Looking for self-care tips or fashion advice? These 5 bloggers are paving the way for the beauty blogging niche and making quite a lot of revenue in the process.
From affiliate sales, advertisements and sponsored posts, we’ll find out how these bloggers have found success and what you can take away from their experience.
Starting off our list…
The Baller on a Budget
About the Creators: Aileen Luib, creator and writer of The Baller on a Budget, credits both her successes and her hardships for the creation of her blog.
As a child, Aileen was no stranger to financial hardships. While she acknowledges that she was blessed to have a roof over her head and food on the table, her family was on a strict financial budget and she would often hear her parents fighting over money.
“As a result of financial insecurity, I developed severe depression, low self-esteem, and a severe eating disorder at the young age of 12, which I battled for 10 years,” she says.
Her young adult life didn’t seem to offer Aileen any sort of financial relief. She was forced to drop out of college at the age of 19 and was juggling three jobs just to make ends meet.
“Fed up, tired, and hungry for answers, I began my journey to heal my relationship with money,” she explains.
And heal she did. By the age of 23 Aileen managed to pay off $10,000 in credit card debt, bought a BMW with cash and by 26 had purchased a house with her boyfriend.
Aileen’s experiences are what prompted her to crest The Baller on a Budget, knowing that there are people in the world approaching similar obstacles.
What is ‘The Baller on a Budget?’
The Baller on a Budget is an affordable fashion, beauty and lifestyle blog based in Los Angeles, California.
The blogs goal is to promote financial freedom so that individuals can live comfortably and enjoy their lives stress-free. The Baller on a Budget is a hub for articles from smart shopping tips to making money online.
How They Earn:
The following is a list of affiliates/services that contribute to the overall income The Baller on a Budget brings in monthly, in order from their most to least profitable:
- Affiliate Income: $2,142.67
- Ad Revenue: $1,186.33
- Sponsored Posts: $1,839.70
- Course Sales: $101.65
In 2018 Aileen turned her affiliate game around, making it her primary source of income in her monthly reports.
“I learned my lesson that accepting free products as payment wasn’t worth it anymore,” she explains.
So she began only promoting products that she was ‘obsessed’ with and that she genuinely enjoyed using. In addition, she made an effort to stop working with brands that didn’t allow her to earn from affiliate sales.
The Takeaway:
Moving forward, Aileen hopes to increase her social media followings, particularly with Instagram.
Her hope is to build her site traffic even more so that her ad and affiliate sales with increase as well.
Social media is a great tool for bloggers to grow their business. As of 2019, Instagram currently has over 1 billion monthly active users. That’s a lot of potential blog traffic!
Chic Pursuit
About the Creator: Chic Pursuit is owned and run by Maria Julia, a chemistry student turned full time blogger.
Growing up, Julia always imagined she would move London and go to University at Oxford.
However, like many things in life, Julia’s career didn’t quite go according to plan. Suddenly college came and she found herself taking Chemistry classes, despite having always considered herself an entrepreneur and future businesswoman.
And although she attempted to change her major during the first week of classes, the university said it wasn’t possible and she continued her Chemistry studies for the next four years.
In fact, it wasn’t until 2015 when Julia stumbled across an article outlining how much Instagramers could earn yearly based on their following that things really began to take shape.
“I was dumbfounded. Why the heck were these people getting paid so much and why wasn’t I doing it?” she explains.
Nearly a year later, after posting photos of her shoes and food and hustling on the social platform, Julia had almost 20k followers.
Over the next couple of years she experienced ups and downs with Instagram and actually was blacklisted at one point after unknowingly falling for an Instagram giveaway scheme.
Suddenly all her followers (and the income that came with them) were declining – rapidly.
That’s when her blog, Chic Pursuit, was born.
What is ‘Chic Pursuit?’
