Welcome to March’s online income report where I show you how I make money online. It’s time to look at this month’s update and track how I did.
If you are wanting to start a blog of your own, read my post How To Start a Cheap WordPress Blog. It gives step by step instructions on starting your own blog at a super affordable price. You can also get a free domain by signing up through my link. Plus, you can email me at any time and I can help you along the process so that you can launch a successful money-making blog.
Background information on my monthly online income report.
If you are new here, you might be wondering why I would want to publish my online income reports each month. If you are not new here, you can just skip to the next section 🙂
This all started out as my side income report because in the beginning it was all about the money I was earning from my side jobs. In my side income reports from the beginning, I included all of the income I made except for what I made at my day job (that was a fixed amount and boring anyways).
However, I left my day job as a financial analyst towards the end of 2013 and now my monthly income reports consist of the several different ways I bring in an income each month.
Many people have asked why I would ever want to publicly post my income each month. Some think I’m crazy, and some are glad I am open about what I’m doing. Whatever you think, I enjoy publishing my monthly online income reports and I share them publicly for three main reasons:
Before I started blogging, I knew nothing about side hustling and making money online. I didn’t think side jobs were worth the effort, and I thought the only way to significantly increase your income was through raises and promotions at your full-time job. If it weren’t for others publishing their monthly income reports each month, I don’t know if I would have ever tried side hustling. This is why I like to publish my income reports. I want to help others see the positives in side hustling and how it can change a person’s life. There are many different ways to make money online, and I like to share my story each month to help motivate others to improve their financial situation by making more money.
Secondly, I like to publish my income reports because it’s a way for me to look back, learn from my mistakes and see what areas need improvement. It’s also entertaining to go back to older income updates and read about the interesting things I did to make money. Everyone has to start somewhere, right?
Lastly, I like to show others that making side money is possible, and that there are many legitimate ways to make money from your home. If you are looking for information on the many ways to make money online, I published the article Monthly Income Report Roundup – My Favorite Income Bloggers that showcases many awesome bloggers who are kind enough to share their income with the public each month. Just a few years ago, I didn’t think making money online was possible at all. Now, I realize that it is possible!
I know I say this every month, but it is the truth. Life is great now that I’m my own boss. I look forward to each and every work day and it is an amazing thing. Work and life balance is a real thing for me now and I truly love waking up each morning.
Above is exactly why I enjoy publishing my monthly income reports. I like to show others that you don’t have to hate your job and hate your life. You can make changes to your life and make money in a way that allows you to truly enjoy the life you are living. I’m not saying that you have to LOVE your job, I’m just saying that your job should at least allow you to do what you like to do outside of work (whether that be spending time with loved ones, painting, hiking, etc.).
Also, if you have any questions about making money online, you can always send me an email and I always reply back. If I haven’t covered something in this income report, I highly suggest you check out my other reports as well because I have covered A LOT of topics, including reader questions I have received. I am unable to put everything in this single post because this would then become one messy whale of a post.
How was my online income in March?
March was a normal month for income. It was definitely a good month and I am very happy with it.
Like I said in the post Should You Outsource Tasks To Make Life Easier?, I’ve been outsourcing more yet my income is still steadily increasing, so I am very happy with how everything is going.
I have been working on making more of my income passive (you can read more about this in the Affiliate section below) and this has been great because I have had much more time to focus on more important areas when it comes to Making Sense of Cents.
April should be an even better month as I am in the process of selling two more of my websites. That will be the end of me selling websites though, as I plan on keeping all the others I currently have.
Anyway, in March I made $17,051 in business income, before expenses.
EDIT July, 2016: I recommend checking out my online course for bloggers, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. I earn around $50,000 a month through affiliate marketing and I share my exact strategy and tips in this very informative online course. If you’re a blogger, then you NEED this course.
