The Complete Guide to Accepting Guest Blog Posts

Have you been toying with the idea of writing or accepting some guest blogs?  Here’s what you need to know.  

What is Guest Blog Posting?

There are three distinctly different types of guest blog posting.

1.  Initiated by the Blogger

This is where a blogger or website owner asks someone they know or respect to write a guest post for their site.  Usually, because they want to add credibility or another point of view.   

Mostly, no money changes hands in cases like these or bloggers swap guest posts, posting on each other’s sites.

For example, I asked a Doctor who had been breastfeeding for 7 years and an Author who was also very Pro Breastfeeding for guest posts on my breastfeeding site.

2.   A request by someone (usually unknown to the blogger)

This is where another blogger (usually a beginner blogger with less influence or a lower authority site) requests to have their guest post published on another blog in order to gain authority and traffic for theirs.  

Somewhere within the post or at the end of the post, the guest blogger is permitted to leave links to their site and/or add a bio with the links to their site and social media profiles. 

I’ve been allowing this kind of guest post on my sites since January 2017.  I started out with a gig on Fiverr and once I had some guest posts on my site, emails started coming in requesting to post.

Sometimes guest bloggers pay me for this service and in special circumstances, I offer this free of charge or at a special discounted rate.

3. Ordered by Link Building Agencies

This is similar to no. 2 except that requests come from agencies that specialise in link building specifically for SEO. 

A full-service link building agency is essentially the bridge between clients (companies or bloggers) needing backlinks on bloggers sites and the bloggers who publish guest posts on their sites.  Agencies hire content writers to write specifically for blogger’s niche sites and usually include one backlink to their client per post.  

A good agency will ensure that both parties are a good match, thus enhancing and protecting the SEO of both sites. They do this by providing quality content targeted to the audience both website owners serve and that includes internal links and links to authority sites as well. 

The benefit of working with link building agencies is that you can get in more regular paid posts of high quality and be assured of payment.

So… should you accept paid guest posts or not?  In the contributed post below, you’ll get the full lowdown.  Then you can make an informed decision.

The Complete Guide to Accepting Guest Blog Posts

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Image Credit – Pexels

Nowadays, a large portion of bloggers accepts guest posts from companies and freelance writers. It is a great way of adding more content to your blog while also getting paid in the process.

However, it is something that needs to be handled with care. After all, you do not want to compromise your blog by posting content that is of a poor quality or not related to the topics you usually post about.

With that in mind, read on to discover everything you need to know about accepting guest posts on your blog…

Advertise that you accept guest posts

The first place to start is by advertising that you accept guest blog posts. This is something you can do on your website with ease. Being upfront and transparent is always important.

Plus, it saves you from having to answer an endless stream of emails asking whether you accept guest blog posts or not.

Research your potential writer

Whenever a writer gets in touch with you regarding creating content for your blog, it is important to do your research on the writer before you progress any further. After all, you do not want to get penalised from Google for publishing content that is duplicate or spammy.

You need to make sure you can trust the individuals that you are letting post on your blog. You must be wary of writers that are simply rehashing content and sending the same sort of articles to multiple blogs.

You also need to be wary of anyone that does not write their own content and instead outsources it to someone else with less expertise and quality, simply inserting their links afterwards.

Nowadays, thanks to the Internet, it is easy to research a writer. You can see some of the work they have produced so far, as well as read reviews that have been left by other companies and bloggers they have written for.

Today, when employers interview candidates for a job role, they do their background research online to make sure the person will be a good representative of their company and brand.

You need to do the same when it comes to determining whether a writer is suitable.

Remember that guest blogging is a two-way stream

It is important to look at guest blogging from both sides. As a blogger, it can be easy to get caught up in the benefits of guest content for you. But you also need to think about what you have to offer the writer too.

After all, they aren’t merely going to be putting posts together because they feel like it. They want to be featured on the best platforms.

You can show that your blog is a great place to be featured by highlighting your stats. These include:

  • how many people are signed up to your email list and newsletter
  • as well as your audience demographics
  • and how many visits your blog gets per month.

Create guidelines for your guest post

One of the first things you need to do is put some guidelines together. This will save you a huge amount of time, as you will not need to explain your expectations for any guest post writer that contacts you.

Not only this, but you put together blog-specific information and helpful tips for writers, it will increase the quality of your blog posts too, which is always important. If you take a look on the Internet, you will be able to find plenty of examples regarding guidelines you can give to your writers.

These guidelines can be great sources of inspiration, but you should never simply copy them. Your guidelines need to be unique so that writers can understand exactly what you want.

Don’t compromise your blog

When you set out your blog, why did you do it? What were you hoping to achieve? Perhaps you set up a blog to provide sexual health information to readers? Great! So, including a link on cakes and pastries probably isn’t going to be the way to go is it?

You need to make sure that all of the blog posts are relevant to your audience and something you would have posted yourself if you wrote it. Some bloggers try to get around this by having a blog category titled ‘other’ or ‘guest posts’ – but is this really providing any value to your readers?

If anything, it is going to confuse your audience and dilute your brand message.

Have a link policy and make sure it is clear

Your link policy can be included in the guidelines or it can be a standalone document. However, it is so important that it requires its own section. It is important that guest blogs are vital for both the blog owner and the writer.

It is important to specify the terms of your link policy so you can make sure that the blog posts are not too overly self-promotional. You may want to lower the number of links that are allowed to an author’s sit within the text.

After all, if you have ten different links pointing to the same website, it is not going to do your blog much good. It is all about striking the right balance in terms of maintaining your search engine ranking and the integrity of your blog while enabling the writer to benefit from posting on your website too.

Ask for a draft and examples of previous work

Another part of doing your due diligence is to ask for a draft, as well as examples of previous work. The latter is for the purpose of ensuring that the content is up to the standard you expect.

In terms of a draft, you should ask for a brief outline and a title before the writing begins. This is important so that you can get a good idea of whether you want to post the blog or not. It is also important for the writer because it means that they are not going to waste their time writing something for your website only for the blog post to be rejected.

Follow-up

Once you have posted a guest post, you will be able to track it to see how it has been received by your readership. If you like the writer and the content they have produced, and it has gone down well with your fans, you should invite the writer back.