How They Earn:
The following is a list of affiliates/services that contribute to the overall income Chic Pursuit brings in monthly, in order from their most to least profitable:
- Advertisements – $3,269
- AdSense (Blog) – $62
- AdSense (YouTube) – $20
- Affiliate Marketing – $1,872
- Amazon US – $1,159
- Amazon UK – $181
- Rewardstyle – $443
- ShopStyle – $34
- Share A Sale – $55
- Sponsorships – $1,315
- Instagram – $915
- Blogging Sponsorships – $400
Julia explains that when she first created her blog, she had no idea how to earn money from it or where to even get started.
However, after reading a few articles from fellow bloggers, she was introduced into the world of affiliate marketing.
Julia credits one of the most popular affiliate networks, Amazon Associates, as her ‘light in the tunnel’ when she was going through a rough time post-Instagram success.
In fact, Amazon Associates is prevalent among many bloggers because the program you can choose from over a million products to advertise to your customers on the Amazon websites (yes – millions!) and imbed a link or image anywhere on your blog or social channels.
You can also earn advertising fees from qualifying purchases, not just the products you advertised.
This means that if an individual follows your product link and ends up purchasing another product, you still receive commission for the purchase of that product.
The Takeaway:
Julia is a prime example of what hard work and research can do for bloggers who are just starting out.
Earning an income from blogging can seem daunting but, with enough practice can easily become a full time careeer.
Hot Beauty Health
About the Creators: Diana Aijh, the owner and creator of Hot Beauty Health, is a Los Angeles based blogger with dreams of providing lifestyle content for the everyday busy woman.
What is ‘Hot Beauty Health?’
Diana describes Hot Beauty Health as “a lifestyle blog for all who’s about being a boss of their own life and live it fabulously.”
The site contains content ranging from beauty, self-care, travel, food and more.
How They Earn:
The following is a list of affiliates/services that contribute to the overall income Hot Beauty Health brings in monthly, in order from their most to least profitable:
- Sponsored Posts: $3000.00
- Display Ads: $1137.01
- Affiliates: $1,887.33
Diana has decided to streamline her earnings, focusing primarily on the three sources of income listed above.
Display Advertising
“Display advertising is the easiest and fastest way to start making money on your blog,” Diana says.
One of the reasons that display advertising is so popular among bloggers is because most of it is passive income – meaning the ads do all of the work for you.
Hot Beauty Health has been using AdThrive since 2017, one of the more popular advertisement services on the market.
AdThrive specializes in:
- Ad Management
- Learning Tools
- Video Monetization
- Exclusive Premium Campaigns
- Mobile Ad Optimization
The process of using AdThrive works in three easy steps:
Step One: AdThrive will get to know you better and learn about your site and personal ad layout preferences so they can create a customized strategy for your site.
Step Two: Our team of ad pros works with you to design an ad layout tailor-made to meet your unique financial and reader experience goals.
Step Three: We optimize your ads in line with industry changes and constantly work on new ways to make you more money!
Sponsored Posts
The majority of Diana’s monthly income comes from sponsored posts but she has a very particular strategy when working with brands.
For starters, Diana doesn’t contact any brands herself but instead allows them to reach out to her.
Then she only utilizes sponsored campaigns that represent her brand and blog. In fact, most months Diana only works with around 3-4 brands.
Cutting back on the number of brands that she does sponsored content for allows her the ability to write more quality, informative posts for those brands.
Affiliates
“Affiliate income is one of my favorite ways of earning a living online,” Diana explains.
Affiliate marketing in blogging is the process of placing an affiliate link in a blog post and earning income when that link is used or products are purchased through it
The Takeaway:
Diana understands that trial and error is essential when building up a blog or a business.
For example, she recently dabbled with twitter ads only to find that the end result was a bust.
“I was able to get signups, but the cost per signup was just too high,” she explains.
But where Diana really thrives is Pinterest. She notes that the majority of all her social traffic comes from Pinterest and more traffic = more affiliate and advertisement income.
It’s important to try different marketing strategies as a blogger and determine which one works best for you and your brand moving forward.
