate Marketing, there are 6 modules, over 30 lessons, several worksheets, bonuses, an extremely helpful and exclusive Facebook group, and more. I go through everything that you need to know about affiliate marketing, such as:

A quick introduction to affiliate marketing and how it works
The benefits ofaffiliate marketing
The exact steps I’ve taken to earn over $400,000 from a single blog post
How to correctly pick affiliate products to promote
The steps toincreaseyour conversion rate
How to build trustwith your readers (this is a MUST!)
The required disclosures you need to know about
The major tool you need for affiliate marketing
The many different strategies to promote your affiliatelinks

Mycourse is anything and everything about affiliate marketing. This course is perfect for you whether you are a new blogger or if you’ve been blogging for years, no matter what topicyour blog is about, what country you live in, and so on. I wrote this course so that it would benefit everyone, and there is so much to learn from it.

How was January for you? Are you interested in earning blogging income?

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In this free course, I show you how to create a blog easily, from the technical side all the way to earning your first income and attracting readers. Join now!

My January Blog Income Report - $139,233 (2024)