So, it's my first day in B-school today. Alumni of the program have said that there's life before, and life after B-school. I'm not quite sure where this journey will take me, but I'm very sure of one thing. I want a life and business I love! I want to enjoy waking up in the morning. I want to be passionate about the work I do. I want the family I've always dreamed of. And the only way I'm going to get there is if I start taking myself seriously, and take action.
One of the things I've thought a lot about lately is how mysterious making a living off of blogging seems to be. I mean, there aren't many bloggers who are really open about where the money comes from. Well, yes there's advertising, and yes there are affiliate links, and then sponsorships, but how does it all work? Which programs to join, which ad-networks to use, where to get sponsors, how much to charge them, how to grow the audience (besides the "make good content"), and more importantly, how to leverage that audience, what products sell etc etc etc? I want to demystify this for myself, and for you. So, I've decided to start sharing monthly income reports. It's a really scary step, but also a means for me to hold myself accountable, and motivate myself to work even harder to beat last months bottom line.
Now, I know money is a sore topic for some people. And, that for some, making money with blogging seems scammy. The thing is though, if I want to read quality blog content, someone has to create it. And, if someone is putting a lot of effort and time into creating amazing content, then I think it's more than ok if they make a decent living from it. We should ditch the preconceived notion, that a job is when you do something you don't really like in an office. I'd love to see more and more people create a job for themselves using the passions and skills they have. Wouldn't that be a much happier world? So, i hope you'll look at this as a sort of experiment to create a dream life, and you'll cheer me on as I try to figure it out.
Readership stats in February
Since advertising rates are dependent on the size of the readership, I'm also going to share an overview of how many pageviews and unique readers I've had for the past month.
Pageviews (February 1st - 28th): 64 310
Unique Visitors: 16 259
Money made
1. My Etsy shop - 51.65€
2. Love watercolor art - 17.09€
3. Adsense (sidebar ads) - 23.33€
4. Article for Mood - 45€
5. Amazon.com affiliate program - 0€
6. Modcloth affiliate program - 0€
Total: 137.07€
Money spent
1. Etsy fees + shipping fees - 19.34€
2. Shipping for art - 7.05€
3. Material for art - 6.98€
4. Shipping supplies (wholesale) - 29.96€
5. Clothing labels - 30.82€
6. Supplies for projects - 30.8€
Total: 124.95€
Note: As you see, I invested practically everything back into the business. Buys I regret though are the shipping supplies, which I won't need after I close shop. But, maybe they'll come in handy at a future time.
Net total: 12.12€
Note: As you see, I invested practically everything back into the business. Buys I regret though are the shipping supplies, which I won't need after I close shop. But, maybe they'll come in handy at a future time.
Net total: 12.12€
Thoughts and future plans
As you can see, my blog is far from profitable at the moment. Something I'm more than eager to change. As you probably notice as well, affiliate programs are not working for me at the moment. I've had the Modcloth banner up for months, and made 0€ through it, so I've dropped it with the new design, and am planning to drop the whole program. It's just not a good fit for the content I create.
I'm still fairly new to Amazon, but at this point not convinced. I've sent people over (I've got close to 90 click-throughs), but no buys which means no money. I'm going to try it out for a few more months and then make my final decision. I've seen it work for others, so maybe I should just tweak the way I use it.
My goal for the coming month is to find new affiliate programs that would better suit the craft blogging niche. After all, I do want all the links I share to be relevant to my content. Do you feel affiliate marketing to be sleazy? Does it bother you when a blogger uses affiliate links?
As for ad networks, thus far I've stuck with Google Adsense, but I'm looking at other opportunities. I just started with Sovrn, so we'll see how that goes.
I've had no interest in my sidebar ads, and haven't actively looked for sponsors either. Sponsorships is something I'm really interested in exploring further, though. I have an ongoing collaboration with PandaHall, but it's free products in exchange for exposure kind of deal, so I'm not making any money with that. What I'm hoping to do is actively seek out sponsors and pitch them myself, rather than waiting for them to come to me.
