How 6 Personal Finance Bloggers Make Money Blogging
Ever wondered how personal finance bloggers turn their passion for numbers and advice into profit?
Well, buckle up because we’re about to peek behind the curtain of the blogging world! In this article, we’re not just talking about the usual ad revenues or affiliate marketing; we’re getting real insights from six personal finance bloggers who’ve cracked the code to making money through blogging.
These wizards of the finance world are not just helping us save money; they’re showing us how to make it too.
So, grab your notepad, and let’s get ready to uncover some trade secrets that could just inspire you to start your own blog!
How 6 Personal Finance Bloggers Make Money Blogging
When I first learned that blogging as a career was a thing all I could think about was “but how do they make their money, exactly?”
Then I stumbled onto blogger income reports. That was my aha moment.
Suddenly I could see exactly what they were doing to earn their income. It was incredible. I mean, in what other industries do businesses detail the exact amount they are making and how?
Want to start your own money-making blog today? Watch this INTRO TO BLOGGING CLASS to get started!
Do You Have To Blog About Blogging To Make Any Money?
This was a question I kept asking myself.
Mainly because the majority of the income reports are written by bloggers who blog about blogging. And you can see why! If they write a post showing how much money they’re making.
Someone will read it and see how successful they are and then they will buy their product, creating even more money.
Which is a perfect business model if you ask me. The business owner makes money whilst the customer gets a product that they have seen evidence will work.
So to answer the question of whether you have to solely blog about blogging to make decent money I have rounded up 6 personal finance bloggers whose income reports I will be going through with a fine-toothed comb.
Here they are:
- Michelle from Making Sense of Cents
- Rosemarie from The Busy Budgeter
- Bobby from Millennial Money Man
- Kyle from Dollar Diligence
- Sarah from The Frugal Millionaire Blog
- Yandra from Smartnancials
Do More Page Views Always Equal A Higher Income?
Before we get started examining each income report I wanted to just take a quick look at the correlation between pageviews and monthly income.
I think that most of us believe that the higher your pageviews the higher your income is likely to be. Whilst the graph above does show a general trend towards that.
It’s important to note that Making Sense of Cents got nearly 100,000 fewer page views than The Busy Budgeter and yet still was making $45,000 more!
While there really isn’t enough data above give us any definite answers. I think it helps to know that yes, more pageviews can lead to more income.
But there are circumstances where you can make a (very) good income on fewer pageviews. It’s all about how you market your blog and how much of a tribe you have built up.
I have not included any information about how long a blog has been around for.
That’s because here we work smarter and not harder. So I don’t want to know how long it’s taken someone to do something because time spent doing something is not a good measurement of success.
I really wanted to include the number of people subscribed to their email list but only one person shared that info. Basically, I used what I had!
1. Making Sense Of Cents
I thought Michelle’s blog Making Sense of Cents would be the best one to start with.
Pageviews: 415,000
Total Income: $131,448.35 (shes killing it…)
Income breakdown:
What we can immediately see is that the majority of her income is from affiliates or her own product (her courses).
Michelle is famous for her incredibly high affiliate income and so she released her course ‘Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing’. Makes sense that this is where she’s making her money.
She also earns from sponsored posts and ads, but these only make up 11% of her total income.
However money wise it’s still $14,638. Just goes to show that it can be worth sticking to those income streams that only bring in a few dollars in the beginning, because eventually they could be worth a lot!
2. Smartnancials
Yandra’s blog is full of useful personal finance info. She also has a great Facebook group for new bloggers.
Pageviews: 38,000
Total Income: $1,726.44
Income breakdown:
So Smartnanicals only has two sources of income, or at least it did this month. Ads and affiliates. Her affiliate program currently makes up 87% of her income.
But as we know from Making Sense of Cent’s income report, as the blog’s income grows that other 13% can amount to a seriously large amount of money.
3. Dollar Diligence
Kyle’s blog is the newest and smallest blog whose income we are examining today.
