Since writing my How to Start a Food Blog & Make Money With It page, I've gotten more and more interest and questions regarding how to make money blogging! And I promised in this post that I'd be sharing how much money I make... and here it is! Today, I'm going to give a quick run-down of How I Made Full Time Blogging Income in 2015: I Made Almost $37,000!
I know many of you might be wondering why I would share something as personal as this and the bottom line is - I like to help and encourage others. And I like to know well, cold hard facts!
I follow several blogs that post their monthly income and I'm always fascinated by it. After talking it over with my husband and making sure he was okay with me being so open, I decided I'd like to jump on that bandwagon and do some sharing myself...
UPDATE: I'm currently sharing my monthly income reports for 2016 over on my personal blog... click HERE to read them!
Oh... the blog that that really drives me to keep on keeping on? Pinch of Yum. They earn more in a month than I earned in a whole year... talk about inspiration! (and of course I have to give props to their other website: Food Blogger Pro which has helped tremendously with my income growth!).
Also, I first read this post, How Much Do Bloggers Make?, by Amy Lynn Andrews way back when I first started blogging and I've never forgotten it. I've absorbed so much information and help from Amy over the years (on all blogging topics, not just making money!) that I often credit her for my blog success!
Some of you may be thinking right off the bat that $37,000 is not full time income. But for me, it is. I live in Mississippi where the cost of living is low and I make more money than many, many full-time workers here. No, my income is not through the roof - our family of 8 couldn't live on it - and we're not "rich" because of it... but any way you cut it, I'm extremely grateful for it and know that I'm blessed beyond what I deserve.
Oh and I have no idea what the "average" blogging income is. But I know for a fact that I make less money than a lot of really famous/popular bloggers and significantly more money than other bloggers. I'm somewhere in the middle and I'm good with that (while also always striving to do better)!
Even though it's not six figures (but maybe one day!!), my blogging income allows me to stay home, homeschool my kids, and continue to do something I love - which is cake, of course! It also gives us breathing room in our budget and we've been able to stay debt-free through some really difficult times. Beyond that, I've met some amazing people, built a community of cake friends and continued to learn and grow as a person.
So anyway... if you want the details, the nuts and bolts of how I earn money blogging, please click here and check out that post.
Today, I'm just going to give a brief breakdown. And as I mentioned in my "How to Start a Food Blog and Make Money With it" post, this is only blog income - it does not include my income from real-life cake orders from my home bakery.
Also, this report is gross income. I don't have a breakdown available at the moment, but my expenses totaled around $11,000 in 2015. Expenses include my domain & hosting (minimal), my design work, a WordPress developer (to help fix my blog after it was hacked), some paid plugins, my virtual assistants, camera equipment, props for photography, ingredients for recipes, etc. God willing, I won't have to pay for a designer or WordPress developer in 2016 and that alone will save me close to $3000.
Maybe next time I'll work up a report of my expenses but for now I can tell you that my net income was just over $26,000.
One last thing then we'll get to it. Blogging is not the path to take for fast money! Here is my income since the day I started RoseBakes.com (in January 2012):
- 2012 : $ 826
- 2013 : $ 8638
- 2014: $ 16647
And now.... 2015! Here's the breakdown of my blogging income:
#1 Ad Income:
- Adthrive: $9527.20
- Adsense: $2495.89
- Vibrant Media: $1894.34
- Lijit /Sovrn: $1262.68
- Pricegrabber: $1099.79
- Gourmet Ads: $ 863.90
- Connexity: $ 660.29
- Burst Media: $ 257.42
- Rhythm One: $ 147.38
- DigitalPlus Media: $ 103.13
- Blinkx: $ 87.51
- Conversant: $ 28.90
TOTAL: $18,428.43 (50% of my total income)
#2 Affiliate Income:
- Shareasale: $7937.76
- Amazon: $4490.07
- Centerpoint Media: $ 727.50
- Ultimate Bundles: $ 473.07
- MySavings Media $ 200.71
- Commission Junction: $ 119.61
- Bluehost: $ 150.00
- Rakuten / Linkshare $ 85.64
- Ebay Partner Network: $ 62.60
- Pinch of Yum: $ 27.55
- PG USA $ 12.09
- Humbled Homemaker $ .19
TOTAL: $14288.79 (39% of my total income)
#3 Sponsored Post Income
- Collective Bias: $1415.01
- Linqia: $ 460.00
- IZEA: $ 225.00
TOTAL: $ 2100.01 ( 6% of my total income)
#4 Contributing Writer Income (to another blog)
- CakeJournal.com $1644.62
TOTAL: $ 1644.62 ( 4% of my total income)
#5 Social Media Income (being paid to post, tweet, share, etc.)