Don’t assume that they will message you again. Writers are busy, and they may be worried about bombarding you with content requests. So, why not show your interest instead?

Create a promotional plan for your guest posts

Another factor that you need to consider is the marketing side of things. How are you going to advertise a blog post once you have received it? This is something that is just as important for the blogger as it is the writer.

  • If social media is a big part of your approach to marketing, you can emphasise the content on there.  Share posts that encourage people to read the guest content.
  • You could also include it in the email list or newsletter you send out, especially if the guest blog is something you feel is really important to your readers and deserves a prominent position in your marketing materials.

A lot of bloggers make the mistake of slacking in regards to the promotion of guest content when compared with their own.   You should promote both types of blog posts in the same manner.  After all, they are both featured on your website, and they can both result in extra traffic to your website.

Make sure you own the content

Last but not least, it is important to make sure that you own the content, even though you have not written it. Why?  Well, if you don’t, the person that does own it can start publishing it on other websites or on their own website.

There is nothing wrong with stating that the guest post was written by someone else; it is the matter of ownership. The rights to the content are what is important here.

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding regarding accepting guest posts for your blog post.

If you follow the advice that has been provided, you should be able to build an effective guest blogging policy that enhances your content while also building your profile and your profits at the same time.

Over to You

Have you ever accepted guest posts on your site? 

Looking for my guest post Guidelines?  You’ll find them here.

Check out my popular tutorial on guest posting here.

If you have any questions or comments, please join the discussion below. 

Can You Really Make Money on Wealthy Affiliate? YES. Here’s Proof.

So let’s see… maybe you’re where I was a couple of years ago. Maybe you’re surfing the net looking for ways to make money online. And you’ve stumbled upon a few Wealthy Affiliate reviews like I did.

You think it sounds like a good idea, but you’re just not sure yet because no-one seems to be answering the burning question…

Can You Really Make Money on Wealthy Affiliate?

So I’m going to answer this question for you right upfront.

The answer is YES.

YES, You Can Make Money on Wealthy Affiliate

How can I be so sure?

Because I’ve made money on Wealthy Affiliate.  As have many other Members.

You can have a look at my first two income reports if you need proof.

Income Report 1

Income Report 2

Now don’t laugh. I know $500 or $600 a month isn’t fortunes.

And I know it wasn’t the fastest business growth I’ve ever experienced as an Entrepreneur.  I hit my highest month as a Digital Entrepreneur when I made over $1000 in January 2021.

But bear with me here.

YES! You really Can Make Money on Wealthy Affiliate. I have Proof. Read on. #WealthyAffiliate #AffiliateMarketing #AffiliateReview Wealthy Affiliate is Not a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme

So if you’re looking to make a fast buck, I wouldn’t recommend you go the Wealthy Affiliate route.

Having said that, I’ve only found a few ethical ways to make fast bucks online but they weren’t dependable ways. They weren’t sustainable, long-term, pay-the-bills-monthly kind of ways.

They were 5 Bucks here, 20 Bucks there… I made 50 Bucks once doing Website Testing for Userlytics (as described in my first Income Report). And that was easy money. I thought I was in the money!  I was so excited!

Only to find it was a once-off.  I’ve never made another 50 Bucks with them again.  I’ve only done one other Test for them and it was months later and they only paid me $25 this time.  This is still great considering how little time it took me, but like I said, not sustainable. I can’t live on $25 or even $50 a year.

And then there are a lot of Online Scams offering Quick, Easy Money but when I’ve looked into those I’m never prepared to do what they require me to do because well, it just seems sleazy.  You know, those companies that tell you to go make purchases and then cancel them a few days later.  I just can’t do that kind of thing.  It doesn’t seem ethical to me.

Affiliate Disclaimer: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

So How Do You Make Money on Wealthy Affiliate?

The simple answer is you make money on Wealthy Affiliate by learning how to create your own website(s) and then monetizing them.

To answer that question properly, I’ll ask and answer another one first.

What is Wealthy Affiliate?

Wealthy Affiliate is an Online University that teaches you how to build your own website or websites and monetize them.  Wealthy Affiliate is set up by these two guys, Kyle and Carson:

Wealthy Affiliate Founders Kyle and Carson

Their Step-by-Step Success Formula looks like this:

Wealthy Affiliate Formula

And you’ll learn how to do this in their very first Online Certification Training, which, by the way, is available Free to Starter Members.

You can Sign Up Free Here

Let’s Talk About Timing

I found Step 1, Choosing an Interest the easiest part. I already knew what I wanted to blog about.  If you have an existing business or passion you’d like to write about, this should be quick and easy for you too.

Step 2, Building a Website, was relatively quick and easy for me too. Kyle shows exactly how to do this in the first Online Certification Course. you set up the framework of your website in his training and even create your first couple of pages: Your About Me Page and Privacy Policy Page and write your first post.

Step 3, Attracting Visitors, is the Step that usually takes the longest time (unless of course, you’re already someone famous, with a huge social following clamouring to hear your every word), it’s going to take some time to write enough rich content to build a loyal following, i.e. Traffic to your site.

Kyle teaches you how to access organic traffic, which simply means visitors finding your site when they are searching for something on Google, Bing or Yahoo (or any of the Search Engines).  This is where Keyword Research comes inMore about that later.

Step 4, Earning Revenue.

Kyle compares the Two Main Ways to Make Money with Your Website, namely:

  1. Advertising
  2. Affiliate Marketing

And teaches you how to set these up.

Although Affiliate Marketing is the main way Kyle recommends earning revenue from a website, there are also tons of other ways to earn money that you will learn along the way (and I’ll touch on some of these later).

What Exactly Do You Learn about Monetizing a Site?

Oh so, so much.

In Kyle’s Online Certification Training and Affiliate Bootcamp, you’ll learn:

  • How to find and join Affiliate Programs
  • How to find Affiliate Networks
  • How to add Affiliate Links to Your Pages and Posts
  • How to gain instant access to MILLIONS of products to sell
  • How to leverage Product Reviews
  • How to Get Paid for Ads on Your Site
  • How to Set up your first PPC Campaign
  • How to Scale Successful PPC Campaigns

And more… so much more.  Wealthy Affiliate doesn’t just teach you how to make money, it also offers you ways to make money.  Here are 3 more ways you can make money on Wealthy Affiliate.

