Making Money Blogging: An Interview
We all need money and most of us have the same kind of bills to pay. But how MUCH money we make and HOW we make that money can be totally different! This series is exploring ways people make money outside of what we might call a ‘normal’ job, and it’s so interesting to see how people are making money in such unique and varied ways.
This week I’m excited to share with you an interview with Victoria, who makes money as a successful blogger.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your blog
My name is Victoria Sully and I’m a full-time blogger from Gloucestershire, UK. I run four blogs!
I started my first blog Lylia Rose in April 2013 and it’s changed themes a few times. Originally it was a business blog for my online jewellery business, but I loved to blog and turned it into a fashion and beauty blog.
I wasn’t so passionate about that theme but didn’t want to stop blogging so I decided to blog about my lifestyle and really found my passion for blogging. Towards the end of 2018 I decided to focus on mainly money content as I love to share all the ways I make money online, including from blogging.
Since starting my original blog I have set up three more to give me the chance to be more niche specific on each one instead of covering it all on my main blog, but also to hopefully have the opportunity to earn money from four blogs instead of just one.
I run the blog at Wood Create with my husband and we write about home and garden topics. The blog Healthy Vix is all things healthy from a plant-based diet to eco-friendly living tips. My final blog is Travel Vixta which is my newest venture and will share all our travel adventures, days out, campervan trips and advice on travelling with kids.
What’s your ‘money maker’ and what does it involve?
My money maker is blogging! I never dreamed that I could make money from blogging and had no idea it was even possible in the beginning. I thought blogging was just a hobby or a way to get more content onto a business website. I had no idea that money could be made at first, but after three years I started to be approached by brands and realised I had a real business opportunity.
There are lots of ways to make money from blogging and on Lylia Rose I often share tips for bloggers including the article 10 ways to make money blogging. The main ways I make money are from writing sponsored blog posts, brand collaborations and affiliate links. I’ve also had a couple of other opportunities arise from blogging such as a paid newspaper feature and being paid to do blogger outreach.
To make money from a blog you need to create a blog and start adding content that is unique, useful for readers and optimised for Google. I’m still not perfect at this, but practice makes perfect, as does learning.
Sponsored blog posts mainly come from SEO agencies who are interested in link building for their clients. To get these you’ll need a good Domain Authority (DA) rating or good Domain Rating (DR). These aren’t metrics that you’ll instantly have when you start a blog and they can take time to build up, so making money from blogging isn’t always an instant success for everyone. It can take time, patience and perseverance to get the metrics you want in order to make a sustainable living from a blog.
Brand collaborations are a little different. For these you need to build up readership and engagement. Many brands also expect a social media presence and good follower numbers, so blogging isn’t always just about the writing, but the social media and marketing aspect too. Most brands like the whole package.
Affiliate links are something some bloggers have great success with and can even provide their main source of income. For me they provided only 4% of my overall income last year, but this is a figure I hope to improve. Once affiliate links are in a blog post they are there forever and can continue to generate a passive income.
There are lots more ways to make money from a blog, but these are the three ways I make most of my income and focus on.
How long have you been blogging & why did you start?
I have been blogging for six years now since starting in April 2013. I originally started to create content for my online jewellery shop with the aim of getting more visitors to my site. The blogging took over my site and my life very quickly! I found my passion.
Whilst my three new blogs have been set up not only for my love of blogging but to make money also, my original blog was never intended for this, yet it became my full-time income. For the first three years I was still trying my hardest to make money from selling jewellery online and I had no idea my blog could be a money maker.
I started getting approached after a couple of years about sponsored posts but I always declined them as I didn’t really understand what they were. I was doing a lot of blog reviews by this point, but never for payment.
I stumbled across a blogger’s income report one day and suddenly realised how much money they were making from blogging and that it could be a possibility for my blog too. I started Googling for other blogger income reports and was amazed to see how many people were making an income from their blogs and the staggering amounts that could be made.
From this point I totally changed my game plan and stopped focusing on my online shop and put all my efforts into my blog. I started following other bloggers, finding blogging network groups and researching as much as I could to see how to make money from blogging.
How much money is it possible to make?
I now make a full time living from blogging. In the past 12 months I have made £27,600 from my blogs.
I didn’t start making money for the first three years of my blogging journey, but purely because I didn’t realise I could. After three years I made a part time wage for around one year, then I decided to try and go full-time in January 2017 and I’ve successfully made a full time living ever since.
What’s your favourite thing about it?
My favourite thing is being able to work for myself doing something I enjoy. Earning my own money has been very rewarding.
I am very self-motivated and love being my own boss.
There’s also an element of freedom as I can work from wherever I like and pick my work hours each day, though there’s also the sacrifice of freedom as there’s only me to run the business and so never a day off – my laptop comes on holiday with me!
What has been the biggest challenge?
One of the biggest challenges for me is time. There is so much to do each day and never enough time. I should probably outsource something to a virtual assistant, but it’s difficult to do that when I am essentially the brand. I guess it’s also hard to let some of the control go!
There’s a lot to do each day such as accounts, emails, writing, marketing, updating social media, networking, searching for paid work and applying for paid work. It can sometimes be quite overwhelming, especially as a mum to two young children trying to squeeze it all in during the school day or after the kids are in bed.
I only wish I’d realised this passion and business idea before having kids and built it up when I had so much more free time!
Is there any advice you’d give to someone wanting to try it?
My best advice is to simply get started. If you’ve been thinking of starting a blog or dreaming of it, then do it. It doesn’t need to be perfect right away and you can learn as you go. Websites and writing styles can always be tweaked as you progress.
Do join lots of blogging network groups on Facebook as they are a wealth of information and a very supportive community.
Where to find and follow Victoria:
You can find me blogging at my four blogs:
www.lyliarose.com www.healthyvix.com www.travelvixta.com www.wood-create.com
Or connect socially at:
www.twitter.com/lyliarose www.instagram.com/lyliarose www.pinterest.com/lyliarose
Also read: Virtual Assistant Jobs For Beginners >>