I’m assuming I lured you in with that title? It’s the question I get asked a lot and most people (typically friends and family) are surprised that I make anything doing this crazy thing called style blogging. I never actually set out to earn money, I just saw a pin on Pinterest one day and discovered the world of blogging and decided to give it a whirl. Cue horrendous photos, a crazy learning curve, and three (insane) years later and I find myself making money doing something I really enjoy. My ultimate goal is to earn enough money to warrant staying home with my kids after they both start school full time. Whether or not that will be a likely thing is something I don’t know, but until then I am pretty happy doing this. Scratch that, I LOVE doing this and really, really, really want to turn it into a career. It has all the aspects of what I love all rolled into one place and I wake up every day excited to be here in this space.
On that note, to be able to warrant this place as a viable career I have to earn money, something I have done slowly but surely for the last year or so. I don’t make enough (yet!) to consider this a full time earning power, but I make enough to push me forward and it gives me the knowledge that I CAN earn more.
Here are the ways I earn money each month blogging:
1) I earn the steadiest income from my sponsorship and blogging consulting spots. Booking every spot for the Group Giveaway option gives me an income of $200/month and this continues to be a popular option. It works! Every single person who participates in the giveaway grows by at least 50+ followers, and I work hard to make this a successful option for my sponsors. I’m currently working on another option for sponsosorhip, which would be a feature spot for one blog/month. This wouldn’t be the usual guest post, though, I want it to be more of a contributing writer sort of spot and I am ironing out the details now.
2) I also earn money (between $100-$400/month) on sponsored posts. This can be an entire post, or it can be for a mention of a company within a post, or a style post featuring a piece of clothing. I am pretty picky about what I show here, so for every 10 or so legit emails I get asking for a feature, I may feature 1-2. I don’t like to show a whole lot of sponsored content here, but I also need to earn money, so it is a fine line that I worry about a lot. I also don’t like to show outfit posts with all ℅ items, something that is more personal and feels right for me and how I want to portray myself.
3) Affiliate sales are another way to earn money, but in my opinion it is a very minimal amount. Affiliate links are links that earn me a commission if you buy something that I have linked in an outfit post. I use Rewardstyle, but I think I don’t earn a whole lot from them because I shop at stores that don’t offer high commission products (Target, Old Navy, Forever 21, etc.), and also because most people go to Target (my main source), instead of buying from a link. I have earned money through affiliate links, though, but at the most I find I make about $120 every three months or so.
4) There are also little ways to bring small amounts of money each month, and one of these (for me), is through book sales. I’m not sure I would recommend this route, as the book took me an entire summer to write (though I DID move cross country during the process!), and have earned under $100 from it. Total. You could also insert Adsense/Blogher ads here, or any other company that pays you a little bit at a time.
Note: I’ve seen a rise in blogger’s coming up with awesome ideas to earn more (Living In Yellow has a great Blogger Happy Hour and her Love, Yellow option, and I Wore Yoga Pants to Work has her super cute tee shirt line, too.) These ladies are finding ways to create an income that is outside of the box and I admire that.
These are the ways I currently make money each month, but I am always searching for ways to branch out and diversify my income even more. You CAN earn money blogging and there are a zillion different ways to make it possible, it just comes down to what you are willing to do for it and how you want to use your blog and influence. I have a vision for how I want my blog to be and this doesn’t include a lot of the earning options out there, but I think there is always a way to make money in a way that makes you comfortable.
Tell me, do you make money blogging? What are the ways that work for YOU?