Further Ways to Make Money on Wealthy Affiliate

Wealthy Affiliate also offers a few others way to earn as well, namely:

  1. They have their own Affiliate Program where you can excellent commission either monthly or annually.
  2. They also own Jaaxy and Jaaxy also has an Affiliate Program where you can earn excellent commission.
  3. Through their Open Education Project, you can earn money by creating popular tutorials.

1. Wealthy Affiliate’s Affiliate Program

On top of teaching how to succeed with well-known Affiliate Programs such as Amazon, Clickbank etc, Wealthy Affiliate also has its very own lucrative Affiliate Program.

Know nothing about Affiliate Marketing? Don’t worry, Wealthy Affiliate has got you covered. Kyle teaches you how to make money step-by-step in Affiliate Bootcamp.

Even Starter Members (Members who sign up free) are able to take the first Phase of Affiliate Bootcamp and are entitled to the following commission.

  • Starter Members earn $ 4 for the first month when one of their Referrals goes Premium ($ 19)
  • Starter Members earn $ 11.75 every month thereafter for their Premium Referrals ($ 49)
  • Starter Members earn $ 117.50 a year when one of their Referrals opts to go Yearly ($ 495)
  • Starter Members earn $ 23.25 a month for monthly Premium Plus referrals ($ 99)
  • Starter Members earn $ 232.50 a year for yearly Premium Plus referrals ($ 995)

Premium Members earn double what Starter Members earn:

  • Premium Members earn $ 1 for every new referral who joins and completes their profile
  • Premium Members earn $ 8 for the first month when one of their Referrals goes Premium ($ 19)
  • Premium Members earn $ 23.50 every month thereafter for their Premium Referrals ($ 49)
  • Premium Members earn $ 235 per year when one of their Referrals opts to go Yearly ($ 495)
  • Premium Members earn $ 46.50 a month for monthly Premium Plus referrals ($ 99)
  • Premium Members earn $ 465 a year for yearly Premium Plus referrals ($ 995)

I created the little spreadsheet below to illustrate these figures:

So essentially, if you are very risk-averse or have no money to put down at all, you could:

  • Join as a Free Starter Member
  • Complete the First Online Certification Course
  • Complete the first Phase of Affiliate Bootcamp
  • Build a Free Website (you get a free Siterubix website on Starter Membership)
  • And EARN the Commission to pay for your first month or two at Wealthy Affiliate

This works especially well if you market offline as well as online (i.e. if you have friends who are keen to build their own websites too and jump in with you).

Think how excited you’ll be when your first website is up… and remember Enthusiasm sells.  If you show your website to someone you know has been considering setting up their own website, they may just buy in.

2. Jaaxy

Jaaxy is a brilliant Keyword, Niche Research and SiteRank Tool.  Read more about Jaaxy here.

I use Jaaxy for every single post I publish, whether it’s a guest post, contributed post or my own.

Jaaxy is a tool many bloggers use even if they are not members of Wealthy Affiliate and therefore it has a stand-alone website as well.

The awesome thing is, there is a Free Version of Jaaxy for Wealthy Affiliate Premium Members, Jaaxy Lite, which is perfect when you’re just starting out.  There are two elite versions of Jaaxy. Jaaxy Pro and Jaaxy Enterprise.

More good news is that Jaaxy these are available at Half-Price for Premium Members and Jaaxy Enterprise is free to Premium Plus Members of Weathy Affiliate.

3. The Open Education Project

Once you’ve been a Member of WA for 3 months you can start sharing your own knowledge by adding your own Tutorials or Video Training.

You can earn ongoing income this way.  Wealthy Affiliate pays you based on how many people have read or watched your entire training, liked it, commented on it and how responsive to are you to comments and questions.

Bottom line:  The more popular your Training is, the more is you earn.

This is how Wealthy Affiliate has landed up with an incredible bank of Training, other than the official courses. I even have a few Tutorials of my own (been a bit slack, I know).

My most popular tutorial by far is this one: How to Earn Money from Blogs (before you have significant traffic)

Are there other ways to make money with a website?

Sure. There are plenty of ways.  Once you have built an Authority website, you have a valuable asset.

Here 10 more ways you can make money with your website:

  1. Sponsored Posts
  2. Paid Guest Posting 
  3. Paid Membership to Your Site
  4. Sell Advertising Space
  5. Pay Per Click Advertising
  6. Sell your own eBooks
  7. Sell your own Courses
  8. E-Commerce (sell your own products online) – See my RedBubble Store
  9. Flip Websites (or sell your site once it has some Authority)
  10. Create a Paid Business Directory Page

And you can learn how to do all this in Wealthy Affiliate.  Remember, other than the core training, there are also thousands of tutorials added by Wealthy Affiliate Members, many of whom are experts in their field.

You also are learning valuable skills you can market

You might find, for example, that you actually love the first bit you learn at Wealthy Affiliate – creating the framework of a website and that’s a skill you can market.  I made a few bucks this way when a friend of mine wanted a very simple website created for her Playschool.

Here are a few skills you might learn while you’re building your own site, that others will pay you to do for them.  You can sell these skills on freelance websites like Fiverr or Upwork or to your friends.

Marketable Skills

  1. Content Writing
  2. Website Development
  3. SEO Services
  4. Keyword Research
  5. Digital Marketing
  6. Social Media Management
  7. Online Training (eg. Udemy)
  8. Designing Images for Social Media
  9. Email Marketing
  10. Copywriting
  11. Editing
  12. Proofreading

Wealthy Affiliate Success Stories

There are many members of Wealthy Affiliate who are earning money doing all kinds of things online.

I’ll highlight 5 Wealthy Affiliate Success Stories:

1. Steve of I’ve Tried That

I discovered Wealthy Affiliate when I read a review post about Steve of I’ve Tried That and so I’m actually one of his referrals. Here are a couple of his popular posts on WA:

Earnings Report: Here’s How I Made $8,871.03 from Blogging in May 2019

2. Nathaniell Brenes of One More Cup of Coffee

Here are some of my favourite posts by Nathaniell of One More Cup of Coffee.

