Blog Income Report: How I Made $381,212.85 From This Blog?

Hello there…

Welcome to my overall blog income report.

Till now, I’ve published monthly income reports but haven’t disclosed overall blog income in one report. So, I decided to do it.

If you are new to this blog, let me introduce myself first. I’m Siva Mahesh, a professional blogger from India. I’m the owner/founder of this website/blog (dreamshala.com), where I primarily write about personal finance, remote career, and online business topics.

So in this income report article, I am gonna share how my blogging journey started, how my life changed after starting this blog and running it successfully for more than five years, and how this blog generated over $380,000 of revenue over five years despite the pandemic and recessions all over the world.

Every day, a lot of questions come to my email and comments section, especially from this blog’s readers saying…

Are you making any money from this blog?

How much money do you make from this blog?

Are you still making money with your blog in 2023?

My answer is a big YES; I am making money from this blog. How much? Hold on, I’m gonna reveal every penny in this article. (Heartful thanks to every reader of this blog – you people are the reason behind this achievement).

Honestly saying, I got inspired and motivated by reading other people’s income reports and started my blog. If sharing my income report inspires you to start your own blog, then I’ll be the happiest person to share it transparently with you all.

So let’s begin…

 

How Did My Blogging Journey Start?

I completed my graduation in May 2017 and started preparing for the CAT exam. In my free time, I was trying some possible ways to get some pocket income working online. A few of them worked out, but they didn’t get me any significant money.

I started this blog with zero knowledge in May 2018. And worked hard for a few months without seeing a penny coming into my pockets. I would say maybe after 3 or 4 months, I started monetizing it with Google Adsense and also applied for some affiliate networks.

Getting accepted to the first affiliate network was the hardest part because most affiliate networks asked for experience and other network performance reports at that time.

Once I started getting accepted by affiliate networks, I started applying for all the available networks, produced more content, and monetized well.

So slowly, I started making a few hundred dollars a month after working hard for 3-4 months without seeing any results.

At that time, my goal was to hit $1,000 a month from this blog because I started my blog after reading income reports of other bloggers claiming to be making tens of thousands of dollars per month.

For a 22-year-old fresh Indian graduate like me, even making $10 – $30 a day was a huge amount of money at that time, so I couldn’t really believe the income reports of other people and thought that they were faking and lying on their income reports.

But fast forward to December 2018, I made $3,000 that month. Yeah, my blog is eight months old, and started making big figures. Yeah, $3,000 a month at that time was huge for me.

So I finally realized the income potential of blogging, and there is nothing fake about anyone’s income reports. And this gave me a further boost to work more to make this blog more solid, even in times like the COVID pandemic.

Despite the up and downs, this blog has never stopped making money, and it is on its way whether I dedicate 60 hours a week or less than 10 hours a week. The best part about blogging or content creation is you do work once and get paid forever.

 

How Blogging Changed My Life?

When I started this blog, I had nothing in my bank account. To be honest, I had lent money from a friend to buy hosting services for this blog.

I registered a domain and hosting services and set up a blog. Literally, I had no idea about anything, but I learned everything after I started working on the blog. It’s a simultaneous process.

You don’t learn first to be perfect and start; you start first, and you’ll learn everything by doing it.

Starting this blog. That was the best decision in my life so far.

Over the last five years, my life has changed positively, literally from being broke to now enjoying the benefits of financial freedom. I still have a lot of dreams to achieve and a lot to make. But money isn’t a concern anymore.

I’m blessed to clear all our family debts and take the stress out of my parents’ minds. I’ve seen all their struggles my entire life, and they sacrificed everything to give us whatever we needed in our life. We were $35,000 in debt at that time, and I am happy that all of it got cleared from this blog income.

One more proud moment, I’ve built a house for my parents. Yes, that too with this blog income as well.

I’ve also made some good investments, built emergency funds, and got myself a car, bike, and all. So, if you are in the same struggling situation as I was five years ago, I suggest you give your 100 percent to yourself and keep going. The good days are going to come your way. Be honest with yourself and your objective. It’s all gonna worth it in the end.

If you are really motivated to start a blog but sitting on the fence with confusion, just get started. You’ll learn everything once you start your journey. You won’t get perfect by sitting idle on the fence and thinking about it.

Follow this step-by-step guide to start your blog in the next 20 minutes.

 

Why Do I Publish Income Reports?

Because most of our readers are asking for it.

Yes, I still get tons of comments and emails asking about the income reports and how much this blog made you till now.

It reminds me of my initial days… I was also too curious at that time. I got inspired by others’ income reports, but now people are asking for my income reports. So, why should I hide them? I kinda feel it’s my responsibility to publish these income reports. Definitely not to show off at all.

