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Hello and welcome to my blog income report series!
This income report is going to be a little long because it highlights some of the important blogging lessons, I learned in my 3.5 years of blogging.
In the end, I will also show you how I made $27,689.76 last month, and $78,199.20 in the last 3 months of blogging. I am in a little disbelief (I’m not sure exactly what I’m feeling TBH) as I am typing these numbers because I didn’t expect to go this far when I first started my blog.
If you’re new to Finsavvy Panda blog, you may be wondering what this blog income is about and why I publish these reports.
I remember feeling trapped hating all of my 9-5 jobs SO much! I thought there had to be something more meaningful and fulfilling than just the jobs I worked.
On top of that, I wanted to live a financially stress-free life, so I started this blog income report series documenting all my blogging lessons and mistakes to keep track of my progress as a new beginner. I was curious and wanted to see if making money online from home is possible.
I know personal finance and money are a struggle for many people, so I shared my struggles and stories here on this personal blog to show how I made extra money on the side of my 9-5 job. This extra income allowed me to save more for vacations, experiences, retirement, and the things I value in life.
I also won’t hide the fact that I started a blog because I thought it would be nice to earn extra money by doing something fun, new, and exciting. I saw it as a hobby where I could test, experiment, and share my experiences on what’s working and what’s not.
All my older blog income reports are a true reflection of the journey and progress of a brand new blogger, me, who started with no experience with earning money online using Pinterest, any social media platform, or blogging – you’ll know that I’m not lying or exaggerating when you read through my blogging archive. I’m a very emotional and highly sensitive person so I wrote things that truly reflect how I felt and what I did as a beginner.
From earning extra money in my first year of blogging, this little blog of mine eventually allowed me to quit my job because of the full-time income it generates. I was quite surprised and never imagined this small blog to earn over $10,000 every month in less than 2 years.
After two years, I even started a second blog to diversify my online blogging income stream. I recently started my third website as an extension to this blog, so I can separate my budgeting/personal finance and blogging posts. I am not looking to “grow” my third blog because it’s just for informational purposes to answer any blogging questions you may have.
So far, I have been earning over $20,000 per month blogging from home, which I will talk more about below.
One of the greatest things about blogging is it becomes passive over time after putting in the upfront work.
Today, I spend 1 to 2 hours a day maintaining this blog, which allows me to spend more time on things that are more important to me such as focusing on self-care and family – things that I wouldn’t have been able to do if I continued working at my 9-5 job!
To save time, I’ve been looking for ways to automate my Pinterest traffic, reducing the time I spend on the platform manually pinning. You can learn how I use Pinterest to boost my blog traffic in a separate post here. For more details about Pinterest, I highly recommend checking out one of my best-selling Pinterest traffic guides, The Golden Compass to Pinterest Traffic.
Start Your Blog and Make Money Online With No Experience!
When I first started this blog, I had absolutely no experience with blogging or writing a blog post. I told myself that starting a blog is so cheap, and it wouldn’t matter much if it didn’t work out. The important thing was that I tried it, knowing I wouldn’t have spent a lot of money.
When I learned that you DON’T have to be a good writer and that you actually DON’T have to draft a blog post every single day or week to earn a full-time income, I was sold on the idea and immediately signed up on a whim! I admit that learning and implementing what I learned wasn’t easy (there’s NO such thing as easy money), but the progress it took me to earn my first $100 from blogging filled my heart with joy and excitement!
I was surprised at my own success and never thought I’d be able to quit my job to work on my terms when I started Finsavvy Panda. I’m really happy with how far I’ve come with my blog, and I’m eager to offer a helping hand to beginners like you!
How to start a profitable blog: Many readers e-mailed me and asked me what I did to get the results I get. To help you, I created this FREE 7-day e-mail course that teaches you how to start your blog without having to be an expert at what you blog about. There has been a lot of positive feedback from many readers so I highly encourage you to join my free course if you want to learn how to start a blog and make money.
The Blogging Lessons I Learned in 3.5 Years
It’s been a while since I published my last blogger’s income report. I have to say that I do get more and more hesitant to publish these things. I was already iffy after publishing one of my older income reports where I was earning over $7,000, and then over $10,000 each month with Finsavvy Panda blog.
I’m a very private and self-conscious person, but at the same time, I get really excited sharing my knowledge and experience so I can help and motivate you to start your blog too. If you are a total beginner, my previous blog income reports will be more relevant and helpful for you. Feel free to use the search bar on this blog to find them in the archives.
On top of that, I am super slow at organizing and writing my blog posts, especially when it comes to writing income reports, so it takes a lot of time for me to prepare them.
But I had readers who were asking me how much money I’m earning with my blog now; along with that, they wanted me to share my progress. I also just had a reader a week ago asking me if I could publish a blog income report because they want to see that it’s still earning an income and to list out my blogging lessons or mistakes so they can avoid them.
Due to this request, I list out some of the blogging lessons I feel are important for you to build your blog and grow (my list of lessons learned is in the section below).
I honestly have so much to say, so my apologies if these blog income report posts come off as verbal diarrhea!