Your First Website Doesn’t Have to be a Home Run

How $0.01 Turns Into $2178.10

3. Lynne Huysamen – Kaboutjie

Lynne Huysamen of Kaboutjie is making Thousands of Dollars a month with Sponsored Posts and Paid Guest Posting opportunities. She has also received a free washing machine and microwave to review for sponsored post opportunities.

Perks of Blogging – Free Stuff

4. Janelle B.M. aka Cashed Up Nomad

Janelle of the Cashed Up Nomad just used all the knowledge she gained at Wealthy Affiliate to sell a really big ticket item online, a Catamaran.  Don’t miss her awesome post:

I Sold a Very Big Ticket Item On My Website – hundreds of thousands of buckeroonies! 

I took a screenshot of the Pricing page as Janelle said she will be taking this website down soon, now that the Catamaran it has been sold.

As you can see below, it was priced at $212,000 AUD Negotiable (am not sure of the price the buyer settled on).

Janelle Sold a Big Ticket Item Online using knowledge gained at Wealthy Affiliate

 

 

 

 

5. Chris Myles aka Benji’s Dad

Chris Myles is a popular YouTuber who started out at Wealthy Affiliate. You can find him at Benji’s Dad.

I’m doing his Premium Plus classes on building a lucrative YouTube channel and they are awesome.

Chris also has a successful blog and is a Super Affiliate at WA,  here’s his most recent Vegas experience.

Las Vegas 2020 WA Super Affiliate Conference: A REAL Eye-Opener

More Success Stories

Here’s another great post showing Proof Of Income by Wealthy Affiliate Members. Don’t miss the Featured Comment.

Comment Here if You’ve Made $500 – Don’t miss the Featured Comment and the Comments by Loes and Marion Black about how much they earn from their Tutorials via The Open Education Project.

Wealthy Affiliate Overview

  • Name: Wealthy Affiliate
  • Owners: Kyle and Carson
  • Website: wealthyaffiliate.com
  • Price: Starter Member – Free,
  • Premium Member – $49 per month or $359 per year

Wealthy Affiliate Rankings

  1. Training: 10 out of 10
  2. Support: 10 out 10
  3. Website Builder:  10 out of 10
  4. Research Tools: 9 out of 10
  5. Site Comments Tool: 10 out 10
  6. Site Feedback Tool: 9 out of 10
  7. Site Content Editor: 10 out of 10
  8. Managed WordPress Hosting9 out of 10
  9. Site Support: 10 out of 10
  10. Success Stories: 10 out of 10

My Overall Ranking of Wealthy Affiliate:  98/100

Over to You

I’d love your comments below. Have you made money with Wealthy Affiliate?  

Or are you ready to give it your best shot?

Join Today

How I Grew My Blog Income by 600% in 6 Months

Make Money with an Online Blog

Are you ready to make money with your online blog?

In this post, I’ll share my second Blogging Income Report and explain exactly how increased my blog earning by over 600% in the last 6 months.

Affiliate Disclaimer: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

You may recall in my first Blogging Income Report I also shared Income Reports of 7 Top Mom Bloggers. This time I’ll only be sharing one Income Report other than mine. Because it’s one I’ve been as eager to read as I am to read my own numbers.

It’s the Annual Wrap Up posted by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner of  makingsenseofcents.com

In 2016, Michelle earned just shy of a Million Dollars and so I have been reading her monthly income reports all year with great interest.  I knew she would earn in excess of $1 Million this year… and, of course, she did.

Here’s Michelle Schroeder-Gardner’s Annual Wrap Up for 2017:

I Made $1,536,732 In 2017 – My December Online Income Report and Annual Wrap Up 

Michelle’s Income Timeline has been particularly inspiring:

  • In 2011, Michelle started blogging as a side hustle
  • In August 2011, she launched Making Sense of Cents
  • In February 2012 (6 months later), she made her first $100
  • In 2013, Year 3, her business income totalled $116,519.
  • In 2014, Year 4, it totalled $163,929.
  • In 2015, Year 5, she made $320,888.
  • In 2016, Year 6, she I made $979,321.
  • In 2017, Year 7, she earned $1,536,732
  • In 2018, Year 8, her goal is to earn $2,000,000

About half Michelle’s income comes from Affiliate Marketing and about another 35% comes from selling her own course,  Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, which is why I’m super keen to do her course.

I set a goal to purchase Michelle’s course once I have completed Affiliate Bootcamp at Wealthy Affiliate.

I have noticed that massive incomes are being made online by Affiliate Marketers and I am a firm believer that, in time, Affiliate Marketing will become one of my main sources of income too.

My main source of income this year has been people paying to guest post on my site – and I highly recommend this to any blogger who has taken the time to build their site to a Domain Authority of at least 10. (If you don’t know your sites Domain Authority, go to moz.com and download their free toolbar).

It can take a bit longer to start seeing Affiliate sales, but once they start coming in, you’re set.

The way I see it, there are 3 Distinct Benefits of Affiliate Marketing over Paid Guest Posts and they are all to do with time versus money.  

  • You don’t get paid by the hour, you get paid when visitors buy what you are promoting in your post
  • You can do the work once (write one blog post or create one video) and be paid over and over
  • You can make money in your sleep (your website never sleeps)

Now, I know that having advertisements on your site has the same benefits, but I’ve noticed income from Advertising is generally lower (unless you have huge traffic you’re earning practically nothing from Advertising) and I decided I just don’t like having Ads on my site.

Too distracting. Too busy. Too annoying.

I figure If Top Bloggers like Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, Sarah Titus and Melyssa Griffin can earn 6 or 7 Figures with zero Advertising Income, so can I.

2018 – My Year to Crack Affiliate Marketing?

All signs this month seem to be pointing towards me going flat-out with Affiliate Marketing this year.

Sign 1:  Affiliate Marketing Secrets

Affiliate Marketing Secrets

First-off, I got featured in a book by Adam Houge on Top Affiliate Marketers, called Affiliate Marketing Secrets.

The ebook launched on 15 January (my interview is on pg. 105) and guess who’s featured on Page 25?

