Introduction 

In July 2021, I launched StartWithNFTs.com.

I earned my first dollar from the blog in December 2021.

Since April 2022, I've earned $6,228.15, which is $1,038 per month.

It was the first time I'd ever tried to build a blog. No SEO experience, but I did have professional writing experience of 6 months by the time I started this blog.

These last 6 months have earned me more money than I thought was possible:

April - $1,306.30 

May - $1,671.35 

June - $589.73

July - $730.24

August - $1,284.90

September - $645.63

I’m going to break down my monthly earnings from above, lessons learned along the way including ways to monetize your blog without display ads (no, not affiliate links), why I considered selling the site (and my initial valuation), and how I’m approaching content during a downturn of interest. 

Note that there are affiliate links in this article for Ezoic, which is the display network I used to boost earnings that pay better than Google Adsense. I’ve enjoyed working with their team and have seen the dollars roll in, so I want to spread awareness. I may earn a small commission at no cost to you if you decide to sign-up for their network. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here. 

Blog Income Report April 2022 — $1,306.30 in Earnings

Traffic for April 2022: 36,249 views

The breakdown of these blog earnings is as follows: 

$33.30 from display ads using Ezoic: 

Source: Ezoic Analytics

Ezoic is an alternative to Google Adsense (although the two work in tandem) and pays a much better premium (higher earnings per thousand visits). You can learn more about Ezoic here. 

The blog’s Ezoic earnings were low largely due to the fact that I run my website on Gatsby and not WordPress.

The ePMV (earning per 1,000 views) was around $2 because I needed a developer’s help to better configure the installation.

Gatsby is great for website speed to help you rank on search engines with better SEO, but the trade-off is that WordPress is better integrated with platforms like Ezoic out of the box. 

This eventually got fixed and earnings grew significantly despite less traffic. 

$1,000 from a self-written article at the request of an NFT project: 

Source: Twitter DMs

When I am asked to write an article, I put my heart and soul into it. I spent an hour with the team leading the project, took copious notes, and spent hours crafting a comprehensive, SEO-optimized article. 

I’ve interviewed big-time NFT founders and have written articles in other publications, like ONE37pm. That street cred gives me the social proof to charge higher rates for comprehensive articles that will bring value more than the dollar amount I charge. 

As a blogger, you’d be surprised at how many people reach out when you write quality articles. It’s tempting to mail it in just to keep your site relevant, but I’ve since gotten requests from multiple NFT projects because they were impressed with my writing. 

$148 in Fiverr Affiliate Earnings

In February, I wrote an article about how I grew my blog to over 160,000 views in 7 months on a new domain without traditional SEO tools and reference Fiverr as something I heavily used to get affordable web design, blog banners, and more.

Funny enough, I forgot my Fiverr log-in and didn't check it for months.

Until 2 days ago, I didn't even realize I had earned $148 in commission from Fiverr affiliates in April.

$125 in commissions from Voyager based on one article that ranks really well: 

Source: Google Search Console

There’s something worth noting here: at the end of the article, I honestly stated that Voyager staking was not safe. Users can buy USDC, a stable coin (pegged to the US dollar), stake it, and get paid 9% APY in USDC. 

It’s imperative that I’m honest with my readers, and too many other articles on the subject ignored the fine print. I did the due diligence and realized that USDC is not federally insured, and dust-ups in stablecoins like the ones we saw with Luna and others revealed risk. 

Could I have left that part out and made more money? Yes. Was that the right choice? In my opinion, no. 

I believe in a longer-term play with StartWithNFTs.com and would rather have honesty and integrity than short-term gains. 

Then, I landed a deal with a PR firm to do sponsored content, and May earnings took off. 

Blog Income Report May 2022 — $1,671.35 in Earnings 

Traffic for May 2022: 23,243 views

Ezoic Earnings: $96.35

Source: Ezoic Analytics

Sponsored Content — $1,500 

A company reached out saying they liked my blog and asked about posting sponsored content. I was nervous at first because I like to have total control over what shows up on my website and to my readers, but the content ended up being something I was happy to share. 

This was a mix of them writing articles and me writing them, but I like the team and it’s a good relationship so far. 

By the end of May, I realized it was a massive missed opportunity not to reach out to PR firms when my traffic was at its height. Google Adsense makes you wait 6 months (typically) so I didn’t think about alternative ways to monetize). 

If a company, person, etc. reached out about sponsored content, narrow on their persona and go find other companies, people, etc. exactly like them and pitch the same services. 

I’ve since reached out to 20+ Crypto PR firms who each offered distribution to independent blogs and they now have my information and know what I can offer them. 

I expect it to be a quiet few months or even a year, but when things evolve and turn around in the web3 space, I know how I can monetize and help those brands get quality authentic content for their clients. 