If you are interested in starting a blog of your own, I created a tutorial that will help you start a blog of your own for cheap, starting at only $3.49 per month (this low price is only through my link) for blog hosting. In addition to the low pricing, you will receive a free blog domain (a $15 value) through my Bluehost link if you purchase at least 12 months of blog hosting. FYI, you want to be self-hosted. This is essential if you want to monetize your blog as you will appear more professional and this will help you monetize your blog tremendously.
Related articles:
The number above is for the month of March and before any fees and expenses (some fees and expenses that lower the amount above total around $1,900, which includes virtual assistants/staff writers for my other websites, technical assistance on my websites, giveaway expenses, PayPal fees, etc., however, this does not include taxes) being taken out. After expenses and fees, I made approximately $15,151. I could run my website for as low as just $25 per month but I outsource a lot so that I can have more fun while I’m traveling 🙂
Below are some of my other monthly side income reports. I publish an online income update every month but only included some of them below as it would be a very long list. If you head on over to my extra income page you can find all of my monthly income reports from the past few years.
Blog news.
I am in the process of selling two more websites and I’ve already noticed how beneficial the extra time is after selling the first website. Yes, I probably could have just outsourced the tasks from the other websites and possibly made money that way, but I do still believe this direction is a better option for me.
I won’t lie, I was a little lazy with my blog this past month. While I did still write several articles and network a little, I forgot about other areas. I barely did any interviews, I didn’t reach out to any publications, or anything like that. That is something I plan on changing in April.
I still need to go through many, many of my posts here on MSOC and fix the formatting, change the pictures to Pinterest-worthy images, and more. I have probably only done 15% of my posts so that means I still a lot more to go!
Top new posts on Making Sense of Cents last month:
If you are interested in starting a blog of your own, I created a tutorial that will help you start a blog of your own for cheap, starting at only $3.49 per month (this low price is only through my link) for blog hosting. In addition to the low pricing, you will receive a free blog domain (a $15 value) through my Bluehost link if you purchase at least 12 months of blog hosting. FYI, you want to be self-hosted. This is essential if you want to monetize your blog as you will appear more professional and this will help you monetize your blog tremendously.
Traffic on Making Sense of Cents.
Many of you have asked if I would start sharing traffic stats here on my monthly income reports. It’s something I’ve never done before and honestly it scares me a little to do so! Not sure why, but I guess if everything else is already out there then I might as well include this as well.
I’m not sure if I will post this every month, as looking at stats isn’t always helpful. I know many, many bloggers who receive less than 50,000 monthly page views who make MUCH more money than people who receive over 500,000 page views each month.
So, as you can see traffic doesn’t always directly relate to how much money you might make.
What matters is how much work you put into it and if you are trying the correct ways (to make money) that actually work for your exact blog.
If you are a new blogger or you are thinking about creating your own blog, I want you to know that it is possible to create a blog that people will read. I know many of you often wonder about traffic stats and whether anyone will read your blog, but if you produce posts that people want to read and you spend time marketing your blog, you will be just fine!
To get back on point, traffic on Making Sense of Cents has grown significantly over the past few months. I still can’t believe how much traffic has grown. Much of it has to do with Pinterest and getting my name out there as much as possible.
I do need to start working harder on retaining all of these Pinterest readers. My bounce rate is the highest it’s ever been. I’m not sure where I’m supposed to be, but I would like to be somewhere less than this!
Below are my traffic stats for March of 2015.
EDIT: In more recent income reports, I have been including featured questions from readers. Below are some of the questions that have been asked.
Wes’s website.
I’m feeling horrible about this lately. I’ve been so focused on my website and helping my sister over at FITnancials that I haven’t been helping Wes.
My plans for my website, online income, and making money online:
Create a product(s) to sell – One thing I feel like I’m missing lately is that I want to actually create something I can sell through Making Sense of Cents. Whether that be an ebook, a course, or something else, it is something I think about nearly every single day. I have many ideas, but I’m not sure what to pursue right now.
