I can’t believe it’s been 10 months into my blogging journey – I’ll probably say it a bunch in here but I am so glad I took the leap on myself and this dream I’ve been wanting to try for so long. This blog post will talk about a quick recap of how I started, where I am after ten months, and my goals for the future of blogging and social media (and how I’m working on them). If this is your first time here and you want to know How I Started my Blog and Why – be sure to check out that post first! **This post may contain affiliate links. A small commission may be earned.**
If you don’t know me already I’m a mom of three under five years old who has somewhat recently become a full time stay at home mom. About a year ago I found out the grant I worked on wasn’t going to extend and I would lost my job at the end of August 2024. At that point I knew I wanted to stay at home with my babies, but I wanted to have some kind of income. I was already into social media and instagram, and after some research I started to realize how game changing a blog could be.
In short, a blog has the ability to make you a passive income through ad revenue and affiliate links. If you have no idea what I’m talking about or just want to learn more from my experience – keep reading.
If you haven’t checked out my full blog post of How I Started my Blog and Why, definitely click back to it. In that post I outline how I started my blog – the full step by step in great detail with links and everything. But in summary, my main goal when starting my blog was to earn an income from home and stay home with my kiddos.
My Biggest Advice:
If I could say anything to you on your journey in blogging or making money via social networks in general it would be:
Do it. Don’t hold back. Go all in.
One of the biggest things I’ve learned in this process is you really can’t be half in and expect to be successful or make money. With this comes knowing what you can do right now. AKA you CAN’T do it all.
I think in this world of social media and blogging it is easy to try to do too much to the point where you don’t do anything successfully – and its a surefire way to hit burn out QUICK.
One of the best things I did was try to focus on one platform at a time. Once I felt comfortable with the content I was creating for one platform I was able to spend some time on another. For me this looked like getting my grip on Instagram before I went full force into my blog and Pinterest. You do not have to go in this order though – get your blog under wraps first and then add another social platform (or don’t).
When I finally took the time to launch my blog I did it with full gas. My main goal was to get approved for ads as quickly as possible. From my research in order to get approved for ads I needed to have enough views to my blog posts as well as enough content on my blog. For me I dove DEEP into what my blog was going to be about and wrote up my first 20 blog posts. In addition to writing those posts, I created 3-5 pins for each blog post and scheduled pins to post.
For the first several months I had at least 2 pins posting daily that led back to my blog or to an Affiliate Shop Post (LTK, Mavely, Amazon Storefront). I think this consistency on Pinterest and my blog were CRUCIAL to getting the traffic to my blog I needed to be eligible for ad placement. (SPOILER: this method helped me to get ad revenue on my blog after just 4 months of going live!)
Here’s a little timeline of my blogging journey so far!
July 2024 – Started my blog with Bluehost (this was all the backend stuff and by far the HARDEST part of the journey for me – if I can give you one piece of advice… Do not give up at this stage!)
August 2024 – Launched my blog on Pinterest and post pins advertising my blog (Pinterest Monthly views started at 12k).
September 2024 – Started an actual Pinterest Strategy. This strategy included creating 3-5 Pins daily (you can schedule them to post on Pinterest), creating eye catching Pins with keywords, and creating Pins for my affiliate links (not just my blog posts)
October 2024 – Continue Pinterest Strategy (my goal is to have 100k monthly views by the end of the year, I broke 80k for October). Started a Flodesk account for collecting emails and sending out newsletters (you can use my link to get 50% off your year of Flodesk)
December 2024 – Pinterest broke 300k views and approved for ad revenue on my site. (OMG!!!) Also had a baby this month so things started to slow down on my end.
January 2025 – Barely posting on my blog or on Pinterest. Still getting views from old Pins I created for toddler activities.
May 2025 – Back to full swing posting and pins. Over $2,000 earned.
GOALS – I really hope to be earning at least $1000 a month from just my blog by the end of the year.. Which feels crazy to say, but it really isn’t too crazy of a thought.
One of the greatest things about the blog, especially once you have content and pins driving the content is you do not have to be on there everyday! My current goals at 10 months in are posting 2-4 blogs a month and scheduling pins to have 3 pins a week post. Some weeks I am able to do more and that’s great but I really try to schedule at least those three (if I don’t have new content to drive to, I create new pins for old content that is relevant for the season).