My Etsy shop has been a heart-ache for many months now. On the one hand, I'm in love with the idea of designing and creating collections of things and selling them. On the other hand, my business model for my shop is just not profitable. I couldn't make enough money even if I spent all day every day creating and listing new stuff, and all that stuff sold out immediately. That would also mean I wouldn't be able to blog. So, at this point, I'm thinking about calling it quits. There's no point in dragging along something that isn't working, putting my energy and efforts into it when the return-of-investment is slim to non. So, look out for a clearance sale some time in the next few weeks.
A new venture I'm taking on is expanding my blog into e-products, more specifically e-books, and e-courses further down the line. I have a series of books planned for the next few months, and the first one will come out at the end of this week. I'm officially done with all the projects, so all I need to do know is finish editing all the material.
I will be sharing a free project from the up-coming ebook and some behind the scenes peaks with my mailing list tomorrow. So, if you want in on the fun, join the mailing list by clicking on the button below the post, or by filling out the form in the sidebar.
Now, I'd love to hear from you. Did you find this post interesting? Would you love to follow my business story, as I go through B-School and try to make this a real, profitable business?
If you have any thoughts or insights to share, I'd love to hear them in the comments!
xo. Hanna
Tõesti väga põnev lugemine! Minu kui lugeja jaoks on alati see bloginduse telgitagune nii salapärane tundunud, nii vahva, et annad meile võimaluse ka selle poolega tutvuda!
ReplyDeleteOotan huviga järgmisi postitusi! :)
Tunnen samamoodi, et see blogimine kui äri on kuidagi eriliselt müstiline ja keegi eriti ei räägi, et kuidas siis ikkagi blogiga raha teenitakse. Arvasin, et uudishimulikke on teisigi ja eks see annab mulle endale ka motivatsiooni uurida ja eksperimenteerida.
DeleteI really loved reading this post and getting a little glimpse behind-the-scenes. I so agree with what you said about making money with blogging, and I really like how you're putting it all out there. I only found this type of posts (the income breakdown) and I really loved how informative they were.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many exciting things in the future of your blog and business and I'm looking forward to following along. I'm sure B-School will be a great step forward to making them all (and more!) come true. Congratulations on making the decision to join! And speaking of exciting things, I just emailed you over the weekend, I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Have a great week ahead! I'm so excited to get a glimpse of your e-book.
Ana, got your e-mail, and you're very high on my reply list :). I do hope there are great things ahead - I'm certainly working hard to make them happen. I think documenting them here will be an extra kick of motivation and add accountabilty
DeleteI love reading posts like this! And I'd really love to read more about it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you! : )
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping to write even more about blogging in the future, as I think there lot's to be learned, and it might help someone who thinks of starting or growing their blog, but is in the dark like me.
DeleteI'm so excited for your decision about B-craft school! :) Also, I'm impressed by the number of visitors you have! What you've shared here about making money from blogging is quite eye-opening - so much work (of course it's enjoyable work, but eats up loads of time) that doesn't really pay off. Sad :/
ReplyDeleteYes, ton of work goes into blogging! I'm posting 5-6 times a week, and there's at least 2 DIY's in there. And it takes me 5-10 hours to create one post (including making time). On top of that there's promoting, creating other products and developing the business side. The good news is, it should get easier once I'm more established. I love to do it, but it is a lot for a very small return. For now at least.
DeleteI'm so excited for your decision about B-craft school! :) Also, I'm impressed by the number of visitors you have! What you've shared here about making money from blogging is quite eye-opening - so much work (of course it's enjoyable work, but eats up loads of time) that doesn't really pay off. Sad :/
ReplyDeleteA great start to being self-employed! Here's a fabulous article on the monthly costs involved in professional blogging in Germany (from a food blogger but the costs are pretty similar for we DIY Divas): http://www.gourmetguerilla.de/2015/02/ein-blog-im-monat-kostet-und-warum-die-leser-das-wissen-sollten/
ReplyDelete*When calculating your monthly expenses be sure to include your internet, telephone, server hosting, camera(s), editing programs, any travel costs and, of course, just like any "normal" job, your time must be paid as well ;O)
As most bloggers do every aspect by themselves it's very difficult to set a price (or hourly wage) for all of the jobs having a successful blog requires: designer, writer, photographer, stylist, producer, editor, creator, author, inventor, teacher, artist, model, entertainer, secretary, marketing specialist, social media guru...just to name a few! =O)
Thanks for the article! It was avery interesting read, and even more interesting were the comments and reactions people had to it. I still find it odd that people are so hard on bloggers for making money with what they do. Like it's forbidden to make money off of something you love doing.