One thing I really want to say, and I don’t know how to express is that it’s easy for me to point out these personal mistakes and lessons learned. But I know for many beginners who just started their blogs, and those that will be starting their blogs soon, you just won’t get it or understand these lessons the same way no matter how much someone teaches you or warns you about it. It’s just a part of a learning experience and you will realize it once you actually start doing it.
I’ve worked with many people and clients in the last few years to see this happen ALL the time.
Trust me, it’s SO easy to say things based on hindsight (especially when you start to become a little more experienced), and no matter how much you plan, learn, and try to avoid mistakes, please acknowledge that you will still make mistakes. And that’s okay! In fact, I still make mistakes too because there is always going to be something new and exciting to learn!
What I also realized by analyzing people’s behavior is that learning too much and NOT actually doing will slow you down in your blogging journey by A LOT.
By the time you know it, you’ll be months and years behind!
You can only learn and grow from doing and making mistakes. If everything is spoon-fed to you and things are smooth sailing all the time, you won’t know how to handle any obstacles that come your way. There are just certain things that cannot be taught without actually experiencing them yourself IRL!
One Important Life and Blog Lesson I Learned
What I’m about to say will not sound like rainbows and unicorns and I hesitate to say these things because nobody openly reveals or shares this part. But I will in this blog income report and post about my blog lessons, because after all, it reflects my blogging progress and I should open up and be honest about it…
I have to admit that I feel exposed when I publish these income reports and I don’t like it. What I learned about blogging (and just overall life in general) is that you will have an audience who will follow you and love everything you say, and there will also be some who will disagree with you – you can’t satisfy them all. That’s okay because everyone is different and unique in their own way.
The most rewarding and greatest feeling you’ll get from blogging is the positive impact and influence you have on your supporting fans and followers.
However, similar to real life, there will be some trolls and not everyone online will like you no matter what you do.
The best course of action is to focus on your true fans who want to listen to what you have to say. They are the people who you’ll be supporting, and they will support you in return.
On top of the trolls, there will also be people who are copying literally EVERY SINGLE thing you are doing when they know you are making progress with your blog or business.
It’s one thing to be inspired, but another to plagiarize or even impersonate another blogger. That is why I stopped my blog income reports at one point, but readers were asking me to bring them back, so I only did this (whenever I have time and feel like it) because I have an audience that wants this and I’m all about motivating and pushing you beyond what you can imagine.
As you can see, blog income reports can be a double-edged sword.
The good: it educates, inspires, and motivates. When you are motivated and inspired by the positive surrounding, it gives you that boost of energy to keep going regardless of what happens. It’s a “great” feeling that makes you feel unstoppable.
The bad: it can do the opposite of the good (demotivate bloggers who aren’t seeing results), and in a worse case, it can attract people to plagiarize, follow every step you take, copy, and even impersonate you by faking their stories to be exactly like yours!!
Despite the copycats and plagiarism that’s going on (and my intuition tells me that I’m not the only person who feels this way), it can motivate and inspire a positive group of people to keep going. Without them, I wouldn’t have continued my journey, especially at the beginning when I was seeing no results!
So, yes, blog income reports can help and give people hope regardless of which stage they’re in, and I am very thankful for income reports to give me that dose of inspiration.
Having that said, I only mention certain aspects of my blogging journey, unlike my older income reports where I broke down everything with screenshots. I now only share what is necessary to help those who are beginners or those who have been blogging for a while and not seeing results. This is to prevent plagiarizers and copycats from imitating me.
Now, onto something that’s more positive which you should know about!
I was able to free my husband from his job!
I’ve been working on my blog as a one-girl show and it was a totally crazy roller coaster ride.
Although my husband has always been supportive, he actually laughed at this whole blogging idea when I first started. After having so many doubts, he is now FINALLY on board with me!
In 2020, when I was working on a new blog, my husband has been more involved with helping out. Yes, he quit his job because he true heartedly believes in this blogging adventure and wants to see what happens.
Ever since his dad passed away in 2019, he was numb and regretted not spending enough time with his dad due to his stressful and demanding hours at work. To receive a phone call from the hospital to hear that his father is gone really killed him inside.
He realized that life was too short and that death can just happen at any time no matter what age. And before his dad passed away, he will always remember his words:
“Son, remember to never overwork and stress too much. Take care of your body because wealth cannot buy you health.”
That hit him hard, so he took a leave from work to reflect on things and decided to quit his job, which robbed his time and freedom.
As he saw my progress with my first blog and saw that it earned over $120,000 in NET income in 2019, and the fact that I didn’t have to deal with a 9-5 job, he’s been on board with helping on the scaling and business side of things in early 2020 after his personal leave from work.
I have to say that we are two extremely different people.
Unlike me, he’s a really, and I mean, a REALLY skeptical guy and does a lot of research before doing anything. WAY too much if you ask me (to the point where he faces decision paralysis and he admits to getting very little to absolutely NOTHING done)…
He definitely wouldn’t have started a blog due to his extreme skepticism. But after seeing my blogging results with his own eyes, he’s been working on building two of his own blogs on the side (I am actually very surprised that he’s been consistent and focused on his blogs for 4 months straight now, haha) – one for purely Pinterest and another one focusing on Google to diversify our traffic and income sources.
