Blog Income Report 2022 - Making $272,712 From Blogging

Every year, it's hard for me to believe that another full year has come and gone.

I also can't believe that I'm writing the fifth blogging income report for WebMonkey.

Five years is a longer time period than when I was in college. And I've never even had the same job for close to five years during any point of my life.

This year has also been a bit all over the place in terms of making money online, career changes, and living situations.

In 2022, I joined the workforce for the first time in a few years and then quit it once again. I also spent time living on five different continents, diving into the digital nomad and blogging lifestyle.

Lions Head hike South Africa — From Lions Head hike in Cape Town, South Africa this year.

Overall, it's been a wacky, weird, but awesome year. And I have everyone who reads WebMonkey to thank for it.

Five years ago, I thought WebMonkey would just be a fun side project that talked about phone farming and passive income apps. I would never have guessed that the blog could turn into a full-time business and reach millions of people.

So, thank you to everyone who reads and follows along each year. I'm truly grateful for it all, and I hope that these blogging income reports help other people out there find their start in earning money online.

Time to dive into the 2022 blog income report!

Want to follow the journey from the beginning? Checkout:

Why I Write Blogging Income Reports

Like last year, I want to start off with a quick disclaimer before getting into all of the blogging income and expenses for the years.

Every year, I write a blogging income report for the sake of transparency and record keeping.

I love sharing data with other people about the process of growing a money-making blog. And I also like to look back on previous years to track the ups, downs, and lessons along the way.

I don't want these income reports to ever come across as an opportunity to brag or to push blogging down people's throats for the sake of affiliate sales.

Really, I want these reports to provide an honest look at what growing a blog can look like, as well as some tips for other bloggers.

There are so many blog income reports out there that promise quick results, big income, yet never share any income proof or screenshots. That's why I think it's important for more bloggers to be transparent so people know what to expect.

Of course, plenty of blogs earn way more than WebMonkey or have very different approaches to making money.

But, hopefully, some of the strategies and lessons I've learned over the years help you find success in whatever blogging niche you happen to be in.

2022 Blog Income Report – Making $272,712 From Blogging

In my 2021 blogging income report, I said that it was the first year that WebMonkey truly felt like a business. But in hindsight, I guess 2021 was really the year for testing proof of concept.

As for 2022, it was really the year of scaling that proof of concept on all fronts.

My two income sources are still largely the same: display ads and affiliate marketing. But there's been some exciting updates for both sources that I'd like to share.

Note: The following figures are in USD, but some affiliate income has been converted from CDN to USD for the purpose of this blog income report. Additionally, I'm sharing all major screenshots of earnings but have omitted a few smaller programs so this post isn't stuffed with images.

Mediavine Income – $152,297.74

In 2022, Mediavine ads made over $152,000 for WebMonkey. This is more than double the amount of last year, and I'm consistently blown away by the quality of Mediavine's network.

This income is equivalent to making $400 a day or so. And for the entire year, my average Mediavine RPM was $40.88, which is pretty remarkable in my opinion.

For newer readers, Mediavine is a premium advertising network that's known as one of the best in the blogging business.

When I started blogging, I was using Google Adsense and then Monumetric. But after switching to Mediavine in 2020, my display ad revenue on the site has been steadily increasing year-over-year.

This year, Mediavine also had a massive announcement with the release of Mediavine Pro.

This program is for Mediavine publishers who earn at least $100,000 per 12 months. It provides a 10% payout boost, alongside some other perks, which has been a really nice surprise for WebMonkey.

All-in-all, I think Mediavine is the best display ads publishing option out there for bloggers. It's tech is amazing, it's working on first-party data collection for when cookies are no more, and it pays publishers extremely well.

Mediavine requirements have changed since I joined, and you need 50,000 sessions to apply now. But if you're a newer blogger and need a major goal to set your sights on, I definitely recommend aiming for Mediavine.

Affiliate Income – $116,915

Affiliate income is the second main category for WebMonkey. And in 2021, it only made up about 33% of my total blogging income.

This was a massive improvement from prior years. But since advertisement rates are highly seasonal, I wanted to boost my affiliate revenue in 2022 for diversification and scaling purposes.

Now in 2022, WebMonkey made approximately $116,915 from affiliate income.

