Blog Archives - Making Sense Of Cents

How To Monetize A Blog: How I Grew A $5 Million Blog

Last Updated: May 16, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 18 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Want to learn how to monetize a blog?

What started as just a hobby turned into one of the most life-changing things I’ve ever done – that’s starting my blog, and learning how to make money with it.

Since learning how to monetize a blog over 10 years ago, I have now earned over $5,000,000 from my site. This is still hard for me to believe, and I’m the one who’s lived it!

I started Making Sense of Cents around 10 years ago, entirely as a hobby.

In the beginning, all I was doing was tracking my own personal finance progress as I finished school and started paying off my student loans. Blogging was a very new concept to me at the time – I heard about it from a magazine – and people were just learning how to monetize blogs back in 2011.

Most bloggers started back then with display ads and sponsored posts, but the options have only increased.

Because of all of the new ways to make money blogging, like affiliate income and selling your own products, you can make somewhat passive income as a blogger.

Passive income is my favorite way to make money because it makes blogging even more flexible and something I can do as I work from home, travel, and work whenever I want.

Blogging has changed my life for the better, and I’m now earning thousands of dollars a month doing something I love.

Learning how to monetize a blog takes work and time, but it’s 100% possible to do. I started earning money after just six months of blogging, and I didn’t even set out to make money when I created Making Sense of Cents. Just think of the potential if you start out knowing that making money blogging is possible!

Starting my blog is one of the best things I’ve ever done for my work, personal, and financial life. And, I urge anyone who is interested to start a blog and learn how to monetize it.

Today, I’m sharing how I built a blog that has earned me over $5,000,000 over the years and my tips so that you can create a successful blog that you enjoy. [Read more…]

How I Make $110,000 A Year As A Food Blogger

Last Updated: April 3, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 9 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Are you a foodie? Do you want to start a food blog? Today, you will learn how to become a food blogger.

Today, I am sharing an interview I did with Sarah and Laura from Wandercooks, a food blog with over 5,000,000 annual views. They created their blog to inspire readers with fresh new food ideas gathered from their favorite Asian, European and Australian cuisines.

Wandercooks is a food blog that currently earns $150,000AU (around $110,000 US Dollars), with just part-time hours.

In today’s interview, questions answered include:

What is a food blogger?
How much money can a food blogger make?
Do food bloggers make money?
What are the positives of becoming a food blogger?
Where do food bloggers get their recipes from?
Where do food bloggers get their traffic and visitors from?
What equipment is needed to become a food blogger?
What makes a food blog successful?

Plus more!

Today’s interview will help you get started and perhaps even introduce you to a new way to make money from home.

If you want to start your own food blog and learn how to become a food blogger and get paid, this is a great article to help you get started. [Read more…]

How I Reached 70,000 Page Views On My Blog In Only 7 Months With Zero Experience (And Make $2,200 A Month!)

Last Updated: April 17, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 24 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Here’s how a reader, Lisa, started a new blog and in just 7 months already has over 140,000 social media followers and sees over 70,000 page views each month. Enjoy!

Building a website and driving traffic to it is no walk in the park, especially for people with no experience. There is an endless amount of information to learn, skills to adopt, and creative strategies to uphold.

I am Lisa from The Financial Cookbook. I am here today to share how I drove 70,000 pageviews to my blog in only 7 months with zero experience, while also working a full time job.

I am sharing the exact steps I took to reach that milestone, what helped me along the way, and what I recommend in terms of the most value for your time.

Related content:

[Read more…]

10 Best Reasons To Start A Blog in 2022 – Start Yours Now!

Last Updated: May 16, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 5 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Are you thinking about starting a blog? If so, this article is full of great reasons to start a blog in 2022!

Whenever I talk to people who are interested in blogging, one of the main things that stops them is whether or not it’s a good time to start a blog.

My response is – yes, I definitely think it’s a great time to start a blog!

I personally know several people who have recently started their blogs and have seen great success. In fact, I know of quite a few bloggers who have grown their blogs much bigger than mine in just the past year or so.

So, if you’ve been thinking about starting a blog, I recommend hopping on it.

Luckily, there are many reasons to start a blog. First of all, starting a blog is very affordable! You can also start a blog on the side to see if you like it. The commitment is quite small in the beginning, and that’s why I always recommend simply starting one if it’s been on your mind.