As you can see, we are total opposites and we balance each other.
I’m not much of a “researcher” and although I do plan and care about the future, I am NOT an over-planner and I don’t plan very far ahead. And although I thought of myself as someone who’s “skeptical”, I guess I didn’t realize there are more people out there like my husband who are even more skeptical to the point where they question a lot of things.
I mostly use my “gut” feelings and jump into things like starting this blog on a whim and just learning a lot of things on the go. It also never crossed my mind about “hiring” anyone to help me with the blog because I didn’t really treat it like a business at that time.
As I was progressing with my first blog, I learned from my husband that it’s important to leverage other people’s skills and that is also why we hired a virtual assistant (VA) to help with the administrative tasks.
On top of that, my husband has different skills from me so it’s important to focus on your strengths while delegating things you either don’t like or find redundant.
Anyway, my whole point is to say:
- Blogging is a lot of work and it’s a long-term game. But beginners don’t have to worry about trying to perfect everything from Day 1. I see too many beginners get too caught up with too many things that they become paralyzed and then give up.
- Just learn one thing at a time as you go, and you’ll see progress along with results in each chapter of your journey.
- I personally struggled a lot at the beginning and I truly understand the REAL pain as a beginner. That is why I created this valuable resource, The Treasure Map To Blogging Success in 30 Days, to help total beginners get their blogs up and running as soon as possible, so you don’t have to go through what I did. You will be able to fast track quicker than the average person who doesn’t invest in themselves. I made this as easy as possible for beginners. It’s a step-by-step actionable guide and you’ll still stay motivated without feeling overwhelmed.
- My husband started getting involved after Finsavvy Panda reached over $15,000 in monthly net income. This part is important to point out because I know I wouldn’t be able to surpass what my two blogs are making now without my husband getting involved and hiring a VA. I haven’t come across a lot of people mentioning this part. I thought I would say it here so you are aware that once you reach a point and want to earn more, you will have to re-invest in your blog and think about hiring someone to help out.
- Hiring a person or two will also give you peace because you can buy back time (not applicable to beginners, but to those who are comfortable with the idea and consistently earning over $5,000 per month). However, I never recommend hiring for things you don’t understand. Make sure you do your research and ask for trusted recommendations before you decide to hire someone to do something for you.
Important Blog Lessons for Beginner and Intermediate Bloggers
Here is a list of blogging lessons I learned over the 3.5 years of blogging. These things held me back from growing and they also include mistakes I wish I avoided.
Again, it’s easy for anyone to say this in hindsight.
No matter how much you read or learn from someone who’s more experienced than you, you won’t truly understand the pain or see it from that perspective unless you experience it yourself. But I know many beginners ask this, so it’s good to be aware and know.
Blog Lesson and Mistake 1: Not building a proper blog foundation sooner
Not building a proper or solid blog foundation is one important blog lesson I’ll never forget. And I will always kick myself in the head for not knowing this sooner.
It is the part that I can’t stop thinking about and regret SO badly! I didn’t know this part until I had to piece it together from different resources I paid for. It’s advice I really wish an experienced blogger had told me about when I first started.
Every time I try to warn a brand-new blogger about this pain and struggle, especially in this ebook I have for total beginners here, they would totally ignore this advice because they just care about “making money now and as quick as possible.”
So, what happens?
They start a blog, quickly write articles (which I can tell it’s not their 100% effort), and immediately try to throw affiliate links onto their posts. They haven’t learned the basics of setting up their blog and building a foundation to avoid costly mistakes down the road. They haven’t even learned anything about getting traffic yet either!
I see many beginners who try to learn how to sprint before they can even crawl (let alone walk), and yet, they still don’t see what they are doing wrong!
Blog Lesson and Mistake 2: Inserting affiliate links too soon
In the early stages of starting my blog, one blogging mistake I made was I inserted too many affiliate links in my blog posts and too soon.
Nobody likes pages with too many affiliate links. Sure, you may make a quick buck or two, but this is a poor long-term strategy and I wish an advanced blogger warned me about this sooner in my early stages. The truth is no one will come up to you and tell you straight up. Why would they?
I have to say, though, most beginners may not understand this concept until later on when they start learning more about affiliate marketing and actually implementing the strategies. This is an important blogging lesson to keep in mind when you start affiliate marketing.
Blog Lesson and Mistake 3: Not creating processes for myself sooner
Did I mention many times that I’m “on the fly” or “on the whim” type of person? I do a lot of things on the go and I have to admit I am quite disorganized when I am passionate or get excited about learning new things.
This led me to not creating processes for myself earlier when it was earning over $5,000 per month.
My husband really encouraged me to start (better late than never), so we’ve been spending most of last year, including this year, building processes for our blogs that would make life easier and more automated. The result is it saved me so much time and I don’t have to do as much work on Finsavvy Panda blog.
This is especially true when it came to making Pinterest pins for my traffic. I remember back then I didn’t think much into this when I was making a lot of pins because I actually enjoy doing it during my downtime. But as my blog was growing, I realized I didn’t have time to do them for fun anymore.