Promote more – I have been doing much better when it comes to promoting, especially on Pinterest. Pinterest alone brought around 54,000 clicks to my blog just in the month of March! This is slightly lower than what I saw in February so I am hoping this starts to increase in April and future months again. Also, keep in mind that just a few months ago I was only receiving a few hundred visits a month from Pinterest, so this is a huge jump.
Accept more interviews. – Like I said above, I wasn’t too active in March. I did see one interview go live on HuffPost – Can You Profit from Buying and Selling Websites?
Stop being shy – This is one of my goals for 2015. I am such a shy person, and it’s something I need to work on if I want to grow my business.
Staff writing.
In March, I worked on a few staff writing jobs.
Staff writing is something that has slowed down in recent months in terms of income categorized below, as most of my staff writing is now bundled into blog management as well, in case any of you were wondering. This is because with some of my clients, they have me manage their websites and write for them as well, all for one flat fee each month. I just wanted to explain this as I know some of you had questions about it.
Update on my blog and social media management services.
Blog and social media management is still a service I enjoy providing to my clients. Nothing new in this area happened last month. My income in this category is down for March, but that should just be a one-time thing and I’m hoping in future months it goes back up. This is because for some of the websites I manage, my pay is based on a commission-like structure.
If you are interested in the different services I provide when it comes to blog and social media management, you can find a summary of the services I provide here.
If you are wanting to start a blog of your own, read my post How To Start a Cheap WordPress Blog. It gives step by step instructions on starting your own blog. You can also get a free domain by signing up through my link.
Related articles:
Affiliate income.
March was an amazing month for affiliate income. I earned around $10,000 in affiliate income just in the month of March.
Definitely my best month ever for affiliate income.
I won’t see the payments until May and/or June for most of those, so you won’t see those amounts reflected in my monthly income reports until then. I am extremely excited about how much my affiliate/passive income has jumped in the past few months, especially with how little work is needed.
Passive income for the win!
I did a quick revamp of my recommendations page. Check it out and let me know what you think of it! Any tips on making it even better?
EDIT July, 2016: I recommend checking out my online course for bloggers, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. I earn over $50,000 a month through affiliate marketing and I share my exact strategy and tips in this very informative online course. If you’re a blogger, then you NEED this course.
Business and extra income in March ($17,051, before expenses)
Staff writing – $750
Managing websites and social media for clients, as well as blog coaching- $3,565
Website-related (From the 5 websites I own – advertising and partnerships) – $6,826
Affiliate income (from Bluehost, Republic Wireless, etc) – $5,910
Website sale – $0
Selling items from our home – $0
Miscellaneous (not related to blogging and online income) – $0
Mystery shopping – $0
One question I am asked nearly every time I publish my monthly online income report is whether or not I can further break down my income. I have never fully broken everything down line by line, and I do this mainly to protect myself and those I provide services to.
Keep in mind that a majority of my income comes from private clients I work for so sharing their name and what they pay me wouldn’t be the correct way to run a business. It also wouldn’t help you much either, so there wouldn’t be a point for me just to share someone’s name.
Most bloggers who completely break apart their income have most of their income coming from affiliate links instead of freelancing services. When more of my income comes from affiliate marketing, I will start breaking it apart more. I have a feeling that will be VERY soon so stay tuned!
Also, when you see my monthly income each month please keep in mind that I work for myself. This means I have to cover taxes (which are over 30%), health insurance, and all other benefits/expenses that an employer might provide.
Comparisons and 2015 online income total (after most expenses, but before taxes)
Total extra income for March: $15,151
Income in February: $23,758
Difference: -8,607
Total in 2015: $54,305
How did you do in March? What are your extra/business/online income goals? Why do you work towards making extra money?
If you are interested in starting a blog of your own, I created a tutorial that will help you start a blog of your own for cheap, starting at only $3.49 per month (this low price is only through my link) for blog hosting. In addition to the low pricing, you will receive a free blog domain (a $15 value) through my Bluehost link if you purchase at least 12 months of blog hosting. FYI, you want to be self-hosted. This is essential if you want to monetize your blog as you will appear more professional and this will help you monetize your blog tremendously.
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