Curious About Blogs? How Bloggers Earn Money

Hi Friends

I wrote this post a month or two ago but was a little nervous about publishing it because I wondered if you guys would like it (I know it has nothing to do with design!)  BUT I have learned some very interesting things over the past 2 years of blogging so I thought I would share it.  Plus a new friend of mine Ann from OnSuttonPlace had her first linky party dedicated to sharing things we've learned about blogging......I guess it gave me that little nudge to hit the "PUBLISH" button. :-)

When I talk to my family and non blogging friends about my blog they are always saying, 

WHAT? How does all that stuff work? You mean when I click on those ads you earn money?  Do you sign up to advertise?  

They had absolutely no idea the “things” behind the blog.

So, if you at all interested, continue reading and if this sounds incredibly boring I promise to do a really fun interior design or craft post next!!!


First off, I can honestly say, I could probably make more money picking pennies out of a fountain then I would during the first 2 years of this blog! :-)

I spend around 1-2 hours PER blog post I write.  So I spend an average of 3 hours a week just writing the posts not to mention the actual craft or project I did that may have taken me hours!  My guess is I spend around 10+  hours a week doing things related to blogging.  (I won’t even discuss the hours of trying to figure out HTML or Photoshop!  That’s just going to have to be its own separate thing cause it’s too embarrassing to tell you how many hours I have spent on that.)


All to say though, I really do enjoy blogging.  If I just did it for the money I would have quit years ago.  I enjoy showing all my faithful readers the ideas and projects that come out of this brain of mine.  I also LOVE reading about other people's ideas and projects that are usually a combination of how I come up with my ideas in the first place!  For me blogs and blogging completely feeds the part of my brain that needs to be creative and I get excited and fulfilled making crafts or a room “sparkle”. 

On the other side of things, this blog does take time away from my family, and definitely time away from cleaning!  If my house is a disaster, and the kids running wild around the house, it’s because I’m writing a post!  I’m afraid they frequently hear “Can you just leave me alone for FIVE more minutes!!!  Dinner will be started when I FINISH THIS!!”   So I’m thankful for every one of you who enjoy my blog, and I hope you don’t mind if I put a few ads on the side with the hopes of making just a little bit of money. Also, I hope that the ads are for things you will thoroughly enjoy, and maybe even be able to get a discount on.

So here is how I earn some money. Right now it just pays for a coffee or two, but some day, I think it would be wonderful to use this blog to help out with “real life.” 

ADS + BLOG =$


Some of you probably get annoyed that I have ads on my blog but maybe after reading this post you’ll feel better about it.  (I really hope you do!)

When you click on those ads you see on my side bars (the ones that say AdSense in the corner and are always changing) I earn a few pennies every time they are clicked.  It slowly adds up.  So, when I am reading another bloggers post, and if I loved it and learned something from it, sometimes I’ll click an ad (that looks interesting) as a little “thank you” for all the time and effort I know they put into the post.  Now I wouldn’t go CRAZY doing that, just click on things that truly interest you   Google is pretty good about only putting ads on my site that pertain to décor, but  I have run across an ad or two on my blog that I do not like and I quickly will run over to my AdSense account and block that ad from showing up again.  (sorry if you saw an ad that was “iffy”, so far there was only one ad that I was completely surprised they put on my craft/design blog and I QUICKLY blocked it!)


That reminds me, if you receive a bloggers post via email, at the bottom of the email highlighted in blue, you can always click that to go directly to the post on the web.  If you do go to the actual post, a blogger gets credit for a true “page view” which in turn really helps a blogger earn money.  (The more page views you have on your blog, the more “pennies” you get when someone clicks on an ad!  Isn’t all this stuff crazy!)

You can also put Affiliate ads on your blog.  These are stores/websites that you choose that you want on your blog and when a reader clicks on them and buys something you get 2%-7% (approximately) of the sale.  I think Amazon is the largest affiliate store out there.  Sometimes on a person’s blog they have a bar that says “Search for product on Amazon” and if you use that search bar to buy anything from Amazon that blogger gets a kickback!  I mean WHY NOT!  I’d be happy to send a buck or two to a blogger that I enjoy rather than have all my money go to The Big Guys.  Right?  I just started adding some affiliate ads on my blog and so far, have earned next to nothing, but I’ll give it some time.

Sometimes on my blog you see highlighted words which are called Text Links that take you to one of my affiliates.  For instance, when I post a recipe, a lot of times on an ingredient that is hard to find I’ll put a link that has my affiliate code on it so that if you end up buying that product, I would receive a few cents. I almost always link with iherb.com because that is where I shop and I really LOVE their products and prices!  Like I mentioned before, I do not make a killing off this blog!  Here is a shot of my earnings this month off AdSense (the changing ads), you have to remember this is TWO years into blogging, and what you see below is a good month.

Actual clipping from my AdSense account.

Another way some bloggers earn money is by hosting a giveaway for a company or doing a sponsored post.  (A post that promotes that particular company)  I have yet to earn money by doing a giveaway, but I usually do receive one of the giveaway items myself.  There are larger blogs that charge a LOT to do giveaways or sponsored posts.  I have to admit when I was just starting my blog and found that out, I was surprised.  It is a good thing to know though, as I have actually had some marketer people try to take advantage of my LACK of knowledge regarding sponsored posts.  If you want a shocker, see this post on Not Getting Conned for Sponsored Blog Posts!




Lastly, bloggers can have sponsors or companies that will pay monthly to have their specific ad on your site.  I always thought it would require that I set up invoices and bookkeeping and have to track each sponsor with how much they owe etc. BUT I just found a site that takes care of almost all the book keeping.  I was blown away and set up ads just this month.  It wasn't very hard, those that are computer savvy (this isn't me!) will have an even easier time.  PassionFruitAds - they are a new company, but growing FAST.  For a blog my size, (1200 email subscribers and 700 “followers”)  I am guessing I would charge around $20-50.00 a month to put up a specific companies ad on my site.   I believe some companies will contact you, but a lot of times a blogger would need to be pro-active and contact the company they enjoy and give them rates and all their blog statistics.


So I’m curious, has this post changed the way you think of ads on person's blog?

Were you shocked I earned money off this blog?  Or did you think I made a lot of money and were shocked I earned so little? 

Did you already know how bloggers earned money?  Would you discontinue following a blog if they have ads?  (and if so, why?)  I really want to know your thoughts!!! 

For other bloggers out there, is there something I missed?