Pageviews: 3,089
Total Income: $132.90
Income breakdown:
Dollar Diligence is right at the beginning of the blog monetization journey.
But he does already have 3 streams of income which is great for security. (The more income streams the better as long as it’s not spreading you too thin on the ground.)
Sponsored posts currently account for 56% of the total income. Something I’ve often seen in newish bloggers is for the majority of their income to come from sponsored posts until their audience start clicking through on their affiliate links!
4. Millennial Money Man
I really love Bobby’s blog and it’s actually one where I tend to read everything he posts.
Pageviews: Bobby doesn’t post his page views in his income report so no number here this time
Total Income: $10,117.87
Now Bobby’s income report is a little different to the others because he posts an overall online income, which was $20,507.77. Then gives a breakdown of how much was actually from the blog and how much he made from his digital marketing and Facebook ads consultancy.
So he made $10,117.87 directly from the blog, $6,889.90 from digital marketing and $3,500.00 from Facebook ads consultancy. For the purpose of this post I am only looking at the income derived directly from the blog.
Income breakdown:
First off it’s worth noting that on Bobby’s income report he combines his ads and sponsored posts income. I have split it for the purpose of this pie chart leaving a higher amount in the ads section because he explained that his sponsored post income is lower than his ad income.
As you can see Bobby also has a few other income streams the other bloggers don’t.
Staff writing and coaching. This is great because the diversification adds extra income security. He did write that he plans to stop coaching in favour of the more passive income like affiliates.
5. The Frugal Millionaire Blog
I have used her March income report as the April income report did not have pageview information. It was Sarah’s first month blogging full time having quit her 9 to 5 super exciting job!
Pageviews: 45,000
Total Income: $2,615.73
Income breakdown:
You can see that a whopping 89% of the income is from affiliate links. This girl’s readers clearly trust her judgment to click on those products she recommends which is so great.
She also has two products that are starting to give her some income.
We know from Making Sense of Cent’s report that both affiliate programs and bloggers’ own products have incredible potential to bring in crazy amounts of money.
6. The Busy Budgeter
Rosemarie’s blog is another one of my favourites. She has done amazingly well considering she has only been blogging for around 2 years.
Pageviews: 505,239
Total Income: $86,438.83
Income breakdown:
Look at that, 68% own products! That’s amazing! Of course, the great thing about earning income from your own products is you can set the price yourself and no one can take them away from you.
Even with affiliate links or ads, which tend to be relatively stable, they are at the end of the day under someone else’s control, which could affect your income from them.
What’s so great is that the main product Rosemarie sells is supplemental worksheets to her free 90-day budgeting challenge. A fantastic example of using a free challenge to advertise and sell your product.
How 6 Personal Finance Bloggers Make Money Blogging – Conclusion
And there you have it! Straight from the horse’s mouth – the insider tips and tricks from six personal finance bloggers who’ve turned their blogs into money-making machines. It’s not just about understanding finance; it’s about knowing how to engage an audience and provide value that keeps them coming back.
Whether it’s through unique content, smart partnerships, or innovative monetization strategies, these bloggers have shown us that with a bit of creativity and a lot of hard work, the blogging world can indeed be fruitful.
Okay, I’ve learned so much about how these 6 personal finance bloggers make money blogging.
But I’ve put all that information together in one more pie chart so we can see the most lucrative forms of income for these personal finance bloggers.
Bloggers’ own products come out the winners here, followed in close second with affiliate links. I’m not surprised by this outcome as both of these tend to be the highest-paying items. I am surprised that ads do not play a larger role but then they are notorious for low payouts.
Ready to start your own money-making blog today? Watch this INTRO TO BLOGGING CLASS to get started!
People make money blogging in a variety of different ways but the main ones are through selling their own products, affiliates, sponsored posts and ads.
And you don’t have to blog purely about blogging to make money with a blog! In total, these 6 personal finance bloggers made $232,480.12 in one month. Is that proof enough?
So, if you’ve been toying with the idea of starting your own blog, let these stories be your inspiration.
Who knows, maybe we’ll be featuring your success story next!
