How I Made My First £100 Blogging (And You Can Too)

How I Made My First £100 Blogging (And You Can Too)

If you’re looking at starting a money blog of your own, I suggest starting one here on Siteground, for less than £3/month!*

Did you know that there are millions of blogs out there? I had no idea that there were that many until I started blogging myself, which is when you become more aware of other blogs especially in the niche that you are in.

I wish that I had found some more of them before, because there are some seriously amazing ones out there! 

Blogging originally started out as a diary style format, with people writing about their thoughts and experiences, but there are many now which are more in an informative website format where bloggers share their advice on various subjects.

For example mine is a personal finance one and I share tips and ideas on everything finance related – how to save money, how to make money and more.

As blogging has exploded in recent years, with millions of people doing it as mentioned, it has been able to generate an income, which has then led to more people starting them with the intention of monetising.

Some share their income reports (here is one that I did after 6 months of blogging) and this is very inspiring for people who are on the fence about it, or who wish to seek an income working from home. What’s great about income reports is that they tend to break down their earnings, so that you can see exactly where and how they are earning their money.

The way that I earned my first £100 from blogging was through affiliate sales.

Affiliate sales refer to a recommendation you make and when the person clicks through and makes a purchase, you earn a commission from it. You have to declare that you have used an affiliate link so that the reader is aware that you will be earning a commission from it.

Affiliate sales are great because they do not cost the customer anything more, and it is quite passive in that you just need to put a link in your article and you’re done. With social media sites such as Pinterest, you can still get traffic to your blog posts months, even years down the line.

The affiliate that I used for my first commissions was my blog host. I have a post which is a step-by-step guide on how to set up a WordPress.org blog. If you go self-hosted, you need a blog host to…host your blog!

There are lots of different hosts out there, and it can be a bit intimidating when it comes to setting it all up, which is why guides/tutorials do so well.

I started my blog at the end of April, and the first affiliate post I did (I think!) was my tutorial for setting up a blog, which I did in June.

My first affiliate commission came through in July, so a month after the post. I received $65 for this – around £51.

The next one came through in September, so 2 months after – but I was lucky because they had a special promotion on for extra commission for signups – and I got 2 on the same day! The 2nd commission was for $120 – around £94.

So my first 2 affiliate sales came to the fee of $185 – according to Google this is around £145.

As you can see, you don’t get the funds straight away, and they have a threshold on your first signup, so you only get funds released once you make over the first $65. All affiliate programmes are different, so you will have to check with each one how their payment works.

Unfortunately I am unable to track how the people who signed up came across me, although one did email me and I asked her – she said that she Googled something and found me that way. I would suggest working on your SEO, and also having social media pages to share your work and get people to find you.

Other than that, I didn’t do anything special to get these first sign ups (sorry!). I try to write good quality content that readers will enjoy, and keep coming back for.

Ways that you can make money blogging:

Affiliates

As I have made money off affiliates on this blog, this is something that I recommend you try and do. There are many affiliate programmes that you can join and promote – whatever works well for your blog.

• Amazon affiliates
• Skimlinks
• Affiliate Window
• Share-a-sale

There’s many more affiliate programmes out there, just head to Google and type in the company that you are thinking of and add ‘affiliate’ and it will show you if they have an affiliate programme. I have also made sales through promoting my blog theme (post here).

Ads

Many bloggers get their first paycheque from having adverts on their site. When you are just starting out you can sign up for ad sites such as Google Adsense or Media.net* (who I am with).

Once you reach a certain amount of page views, you can apply for different ad networks which have higher pay. You need a decent amount of page views in order to make any money off ads, but it is a passive way of making money on your blog. There is generally a payment threshold of $100.

Just consider though, that many people do not like the look of ads. I personally can deal with one ad on a website, but if there are any more it makes me want to leave the page and not return – which is something that you definitely don’t want.

Sponsored Posts

I’ve only done one sponsored post so far, but I really enjoyed it! Companies ask you to write about them/their product and pay you for it.

The more page views you get and social media followers you have, the more money you can command for these. There are lots of bloggers out there who make their main blogging income from sponsored posts.
You can approach the companies that you are interested in for a collaboration, or wait for them to come to you.

Sell a Product or Service

With your blog as a platform, you can provide additional products or services such as:

• Coaching
• eBooks
• Courses

Freelancing

If you look at most bloggers income reports, you will see freelancing on there as a big (if not the biggest) source of their blog income. There are various freelancing jobs that you can do in relation to blogging, such as:

• Writing (content creation)
• Proofreading
• Editing
• Virtual assistant
• Social media manager

I would recommend blogging to anyone and everyone – I love it. I believe that there is a place for everyone in the blogging world, because everyone has their own unique voice and experiences to bring to the table.

I wish that I had started blogging years ago, but it didn’t even cross my mind, and then when it came to making the decision I wobbled a bit more going for it.

The best thing about starting your own blog is being part of a community. I love the general community but the personal finance community is amazing, and I am always learning new things from them. If you have a passion and want to start writing, I would definitely recommend it.

Just a note – make sure that you declare all of your income to the tax man at efile time!

Does anyone else want to start a blog, or have any tips that they can share for new bloggers?

Ways To Make Extra Money Now:

1. Start a blog with Siteground! This can start off as a fun side hustle, and have the potential to turn into a huge full time income (which is still fun!). Yes, you CAN make money blogging, and it’s the best thing that I ever did. To get started, read my post How To Start a Blog.
2. Answer simple questions on survey sites! This is a really easy money earner and I love it because I do it when I don’t need to really think too much e.g. Netflix on in the background. Sign up to the best survey sites over here.
3. Matched Betting – you don’t need to be good at maths, it’s not gambling, it’s tax-free, it can be done at any time of day and earn you thousands extra per month. All explained here and you can sign up to my favourite site that will guide you through the steps.
4. Mystery Shopping – I always thought these were a scam or a pain to do, until I got started! Since then, the free food and other items (e.g. clothes for me and my daughter) have convinced me otherwise! My favourite legit sites are rounded up for you here.