Blog Income Report 2018 - over 5K Online
Blog Income Report 2018 (over $5K online)
And I say online, because as most of you know, I took a part time job for the past 6 months. That earned me another $5k+, offline. Taking the job effectively doubled my income for the year.
My consulting job has been extended for another 2 months, so I'm not free to go back into my online business full-time, yet...
That said, let's focus on online income today...
But before I launch into my blog income report, a quick shout-out to a couple of very special ladies here at Wealthy Affiliate:
Grace @LittleMama - You Inspire Me!
Grace started at Wealthy Affiliate in the same year as I did, 2016.
However, she started 9 months later, in September, whereas I started in January.
Our earnings were about the same in 2016 & 2017 but in 2018, Grace earned a whopping 7x more than I did online. ($40K vs $5.7)
Congratulations Grace! You are rocking the internet world and our world at Wealthy Affiliate!
In case you missed it, here's Grace's New Year's post.
Little Mama: 2018 Year in Review - Thank You WA Happy New Year
I'll definitely be watching Grace's Road to Vegas Video training.
Rey @Reymott - You Inspire Me!
Rey is one of my Wealthy Affiliate Premium referrals. I was delighted when Rey went Yearly on the Black Friday Special because I know what a difference it made to me to go Yearly.
I discovered a brilliant post by Rey this morning.
7 Reasons Why Wealthy Affiliate Training is NOT for Everyone
Rey makes such great points - and they are similar to the points Grace made in her New Year's post. And I want to convey a similar message today too. This is how I like to put it.
"Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is an online empire."
It takes time to build authority online.
So, without further ado, here are my income stats:
In case you can't see them, here are the numbers.
- Year 1: 2016: $50
- Year 2: 2017: $1,577,48
- Year 3: 2018: $5,728.06
- Total to Date: $7,355.54
And here's my balance sheet, showing Profit/Loss over the 3 years.
Year 1: My fledgling online business showed a loss of $328.98.
Not surprising since I only earned $50 in total that first year and paid full WA subs for the first 7 months.
Year 2: My 3 websites turned a small profit of $532.51.
Although, I earned a lot more in Year 2 (30 times more), I got beguiled by shiny object syndrome in the last couple of months of the year, which cost me a whopping $510.68.
Or maybe it wasn't shiny object syndrome, but just premature.
I signed up for a course that I wasn't ready for - it was more suitable to an online coach as it was all about selling online courses. I don't have an online course (yet). Watch this space.
The course cost $297 a month x 12 months. I made $41.66 per month in affiliate income because I enrolled a friend of mine. (I still feel bad about that as I'm not sure she got the full value from the course either).
Fortunately, I was able to get out of the course and my business stopped bleeding money in January 2018.
Lesson Learned: Don't put the cart before the horse.
Wealthy Affiliate teaches you exactly how to build your online business step-by-step.
And the steps are in the right order.
Year 3: Happy to report a much healthier profit of $5,097.10 for 2018.
Here's the breakdown of Total Income for all 3 Years by Category.
As many of you know, most of my online income comes from Contributed Posts and Guest Posts. You can see that clearly on this graph.
If you want to find out more, pop over to my training on this:
How to Earn Money from Blogs (before you have significant traffic)
Here's the Breakdown in numbers:
- $5,100.76 - Contributed Posts
- $1,190.41 - Guest Posts
- $382.03 - Fiverr
- $344.63 - Affiliate Marketing
- $244.43 - Side Hustles
- $93.28 - Other (e.g. I set up a website for a friend's School)
What's the Plan going forward?
This year I plan to turn one of my Side Hustles into a Main Hustle.
I made $10 in 2017 and $45 in 2018 at Wealthy Affiliate for the 3 little Tutorials I've published so far.
I'm planning to focus a lot more on online course creation in the upcoming year.
And with each of my courses, I'll launch books on Amazon Kindle.
But first, I'm sprucing up my platforms.
I'm deep in process learning how to design my websites using my new paid Theme, Divi, by Elegant Themes.
I'm also implementing a new Email Marketing Service, which is a MISSION. But it had to be done because I found out Mailchimp is not friendly to Affiliate Marketers. (More about that in a future post).
I'll be working on increasing my Affiliate Income in the upcoming year too.
How was 2018 for You?
Did you have a good year? Did you turn a profit in your online business?
One of the great things about Wealthy Affiliate is that we're all at different stages of our journey. Some of you may be just starting out while others are seasoned online marketers. And we're all here teaching, helping and encouraging each other.
Whether you're a newbie or pro, I wish you every success in the coming year.
And what's Your Plan for 2019?
Are you as excited about the New Year as I am? I hope so! Let's do this!
To Your Success
Recent Comments
63
Thanks for the shoutout! So appreciate your support! :)
Congratulations on yours Lauren! $5K is still awesome because you've increased your income from last year.
It just means you got to do more of what you've been doing. A lot more if you want to see your income skyrocket more. :)
All the best in 2019!
Grace
My pleasure Grace. We are all behind you. It's wonderful to see someone FLYING like you are.
Can't wait to get the chance to go through your training. I suspect it may be more important for me to start focusing on the right stuff (like affiliate marketing and creating my own digital products) rather than just doing more of what I'm already doing.
All the best to you too! Can't wait to see how 2019 is going to unfold.
Hi Lauren, what you’ll need to do is stop writing for other people and write for yourself. Also, don’t try to do 3 websites at once, just do one.
Concentrated effort on one site is better than spreading your efforts thin on three sites.
You are writing everywhere except all at one place, which I have done, that’s the big difference.
You obviously know how to write if you’re making money freelancing (looks like) so do it for yourself this year and build that online asset!
I hope these tips will help,
Grace
Thanks for the tips Grace. Really appreciate.
Actually, I don't write for others, they write for me. I'm paid to publish posts on my sites for others.
Sometimes I wish I hadn't created 3 websites but as all 3 are generating an income, I can't let any go now. At some point soon, I'll hire someone to take over the formatting and publishing of paid posts to free myself up to write more of my own. I suspect I might need to start over with an entirely new niche site or focus on my smallest one.
Thanks again for taking the time to give me such great advice.
Oh man, sorry I read that wrong up there, that's even better then. Wow, you have some great assets on your hands then if you're getting regular guest posts like that on your sites!!
You're a great inspiration, and I thank you for sharing your journey so far with us--thanks, Lauren!
Hi Janelle
Thanks for your kind words. My pleasure.
Hope you have a fabulous year planned.
It is amazing, Lauren! Thank you for sharing and linking up the good ones(Grace’s link).
Have a great weekend! :o)
See more comments
Thanks for sharing. So good to see that the hard work will pay off in the future. You really are planning your work, and working your plan. I could use some of your planning skills.
Much more success to you in 2019!
Mark
Pleasure Mark.
Funny you should say that, because it's just occurred to me that I had no plan to start out with - I was very haphazard in the beginning, all over the show, trying this and that - including side hustles to supplement my income.
It's taken me 3 years to get to grips with everything and reach the stage of planning. I guess we all have our own process.
Wishing you success for the New Year too.