Yup!  You guessed it – Michelle Schroeder-Gardner.

Soooo excited to be featured alongside so many Affiliate Marketing Superstars. I also blogged about this one Inspiring Mompreneurs on the Day of the Launch.

By the way, the ebook is still available FREE of charge.  This offer is time sensitive.

Get Affiliate Marketing Secrets Free here. 

Sign 2 – The Work at Home Summit

I’m subscribed to Michelle’s email newsletter and on 20th January, she sent me details of the Work at Home Summit.

This is a Free Online Event that runs from Monday, January 29th to Saturday, February 3rd 2018.

And Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is one of the Speakers at the event.

So I jumped at the chance to become an Affiliate of this event as I can’t become an Affiliate of Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing until I’ve bought and done the course myself. Can’t wait!

This way I get to learn from and work alongside not only my Blogging Hero, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, but also other Top Bloggers I follow, like Selena Soo, Rosemary Groner of the BusyBudgeter.com, Julie Stoian of CreateYourLaptopLife.com and Emma Bates of KidsCashandChaos.com.

How do you earn Affiliate Commission from a Free Event?

During the Event, we will all have the opportunity to join The Work-At-Home School and this is where Affiliate sales can be generated.

Affiliates can earn 40% Commission on each Sale. The Work-at-Home School offers packages to suit all pockets.

Work at Home Summit

Get Your Free Ticket to the Work-at-Home Summit here.

Or

Join the Work-at-Home School Affiliate Program Here.

Sign 3 – Super Affiliate Challenge

The second sign was when Kyle, co-Founder of Wealthy Affiliate launched his Super Affiliate Challenge.

The Challenge is a rigorous pilot program to build an elite group of Wealthy Affiliate members, hand-picked by Kyle to become Authority Affiliate Marketers by the end of the year.

To be chosen you had to apply first.

I applied (along with 800+ other members) and on 24th January I found out I was accepted (as did about 100 other members).

Become a Super Affiliate. Join Wealthy Affiliate Today.

Our first task is to complete Affiliate Bootcamp Phase 1.

Hey… why don’t you join me? 

Did you know that at Wealthy Affiliate, the first Phase of Bootcamp is completely free?  Along with 2 free websites, access to over a million stunning free images as well as free access to Jaaxy, the most brilliant Keyword and site ranking tool on the market.

Click here to Join Wealthy Affiliate free

And, Finally onto…

How I Grew My Blog Income by 600% in 6 Months

Let’s break it down a bit further.  If you recall, my first Blogging Income Report was based on the first 6 months of 2017.

Do Bloggers Earn Income Blogging

  • In the first 6 months of 2017, I earned $ 214.16
  • In the second half of 2017, I earned $ 1,313.32 (Just over 6 times the amount)

Here’s a Month by Month Account so you can see my Income Timeline clearly:

Lauren Kinghorn Blog Income by Month 1

Lauren Kinghorn Blog Income By Month 2

GRAND TOTAL YEAR 2  = $1,527.48

Are your ready to make money with your online blog? Read more at laurenkinghorn.com #makemoneywithanonlineblog #affiliatemarketing #bloggerincomereports #workathomesummit #affiliatemarketingsecrets Affiliate Disclaimer: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.As you can see, my Top Earning Month for the Year was November, when I earned $ 625.

Business was booming, I finally felt my blogs were taking off! And I was EXCITED!!

I was certain I’d hit the $1,000 mark in December… but alas, business slowed in December.

So I set my sights on having my first $1000 month in January but this month has also been a bit on the slow-side.

I’m at $ 587 so far for the month with just a few days to go.  Eek!

Still… $600+ a month is nothing to sneeze at, considering where I was just a few short months ago.

Which was basically nowhere –  not able to cover my own expenses or assist with my family’s expenses.

What this Means To Me

  • Since December I have been able to cover my own debit orders.
  • Which means I don’t have to ask my husband to deposit some of his salary into my account each month.
  • I was also able to cover my Wealthy Affiliate Expenses for the upcoming year.
  • I was able to buy a nice Christmas present for my hubby.
  • I was able to treat my Mom to a delicious Spa Day in January (I went along too, my hubby’s Christmas present to me).
  • I was able to cover the annual bonus for the lady who cleans our house once a week.
  • I have been able to pay for some of my own coffee dates and playdates for my son.
  • I was able to pay for my son’s Holiday Club in the December/January holidays.
  • I was able to pay for my son’s Pre Primary School T-Shirts.

So… where did the money come from?

The short answer, almost all the money came from Paid Guest Posts or Contributed Posts.

Remember, I started offering this as a Gig on Fiverr in January?

Well, once I had a good few Guest Posts up on my sites, I started getting emails from people asking to Guest Post.

And so I decided to add a Shop to my site where I offer this as a Service.

This was still ad-hoc income, until mid-November, when I was referred to a company who sends Contributed Posts to Bloggers and they started sending me an average of 1 post a day.

A post a day keeps the bill collectors away.  🙂

The Benefit of Allowing Paid Guest Posts:

  • It’s a quick way of adding new quality content to my site
  • Most of the content is written specifically for my site by professional content writers
  • Most content I’ve received is high quality, well-written with very few grammatical or spelling errors
  • Images are usually supplied by the client
  • Some clients even add internal links into their content
  • Many clients don’t require social media sharing (they are simply paying for their backlink within the text)

How I use Paid Guest Posts to Build My Site:

  • I choose one Keyword per post and use that as the Permalink and somewhere in the first paragraph
  • I write an opening and closing paragraph – to maintain my voice throughout my site
  • I reformat each post to improve readability (shorter paragraphs, bullet points etc.)
  • I correct spelling and grammar where needed
  • I format images in keeping with other images on my site
  • I add another internal link if I remember a post that ties in well to the new content

Detailed Breakdown of Blog Income

For those interested in Stats, here are a few more for you.

Here’s the breakdown of blog earnings from July to December  2017.

Again, I’ll go in order of Highest to Lowest Income:

Lauren Kinghorn Blog Income 2017I firmly believe that in the coming year Affiliate Commission will overtake Paid Post Income for me.

And I also plan to focus on creating my own Products and Training Courses this year.

