March Blogging Income Report: How I Made $72,196 This Month

Welcome to my March online income report, where I break down how I earned money online last month. Below you’ll find a clear update and an income breakdown so you can track progress month to month.

If you’re new here, you might wonder why I publish monthly income reports. If you’ve seen them before, feel free to skip ahead.

This began as my extra income report because early on I focused on earnings from side jobs. Back then I included all income except what I made at my day job.

I left my job as a financial analyst in October 2013, and since then my monthly income reports reflect the multiple ways I now earn a living online.

People often ask why I publish my monthly income publicly. Some think it’s unusual; others appreciate the transparency. I publish these reports for three main reasons:

1. Before blogging, I didn’t know much about side hustles or how to make money online. I assumed raises at a full-time job were the only way to meaningfully increase income. If others hadn’t shared monthly income reports, I might never have tried side hustling. I publish these reports to show the positive impact side hustling can have and to motivate others to improve their financial situations.
2. I use these reports as a personal record to look back on, learn from mistakes, and identify areas that need improvement. They act like a journal for my business performance.
3. I want to show that making legitimate side income from home is possible. For readers interested in different approaches, I previously compiled a Monthly Income Report Roundup that highlights bloggers who regularly share their earnings.

I truly enjoy being my own boss. I look forward to each day and love waking up excited to work on my business.

These are a few reasons I publish monthly income reports: to show others that you don’t have to hate your job or your life, to demonstrate that change is possible, and to encourage people to pursue income opportunities that let them live more freely. Your job does not have to consume you; it should at least allow you the freedom to enjoy life outside of work.

How was my blog income in March?

March was an excellent month—my best month to date—even though pageviews were down about 10%. This highlights an important point: blog income doesn’t always correlate directly with pageviews.

I’ve adjusted how I present monthly income. From now on I’ll report the income I earned during the month rather than payments received. Payments can arrive from 1 to 90 days later or even longer, which has caused confusion between “earned” and “received” amounts. Reporting earned income makes month-to-month comparisons more realistic. I’ve updated the figures in this post accordingly, though I won’t be changing older reports.

My business is growing and income is rising. I have many ideas for the year and I’m very excited about the direction things are headed. I keep finding myself saying, “Life is really good.”

I earned $72,195.95 online in March, before expenses. Payments received during the month were about $71,000 because I also chased down some older payments from 2015.

If you’re interested in starting a blog, I created a step-by-step tutorial that explains how to start a self-hosted WordPress blog for an affordable monthly cost. Self-hosting is essential if you want to seriously monetize your blog—appearing professional makes it easier to attract advertisers and affiliates. My income accelerated after I switched to self-hosted WordPress.

Blog news

Making Sense of Cents is doing well and I’m pleased with the progress.

I’m working toward staying ahead with blog posts so I can spend more time promoting content, networking, and helping readers. My goal is to have several months of posts scheduled so I can focus on growth efforts.

I get many questions about how I stay connected while traveling in our RV. I use a Verizon MiFi, which keeps me online in most places. Free Wi-Fi can be slow, unreliable, or unsafe, so having a dedicated device has been indispensable.

Overall traffic dipped in March to about 500,000 pageviews. I expect it to rebound.

Top new posts on Making Sense of Cents last month:

• How To Make Money While RVing
• 8 Smart Ways To Use Your Tax Refund in 2016
• Can You Remove PMI From Your Mortgage?
• Monthly Income Report Roundup – Check Out How These Bloggers Make Thousands Each Month!
• The Power Of Positive Thinking – This Can Change Everything!
• Make Money At Home By Becoming A Transcriptionist
• We Live In Our RV Full-Time!
• How To Make Saving Money Fun – The Best Way To Save Money
• The Ultimate Guide To Making Money Blogging – How I Earn Over $50,000 A Month Online

Featured Question: How should I launch a new blog?

Each month I answer one reader question. Here are practical tips for launching a new blog and giving it the best chance to grow and monetize:

1. Pick a topic you enjoy. Writing becomes much easier and sustainable when you care about the subject.
2. Start a self-hosted blog. Self-hosting is the professional route if you plan to monetize and grow your audience.
3. Produce high-quality content. If you wouldn’t read it, others probably won’t either. Passion helps you create engaging pieces.
4. Have several posts already published so new visitors can get a clear sense of your blog’s voice and focus.
5. Schedule posts in advance. This reduces stress and keeps your blog consistent.
6. Create social media accounts on platforms that fit your niche (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.) and automate where possible.
7. Include an About page so readers can get to know you.
8. Network with other bloggers rather than view them as rivals. Collaboration builds opportunities.
9. Publish at least once per week to stay visible and keep readers engaged.
10. Guest post on other sites to gain exposure, meet new readers, and make connections in your niche.

There are many ways to launch successfully, but most important is to enjoy the process.

Past featured questions covered topics like affiliate income growth, whether millions of pageviews are necessary to make money blogging, building sites to sell, and how to increase traffic.

My plans for the website and making money online

Goals help keep a business focused and motivated. Here are the areas I’m actively working on:

• Promote more. Promotion has improved and I’m seeing results—Pinterest alone drove about 200,000 clicks in March. I want to grow that significantly.
• Accept more interviews. I participated in several interviews in March and plan to continue doing more.
• Double my income. I aim to double 2015’s income, which would require averaging roughly $53,000 per month. It’s ambitious but achievable with focused work.
• Diversify affiliate income streams. I want more variety in affiliate sources to reduce dependency on any single program.
• Create an ebook. I’m in the early stages of an ebook focused on increasing affiliate income, with plans to expand into a course later on.
• Increase pageviews to 1,000,000 per month. It’s a measurable goal I’d like to hit by year’s end.

Staff writing

I wrote three client articles in March and have one planned for April. I’m taking staff writing slowly so I can focus on the ebook and developing the blog.

Related articles: resources on freelance writing and becoming a virtual assistant are available for those interested in staff or freelance opportunities.

Affiliate income

Overall, affiliate income for March totaled $55,322.68. Affiliate marketing has become a major source of recurring, relatively passive income that supports full-time travel and flexibility.

If you’re a blogger interested in affiliate marketing, I offer an online course—Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing—that outlines my exact strategies and tactics for building a substantial affiliate income stream.