To solve this problem, I made a load of these click-worthy Pin Savvy Templates here for myself (and you), which takes 10 seconds to make a pin, and I created my own personal process that would buy back hundreds to thousands of hours of my time!
I’ve actually been getting a lot of great feedback about my pin templates, so I recommend checking them out.
Blog Lesson and Mistake 4: Not delegating things sooner
As mentioned earlier, as my husband became involved with the blog last year, he told me to start hiring a person to help.
I felt the need to keep learning, so I didn’t even think about it. I wanted to know how to do something really well before handing it off to someone else.
Another problem was I didn’t even have time to learn HOW TO outsource or hire. I admit a part of me was being lazy to learn about outsourcing, and I just didn’t have an interest because I was so focused on other parts of building my blogs.
As a result, my husband helped with this part. He also started his own blogs where he will be hiring the tasks as well by re-investing the money made. When it comes to blogging, he is more business-minded and efficient than I am. These are skills that I’ve been learning from him and I am very thankful he came in to help with this part last year after taking his personal leave and quitting his job.
NOTE to beginners: This is something that you do NOT need to worry about until you start gaining experience and earning a steady income with your blog. Even if you are earning a steady full-time income, you do NOT have to outsource or hire anyone. I know many full-time bloggers who are doing everything themselves and are totally happy with it!
Blog Lesson and Mistake 5: Not being able to put myself out there
I am an extremely quiet and sensitive person. It’s even hard for me to say this here in writing.
Along with that, I am very introverted and shy despite being called an “extroverted” introvert.
I am good at connecting, motivating, and lifting up the spirits of my readers, but extremely poor at networking, putting myself out there, and tooting my horn in “the business world” according to all the feedback I’ve gotten from my previous managers, family, and friends all my life.
If you are naturally good at networking and reaching out to established bloggers and bigger websites, then kudos to you. You will establish relationships with your peers and others in your industry and you’ll do very well in the long term especially in the Google space.
This is my biggest weakness and I will have to force myself to change if I want to improve, grow, and develop. It is something I am working on in the long run and I regret not pushing myself to do it earlier. Even after saying and realizing this, I don’t know if I’ll ACTUALLY start doing it. I really hope I will, so we’ll see.
Blog Lesson and Mistake 6: Not treating my blog as a business sooner
I started this blog as a hobby and wanted to see if making money with a blog was possible, which is absolutely fine when you’re a total beginner.
As it started to earn a full-time income, even after $10,000 in monthly net income, I STILL didn’t treat it like a business 100%.
When I say “not treating my blog as a business sooner” I’m NOT talking about not spending or investing in blogging tools and resources. Of course, you need to invest in yourself and your blog to see results. I spent money and invested in this blog right from the beginning because I strongly believe in the saying “you need to spend money to make money”. In fact, if you haven’t started your blog yet, or you are still new to blogging, you can read how much it costs to start a blog on a budget for beginners here.
What I mean by not treating my blog as a business sooner is I didn’t take my blog seriously and my mindset was still stuck at treating this as a “hobby” that makes money.
The words, “business owner” or “entrepreneur” don’t exist in my vocabulary because I just never saw myself as one – it all sounded too fancy and intimidating to me.
By the time this blog was growing and making money, I didn’t even realize or notice the progress it was making. I was afraid and didn’t know what to expect.
My lack of confidence and putting myself down held me back and made me not treat my blog more seriously than I should have. Hence it delayed me from creating processes and learning how to ask for help.
Again, I am very thankful to have my husband help me shift my mindset into treating my blog as a business now. I just wish I had done this sooner than later instead of using my fear as an excuse!
Blog Lesson and Mistake 7: Not having any confidence in myself
It’s hard to bring this point up because from what I see in most successful blogs, they don’t talk about this and it’s probably not good to show this much vulnerability.
But I can’t deny this, and it is a BIG mistake I’ve made all my life.
This is something that I’ve improved tremendously over the years since I started my blog. It is something you will learn when you push yourself outside of your limit and make a conscious effort to stop putting yourself down.
I get numerous emails every day from readers who tell me they are not confident and scared to start their blogs because of the fear of failing or what others think of them. I always tell people that it’s normal and that no beginner ever feels confident. Trust me when I say you are not alone.
I learned that life is too short to be scared of something so silly like this. If I didn’t let go of this fear, I wouldn’t have learned as much as what I know now about blogging, and I certainly wouldn’t have been here to tell you my blogging lessons learned.
Looking back, my lack of confidence, low self-esteem, and fear of a gazillion things is what held me back and I really regret not working on my self-confidence.
This is something that I’ll be working on as I continue to build and work on other blogs and websites.
Wrap Up on My Blog Lessons Learned
Those are some of the blog lessons I learned in my 3.5 years of starting my first blog. They are lessons I hope you take seriously because if I wasn’t self-aware of my mistakes or what I was doing wrong, I wouldn’t have been able to grow not only my blogs but myself as a person too.
I honestly learned more in my blogging journey in the last few years than I ever did in my total lifetime at BOTH school and the workplace – it’s effing crazy!!!
