As promised I will continue to update how my journey of blogging is going as a stay at home mom trying to make an income. **This post may contain affiliate links. A small commission may be earned.**
If you are hoping to start a successful side hustle as a stay at home mom, same here! I feel like there are so many moms who realize they would much rather stay at home with their babies, but need to find a way to make an income too. Unfortunately, I feel like there are so many “get rich fast,” “retire your husband,” “sell this course” schemes out there and they are preying on the SAHM. I know. I’ve been pitched all of them.
When I started searching for an income source I could do from home, I was sure to steer clear from anything that made those claims. So I will be 100% transparent with you on my journey with this blog! If are interested in how to start your own blog, here’s my step by step blog about how I started my blog and why.
Timeline:
July 2023 – 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 2023 – Launched my blog on Pinterest and post pins advertising my blog (Pinterest Monthly views started at 12k).
September 2023 – 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 2023 – 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)
Forms of revenue:
Affiliate Commissions – To be very transparent I share my affiliate links on my blog, Pinterest, and my instagram. However, prior to my blog and Pinterest I didn’t see much of a income based on just instagram shares. I can 100% see a huge increase in my views, clicks, and commissions. Prior to posting my affiliate links on Pinterest and driving traffic to my blog, I’d maybe make $50 commissions a month. Now on month 2 of daily posting to Pinterest and I am seeing a 400%+ increase in this normal sales.
I can confidently say sales are coming from Pinterest traffic because they are for affiliate links that are ONLY on Pinterest (I did not share them to my Instagram).
Affiliate Platforms I use – Personally I use Amazon Influencers, Liketoknow.it, and Mavely (I’ve linked all their application pages).
If you are new to the world of affiliate marketing here’s a QUICK summary. LTK and Mavely (along with other sites) allow you to link products from everyday places like Target, Walmart, Old Navy, etc and earn a commission when someone makes a purchase through your link. Amazon obviously is the same but for Amazon exclusively. LTK and Amazon Influencers both have an application process where you are approved or denied for their storefronts and links. Mavely is basically just a sign up – no approve/deny process and everyone can start their journey with affiliate links!
This chart show my LTK clicks and commissions. You can really see the skyrocket of clicks! I’ll update the chart at 6 months, but I imagine I’ll see a similar trend with commissions.
Brand Deals – I have been steadily offering the idea of an honesty review as a brand collaboration option. I have not had any sponsored posts on my blog yet (hopefully soon).
Ad Revenue – Unfortunately, I think my blog is still too new and doesn’t have enough content on it to be approved for Ads through something like Google AdSense. I have been applying every so often so I will definitely update when I do get approved!
My successes so far in my blogging journey:
A reminder to myself that I am only 3 months into this journey and the growth will come.
- I launched a freaking blog!
- I have increased my monthly views on my blog to average 1.5k for the month of October
- I have increased my monthly views on Pinterest from 12k to 80k+
- In October I earned more than 4x my typical commissions
- I am getting way faster at creating Pins for my blog and affiliate links
If you’re thinking about taking the leap to make an extra income, I say go for it. I wish I would have started this years ago when I first got the itch, but I’m so glad I’ve started it. Have I made life changing money? Not even close. BUT I really see so much potential and growth coming my way. You got this!
Check back in February for my 6 month update! xx Ciara
