My income isn't something that I've ever shared here on my blog. Mainly because it makes me feel a little uncomfortable sharing how much money I make.
So why am I sharing a piece of my income with you today? I'm sharing this because I realize that people want to see the numbers. They want to know what's possible with blogging and what steps they need to take to get there.
For that reason, I've decided to step out my comfort zone a bit and give you a peek into how I make money with my blog.
How I Earned $1,000 in 2 Days Online
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1. I Started Blogging
When I started my business, all of my income came from custom blog designs as well as my WordPress themes.
In the beginning, the money came in easily. I was one of the few feminine WordPress theme creators, so there wasn't a lot of competition. I was making thousands of dollars a month with little to no promotion, and that includes not blogging.
As time went on, the number of businesses creating feminine WordPress themes skyrocketed, and in the process, my income took a drastic hit. Things got so bad that at one point I considered shutting down Beautiful Dawn Designs.
Recommended Article: How to Start a Blog for Beginners
In 2015 I decided to leverage the power of blogging as a way to rebuild my business.
Within two years of blogging consistently, I was able to more than triple my monthly traffic and income. This was all thanks to blogging.
So, that's step one. If you want to make money blogging, you have to actually start a blog and stay consistent with blogging.
That being said, let me also say that making a full-time income with your blog is not an overnight process. As you see in my case, it can take years before you're able to earn good money as a blogger.
One of my favorite quotes is by Babe Ruth when he says "You just can't beat the person who never gives up."
If working from home as a professional blogger is your dream, don't ever give up on it. There will be ups and downs on your journey, but if you stay consistent, you will accomplish your goals.
2. I Wrote Niche Content
One piece of advice that a lot of bloggers (including myself) tend to give is that you need to choose a niche.
Whether you realize it or not blogging at its core is about solving problems.
When you can write a blog post that solves a particular problem, people with that problem are likely to share that post.
Rarely does a blog post all about you become popular, however, if you show someone 11 Ways To Save Money On Flights for their upcoming trip, you may suddenly have thousands of people visiting your blog.
When you’re able to niche down, it becomes a lot easier to hone in on a specific problem. Because you’re focusing on a particular problem, you can target a very specific audience that suffers from this very specific problem.
Does this mean you need to niche down?
No.
It does mean that if you niche down correctly, you might find the path to revenue-generation a little bit easier.
If you stood outside the grocery store trying to sell bleach to everyone, then you would have a very low conversion rate. However, if you stood in the laundry aisle and tried to sell bleach, you would have a much higher conversion rate because you’ve found the people with a specific need.
Everything you do with regards to blogging is about solving a problem and finding a specific person that will benefit from the solution.
3. I Built My Email List
Setting up an email list is one of the first things you should be doing as a blogger or business owner. Having an email list allows you to connect with your audience, as well as inform them about new blog posts, or your current products or services.
In the beginning, I used MailChimp to build my email list. MailChimp is user-friendly, and it’s free for your first 2,000 subscribers.
As my blog began to grow, I decided to switch from MailChimp to ConvertKit because I needed features that weren't being offered by MailChimp at the time.
ConvertKit has made it so much easier to grow my list. They have attractive and easy to embed opt-in forms, automated emails, sequences, and more.
Since making the switch to ConvertKit, my daily subscribers has more than doubled.
4. I Created My Own Products
The great part about blogging is that the majority of my income is passive, meaning I do the work up front (such as writing a blog post or creating a WordPress theme), and I can continue to earn money years down the line with very minimal effort.
I currently make money four different ways here at Beautiful Dawn Designs. Here are all the ways I make money:
- WordPress Themes
- Advertisements (via Mediavine)
- Affiliate marketing
- The Blogging Blueprint course
As a blogger, it's so important that you do not put all of your eggs in one basket and have multiple streams of income.
When you run your own business, your income will ebb and flow. One month could be your best month ever, and the next could be your worst.
When you diversify your income streams, you'll have the comfort of knowing that if one source of income isn't doing well, you have additional income streams to pick up the slack.
Because of my course, The Blogging Blueprint, I've been able to make thousands of dollars that I would not have earned if I hadn't created that additional source of income.
So how do you go about determining what products to offer your audience? Well, you need to find your audience's problem.
Your audience might have a lot of problems, but the goal is to focus on the big one.
How do you find it?
You listen.
The best thing that you can do is talk to your audience.
If you have a mailing list then inside of your welcome email ask the person to tell you about themselves. When they do that you can find a way to ask more questions that will lead you to answers.
When you understand what big problem the person is facing, then take the time to write it down.
Then talk to more people.
Over time you’ll start to notice a trend where the same problem continues to pop up.
There is your opportunity to make a product around that problem. It could be an e-book or a service that you offer. Because you listened to your audience, you don’t need to hope that whatever you do make money.
5. I Promoted My Products
This should go without saying, but it's essential that you tell people about your blog, products, or services. I understand that this can be a little nerve-wracking for some, but it really is essential if you want to grow your blog and make money online.
If you're shy, luckily you don't have to step too far out of your comfort zone when it comes to promotion.
For example, I don't enjoy doing video. However, I've still been able to reach my income goals without any video promotion. This includes YouTube videos, Facebook live videos, webinars, etc.
In my blog post 8 Ways to Promote Your Blog and Get More Traffic, I share some of the ways I've been able to promote my blog and increase my traffic and income.
I also recommend reading my article on how to get your content found in search engines.
Recommended Article: 11 Foolproof Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic
In addition, some tools that have helped me increase my traffic and income are:
- Tailwind - a Pinterest scheduling tool.
- PicMonkey - online photo editor.
- Deadline Funnel - allows me to create evergreen countdown timers.
- MiloTree - a popup that helps me grow my social media followers.
- ConvertKit - my email marketing provider.
- Social Pug - makes it easy for readers to share my content on social media.
- Bluchic Landing Page Templates - used in conjunction with my Deadline Funnel timers.
- Styled Stock Society - feminine styled stock photos.
The most important thing I've learned about blogging is that there is no guaranteed technique that will grow your blog.
There are however tried-and-true strategies that when consistently implemented will allow you to grow your blog and make money with your blog.
I hope this article has given you some insight into the things you can do to make blogging your full-time career.
