150: How I Make Money Blogging – My Profit Streams Revealed

Profit Streams Revealed: How I Make Money Blogging Today, I’m going to go through exactly how I make money blogging. I’m going to talk you through the income streams that I use to monetize my blogs and build an income for my family. This is something that I have done on the blog, but today I’m going to give you the information on the podcast because some of you don’t read the blog.   Today’s podcast is based off of this article on ProBlogger, “My Blogging Income Breakdown for the First Half of 2016”. This report is for my total business including ProBlogger and Digital Photography School. I will give you a little insight as to what site each income stream I mention is generated from. I will also be talking about profit as opposed to revenue. I will also be talking in percentages because I don’t generally reveal my actual income. In Today’s Episode How I Make Money Blogging - My Profit Streams Revealed Affiliate Income - There aren’t a lot of direct expenses from affiliate income, so it is profitable. On dPS we do two big promotions every year. We have our 12 days of Christmas sale and our mid year/summer sale. In each of these, we have daily deals on photography products. On ProBlogger we have been focusing on affiliate income from some of the tools we use. Plus links to hosting and themes. On dPS we regularly link to Amazon. Products - These are eBooks, lightroom presets, courses, and printables. In 2009, I decided to invest time into creating my first products which were eBooks. AdSense - dPA has a large amount of traffic, so it pays to use AdSense along with other income streams. Sponsorships   On dPS we offer sponsorships to advertisers who want to work directly with our audience. On ProBlogger we have done a handful of sponsorship campaigns with companies like Meet Edgar and 99designs. Job Board On ProBlogger we have had the job board since 2006. At first, it was a trickle, but it has now grown to 6000 ads places. We plan on releasing an update to the job board in the coming weeks. Take a look at the How to Make Money Blogging page on ProBlogger for a good overview. Event This year will be out 7th ProBlogger Event held here in Australia. The event generates a large amount of revenue, but the expenses are huge, so the profit is about 3% of my blogging income. This year there is a virtual ticket available for those people who can’t make it to Australia. This should offer a revenue increase. Other - I have a couple of other small income streams. Speaking Book Royalties Other Royalties/Copyright payments such as when my content is used in schools in Australia. A Word on Expenses Even though our revenue has went up in the past 12 months so has our expenses. In the last 12 months we invested heavily into the development of our sites. Such as with the ProBlogger redesign. I’ve also expanded my team to include: 2 editors (one for each site) 2 business unit managers (one for each site) Admin/customer service team members (one for each site) Marketing (one person for dPS) All team members except for one are part-time. We also have a huge array of contractors who help with product creation, proof reading, podcast editing, etc. We also have to have dependable servers and a number of software subscriptions to keep everything running smoothly. You can find these on our resources page. To make money you have to spend it! Further Resources on How I Make Money Blogging - My Profit Streams Revealed The Ultimate Guide to Making Money with the Amazon Affiliate Program Recommended Blogging Resources & Tools How to Start a Blog in 5 Steps Why You Should Create a Product to Sell On Your Blog (and Tips on How to Do It) Discover Your Camera’s Potential With DPS Resources Digital Photography School Featured Presets Digital Photography School Featured Courses