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Hey there everyone!
As some of you may know I started this little bloggy right at the beginning of 2016 with yarn in hand, creativity abounding, and no expectations.
It’s been a while since then and BOY have things changed.
Below is a breakdown of my current traffic and income here on the blog, and some factors that led me here.
Now, you may be asking yourself “Why on EARTH would she put her income and numbers out there for all the world to see? Isn’t that part of the secret sauce?”
Nope! I started this blog a short while ago and have found great success (considering how long I’ve been working on it).
I want to encourage others to blog too!
Actually I put together my 3 Easy Steps to starting your own DIY blog HERE!
In the crochet niche of the internet, I’ve found one thing to be true – lots of people crochet, but not very many are publishing new patterns and putting out content.
There is a very small group of crochet bloggers out there (spend any time on Pinterest and you’ll quickly name several) dominating the market.
And this job is not hard to do!
Let me repeat that. THIS JOB IS NOT HARD TO DO.
It took me about half an hour to set up my blog initially and although I’ve made many adjustments along the way, my blog has been earning me good money with a really basic setup.
Now what do I mean by “good money”?
May 2018 Income
- AdThrive: $4,211
- Sponsored Content: $2,175
- Youtube: $634.72
- Affiliate Marketing: $1,457.94
- Etsy Pattern Sales: $1,701.46
EARNINGS TOTAL = $10,180.12
- MadMimi: $42
- Adobe Creative Cloud: $9.99
- Etsy Seller Fees: $230.27
- Supplies for blog posts: $0
Let’s talk about what happened this month:
A few things changed as far as income, expenses, and traffic. Let’s look at it a little more closely!
- AdThrive is still amazing.
- From what I understand, the crochet blogging world sees this kind of downward turn together – meaning the industry as a whole all experience a general slope in pageviews when spring begins that lasts til summer.
- I’m trying to think outside the box on how to combat this, but honestly it seems that no matter how much harder/faster we work, the readers just aren’t there in the warmer months. Which is really a shame because a lot of designers are putting out great content then!
- This month I uploaded only three videos to youtube, but it still earned me several hundred dollars and my subscriber count is now over 95,000 Wahoo!
- I’m usually not one for tracking follower numbers like this, but in the case of youtube, more subscribers mean more income (unlike Instagram for example where almost no traffic converts and more followers don’t mean more earnings)
- Every month I tell myself that I’m going to create more videos, some with a shorter run time (my videos are always full tutorials that last over 30 minutes). Quick, easy videos that I can produce easily and will perform well. And every month it doesn’t happen because of my big, labor intensive projects. We’ll see if I can ever get ahead enough to bring some of these ideas to life!
- More videos to come – make sure you’re subscribed to my channel!
- Sponsored content was awesome this month! This is one of those areas that’s always changing and will never be predictable income.
- The sponsors I’ve worked with here and there for a long time have really invested in me lately. I’ve figured out what I like to do and it seems like they like it too! I’m so grateful to have such supportive brands invested in me and my business.
- I have a new sponsor onboard too and that’s helping to create a more consistent number here than we were seeing this time last year. So even though we’re deep in the summer slump, it’s becoming more consistent in other areas – progress!
- Affiliate money is doing well!
- I’ve lumped all of these earnings into one category because honestly it’s a few dollars here and there and everywhere at this point. I am utilizing affiliate programs and links more than I ever have and it’s coming through with a hefty chunk of moo-lah.
- HAPPY YARN MAIL is still going strong! (Click HERE if you haven’t heard of HYM!) We sold out again this month and that means that where my Sewrella productivity has dipped, HYM is making up for it.
- I’m not including those numbers here because it’s really a separate business from my blogging business.
- If you haven’t started your blog yet, need I say more?? Click here to get started! I’ve even got special pricing for you guys to start your blogs super cheap!
- Expenses weren’t high this month, without spending much money on reinvestment in my blog, and a lot of my supplies being donated or sent for free via sponsorship collabs, I didn’t invest anything this month, just focusing on getting through the hustle of the season with what I have!
If you want to quit that dead-end job and make amazing money blogging at home, check out my FREE START A BLOG GUIDE!
Earning a Living with my Handmade Home
If you love crocheting and knitting, you should think about starting a blog! I’ll help you get started to turn your hobby into a money-making career with my free “Start a Blog” guide.
Or you can check out my last income report to see how this blog earned over $10,000 last month!
Rachel says
Thanks for sharing these numbers, Ashleigh! It’s really helpful to know the exact ways you and other bloggers are able to make money. Have you ever tried something other than AdThrive for the ads on your blog?
Rachel says
I’ve got my website/blog up and am working on content as quickly as I can. I’ve been struggling with figuring out the balance between offering all the patterns on my blog for free (with paid PDF versions on Etsy/Ravelry/Craftsy/LoveCrochet), versus charging a bit more for them on those sites and not offering the whole pattern for free on the blog. I can see from your breakdown that the bulk of your income is from ads, so it obviously works, but do you have tips for newbies that can’t sign up for AdThrive? They require 10,000 page views per month to sign up, and I’m nowhere near there yet, unfortunately. Thank you for all the help you offer!