Most of this income came from gig apps like DoorDash or paid survey sites like Branded Surveys. I promote these offers through Impact Radius, which is my favorite affiliate marketing network that has thousands of brands for bloggers and influencers to promote.

I also promoted more passive income ideas in 2022, like rental platforms like Neighbor or investing apps like Fundrise.

Overall, the content strategy was largely the same as 2021: write long-form listicles and reviews that are packed with research and real user experiences to gain trust with readers.

However, I'm really happy with the number of new partners I'm working with since I think diversification helps reduce income risks.

Anyway, Impact Radius was the main affiliate network I used. But I also scaled income on other networks like Aragon Premium and MaxBounty.

Here's a snapshot of my Aragon Premium revenue, which totals to $13,792 for 2022:

And here's some MaxBounty payments coming in. I earned just over $15,000 with MaxBounty in 2022, but it's hard to get a report from the dashboard that shows all the payments in one tab.

Both of these networks have excellent offers for finance bloggers. And MaxBounty has thousands of offers in other niches and a great team as well.

Aside from that, some other small affiliate income channels I used in 2022 include:

Rakuten ($2,550 total) – My favorite cash back extension that pays $30 per user you refer.
Printify ($2,127 total) – This is the print on demand company I used to launch my Etsy POD store, so it's what I suggest to readers.
Adbloom ($1,980 total) – Another affiliate network with lots of nifty reward apps to promote.

I'm not going to include a screenshot of every single affiliate program for the sake of space. And the combo of Aragon Premium, MaxBounty, and Impact Radius is where most of the income comes from anyways.

Plus, like last year, affiliate networks like Amazon Affiliate only paid about $300. And I didn't make much from promoting blogging platforms like SiteGround or BigScoots either.

I'm totally okay with this since WebMonkey's goal is to help people start making money online or with the gig economy. It's not a blog about blogging or one that's meant for Amazon Affiliate.

Sponsorship Income – $3,500

I had massive plans in 2022 to launch some digital products like ebooks and courses. And, while they're in the works, I completely failed at reaching this goal this year.

Honestly, the blame is fully on me and for procrastinating this long.

Living in about seven different countries this year certainly didn't help on the steady content production front. But I'm going to emphasize digital products in 2023 and actually pull something off.

I know, I know…I say this every year! But I mean it this time 😉

That said, WebMonkey still landed two small sponsorships this year resulting in $3,500 in income. This isn't massive, so sponsorship opportunities are also something I'm keen to scale with the new year.

Blogging Traffic & Growth

In 2022, WebMonkey earned almost 300% more than in 2021. The main reason for this is increases in traffic for the site throughout the year.

Here are some quick stats about WebMonkey's 2022 traffic:

3.1 million users
3.8 million sessions
Approximately 220 posts published

The fact that WebMonkey reached over 3 million people in 2022 is mindblowing to me. And I think publishing a lot of new content played a massive role in this.

Publishing 200+ posts in 2022 took a lot of resources and time. But a lot of this content is ranking and growing now, so it was well worth the effort.

I've also stepped up the update schedule, averaging about an update a day (or sometimes more) during the week.

Updating content is incredibly important for giving readers the most current, valuable information. And Google also likes freshness, so that's an added bonus.

Aside from that, the blog was on the winning and losing side of the many algorithm updates that seem to come regularly these days.

After going through plenty of updates, I think the lesson remains the same: writing well-researched, valuable content wins at the end of the day.

This was actually a large part of my content strategy in 2022. I spent a lot of time and energy writing reviews about various gpt sites and apps, often taking the contrarian view of other blogs by calling out scammy apps.

Sure, this approach isn't great for getting affiliate income from companies like Solitaire Cash, Bingo Cash, and the dozens of other apps some finance bloggers shill.

But in terms of building trust with readers and providing the best content possible, I think honesty is the ultimate guide bloggers should stick to.

2022 Blogging Expenses & Profit

Like last year, my main blogging expenses for 2022 are from content creation costs. But this is perfectly fine with me since I view each article as an investment that has the potential to pay itself off, and then some, over the coming months.

