January & February Blog Income Report

This post contains affiliate links where I receive a small commision at no extra charge to you. 

Hey there! So it’s been about 15,000 years since I did a blog income report. Life just kind of got crazy at the end of 2016 and then the last two months I’ve just been keeping my head above water with the early stages of pregnancy. But I really like being able to look back and see what has been working well for the blog and what might need changed. So here we are again, but taking a broader look at the months of January and February.

I’ll be back on the healthy recipes, fitness tips, and family stuff next time, but if you’re interested in building your blog or just plain old curious about the inner workings of blogging….welcome! Today’s post is for you! I am proof that there are small(ish) blogs out there making a nice part-time income from blogging. A few of my favorite income reports to read are: Pinch of Yum, By Regina, and Eat Pray Run DC .

Blog Traffic

January Pageviews: 38,880

January Unique Monthly Visitors: 25,925

February Pageviews:46,529

February Unique Monthly Visitors: 32,153

My traffic really took off in January and continued the upward trend into February. This is in part to the New Year’s resolution bump, old posts continuing to get good traffic, and a new post (Roasted Green Beans and Mushrooms) doing really well on Pinterest. 70% of my traffic the past two months came from Pinterest. 12% came through google search and another 11% came through direct links (you typing katemovingforward.com into your browser).

Truly though, it is by the grace of God; I posted less in January and February than ever before, but my numbers are higher than ever before.  And I needed the time to not be all about blogging or hustle, but to just be getting through and processing the change in our family. (You can read more about my first trimester of pregnancy, if you’re so inclined.)

Income

For the sake of ease, I’m going to combine both month’s income in this report.

Sponsored Posts: $300

Advertising Networks: $278.95

Affiliates (when I recommend a product or service and get a small commission in return for the referral): $55.81

Total Income: $634.76

This is not rock star blogging income and not close to what I’ve made in my better months, but I posted just 8 times in the past two months. Normally I post at least double that so I’m floored by how faithful God has been to provide extra income for my family through this blog.

In November I moved the prime ad spaces on my blog to Gourmet Ads. I have been so happy with how seamless the transition was and how much better my ads are performing! They generally work with food bloggers, but don’t hesitate to apply if you’re not a food blog! I also run ads with Sovrn Ads (they have a lower minimum number of pageviews, perfect for a smaller blogger) and have been pleased with them as well. It feels nice to be in the right place with my ad networks.

Expenses:

Tailwind (Pinterest scheduling tool-LOVE it! Signing up with my affiliate link will get you a $15 credit to any plan too!): $10×2

Coschedule (Content Calendar and Social Media scheduling tool! Get a free 14 day trial first!): $10×2

Hosting: $10×2 (I do pay my hosting annually, in January but for the purpose of these reports I show the monthly breakdown.)

As you can see my expenses were minimal at $60 total for two months of blogging. Last fall I took a hard look at my expenses and cut out some “extras” that were nice, but not necessary. It’s always good to make sure your dollars are working just as hard as you!

On that note in January I also decided to stop working with Beachbody as a fitness coach. It can definitely be a great opportunity for the right person and I had a few successful coaching groups, but honestly my heart wasn’t in the recruiting and selling. Just not my thing and that’s a good thing to know! I still do have all the heart-eye emojis for the 21 Day Fix and my Piyo workouts! Truly love the quality products they put out!

Top Posts

My top two posts in January and February were Roasted Garlic Green Beans and Mushrooms and Berry Overnight Oats.

I think the fact that these posts did so well shows how often people are looking for easy, healthy recipes–especially at the beginning of the year!

While I can look at the last two months and I know it seems crazy to say I just stepped back and yet had my best months ever, but this is actually a testimony to all the hard work I have already put in to my blog, posts, and social media strategy. It’s easy to say something is a “one-hit wonder”, but there is so much behind the scenes things no one will ever mention. The hard work learning photography, studying Pinterest trends (I know so much about Pinterest it’s ridiculous), constantly adjusting and tweaking social media strategy, learning SEO, creating quality content, building a tribe, and learning to write to SERVE OTHERS, not myself.

Goals

My goal for the next month (or two ;)) is to post twice a month and get in some quality recipe posts. I still have a lot going on in my family (pregnancy, keeping two kids alive, my sister’s wedding prep), but I want to get back to a more consistent and intentional blogging routine. I feel like I say this every report, but I want to publish an e-book. I have two that are literally almost done, but I get so close and then I think I get fearful of failure and shelve  the project as “not good enough”. The perfectionist nature dies hard.

So we’ll see how keeping up with real life goes and how much of a handle (aka courage) I can get on that next project. 😉

Hope you’ve enjoyed this little blogging check-in!

What blogging questions do you have? 

Anything surprise you about the things I shared?