Blogging for holiday cash.

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SantaCash

Since I started running ads (through WP’s WordAds program) back in January, my monthly earnings have increased from a measly $12.00 in January to about $25.00 a month.

You’re not allowed to cash out until your account reaches $100, which finally happened for me in July. Funds earned for July and August are $49.84. If things stay about the same, I should be able to cash out again just in time for the holiday season, which I always dread because I really can’t afford much in the way of gifts. It’s always the most stressful time of year for me.

$100 should be enough to keep my stress levels down this coming Christmas season. I only have a few people I exchange gifts with anyway, and I should be able to afford a few nice things for them. It’s nice to know I’ll have earned that money by doing something that’s more play than work.

5 thoughts on “Blogging for holiday cash.”

  3. What do you ,mean you run the ads through the WP WordAds program,? Doesn’t the sponsor make his own ads? Or is this a program Word Press uses to pay you? Do you get to choose your own commercials? WordPress has informed me that they will run ads if they like unless I pay them. How do they pay you? Do they mail you a check?

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    • You can read about it here. https://wordads.co/faq/
      I just read they are temporarily not taking new applications though.
      Here’s how it works. You have to be approved first, and that’s usually based on amount of traffic you get. (I don’t know how they measure that or how much traffic you need–new blogs usually don’t have enough traffic though) — you can apply to WordAds (using the link above) and then if they approve you, they will place ads on your blog (as long as you have your own domain, which I’ll explain below).
      A couple of things to remember:
      1. you have to have your own domain name–it’s still part of WordPress.com, but the URL can’t have “wordpress.com” in it. You have to pay WordPress for that– I think it’s $18 a year per blog. (look under your account information to find out what options you have).
      2. you do not get to choose the ads. However if there’s an ad you find offensive there’s a way to stop that one–I haven’t had to do that, so I don’t know the procedure for that. You don’t pay WP to run ads for you–you are only paying them for the domain which is required to be in the program.
      3. If you get approved, you will get a letter in email telling you that. Then you need to set up a Paypal account so your funds can be transferred there. But you won’t get to see them until your account (which you can check under WP Admin-Settings-WordAds) reaches at least $100. That could take a few months, it did for me. The money automatically goes into your Paypal account when it reaches $100 and then you can transfer to your bank.
      They do not issue checks–you have to have a Paypal account.

      There may be another program where you can pay WP to run ads of your choosing, but I’m not sure. I woudn’t pay anyone to run ads on my blog, but I don’t mind getting paid a little to run them. Sometimes I do wish I got to pick the ads though, but you can’t have everything.
      If your blog starts to get enough traffic, you might want to look into the Wordads program.

      ETA: I just read over the FAQ and there is a VIP WordAds program where you do get to choose your own ads. But it says it’s for enterprise or large websites, it’s probably harder to get approved and you probably have to have an insane amount of traffic. I haven’t looked into it so I don’t know much.

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  4. Yay for independent earnings! Way to think outside the box and make something of it!! Happy for you. Glad that a little bit of the season will be less stressful. That always helps you to be able to enjoy the season more. Also start brainstorming now some cheap/free gifts you can give or make. If you give yourself plenty of time that will also help with the stress of the season. 🙂

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