They say that when you start a new business:

  • You lose money in the first year – Check
  • You break even in your second year – Check
  • You make money in your third year – Woohoo! Bring it on!

I am very happy with the results of my second year of blogging. I broke even and I made a few bucks.

I hope this post has given you a good idea of how you can make money from your online blog.

If you have any questions or if you have your own blogging story to share, please leave me a comment below.

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How I Grew My Blog Income by 600% in 6 Months | Make Money with an Online Blog Pin

You Can’t Create A Successful Blog Without These Skills

How to Create a Successful Blog laurenkinghorn.com

How to Create a Successful Blog?

The million dollar question.  Asked and answered in this awesome contributed post.

You Can’t Create A Successful Blog Without These Skills!

Blogging is one of the most interesting industries in the world right now.

After all, if you’d told someone twenty years ago that you could make a career out of writing about your life and the things that interest you, they probably would have said that you were out of your mind. However, every single day new blogs are popping up hoping to get a piece of the pie.

Of course, with so many competing blogs out there, how are you supposed to make yours stand out and succeed?

Well, if you really want to run a successful blog then you need to employ these crucial skills.

Design

When people think about blogging, they usually think about the content that they’re creating, and yes that is often the heart of any great blog. However, it’s not the thing that people often see first.

If you want people to read your content, then you’ve got to draw them in first, and the way you do that is through the visual design of your blog. It’s a good idea to brush up on some design fundamentals if you really want your blog to go from good to great.

There are some amazing advanced photoshop Training classes available online which can help you really elevate your blogs visual design. That way you’re going to be able to get people’s attention and make them that much more likely to actually read your content.

Writing

Of course, no one’s going to take the time to read your content if your writing is boring, cliched, or simply incomprehensible.

If doesn’t matter what you’re writing about, the key is to write about it in an engaging and dynamic way.

The way something is written can make someone feel bored reading about something they love, or it can make them interested in something that they might never have cared about before.

It should also be mentioned that no one is going to take your blog seriously if it’s riddled with spelling and grammatical errors.

Marketing

Of course, there’s no point have a beautiful blog with amazing design elements if no one is around to actually read it!

To make sure that you don’t end up shouting into the void, you’ve got to be able to market your business properly.

The way to do this is to embrace social media. Social media is the best place to share your blog posts and articles to a huge audience without having to spend any money.

If your content is good, then it’s going to end up getting shared by your readers as well, helping your blog grow naturally through word of mouth.

Of course, just because you have these skills doesn’t mean that you’re going to be able to create a successful blog.

You also need to make sure that you’re creating content from an angle that’s totally unique to you. No one wants to end up reading the same things over and over again no matter what blog they go to. If you can present your thoughts and ideas in ways, people haven’t heard before, that’s the true key to success as a blogger.

Image Source

Did we miss anything?  What skills do you have that you feel have contributed to your success as a blogger?

The Black Friday Sale

Black Friday Sale - Wealthy Affiliate Annual Membership only $299 - laurenkinghorn.com

The Black Friday Sale

This is the one Black Friday Sale I look forward to every year.

You see, when I started out as a blogger I knew Wealthy Affiliate was the right place for me to learn everything I needed to learn. Yet I couldn’t afford to pay Wealthy Affiliate’s annual fees.

Actually, at first, I couldn’t afford to pay any fees at all so I joined up on their FREE Starter Membership and started doing their FREE Training and building my FREE websites.

In a couple of months, I upgraded to Premium Membership.

7 months later, when Black Friday 2016 rolled around, I was still not earning enough to pay the Annual Membership.  (See how long it took me to start making money).

I begged my husband to believe in me and sponsor me for ONE YEAR. THANKFULLY, he did!!

This year I am pleased as punch to announce that I have earned enough from my blogs to pay my Black Friday Membership myself.

This month alone, I’ve earned $377 from blogging… and counting… 

So do I think Wealthy Affiliate is a good buy? You betcha!  (Read my full Wealthy Affiliate Review HERE)

The Black Friday Sale

Do Bloggers Earn Income Blogging? YES!

Do Bloggers Earn Income Blogging?

Do Bloggers Earn Income Blogging? Absolutely! But it takes a while. Here are 7 Top Blogger Income Reports and my first one.YES!!!  Is it instant?  Nope!!   As with all entrepreneurial pursuits, it usually takes quite a while before bloggers start earning a living wage.

I’ve been researching income reports of Mom Bloggers for a few weeks and decided it’s time I compiled my first one. You can scroll down to read it only if you promise not to laugh.

But first, here are some of my favourite Mom bloggers who make a small fortune online and happily share their Income Reports.

7 Top Mom Blogger Income Reports

Affiliate Disclaimer: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Rosemarie Groner aka The Busy Budgeter is living proof that bloggers earn income blogging. She's earning over $100,000 a month online. #makemoneyblogging1. The Busy Budgeter

Rosemarie Groner’s last published personal Income Report was in January 2017. She made $ 86,438,83.  Here’s a quick breakdown:

  • Nearly $60,000 – Sale of her own Products
  • Nearly $20,000 – Affiliate programs
  • Nearly $5,000 from Advertising
  • $3,600 from Sponsored posts

Rosemarie’s Products: Top Seller: The 90 Day Budget Boot Camp Workbook, plus The Pinterest Strategy Guide and The Core Affiliate Strategy

You can access all her Income Reports here.  Rosemarie mentioned in June 2017 that her blog is now generating around $100,000 a month.

One thing I love about Rosemarie’s income reports is that she encourages you to share your own reports in the comments below her income reports.   Rosemarie, we love you for this!

In June 2017 she took this approach of helping new bloggers get their income reports out to her audience one step further.  Instead of publishing her own income reports, she’s now publishing Reader Income Reports and offering feedback and actionable advice to new bloggers to help them increase their income. Here’s her first one.  

Sarah Titus is living proof that bloggers earn income blogging. She's earning over $75,000 a month online. #makemoneyblogging2. Sarah Titus

Sarah Titus made $75,226.10 in July 2017, nearly $70,000 was from her online store.  Here’s the breakdown:

  • $ 69,707 – Sale of her own Products
  • $4,137.15 – Affiliate Commission
  • $ 1,026 – Miscellaneous Income
  • $ 355.95 – Network Marketing (passive income)

Her most popular products are The Honest Bloggers Bundle, First Day of School Signs and 18 Month Monthly Calendars.