Voyager Commission — $75 

I knew at some point, the Voyager commissions would slow. Stable coins and staking for high APY were attractive 3 months ago, but people are now starting to realize how risky it is. Voyager upped their payments per sign-up from $25 to $50, but I expect this to continue to drop off. 

Blog Income Report June 2022 — $589.73 in Earnings

Traffic for June 2022: 11,789 views 

Traffic is declining on the site, but that’s a market-wide trend. There’s no reason to panic. If you write good content, people will read your stuff. A lot of people ask me how I drove the traffic I did so quickly, and the answer point-blank is to write good content. 

I am adjusting a bit — my current most popular article is about the dot-com bubble and I’m writing articles like this one that bring value to a slightly different audience. 

Ezoic Earnings: $158.13

Despite less traffic, my Ezoic earnings hit its highest performing month at nearly $160.

Ezoic pay for 1,000 views was $14.40, up from $2 in April: 

Source: Ezoic Analytics 

Earnings have dropped to $4 — $5 per day, but over the course of a year, $4.50 per day is $1,642. 

Some of you know that I’m a partner in a software business, which commands the majority of my time and leaves less time for writing. Despite this, the fruits of my early labor are paying off to bring in a steady stream of side income that eases the burden of inflation (even if it’s just a little bit). 

Sponsored Content — $300

As I expected, sponsored content requests slowed this month. I have three sources of income on this site and will start offering my writing services if needed. 

I had a conversation with a marketing firm (who reached out after reading and liking my articles, which I hope is a sign to you that quality content can generate business) who wants two pieces written on NFT projects. 

Even if this stream goes to zero, I’ll watch how the market adjusts and evolves, and bring value differently than I have been before. 

VPN Commissions - $31.60

VPN products add a layer of security to NFT transactions, so I signed up for an affiliate program with NordVPN. Without much expectation, it ended up driving $31.60 in revenue for June:

Voyager Commissions — $100 

I got two referrals this month, which paid me $50 each. I don’t expect referrals to continue in this climate, so I’ll put my efforts into creating good, new content based on current interests. 

I noticed that there was risk coming to a head with Voyager, so I wrote a fresh article explaining why I pulled all of my money out of the platform. You can read that here. The goal is to provide value for readers, and I turned out to be right, as Voyager suspended trading, deposits, and withdrawals on their platform.

Blog Income Report July 2022 — $730.24 in Earnings

Traffic for July 2022: 9,220 views 

Traffic slipped below 10,000 views for the first time in nearly a year. It is peak summer, and I've read that blog traffic and earnings can slip during this time of year, but I found a few issues with my site:

(1) Vignette ads (pop-ups) were freezing my site on mobile and not letting users click out of it - with Ezoic's optimization settings, I easily removed these to let mobile traffic freely visit my website again

(2) My top blog post in June had 1,254 views, but it was about a company called Voyager, which went bankrupt pretty suddenly. The article is no longer relevant and thus netted 1,000 in lost views.

I created some time and got back to my roots writing articles about a passion of mine - VeeFriends NFTs and trading cards. I wrote 5 articles on the subject:

• The Top 10 Most Expensive VeeFriends Series 2 Trading Card Sales

• Should You Buy, Sell or Hold VeeFriends Series 2 Collectible Trading Cards?

• How Much I've Made Selling VeeFriends Trading Cards, Physical Collectibles, and NFTs

• How to Properly Ship VeeFriends Collectible Trading Cards

• How to Price your VeeFriends Series 2 Trading Cards to Make The Sale

The trading cards are a hot topic and the fresh articles should help pick back traffic up to over 10,000 views in August despite a market-wide downtrend.

Ezoic Earnings: $100.24

I still cleared $100 in display ad revenue earning with Ezoic for the month of July and even saw my ePMV (earnings per 1,000 views) hit $18.62 on my best day of the month with $4.71 earnings:

Source: Ezoic Analytics 

As my pages get more views, I will start looking at which pages get the highest RPM from Ezoic to see if I can find any patterns.

In the Ezoic Content section, you can filter to Pages and sort by RPM (rate per thousand views highest to lowest to see what type of content earns more per 1,000 views so I can write more of it.

The highest RPM I saw with Ezoic for a page in July was $24.97, meaning per 1,000 views of that page, I would get paid $24.97.

Sponsored Content — $600

I did $600 in sponsored content for July and these were fun to do. I got to write about two very interesting projects and it always feels good to promote work that I find interesting.

eBay Commissions — $30

I made sure to include eBay affiliate links with all of my trading card articles and in July, it earned me $30 on $994 in referred sales:

Source: eBay Affiliates

Blog Income Report August 2022 — $1,284.90 in Earnings

Traffic for August 2022: 7,681 views 

While my blog traffic has been declining the past few months, I am very in tune with the market and why that's happening. For example, in June, my top-performing article got 1,254 views and was a detailed breakdown of a now bankrupt crypto trading app. Because I am in a new space, I have to be comfortable pivoting quickly and am looking for a strong rebound in September.

