How I Made $50 My First Month Blogging & Gained 300 Email Subscribers

It’s been almost 2 years now since my first month blogging and although I’m still learning so much I have hit some milestones I was working towards like getting multiple sponsored posts and getting into mediavine!!

I want to start this post by saying – I have in no way arrived with blogging and we all have learning to do BUT my blog launch went better than I could have ever imagined and I’m still here blogging two years later.

Now, I’m sharing with you the exact steps I took to get over 300 email subscribers and make $50 my first month blogging. Read on for the juicy details!

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My First Month Blogging

I’m the kind of person who loves spontaneity. I randomly decide I want to do something and then I just dive in and do it without thinking twice about it!

Kind of like how I recently decided we needed a dog and we got one the next day. 😂

I had been wanting to start a blog for a while because I was already making money on Instagram and I wanted a place that was actually just mine and where I wouldn’t be subject to algorithm changes, blocked accounts, and all that mess!

I had no idea how to blog so I searched the internet for resources to help me get started. There are so many free resources out there if you just look for them!

If you’re looking to start a blog, I highly recommend getting your domain name from Namecheap and your hosting from Siteground. These are what I chose after a ton of research and let me tell you – their customer service is on point!

I can’t even tell you how many live chats I had with both companies while I was setting up my blog and they provided instant help and answers!

Okay, so that’s the back story. Now, here’s what happened my first month blogging!

Blog Launch Giveaway

I love giveaways. They are a great way to reward your readers, an opportunity to grow your email list and even a way to make affiliate sales!

When I first starting blogging I already had experience collaborating with brands and affiliate marketing on Instagram.

I was already being paid per post on Instagram for brand collaborations and I was part of several affiliate programs. There’s no reason you have to wait until you have a blog to be part of affiliate programs!

For my blog launch giveaway, I knew I wanted to have multiple winners. I decided on 10 winners. You can have multiple winners or one winner that gets a large prize.

I started contacting brands I already had relationships with to see if they wanted to sponsor my blog launch giveaway.

If you don’t have relationships with any brands yet, that’s okay! You can still contact brands that fit with your niche and have affiliate programs. Be sure to get in contact with their PR person directly.

Once I secured a brand to sponsor my blog launch giveaway, (They agreed to supply all of the prizes – I didn’t spend a penny on prizes), I got to work on creating my blog post, graphics, and landing page.

Giveaway Landing Page

The way I structured my giveaway was to use a Mailchimp landing page. I created a blog post that thanked my readers for their support, had a short review of the product I was giving away (with affiliate links), and had a link to the landing page to enter the giveaway.

Then, I stated the instructions clearly on the blog post and landing page and also had fine print with the exact terms and conditions.

I added the GDPR field on my entry form so people were aware that they were being added to my list. It’s very important to be transparent with your readers.

When they entered their email, they were added to a specific list within my Mailchimp account. This way I could see everyone who entered on one list in order to pick the winners. I left the giveaway open for the first 6 days of my first month blogging.

LAUNCH DAY

On my blog launch day, I announced my giveaway on all my social media. I pinned several pins to Pinterest and I also emailed my existing email list.

I asked all of my friends and internet friends to tell everyone they knew about my giveaway. It’s so important to be willing to ask for help.

The people who care about you will be ready and willing to share. All you have to do is ask!

I ran a Facebook ad with a small budget and saw good results in subscribers coming from my giveaway landing page. Then, what really put my subscribers over the top was when the company that sponsored the giveaway also ran a Facebook ad with what I’m sure was a much bigger budget!

This was an added bonus that I was not expecting but like I said just ask! If you’d like the brand you’re working with to run ads just ask. You’ll never know what their answer will be until you ask.

The thing is… brands are always running ads so running an ad to your blog in order to bring awareness to their products is a win for them and for you!

Collaboration is truly the name of the game. You’ll get so much further, faster when you work together with brands or other bloggers.

If working with a brand isn’t an option for you right now, that’s okay too. You can determine a budget you’d like to spend on your giveaway and use it to purchase the prize items and run Facebook ads.

If you don’t have a budget, you could give away a digital product that you’ve created such as an ebook, and ask all of your friends to share your post about your giveaway on their social media. Asking for help is a great way to build community and the people who support you will be happy to help!

How I Made $50 My First Month Blogging

It is possible to make money your first month blogging. The key is to be an affiliate with the company you’re working with on your blog launch giveaway.

I had all my affiliate links in my blog launch giveaway post and even added a call to action – If you can’t wait to see if you won, click here to get your bracelets now!

I made some sales through that post and then the company I was working with gave me a coupon code for a percentage off to send via email to everyone who entered but didn’t win.

Once I picked the winners using a google sheet and random number generator, I emailed all the winners with their prize code.

Next, I emailed everyone who didn’t win with the email subject line “Even The Losers Won This Time!” I made a bunch of sales from those emails because they were able to purchase through my affiliate link and use the coupon code I provided them to get a discount.

THE RESULTS

So, there you have it! By the end of my first month blogging, I had gained over 300 new email subscribers from my blog launch and I even made $50 in affiliate income. It was a ton of work but I’m really happy with how it turned out.

I know this strategy will also work for any time you want to reward your readers. It doesn’t only have to be for a blog launch. Give it a try!

I hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know if you have any questions and if you try this method, let me know how it goes!