Going forward, my husband and I will be applying what I learned in the last few years of blogging and I will be spending time on product creation and helping him grow his websites too.
Learning how to create products has been super fun and I enjoy it very much. It excites me to see sales notification like these and to hear that people are finding all my products helpful:
I’m going to continue doing whatever I’m doing and taking things easier now. That includes focusing on my health, exercising more, and practicing self-care. Of course, I will be doing other online and blogging-related things, and continue to learn as much as I can. I feel like I’ll be entering a new phase in my blogging journey and it’s going to be an exciting and new beginning for me!
I do want to say that it is TOTALLY possible to start your blog all by yourself with NO tech and NO prior experience with the online space. It’s what I did when I started Finsavvy Panda blog.
That’s all for today, my friends!
Whether you’re just a beginner or intermediate blogger, I hope you found these blog lessons helpful.
Here is the moment you’ve been waiting for… my blog income report and progress with two of my blogs. Regardless of doing this for a few years, income will always fluctuate, and it will always feel like a roller-coaster. Your blog income is never predictable, but the earning potential is unlimited compared to a stable 9-5 job!
Remember, life is like a box of chocolate… You never know what you’re gonna get!
Blog Income March: $27,689.76
Display Advertising: $3,289.37
Affiliate income: $20,327.19
- Saving money and budgeting resources, survey sites, cash back apps, etc.
- Amazon Associates
- Blogging tools and resources
- Work from home job resources
Digital products: $4,073.20
- Pin Savvy Templates + Ebook Bundle (Launched and first copies sold in March)
- The Treasure Map To Blogging Success In 30 Days
- The Ultimate Power-Up Budget Binder
- The Ultimate Blog Booster Binder
Total Blog Expenses: $2,121.35
- Web hosting and paid plugins: $53.20
- Blogging education, VA services, Canva Pro, Tailwind, ConvertKit, advertising, digital products subscription, and transaction fees: $2,068.15
March Blog Net Income After Expenses: $25,568.41
Blog Income February: $22,758.86
Display Advertising: $3,060.00
Affiliate income: $17,681.64
- Saving money and budgeting resources, survey sites, cash back apps, etc.
- Amazon Associates
- Blogging tools and resources
- Work from home job resources
Digital products: $2,017.22
- The Treasure Map To Blogging Success In 30 Days
- The Ultimate Power-Up Budget Binder
- The Ultimate Blog Booster Binder
Total Blog Expenses: $1,297.70
- Web hosting and paid plugins: $53.20
- VA services, Canva Pro, Tailwind, ConvertKit, advertising, digital products subscription, and transaction fees: $1,244.50
February Blog Net Income After Expenses: $21,461.16
Blog Income January: $27,750.58
Display Advertising: $2,920.28
Affiliate income: $22,867.09
- Saving money and budgeting resources, survey sites, cash back apps, etc.
- Amazon Associates
- Blogging tools and resources
- Work from home job resources
Digital products: $1,963.21
- The Treasure Map To Blogging Success In 30 Days
- The Ultimate Power-Up Budget Binder
- The Ultimate Blog Booster Binder
Total Blog Expenses: $1,545.86
- Web hosting and paid plugins: $53.20
- VA services, Canva Pro, Tailwind, ConvertKit, advertising, digital products subscription, and transaction fees: $1,492.66
January Blog Net Income After Expenses: $26,204.72
Save Money Simply
Hi Ling,
Really enjoyed this post, it’s very refreshing to see your honesty along with your clear success! Your journey is very inspiring and thank you for always answering questions! All the best.
Elliott
Ling
Hi Elliot!
I’m glad you enjoyed this! And thank you for your positivity and encouraging words! Keep up with the great work on your blog. I can’t wait to see it grow!!
Nina
Hey Ling, I watched you grow a few years back and holy you’ve made serious achievements!!!
Thanks for always sharing your knowledge and bogging lessons with us. These are some of the mistakes I made too but didn’t realize it until it was too late, well except the outsourcing and hiring thing. And what is creating a process? Am I not there yet lol? 😂
Oh, who cares about the trolls. Know they will always be there. It’s what they’re good at… putting people down… they have nothing better to do. That’s why they they’re just trolls hiding behind a computer screen.
You said it right girl. Focus on you.
Ling
Hi Nina!
Apologies for late response as I just saw this!
Thanks for your encouragement and kind words! And no you shouldn’t worry about the outsourcing/hiring or creating processes if you’re still building your blog and learning how to get traffic plus make money. I knew I shouldn’t have said these things as it confuses my readers. I only said them because people were asking me about my current progress and what mistakes did I realize I made afterwards.
Please just focus on building your blog, writing content and learning the basics first before everything else. They will come your way once you start getting traffic and seeing the monetization part. My ebook, Treasure Map To Blogging Success in 30 Days, will help beginners with the first chapter of their journey.
With that said, you can still earn a great full time income without worrying about the “delegating” or “hiring” and “create a process” stuff I said on this post.