Here's a snapshot of my main blogging expenses for the year:

Content Writing: $13,132
BigScoots Hosting: $624.
Sucuri Security: $300.
Pinterest Marketing Help Plus Tailwind: $740.
Various Plugins: $250.
TOTAL EXPENSES: $15,046
TOTAL PROFIT: $257,666

This is actually about the same operational expense as what I spent in 2021 on WebMonkey. So, I'm pretty happy the profit margin has scaled so well.

I'm also immensely happy since the WebMonkey team has grown by a few people. And I'm very grateful to work with such awesome bloggers and freelance writers.

But other than this content expense, everything else is more or less the same. I'm still with BigScoots, and my plugin stack has actually gotten smaller which is pretty nice.

I ended up scrapping my Pinterest marketing help and Tailwind subscription. It simply wasn't driving enough traffic despite tons of testing and solid designs.

I think the lesson here for other bloggers is to not be afraid of reinvesting some income into growth.

For me, paying for a blog redesign in 2021 and paying for content writing help has been a game changer. And I plan to invest similar amounts into the site for 2023.

2022 YouTube Income & Expenses

I didn't include YouTube income or expenses in the blog income report data above since they're separate businesses. But I like to mention YouTube in these reports since both platforms promote one another.

For some context, I started my YouTube channel in 2020 to diversify income and to also try something fun and new.

Since then, it's grown to over 15,000 subscribers. And it earns about $30 to $50 a day in advertisement income while funneling about 1,000 to 1,500 readers a month to WebMonkey.

Here are my YouTube income and expense stats for 2022:

YouTube Adsense Revenue: $14,451.
YouTube Views: 750,000.
Videos Published: 19.
Editing Expenses: $4,500.
Thumbnail Expenses: $320.
TOTAL EXPENSES:
TOTAL PROFIT: $9,631.

The profit margin for YouTube vs blogging is much lower in my case. But I'm okay with this since YouTube is largely chugging along as a semi-passive side hustle at this point.

And spending money on an excellent video editor has been a massive help in publishing more videos. Same goes for working with a talented thumbnail designer.

I've fallen very short of my 2021 goal of 50,000 subscribers and $20,000 in income. So, I don't think I've cracked the YouTube code quite yet. But I also need to publish videos more regularly and go for some trending content to grow faster.

For 2023, I think adding in some short-form content and, regrettably, a bit more clickbait content, is going to be keys to growing faster.

Tips For Other Bloggers

Now that the blog income and expenses are out of the way, I want to wrap up this blogging income report with a few tips for other bloggers that I've found helpful this year!

Honesty Is Key

I always want WebMonkey to provide honest information about side hustles and ways to make money online. And I think this has helped a lot of my recent reviews rank well since they provide real information about various money-making apps and hustles.

It does feel a bit weird having so many 1 and 2 star reviews on the site. But at the end of the day, I want to make the best content possible to help people, so I think this is inevitable.

Doesn't always help for landing sponsorship deals, but hey, I still think this is a must-have for any blogger.

Author Authority Is Becoming More Important

If this year has highlighted anything for me, it's that author authority is becoming more important than ever for bloggers.

Blogging competition increases every year. And content production is ramping up as people use AI tools. So, the only way to stand apart from the crowd (in my opinion) is to develop personal authority in your blogging niche.

This can be done in several ways, including:

Getting more backlinks
Gaining more real world experience and accreditations
Being featured in videos, podcasts, and other forms of media

I think this goal is especially important for newer bloggers, and it's also an area I want to continue developing over time.

Keyword Research Is Still Important

In 2021, I think most of my blogging gains came from increasing my publishing schedule and targeting low-competition keywords.

In 2022, it's pretty much the same story. A lot of large wins and posts that generate thousands of visitors a month are posts from this year. And the only way I found the topics to write about was through consistent keyword research.

Personally, I use SEMRush for my keyword research needs, and it's what I suggest to other bloggers.

SEMRush keywords — An example of an SEMRush keyword report.

I've also used free tools like Google Keyword Planner and UberSuggest in the past, so you don't need to spend money to get started with keyword research. And I've been lucky to get an SEMRush account from work and a friend.

However, if your blog is earning income or you're willing to invest, keyword research is one of the first investments I'd suggest.

