Last week I backfilled more trips from the past few years and learned about SEO. This week I continued to write about past trips, but also started a new Instagram account. The combination of sharing on LinkedIn and Instagram has helped me hit an exciting milestone — my very first dollar on AdSense! Here’s a summary of what else I achieved this week:
Content
- Wrote about my 2021 UAE trip and more US trips (Utah, Los Angeles, and Florida).
- Created IG post for Indonesia, New Zealand, Croatia, United Arab Emirates, Arizona, Utah, Seattle, Florida, and Iceland.
UI
- Generated a new logo using ChatGPT so that it’s easier to see as favicon. Also created a version to use as IG profile picture.
Stats
Overall
| Cost | $67 (Hosting $60 + Domain $7) |
| Posts Published | 39 (+7) |
| Views | ~550 (+100) |
| Revenue | $1 💸 |
| Profit | -$66 |
Search
| Impressions | 15 |
| Clicks | 5 |
| Average Position | 3.4 |
IG
| Posts Published | 9 |
| Followers | 16 |
| Views | 900 |
High / Lowlights
- ✅ Revenue is going up to the right!
- ✅ Received suggestions for a newsletter.
- ❌ Didn’t write many posts this week.
- ❌ Wish I took more videos from trips so I can make more Reels.
Final Thoughts
I never thought I’d be so excited to make one dollar! This journey is truly 1% finished, because I’ll need to make $100 before I can withdraw the money from Adsense 😂. I wonder what is the equivalent of 7 phases of SaaS success for blog monetization?
Next week I plan to:
- Draft more guides and IG posts
- Look into what it would take to start newsletter
Can’t wait to see what revenue week 5 brings!
Comments
4 responses
Wow congrats, lady!! Way to go. Do you know it came from how many clicks? Or they pay thru other actions too (like mouse hover etc)?
Then the next milestone is $100 ❤️
Thanks! It’s a combination of impressions + clicks. Google doesn’t tell you the revenue breakdown between impressions vs clicks, but I had ~300 impressions and 3 clicks so I’m guessing mostly it came from impressions.
Haha $100 is pretty far away! Maybe $10 first 😛
Asked chatgpt
Nice — that’s a solid start! Here’s what’s going on under the hood:
1. What made the difference: clicks
AdSense pays mainly per click (CPC) and sometimes a little per 1,000 impressions (CPM).
With 300 impressions and 3 clicks:
• The CTR (click-through rate) = 3 ÷ 300 = 1% — which is quite decent.
• The CPC (cost per click) = total earnings ÷ clicks = $1 ÷ 3 ≈ $0.33 per click.
So, almost all of that $1 came from the 3 clicks, not the impressions. Typical CPM for small sites might be only $0.10–$1 per thousand impressions, so 300 impressions alone would earn fractions of a cent.
2. Why CPC varies
CPC depends on:
• Topic / niche – Finance, tech, and insurance ads pay more than entertainment or gaming.
• Visitor geography – Clicks from the U.S., U.K., or Canada pay higher than from developing countries.
• Ad placement & format – Ads above the fold or inline with content get better engagement.
• Ad competition – The more advertisers bidding on that topic, the higher the CPC.
3. How to improve future revenue
• Focus on content that attracts higher-value ads (e.g., how-to guides, reviews, or problem-solving topics).
• Increase traffic and CTR through better ad placement or design.
• Avoid accidental clicks — they can cause invalid-click penalties.
So the difference was the clicks — impressions alone rarely earn noticeable revenue. Would you like me to estimate how much your friend might make monthly if they kept the same CTR but grew impressions to, say, 10 k?
ah good to know, thanks!!