Let me know how it goes, Nina! I’m super excited to see you grow and earn a great income with your blog!! 🙌
Latasha
This is amazing! Congrats on all your success. 🙂 I just purchased your Pinterest Bundle! I love your templates and looking forward to using them soon. 🙂
I currently have a blog and I get most over 100,000 pageviews to my personal finance blog each month. I also earn over $3k with my ad company each month but I can’t seem to make over $1000 with affiliate marketing. Currently, I am with ShareAshare, Impact, Max Bounty, and Flex Offer. I currently promote survey sites that I love but looking to add new offers.
How can I find work from home resources, budgeting, and save money offers to add to relevant blog posts to promote? Also, do you recommend an affiliate marketing course that I can check out? Thank you.
Ling
Hi Latasha!
Thank you so much! You are doing great as well with your progress and over 100k pageviews is amazing, so keep up the awesome work!
Btw, I hope you enjoy using the Pin Savvy Templates! ❤️
As for affiliate earnings, have you tried things like VA courses and proofreading jobs? One that I’ve been wanting to make time for is proofread anywhere or something that’s equivalent. I’ve just never had the time to work on it lol! If you mention this in a list post or detailed review post (even better because of the deeper dive) with someone who took the course and had success with it, I think it will work out if you are ranking for keywords related to it and as long as those keywords are more geared towards the readers who have the mindset or intention to enroll in it – I see quite a bit of people in PF and work from home jobs earn with this program!
Another program I see working is CIT bank’s savings. You can test it for your saving money/budgeting audience who are specifically looking for a high rate savings account in the US.
Affiliate marketing can be tricky. Despite seeing bloggers in the same niche who cover and write the same topics, no two bloggers will ever see the same results. It really comes down to who your audience is – their interest, their problems and mindset.
There is also a difference between affiliate marketing using Pinterest, Google, email, and different social medias (kind of like learning how to get traffic via each platform on its own; the focuses are different), so you need to take that into consideration and apply the methods accordingly.
I recommend Michelle’s course for total beginners who don’t know where and how to start but I’m assuming you’ve already taken it and by the looks of it, you’re definitely past the beginner level!
I haven’t taken any other affiliate marketing course after that but I will be looking into a more focused one on a specific area when I have time. There’s just so many different things to learn and online space is filled with tons of possibilities that one cannot learn and apply them all!
Once you understand the foundation, the next level is really testing to see what works and what doesn’t for your blog specifically. Along with that, really learn who your readers are and understand their pain point and struggles. I know it’s easy to say this (and it’s common to hear it all the time), but I didn’t really understand it deep or well enough until I started to see what was really working for me through testing and understanding my audience better! You can take a deep dive into your Google Analytics to learn your readers’ behavior or even ask them questions. Once I focused on that part, my earnings improved over time.
I also recommend looking at your top pages and think about how you can improve your conversions.
This should give you insight into what you can do next to increase your earnings given your traffic and try to work with what you already have.
Again, keep it up because you’re already doing really well with your blog! 🙂
I hope this helps, Latasha!
Latasha
Ling,
Thanks so much for that detailed note. That all makes totally sense. One more quick question. For the CIT bank savings program would you happen to know which platform I can find this affiliate program? Impact? Max Bounty? ShareASale?
Thanks once again.
Latasha
Ling
Try CJ affiliate. 😀
Eden
Hi Ling. You have been so helpful. I actually bought the Canva templates ebook. Soooo thrilled to start doing it.
My biggest roadblock though is the appearance of my blog. I’m struggling in the lay out and I feel soo much pressure looking at soo many neat and organized blogs. 🙈🙈
I have installed Astra and I am trying to put together some stuff.
Any tips?
Ling
Hey Eden
I can’t wait to see you design your first pins using the templates and implement what I teach in the ebook! 🙂
As for your new blog, the truth is you don’t have to focus too much time and effort on your blog appearance right now. Those who have neat and organized blogs did not start off with that. It took them some time and experience to get there.
Like you right now, they started off by installing an easy and simple theme, like Astra, and focused on writing helpful content to their readers. Your site design and layout will change once you start learning more about blogging and the foundations of what makes a blog successful. This is what I go through in The Treasure Map To Blogging Success in 30 Days ebook and I am confident this profitable roadmap will guide and help you build your blog without feeling overwhelmed. I also go through the blog setup component to help you get your blog up and running as quickly as possible.
I know what it feels like when your theme design isn’t going the way you want it to.
It took me a while to let go of that aspect when I was new to blogging. I eventually realized this “theme design thing” was just holding me back from learning and implementing the more important things such as writing valuable content, setting up the blog PROPERLY behind the scenes (which is NOT related to theme design), getting traffic to the right audience, and helping your readers – this is the part that makes money, not your blog design or how nice it looks.
I hope you trust me when I say that part will come afterward and you will be like me thinking back asking why did I spend so much time worrying about the appearance of my website.
I’m not saying it’s not important, but am saying a simple and well-put-together simple layout is all you need for now along with building the proper foundation (again, what I teach in my Treasure Map To Blogging Success ebook). Get the necessary things up and running. Enhance, organize, and make changes to your theme later. No matter how much you spend time doing this now, I guarantee you’re still going to go back to it later to make changes.
I hope you find this advice helpful!