What’s really cool is that Sarah Titus offers bloggers the opportunity to make 40% Commissions selling her products as an Affiliate. There’s a link to join as an Affiliate at the bottom of this page, her online shop.

Abby and Donnie Lawson are living proof that bloggers earn income blogging. They no longer publish income reports but in October 2016 they earned over $51,803. #makemoneyblogging3. Just a Girl and Her Blog

Abby Lawson is no longer Just A Girl and her Blog. Her blog has become a family business incorporating her husband and full-time partner, Donnie and her sister, Brittany who helps with Social media.

The Lawson’s have stopped publishing Income Reports, their final reported earnings were  $41,700 in December 2016 and their highest income month that year was October when they earned $ 51,803.  Here’s the breakdown for October:

  • $32,642 – Affiliate Income
  • $19,161 – Product Income

You can find a list of all their income reports here.  Their Top Selling Product by far is Building A Framework e-book and course.

Alexa Mason is living proof that single Mom bloggers earn income blogging. She earned over $13,000 in April 2017. #makemoneyblogging4. Single Moms Income

Alexa Mason publishes Quarterly Income Reports on her website and sends monthly reports to her email subscribers. Her best ever month was April 2017, when she earned $13,185.14.

  • Nearly $ 9,000  Affiliate Commissions
  • $ 2,177.02 from Advertising
  • $ 1,800 – Sponsored Posts
  • $ 300 – Freelance

Alexa is very clear about the fact that it’s taken her 5 years to get to this income. I love that she publishes an annual timeline to show how her site has grown over the years:

Caroline Vencil is living proof that bloggers earn income blogging. She only went full time in February 2016 and in June 2017 she earned $9,500. #makemoneyblogging5. Caroline Vencil

Caroline Vencil has been blogging full time since February 2016 and she made $ 9,665 in June 2017.   Here’s the breakdown:

  • $ 5,095 – Affiliate commission from a long list of Affiliate Programs
  • $ 2,674 – from the sale of her own products
  • $ 1,892 – from Advertising

I think this is phenomenal income considering Caroline only started her blog in August 2015.

Caroline is a teen Mom who got married when she was 20. She blogs so she can stay home with her 3 children.

Her Top Selling Product by far is Pinterest Group Board Master.

Tabitha Philen is living proof that bloggers earn income blogging. She's stopped publishing income reports but in April 2016 she earned nearly $7,000. #makemoneyblogging

Note: April 2016 Stats – Am sure Tabitha’s income has more than doubled by now.

6. Inspired Bloggers University

Tabitha Philen’s last published income report was in June 2016 when she earned $ 3,182.28 documenting May’s income. She earned a lot more in April, so I’ve focused on her May 2016 Income Report where she earned $6,845.44. Here’s the breakdown:

  • $ 3,730.75 – InspiredBU Product Sales
  • $ 2,669.24 – Meet Penny Advertising
  • $ 328.24 – Meet Penny Affiliate Earnings
  • $ 108.02 – Meet Penny Product Sales
  • $ 8 – InspiredBU Affiliate Earnings

I absolutely love this info Tabitha shared in her June 2016 Blogger Income Report:

If you have an average of 50,000 page views a month, you could be receiving:

  • $400 to $500 a month from Adsense (with specialized topics earning more)
  • $600 from three sponsored posts a month
  • $100+ a month in affiliate sales

Tabitha also has brilliant post here: How Much Money Do Bloggers Make?  You can find all her Income Reports here.

Victoria Pruett is living proof that bloggers earn income blogging. She retired her husband and is earning over $5,000 a month off a small blog. #makemoneyblogging7. A Modern Homestead

Victoria Pruett doesn’t publish official income reports, but she has been sharing her income ever since she started treating A Modern Homestead as a business.  In her latest post, How I Retired my Husband she passionately tells how she’s now earning $5000 from a small blog (65,000 page views) in only 10 hours a week.  Victoria gives the breakdown in percentages:

  • 45% – Sale of her own Products
  • 35% – Affiliate Sales
  • 20% – Advertising

Don’t miss our interview with Victoria on Inspiring Mompreneurs.  I also reviewed her fabulous book, Make Money Blogging at Any Level.

My First Income Report

Do Bloggers Earn Money Blogging? Yes, but it takes a while. I earned $85 in Feb 2017, my best ever month so far.I’m still a newbie blogger, learning the ropes so I don’t have a flashy “rags to riches” story to tell. Yet.

My primary job is being Mommy to my little one so I also can’t say progress has been speedy.

In my first year of blogging, I earned a sum total of… drum roll… $50.  From a Side Hustle. (Userlytics, see below).

My expenses were $ 378.98  so I made a loss of $ 328.98.

I’m now in Year 2 and the picture is starting to improve.

From January to June 2016, my Gross Income was $214.16  Expenses totalled $198.49.

So in the first 6 months of 2017 I made a teeny PROFIT of $ 15.68.

In my best months, February and April 2017, my profit was $45.79 and $ 33.86.

This is from a mix of side hustles and blogging income because, when you’re starting out in the blogging world you kind of try everything you can at first and see what sticks. Or at least, that’s been my approach.

Deep down, I know what I should be doing is focusing all my attention on Affiliate Income and creating my own Information Products but every now and again the perceived need (panic) to MAKE MONEY NOW rears it’s ugly head and that’s when I get distracted by side hustles.

Having said that, I’ve uncovered a couple of side hustles that take up very little time for a nice side income.

First I’ll tell the story in order of Highest to Lowest Income.

  1. Field Agent –  $106 (Side Hustle)
  2. Fiverr – $ 76 (Blogging  Income)
  3. Userlytics – $25  (Side Hustle)
  4. Wealthy Affiliate  – $7 (Blogging Income)

And here’s a month by month account so you can see how much it fluctuates.

