When I first tried to make this blog profitable my number one question was, can you really make money blogging? About a year ago I took a blogging course and got serious about it. I would search Pinterest on how to make money blogging.
Every post was from a person who blogged about how to blog.
I started to wonder if I could make money without talking about blogging. Can you make money blogging without blogging about blogging?
It turns out that Yes, you can make money from a blog that has nothing to do with blogging.
I am sharing this with you because I want to encourage you to keep working on your blog. Even if you don’t make a lot of money, every cent can count for most people.
This is for the person who is truly wondering if they should keep trying with their blog. The person who is wondering if they will ever make money.
(This post includes affiliate links)
Blogging
My blog is all about simple living, minimalism, decluttering, and some random things too. Some articles I read state that they made thousands in their first month of blogging.
I am here to share a different story. My blog started a long time ago back in 2008. I never intended to make money, it was a journal for my trip to live in New Zealand.
A few years ago I started to declutter my whole life and become more minimalist. I also started a YouTube channel to document the process.
That is when it dawned on me that if I could get traffic to my YouTube videos about this topic why not also share all of my simple living tips and tricks on my blog?
At this point, I decided to transition my blog from being something I wrote to entertain my family and keep them updated to something that could make money.
Making Money With a Blog About Simple Living
To answer the question can you make money with a blog about something other than blogging? YES! I now get thousands of views a day to my blog posts that have nothing to do with blogging.
The few posts I have done to share my experience with blogging don’t really bring me much traffic at all.
Courses That Have Helped
I was always under the impression that courses were just a waste of money. Thinking I could figure everything out on my own.
Well, you probably could figure everything out through Google, but that is a long road to travel.
I decided to take the Farm House on Boone Create Your Blog Dream Course back in October 2018. (This course is continually updated and is still very much worth taking) Why that course? She blogs about a farmhouse, nothing to do with blogging!
She also makes a full-time living through her blog and if she can do it so can I.
Making Money Blogging
I took the course in October 2018 and a year later in September 2019 I finally qualified to get ads on my blog! Views equal money and popular blog posts equal views. Please read that sentence twice.
I am not sure why, but it took me a long time to figure out that equation.
If you want to make money do something very very simple. Go to Google and search under your blog topic or niche. Now write a post about the most popular topic.
Make a very enticing Pin and share it on Pinterest and you will get views. It might not happen quickly, but it beats writing all kinds of random posts hoping that someone might find it interesting or “happen” upon it.
Choose Your Hosting Wisely
In 2020 I switched hosting from Godaddy (possibly the worst hosting ever as far as customer service and speed is concerned) to BigScoots! Switching to BigScoots was possibly the easiest thing I have ever done. I contacted them through the chat option and they did all of the work for me. The whole domain switch took less than 8 hours.
BigScoots also offered to analyze my blog to make sure it was going as fast as possible.
The most interesting thing of all is I started to get a lot more traffic and my site speed got better immediately! I wish I had started with them! Since, as I mentioned traffic = views, it is super important to have a fast site that Google likes. Click here to find out all the hosting options that BigScoots offers.
11 months after taking the blog course and getting serious about my blog I started making money. If I had more time to write more posts I think this would have happened sooner.
INCOME UPDATE
About 5 years later we are finally making enough money that we replaced my income and my husband’s income.
We are now both able to work from home as full-time bloggers! This was always my dream! If you would like more details of how it all happened read 10 Ways Blogging Changed My Life.
Blogging Growth Plan
Nothing changes without a plan!
- Work on SEO – Learn Everything!
- Learn More About Pinterest: Here is The Best Pinterest Course Out There
- Start working on a Decluttering Course I intend to sell.
- Double my views
- My master plan is to write as many “awesome” posts as possible. The more QUALITY posts you have the more you can share!
- Consistency is KEY! I will write 2 or more posts per week to build my blog readership.
- Make 2 to 5 Pinterest Pins per post.
- Pin all day long LOL ( just kidding)
- Link my blog posts on all of my YouTube videos!
- Share My Posts on Social Media
- Keep learning – This is super important! Every course I have taken so far has helped me in ways I never thought possible.
Read More Posts About Blogging:
10 Ways Blogging Changed My Life
I hope this can help encourage you to keep trying!
Hello Shannon,
I am so happy to have stumbled into your blog. I have been a silent reader for months now.:) It’s here in this post that I learned about Income School, thank you for mentioning them, their videos have helped me a lot in improving my small blog.
And thank you for this affirmation that blogs that are not about blogging can still make money. I really hope that my blog will also be able to earn soon.
Your story resonates so well with me because I was also an au pair in Denmark and Norway, and a nanny in Spain, before I got married to the love of my life. And we have 2 boys, too. I am not pregnant, though.:) We want to have more kids, but I had complications on both pregnancies that gave trauma to the husband. And I am also into simplifying our family life and home! That’s why I love coming back to your blog and love watching your videos.
Have a safe pregnancy. Excited for you. God bless you more.
Sincerely,
Julai
It is great to hear your story! I am so happy that income school has helped, I love all their advice.
It sounds like we have lived a similar path. I wish you luck on your blog, it can be lots of fun!
talk to you soon Shannon