Ezoic Earnings: $61.94

My ePMV (earnings per 1,000 views) came in at $8.88, with a high ePMV of $13.90 on Thursday, August 18th. My highest earning day was $2.96 this month, and while earnings are down 38%, I can't complain that I'm earning money from display ads and blogging about the things that interest me.

Source: Ezoic Analytics 

Sponsored Content — $1,200

Despite a demand slow-down in the NFT and crypto space, there are still very smart people utilizing blockchain technology to launch innovative projects and work with PR firms to write articles and help them get coverage.

eBay Commissions — $21

I made sure to include eBay affiliate links with all of my trading card articles and in August, it earned me $21 on $701 in referred sales:

Source: eBay Affiliates

The $21 is not much, but I quickly established credibility with my blog by writing a number of articles about trading cards associated with NFT projects. I enjoy it, and it was a fun pivot that helped me get traffic on new topics and bring my 2022 eBay affiliate earnings to $56.

Amazon Affiliates—$1.96

I do have some Amazon Affiliate links on my blog (although not many) and even though I earned just $1.96 in August, every dollar counts, and, no matter how small the transaction, it is still cool to see the blog drive revenue:

So far in 2022, I've earned $19.51 from Amazon affiliates.

Blog Income Report September 2022 — $645.63 in Earnings

Traffic for September 2022: 6,939 views 

Toward the end of September, my blog traffic began ticking back up. My ahrefs alert from today (October 1st) shows 8 new keywords in the top 3 positions on Google, which is a big win.

Ezoic Earnings: $53.32

Ezoic Paid me $8.31 per 1,000 views this month. I decided to dial back the number of ads on my website in favor of the experience to get more traffic (possibly related to my traffic increase toward the end of September) and am happy that I still hit the $53 mark.

Sponsored Content - $450

Sponsored content ebbs and flows - I've gotten a lot of inquiries out about various content opportunities and I ensure to vet them before moving forward. Because my blog is a part-time endeavor, I've had a bit of trouble keeping up with the business development side, but the next income stream from this section is the result of some more focused effort!

Press Releases - $100

I am really excited about this new path to earn money on my site. I joined a program to publish quality press releases and already earned $100 in the first 3 days of it being live. This new income stream will help balance out the ebbs and flows of traditional sponsored content.

eBay Commissions — $41

It was a good month on eBay - my blog drove $1,357 in sales of which I earned $41 in commissions. I most enjoy writing about trading cards, and the fact that the VeeFriends NFT project has released 2 sets of trading cards with demand has given me an avenue to earn money on the work for those articles.

Amazon Affiliates—$1.31

I don't put much of a focus on Amazon affiliates, but every dollar earned on a blog counts for something.

Why I Considered Selling My Blog and How Much It's Worth

I have been pondering selling my website using Flippa or a broker. 

I don’t have as much time to put into it due to being a partner in another business, and my earnings have me tempted. 

The valuation I received on the site was based on $720 per month profit, and a buy-out price would be between $20,160 and $24,480. 

After seeing my Ezoic display ads growing and realizing I had barely tapped into any business development, I decided to put a pause on the sale. 

I was told if I grew profit to ~$1,200, the site valuation would jump to between $33,600 and $40,800. 

Currently, blog values are based on the last 6 months earnings (this is great for sellers) and 35x of monthly earnings. My earnings of $1,038 over the last 6 months would place the valuation of StartWithNFTs.com at $36,330.

It is still attractive to potentially sell, not have to worry about growing revenue, and take home a 6+ month emergency fund. 

But, I saw the other business I’m involved with go from $0 to a $1 million annual business in 2.5 years and I only just passed 1 year with StartWithNFTs.com.

How Much I've Made From My Blog in 2022

From April through September 2022, I’ve earned $6,228.15 from StartWithNFTs.com, or about $1,038 per month. 

2022 blog earnings infographic (July and August will be added in the near future):

If I can maintain my current earnings, the blog would project to earn nearly $12,500 per year.

I’m doing something I love, writing, and am grateful for my audience, and it teaches me invaluable skills for my primary business. 

The part that I will get better at is developing business and getting my name out there more, but this blog is a perfect practice environment to do that. 

I learn better by doing, and the stakes are lower here than they are in my software company. I can experiment more with this blog because any money earned is a bonus. 

For someone like me, a platform to experiment with is worth its weight in gold. 

I will continue to update this article each month. Sometimes, a fun and easier SEO strategy are to update existing articles to make them fresher and more relevant. If you’re trying to maximize your blog with minimal time, consider deploying a similar strategy. 

If you have any questions about your blog or starting a blog, don’t hesitate to e-mail me at Jon@StartWithNFTs.com.