Tend
Hello Ling.
The bloggers who focus on Google SEO, constantly tell us to do guest post and build backlinks.
So, did you ever focus on building backlinks? Or its all from Pinterest?
Please reply.
Ling
Hey Tend
I get most of my traffic from Pinterest and some from Google on Finsavvy Panda, but I haven’t focused on building backlinks. This requires a lot of time and I’ve been focusing on other projects instead of optimizing this site for Google, but I may start outreaching and guest posting. To diversify our traffic, one of my husband’s website is focused on Google rather than this blog you’re reading here.
So, yes, I recommend diversifying your traffic source with Google and build links by getting mentions on higher authority websites. But if you’re new, focus on one platform and know it well before moving onto another one to avoid overwhelm.
I hope this helps! 🙂
Pauline
Hi Ling,
Thank you so much for the insights here. I will keep reading your articles to learn more. Question though. As a new blogger how do I grow my blog? Thank so much for your response to my emails as well. Keep doing what you are doing! 🙂
Ling
Hi Pauline
Thank you for your words! ❤️
It depends on which stage you are with your blog. If you have your blog set up properly along with your pages and content written based on what’s I teach in my Treasure Map To Blogging Success ebook, you can start learning how to use Pinterest for traffic. Once you have a good understanding of the platform, it’s time to develop a pinning strategy for your blog posts on Pinterest. At the same time, you can also learn how to rank and be found on google for traffic. I do recommend investing in traffic courses to get a solid understanding of how that works.
Once you are able to get some traffic, you can learn how to make money with your blog.
Everything is a progress so it all depends on your current stage.
I hope this helps give you a direction! 🙂
Isabel
Hi Ling, congrats on all the success! It is very well deserved. 🙂 I love your stock photos, they are modern and not cheesy. Would you be able to share where you source these photos? Thank you!
Ling
Hi Isabel
Thank you! ❤️
I use deposit photos. When they have a sale via appsumo, I like to buy them at once in a package. I think the sale is $39 (or $49 I don’t remember exactly) for 100 photos that never expire in credit. I bought 2 packages a couple of years back and I still have a lot left to use. Well worth it! 🙂
Mrs. S
Hi Ling
Thank you for your very helpful blog posts.
I have started my blog and have 12 blog posts. My question relates to Google Adsense – what are the criteria when you apply for a Google Adsense account? Also I want to drive traffic to my blog and I am using Pinterest for this as I read in you blog posts. How many pins to I need to create for each blog post and how often?
Your advise will be appreciated.
Ling
Hey Mrs. S
I’m glad to hear you find the post helpful! 🙂
I can’t remember the exact criteria off the top of my head but I wouldn’t recommend applying for any ads if you don’t have your blog set up properly with the pages ready (including about me and contact) and at least 15 blog posts. Plus if you’re not getting any traffic at the moment, there’s no point in applying yet because you won’t see any income without visits.
As of now, I personally pin 10 fresh pins each day using my Pin Savvy Templates bundle as part of my process to make it a lot easier. I do the things at least a month or two in advance.
Have you invested in any blogging courses so far? I do recommend investing in a good traffic course that will teach you.
If you are patient and you know you’re going to invest in your blog in the long term, I recommend waiting until you have at least 10K pageviews so you can apply for other ad networks like ezoic or monumetric (not sure if monumetric is still a 10k threshold) before you hit at least 50K sessions for Mediavine.
However, if you want some experience and you can’t seem to get past the 10k pageviews point yet, it’s still a good experience to see how google Adsense works for you. It’s what I used when I first started my blog and it gave me the motivation to move on when I earned my very first $20-$30 at the beginning – that was literally when I was testing the waters of online and had no clue what I was doing but it helped me learn when I was a beginner.
Let me know if that helps!
Travis
Thank you for your advice….
Marie
Hi Ling! I’m super inspired by your blog and how much progress you’ve made in such little time. I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for awhile now, but feel overwhelmed since I’m also a full-time student, working part time, and prepping to apply to graduate school soon! Do you think it’s realistic for me to balance all of these things with a blog? I’ve read through many of your posts about starting one, but I still feel stuck about which niche to pursue. I really appreciate all of your help and you’ve push me to get started!
Ling
Hi Marie
Wow you’re impressive and doing a lot of awesome things in your life!
I definitely understand the overwhelm because I went through something similar while I was at my full time job, studying for some exam on the side, doing some side work for extra cash, while learning how to build a blog too. It can be hectic but I reallyyyyy wanted to try blogging so I made it one of my priorities and I set time for the blog in my calendar.
Even giving myself as little as 30-60 min each day was enough to get me started to keep myself going and motivated at the very beginning (and of course you can take breaks too and come back which is what I did too when this was so foreign to me).
The beginning is the toughest but I was so passionate about learning that I even read about blogging during my commute time to and going home from work (pre-covid times haha) – that was my total couple of hours of casual learning each day and I treated it as something that was fun.
I also have a post here on how to choose your niche and what to blog about so you can check out:
https://www.blogsavvypanda.com/what-to-blog-about/
It’s definitely possible as long as you put work and effort into it. The great thing is you can start today and gradually build it up over time. It’s not something you build once and it’s done. This is ongoing and you’ll always have something new to learn no matter what stage which is what I love most!
