This article contains affiliate links.
Welcome to my monthly income report.
I publish these to share not just the revenue from my blog and online business, but also the mistakes, lessons and new projects.
Make sure you check out all my income reports.
I’m currently earning a few thousand dollars a month (and nearly $50K per year) thanks to sponsorships, freelance writing
Read on to see what’s been going on over the past month. Hopefully, this will inspire you to add a new income stream to your business, start a blog, make your first money freelancing, or simply work on new side hustle ideas.
What Happened in October 2018 on My Blog and in My Business
New free course.
Aside from the 2 free courses I now have, I just released a third one.
It’s about starting a blog – the very first steps for beginners that include choosing your niche, picking a domain name, understanding what WordPress and hosting are, setting up the blog, and taking the necessary steps to design it.
Why am I doing this when there are already free blogging tutorials on Let’s Reach Success? Because people seem to love online courses, especially free ones. And I can’t be talking about making money online without showing them how to build a blog first.
After all, that’s the foundation of financial freedom the way I know it and I believe you too can start a blog and monetize it.
This course will be for those who haven’t yet launched a site because they aren’t sure what platform to choose, don’t wanna deal with the tech aspect of blogging, or can’t pick the right niche.
It’s a good beginning for anyone looking to start something on the side.
Enroll in Launch Your Profitable Blog Today for free.
Progress on Financial Freedom Through Blogging
Financial Freedom Through Blogging is the epic course I’m working on where I’ll share all you need to know to start a blog from scratch, turn it into a 5-figure business, and use that to achieve financial freedom and live life on your own terms.
I’ve been working hard on it lately, writing a lot more content, making videos and adding screenshots.
I also created a whole new website (with a domain name, hosting, etc.) so I too can start from scratch and help you out with the technical aspect.
The name of the site is also the title of the course. So you can find it a FinancialFreedomThroughBlogging.com
Not sure if I’ll keep that site for more than a few months. I created it solely for the purpose of showing students of the course how to do all that needs to be done to create a great-looking blog, optimize it and rank it in Google, and start making money from it.
You can check out the official sales page here.
Aside from that, I’ve finalized the Table of Contents.
Module 1: Your Blogging Strategy
The Obstacles Preventing You from Making Money Online
Building Discipline as a Blogger
Find What You’re Born to Blog About
The ‘Why’ Behind Your Blog That Will Drive You to 5 Figures
How to Choose Your Domain Name
Set Goals for Your Blog
What ‘Laying The Foundation’ Really Means
Create a Blogging Strategy
Module 2: Launch Your Blog
The Tech Side of Blogging Made Easy
Choosing Your Hosting Provider
Register Your Domain Name and Set Up Hosting in 2 Minutes (video)
Installing WordPress (video)
Install Your Free SSL Certificate to Make Your Site Secure
An Introduction to The WordPress Dashboard (video)
Installing Your Theme (video)
Basic WordPress Settings to Configure ASAP
Module 3: Create Your Brand
Your Blog is Your Brand
WordPress Customization 101 (video)
Set Up Your Navigation Menu (video)
How to Publish Your First Blog Post (video)
Setting Up Yoast SEO and Verifying Site Ownership (video)
Activating The Most Important Plugins
Design Your Site (video)
How to Build Authority in Your Niche
Write a Killer About Me Page
Launch an Email Newsletter
How to Add Opt-in Forms to Your Blog
Steps to Take to Get Your First Email Subscribers
Join These Social Media Networks to Build Your Brand
Module 4: Optimize Your Blog
Get Google to Index Your New WordPress Site Quickly
Set Up Google Analytics (video)
Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly
On-page SEO: How to Write Content That Ranks
How to Interlink Your Blog Posts to Boost SEO and Increase Traffic
How to Make Your Site Load Fast
The Plugins and Tools That Will Help Rank Your Blog Higher
Pinterest SEO
Module 5: Make Your Site Popular
Growing Your Website: Overview
The 6 Types of Website Traffic
Proven Ways to Bring Organic Traffic to Your Blog
What is Domain Authority and How to Increase Yours
Finding Popular Topics for Your First 20 Blog Posts
Making Your Content Unique and Original
Write Cornerstone Content
How to Write Proper Lists and How-tos
Things to Do After You Write a Blog Post
Growing Your Business by Forming Relationships
How to Guest Post Successfully
Module 6: Make Money Blogging
How Blogs Make Money: An Overview of The 4 Best Monetization Methods
Examples of Bloggers Earning More Than $100K/Month
The Importance of Getting Started with 1 Monetization Strategy
An Introduction to Affiliate Marketing
The Secret to Being a Successful Affiliate Marketer: Educate Your Audience
Choosing Your Top Products
Join Your First Affiliate Program (video)
The Best Ways to Promote Affiliate Products Without Being Salesy
Avoid These Affiliate Marketing Mistakes
How to Write Content for Affiliate Marketing
How to Earn Money with Ads
Optimizing Your Site to Increase Ad Revenue
Understanding How Paid Blog Posts Work
How Much Can You Make with Sponsorships
The Challenges of Earning from Blog Sponsorships
How I Started Making Money with Sponsored Posts
Places Online to Find Sponsored Post Opportunities
How to Make Your Site Attractive to Charge More for Sponsored Posts
Why You Should Create and Sell Your Own Products
Testing a Product Before Creating It
10 Things You Can Sell Digitally That Have High Earning Potential
How to Release a Course Like This
How to Publish Your First eBook in Less Than 30 Days
Ways to Promote Your Products on Your Blog
Writing Blog Posts That Generate Money: A Step-by-Step Guide
How to Update Old Blog Posts to Increase The Earning Potential of Your Blog
Bonus blog monetization method: Using Your Blog to Start and Grow a Freelance Business
Module 7: Turn Your Blog into a Real Business
Taking Your Brand Seriously
The 6 Critical Elements of Every Good Business Model
GDPR for Bloggers
Setting Up a Business Email
Securing Your Website
Keeping Your Blog Updated
Registering Your Online Business
Tax Tips for Bloggers/Tracking Your Income and Expenses
How to Create a Privacy Policy and Disclaimer for Your Blog
Module 8: The Life of a Blogger
Providing Value
Tricks to Help You Save Time and Get More Done
Here’s What Helps Me Be My Most Productive Self
Your Most Important Tasks as a Blogger
The Connection Between Waking Up Early and Being a Successful Blogger
Starting Your Day Right
How to Beat Laziness and Have Energy All Day When Working from Home
Blogging Habits to Help You Work Smart Not Hard
Setting Bigger Goals
Daily Activities to Grow Your Blog
Reading and Writing Blog Income Reports
The Summer Slump
Dealing with Freelance Isolation The Right Way
Teaching Others What You Learn Along The Way (And Making The Big Bucks)
More focus on internal linking.
