This post contains affiliate links. This means I will make a commission at no extra cost to you should you click through and make a purchase. Read the full disclosure here.

Happy May 2021! Another month has gone by, and that means it’s time for another blogging income report! I always love writing these! It’s a great way for me to look back on the month and see what worked and what didn’t. And also to give you a look into what it’s like to be a blogger! This is my April 2021 blogging income report.

I know I don’t make much every month as a blogger, but I still want to write these income reports when I can! It’s so draining when you’re first starting out blogging to only find income reports on Pinterest titled “How I made $10,000 blogging!” “How I made $500 my first-month blogging!”

How unrealistic is that? I didn’t even know what WordPress.org or a self-hosted blog meant my first month, let alone know enough to make money! In my first income report, I talked about how I made zero dollars that month! Yes, really!

Now, that’s not me knocking those income reports or the people writing them. I am super happy for bloggers that are able to start making an income right away! And I love reading the bigger income reports because you get a look into just how many monetization strategies there are out there!

However, when that is all you see, it can be discouraging! So I am super proud to share with you how I make money as a smaller blogger to hopefully encourage you to see that everyone starts out small!

So, without further ado let’s get into the income report!

APRIL 2021 BLOGGING INCOME REPORT

AFFILIATE MARKETING

My affiliate sales have really slowed down over the past few months, since my last income report in November of 2020. I honestly couldn’t tell you why, but they have!

So I only made a small amount from one course sale and the funniest sale I’ve made to date.

I have an old crafting blog that is still up on a free blogging site. I actually made a sale on that blog for, get this, ONE DOLLAR. Yes, literally one dollar.

This is why it is so important to make sure the affiliate companies you apply to have good payout rates because after looking into it I actually sold $100 in products. And I made a dollar.

Sigh.

Here’s the screenshot to prove this ridiculousness.

Courses sold: 1

Money made: $20.50

FREELANCE WORK

Thankfully, my lack of affiliate sales was made up for by the fact that I started a Pinterest management freelance service! So my income was pretty stable thanks to this! I signed on one client and for the moment I am looking to sign on one more.

I’m hoping to grow this income source in the future, but for now, I am looking to have a max of 2 clients so that I don’t overwhelm myself.

CLENTS: 1

MONEY MADE: $114.42 (After PayPal fees)

ETSY SALES

My Etsy did pretty well this month! I have been getting a pretty consistent income from Etsy each week, even though it is small. For some reason, I only sold one product a bunch this month. I ended up adding two new products, so I’m in the process of getting the word out on social media for them.

But the only product I managed to sell this month was my social media content calendar! Everyone seems to be really loving this product, and it has been my most popular product for a while now! I’m hoping to up my conversion rate and get some of my other products sold as well in the coming months!

SALES: 6

MONEY MADE: $24.37 (After Etsy fees)

TOTAL REVENUE

So, in total here is how much I made blogging in April 2021!

• Affiliate sales: $20.50
• Freelancing: $144.42
• Etsy: $24.37

TOTAL INCOME: $159.29

Compared to my previous income report for November 2020, that is a significant increase in money! I don’t plan on doing income reports every single month, at least not as of right now, because my income is very unstable right now.

Blogging income is known to fluctuate depending on the sales you make, of course. So if some months aren’t as good as others, I don’t see the value in sharing it!

But, if you’re still stuck on how to make money blogging, here are a few tips to help you out!

HOW TO MAKE MONEY BLOGGING

1. LEARN HOW TO AFFILIATE MARKET

This is something that I struggle with and I’m going to work on it in the coming months! This is one of my favorite ways to make money blogging because it is pretty much passive! Once you write the blog post, as long as that post does well, you have a chance to make a sale!

I recently bought a how-to-make-money blogging course called Mastering Sales with Ell! She not only talks about how to make money in affiliate marketing but other ways as well! This course is what gave me the idea to try my hand at freelancing and I have gotten a few clients over the past few months thanks to it!

Here are a few ways I am going to be trying to make affiliate sales moving forward that I’ve learned from the course and from other bloggers.

