**The posts I write might contain affiliate links or be written in collaboration with businesses or brands. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.**
When people find out I am a blogger, often one of the first questions I get right after that statement is “can you make money doing it?” The answer is a resounding YES and believe it or not there are numerous ways to earn a little extra jing with your blog. Can you make a full-time living from it? Not likely. There are some pro bloggers doing just that, but the truth of the matter is that your blog can be a source of additional income if you have a plan and have your ducks in a row.
Honestly, I am still experimenting with all of this as well. Sometimes I feel like the Sherlock Homes of Blogging as I test, use and constantly seek out new ideas to bring in income. Some of these below examples below worked awesome, some were no more than an income trickle, but my point is to reveal options to you and other bloggers options that you may not have known about. And hey, just because something didn’t work for me doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. So without further ado, here are 7 Ways I Earned Extra Income with my Blog in 2013.
Ad Sales: I love ad sales and would like to see more fabulous bloggers and sites gracing the sidebar of my blog. This is another avenue I need to expand upon for 2014. Ad sale revenues for 2014 were $118.00
Google Adsense: I truly suck at this. I am thinking if I actually applied myself and strategize, I would do better. One more thing on the To Do List for 2014. Adsense sales were around $20 for 2013.
Sponsored Posts {Businesss2Blogger and LinkVehicle}. I don’t do tons of sponsored posts, but I was able to do several in 2013. Sponsored posts are where a Brand or company pays you to review and blog about their product or service. Revenue from sponsored posts was around $135.00 for 2013.
Products Sales: I have two main guides/ebooks I created. My Eliminate Overwhelm and Get Organized with Trello and Creating Awesome and Shareable Images with PicMonkey. I have both on an end-of-the-year clearance in lieu of retiring them and updating them for 2014, but they were a nice source of additional income for me. All together, these guides brought in about $250 in 2013
Virtual Assistance: I am going all “complete transparency” here. Being a VA is my main source of income (and my full-time income) for me. Being a veteran blogger and a virtual assistant was not a “happy accident” and there is a strong correlation between the two. Though my VA income is not directed directly from Franticmommy, it’s my skills and knowledge as a blogger that lends to the bulk of my VA income. Much of the what I do for clients is writing and blog related, and I would not have those skills to offer if I hadn’t started blogging way back in 2006. That being said, income generated from being a knowledgeable blogger would honestly exceed 10K under my Virtual Assistant business in 2013. And that’s all I got to say ’bout that.
Fiverr: I signed up on Fiverr over a year ago, but didn’t get into using it until late last year. Now I am a Fiverr fan and it has become a great source of income for me. Though not directly connected to this blog, it kinda is. All of my “gigs” I offer are blogging related and this little “honey hole” of income brought in over $600 in additional income in 2013. Check out my blog post HERE to learn more about Fiverr.
Affiliate Sales: I love affiliate sales and for those of you who are not aware what affiliate sales is, it’s basically getting a commission for referring a service, product or source to readers that result in a sale. My top affiliate income producers are Freshbooks, Sponsored Tweets,InstaBuilder, , (for anyone looking for amazing hosting for their blog) and Little Passports. All told, these affiliates combined netting me around $500 in extra income in 2013.
Now many of you may be looking at this list and thinking..”wow, that’s pathetic…” but I’m guessing there’s even more of you rational human beings looking at some of these ideas and thinking “I could use an extra $___ a month. I need to try this!” For those of you in the latter stream of thought, good for you. Open your eyes and mind to what possibilities are out there for you, try a few, and settle on some new ways to add streams of income to your life.
What are you waiting for? Go forth and be FABULOUS 🙂
**some of these links are affiliate links.
PammyPam says
i’m totally loving your fiverr idea. AND i’m in the process of writing a book that i’d like to sell, so i see that i’m going in the right direction. thanks for the tippy tips!
Rebecca Flansburg says
Ooohhhhhh Pam. I’d LOVE to hear more about your book!
Lisa@squishablebaby.com says
This is awesome information, Becky! Really great ideas! Thanks so much for sharing all of your experience and successes!
Great on the VA business! Congratulation on that!
Rebecca Flansburg says
Aaawww shucks, thanks Lisa! You are pretty awesome yourself! 🙂
Raquel @ Organized Island says
Thanks for the interesting article. I am just starting to delve into the area of affiliate posting. Appreciate you sharing how you did. Congrats on your success!
Rebecca Flansburg says
Thanks Rachel. Little Passports is a new affiliate I am testing and they make it soooooo easy. Might be work checking into. I believe their affiliate is through ShareASale. Good luck!
Katelyn F says
Great list! My goal for 2014 is to make a good chunk of “additional income” from my blog. I finally bought my own domain and hosting services last year, and have seen some great growth since! I’m mostly using ads and sponsored posts, but also some affiliates. My goal is to average $100 each month. 🙂 Good luck to you and me both!
Rebecca Flansburg says
Thanks for your comment Katelyn and $100 per month is pretty do-able. Here’s a FABULOUS and profitable 2014! 🙂