I recently posted some stats about how much money I made this year from influencing on my Instagram. It received a ton of interest, so I thought I’d break it down in more detail for you all in this blog post. If you’re thinking about getting started with blogging or interested in becoming a microinfluencer, this is a great place to start. Or if you’re just curious about how sponsored posts work, this will give you a little peek behind the curtain. I’ll be covering how much money I made in total, where it came from, and how I found paid brand deals as a blogger with a small following.
How Much Money Did I Make Blogging in 2020?
Total: $1800
Here’s the breakdown:
- Adsense (Google ads on my blog): $250
- Affiliate links (Reward style, Amazon, etc.): $100
- Sponsored blog posts: $900
- Sponsored Instagram posts: $500
Let’s dig a little deeper in to the details.
Making Money from Ads on a New Blog
Ads are typically not the most lucrative way to make money for a new blog, but it’s passive income, so why not try? I signed up for Adsense, which is Google’s ad service, about a year ago. You get automatic payments every month as long as you’ve earned at least $100. In the beginning, I was accumulating pennies. But starting early this spring, I started hitting on average 20,000 pageviews a month. Since then, it’s taken me about every three months to earn at least $100. In total, I’ve cashed out $250 this year.
Adsense is notorious for not paying very much, so I actually just switched ad networks to SHE Media. You have to apply to be accepted, but it supposedly pays much better. Some bloggers on the internet were saying that with 20,000 pageviews, they could get $100 a MONTH instead of every three like I was getting with Adsense. We’ll see how it pans out next year!
Getting Sponsored Posts as a New Blogger
This year I made a total of $900 for two sponsored blog posts. (Check out my Korean potatoes and Thai curry udon recipes if you want to see them.) I have only ever gotten sponsored post deals from influencer networks, where you have to apply for campaigns by pitching your blog post idea. In fact, for most influencer networks, you have to apply to even be in the network. My sponsored posts in particular were through Social Fabric, which has set payment terms that you can’t negotiate. In full transparency, I applied to maybe 4 or 5 campaigns this year but only got accepted to 2. Next year, my goal is to get one sponsored blog post per month! But I’ll probably have to be applying much more frequently than I have been.
Stay tuned for a future blog post on which influencer networks I’ve tried and how they worked out for me as a new blogger.
How Much Money I Made From Affiliate Links
Affiliate links, like ads, are notorious for being difficult to make much money from, especially with a small following. I’m actually an affiliate partner with many companies: Joann’s Fabrics, Melissa and Doug, Honest Company, and more. But to be real, I would have to be advertising for these companies SO much in order to make even the tiniest amount of money. The $100 I made this year was all from Reward Style, which is the company that runs the app Like to Know It. And honestly, I just got lucky. ONE person purchased a faucet from my affiliate links and I earned $70 just from that. I don’t anticipate being able to make much more money from affiliate links in the upcoming years. But Reward Style is pretty easy and convenient to use, so I guess I’ll keep trying.
You can check out my Like to Know It Feed by clicking on my Shop page.
Making Money from Sponsored Instagram Posts With 2000 Followers
This heading is slightly misleading in that I only hit 2000 followers in October of 2020. But that’s what makes my numbers even better! I made $500 in sponsored Instagram posts with less than 2000 followers for most of the year!
Unlike with my sponsored blog posts, all my paid Instagram posts happened when brands contacted me. I started getting a lot of offers once I hit the 1500 follower mark. Full disclosure, 90% of the offers are for product exchanges. And I turn down about 90% of product exchanges, often because I just don’t need the product or don’t have the time to do the WORK (because it is work) without compensation. However, in the few offers I had that did have a marketing budget, I was able to negotiate my rate.
I’ll be posting blog posts on HOW to determine your microinfluencer rate, how to negotiate, and how to turn gifted offers into paid posts later.
What Did a Year of Blogging Cost Me?
$30.
That’s the price I paid for my domain name and web hosting on Bluehost, which is actually still a promotional price I got when I signed up. So my costs will go up in the next year for sure.
I also spent money on professional family photos and a new camera, but I would’ve bought those things anyway.
The biggest cost to microinfluencing for me? Time. Creating recipes, photographing, and blogging the process takes a lot of time. I don’t mind it very much because it’s fun for me. I would continue to do it even if I didn’t get paid! But now that I’ve got two kids, time is also very precious.
So we’ll see what the next year brings me! I definitely will keep blogging and gramming, and I’m hoping to at least double my revenue. But I will also be returning to my job as a speech language pathologist while balancing mom life.
Are you a new blogger or influencer? What’s your process been like? Do you have advice? Questions? Let me know in the comments or drop me a message on my Instagram!
-Kristen