So the dying question is probably “How much have you ACTUALLY earned from your blogging over the last 10 months?” And I’ll tell you – $2,265.70. This is from ad revenue, affiliate links, and one brand deal.
This is actually probably lower than my actual income from the blog solely, but I didn’t want to confuse any of my income from Instagram in there.
Ways to Earn an Income Blogging
**Be sure to check out FTC Guidelines for Affiliate Marketing and Earning an Income this way.
Ad Revenue – If you don’t know what ad placement/ad revenue is – its just all the little ads you see on blogs and websites. As a blogger, if you have these ads placed on your site you can earn an income based on views to those pages. For me its the real goal because it’s passive and free for the consumer. I get to provide the content I want to share for free, but still make an income.
After 5 months of creating blog posts and driving traffic using Pinterest, I was able to get approved for Ad Placement with Mediavine. Since then I’ve been able to bring in $30-$100 a month with these ads. This may not seem like a large amount of money, but I know as I continue to post and drive traffic this number will continue to increase.
Affiliate Links – Affiliate links are a great way to earn an income through your blog without ad revenue. There are several platforms to create affiliate links and earn money, but I think my favorite has been Mavely (check it out with my referral link). One of the reasons I love Mavely is ANYONE can use it and be approved. You do not have to have a “following” to be approved. Mavely allows you to link all kinds of stores (think Target, Walmart, Old Navy, and tons more).
Other platforms to consider for affiliate linking are Amazon and LTK. You do have to link a social account and having a “following” for these, but I’ve heard of people getting approved with as little as 1,000 followers.
How do affiliate links work? When you place an affiliate link on your page it has a referral code written in it that links it back to you. Once someone clicks this link this code, or cookies, is placed in their browser for a window of time (every platform and website has their own cookie duration). If the person who clicked your link purchases any eligible item (not just the items you linked) in the cookie window, you earn a commission. Here’s an example:
*Someone is reading my Mother’s Day Floral activity blog and clicks on the picture frames I linked. Their browser opens to Amazon and they put a couple items in their cart and checkout. I would earn an affiliate commission off that purchase.*
Brand Deals/Sponsorship – Once you get traffic to your blog you can start to reach out to brands you are using and loving for possible sponsored posts. You may even have brands reach out to you. For me these are typically reviews of products on my page!
*This is typically a flat rate agreed upon by you and the brand!
Next Steps for me…
Keep going! I have goals to continue to write new blogs and post Pins to drive traffic to the new blogs. I have summer content I have yet to post and then more ideas I wanted to execute for holidays but didn’t have the time to do last year. I have to remind myself I haven’t been doing this for a solid year yet and still have some fun content I need to get to writing and posting.
Another big goal for me is to send out a regular newsletter. I have been collecting emails for the last 6 or so months, but I definitely fall short on the whole email something out every month. This is a great way to keep people interested in my blog and coming back for new content!
If you’re asking “Should I do it?”
I say YES, but….
If you are going to start a blog, you probably aren’t going to earn money right away. You might not even make money in the first 6 months, but you can definitely make money!
My top pieces of advice after 10 months:
- Have a CLEAR idea of what your content will be. If someone finds your blog on Pinterest or in a Google search, be sure they will have interesting content that is cohesive. Your blog should have some general theme and maybe a couple sub themes – but try to stay pretty niche at first.
- Go ALL IN to the blog. You will not be successful if you are trying to do all the things at once.
- Be CONSISTENT. Especially in the beginning it is crucial you are continuing to post content in your blog and on Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog. This doesn’t mean every day, but you need to be writing new blogs and creating new pins for those posts.
- Give yourself a YEAR of consistency before you “throw in the towel.” You will not make hundreds overnight, but you can make 4 or even 5 figure months if you keep consistent.
And if anyone tells you blogging is dead – they’re crazy. Blogs and websites will 1000% outlive Instagram, Tiktok, etc. There’s no better time to start than today! If you’re ready to start but don’t know how to, check out my blog – How I Started my Blog and Why – it fully outlines step by step how to set up your own blog! You go this, xx Ciara.