I will be the happiest if these income reports inspire anyone to start their blog and become successful. That’s the main purpose of these income reports.

Publishing income reports, sharing our expenses, and all also help new bloggers to learn more about managing their blogs. It builds trust and readership as well.

The main reason behind publishing these income reports is to motivate you and me.

How do Income Reports Motivate People?

Well, that’s 1000% true.

I am a prime example of that. I got inspired and motivated by seeing other bloggers’ income reports.

Nobody gets motivated seeing the process, but results do motivate people. Hence, I am sharing my reports to motivate you.

And if you start your own blog after reading these results, then I’ll say this article has served its purpose. Because in my case, I also started my blog after seeing the income report of a successful blog making $100,000+ dollars every month from their blog.

And that’s how my blogging journey started.

Who wouldn’t get motivated seeing someone making hundreds of thousands of dollars writing articles while exploring the world?

I also wanted to have those results and financial freedom. So, I started immediately.

Now, I wanna share with you guys what is really possible with blogging and how it can change your life by sharing our real digits of these five years. I hope these figures motivate you enough to start your own blog.

Sharing income reports not only motivates you guys, but it also does me a favor.

People actually come to read income reports and engage well in the comments. Though I get little ad income from the videos I get on these income report pages, that’s not exactly what I am posting these results for.

When I post my results and progress publicly, a lot of readers and other community bloggers read these posts, and they keep coming to track my progress. Even if they all care or not, it will keep me motivated to work more to beat my figures in the next income report.

It will help me be more focused on the blog…

Let’s explore the actual proofs that you’ve been scrolling for…  Let’s start counting how much this blog has made since its inception…

Start Your Money-Making Blog Now!

 

Overall Traffic Stats

Over the last five years, this blog has got 7.6 million pageviews averaging 1.25 million pageviews a year and 100,000+ pageviews a month.

There were many up and downs. But it bounced back as I continued to put in consistent efforts. Pinterest was the main source of traffic during the initial years. But the recent algorithm updates evaporated the Pinterest traffic, and I stopped caring about the platform almost two years ago.

I started focusing fully on SEO and am happy with what I’ve built today. But not satisfied yet; this blog is still younger and new compared to its competitors. My goal is to beat our own records every month and grow at a good pace by maintaining healthy competition with our competitors.

 

Income Proofs:

Mediavine

Nearly $160k earned through Mediavine ads. As I said, I started this blog in May 2018 but got accepted to the Mediavine network after a year. I joined the Mediavine network in June 2019, so before that, I used Google Adsense to serve ads on this website.

 

Google AdSense

Despite the pretty low RPMs and pay, Google AdSense is the only best way to monetize a blog in the initial days. I used Google AdSense until I got accepted to the Mediavine network. Overall, I made $14,122.71 from AdSense in the first few months of blogging.

 

iGain Network

The first affiliate network I got accepted into. But currently, this network is not available and merged with the Dynata network. I didn’t use this network much after the merge and shifted to the Maxbounty network.

iGain is pretty good with payments and used to have a lot of different offers that fit our niche well. After the merge, Dynata didn’t pay us well, and I lost a few thousand dollars in payment to them. They didn’t respond or send any payments. This also happened to a couple of other bloggers in our community. So, we decided to move on with another network.

(sorry, I couldn’t share the screenshot of iGain earnings, but I estimate the figure to be around $20,000+ as I have been with the network for more than a year.)

 

MaxBounty Affiliate Network

$17,000+ from MaxBounty.  I used it for a few months only and moved to Panthera Network as I felt the conversions were pretty low for the clicks I was getting.

 

Panthera Network

One of the best affiliate and CPA networks on the Internet. Great campaigns, prompt payments, and great conversions as well. Nearly $68,000 from this network.

 

SurveyJunkie (BlueMediaVentures)

I’ve been promoting this campaign for a very long time, and it converts well. Made around $45,000 from one campaign.

 

ProofreadAnywhere Course

Little late to start promoting this course, but I made some good bucks. It converts well and also helps thousands of students to become full-time proofreaders.

Previously, it used to be on Clickfunnels but later moved to the Everflow platform. Made around $18,000+ affiliate income from this course.

 

Bluehost Affiliate Income

Bluehost Hosting is another great affiliate program that converts well for all bloggers and also offers the best hosting plans for aspiring bloggers to get started at just $2.95 per month.

The blog creation process with Bluehost is so simple that you can launch your own blog in just 20 minutes.

Bluehost used to have its affiliate reporting portal, but recently, it partnered with Impact Radius and retired its portal.

So, I can’t share the screenshot of old reports. But we receive anywhere between $500 – $1000 per month Bluehost. So, I can estimate the earnings from this platform will be around $20,000.

