Over the years of publishing the blog, I’ve looked at various ways of monetizing QueerJoe. Mostly so that it pays for the cost of publishing.

Monetizing QueerJoe – Some Ways Worked…Others Didn’t

There are three ways I’ve been making some money through this blog site. And I’d be interested to know if readers find any of them to be a pain, or make them less likely to read the blog because of them.

1. Amazon Associate Links – Anytime you see a link for a product on my blog that can be purchased through Amazon, I will set up a hypertext link for that product that will let me earn commissions if you use the link. So, for instance, on my annual holiday blog post for “gifts for knitters”, many of the link will earn me commissions through Amazon. Also, if you see a link to a ball-winder that I recommend, it is often a revenue-generating link for me.
2. YouTube Advertising – I honestly don’t know how it works, but I seem to get a few pennies if you watch an advertisement on any of my YouTube channel videos. I think it varies with each advertiser. If you are forced to watch a few seconds of an ad, I might get a penny or two. If you click on, maybe more? I’m really not too sure.
3. Share-A-Sale Commissions – Since I finally found a product that relates to knitting and that I think is effective and useful, I was willing to put an ad in the side-bar of my blog. Knitters Relief Balm is a good product that helps me with both muscle pain and with stress headaches.

Results of Monetizing

To be as transparent as possible, here are some results. Please keep in mind that the cost of owning my domain name, and paying to host this blog is approximately $150 a year. I post about 3 blog entries a week, and have never considered my time as an expense. I enjoy it writing QueerJoe a lot, so I never will consider it an expense in the future either.

Here is what I’ve earned for each monetization method to make up for the costs:

• Amazon – in 2021, I earned a total of $37.28 in commissions and so far in 2022, I’ve earned $142.19
• YouTube – I’ve only been eligible to monetize on YouTube since March of this year. So far I’ve earned $18.38, which will equate to about $45 per year.
• Share-A-Sale – Knitters Relief Balm has earned me $49.75 since November of 2021.

The blog, on average ends up paying for itself. Which is all I care about. Any additional amounts of income go directly to the Men’s Knitting Retreats.

Knowing all this, is there anything you think isn’t worth the annoyance?

Current Knitting

I’m a bit all over the map with my knitting at the moment.

While I waited for the yarn to arrive for the Silvatica Stole, I started a simple garter-striped scarf.

Then the yarn came for Silvatica, so I had to start it. I did some additional work on Silvatica since Monday.

I hadn’t started either of the two other colors of kid silk, when I offered to help a friend make some hats.

The hats take priority since there is a specific deadline for them. So I started the first of at least 10 hats.

It’s my Standard Hat with a tight ribbing that gets folded up when worn (by most people).

For the next week or two, I’ll be focusing on hats. I’ll also be doing some knitting on Silvatica, but not making really fast progress. Finally, I’ll finish the garter-striped scarf as time allows.

Like I said…all over the map.