How I Earned $3,278.32 in One Month Working from Home

Another exciting month, which surprised me again.

Even though the traffic wasn’t much, my income was at a reasonable level. And this is why I urge all of you out there who are thinking about blogging to consider starting one because it is possible to make money by blogging.

I was doing a lot of background work last month like updating my pins, writing more newsletters, and working on SEO (this is a long-term game, so I don’t expect to see immediate results).

I have been a side hustler for a very long time, and blogging is definitely worth my time because my top priorities for any side hustle are flexibility and income.

If you are thinking of starting a blog, just do it. I took the leap and started my blog, and now I am making a significant income from it. It took time and hard work, but it is all worth it. I have a super easy step-by-step guide to starting a blog even if you are not a techie. So go ahead and start your money-making blog.

There are two reasons I share my blog update and income report: first, to be accountable, and second, to show you no matter how young your blog is, you can still make money from it.

Ready to dive into the details? Let’s do it.

TRAFFIC

The page views took a dip in September. Many of my blogger friends have had a similar decrease in page views, which was mostly due to the back to school time of the year. On the brighter side, the bounce rate is going down, and my returning visitors are growing, which is great news for me. To decrease the bounce rate further, I will be including more inbound links (which is good for SEO as well).

I am looking forward to the last quarter as this can be a period to see good traffic and income. Ready to hustle!

Here are some of my past month’s income updates:

How I Earned $5,126.59 in 6th Month of Blogging
How I Made $4,051.07 in One Month of Blogging
How I Made $3,002.94 in One Month of Blogging
How I Made $5,189.08 in 9th Month of Blogging
How I Made $4,952.70 in One Month of Blogging

SUBSCRIBERS

I am VERY excited about this. I have been focusing a lot lately on growing my email list; I am happy to see how fast it is growing. I know increasing your subscribers can be a challenging task for many new bloggers. If you give useful and targeted content to your audience, then they can become your loyal subscribers.

Another reason my list is growing quickly is because of my free blogging course, and it has given me some FANTASTIC results! I never realized that sharing my journey and my results could help so many newbie bloggers. I still highly recommend blogging as a work-at-home option for the amazing results it can give you.

PINTEREST

Pinterest growth was super slow last month, but that did not stop me from doing backend work on this social media channel. I did a lot of work like updating new pins for old posts, creating new boards, working on pin designs, and pinning less often than usual. I am going to work toward growing my followers, though I do not measure my traffic based on the number of followers.

If you are new to my blog updates, then you need to know that I pin manually following these strategies. And I cannot recommend it enough.

FACEBOOK

I have been testing ads on Facebook, and I still need to get the hang of targeting the right audience. Otherwise, my follower growth has been good on Facebook. It is always important to figure out what your audience wants to read when sharing posts on any social media platform.

TWITTER

I am still working on growing my presence on this social media channel but very slowly. As I always say, I don’t believe in working on all the social media channels. But for now, I am sharing a lot of other people’s content on Twitter.

INSTAGRAM

Though working on all the social media platforms can be overwhelming, I love Instagram. Its visually appealing content has always intrigued me (I am a die-hard fan of photography).

I also know that many people earn a significant income from Instagram alone (possibly another side hustle?). If you are like me, then let’s be Instafriends.

Now, let’s see how much my blog earned last month. In spite of it being a slow traffic month, I made $3,278.32. Ninety percent of it was through affiliates, and the rest was through display advertising.

INCOME REPORT

Affiliate Income

Bluehost – $1,040
Survey Affiliates (iGain, MaxBounty, Panthera Network) – $661.15
Bookkeeper Launch – $196.75
Pinteresting Strategies – $85.76
30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success – $49.60
The Selling Family – $8.50
BookScouter – $6.60
Flea Market Flipper University – $4.00
Amazon – $1.76
Grammarly – $0.20

Ads – $1,224

EXPENSES

BoardBooster – $15
Technical Assistance & Shift to HTTPS – $84.80

NET INCOME – $3,178.52

The numbers are comparatively lower than last month, but I am happy that they are still great for the kind of traffic that I got last month. The reason for this is partly because of my email list. Growing my email list has been giving me great results regarding income, and I would suggest you take your list seriously from day one of your blogging career.

If you are new to my blogging income reports, then the number one resource I give credit for my income growth is the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course. I know there are many blogging courses out there, but if you want to focus on affiliate marketing to generate income from your blog, then this is the course that you need.

The Facebook group that you get to join as a bonus for this course has been a goldmine for anything and everything about blogging.

Things I Did

I usually focus on other areas of blogging like creating more freebies, working on SEO, or tweaking my blog design during low traffic periods. I believe it is a better time investment instead of worrying about the page views.

As I am constantly in search of work-at-home opportunities and side hustles, I am researching the web and digging out the legitimate options most of the time. I am working on creating another exciting work-at-home freebie for all my readers.

I have also been sending more emails to my list to give them more useful content and some authentic options to work from home.

I switched from HTTP to HTTPS last month. Here is a detailed article about why you should switch as well.

What I Learned

I love including this part in my blog updates. Blogging is a constant learning journey, and I like to share what worked and what didn’t with my blog, so you can avoid making those mistakes.

The number one thing I would tell anyone who has just started blogging is to have a plan to grow your list. This can be beneficial for your blog to drive traffic, make sales and most importantly, having a loyal tribe of subscribers is PRICELESS. Last month, I was engaging with my subscribers a lot more than I usually do, and I have discovered so many new amazing bloggers who have such great ideas.

What’s Next

There are a lot of exciting things I am looking forward to in this last quarter. I have some interesting side hustle interviews and more useful freebies for my readers. I am also working toward creating another free course, which I think will be of great use to my readers.

Traffic

I am hoping to increase my traffic past 200,000 page views in the coming months. This means a lot of work on Pinterest, SEO, and growing my list.

Income

Breaking the five-figure mark this year is my new goal, and I am hoping to achieve this by December. Need to hustle hard!

Subscribers

I am at 2,800 subscribers right now and will be working on growing it to over 3,500 by next month.

Update: All the below resources have helped me immensely to reach this point in my first year of blogging. I highly recommend them, and they can be quite helpful to all of you—no matter what stage of blogging you are at. I am happy to answer any questions you may have about these resources.

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – This is by far the best course I’ve ever taken, and it has helped me with many aspects of affiliate marketing. This course is a must for anyone who is serious about making money from a blog.

Pinteresting Strategies – Carly’s Pinterest strategies helped me grow my traffic exponentially, and in turn, my income. I have tested them, and they work.

Facebook GPS – Tracie is a pro when it comes to Facebook strategies, and her course is a complete guide to growing your Facebook followers. My reach is increasing every day as I keep implementing tips from the course.

Traffic Transformation – I love Lena’s eBook for the fact that she dives into getting traffic from less frequently used platforms like StumbleUpon and Google+.

Strategies Worth Sharing – This is an eBook I bought even before starting my blog, and it helped me to reach 700+ likes on Facebook. With Facebook being the second biggest referral for traffic for many bloggers, you need to invest in this eBook to grow your traffic.

About Sireesha Narumanchi

Hi, I am Sireesha and thank you for stopping by to know me. I am a work-at-home mom, side hustler and a firm believer in making 'working from home' a success for everyone. I have worked in a remote job for over 11 years and tried many side gigs. I have been featured on many popular websites like Forbes, Business Insider, American Express, QuickBooks, The Muse, Moneyish, Virtual Vocations, Spark Hire, Bustle, Fairygodboss, Side Hustle School, Payoneer, Jobbatical, Skillcrush.Read more...