 

Sponsored Income

We call it sponsored income when brands and companies approach us to promote their products and services on our blog. They pay us to write and publish articles about their products/services.

I get hundreds of emails every month from brands, companies, and SEO agencies to promote their stuff, but I started selectively accepting sponsors in the last two years. Based on the product or type of promotion required, I charge between $500 – $1500 per sponsored post.

• The number of sponsored posts done = 23 to date.
• Total income generated = $16,500.

I would have made even more if I had lowered the minimum price or accepted everyone who is accepted to pay the $500 minimum fee. But I’d be very selective when accepting sponsored deals to maintain the quality of our content and sponsored products.

 

Total Blog Income Breakdown

Source of Income	Amount in USD
Mediavine Ad Income	157,578.75
Google AdSense Income	14,122.71
Affiliate and CPA Income
iGain Network (estimated)	$20,000
MaxBounty	$17,201.20
Panthera Network	$67,932.03
Survey Junkie (BMV)	$45,329.50
Proofread Anywhere (Old + New Platforms)	$$18,494.91
Bluehost	$20,000
Sponsored Posts	$16,500
Other Newly Joined Networks
Motive Interactive	$688.02
Voice Over School Course	$786.34
Aragon Premium	$273.65
Dynata	$1264.60
Earn More Writing	$179.70
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing	$861.44
TOTAL	$381,212.85

That’s a whopping $380,0000 dollars from one single blog…

Wait, do you think that’s all I made from it? Well, you are wrong… It’s even more… just continue reading.

                     Start Your Own Blog Now!

 

Still not decided to start your blog or not?

Those above numbers are generated from a blog that started with borrowed money and zero knowledge. In case you are in a confused state of whether you should start yours or not, I suggest you should go for it.

Starting and building your blog not only gives you a monthly income but also accumulates its value over the time it grows.

Maybe you don’t know what I am talking about because you may not see this point being made on any other blog income reports, but having a money-making blog means you’ll not only get the monthly income, but you own something super valuable.

Blog valuation is something most single blog owners don’t care about, but those who run multiple blogs or flip blogs are fully aware of this.

What I am trying to say here is…

Let’s say you started a blog and worked on it for a year. Currently, your blog is making around $1000 per month on average for six months…

How much do you consider as a return for the work you put in? Those $6000? You are wrong!

In that one year, you’ve built a business that generates $1000 per month on average. It means when you calculate the valuation of the business or blog, it would be around $30,000 – $50,000. Generally, blogs get sold at 30X – 50X multiples of their average monthly income.

How Much Is This Blog Worth?

For instance, If my blog generates around $7000 per month and profit in that is $6000 per month, then it would be valued at anywhere between $180,000 – $300,000.

Most of the blogs easily fetch 30x+ multiples, but if you have good social media followers, engagements, and tier 1 domain backlinks, then the buyers may offer nearly 50x multiples.

It means if you decide to sell your blog, you’ll pocket 30 – 50 times the amount of your average monthly income. So your actual returns are your blog value + your monthly profits.

So let’s see how valuable your blog would be based on its monthly profit…

• If you have a blog that generates $1000 a month —–  your blog is valued at $30,000 – $50,000
• If you have a blog that generates $3000 a month —– your blog is valued at $90,000 –  $150,000
• If you have a blog that generates $5000 a month —– your blog is valued at $150,000 – $250,000
• If you have a blog that generates $10,000 a month —– your blog is valued at $300,000 – $500,000

So, what you earn every month is not only what you get from the blog you build. You get beyond that.

And building a blog not only helps you grow your audience but also builds your personal brand as well. It drives you toward financial freedom. It helps you enjoy the freedom of money and time instead of trading your time for your 9-5 job.

Let’s see how blogging is better than starting any other online business.

• Starting a blog is super cheap. Doesn’t require more than a $100 investment. (Only $2.95 a month with Bluehost)
• Your niche is your choice. There are hundreds of niches, and you can choose what you like and are passionate about.
• You need zero technical skills to set up and run your blog.
• High-income potential (Established bloggers make $10,000 – $100,000+ per month.)
• Nothing to lose and no risk at all. (Would you mind losing $2.95 a month, which is less than a Starbucks coffee?)

Follow this step-by-step guide to start your blog today.

               Start Your Dream Blog Today!

 

You’ll never know how much your blog will be worth in the next few years unless you start today. So, get started and enjoy the benefits of financial freedom with the success of your blogging business.

Good luck.

 

Also, read our best-researched articles if you are trying to make extra income from home:

• 40 Best Part-Time / Late-Night Work-At-Home Jobs
• 50 Best Online Jobs That Pay $20 An Hour or More
• 33 Best Work-At-Home Part-Time Jobs