11 Ways I Made Money With My Blog in 2013

Note: I may earn money or products from the companies, products, or links mentioned in this post.

I get asked a lot how I make money blogging, and believe it or not there are a lot of different ways. Every person and every blog is different but below are the ways I have found best to make money blogging. I hope that by being transparent with you in showing my 2013 earnings that you can find more ways to make money blogging that are creative and unique!

Make Money Blogging

 How to Make Money Blogging:

1. Blog Ads: $523.97
As you can see, blog ads were my number one source of income for 2013. The best way to get more ad purchases on your blog is offer discounts often, promote your sponsors creatively, and make sure you work to promote your own blog as well. More blog views also equals more views for your sponsors! Click here to read more about getting advertisers on your blog: 8 Steps to Advertising on Your Blog.

2. Sponsored Posts: $392.58
Sponsored posts were my second best source of income this past year. Sponsored posts are an awesome way to get the word out about a brand, company, or blog and may include a write-up, a review, or even a giveaway. One of the best ways to make money blogging with sponsored posts is to sign up with websites that help set up bloggers with brands looking for sponsored posts. You can a few see examples of these sites here: 7 Sites to Help You Make More Money With Your Blog.

Another way to get sponsored posts is to offer them on your site. Let everyone know that you offer this option and keep it at a lower price to help with the competition of other bloggers. Show what brands you have worked with in the past and let people know why it would be a great idea for them to do a sponsored post with you. You can see an example of how I offer my sponsored posts on my advertising page.

3. Coaching Packages: $303.82
This was my own unique way of making money on my blog in 2013.  I offered (and still do) blog coaching packages and Pinterest coaching packages. Since my blog is successful and I was receiving so many emails asking me for help, I decided to start my own little business in helping others with their blog and social media. I also decided to do Pinterest coaching because of how successful I have been with Pinterest. I have over 9,000 followers and it still goes up each and every day. I love helping others be successful with these areas too!

Find something you are good at. Can you do crafts or sew? Start an etsy shop. Are you good with a particular popular website? Offer your help for a small fee. Find your own unique ways to make money blogging!

4. Virtual Assistance: $181.64
Virtual assistance was something that I have wanted to do for a long time, but getting started kind of happened by accident. One of my blog coaching clients loved my work and asked if I would want to do some virtual assistance work for her. We did a trial run, and I loved it! Now I am offering my assistance to others and am earning money from it too! I started this late in the year so It doesn’t really show how much money I really would have made after a full year, but this kind of work is good money!

Virtual assistance can range from anything from social media and blogging, to answering emails, finding clients, contacting companies, and more! This is something easy you can do from home and it can be fun too. For more info check out this article on How to Become a Virtual Assistant!

5. Sponsored Gift Guide: $141.50
This was another unique way I used to make money blogging. I love supporting small businesses and I decided Christmas would be the perfect time to help them out! I contacted as many small businesses as I could, and asked them if they wanted to be featured on my blog’s Christmas gift guide for a small fee ($5.00). It is basically like a small ad in a magazine. Then I worked hard to promote the post and each business as much as I could, You can see an example of the gift guide here: 2013 Small Business Christmas Gift Guide.

6. Google Ad Sense: $136.57
I started kind of late in  the year with this, so it really does not show well how much money you can make, but this one is HUGE. I was a little wary about it at first, but once I figured it out it  has worked great and I love it! You can sign up for it here: Google Ad Sense.

7. Sponsored Tweets: $50.00
Sponsored tweets are a great way to make a little extra cash. Again, I started this later in the year, so I didn’t make as much as I could have, but I love how easy this is and you can make money by referring others too. Check it all out here: Sponsored Tweets.

8. Amazon Associates: $42.55
I didn’t make as much as I wanted to with the Amazon Associates Program this year, but I am making more money with it than I have in the past. In order to make a substantial amount with this program, you have to think of new and creative ways to get Amazon links on your site. Whether it’s book or product reviews, or your own personal recommendations on different items, coming up with new ways to fit these links in can be hard, but not impossible.

9. E-book: $25.60
Writing and selling an e-book is another great way to make some money. I published mine at the end of 2013 and still have not been paid for all purchases of the book, so the amount above is small. You can write an e-book on just about anything these days and self-publishing is now easy as ever. If you have something to say or would like to compile your best blog posts, consider writing an e-book, you may be surprised at just how much money you can make from it!

10. Sponsored Mentions: $25.00
This was something I did not plan on making money with, but was approached at the end of the year by two different companies asking if I would share their links on my social media profiles in exchange for some money. I decided this was a very easy way to earn some money and now offer this option on my advertising page. Just keep in mind that any mention you make on any social media outlet must be marked with #ad or #advertisement.