The Modest Man
About the Creators: At 5’6, Brock, owner and creator of The Modest Man, is no stranger to the struggle of finding clothes that fit – and fit well.
“Often times, men of modest height have trouble finding clothes that fit well off the rack. We end up settling for ill-fitting garments or paying the tailor tax,” he explains.
Brock hopes that his own experience finding fitted clothing with help inform others going through something similar.
What is ‘The Modest Man?’
The Modest Man is a Men’s fashion blog geared toward men of modest height.
It includes articles that focus on:
What stores have the best clothes for a shorter build.
How to get great deals on custom made attire.
Cheap, simple alterations and DIY “clothing hacks” that can do wonders for your wardrobe.
Brock explains that at the end of the day, what people think of us can matter – socially, in our careers, etc.
“Because, whether we like it or not, our physical appearance affects how we are perceived and treated by others.”
Through The Modest Man, Brock answers any and all questions concerning fashion, style and fit.
“This website was created for all of the short guys out there.”
How They Earn:
The following is a list of affiliates/services that contribute to the overall income The Modest Man brings in quarterly, in order from their most to least profitable:
- Advertising – $16,927
- Affiliate – $7,314
- Products – $1,643
Most of Brock’s advertising revenue comes from his use of Google Adsense throughout the blog and his YouTube channel.
Google Adsense is popular among bloggers because of its simple and streamlined process.
To use the platform, you start by choosing the ad you want on your site and then determining where on your site you want those ads to appear.
Then advertisers bid for your ad space in a real-time auction and Google Adsense will handle the process of billing the advertisers and networks. When ads are seen or clicked, you’ll automatically earn money. (You get paid once you’ve accrued a certain minimum amount.)
Since starting his blog, Brock has significantly scaled back on sponsored content. He explains that it’s hard to be unbiased and write an honest review when money is involved.
The Takeaway:
While Brock feels confident about his advertising efforts (and his monthly revenue definitely reflects it!) but wants to focus more on his affiliate sales.
Moving forward, Brock hopes to learn more about affiliate marketing and implement it more seamlessly into his marketing strategy.
Fit Mommy in Heels
About the Creators: Lauren, wife and mom of three, is the owner and creator of Fit Mommy in Heels.
Lauren explains that she loves to shop and share affordable fashion finds. In addition she is a fitness professional and competitor and enjoys sharing workouts and fitness tips.
What is ‘Fit Mommy in Heels?’
Fit Mommy in Heels is a fitness and fashion blog and hub for style and workout tips.
Some examples of the sites posts include:
- How to Wear One Pair of Jeans 3 Ways
- Witch Hazel Benefits for Skin Care
- The Ruffle Skirt You Need This Spring
How They Earn:
The following is a list of affiliates/services that contribute to the overall income Fit Mommy in Heels brings in monthly, in order from their most to least profitable:
- Sponsored Posts: $5,365.90
- Affiliate Commission: $287.44
As evident above, Fit Mommy in Heels earns the majority of its income through sponsored posts.
While Lauren loves to share tips and create original content, she also makes an extra effort to promote the products and business of other brands.
“I mainly work with companies to help create awareness of their brand while helping to drive traffic to their site.”
It is especially interesting to note that Lauren’s monthly income does not include any advertisement revenue or product sales.
These are forms of passive income, or earnings derived from a rental property, limited partnership or other enterprise in which a person is not actively involved.
Lauren explains that there isn’t anything wrong with passive income (in fact, she has plans to create an ebook in the near future) but that i’s not the end all be all in earning money as a blogger.
“I think a lot of people have this idea that you can’t make decent money without passive income and that’s just not true.”
The Takeaway:
One of Lauren’s biggest pieces of advice for new bloggers is to know your target audience.
It’s not enough to know whether your audience is primarily male or female – digging deep to find out who your audience is specifically can help inform you about the content you should be providing.
She also notes that it’s important to not put all your eggs in one basket.
“While it’s important to grow your following on instagram it’s not good to spend ALL your time on that one platform,” she says.