4 Months of Blogging ~ My Journey so Far

I always loved the idea of blogging. It always seemed like it would be a cool way to make a living. I thought how neat it would be to stay home and typing away or going to a fancy cafe with a laptop and being one of those hipster looking people. Only two issues: I had no clue what to write about and I had no idea HOW I would go about making money. I never would have thought that I would be able to combine my passion for drawing and designing with blogging. But here I am, after four months of blogging and going to share with you my blogging journey.

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I Tried to Find a Way to Make Extra Money

Back in June, I wanted so desperately to make some extra cash. Even though I was working full-time in Human Resources, I was not making much. I was making pretty much JUST enough to pay the bills. On top of it, it was a toxic job and I realized it was a field I did not want to stay in. I tried to make making some cash on the side, everything from Shopkick (which I recommend downloading the app if you like to go shopping, you get points and eventually can redeem for a gift card) to that scratch-off lottery app (which was not worth my time). 

I was job searching or at least looking for some side gigs. On just about every article about side gigs and work from home jobs, blogging kept popping up. I found a youtube video with Jordan Roper from the Creative Revolt. I was watching one video after another, I was inspired! She was a college drop out who worked in crummy jobs and decided to freelance write and blog… and she’s successful!

After Several Months of Thinking About it, I Decided to Jump Right in!

I did a lot of researching and found there were a ton of pins on Pinterest about blogging. I read article after article, and you’ll find THOUSANDS of blogs with titles like “How I Made $5,000 in 6 months!” or “Quit Your Job in 3 Months!”. It’s not impossible, but most likely you won’t be making a living blogging this quickly. These bloggers either already had a following, a blog prior to or just know how the heck everything works (WordPress, Affiliate Marketing, Plugins, making all your widgets look the way you want.).

The Learning Never Ends

Four months at this, I am STILL learning something new about blogging, designing through WordPress and certain plugins, and other stuff. People make this all look easy, but it’s not. I spent months researching and constantly Youtube-ing and Google-ing almost every plugin I wanted to add. Something not looking the way I want it to? I would spend days or weeks trying to find a solution. You could hire someone to do it all for you, but I like saving myself some money and I enjoy doing this anyway. 

So After Four Months

Four months into this and have not made any money yet. I was also working on this website while working full-time and, at the same time, keeping up drawing my webcomic and designing. The only thing I have that would make me money is my graphic novel On the Bright Side and other items I am selling in my Etsy shop.

I just joined ShareASale, which I have heard so much about. Basically it is an affiliate program where you can select from thousands of different companies and/or products to review on your website and make a commission. I was approved by a few companies, so I am very excited to see what income this brings me! 

Not Making Money Yet, But… 

Even though I have not made a dime through this website (yet), I have been seeing a steady increase in visitors. In the first three months I was getting about one visitor per day. Now I see about six or seven unique visitors per day. Seeing a steady climb is letting me know that I am on the right track.

If you have not installed this plugin from MonsterInsights already, I highly recommend adding this. This will show you so much traffic information, where your visitors are from, and how they get to your website. You can see if you have visitors coming from your Instagram or Pinterest account or if they found you in a Google search!

So Here’s My Plan

Once you get your website going (learn how you can create one here!) you’re not going to see that much action going on. You’ll have your email list all set up, your website up and running… but no one is commenting and you see your analytics graph at a flat line for a while. You might see one or two visitors in between. My plan to bring in more visitors is to promote my website more. I don’t really post much on social media. I am in the process of changing that, though. I am starting to post at least once or twice a week on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. These are the three social media websites that I am doing the best in, so I am working more. 

I am trying to get way more content on Pinterest. The great thing about Pinterest is that I can post as many images as I want and not seem spammy to my followers! I just wouldn’t post the same image too many times, because Pinterest will see this as spam. But if you have many pinnable images, you can post all the pictures you want! I am getting the most viewers from this website, so I am working hard on Pinterest daily. 

I’m also looking for more items to sell. Lately, I have heard about printables. I am working on designing some daily/weekly/monthly planners that anyone can print. I will be coming up with a couple of freebies, but also make some really nice planners to sell on Etsy. 

Blogging is A LOT of Work

People make blogging look so easy, but it’s not. Maybe blogging in general with no intention of making any money might be easy. When you are looking to make money, oh boy, it can be overwhelming. Some people ask me why I even bother if I haven’t made money yet. One, I do have hope that I can make a little income from this. I have seen bloggers starting from little websites to being able to quit their jobs. It is possible. Two, I also wanted a place where I can advertise my graphic novel, my artworks, and design services. I figured this would be a good way to get my works out there. And three… well, because this is fun! 

Yes, it can be overwhelming, stressful and you may feel as though no one is reading your blog posts. I am slowly starting to see each of my posts getting a bit of attention, so as long as I have readers, I am going to keep writing! So after four months of blogging, I’m not making money, but I am enjoying the process and seeing Moscaprint grow.