How I Earned a Threefold Increase in Monthly Blog Income

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My tiny blog makes me happy. 

I feel like I get to think out my processes and share good ideas with a community of planner folks, parents, organized ladies (and a couple of gentleman, but stats reveal there are only about two of you), and some Loyal Readers.

But my blog will never make me rich.

Well, "never" might be an exaggeration. 

If you happen to be a billionaire and happen to be reading my blog, you can buy me a million cups of coffee here. Just remember to change that little number to 1,000,000,000. Cool? ;)

But if that doesn't happen...I have another plan.

My tiny blog had about 800 - 1,000 pageviews per month forever. Tiny bloggers want to be paid to write, too, but we often don't have (and don't necessarily want) enough pageviews to do sponsored posts.

For those wondering why we CRAZIES wouldn't want too much sponsored post business, it's because we want full control of our content. You can have that with sponsored posts, but it is a delicate and difficult balance.

Big bloggers make $1,000 and up a month, but my goal, as a tiny blogger, was always just to make over $100 per month. That amount covers my coffee habit adoration addiction for the month.

I'm doing some things to increase pageviews and some things to increase income. I'll share both with you, along with my income reports for last year and last month.

TIP: I just keep my handwritten earnings reports in OneNote on my Surface.

Last year, I didn't have Google Analytics (so, pageviews...no idea, but less than now) and averaged $41 a month.

This November, I had about 50,000 pageviews and made $157 in a month. 

I've been averaging 40,000 - 60,000 pageviews for months now, and this is my second month making more than $100, though I've been getting close for months.

Do the math. I started at $41/per month. Now, I'm making about $150/per month. Three times the income!

(See, not rich. But rolling in coffee, y'all!)

INCREASE PAGEVIEWS

Enjoy Blogging

It sounds silly, but if you love blogging, people can tell and will flock to your blog.

Don't worry about perfect grammar and spelling. Just write. Then edit. Without pausing, press publish.

If you have a typo? Someone will let you know. Send them love for the correction and fix the typo. Soon, you'll have free, friendly proofreaders!

If you go off topic every now and then? People who've gotten to know YOU want to read what you write, even if it isn't their thing.

Have a Schedule

Speaking of going off topic, I was doing it enough that I added Off Topic Tuesday.

I have a schedule, though, so my planner-loving peeps know that I write about planners on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Get to Know Your Niche(s)

Planners are my niche. I am a member of many planner Facebook groups.

But there are a few other things I blog about regularly:

Off Topic Tuesday (seriously, I write about Anything, y'all)

Organizing Thursday (related to my niche, but broader)

Technology Saturday (today's blogging post is a technology one, as is this one)

Flashback Sunday (where I highlight an older, but high quality post...and I go ahead and add better photos and SEO while I'm at it)

The point is that you can appeal to your niche and a wider audience! 

Just be consistent and have great content that people think is worth commenting on.

Rock Linky Parties

I do linky parties whenever I have time. (So, if I'm not at my computer at night, I don't do them.)

Here's how I organize them.

I always try to follow the rules of each party, but I have two other rules that make linky parties worth it to me:

*comment on ALL posts that are close to my niche(s) (often this turns out to bring me loads of new readers) and

*if featured, thank the host, do a special link back, and share their party on social media.

Share with Friends

Don't forget to work social media. My time is limited, so I only share once a day.

I know, I know. That breaks every rule of growing a blog!

But here's the secret: my Loyal Readers like my blog, so they share it for me. :)

I try to give them cues, like "share this with other bloggers" or "share this with the moms that you love." That way, they think about who might appreciate my blog and only share with those people.

Another advantage of this method is that no one is constantly spamming groups or anyone else. People who want to read my blog tend to be the ones who discover it!

INCREASE INCOME

Adsense Tips

Adsense is often the only choice of an ad network for smaller blogs. Go ahead and put at least one ad above the fold.

That will increase your earnings a bit. 

I put two. My readership only went up, not down, when I did that.

Amazon the Right Way

Don't use only links from Amazon in your posts.

I have lots of links in this post, for example, to related content or examples of certain kinds of content. I bet you checked out some of them as you read this post.

Guess what? You probably checked out something I listed through Amazon Affiliates, too.

When you do use an Amazon link, make sure the link is there to serve your readers! 

A link should include more information about the item. For example, a planner description might include a picture of the layout of the planner.

If the link doesn't give ideas or add information, resist the urge to use it. No one will click on it, plus those who do might feel betrayed and not come back. 

Ultimately, your readers matter more than your income!

You Tube Imperfectly

Consider YouTub'ing as a secondary source of income. I YouTube twice a month-ish.

I use my laptop camera. I don't plan. I just talk and show my planner. My lighting, diction, and composition aren't perfect. (In the first few seconds of this video, I said "jark" instead of "dark." My kids are still teasing me.)

If the video says it is 8 minutes long, I spent 15 minutes max, making and uploading it.

People still watch. I still get paid.

Plus, my Loyal Readers need to occasionally SEE my planner in action, and this is a low cost way to allow that.

A good rule is to always make sure your readers come first!

Buy Me a Coffee

Some of my readers have asked how to support my blog.

Y'all, the first time that happened, I almost fainted. Someone wanted to pay me to blog? Wow.

So I installed the Buy Me a Coffee link right under my picture on the right sidebar. 

Test it out and see how it works. I get paid through PayPal.

Okay, no millionaires have shown up yet. But loads of people have sent me $2 for coffee (minus PayPal fees), and one person sent me $20.

It also means I can cut out the number of ads on my blog, so readers don't have to see them.

Other Networks for Tiny Blogs

A few networks will accept blogs with smaller page view numbers. 

I've only tried two. This one, (which gives me a small commission when others sign up through my referral), The Escalate Network, is already making some money.

The other I've tried is Cooperatize. This one (which also comes with a small commission when others sign up and do campaigns through my referral) has already offered me a big sponsored post!

By the way, my blog is a Blogger blog. You might not have noticed. I hope you didn't. I've tweaked it to remove any reference to Blogger.

I don't pay anything for my blog (like you do on Wordpress, another great option for blogging) and pay a minimal amount each year (about $25) for my domain, so my profit is all profit!

Normally, I don't let you drop your link in the comments, but I want to visit you this time, so please feel free to do so just this once!

Etcetera.

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