DeleteThe way I'm looking at these reports right now is that I'm listing only expenses that are directly linked to the blog. Like, if I had the equipment before I started to do this as a job, I'm not going to list it. I'm also not going to list rent (because I work from home), nor internet (because, again, I work from home and we would have internet anyway). So, basically I'm not going to list the monthly expenses that come with just living, and try to separate them from work. And my wage right now is what's left over. It's like with all start-up businesses, you pay yourself what you're able to, not what you should, sadly.
This might be too personal, but are you also blogging as a job?
Yup, Confessions of a Refashionista is my 12-14 hrs/day, 7 days/week job: blog, channel, books, shop, etc...are all how I make my meagre living.
ReplyDeleteProfessional blogging is exactly the same as any other form of employment. There are both positive & negative aspects, parts that I love & am excited to do and others that I dread but must be done to keep it all up & running.
You absolutely must include any & all bills and expenses related to your blog/business in your expenses whether they are part of "just living" or not. Internet is necessary for your job (your smartphone, camera, computer & programs as well) + as you work from home you can even claim a portion of your rent in your tax return (along with ALL of your business expenses) so why not include it all in your monthly expenses?
Bloggers are rarely (if ever) able to pay themselves a living wage for the amount of work they do but when calculating an expense report for yourself you must try to see what you do as a "proper" business & should always give yourself an hourly wage, even if it's only the current minimum wage and you can't afford to actually pay it to yourself. When you see the work you do as a "real" job (because it is!) and treat your expenses just like any other business would, it's really interesting to see exactly how much outgoing vs incoming money you have at the end of each month & watch as your hard work and perseverance eventually starts to slowly pay off ;O)
Thanks for the insights, Sheri! This is such a new and interesting topic for me, as I've only now started to really take note of all the expenses that I make in my business. And it's very intimidating to actually think of ALL the numbers. I'll try to make my next report much more thorough in that respect.
DeleteThis was a very interesting read, I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks for making the world of blogging a bit more transparent.
ReplyDeleteI had a sewing blog for a few years but stopped blogging when it wasn't fun anymore. Whilst I was blogging, I saw other blogs like "a beautiful mess" for example grow and turn into a business, so I also had ambitions to grow and make some money from the blog to support me while going to uni. When it wasn't happening the way/ as fast as I wanted it to, I got discouraged (though that wasn't the reason why I stopped blogging).
I've been reading your blog for a few years now and even though I liked it before, it turned into one of my favorites recently and I get excited when I see a new post on bloglovin. It takes a lot of courage to be this open about hopes and fears but also makes you more relatable and "real" (because in the internet, you really can be/ pretend to be whatever you want to be). I enjoy reading about the behind-the-scenes and personal/ professional things. So overall I just want to encourage you to keep your head up, I think you're heading in the right direction. xo
Thank you so much for your honest and kind feedback, Katarina! It's always a struggle to decide how much of yourself to share online, but I've felt time and again that I feel unmotivated and just am not feeling it when I'm not being myself. So, I've decided it's best to just do what feel genuine for me, and not worry what others are doing.
DeleteI'm totally with you on the comparison train. Seeing other bloggers make it "big time" can make one feel small and unsuccessful. But, honestly, what I'm realizing now is that everyone has their own story, and the resources and circumstance we are in are different, so we can't really expect the same results.
Comments like yours make my day, so thanks for taking the time to write!