How I Made Money Blogging in 2019 & My Ezoic Review

Interested in how I make money blogging? Well keep reading, as we go behind the scenes on Hayley on Holiday today to discuss my different income streams and my honest Ezoic review.

I’m always curious to know how people make money blogging – particularly fellow travel bloggers. Hayley on Holiday has been a hobby of mine for years. However, in the past two years I’ve shifted my focus and treated it as one of my (many) casual jobs. I’ve enrolled in courses, I’ve become obsessed with Pinterest and whenever I travel, I’m always in blogging mode – constantly taking photos and writing notes.

I’m definitely not at a place yet where I can quit all of my (many) jobs and blog full-time. However, so far in 2019 I have made over $5000 from this space, so thank you for the support! If you’re just as curious as me, I thought now was the perfect time to talk about my three main blogging income streams. I also wanted to talk about Ezoic, the advertising platform I use and highly recommend for bloggers unable to meet Mediavine’s requirements.

Three ways I made money blogging in 2019

Affiliate networks

The first way I made money blogging in 2019 is through affiliate links. When I talk about a certain product or accommodation option, I usually include an affiliate link. This means if you click the link and make a purchase, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s basically the business’ way of giving back to the people who promote them. I personally earn the most money from Hostelworld. As you’ve probably noticed, I always recommend accommodation in every one of my travel guides.

There are many affiliate networks out there and you can also go directly through the website for some affiliate programs (like booking.com and Amazon). I focus primarily on Hostelworld, Get Your Guide and Skimlinks. The latter turns every possible link in a blog post into an affiliate link. Skimlinks has a Google Chrome extension too, which makes life even easier. So thank you for clicking and supporting me. Commissions are usually teeny tiny, but it all adds up (eventually).

Sponsored posts

Another way I made money blogging this year was through sponsored posts. My goal for 2020 is to actually reach out to travel-related companies in regards to sponsored posts. Up until now, I’ve waited for businesses and agencies to approach me via email. A few I’ve done in the past few months (through one fantastic agency) include my guide to Cairns, my favourite places on the Sunshine Coast and the things to know before you go to Australia. 

Sponsored posts are a great way to make money, but just know I only collaborate with reputable travel brands and businesses. You should see some of the emails I get regarding sponsored posts or guest posts. No, I don’t want to earn a pittance writing a blog post about your gambling website!

Ezoic advertising network

Finally, the third way I’ve made money blogging is through Ezoic advertising. I learned about it through a blogging Facebook group. After reading other reviews, I decided to join back in February. It was the best decision, as I’ve been able to earn between $200 and $400 per month (my page views have unfortunately fluctuated A LOT in 2019). For a smaller blog with less than 25,000 sessions (the main requirement for joining Mediavine, the most popular blog advertising platform), I’ve been very happy with the extra income. FYI – you must have 10,000 monthly sessions to join Ezoic.

Why I recommend Ezoic

As soon as I joined Ezoic, I received an email from an employee who became my account manager somewhat. She talked me through every step via email, but it was fairly straightforward to install as there’s a WordPress plugin. I feel like Ezoic goes that extra mile though, as I received constant updates from her about my progress, as well as other helpful tidbits about different add-ons, etc. It was great to know I could reach someone with just one email if I needed assistance. Their support team is always there to help as well. However, I haven’t had any problems with adding Ezoic to my WordPress website – it integrated seamlessly. 

I want to mention that although the website discusses both free and paid plans, I only use the free plan. No one has ever tried to convince me to join the paid plan either. Ezoic has also always paid me the previous month’s revenue efficiently at the end of every month, via Paypal. I mean, what more could you want, right? So to other bloggers out there looking for an extra income stream or an alternative advertising platform, I highly recommend Ezoic. It’s been such a welcome addition to Hayley on Holiday in 2019.

Each blog post I create takes hours to complete, so it’s nice to make a bit of income along the way. I hope this post was helpful to other bloggers, and gives non-bloggers a bit of insight into what goes on behind the scenes around here. Thanks again for reading and clicking, I really appreciate all the support and messages you send my way.

Guess what? This post contains affiliate links!