- BlogHer $ 400.00
- SheKnows $ 50.00
TOTAL: $ 450.00 ( 1% of my total income)
TOTAL INCOME for 2015: $36,909.85
And that's it peeps!! How I Made Full Time Blogging Income in 2015!! Do you have any questions? Is this something you'd like to see more of? Leave me a comment!
Aisha
Oh my goodness!! This is awesome!! Than you! Can a home caker make this much as well, aside from blogging?
Rose Atwater
I can't here in Mississippi, home bakers are limited to $20,000 a year. I'm not sure about other areas but I supposed if you had the market and the ability - yes!
Amy Fraunfelter
Hello, just curious on that comment that you can't there in Mississippi. Is that a law? Do they monitor your income? Once u go over 20k you have to open a shop? Or your just limited in your area? Again, just curious 🙂
Rose Atwater
The Cottage Food Law in Mississippi states that home bakers can make no more than $20,000 gross income. It's a ridiculous restriction in my opinion but I'm thankful that there is a cottage food law at all - it was only passed in 2013 and before that it was "illegal" to run a home bakery at all. You can find the details here: http://forrager.com/law/mississippi/ (and look at other states' laws as well). As for your other questions, I'm not sure how they would enforce the limit - there's no monitoring as far as I know. But yes, if you're making more than that, they want you to open a shop. I honestly think that limit was pushed by bakery owners who see home bakeries as unfair competition but that's just my opinion.
Deborah Freeman
How do I get started?! I'm always sending texts with either Bible verses and words of encouragement to friends and on fb and along with pictures of my cakes. I would love to do that in s blog. So how do I get stared?
Rose Atwater
I share more on how to get started here: https://rosebakes.com/how-to-start-food-blog-make-money-blogging/
shayla
I found this to be very interesting. The only question I have is did u start ur home baking company before u started blogging? And do u think that having a baking clientele before blogging help ur blog ?
Rose Atwater
I share my story of my cake decorating business transitioning to a blog here: https://rosebakes.com/how-to-start-food-blog-make-money-blogging/. I think having another blog helped me, but I'm not sure having a business did (other than it giving me material to write about).
Gigi
Hi Rose! My sister has been encouraging me to start a blog, she feels I have much to say about alot of things, lol! I do cakes & am self-taught. How much money does it take to start a blog, is it expensive? Must I have equipment other than computer? How do u Make Money? Do u speak on Opinions or what u know or have talent in? No website, juz starting Instagram. Love your work & site!
Rose Atwater
Hi Gigi, The quick answer is it's not terribly expensive - it takes more time than money. A laptop, internet service and a decent camera (even a good phone camera would work) to get started. For the money question, please click over and read my post linked below for answers to a lot of these questions! Thanks for stopping by!
https://rosebakes.com/how-to-start-food-blog-make-money-blogging/
Sandra
That's pretty good, congrats!
MJ
Thanks for sharing this info. Been thinking about starting a blog...but so far it's mostly thinking........got to decide whether to do it or just keep thinking of it and not having every day full of that dreaded 4 letter word WORK at my age......LOL
You make gorgeous cakes and I love your style. Keep on keeping on.....MJ
Rose Atwater
You're very welcome! And thank you for your kind comments!
Joyce DiChiaro
Your article is eye-opening. My son has always encouraged me to blog, but I always felt I didn't have much to contribute. (I'm a hobby baker and 24/7 cake freak.) However, your article has inspired me to explore this option further. Thank you for putting yourself out there for the rest of us to learn from. People like you are why the cake community is an awesome group of people!
Rose Atwater
Thank you Joyce - and I wish you the best if you choose to try blogging!
christine
Love this! I share a lot of your stuff on fb had no idea you were a homeschool mommy. Great job! Love it!
Rose Atwater
Awww, thank you!!
Sharlaine
Tried to sign up for the blogger training but couldn't access the website ......thank you for the chance, did they limit access?
Rose Atwater
Which training were you referring to?
Nadia
Hi Rose,
very useful bunch of articles you have written on food blogging, brilliant
Quick question though:
All the income resources melt down to one thing. your blog traffic.my blog wasnt accepted in several networks either due to my location and the majority traffic i get from and because of low page views, how do you increase that? any tips or pointers?
Thanks alot
Rose
The very BEST thing you can do is post beautiful Pinterest-friendly pictures in your posts and pin them over and over again! My #1 traffic source, by far, is from Pinterest! If you'd like to talk more about this, I do coaching here: https://rosebakes.com/my-coaching-services-wanna-pick-my-brain/
UK writer
Wow, thank you for publishing such a motivating and inspiring article. I will definitely use your advice for my blog. I hope that I will be able to make my blog successful and earn enough money.