July Blogging Income Report
This post contains affiliate links
Look at me, getting this report out early! Spoiler alert: July was my most profitable month to date. Yup, folks it’s time to buy a Mercedes, my income was over $950 in July!
Actually, while I am pleased I’m not getting too hung up on myself OR that number. Here’s why:
1. June was a lower income month for me and August is shaping up to be that way as well, so July is just evening those months out. Being self-employed means there will be some big months and lesser months financially and I just need to go with the flow and not get too proud when one month is financially better or too down when it is not.
2. My worth isn’t based on how much money I make. Pageviews are fickle. Readers come and go. Companies have budgetary constraints and timelines. I’m not worried. My value is in status as a child of the One True God. My priority isn’t this blog or making money. I have family and friends that come waaay before all that.
So, am I happy with a higher income month? For sure! But it doesn’t make me. And this isn’t about the money. I did it for free/paid to do it for years before I ever turned an income and if all the cash went away I’d still be here rambling on the internet about health, fitness, family, and food. 🙂
JULY STATS
I had 25,500 pageviews in July and 20,100 monthly visitors. I’m so overwhelmed by that number. I just can’t even, so thanks for reading, sharing and being a part of what we have going on here. My biggest referrers were Google search, Pinterest, and Yummly. Yummly is a new frontrunner that is kind of a recipe-only Pinterest-like site. You can save favorite recipes and categorize them and yummly get’s smarter sharing more recipes with you that are based on your past “yums”. By going through and “yumming” my recipes I have been able to share them with more people! So if you dig Yummly, I’d love to have you Yum my recipes! I mean, if you like them! 🙂
JULY REVENUE:
Sponsored Posts: $800
Social Media only campaigns: $150
Ads: $45
Affiliates: $2.05
Total Revenue: $997.05
2015 Average monthly revenue: $493 (Jumped up quite a bit due to this month! Almost to my goal of averaging $500 a month.)
Although the majority of my income is still coming from sponsored work, I have seen steady growth in my ad networks (due to my pageviews increasing and adding an additional ad network). When I stop working at my part time job in the fall I’d like to focus more on creating products like e-books and workshops to help people implement healthy changes in their everyday lives! I’m excited about the places I can grow! In case you are curious I find my sponsored posts through Mode Media (my ad agency), TapInfluence, Fitfluential, Collective Bias and Clever Girls Collective.
JULY EXPENSES:
You got to spend money to make money, or at least that’s what they tell me.
CoSchedule: $5
Facebook Promotion: $11 (Would not do again; not the ROI I was looking for)
Travel expenses: $82 (For Chicago sponsored race)
3 Day Create: Guide to Creating E-Book: $12 (Have not read yet! Woops!)
Mailchimp (email service): $10
Total Expenses: $120
Income less Expenses: $877.05
RESOURCES:
If you are looking for some good info on growing your blog check out this resource: Blogging on the Side . It’s a great introduction to blogging if you want to get started on the right food (without all the trial and error) or if you want to grow your blog!
Pinterest is my top referrer and I use Tailwind to schedule out my pins. I chose it over Board Booster because I like the control (I am persnickety like that) and this article convinced me in the long run it would be a better choice. Don’t you just love it when someone else does all the research for you? Tailwind is just $10 a month and they have a free trial!
Coschedule is a nifty little tool that I use to plan out my blog posts in a calendar. I’ve recently moved to a paper calendar, but I can’t let go of CoSchedule because of how easy they make it to share to your social media sites! You can schedule out tweets and FB shares right from each blog post so your post gets shared into infinity and you don’t forget about “the good ones”! They also have a free trial available so you can test it out before you commit.
TOP POSTS:
My top two posts during June were Cafe Mocha Popsicles & Chicken Stuffed Mini Bell Peppers. You all like the food! 😀 Me too!
Also this month I had my first recipes accepted to a big food photography website, Foodgawker!! Yay! I had close to 10 pictures turned down and I was so discouraged I almost didn’t keep applying, but I took the constructive criticism, learned, tried to apply what I learned, worked my booty off, and it happened! Photography is still not one of my top skills, but I am enjoying the learning process and challenging myself.
[tweetthis]Blogging income report and tips for growing your blog! #blogging[/tweetthis]
Whew! This report got long! Thanks for hanging in there and I hope this post is encouraging and informative if you are looking to grow your blog OR if you’re curious about the behind the scenes stuff going on in blogs.
For the bloggers: What is your favorite blogging tool and why?
For the non-bloggers: What is your favorite type of post to read?
I am super impressed, Kate, at how much you made with sponsored posts this month! I’ve just started looking into those and am going to look into a couple of the companies you mentioned. I’ll have to check out Yummly, too. Pinterest is a huge source of traffic for me, and I’m thrilled that I broke 50,000 pageviews this past month – but my income was nowhere near yours. Well done!
YAY! That is totally awesome about breaking 50,000! Yes, Yummly is great for recipes! I’d like to move to doing less sponsored work, but it keeps coming my way, so as long as the fit is good and I can keep it balanced with my other content I will keep doing them!
I too got the 3 day create, but haven’t jumped in.
It will be my Labor Day Weekend Project.
So I’m curious as to how you got sponsors. What was the initial step you took towards growing your blog?
The sponsored posts have come with time. Keep posting high quality stuff and utilizing social media to market and it will come. I think good photos are key and since I started improving my photography and using stock photos for pinterest that had helped.
For about a year I did a lot of sponsored posts just for product and that was a good way to learn the ropes and establish credibility. Now I primarily do paid sponsored work through “middle-man” companies like Fitfluential, Clever Girls, Collective Bias and Mode. Also I maybe get 15-20% of the work I apply for and there is at least another 75-80% of work available that’s not a good fit so I pass on.