The amount of time you save by using premium keyword research tools is significant. And again, if organic traffic is your main traffic source, finding winning keywords is how you can scale and earn more.

SEMRush has a 7-day free trial, and the free version also lets you make up to 10 keyword searches a day, which might be enough for beginner bloggers.

A Personal Update

Like I said in the intro, 2022 has been a very interesting year for both business and personal changes.

At the start of the year, I was living in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. It was a fun way to practice some Spanish while living with friends, and I scooted back to Colombia and Florida before heading home for a Canadian summer.

I also learned how to surf during this time, and the first half of the year was pretty jam-packed with travel, family time, and new adventures.

During this time, I also paused freelance writing and actually accepted a regular job offer as a commercial writer for a company called XLMedia.

At the time, I was feeling pretty burnt out from so much freelancing and blogging. So, I thought a stable job, benefits, good pay, and vacation time was a much-needed change.

And don't get me wrong: it was an awesome change. I got to pump out content for a site called Investor Junkie, all while working with some of my best friends that I've come to know after a few years in the personal finance world.

I even got to attend another conference this year and headed down to FinCon 2022. It was an awesome experience to meet my fellow teammates and to meet some famous finance bloggers and YouTubers.

But after a few months in Canada, I started to get the itch for new scenery again. And I was actually feeling even more tired from working a 9-5 job while putting in a few hours a day at WebMonkey.

So, for the last part of the year, I went all-in on blogging once again and quit my job after about 6 months. I guess I'm still allergic to having a rigid schedule.

I also booked a one-way flight to Cape Town, South Africa. And it's hands-down the most beautiful place on earth that I've ever seen.

If you like nature and hiking, Cape Town should be on your bucket list. And the time I spent exploring mountains, meeting other people, and surfing out there was one of the happiest times I've had.

Table Mountain sunset — A sunset view from Table Mountain, Cape Town.

After a month of that, I meandered over to Portugal for a few weeks to focus on work while checking out some new cities. And then it was time for another 20-hour flight to spend a month-and-a-half in Thailand and Indonesia.

Bali waterfall — One of the most popular waterfalls in Bali, Indonesia.

It's been a pretty wild year with a lot of flights to say the least. But for now, I'm really enjoying the digital nomad lifestyle and roaming around random places, making money with a laptop.

I think 2023 is going to contain a lot of travel as well. But I'm excited to have more time to blog while I'm on the road, and I'm hoping to document more of the travel fun on YouTube if you feel like joining along!

Extra Reading – The Best Easy Online Jobs.

Final Thoughts

Well, that about does it for this 2022 blog income report.

I honestly can't believe how 2022 turned out, or the fact that this is the first time in my life I'm just blogging for a living.

When I started out blogging, earning $1,700 in that first year was amazing to me. That was money to help cover groceries and other expenses, and it came from writing words on the Internet!

I never would have guessed that I'd be blogging for a career one day. But I hope that this 5+ year process highlights how it's very possible to grow an online business over time if you stay consistent.

Yes, there are wild ups, downs, and plenty of mistakes. But at the end of the day, I believe there's so much immense opportunity to make money online if you play to your strengths and keep at it.

And for everyone who has read this year or from the beginning, thank you so, so much for the continued support. It truly means the world!

Now, I like to wrap up every blogging income report with some goals for the new year since I like to hold myself accountable and work towards something,

My 2023 blog and business goals include:

Scale blogging revenue to $400,000 (I'm hoping for half to come from Mediavine and half to come from affiliates and sponsorships)
Scale YouTube to 50,000 subscribers and $25,000 in income (the same goal as always)
Launch and sell an eBook
Launch and sell a course
Start posting short-form shorts and reels

I really think and hope diversification will be the name of the game for 2023. And I'm excited to finally launch some digital products, assuming I don't procrastinate for another 12 months lol.

Anyways, that's all for this 2022 blogging income report.

I'd like to wish everyone who's made it this far a year full of health, happiness, and financial success. And to my fellow bloggers, I hope this income report has provided some useful tips or information to help you scale your own blog this year.

Thank you, and I'll catch you guys in the next one.

Tom from WebMonkey.

Want to start making money online? These posts are a great place to start:

Blog Income Report 2022 – Making $272,712 From Blogging

Why I Write Blogging Income Reports