Blogging

My First Google AdSense Payout – Kopi Money

Calvin Lo

Technically, I haven’t actually gotten paid by Google AdSense yet but I’m too excited to record this little milestone and to share. This is actually the first time I’m actually blogging about blogging, taking a little detour from finance stuff. Hopefully it also gives you a sense of what a running small blog looks like.

My Google AdSense Earnings

I finally crossed the payment threshold of S$150 to get paid for running Google Ads on my little blog! The final tally up to end Nov 2022 is S$202.48. Small money can use to literally buy kopi (no, I don’t mean bribes). I’m not even sure if I’ll get the entire amount of will there be some form of tax or something. According to Google AdSense Help, payment is supposed to be between 21st to 26th of the month, so I guess I’ll find out then. It may take another few days for the electronic transfer it seems.

Anyway to clarify, that amount is not for the month of Nov. It is the cumulative amount since I signed up for a Google Adsense account back on 23 April 2021. Checking back, I registered my blog with Bluehost on WordPress back on 30 Nov 2020. I can’t recall if there was a qualifying criteria to apply for Google AdSense, but I’m quite sure I didn’t know about it until April.

Also, this is revenue not profit. I’ve spent more than that on blog upkeep, i.e. hosting and domain charges. But then again, who’s keeping score?

My Blog Stats

Considering I’ve written 134 posts since blog inception, and assuming an optimistic 1 hour per blog post on average (excluding the many other hours going down various rabbit holes), that works out to only S$1.50 per post. LOL. At least I can tell myself I deserve one kopi siew dai per post.

Here’s a snapshot of my blog all-time stats so far:

In reality though, most of that revenue was generated by just one particular post which got a whole lot of traffic relative to my other posts. From what I can gather, I think it was featured in Google Discover on Android phones. I’m still learning about SEO and blog traffic so I could be wrong.

Anyway, if you’re curious which post it is, it’s this one: Singapore Savings Bond (SSB) Jan 2023 Yield Will Likely Be Lower. I’ve no idea why this particular post was picked up by Google Discover. So basically what I’m saying is that it was just a fluke or arse luck. If you happen to know how this stuff works, I’d be so grateful if you could enlighten me.

As you can tell from my blog stats, Nov views skyrocketed relative to previous months to 8.3k views. I doubt the next few months will be as high since the bulk of traffic was from that one post, unless another new post gets featured as well.

Why I Blog

Anyway, looking at the amount you might be thinking why I bother spending so much time and effort to earn a few measly bucks. Fair question. Point is, I didn’t start blogging for the money, although some extra change is always nice.

Here are some of my reasons for blogging about personal finance and investing stuff:

  • My little corner of the internet I treat as an outlet for me to record and share my thoughts and analysis.
  • Helps me think through while doing research and refine my thoughts when making financial decisions.
  • Gets the creative brain juices flowing instead of watching Netflix or mindlessly scrolling social media (I still do, but less).
  • Hopefully by sharing my story and things I’ve learnt in the process, my readers can take away some helpful insights. If what I’ve shared can help just a handful of readers make incrementally better financial decisions, makes it worth my while.

Financial gain is a nice-to-have but I don’t think it should be the main reason for blogging. Just my personal opinion, but nothing wrong with blogging as a side hustle with the aim of making a side income.

That said, I would actually encourage you to blog as well or at least share your thoughts through the many media available in this day and age. You can blog about anything under the sun. Don’t restrict yourself. A blog is nice because it’s mine, but many share and built huge followings on social media platforms too especially on Twitter, YouTube or substack.

It’s actually pretty easy to start a simple blog and start posting. There are many free blogging sites like WordPress, Medium, or Blogger but I would recommend self-hosting a WordPress site through Bluehost, which is what I do.

I enjoy reading blogs because every single one is unique. A blog is more personal and takes me into the mind of the blogger. If you have a blog or are thinking of starting one, drop me a link to your blog. I would love to read your stuff.

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Disclaimer: This is not financial advice. I am not professional financial advisor nor do I work in the finance industry. Anything I write here is purely my personal opinion. Please do your own research and due diligence before investing into anything. All investments come with associated risks. Best to consult a financial advisor if you’re still unsure.

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