• WRITE BLOG POSTS ABOUT YOUR AFFILIATE PRODUCTS

You can’t make sales if no one knows about the product you’re selling! So make sure you mention it in blog posts when it naturally fits the flow of the post. But, you don’t want to push your affiliate products too hard!

It can be tempting to try and push your affiliate products because the more links you have out there the more chance they have to get clicked on, right? Well, yes, technically. But that’s not the best strategy.

You want to be strategic about your affiliate link placements. If you write a post about the best shoes to wear for the Summer, but you’re promoting an unrelated cookware product… chances are no one is going to click on that link!

You also don’t need to spam the link a bunch of times. Make it flow naturally in your blog post. People don’t like to be sold to, so don’t turn it into a full-on sales pitch!

• TALK ABOUT WHAT PRODUCTS CAN DO FOR THEM

People online are very selfish. Let’s be real, they are.

So instead of talking about what’s in the product, talk about what people can get out of it. When you bought the product, what results did you get? They can learn all about what’s in the product from the sales page you’re likely sending them to.

You don’t need to re-iterate what they are going to read once they get to the sales page, so tell them something they won’t learn like what you got out of it, and what they can expect to get themselves.

• SHOW DON’T TELL

Another good strategy I am going to be implementing more in future months is the show, don’t tell method. What results did you get from this product?

Show me how you lost weight because of this weight loss program. Show me before and after your skin getting clearer after you used this new acne-free skin product.

People want to see results. When someone lands on your blog, they don’t know who you are. So you need to show people that they can trust your recommendation by showing them that the product works!

That doesn’t mean that you aren’t trustworthy as a blogger, but the newcomers onto your blog don’t know that you’re trustworthy, so make them see that you are!

2. MAKE MONEY WITH FREELANCING

This was one way I didn’t think I’d make money blogging, but it is a good way to get started! There are some downsides to this method because this income source is not passive. But if you can make it work, it can be a viable source of income!

• GAIN TRUST FIRST

In order to get started freelancing, you need to show that you are a trustworthy figure online. You need to show that whatever service you’re offering you’re actually good at doing.

So, for me, I talk about Pinterest a lot on my YouTube channel and on my socials. And I have the Pinterest stats to back it up. I’ve created myself to be somewhat an authority on Pinterest.

If you want to get started in freelancing, figure out something that you’re good at and start talking about it! On your socials, on your blog, wherever you can so that you can show people you’re a trustworthy and knowledgeable person to hire!

• FIND A TASK PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO DO

The key to getting freelancing work is finding something people either don’t want to do or don’t have the time or skills to do.

You can freelance just about anything, Pinterest, social media, editing YouTube videos, writing blog posts, email marketing, handling someone’s email inbox. The possibilities are endless!

If you can find something that people don’t want to do and are will to pay money to have someone else do it, you’re in business!

3. SELL PRODUCTS ON ETSY

Next to affiliate marketing, this is my favorite way to make money blogging! I have digital products up on my Etsy store. Meaning, once I create the product and set up the listing, that’s all I need to do! There is nothing to ship or package.

The customer buys the product, gets a download link, and I get the money! I frequently wake up to a notification that I’ve made an Etsy sale in my sleep. It’s literally the best feeling in the world.

Of course, you can have a more hands-on Etsy shop if you’d like. You can sell anything on Etsy! Handmade products and physical items do really well too. For me, physical items don’t fit into my niche very well and I don’t like the hassle of dealing with the post office or shipping!

If you’re looking to get into Etsy selling, I have a few resources up on my YouTube channel such as how to set up your Etsy shop, how to make sales, and how to use Pinterest to drive traffic to your listings! To check out all the videos I have about Etsy, check out my playlist!

CONCLUSION

I hope you’ve found this income report to be useful! Not only because you get to see what it’s like for smaller bloggers to make an income, but also information on the way you can make an income yourself!

If you want to check out more information on how to make money blogging, you might enjoy this post here! How to Monetize your Blog in the Early Days!