Another thing I started taking more seriously since October is internal linking.
Each time I publish a new article, I go back to a few relevant old ones and link to it from there using related words as anchor text.
Also, updating old blog posts (a really important practice for content-heavy websites) includes a lot of link-fixing.
As I’ve been doing this for some time now and it’s become a regular practice, I’m also seeing a boost in traffic.
October Monthly Income Report
I earned a total of $4,314 in October 2018 from my blog and freelance writing business.
That number was $4,775 as shared in the last income report.
Please keep in mind that’s gross income.
After extracting fees I pay to other platforms, transaction fees, paying my own taxes and insurance and covering my pension as a solopreneur in the Netherlands, there’s much less left for me to spend.
It took a while till I got to make $5000 a month blogging and freelancing.
You can see the progress here together with all other income reports.
This Month’s Revenue Breakdown
Total Revenue (Gross Income) – $4,314
FREELANCE WRITING: $522
Upwork
Clients outside of any platform
SPONSORSHIPS: $3280
AD REVENUE: $482
Check out: How to Optimize Your Site to Increase Ad Revenue
AFFILIATE MARKETING: 0
Check out: Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
BOOKS: $30
Smashwords
Amazon
This Month’s Expenses Breakdown
Web Services
WPX Hosting – $25 (Read my honest WPX Hosting Review)
WPX Hosting – $35 (domain name and hosting for the new website I created for the course Financial Freedom Through Blogging)
Teachable – $39
Professional Services
Accountant (paid quarterly) – €181
Office Supplies and Misc.
Mobile Plan – €27
Health Insurance – €102
Upwork fees – $45
PayPal fees – $189
Last month’s best content on Let’s Reach Success
59 blog posts were published in October.
Here’s some of the content:
6 Tips to Set Millennials on The Path to Financial Freedom
The 11 Best Tricks to Save Money This Fall
How to Start Selling on Amazon and Actually Make Money
From Hobby to Business at 16: How Fred Cassman, Founder of Mist, is Disrupting The Vaping Industry
8 Giant Companies That Nearly Failed and How They Bounced Back
How to Be a Successful Rideshare Driver
How to Turn Your Passion into Profit in 8 Easy Steps
Next Goals: What I’ll Be Working on in November
Obviously, that will be Financial Freedom Through Blogging again.
There’s a lot to be done for a big course like that. I’m currently completing module 3 which is about designing your WordPress site. I’m taking the steps in the way I advise students to do it with the new blog I created.
So my days consist of making videos of installing plugins, verifying a website with Google Search Console, including screenshots, tackling design elements of the site, creating a newsletter and opt-ins to get people to subscribe, and much more.
It’s a pretty big module and contains a lot of valuable information. But without that, no one can move onto the ‘make money blogging’ part.
Resources to Help You Start Making Money Blogging
WPX Hosting – The hosting provider I’m using. Here’s my detailed review of WPX Hosting.
The Passive Income Boss [Free Course] – That’s another free course I released on the topic of earning passive income through blogging. You’ll learn what passive is exactly and how it works, how to get started with blogging and make your site powerful, and the 4 main passive income streams you can create using your blog.
Blogging Resources – To build a powerful site that turns visitors into buyers and monetize it well, you will need the right tools. In my Blogging Resources page, I’ve gathered the best of the best and the exact tools I’ve used to grow Let’s Reach Success and be able to make a full-time living as a location independent freelance writer.
Mag – the premium theme I’m using for Let’s Reach Success.
Teachable – best place to create and sell your online courses.
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – If you’re not earning money through affiliate marketing, then you are leaving money on the table. This step-by-step affiliate marketing strategy course shows you how to increase your affiliate income and make more money blogging. It’s by Michelle from Making Sense of Cents who went from $0 in affiliate income to over $50,000 per month (and also the first online course I’ve ever taken).
How Bloggers Can Make $10,000 a Month from Home– Curious how bloggers get to 10K/month working from home and what you need to do differently? In this article, I discuss why it’s possible for everyone to make that much on a monthly basis and how to get there.