Making Money From Blogging With Beauty Blogger, Ingrid Norris

Each month, we share the story of a member of the DNW community that is making money from blogging. These stories share the blogger’s journey and tips about exactly how they make money and get traffic to their blogs. I hope you find these interviews inspiring and helpful in your own journey. This month, we are featuring Ingrid Norris who is a Beauty Blogger from Fabulous and Fun Life.

1. Introduce yourself!

Hi, My name is Ingrid Norris. I’m a Sydney based mum of three children including a set of boy/girl twins. I’m a qualified physiotherapist and ergonomist and have worked in the health and safety industry for most of my life.

My interests include reading, photography, food and beauty. My blog Fabulous and Fun Life started off as another hobby for me but I am now slowly turning it into a business with plans for it to provide more of a part time income to me.

2. Describe your blog(s)

Fabulous and Fun Life was originally intended to be a lifestyle blog about living your most Fabulous and Fun Life regardless of your age but somehow it very quickly evolved into a beauty blog.

Recently I have developed a focus on writing beauty related buying guides to assist people searching for the best beauty appliances such as hair straightening brushes and beauty products such as hair, skin and nail vitamins. This focus builds on my background as an ergonomist and my love of research and helping people.

My blog is targeted at an Australian female audience.

3. When did you start blogging and why did you start?

I started blogging in 2014 purely as a hobby and an escape from my everyday life as a mum of three, an employee in a stressful job in the health industry and a wife. I wanted an activity that was just for me, for relaxation.

I had always enjoyed writing and photography so blogging was the perfect outlet for my creative side. Not for a minute did I think I would ever start receiving a regular stream of beauty products from PR companies and beauty brands to trial, let alone money from blogging.

4. What is the most rewarding part of blogging for you?

I get immense satisfaction when I receive emails and messages from readers of my blog thanking me for assisting them to find the perfect product for their need.

I also have a competitive nature and love statistics so I find it rewarding to follow my blog’s statistics and see them improve month after month.

I must admit I do also enjoy attending PR beauty launches and having the opportunity to try numerous beauty and hair treatments I would not have otherwise experienced. My daughter has also benefited from all the beauty products I have been gifted to trial.

5. What do you find the most challenging?

I find the tech side of blogging difficult. When everything is running smoothly, it’s all good but whenever I run into technical problems, I need help. Luckily for me, I have three tech savvy children and I also find Sharon’s SEO Fast Track Facebook group very supportive with the members there always willing to give me helpful advice and guidance.

6. How much did you earn in the last month and how?

Last month, for the second month in a row I earned over $850 in affiliate commissions.

Earlier in the year I also earned income via the Tribe app on both my Fabulous and Fun Life Instagram account and my Sydney Food Bites Instagram account but I am now concentrating on affiliate commission income as it has the potential to become a larger, longer term passive form of income.

Reaching 10k pageviews in December also enabled me to join Ezoic to add a passive advertising stream of income and some diversification to my monetisation strategy.

7. What tips do you have for bloggers trying to monetise their blogs?

Don’t do what you’ve always done and expect to see a different result! Learn from experts such as Sharon who have demonstrated monetisation success with their own blogs prior to developing courses.

When I was searching for an appropriate blog monetisation course to complete, a lot of the courses I came across seemed to be run by people who couldn’t demonstrate any significant success with their own blogs before they pivoted and started their own blogging courses. Do your research and invest in a blogging expert with a proven history of blog success.

8. How much traffic did your blog have in the last month and where does it come from?

My blog reached 10k pageviews last month. Due to my concentration on SEO, the majority of this traffic was targeted traffic from Google. A small percentage also came from social media, mainly Pinterest and Instagram.

9. What tasks do you do that have the biggest impact on your traffic?

Without a doubt, implementing SEO techniques, thoroughly researching the best keywords to use, writing buying guides and optimising old posts has had the biggest impact on my traffic.

To give me more time for these activities I have stopped doing other tasks which don’t relate to my traffic and monetisation goals. For this reason, I have tried to limit the time I spend scrolling on social media, especially Facebook.

10. What has helped you the most when it comes to getting search traffic?

SEO, SEO, SEO!

I cannot overemphasise the benefits of implementing SEO right from the start of your blogging journey. It makes such a difference. Yes, it is more work and initially feels hard but it delivers results and after a while it becomes second nature.

Transferring my blog from the Blogger platform to WordPress, although an extremely frustrating process at the time, was also one of the best steps I took.

11. What are your main goals for your blog?

My goals for the next 12 months with my blog are to double its organic traffic from Google to help double the affiliate commissions I receive.

I also want to continue helping as many people as possible to find the beauty appliances and beauty products best suited to their needs and wants.

12. What are you doing to work towards your main goals? How do you work out where to prioritise your time?

I am always researching more keywords and topics to write buying guides about. I prioritise my activities based on my statistics from Google Analytics, Google Search Console and KeySearch. I look at what topics are popular with readers but not yet well covered by other Australian beauty blogs. I take into consideration what topics Google seems to favour my blog for.

13. What three biggest tips/pieces of advice do you have for other bloggers?

Firstly, SEO is an absolute game changer. Start implementing SEO right from the start. Invest in yourself and pay for a course to guide you in SEO.

Secondly, write about what people are wanting to know and are searching for. Treat your blog as a business. Write for your audience not for yourself.

Thirdly, blogging is a roller coaster of highs and lows due to many factors such as Google’s algorithm changes and seasonal influences. Ride out the lows while continuing to improve your blog and the highs will return.

There have been so many times when I have wanted to give up blogging. I have had ongoing negative SEO attacks on my blog and I have been adversely affected by Google algorithm changes. By looking at the bigger picture however, comparing my results not with the last week or the last month but with the last year, I have been able to stay positive and continue through these obstacles. I try to concentrate on making small improvements and advancements to my blog each day which over time add up to significant improvements.

14. Where can we find you online?

You can find me at fabulousandfunlife.com.au. I’d also love you to follow me on Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter. I have also just started a second blog here.

You can find more interviews with successful bloggers here and more posts about making money from blogging here.