My Sources of Income

Last week I shared why people should make money from blogging. It’s purpose was two-fold: to let readers know making money from blogging isn’t bad and can actually be used as part of ministry, and to let bloggers know making money from blogging isn’t bad and why they should do it, too.

Before I get into where my source of income generates from, I want to make it a point to share it’s important you only represent companies and products you truly believe in. I have been on blogs that have had a disclaimer state that “the representation of a company or product does not equal an endorsement.”

If you don’t believe in what you’re promoting, forgive me, but you’re going to lose your own credibility in offering products or company promotions. Why promote something you don’t endorse? Think about what’s more important here. Yes, we want to make money, but not at the expense of our credibility for products and companies we don’t truly believe in. So, my advice is not to promote something you don’t endorse. You want your readers to trust you and what you’re offering them.

My Income Stream

1. Virtual Assistant Work – I currently have 3 clients I work for. Two are permanent (or long term) and one is temporary (or short term). There was a time I had upwards of 7 clients and I could no longer juggle them all with the new adjustments of adoption looming. So, my income actually took quite a hit when I let go of some of my VA work. 
2. Blog Consulting – I am still offering blog consults and critiques as I really enjoy helping other bloggers refine and define their vision for blogging and help them make goals to aim high. While I offer a broad range of topics here on the blog (FREE), I also offer more personal, one-on-one help at a very affordable rate. For those who are serious about blogging and taking it to the next level, a blog consult can be a great investment. Bloggers I’ve previously worked with would agree.
3. Affiliates – These do require regular work to continuously bring in revenue and honestly, sometimes I don’t want to over promote products, so I just let the chips fall where they may. My biggest revenue from a single affilate comes from Amazon, and they are probably the smallest percentage of pay out of all the ones I use. But, because it’s the most widely used site, more people are apt to buy from it. So, when I promote  books, I use  affiliate links. And I love books, so I promote them a lot! It’s not hard, because I only promote books I love and buy (or want to buy). But Amazon goes well beyond books!
   There are a lot of affiliate programs out there!
4. Private Ads - These are ads for specific companies, authors, and products that I work with. These types of ads largely depend on my blog stats. When my blog was “younger”, I did a LOT of book reviews in exchange for free books. But it started to get really time consuming and as my readership grew, so did the time it took to interact. I set aside book reviews for connecting. I still promote books, but instead I allow the author to offer a guest post and/or giveaway. I will promote the book (after reading some or all of it) through Facebook and Twitter. Because I no longer do free reviews, though, there are a lot less book reviews as many publishers do not see paying bloggers a great return on investment (which I can understad in a sense). Some bloggers charge $25+ for book reviews and if you want a lot of influential bloggers doing reviews, it’s going to cost a pretty penny. I have also most recently begun offering blog ad buttons and eBook ads for only $10 per month for my fellow bloggers.
5. eBooks – I published my first eBook last month and am now working on my second. Now, my second one is going to be free for Joyful Mothering subscribers. It’s a devotional for moms who specifically struggle with keeping a calm tone when they become frustrated with their children. In addition, I have two other eBook ideas swirling in my head that will be offered for sale after that.

These are just the ways that I generate income and I have a few other ideas swirling in my head that will probably not come to fruition until next year. These certainly aren’t the only ways. You need to tap into your own gifts and passions and figure out what would be a good fit for you and your blog.

I am naturally bent at writing, administrative work, teaching, and encouraging others. So I used those accordingly and will continue to find new ways to utilize them.

How can you generate an income from your blog, using your own gifts/talents?