Aug 9, 2011  •  In Blogging, Finance, Marketing/Advertising, Personal

Advertising Revenue: The First Month

It has been two months since I first decided to start accept advertising on this blog, and just a little over a month since the first ad appeared.

Now, I know that no one likes a braggart. And I am not in any way writing this post as a way to scream, “Look how much money I’m making!”

Rather, I decided to reveal my first month’s advertising revenue (and by that, I mean the first month when the ads first appeared, not when I began accepting ads) solely based on the fact that there are so damn few bloggers who openly share their earnings.

When I was first contemplating ads, the biggest questions I had were:

  1. “How much can I make?”
  2. “Which advertising method(s)?”

And since I had so much trouble finding some real answers to these questions, I have decided to share them here, without pretense, so that any other bloggers who may be struggling with similar questions may find some assistance.

As I have written before, I decided to go with BlogAds as my primary ad network. And just as BlogAds warned might happen, I did not get any advertisers for the first month.

But a few days into the second month, I received my first ad request (I have full control over whether an ad is accepted or not), and they began to roll in regularly.

My first month’s ad revenue via BlogAds: $109.49

This number is after BlogAds’ commission rate of 14% (it would be lower if BlogAds were my exclusive advertiser), or the BlogAds Hive commission rate of 30%. (Hives are sort of like communities within BlogAds. They take a higher commission, but the exposure rate is much higher.)

I expect this month’s ad revenue to be higher, as the quantity and sizes of ads have increased. 🙂 Perhaps I will even get the courage to raise my ad rates after a few months.

Shortly after I joined BlogAds, I also began to use Google AdSense as an additional source of advertising revenue, both on the sidebar of this site in addition to the RSS feed.

When I did a quick web search on how much I can expect to earn through AdSense, most people would answer, “Pennies a day.” So my expectations were not that great. However, in my case…

My first month’s ad revenue via AdSense: $130.58

Not bad. Both numbers are still less than what I made in one day when I worked full-time, but it’s a lot better than before I started advertising, which was a big fat zero.

So my total advertising revenue for July 2011 was:

$109.49 + $130.58 = $240.07

If you include my Amazon Associates commission for the month ($67.17, which was actually 2-3x the usual amount), the total money I made from this blog equals $307.24.

Definitely enough money for a couple of treats for myself and to start stashing away some cash for gifts. Furthermore, it certainly helps alleviate the guilt about not contributing financially to the household.

And you know what else? Remember what I had promised? I can now offer more, and/or better giveaways!

The very next giveaway on this blog is actually a sponsored one. If you haven’t read on the Geek in Heels Facebook Page yet, I will be giving away an iPad 2! The giveaway will start this Saturday the 13th so please stay tuned!

As for the next giveaway sponsored by yours truly, I already have a great one in mind and hope to run it within the next couple of weeks.

So please keep reading, and THANK YOU once again for all your support!

(For anyone who might be wondering, YES I would still blog if I did not make money from it — after all, that’s what I’ve been doing all these years! And YES I know I can probably make more if I actively sought out advertisers, did some affiliate marketing, sold products, etc…but for now I like the way things are. 🙂 )

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15 Responses to “Advertising Revenue: The First Month”

  1. Jenny, that is just great!! I’m really happy for you. As a meager revenue-generator (my blog earns enough for a few Starbucks drinks a month), I hope I someday reach your level of success! 🙂

    PS I’m so excited for your ipad 2 giveaway! Seriously awesome!

  2. AmandaT says:

    Nice! It would be nicer if it was more, but hey, it’s a start. And thanks for sharing. I don’t earn money from my blog but it’s always interesting to find out what the revenue really is.

  3. Marie says:

    I really appreciate your openness about your ad revenue! I’ve always wondered how much some bloggers make and it’s inspiring to hear your story since you just started accepting ads. Do you have to claim this revenue as income tax as a side business??

  4. alycia says:

    Congratulations on the income! It’s great to have that accomplishment.
    And thanks for being so candid on your earnings. It helps give smaller bloggers an idea of what to expect should we ever venture into that territory.

    Super excited to read more about your giveaway!

  5. Amanda says:

    Thanks SO much for sharing this. I’ve always wondered if it would be worth it to go through the trouble of ads for the money you get, but no one ever shares these numbers! I appreciate the honesty!

  6. I appreciate your openness as well. You’ve worked hard on this blog, you should be very proud of the income it’s able to draw. There is no shame in that!

  7. Oh wow Jenny that is GREAT! I am soooo happy for you. I do think though if It we me advertising, I’d have 1/10 of that seeing you have HUGE traffic on your site. I am really happy for you and hopefully this time next year your revenue will have tripled 🙂

  8. Courtney says:

    Wow! That’s all great news! Congrats! Looking forward to the giveaways!

  9. Nick says:

    That’s pretty good! I don’t know your traffic numbers, but compared to my well-established retro-gaming blog at racketboy.com the ads are looking pretty good.

    Lijit has been a good compliment to Adsense for me as well. It’s system lets me only show lijit ads when the payout should be higher than Adsense and then show the Adsense ads when it isn’t. It’s worked out well for Racketboy, and I’ve used it for all but our top ad block on Makeup Geek. (Lijit hasn’t had a good of CPM for that spot as Adsense has)

    I’ll have to look into BlogAds — I’ve heard of them, but haven’t tried them out.

  10. LatteLove says:

    1. Thank you for sharing! this is really helpful to know and you’re right – no one shares this kind of information.

    2. Congrats! I’m sure it’s a great family to contribute a little to family income and have some extra spending $. I’m really happy for you – this blog deserves it 🙂

  11. Ryan Berry says:

    Very cool! It is nice to see some numbers! I blogged regularly for years, then stopped for almost 2.. just getting back into the swing myself.

    My current plan has advertising on the horizon, but it really helps to have some idea of what I might expect to see.

  12. Brooke says:

    Thank you so much for sharing this information! I recently accepted ads on my blog as well, and am seeing similar numbers. It’s so helpful to have something like this as a resource, many bloggers seem to keep their methods locked up tight. Thanks for being so open with yours!

  13. margaux says:

    thank you for sharing that info with us! I just submitted my blog to google’s adsense and I really appreciate knowing how you did! off to join in the giveaway – holla IPAD 2!!

  14. Kirsty says:

    You are refreshingly honest about this subject – thanks!

  15. Sarah says:

    Thanks for sharing! I’ve always wondered how much people make with the ads. You are fantastic with the marketing stuff! And your website is so neatly organized. Do I have to click on the ads in order for your monthly to go up?

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