  • Jan:  $8
  • Feb:  $85
  • Mar: $22.13
  • Apr: $74
  • May: $7.56
  • Jun: $17

As you can clearly see my two biggest income sources were:  Field Agent and Fiverr

Field Agent

Field Agent is one of my side hustles and one that’s trending at the moment – Field Agent now has over a million agents worldwide. They currently operate in the United StatesCanada, the United KingdomAustraliaSouth AfricaMexico and Romania.

Field Agent is an app you load on your smart phone that gives you access to jobs they call “missions”. It’s kind of like being a rep except you don’t work for just one brand.

I’ve done 23 missions so far and earned R1405. I can only attest to the South African experience of Field Agent as I haven’t worked as a Field Agent anywhere else in the world.

If you are a Field Agent elsewhere I’d love you to share your experience in the comments below.

Mostly, I’ve gone into stores with my smartphone and answered questions about a particular display.  All the missions I’ve done so far involve taking photos of the display, barcodes etc. When these missions become available you have to snap them up quickly because only one agent can visit a store. In our area missions disappear quickly.  The Field Agent app displays all the participating stores in a 90km radius from you (you set the radius when you sign up).

I’ve also done a KFC mission twice. In these missions agents buy a meal at KFC and report back about the quality of their service and the meal.

Once I know what I’m doing, a mission takes me about 10-15 minutes. The first one may take a bit longer, maybe 30 minutes. One mission pays between R35 and R170. Though income is on the low side, when you work out what your hourly rate, its not half bad. In the States missions pay between $3 and $12, according to their website.

I only wish more missions were available. I would be only too happy to do this for a few hours every month.

Fiverr

Here's my round-up post of 7 Top Mom Bloggers and my first Income Report. | makemoneyblogging | topmombloggers | sidehustles | bloggingforincomeIf you don’t know by now, Fiverr is a Freelance website where you usually sell your services for a song, well 5 Bucks, for starters.

The trick to making money on Fiverr is to find a service you can sell for cheap that’s not going to take hours and hours of your valuable time.

Or better still, sell a service that’s quick and easy to provide AND benefits your blog.

So that’s what I do. My gigs on Fiverr bring in some side income while also building rich content on my blog.

By end June I had completed 11 gigs on Fiverr and earned $76 so my average per gig was $6.90.

Some are quick, easy income and others take me longer. I kicked off with a $5 gig that took me 5 days to complete because I offered my Premium service at my Standard price.

The important thing for me is to always give my absolute best in the shortest possible time. As a result, I’m happy to report that I’ve earned 5 Star reviews thus far.

Here’s my Top Selling Gig:

I Will Publish Your Breastfeeding Article on My Website

I suppose I could make more money in the short term on Fiverr freelancing as a writer or editor or proofreader, but that would be too time consuming. As a blogger, I figure the best use of my time, long term, is time on my own blog.  

Join Fiverr here

Userlytics

If you were wondering where my first $50 came from in my first year of blogging, it was from a website test I did for Userlytics.  It was my the quickest 50 bucks I’ve ever made. Took me about 45 minutes to download the software and do the test.  Unfortunately, tests for South Africans are rather few and far between. I’m averaging one a year at this stage. This year’s test paid $20 as it only took about 20 minutes.  They threw in another $5 because I experienced a few technical difficulties and had to re-do the test.

This website testing company is really great that way. Payment is usually really fast, via Paypal.  Although you can sign up online, you deal with a real live person who manages your account. My account Manager is Silvia Gutierrez (mail to: sgutierrez@userlytics.com). If she still needs more testers once I’ve completed a test, she offers me a referral fee to share the test with others.  They don’t seem to have an affiliate program (yet).

What is website testing exactly?

Here’s a quick rundown of the process:

Initial Set Up:

  • Initially, you have to qualify as they are looking for a particular target market for each website
  • Complete the qualification form and email it
  • Download Java and their video recorder

The Test

  • Visit the specified website
  • Discuss your impressions and answer certain questions
  • This is captured on video
  • Answer some questions about your user experience on the website or opinion of the offering
  • Upload the recording
  • All instructions given are written messages on screen. There is no interaction with any person during the test.

After my first test I signed up for a number of website testing sites, but many sites are not open to South Africans (boo) and most tests pay just pennies. If you live in the USA you have the best chance of landing website testing opportunities.

Here’s a link to a great post on The Work at Home Woman11 Sites that will Pay you to Test out Websites

Wealthy Affiliate

Here's my round-up post of 7 Top Mom Bloggers and my first Income Report. | makemoneyblogging | topmombloggers | sidehustles | bloggingforincomeOh my… how can I do Wealthy Affiliate justice in one short paragraph?  It’s such an indispensable resource for me.  It’s where I get my blogging training, tools and community support.  It’s also where I registered my domain names and where my sites are hosted (included in their monthly fee is hosting for 25 sites)!

I’m working on a full Wealthy Affiliate Review. Watch this space.

In the meantime, you’re welcome to take a sneak peek, WA offers a Free Trial here.

Oh, by the way, my post on Userlytics, has by far been my most popular blog to date on Wealthy Affiliate, with 123 Likes and 173 Comments so far.  You can find it here: Yay! Just made my first $50 Online

Hope you found this post both useful and encouraging.

Would love to hear how blogging’s going for you.  Have you tried any side hustles?

P.S.  

In response to my first comment below.  This post is about Mom Bloggers because I’m a Mom Blogger. I will follow up with a full round-up post of all the Mom Bloggers I follow who publish income reports, perhaps even one with all bloggers.

I would have loved to add Melyssa Griffin and Michelle Schroeder-Gardner to this list but they aren’t Moms (yet).

Melyssa Griffin only publishes an income report the month she launches a program, her last income report was in December 2016 when she raked in a cool $ 283,680

After Melyssa, the two top income earners that I know of are Patrick Flynn of Smart Passive Income and Zach Swinehart of EO Fire.  In June 2017 Pat earned $ 184,095 and Zach, $ 135,301.

Michelle Schroeder’s made almost $ 1,000,000 last year blogging and in June 2017 she made $ 121,861.

Two brilliant Round-up Posts here:

Suzi Whitford of Start a Mom Blog53 Blogger Income Reports
Millenial Boss  – 35 Bloggers Making $1,000 to $ 300,000 a month

Happy reading!

PPS. Find my second income report here.