I’ve Made Money! – Income Report #2 – June 2022

Table of Contents

• Last Time…
• How Much Did I Make?
• The Make it or Break it Deal
• What Made Me Earn Income
• Money Moves -Next Steps
  • The Newsletter
  • SEO/Keywords
  • Telling A Greater Story With Authentic Content
  • More Content

According to my last income report, I made nothing from blogging so far. Well technically I made some change, but I had to reach my $20 payment threshold in order to have that money in my account and available for use. Last time I also went over what things led to me earning so little and what the name of the game is for making more money with a blog. Make sure you read the last report before this one to catch up with how I’ve made it to this second report.

So this is how much I’ve made blogging as fiction for one year as a fiction writer.

In early June I received a check for $22.83!

Woot Woot!

Even though $22 is not the greatest amount of money, it was still money that I cashed into my bank account; My excitement was through the roof when I received that check because above all else it proved to me that I could make money writing. And I was even more so excited because I knew that there was tons of room for me to grow and earn even more money.

And while I am so happy that I’ve earned something, I am also so ready to make even more money. Because I’ve got goals to reach, things to take care of, and a dream car to buy +.

I have about 2 more years of college left, which means that I have about two more years to figure this writing thing out before it’s time for me to face the music.

Most times when someone asks what my plan is after college, during college, and for my career, I try to say

“It will all be revealed when I graduate” and I love that response for two reasons

1. Because its a little bit funny when people get sort of confused by my answer
2. and two because it’s true. For me and everyone else, I don’t know whether I’ll decide to continue writing fiction, the way that I am, past college.

I know that I want to write fiction but at the same time, I have no real and sure idea about what I’ll do after. I hope and aim to keep writing on the blog and writing my stories after college but I have no idea if this writing thing will work out. Since literary and financial success isn’t guaranteed.

Earning $22. 82 pushed me a little closer to my goals but how far did it push me? Not far enough. Still, earning $22.82 is a great accomplishment and I’m happy to have had a breakthrough in making financial progress with the blog.

So what changed or happened for me to cross my payment threshold since my last income report?

One word: traffic.

My traffic has increased significantly as some articles began ranking nicely in google search. And with more traffic, more people viewed the ads in my article. And with more eyes viewing these ads, I started to earn a bit more money every day.

And then before I knew it, I received my $22.82 check in the mail.

So what’s my plan to earn even more money? Well, I’ve decided to take a proactive step towards my goal.

The Newsletter

One of my major next steps is starting a newsletter.

My long career goal, as I keep saying, is to be able to write fiction stories for a living (in short). With this blog, I write about the steps and processes I am going through to be able to accomplish my goal. But then I realized that I can also just begin using my fiction to make money now. Just as I am publishing blog posts weekly, I am now also publishing some fiction works weekly. Though not with this blog or any other blog. Instead, my fiction work will be published as a newsletter with Substack. Using Substack to host my newsletter I can easily build a following, make money, publish my stories and link my newsletter to any other place I want.

And deciding how to start a newsletter was a whole process that took me some time to figure out. Though I’ve explained all of that in a blog for you to read through. Deciding between other platforms like Medium was a bit difficult though I think I made the right choice. With this newsletter, there are many more opportunities for me to build my audience and credibility as a writer. So read the blog post and then come back for the rest of my next steps

SEO/Keywords

The articles that ranked really well on google search targeted its keywords amazingly. And by producing more content that targets great keywords I can bring in more traffic, which earns me more money. So writing creating more articles using keyword research is a must

Telling A Greater Story With Authentic Content

What do you see when you come across my blog? How do you process my content? What makes you stay, leave, or engage with my posts?

I can’t accurately answer that question for you, but I can control the story I tell. When I’m watching YouTube, or reading other blogs, how interested I am in the creator’s greater story is usually what determines whether I sit through content and come back for more. But not having a clear story is even worse than presenting one badly.

I do have a story I want to tell with my blog. But am I doing a great job telling that story? I hope so.

But what does telling a greater story have to do with earning money? If I can effectively tell my story I can gain a loyal, consistent and growing audience, which is needed to make money.

So running my content and content ideas through an invisible story filter to make sure that every piece I publish contributes to that greater story will help me earn more money.

More Content

Let’s say one article earns me a dollar a month. If I have a total of 5 posts on my blog, then I’ll be making about $5 a month. But if I have a 100 then I can earn $100 a month.

Just as I stated in the last income report creating more quality content will directly earn me more money.