11. My Recipe Magic: $9.60
My Recipe Magic is a site full of delicious recipes! You can earn money by uploading your recipes and getting paid for the views that you get. You can also direct traffic back to your site so that people come to your site to view the entire recipe. This is an easy way to make money, but can be a lot of work in order to make a substantial amount. You have to keep up with the links and constantly be posting them on your social media outlets so you get more views. I have over ten different recipes on there and as you can see I did not make a ton of money, but hey, every bit counts!

My total earnings for 2013 on my blog were: $1,869.78.
Not bad. Each year my goal is to beat my own record and make a little more. I love being able to help my family out earning extra cash and I enjoy doing it too. I also received $746.27 worth of products to review on my blog in 2013. If you combine the total amount of the money earned and the products I received it comes to $2,616.05.

For more tips on how to make money blogging or make money online visit my Pinterest board full of ideas and tips: Making Money Online.

How did YOU make money blogging in 2013?

 

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39 Comments

  1. Great post! You seem well diversified. Making money through blogging is now my full-time job (I publish an income post every month). I make money through many of the same forms as well. I’m hoping to increase my affiliate earnings in 2014 though!

    1. Just checked out your site! Looking forward to digging through it and learning more from you! I am not good with affiliate sales at all, too much work it seems… at least to me. Good luck though and thanks for stopping by!

  2. Very helpful post! I’m not making money on my site yet since I just opened it in December, but I am working on growing my following and hope to start participating in sponsored posts and tweets this year. I’m not new to blogging, but I’ve been out of the game for quite a while and I can’t believe how much things have changed.

    1. Wow congrats on the new blog! 🙂 Yes, things seem to change so fast in the blogging world it can be hard to keep up. But it’s so much fun it’s hard not too! Good luck with everything and thanks for stopping by!

  3. Have you tried project wonderful ads? I have a little one on my sidebar that makes around $15-20 per month. It just sits there. I don’t do any work! You can withdraw money from your account when you reach $10. Its not a ton of money but $20 a month buys gas for the car or pays for Netflix and Hulu or whatever. Not bad!!

    1. I haven’t heard of them, but going to check them out right now! Every little bit helps, right? Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the tip! 🙂

  4. So great! I remember the last time you wrote about something similar; I started doing the sponsored tweets right after that and now I’m up to around $40. I should really see how much I’ve made from everything and start keeping track, because I think that would help me put into perspective that what I’m doing is work!

    1. Yes, you totally should start keeping track! It really helps and it’s nice to see how much you made at the end of the year. I use a google spreadsheet to keep track of everything and it only take a minute or two to input everything!

  5. Wow! This is great info. Thanks for being so transparent. I always wonder these types of things, but I figured it would be rude to ask. I have AdSense, but I only make about $100 a year on that. I am hoping to increase my page views and make more this year.

  6. Great post. I especially love how you detailed all of your non-advertising ideas. I have not monetized my blog and not sure I am going to, but some of your outsourcing and authoring ideas have intrigued me! I am pinning this…never know when I might want to make some dough or need a coach! 😉

  7. This was helpful, thank you! I don’t make a lot on my blog, maybe around $500 for the year? I’d like to expand though and this will help.

  8. This is a great post and I love that you were so honest in sharing the things that did or didn’t work well for you. Now I have my own wheels turning. I blog a lot about organizing and had been trying to get some new decluttering clients in my neighborhood, but so far have not been successful. Now I’m wondering if I’d do better to do Email clutter coaching through my blog and maybe through an Ebook I created for my clients. Definitely need to give this a little more thought. Thanks for your info. #SITSSharefest

  9. These are some great tips, I’m not really thinking about profiting from my blog anytime soon but it’s good to know where the main sources are coming from. Have a great one Kathryn! -Iva

  10. Thanks for writing this great post! I have just begun to blog and I am learning so much along the way! I am checking this out from the Pincentive Link Party! I am following you on Pinterest 🙂
    Cathy

  11. Thank you for all the pointers! I’m fairly new to blogging, but have a long-term goal of making my blog into a source of income so this was very helpful!

  12. Hi Kathryn, Great post. Thank you for sharing and being so transparent with your earnings. I always encourage military spouses to work from home if possible so they have a portable career that can move around with them. Your story should serve as inspiration for them. Keep up the good work!

  13. Just came across your wonderful blog! Thank you so much for sharing all of this lovely information, can’t wait to implement some of these things to hopefully monetize my food blog a little this year!

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