After all, you won’t know unless you try.

I still remember the early days right after I started Making Sense of Cents.

I was completely clueless when I started this blog. And, blogging seemed like a very random thing when I first heard about it, but I decided to go ahead and start a blog of my own.

My reasons to start a blog were simply to keep track of my own personal finance journey. That’s it! Most people in my life didn’t even know I had a blog (I think only my husband and my sister knew).

It’s so funny to think back to when I first started Making Sense of Cents, but I’m so glad I gave blogging a chance. I can’t imagine how different my life would be if I had listened to the people who said it was too late to start a blog.

Because of how blogging changed my life, I love telling others about it. That’s exactly what I’m doing today if you are on the fence about starting a blog.

Blogging allowed me to pay off my student loans, quit my day job, travel full-time, and more. And, I enjoy what I do each day. [Read more…]

15+ Deals For Bloggers And Those Starting A Work From Home Business

Last Updated: March 17, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

These deals are now over, but I have other content you may be interested in:

If you are looking for freebies, I have listed free courses and resources below:

Enjoy!

How I’ve Made $80,000 Selling Blogs

Last Updated: May 5, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello! Here’s a great article from Dale. Dale has made $80,000 selling blogs. Today, she is going to talk about how much you can sell a blog for, the best ways to make money blogging, where to sell a blog, and more. Enjoy!

Hi, I’m Dale, and I’m the founder of Blogging Her Way. I started blogging over four years ago as a way to get clients for my web design business.

Pretty soon, I realized I enjoyed the blogging side of things a lot more than web design!

I enjoyed blogging so much that I started and sold four additional blogs on the side over the course of three years. While I enjoyed what I wrote about on Blogging Her Way, I wanted to have an outlet to write about other topics I was interested in too.

So I started blogs in the travel, lifestyle, and college niches. I was able to successfully monetize and sell all four blogs that I started, earning over $80,000 between selling the blogs and what I earned from them before I sold them.

Here’s a look at the blogs I started and sold:

Blog A: Sold for $4,000 profit, earned $5,600 total from blog (lifestyle)
Blog B: Sold for $1,800 profit, earned $2,450 total from blog (travel)
Blog C: Sold for $17,600 profit, earned $27,250 total from blog (college)
Blog D: Sold for $18,250 profit, earned $44,500 total from blog (travel)

I did all of this working very part-time on my blogs. I would estimate that I never spent more than 5-10 hours a week working on the blogs that I sold.

For most of the blogs, I only actively worked on them for two to six months.

Selling blogs can be a great side hustle or a way to add an additional source of income to your current blogging business.

If you’re interested in learning how to make money selling blogs, read on for my best tips! [Read more…]

How My Blog Made $59,977 in Affiliate Income In One Year

Last Updated: March 16, 2022 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 4 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello! Today I have a great article to share from Jorden Makelle, owner of Writing Revolt. Jorden is a student of my Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course, and today Jorden is going to share how she made $59,977.50 through affiliate marketing on her blog in one year. If you do not have a blog yet, I recommend joining my free How To Start A Blog course. Enjoy!

When I started my blog in late 2015, I barely knew what affiliate marketing was.

But when I learned that I could help my audience and create an extra income stream for myself just by promoting products I already used and loved, I realized…

It was a win-win situation!

So, I went all in.

These days, I’m able to bring in a steady revenue stream from affiliate marketing. In fact, my affiliate marketing efforts in one year – from July 2019 to July 2020 – resulted in about $59,000 in revenue.

Just as important, my audience is able to benefit from my recommendations, and I get to watch them succeed with the help of the same awesome products I’ve used to grow my business over the years!

Now, if you’re reading this as a beginner blogger, you may be wondering:

“How large of an audience do I need to achieve this?”

…And you’ll be relieved to know that you don’t need massive monthly traffic numbers or a huge audience to succeed.

During the year I made about $59,000 with affiliate marketing, my total blog pageviews were only around 30,000 to 40,000 per month! I’m living proof that you can succeed with a smaller audience.

What you do need is to follow the step-by-step process I’m outlining in this blog post, and with some focused time and effort, you’ll find you can achieve affiliate marketing success too! [Read more…]