Treat your blog as an asset and long term investment. Make sure you are consistent regardless if you put in as little as 5 hours or as high as 20 hours a week in the long run. The key is being consistent and learning + Implementing what you’ve learned. This is very possible and it’s not rocket science. Just a lot of learning, work, and effort (mostly at the beginning) to make your dreams happen!
Let me know if you have any questions about starting your blog. I am very excited for you!! 😊
Iyana Taylor
Hi Ling,
I have a few questions about your blog lessons.
1. What is it that you mean by building a proper blog foundation? Could you elaborate on that, please?
2. What is outsourcing and is it absolutely necessary for beginner bloggers?
Again, thank you so much for sharing, I’ve learnt a lot and you’ve inspired me to get serious about my blogging journey.
Ling
Hi Iyana
I’m glad to hear you’re inspired!
My answers…
1) When beginners start their blogs, they think that just installing a “pretty” blog theme and writing up 500-word blog posts is all that’s required to start promoting and making money. It has nothing to do with how “pretty” your website looks and I see too many beginners dwell on this part which is insignificant. There’s more to just that and there’s a lot of me to say when it comes to this setup and building stage. That includes things like page setup, types of posts to write around your blog topic, thinking about your audience, optimizing certain things in your pages, and many other backend stuff that beginners don’t see on the surface of the blog. All you see are blog posts and images when you visit a blog or website but you don’t see what is done behind the scenes. I personally made those mistakes because it never crossed my mind, no one told me about it or brought it up (until I had to piece them one by one in different blogging resources I paid for). I didn’t know there was this problem when I was new to blogging. There’s really a lot to say about building a blog foundation for beginners which is covered in my ebook, The Treasure Map To Blogging Success in 30 Days, if you’re interested in learning more and following those exact steps to get your blog up and running as quickly as possible. 😊
2) When you’re a beginner, you definitely do NOT need to outsource anything at all. I actually don’t recommend doing this until you are experienced and know what you’re doing with your blog + earning an income. Outsourcing just means hiring people to do certain blogging tasks (that you are tired of doing or don’t want to do anymore) to make your life easier and free up time. That will allow you to focus on learning and growing in another part of your blog biz. For example, I hire a person to help me make my Pinterest pins/designs using my templates and schedule them plus other administrative tasks, so I can do other things. This is different for everyone. I personally did not outsource/hire anyone until I was making over $15k a month in net income. I probably shouldn’t even have mentioned this point in this post because I know it might confuse some of you. If you’re a beginner, just ignore this point because it doesn’t apply to you and it’s something you don’t even need to worry about at all. This is a personal choice and I know many bloggers who are earning a healthy full-time income without hiring or outsourcing anything.
I hope this clarifies and helps! 😊
Clara Egbonwon
Hi Ling.
I’m happy I came across your blog. Although I’ve started my blog, I’m very much in the early stages. You provided us with many insights, tips and encouragement regarding your lessons and lessons we can learn from. I admire your vulnerability in sharing your experiences. It shows strength. And I appreciate your honesty about your blogging journey. Don’t mind the haters, they’ll always be there. But love those who love you for you and the work you do. Well done!
Ling
Hi Clara!
That’s incredible to hear that you’ve started your blog! I honestly miss those earlier days when I first started my blog lol… I now look back and think how silly I was when I got so frustrated with my progress at the very beginning when things seemed overwhelming. Definitely embrace every milestone and stage in your journey and don’t take anything for granted!
I am really excited for you and I am waiting to see your new blog grow and strive in the years to come!
Thank you too for your kind words and encouragement! ❤️
Onkar
Hi ling
I read your income reports today. I was thinking that you are earning most of your income from advertisements but it is from affiliate programs. Can you give me some insights that how much money I can earn with mediavine if I have more than 50000 pageviews per month?
It’s because if I have to make money with affiliate programs then I need to write posts which are related to that.
Thanks,
Onkar
Ling
Hey Onkar
If you’re looking to earn at least $5k per month with display ads alone (either Mediavine or adthrive), you’d need a ballpark of around 200,000+ pageviews alone. But that is just a number (what I said is not accurate) and it really depends on a lot of factors. Everyone’s blog will be different. You may earn more or less depending on your ad RPM and that alone is based on a lot of things like the season (Christmas season is usually the most because advertisers pay more for ads), the intensity of ads you set on your page, type of audience, how long people stay on to read your content, and many other factors.
I don’t focus solely on displaying ads because it would have to take a lot of traffic to earn a high income. On top of ads, it’s good to diversify and increase your blog income with affiliates, products, sponsors, and/or your personal services.
I hope this clarifies! 🙂
Onkar
This is really helpful. Thank you, Ling.
Tom
That’s amazing Ling, v inspiring
Because your whole vibe is supportive and encouraging 🙂
Don’t worry about the haters; it’s easy to be a critic but how many famous critics do you know
Thanks for sharing
Ling
Thank you for your encouragement and support, Tom! It means a lot! ❤️